Washington DC

Good Friday weekend... decided to spend it in Washington DC... set off at night... took a bus and reach NY in the early morning.... everyone was kinda in a sluggish mode from the 3 hr bus ride and the wee hours of morning... met up with another group of frens and we took the bus from NY to DC... another 3 hrs' ride....

Fri 6th Apr 07

we reached DC in the morning... and since the bus station is near the US capitol building.. we decided to go Q for the free tickets to guided tours.... the Q was super long.... around the whole garden area... and it took us about 2 hrs before we got the tickets... we were pretty shagged after the Q-ing... with our back packs and all... so we decided to go check in to our hotel first before setting off for lunch... we had only about half an hour for lunch before our tour starts... and now comes the faintz part.... because we had to walk to the capitol building.... we reached a little later than the stipulated time by about 10-15 min... and the tour groups start every 15 or 30 min... so our tour already started and we were unable to join the next group because of the limit to the number of ppl per group... 2 hrs of Q-ing for nothing! we then approached the person-in-charge... hoping to argue something out... in the end they gave us another kinda ticket... which allow us entry into the gallery... the security into the building was pretty tight... the gallery is literally a gallery overlooking something like a parliament house of sg if u ever visited the parliament.... nothing much... so we decided to take the liberty to walk around the complex ourselves... the complex is huge... both inside and outside... with lots of statues... paintings... wall art... fountains and lots of tulips in the garden...

next we decided to start our very first tour of the many museums of washington DC with the National Air and Space Museum... as with all Smithsonian Museums.... this place is huge with lots of exhibits.... very informative... from planets and the universe to the evolution of aviation to life in outer space... everything u can think of... it took us a good whole afternoon before we are done... now i know why my colleagues keep telling us 2 days isn't enough to cover the museums... cos all of them are so big and they provide so much information tat u just gotta look at every exhibit... and it can easily take up half a day...

by the time we are done with the Aerospace Museum... it is almost time for dinner... so we walked to Chinatown for some Chinese dinner.... after which we took a leisure walk to while away the time.... Washington is definitely a place of Architecture... all the buildings there are so nice... and our long walk took us to the White House! OMG... can't imagine i am actually standing right in front of it... it's once again those things tat u only see on tv on the news or some shows...

White house at night...

so that concluded the 1st day... and time to go back to the hotel and rest our feet and catch up on sleep for next day's walk...

Sat 7th Apr 07
initially we planned to go up the Washington Monument... but as with the Capitol Building... they give away free tickets early in the morning on a first-come-first-serve basis... we were unable to get the tickets... but we figured since the Monument is so tall... it is sufficient to just take photo outside.... so we proceded to Q outside the Holocaust Museum instead... there's 3 storeys of exhibits at the Holocaust Museum... from artifacts.. films... photos... it is a self guided tour which traced the events chronologically... from life in the early 1930s before the Holocaust.... to the rise of Nazi power... followed by the tyranny and genocide and concludes with the Liberation and the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust... the atmosphere in the museum was solemn with a little sadness... it is another super informative museum which could easily take up half the day... by the time we are done.... it is lunch again... had lunch at a food court... and it's the start of the day's walk again... we walk around the souvenir shops and Hardrock... then we walked past the White House again... the daylight view... then we came to the WWII Memorial... it is btw the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.... and from the long stretch of water... u can see the reflection of the Washington Monument... thus the name Reflection Pool.. how apt with the double meaning of this place... literally the reflection of the image in the pool and reflections of what happened in the past wars... next we proceeded on to the memorial that i really wanna see... the Lincoln Memorial... it was at the end of a long dirt road... up a long flight of stairs to the statue... it is really big.. and there were tonnes of pple... so we tried to get a strategic spot to take photos... next we proceeded on to the tidal basin... where a lot of them took melodramatic photos with the cherry blossom by the waters... haha... across from the waters we can see another memorial... the Jefferson Memorial... which we decided was too far off for us to walk there... so we decided to start our walk back... past tulip patches towards the train station where we decided to drop by the Arlington Cemetery... it was pretty ulu... very dark... and a little scary to think that u are actually in the vincinity of a cemetery... but it was late and it was closed... so all we could do was take a group photo in front of the gate... then proceeded to walk across a bridge that provided us with some skyline of DC... good thing we were able to catch the last train back to our hotel area... and finally be able to end our day tour of Memorials with a well deserved late dinner at IHOP...

Washington Memorial...

WWII Memorial...

Lincoln Memorial...

Jefferson Memorial...

Drama photos with Cherry Blossom...

Outside Arlington Cemetery...

