Boston weekend

This weekend... we spend both days in Boston...

Sat 9th Jun 07

This week we had someone from the Singapore plant come visit... so we brought him to Boston... and he wanted to visit Harvard... so that's where we shall go....

I wouldn't say it was very interesting there.... cos it is nothing more than just a campus... and when u have no business with the school... there isn't a lot to do there... we merely walked around the campus... there seems to be some get together thingy going on in the school... there was a tentage set up... and you can see ppl who graduated from the school... all with badges showing which year they graduated from... and some of them are really old...

next we found the statue of the founder of Harvard... John Harvard... there were kids climbing up and down the statue... we had a hard time trying to get a pic of the statue with no one in there....

we concluded the trip with having dinner in Chinatown....

Sun 10th Jun 07

With the complimentary tickets our company provided... we took the chance to visit the New England Aquarium...

The aquarium consists of a huge center glass tank... with lots of sea creatures in there... the usual sharks... the various weird sea fishes... corals... sea turtles... wat's cool about it is... the walkway is a spiral around this huge tank... which is about 3 storeys high... so at different levels of the spiral... u can see diff things.... and u can follow the fishes as they swam away.... and the top of the tank is not covered... so u can actually look down into the huge tank... and the sea turtle happen to be circling there... taking breaths of air before diving down again...

at each level... there are diversions to adjacent exhibition halls where there are different showcases.... like jelly fishes... starfish... corals... penguins.... seals...

this time i decided to take minimum pics... because all aquariums are the same... and u would end up with many pics of diff fishes and creatures... and not forgetting how hard it is to get a good pic in aquariums... most of the time the light is dim for the animals' sake.. and flash just give u a lighted spot on the glass... so i took a couple of pics and decided to enjoy my day by looking at exhibits... seals show... penguins feeding... oh and not forgetting we were like school kids on an excursion... we got our penguin passport and went around looking for the stamps... din manage to find all though...

and last but not least... bought a really cute t-shirt... which describes me.... "sometimes crabby but always cute" Hahahahahaha......

It was a pretty interesting place to spend the day... though frens told me they find it boring and it took them about 1 hr plus before they decided to leave... but this place kept us occupied for at least 4 hrs.... easily entertained.... hahaha...

-jiahua

Egg Tarts

Sat 2nd June 07

Today the guys in my house were out... playing paintball in some forest... so i stayed at home... and kept myself busy... by making egg tarts... very domestic... hahahaha....

I think the egg tarts were pretty successful... well... i made them a few more times after this... and i think this time is the best though it's my first time making them...

The end product.... not bad bah?

Seeing all the big blue blacks that they have from the paintballs... i think i made the right choice in staying home...

-jiahua

Niagara Falls

It's another long weekend... another opportunity for a trip to somewhere... and it's finally time for the long awaited trip to Niagara Falls... after waiting for winter to be over and the weather to get better...

Sat 26th May 07

This is the next long driving trip since Montreal... so as with all long distance trips... we set off in the wee hours of the morning... drag ourselves as well as our luggages... and off we go in our 2 rented vehicles... we drove from darkness to day break... and we finally reach the border between US and Canada... stopped by at the visitor centre for some info.... then proceeded across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada! We can see both the US and the Canada side of the falls from the bridge... but 1st things 1st... it's off to the hotel to unload...

the 1st thing we hit the falls was to take photos... every possible angle... every possible pose... as usual.... next we went for the highlight activity at the falls... Maid of the Mist... a boat cruise starting near the Rainbow bridge... past the American and Bridal Veil Falls... and into the Horseshoe Falls... That was where our 1st free gift... a blue poncho came into use... at the Horseshoe Falls... the mist was so dense... we would be all wet if we did not have the poncho on... and despite having the poncho... we still got our faces and hair pretty wet.... but it was a really cool ride... we experienced the massiveness of the falls.... and captured many beautiful shots of the falls from all angles... though some of them had mist on them cos the lens were wet... haha...

after lunch... we went for Journey behind the falls... where we got our 2nd free gift... a yellow poncho... Journey behing the falls as its name suggests..... is a series of tunnels tat took us behind the falls... and they have openings cut out in the rocks which allowed us to see the falls... most were merely the size of windows.. with water gushing pass... and we could only stand way back for safety reason... but there was one opening which has a platform where we could go out onto the side of the waterfall... tat was pretty nice for a change from looking at squares of gushing water... we are in close proximity to the falls...

after tat we proceeded further away from the coastline... to take an incline railway which brought us to a higher altitude for a better view of the falls... which probably didn't make much of a difference... next we took the bus... to another part of the waters... the White Water Walk... where we can walk along the waters on these wooden walkways... to have a look at the gorges and rapids of the falls...

next we decided to take a break from the falls and took the bus to Clifton Hill... the city area of Niagara Falls... where they have different stores like Hardrock, Hersheys, Marvel, Coke, Ripley's Believe it or not, Tussaud's waxwork, Guiness World Records Museum... we walked up and down the streets after dinner... before heading back to the falls again... this time for the night view... it was beautiful... the falls were lit with changing coloured lights which gave a different feeling to the place... tat concluded the day at the falls....

Sun 27th May 07

Today we took a drive to Toronto... We walked around the city... Saw the CN Tower.. Rogers Center... home of the Blue Jays... then we hang around this wooden platform by the waters... which i have no idea where tat is now... then we proceeded to Chinatown for lunch... next we moved on to exploring the city a little more.. which entails more walking... tat led us to University of Toronto... where we were entertained by a map of the school... well... the lame things u do when u just had lunch and u r bored... haha... Walked around the campus... there was nothing much we could do there... so we decided to walk back to our gathering point... it was when it started to rain... so we hid in a cafe till the rain lightened before driving back to the Falls region... On the whole Toronto was just another city... where we didn't find much to do there for free...

After dinner at an Indian restaurant... we went down to the Falls yet again.. for fireworks over the Falls... many ppl were gathered there.. so we found ourselves a spot for the fireworks too... fireworks is just fireworks... something tat is almost the same everywhere we go... but nonetheless good to have and something to do at every place we visited... so after the fireworks... it was still too early to return to the hotel... so we hang around... window shopping at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort Galleria before heading back to the hotel...

Mon 28th May 07

Last day of our trip... we checked out of the hotel... went for a buffet breakfast... and we are on our way to the Inniskillin vineyard... as usual... the time tat we are at the vineyard happen to be after harvest... so there wasn't much to see out in the fields... but i would say they serve pretty good ice wine...

after which is the long journey home... prolonged by the jam at Rainbow Bridge.... and the hot weather didn't make things any better...

on the whole it was a nice trip... to be able to see one of the wonders of the world....

-jiahua

Arethusa Falls

Sat 5th May 07

When u live in a state where there are a lot of mountains... one of the activity u engage in quite a bit is hiking... so this weekend we decided to do just tat... and it's the first hike since winter... and today... our objective is to hike to Arethusa falls... the single longest drop in New England...

So as usual... we reached the start of the trail after about 2 hrs in the car... the main bulk of us decided to take the easier trail while some of the guys took a longer and more challenging trail to the summit... and we will all meet at the falls... so we started hiking.... the initial part was gradual as it normally is... then we reach a point where the blue markings seems to lead us over rocks and among trees... it seems like a pretty 'hands-on' hike cos u have to actively climb on big rock pieces... hang on to tree trunks... stoop under bent tree trunks... maneuver our way to avoid the streams of water... and not forgetting... some of the snow is still not melted... so for a certain part of the way... we had to walk on thick snow... and we weren't prepared for it... cos we thought all the snow would have melted by now... but we were wrong... so we had to sink our feet into the snow and got our shoes and socks wet.... it was a pretty tough hike for it to be labelled as the easier route... finally we came to a tricky spot where we were all standing and hanging along the steep slope... trying to figure out wat our next move should be... and it seems pretty dangerous as some of us jumped among the many rocks along the stream of water while others tried to get across by holding on to tree trunks and struggle across the slopes... and it was at this time tat i hear voices of pple walking above us... i looked up.. and i saw ppl walking along this path... and i rem thinking to myself... why is there a walking path up there? i climbed up the slope to the walking path... and tat was where i saw wy... he was one of those who took the more challenging trail... he was surprised to see us all on the slopes below... and wondering wat are we doing down there... after talking to him... i realised we probably made a mistake somewhere in the hike that led us off the trail and into the surrounding foresty area... i quickly called out to the rest of them and finally we had everybody on the path... we made our way via the path towards the waterfall... and easy enough... we got there after a while....