Sun 8th Apr 07
we had some time for another museum before we set off on our way home... so we chose the National Postal Museum which was located near the train station... it showcase the history of mail service... mail delivery... postal transportation technology... letters... stamps... it was a much smaller museum... but equally informative...

after which was the long bus rides back to NH....

-jiahua

Cookout... or rather... cook in...

Sun 25th Mar 07

Ever since we got Jas a cook book for her birthday.. we had thoughts about getting together and cooking some stuff... so me jas and ah muay decided to have a 'cook-in' this weekend... and try to whip up something...

the theme this time round was singapore food... or rather indonesian or malaysian? watever... just home food... so i decided to make nasi lemak... inspiration from the bottle of nasi lemak chilli tat jas's maid made... make us all hope we have nasi lemak to go with it.... jas was going to make some dessert... which i can't rem the name now... supposedly it is some thai dessert tat has 2 layers... one sweet and one salty... and ah muay made onde onde...

so we went on a grocery spree... getting everything we want... and each cook at our own houses... haha... so much for cooking together... but no choice we have limited space and utensils at one place.. so we have to do our own cooking.. then gather at my place for the feast...

i made the nasi lemak nasi... sambal sotong... beef rendang... spicy dried shrimp stir-fry cabbage... fried ikan bilis.... cut cucumber... luncheon meat... sunny side ups.... end off with the desserts jas and ah muay made... plus CK's milk pearl tea... haha....

we had more than 10 pple turn up for this event... all had positive comments for this cook-in... which i was glad tat pple find the food to be good and requested that we do this on a more frequent basis... hmm... i should try making money out of it man! haha...

being here and deprived of home food really did force us to try making them ourselves... hopefully in the midst of trying... it did improve my cooking skills.. haha...

-jiahua

Tubing

Sat 3rd Mar 07

this time we went to Mt Cranmore.. it's quite a big group this time round with some colleagues too... with the experience from last time.... i decided to try the more relaxing tubing! haha... there's no need to carry the heavy skis and wear the crampy shoes... just have to pull the tire-like thingy around... but the queue to go up the slope was always very long... but it was a pretty relaxing day.. hanging out with xy... we spend the queuing time chit chatting as usual... then when it's our turn... our tubes get hooked to this belt and we sit on the tube and get pulled up the slope... cool man.. don even need to walk.. hahaha... then when u reached the top of the slope... it auto detaches from the belt and send u down a small hump... then u pull ur tube to the start of the slide... u can either go individually or u can go in groups of 4... there are lots of teenagers trying out different formations... from holding each other's hands to forming a circle... and sliding down... oh u can also choose whether u wanna just slide down or u can have the person in charge spin u and u do a twist all the way down the slope... it was pretty cool... but the ride down was pretty short.. could have been better if the way was longer... then it's all over again queuing and everything... there were lots of parents with kids too... i guess this is one of the less dangerous one where kids below 5 can join in the snow fun too....

Cute baby in tube...

after a while.. u just get tired of queuing... so we just went and sit on the snow... continued chatting and xy started making snowman again.. this time she made a snowman and a snowcat... hahaha.. pretty cute though... kids that walked pass us all told their parents tat it's a cat... xy was glad the snowcat she made actually looked like one.. hahah....

after everyone was done with skiing... tubing... snow boarding... we dropped by this pub place for a drink.... they ordered this drink that looks kinda like 'test tube babies'... it came in a rack of 6 or 7 small glasses... slightly bigger than shot glasses... it is a gradient of intensities.. or watever they call it for beers.... u have the super light ones... which are golden yellow... to the super bitter black ones which i don like... more like stout...

relaxing day on the whole.. and the scenery was nice too...

-jiahua

CNY in Singapore

For the week that we were going back to sg.. it snowed heavily... we were pretty worried that flights might be cancelled and we might not be able to be back in time for CNY... we checked the weather forecast diligently everyday... looking for any tell-tale signs of a worsening in the weather conditions....

Wed 14th Feb 07

on the scheduled date... we left work earlier than the proposed time and hope to catch the earlier flights out of Boston... we reached the bus station 1 hour earlier... and we took the last bus out from that station to Boston before they stop service due to heavy snow.... when we reached the airport... we were lucky enough to catch the last flight out of Boston... we were so glad to be on the way out since weather over at Newark was much better than at Boston.. so on the whole we made the right decision to leave early... if not we would not have been able to make it for any of the 'lasts' so that was the almost eventful V day... spent catching the bus and flights.... followed by the spending of the rest of the next 2 days in the air...

Fri 16th Feb 07

arrived in sg early in the morning... feels good to be home again.... to the familiar environment tat we had been away from for half a year... so glad to see my parents... and also glad to be able to make it for CNY...

The rest of the days were spent meeting frens... buying stuff to bring back... and since it's the CNY period... visiting relatives too and repeating ur story of ur life overseas for the thousandth time... but it's kinda the wrong time to be back... other than be able to spend time with frens and family for CNY... becos during CNY... all the shops were closed... there is really nothing much to do and no where to go if u r not visiting relatives or hanging out with frens... wanted to go for sushi on the 2nd day of CNY.. but apparently nothing was opened except the cinemas.. so that was a let down... but luckily i managed to eat some of the local food... had my favourite prawn noodle at AV... had steamboat as with every year at my dad's fren's place.... and went for sushi with my parents... miss salmon sashimi so much! spend some time catching up on local tv programmes too.. haha... kinda lost touch with anything asian... tv shows... songs... everything!

and days just went by like tat... and it's time to return to US... the going back part was ok... but the thought of the super long flight was major sian... oh i rem on the flight due to turbulence and the bad circulation in the cabin... i felt pretty nauseous and thought i was gonna faint when i stood waiting for the restroom... so that was a little uncomfortable... but nonetheless.. reach back home safely... with all our new year goodies... instant noodles and sauces... haha... the end of the vacation... it's back to work again... till the next trip...

-jiahua

Birthday week

Thur 1st Feb 07

My Birthday! hmm.. older by another year.... and the 1st birthday overseas i think... in the morning... xy and sm came over before we left for work to pass me my presents... a Baby Phat down bomber jacket... the one that i mentioned to xy that was pretty cool looking... always thought bomber jackets were pretty cool... oh and the 6 presents that xy gave me... each individually wrapped and has a letter of my name on each of them.. damn... i should have a longer name.... hahaha.... inside each were small little items...

#1 - a drawing pad
#2 - charcoal drawing pencils
#3 - a mini water colour set
#4 - some drawing pencils
#5 - a box of carebears bandaids... cos she says i am prone to cuts and i don have bandaids...
#6 - a pack of mini Twix... my favourite chocolate snack in US

well... from the list... i have more art supplies now... no excuse to not start drawing.. ya i know... i have been procrastinating for too long... will get started on something soon.... hmm....

after that we went to work... and while we were walking down the corridor on the 2nd floor... the 1st floor area looked pretty dark... it's then that we realise that there was a power outage... OMG.... no lights no electricity... we hung around till noon and was dismissed cos there was nothing we can do without power... well well... how interesting... so we went home... hahaha...

My presents!


Fri 2nd Feb 07
After work... as usual whenever it's someone's birthday in our house... we will go for a nice dinner together and get a treat... =D

we went to Sake Japanese Restaurant at Downtown... i think it's the first time in a long time since I had Jap food... OMG... i am so missing my conveyer belt sushi in sg.... that's one thing i missed... we can't get cheap and good sushi here.... and i had garlic kobe beef... but i guess i still like sushi better...

oh... and according to xy.. the snow that fallen after dinner was the 1st time that it was enough to make a snowman... haha...

Jap food!


Sun 4th Feb 07
Had friends visit from New Jersey... went for breakfast at IHOP... then we decided to go out and play in the snow... at the field near our house... we used cardboard boxes as makeshift sleds... and surprisingly it worked pretty well.. we were able to slide down the slope on it! had lots of fun then... not forgetting the snowball fights... hai... rough pple... tsk tsk tsk..... after staying out for too long.. it gets too cold... so we went home... and started making snowmans outside our house... well... snowmans are not as easy to make as it seems on tv.... we only managed to make a couple of small and out of shape ones...


our snowman by the doorstep...


for dinner we went to Robert's Maine Grill and Market... a nice place with a lighthouse building... had to have lobster and seafood there... but the food is pretty pricey...

-jiahua

First Skiing experience ever

Sat 27th Jan 07

After having snow for a while.... we are finally going skiing... not that i really looked forward to it... but well.. i guess it's something that u gotta try since it's snowing... so we set off in the morning... and went to Wildcat Mountain...

it was a first for me... and i din know wat i had to do... we could choose btw skiing and snowboarding... so i chose to ski...

signed up for this ski lesson... went to get my feet measured for the size of ski boots... and also had my height measured for the length of the skis to have.... then it's donning the ski boots... which i kinda have to get my legs squashed in... and it's hard to walk in those... i feel like i have walking disorder or something.. next u have to carry the skis... which are super heavy can... then when u finally managed to walk to the snow carrying ur skis... u try to click ur boots into the skis... and then it's where things get slippery... haha... a little movement can get u to skid a long way...

we proceeded to this beginners' slope... where we were separated into groups for classes.... we were taught how to go side ways... how to walk up a slope and not slip down.... how to ski and maintain our balance down the slope... how to change directions when skiing... well.. i would say i am the most retarded in my group.. or in the whole group for tat matter.... the same thing would take me ages to complete... if i am able to do it at all... or maybe half the time i'll be drifting somewhere else and trying to get my bearings back... hahaha....