we hang around the waterfall... admiring its beauty... taking photos... and joking about us taking an even more challenging trail than the guys... but it all seem so right to us at tat time because we could constantly see the blue markings on rocks or tree trunks... telling us we are still on the right track... so we had no idea how we got to divert from the trail...

Hanging around taking pictures while waiting for the ppl in front took turn to 'maneuver' their way thru the trees....

Finally we are there!

Now we are on the right track...

after hanging out at the falls for a light snack... we decided to head back down via the 'actual' trail.... and it was such an easy trail! it is a pathed trail... and while walking... we were in awe... everyone still couldn't believe we were way down there just now... cos we could hear the sounds of water below us but we couldn't see any water or stream... this shows how far down we were and how far off the trail we were...

nonetheless... it was a pretty interesting hike... we got to try a lot of maneuvers which made it much more interesting... the thing i was 'gasping' about was how much danger we subjected ourselves to.. trying to get across the stream of water... jumping over slippery and unstable rocks... as well as trying to hang on to anything and keeping ourselves from falling all the way down the steep slope... and to think we were still hanging off the steep slope while the guys who went to the summit and then back to the waterfalls are already on their way back...

well... it was indeed a memorable experience...

-jiahua

SIngapore Day in NY

Sat 21st Apr 07

Made our way to NY Central Park early in the morning so we can reach in the afternoon... It was still pretty cold in NH... so had our down jackets with us.... boy were we overdressed.... it was super hot in NY... it's as if we were back in singapore... there were a lot of pple... most of them Singaporeans... either working... studying... or has been staying in NY since a long time ago... it feels so familiar to be surrounded by ppl who speaks and understands singlish... after we settled down... it's time to go Q for singapore food... hawkers were flown over specially to set up stalls for us poor souls who missed singapore food... all the Qs were super long... and we nearly melted away in the hot NY sun... but we got to eat stuff like nasi lemak... satay... chilli crab... laksa... chicken rice... BBQ seafood... and yeos drinks... and we had goodies bags... with rubber bands for making zero points... and five stones... and chaptehs...

All dressed in red...

Guest appearance by Kit Chan...


after we had enough food and got tired of Q-ing... we sat down in front of the stage to watch some Singapore performances... with singing of singapore art scene songs... like beauty world... dick lee songs... the ever funny hossan leong... the papaya sisters... and guest appearance by Kit Chan.. and when she sang the song "Home"... most pple cried... everyone missed home so much...

it was a relatively short event... ended about mid-afternoon... we spend the rest of the time hanging around Central Park... walking around Times Square... and eventually staying over at HL's over in NJ.... our refuge everytime we visit NY...

-jiahua

Birthdays

Sun 15th Apr 07

This weekend we have the birthdays of LX and GT... so as usual... we had our dinner out to celebrate... we went to Flatbread at downtown... it was a different kinda pizza... the more healthy not so greasy kind... and the ingredients are organic... and the pizzas are baked in a primitive wood fired oven...

After dinner... we adjorned to our house for 2nd part of the celebration... not forgetting the cakes i spent the whole day making... a chocolate cake... a dozen banana muffins... and the ever tedious-to-make kuah lapis.... after making it... i just feel tat it is the 1st and last time i am gonna make kuah lapis.... haha...

The birthday boy and girl... very ah lao.... wahahahaha....

so it's the usuals.... birthday songs singing... photo takings.... cake eating... games playing... alcohol consuming....

-jiahua

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