well.. after the 3 or so hours of lesson... some of them decided to take the ski lift up to the top... and try to ski down... but the slopes look really steep to me.. and with my retarded skills... i don dare to go up... i just stayed at the beginners' slope and practise my going up and down the slope.. haha...

all in all.. skiing is very tiring for me... not used to lifting my legs with the heavy skis... not used to carry the heavy skis when i am not in them... and not used to being in skis and skidding around.. hahaha.... well... i guess we picked the wrong mountain to start our 1st time... cos Wildcat is said to be one with a really short beginners' slope.. which doesn't allow u to really ski much before it comes to an end already... and it also has one of the steeper slopes... so it's also not very suitable for beginners....

but it was an experience nonetheless... oh ya... one thing nice about being in ski bibs is tat... u can sit and lie down on the snow and not get all cold and wet... and that's pretty shiok... and we can make snow angels... hahaha....

One of the many photos I took with SH... till WY complained that we took so many of our photos on his camera... hahaha...

-jiahua

New Year Day

It's back to work after Boxing day... but i guess it still feels like holiday with lots of pple still on long vacation and everything... days went by.. and it's the end of the year! first new year in US... well... lots of firsts in US....

on New Year's eve... went to Pond Mill at downtown for some fireworks... parked our car... trudged through the snow to the pond side... walked along the bank to find a good spot... u see pple in their thickest coats and winter wear... huddled together in the cold.. just for the fireworks... we were one of them.. haha... rooted to the spot.. the fireworks was the usuals... nothing too fancifully special... but it was a 'celebration' nonetheless... better than having to spend new year all alone at home definitely... but at the end of it all... i thought my toes were all frozen... having stood there in just normal shoes and the cold of the snow seep in to my feet.... but luckily... i was still able to walk back to our car... and defrost...

nothing much... just a short moment outside (i don think we would wanna stay out too long... too cold!).. tat marks the end of 2006....

-jiahua

New York trip

New York trip on a X'mas weekend...

Fri 22nd Dec 06

We head on down to NY by bus via Boston... the bus trip was kinda long... about 4 hours... the longest so far since we haven really been further than Boston... so by the time we reached NY... it was already near dinner time... first thing was to unload our stuff at the hotel.. hmm.. not really a hotel.. but an apartment for short stays... it has 3 bedrooms... 1 bathroom.. and an mini kitchen (or food prep area) and a mini living room... it's near Lincoln Center and thus has the name... Lincoln Apartments... then it's heading over to our first destination... to watch Phantom of the Opera at Broadway! Super excited can! my first musical ever.... ok... mountain turtle again.... but it was really an experience... i actually quite like doing stuffs like tat....

Sat 23rd Dec 06

We set off pretty early in the morning... managed to do a fair bit of walking... taking in the sights of everyday NY streets.. in its quieter moments... with buildings with the fire escape ladders that u see on tv...

it was quite a lazy and carefree morning... with no rushing around to go to places... just wondering in the streets and stopping every so often to take lots of pic of watever... we even had time to visit one of the church.. or was it a cathedral... can't rem wat its name was though... but ya... we took pics all the way from the road to the large garden outside it... to the steps at the door... the inside... and out again to the garden on its other side...

then in the early afternoon... we went to the Julliard School of Performing Arts for a free session of violin... piano... and wat nots... recital... apparently our appreciation levels for such arts are limited... cos most of us fell asleep... haha... we finally decided it was too much for us... walking out in the streets wandering around would be better for us... more movement.. more fresh air... and the cold wind to perk us up... we even walked past the Trump World Tower... and by tat time... it was already evening...

so we went over to Times Square... and all i can say is... I LOVE IT MAN!! afterall i came from a city... and the bustling of city life... the hustling of pple in the streets... the large billboards.. the bright advertisements... the lights... the distant sound of siren of police car... ambulance or fire engine... tat's so New Yorky... just like on TV... totally cool man.... just so full of energy.... feel very revived to be in a city setting becos everyone is just hustling by... compared to the more slow paced life we are used to back in NH...

and it's a must to take a pic at the super huge x'mas tree near Rockefeller Center... and visting the shops in the area... our all time favourites... Hershey's... M&M's... Toys 'r' Us.... Nintendo World.... lots of souvenirs to get...

M & M's World....

Hershey's World... everything's big...

Sun 24th Dec 06

Got up early to go to the Liberty Island... with the thought tat.. if we are early... we would be able to get the tics to go up to the statue... but to our disappointment... they were out of it... super faintz.... but nonetheless... we made the most out of it by taking photos... again... we had every possible angle of the statue... since we started taking even before we boarded the ferry... so it's before we board the ferry... when we were on the ferry.... when we first set foot on the island... while walking towards the statue... we had the side... the back.. the front... full body... zoomed in... with pple... with diff permutations of pple... every aspect was covered...

On the ferry to Liberty Island...

Statue of Liberty!

Statue of Liberty... With us....

after we were satisfied that we got every shot possible... we took the ferry again.. which brought us to Ellis Island... which had the Immigration Museum... which showcases the heritage of immigrants in America... how they were screened prior to setting foot on America itself... pretty informative and interesting... kept us entertained for the whole afternoon... longer than we expected...

In the late afternoon... we decided to drop by Wall Street... but the faintz thing was... we weren't able to locate the Wall Street Bull... which means... we missed out on 1 photo taking opportunity.. and acting touristy... haha... the walk led us to Ground Zero... where the World Trade Center twin towers used to be... there was nothing much there... just an area of bare land where reconstruction seems to be on-going... the atmosphere was pretty solemn... so much so tat.... i feel even a smile on ur face would seem inappropriate... the tributes showed photos of tat day... and drawings from kids who lost their loved ones in 911.... pretty saddening.... but we din get to see the night skyline of NY from afar where they situated 2 beams of light that shot straight up into the night sky... where the twin towers used to be...

on a lighter note... we decided to walk across Brooklyn bridge... though our legs were all tired.. from the daily walkings in adverse conditions of cold and rain... we still decided to give it a shot... other than sore feets... it was a pretty relaxing walk... we could take in the night view of NYC... and adjacent bridges.

Mon 25th Dec 06

X'mas morning... most shops were closed... there's nothing much for us to do... so we end up walking in the streets again... today we are going to take a walk in Central Park... to me.. the 1st thing tat came to mind was an episode of CSI.. which they found dead bodies in the Park... hahaha... well.. we followed paths... past waters... and up to a point tat had a 'castle-like' structure called the 'Belverdere Towers'... it oversees the rest of the park... a lake... and a baseball field... after that... we extended our walk along the peripheral of the park... along a street tat has quite a few museums... then we went to look for this place called 'Tom's Restaurant'... which according to my fren... is the cafe tat was featured in the sitcom 'Seinfield'... i haven really watched the sitcom much... so i weren't really familiar with it... but wat the heck... it was featured in a show.. so it's a good place for photos... so u see the bunch of us taking photos outside this place tat wasn't even opened... hahaha...

Belvedere Towers...

in the early evening... we went over to Madison Square Garden... which brought me back to the time when i used to watch NBA basketball matches... and NY Knicks used to be one of my favourite team... but i've long lost touch with it... the pple on the team whom i'm familiar with... some are already in another team now...

later when we were passing by Grand Central Station... there was a lights show there... it was nothing more than snowflakes-shaped lights being shone on the walls and ceiling... with music to give a more x'masy feeling...

Tues 26th Dec 06

Last day of our stay in NY... we were pretty pressed for time... but we managed to squeeze some time to pay a visit to the Empire State Building... but when we got there.. we figured it was too foggy... we probably wouldn't be able to see much of NYC's view even if we went up... so we were satisfied just taking pic with the miniature statue of the Empire State Building... getting all touristy again... next we pop by Times Square for the last time... doing some last min shopping.. getting watever souvenirs tat we hesitated on getting the day before... and by the time we are done.. we were kinda behind schedule... rushed back to the apartments in time to check out... and it's the long bus ride back to Boston again...

and i actually planned to meet up with Esther when she came over to NH... but we didn't had a chance... so we figured we could meet up in NY.. since we were both gonna be there... but somehow.. we just din manage to do tat... it's the same when we were both in Aust... we didn't get to meet up either... i think we really have to meet up some time when we are in US man... somehow.... hahaha....

-jiahua

Get together week

Fri 15th Dec 06

Today we had a little get together of all the TAP pple and the Singapore project pple... to try to get to know each other more by spending time together... chit chatting... and of cos.. eat... for free! haha..

it was at a small pub near our place... which had pool tables... table tennis table... tv... table soccer... a live band... and of cos... beer.... turn out was quite good... and with the free flow of drinks and finger food... that just makes it better... haha... well... nothing much to talk about for this kinda setting... cos there is nothing much u can do put talk and eat and drink....

Sun 17th Dec 06

A fellow colleague invited us to her place for a little get together... and the funny thing is... i don even know her... but since she emailed every TAP... i just turned up... haha... we each brought stuff to contribute to the food pile... and i brought my usual Baileys bundt cake....

it was a pretty nice apartment... though a little small... but it's enough for her and her little daughter... about 2-3 years old maybe? all the while she was entertained by her on baby talking and playing with her toys by her mum's side while she prepares the food....

the food was great... and i particularly like the dumplings in celery soup... and to think celery is one of my no-nos... but wat i gathered was... after u cook it till it all softens away... the smelly smell of celery disappears too... oh ya.. and did i mention she was from the philippines... so well maybe her dishes did have a touch of asian in it...

well.. overall... got a chance to talk to the ang mohs... they get to know a little more about sg... and i get to meet new pple whom i probably wouldn't really come across at work since they are all in carpet world.... so on the whole... it was a pretty good session....

-jiahua

Gala Dinner 2006

Fri 8th Dec 06

Gala dinner on a Fri night... and I still gotta work till late... faintz... but well... managed to go home and bathe and pack everything tat i need and it's off to the hotel where we are going to stay for the night... all the guys got ready at home so when we reach the hotel... all the girls went into a room and helped each other dress up... well.. not much of a dress up for me... but had xy fuss all over my face and hair... and the result? not much difference.. -.-

not a fan of such 'dress up' events myself... had plans to get something to wear the week before... but in the end... settled for a tube dress a fren brought... hmm... tubes... not exactly my kinda thing too.. but watever... tat's all i've got... and faintz.. it did make me look pregnant... -.- and it was freaking cold can? dressed in a tube plus ur coat (which isn't much help) and walking in the cold Dec air from the hotel to the dinner place next door? Brrrrr.....

well.. by the time all of us finish dolling... the dinner already started for ages... sometimes i wonder why bother since nobody is probably gonna notice you anyway... well... not don bother... but no need to spend so much time... afterall.. it's only a dinner... basically just sit at the table and eat... plus taking lots of pics... followed by watever activities they had planned... and for our case... the opening of the dance floor... which i declined... cos i have no idea how to move around in the dress tat gives me the feeling that is it going to drop anytime i move too much... and the heels that i have no idea how to dance in.... so i retired to my room at about midnight...

we brought the drinking back to the room.. aparently we came prepared to continue the drinking... we were geared with coke and a bottle of jack daniels... it actually smells and tastes really bad.... we need tonnes of coke to make it more palatable.. well.. at least for me....

well.. tat pretty much sums up the day... spend lots of time dressing up in uncomfortable outfits tat restricts any activity... eat at a table and go back to room and drink...

Just us.....

With my sampat XY...



That's where we were... New England Center....

It's snowing!

Mon 4th Dec 06

The snow is finally here! we have been waiting for quite some time... apparently the snow came late this year... and it was forecast to snow early in the morning... about 3am... when I got up in the morning and opened my room door... i saw my back porch covered with snow... for a moment i just stood there... IT'S SNOWING!! first time i saw snow... haha.. a bit mountain turtle la... it just feel so new... something i've never seen before... when we were driving to work... the snowflakes just blow against our windshield... something u would never see in sg... but well.. since this entry is a super back back back-log... of cos after u have been thru the whole winter.. u kinda don't wish it to snow.. cos it makes driving more hazardous and the accumulation of snow and the hardening of them when they start to melt... is really not tat fun anymore... but anyway.. for this day... it was still quite a big thing to me... when we reach office.. i bumped into a few of them in the corridor.. and we decided to go out and take a pic... my first snow experience ever!

Portland

Sat 2nd Dec 06
Some of them wanted to go Portland because there is suppose to be Xmas lightings in the area... before we went.. we met at the Dairy Queen near our place... beside it is a place called Caboose Bagel... quite a cute looking place... it is in the form of a train carriage... we've been in US for nearly half a year and this is the first time I've been in it though we pass by it everyday...

we left for Portland after that... just walking pretty aimlessly along the streets.. checking out maps and asking around to find out where are the places we could go... in the end we ended at the Civic Center... supposedly there will be an ice hockey match tat night... and there was a team practising inside.. it's the first time i see pple playing ice hockey... and there is this guy at the entrance... he was pretty frenly... informed us of the hockey matches... about the place... and even allow us to stick around to watch the team practise...

then it was time for lunch.. we stumbled upon this place called 'Becky's Diner' which supposedly served the best fish chowder in Maine... but it turned out to be a watery potato and fish soup... how disappointing...

after lunch it's more walking around before we decided to go down to freeport... where the xmas lightings were... well... i would say that is an overstatement as well... it's no where near our lightings in Orchard Road... to put it simply... it's just lots of lights on trees... the only thing tat i thought was interesting was a big xmas tree... with nalgene bottles as the xmas lights... the bulbs were in the bottles and the lights take the colour of the bottles... pretty innovative though...

oh.. today is kor kor's bd... we got him a jacket... and came back by evening to have dinner with him... KY came with us too... and went to our house for a visit.. since she has never been to our house before...

so that concluded the day at Portland....

-jiahua

Montreal

Thanksgiving holidays in Montreal.

Thur 23rd Nov 06
Drove all the way to Montreal in our rented car... quite a neat car with a nice dashboard... i navigated our way to our hotel ok... hahaha... ok la.. the instructions were pretty straight forward... =P Reached hotel in late noon... about 3-ish... Hotel Viger! check in to our cramped.. supposed 2 bedrm hotel rm...unloaded and began our exploration of the Montreal streets... basically the whole trip had lots of walking up and down streets in the super cold weather... since finding parking was a prob... we resorted to walking... it was the coldest we have faced so far... since we haven even started wearing our down jackets in NE... explored the area.. with its churches and cobblestone road... decided on the 1st activity for the day... visit The Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal... Went for the "And then there was light" sound and light show.... it was basically a screening of the history of how the church came about... shown on those canvas screens... and at the last part... the canvas fell... revealing the church... and wow.. it was grand... very pretty!

After that... we decided to go for dinner... at this Chinese restaurant... with this cheena waiter.... then the other highlight for the night.... Le 281.... a male strip club... wahahah... went in.. settled at our table.. ordered our drinks... and watch the show... basically guys with great bodies just came on stage and started stripping to the music... well... it wasn't the totally nude kind... but nonetheless... with some 'exposure'... which get the table of ang moh girls seated in front of us really high! they stood up and dance and scream... we were like... erm... and in comparison.. it made us look really off.. like a bunch of asian sitting there with not much reaction... hahaha...

and when we got back to the hotel... the dumbest thing happen... was taking my shower... and the bathtub just happened to be really rounded.... and with the water... it was super slippery... so i slipped and fell OUT of the bathtub... tat part was funny... and the 2nd funny part was i landed sitting on the heater by the floor... there was a dent on the heater.. wonder if it was from me... hahaha.. but my rm mates were saying she saw it there prior already.. so i guess someone else fell too.. haha... and the shower curtain and rod came down with me... there was such a loud bang tat it startled all my rm mates... they were knocking on the door asking if i am ok... but i din give a response immediately.. cos i was figuring out how to put the shower curtain and rod back... despite the pain in my rear... -.- i guess i was the joke of the trip now....

Fri 24th Nov 06
Had our buffet lunch... where everyone stuff their face full.... and then we ventured a little further away from our hotel... went to the Biodome and Olympic Stadium area... they are just side by side... we din go into the Biodome... which housed exhibits of ecosystems of America... we went into the Olympic Stadium... which was the stadium for the 1976 Summer Olympics.... there were exhibits inside on the various Olympic parks around the world... then it was getting dark pretty soon.. so we decided to head up Mount Royal to see the night lights of the streets of Montreal... It was really pretty too... most of the buildings were low-rise... and u can see across a vast area of just glittering street lights... And to end the day with a bang... and be fair to the guys... we went to a female strip club tonight... called "SuperSexe" It wasn't as sleezy as its name suggest... mainly just women going onto a stage and take off their clothes... and the women weren't really pretty or had super good figure anyway... in comparison.. the male strip club was more interesting and the atmosphere was better.. more happening...

Sat 25th Nov 06
Went to the Biosphere... strolling along the park by the Biosphere where we found a lake or estuary that was frozen over... The Biosphere is a metal structure tat really looked like fullerene... haha... inside it is supposedly some ecosystem stuff as well... din go in cos it cost too much to go in... but the huge metal lattice structure kept us entertained for a while... trying to get diff angles of the sphere... outside and inside...

At night... we drove up to Mount Royal again... but this time we parked our car and took a trail up... it was really dark and we don even have a torch with us... just walked up the trail and saw this lighted cross... a little eerie though....nothing much except walk up in the COLD and look at the night lights again...

At the summit of Mt Royal...

Sun 26th Nov 06

Last day of the trip... on our way back to NH... we pass thru Vermont... the state home to the ever famous Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream factory.... went for a factory tour... and it looked a little like our plant actually... hahaha... but i guess the best part was the complimentary ice cream at the end of the tour... but very faintz.. never buy any souvenirs... -.-

That concluded the Thanksgiving trip... with and aching butt.... -.-

-jiahua

Rhode Island

Decided to go to Rhode Island for the weekend...

Sat 18th Nov 06
got up early... drove to Rhode Island... stopped over at a visitor centre where there was a conference going on... wow.. first time saw so many asian looking pple at a place.... haha.. our first stop was at a shopping mall... Providence Place... stopped over for some minimal shopping and lunch... ate at this place called Fire + Ice... it has an interesting concept... u get all the food u want... then u choose the sauce u want... then u Q up at this central cooking area... it is a big round hot plate... like those for Teppanyaki... the chefs will take ur stuff and cook around the hot plate... so u just Q in a circle and wait for ur food to be done... interesting idea though... entertaining for the guests too to watch their food being cook...

After lunch... we explored the surrounding area... took photos at the State House... went into a local library... very small.. but very old looking... like some place out of the Harry Porter movie... then we drop by Brown University... pretty much of a walk around day before we check into our hotel... Pineapple Inn... exactly the kind tat u see in "Me Myself and Irene"... rows of rms with parking lots in front.... and to save money... we bought microwavable food back... just to realise our microwave isn't working properly... requested a change... then halfway microwaving... something short circuit and we had a partial blackout... wahahha... but at least the inn pple were frenly and helpful enough... so it wasn't too bad... oh... there was supposed to be a meteor shower today... and supposedly we are positioned at just the right location to observe... and we have located a good spot to view... along the coast and dark enough with benches... but well... just not our night... the sky was overcasted.... too much clouds to see anything... so after 15min of wait... we decided to call it a day.... too freaking cold!!

Sun 19th Nov 06
today we were supposed to go visit this stretch of street tat has lots of mansions of diff themes... but well... i guess we were too early and we din wanna pay to get into the mansions... so we just drove along tat stretch... and some had really nice gardens and high gates... very movie-like... after tat we went for a supposed scenic drive... hmm... very "scenic" indeed.... went to this Fort Adams... nothing more than a fort by the sea... pretty much like our very own Fort McClary... then we went to this place which supposedly has a lighthouse... and when we get there... we had a bit of prob locating it... and later we found out why... the lighthouse is super "big"... we were on this slope behind it... and we literally look down on it... so well.. i guess tat wasn't much of a sight for us... guess our york beach one is much better... or maybe our Fort Constitution one.. where we could go in...

Walked around the Newport area... before we went to Newport Vineyards... my first time at a vineyard though... paid $5 for a vineyard tour... tat brought us around the place... though it's not the right time of the year to be there since all the leaves have fallen and grapes harvested... so we pretty much was just looking at rows and rows of branches... and listening to the history of the vineayard... as well as the wine making process... the tour was pretty worth it... cos it included a wine tasting session where u can choose any 5 wines to taste... and we could each bring back the wine glass we used for the tasting... oh and i really like the small round biscuits they provided with the wine tasting... very milky taste.. wonder if i could get it anywhere...

pple ask me if Rhode Island is worth the visit... well... i don know... i would think it's someplace slow.. just like NH... with pretty much the same things... scenic drives... lighthouses... churches... but just a nice experience to get away for the weekend....

-jiahua

Back dating # 6

Shall keep my entries relatively short to catch up with times...

Sat 11 Nov 06
The validation director for the sg plant is in town... organised a get together at our place... potluck again... sweet and sour pork and chocolate cake from our house.. and of cos... as usual.. we supplied the alcohol...

normal get together... eat.. drink... talk... some serious.. some.. well... crap... but anyway.. too much alcohol made pple go weird.. nonetheless... an 'interesting' experience.... don wanna comment much on the day....

The bridge group...

5 on an armchair... yes we are slim... wahahha...

-jiahua

Back dating # 5

Tue 31st Oct 06
Halloween! After work we went to downtown for the Halloween parade... the wait was super long... and the parade was just less than an hour... but nonetheless it was pretty interesting to experience something new... probably won't get to see it in sg.. unless maybe some arty farty council decides to promote it... we might get there.. but maybe not yet... Halloween's still not tat popular in sg...

the parade was just a 'march past' or pple or groups that signed up to parade... there were loads of pple waiting to watch the parade.. they were all dressed up too... and after all the wait.. the parade finally started in the accompany of the police... it was pretty fun.. with everyone just swaying and dancing to the music one of the parade band was playing...

Even the pets were all dressed up...

The paraders...

The parade band...

Sat 4th Nov 06
Went to the Museum of Science in Boston.. yet again.. but this time we did get to go in finally.. and tat was the only thing on our agenda.. so no side tracking... the place is pretty much like our Science Centre... with all the science stuff teaching kids the different theories... physics laws.. blah blah... not too bad.. there was a mini demonstration of Benjamin Franklin's kite... lightning.. electricity.. blah blah... hmm.. interesting..

then we went to watch a show at the Omni theatre... Alaska... pretty cool visuals.. seat was super comfy though...

ok trip la... got to finally go to the museum after many attempts at Boston... and can get to eat at Chinese restaurant... though no roast duck...

-jiahua