Why never blog ah???

I've been constantly asked that question of late. What can i say? Blogging takes time and these days i'm kinda busy....kinda stressed....err but i reckon the biggest factor to why i've not been blogging is because i've been lazy to bring back my laptop home from office. Yeap! The harsh reality of not having your own computer at home and leeching of the company...ha ha ha!!!

Anyway, so much has happened. And to sum it all up....hmmm.....

• Mum came to visit me from San Francisco and we went to Bali for our annual mother daughter holiday. We had an excellent time but errr the "romantic" spa that i had with me mum....errr...lets just say during the soak in the tub time i pushed all the rose petals over to mum to cover up her assets!!! hahahahahahaha....

• Went back to Vietnam for work.....again and this time with my director! Yawn Yawn!!!

• Having lots of fun with my colleagues doing my favourite past time...... EATING!!!

• And ohh ohh!!! Finally the second operation is done and completed. My mole is finally gone. Now there's this little scar that replaces it but its translucent and not very noticeable. But i guess its better than a black mark that was there before. After 29 years of being a part of my life. My lil mole... I shall miss you!

So there you go folks! So stop whining and yea lar yea lar..... i will try to blog more ok in days to come!

More tales of Singapore....

I could not resist taking this picture when i was out shopping with my girls last Sunday. We were at Vivo city doing some retail theraphy when all of a sudden i heard this rolling sound. Next thing i saw was the picture above.

Gosh! What is it with these SINGAPOREANS???

I know that the Singaporeans already live in bird cages aka HDB apartments and i also know that there is really not enough space on this island but come on.... replacing a real dog for a toy??? And worst still... a TOY DOG ON ROLLER SKATES??? Seriously, this is really SALAH to the max man.

But i did think that this picture is absolutely funny. And of course knowing AL, this was not the last of the story....

After i took this picture, obviously my girls and i were walking much faster than the mommy, little girl and her roller doggie. So we over took them and proceeded with our retail theraphy. 5 minutes window shopping and all of a sudden i saw a "bright light" more like a BIG BIG signboard that said "50% discount off"! It was practically shouting out aloud at me...well it was 50% off the entire shop at La Senza. Heaven! Just the shop that i was hoping to have discounts. So i zoomed into the store with my girls.

Then with all my excitement at all that sexy lingerie and super comfy jammies at 50% off, i knocked over something....and lo and behold...i knocked over poor roller doggie. I was horrified thinkin little girl was gonna cry. But i plucked roller doggie by the neck and plopped him upright again.

Apparently roller doggie's mommy told me that he topples over quite frequently. Ha ha ha! And you know what....roller doggie is actually quite heavy and for the little girl to be dragging it around Vivo ... all i can say is....YUM KOOOONG!!!!

So the lesson learnt here is:

NEVER BUY YOUR KIDS STUFFED TOY DOGS WITH ROLLER SKATES AND MAKE THEM DRAG IT AROUND A SHOPPING MALL ON A LEASH!!!

Wendy's Hen's Nite

For the first time of probably 10 years the 5 girls finally got together. Gosh! I cant remember when was the last time all 5 of us were actually together for a holiday or even to party together. Imagine a whole weekend with 5 girls....havoc!!! Well Lai Yee could only join us on Saturday night...her hubby kenny was sooooooo sweet. Drove her all the way to Singapore just so she can join us for Wen's Hen's nite.

Actually come to think of it, it wasnt really a hen's nite. Its more like a girls nite out. But i guess the main purpose was to spend time with each other. We did heaps of shopping and of course loads of bitchin and talking nonsense...and ahem...there were even some "flashing" moments. I(I think only Jan will know what i mean...hehe) Imagine 5 girls...1 room...1 bathroom...

I cant believe how the years has passed. Sometimes when i look back at our old pictures... i dont see much changes...we still look 17...ha ha ha...denial i guess but who cares...we still look hot and in my eyes...my girls and i still look DAMN GOOD!!! ha ha ha....

Halong Bay

Here's the final update of my recent trip to Vietnam. It seems like this blog is kinda evolving into a blog of my travels. I guess its the best way for friends and family to keep in tune of the things i see thru my camera lens as well as learn a thing or two about other countries.

So here's some history about Halong Bay...

Ha long Bay is a body of water of approximately 1,500 square kilometres in north Vietnam with a 120 kilometre coastline, in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China, and 170 kilometres east of Hanoi.

Halong Bay — means "Bay of the Descending Dragon" in the Vietnamese language. Ha means "descending" and Long means "dragon" in Sino-Vietnamese.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. There are two bigger islands, Tuan Chau and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities, including hotels and beaches. There are a number of wonderful beaches on the smaller islands.

Some of the islands support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and iguanas also live on some of the islands.

The bay is also a World Heritage site listed by UNESCO. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations.

Local legend says that long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bay (hence the name "Bay of Descending Dragons") and began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam.

Me, Sab & this China girl that we met on the Chinese junk

The Chinese Junk that took us to Halong Bay

(Sab & Me actually stayed 1 night on a junk like this. Top deck is where you chill out and sun bathe, Middle deck is the restaurant and Bottom deck is the air conditioned rooms. Its air conditioned alright you see an aircon and it dont work)

Other views of the Junk

View from our Junk of the Bay

The Floating Village

The Head of our Junk

Kids selling on their little boats

One of the entrances to the Caves

I kinda like this picture

Sunset

I just couldn't help but take a picture of this beautiful sky. Check out the colors

Chu Chi Tunnels

Last Saturday i took a half day tour to Chu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam with Joe and his colleagues Birger and Tony.

Chu Chi Tunnels (pronounced Koo Chi) lie 70km northwest of Saigon or better known today has HCMC (Ho Chi Minh City). The tunnel system, built over 25 years starting in the 1940s, let the Viet Minh and, later, the Viet Cong, control a huge rural area. It was an underground city with living areas, kitchens, storage, weapons factories, field hospitals, command centres. In places, it was several stories deep and housed up to 10,000 people who virtually lived underground for years.... getting married, giving birth, going to school. They only came out at night to furtively tend their crops.

The ground here is hard clay, which made this whole thing possible. But even so, the planning and construction was incredible. People dug all this with hand tools, filling reed baskets and dumping the dirt into bomb craters. They installed large vents so they could hear approaching helicopters, smaller vents for air and baffled vents to dissipate cooking smoke. There were also hidden trap doors and gruesomely effective bamboo-stake booby traps.

Of course, the U.S. military knew about the tunnels. The tunnels not only allowed guerrilla communication, they allowed surprise attacks, even within the perimeters of U.S. military bases. The U.S. retaliated with bombs, eventually turning the region into the most bombed, shelled, gassed, defoliated and generally devastated area in the history of warfare.

Today of course Chu Chi Tunnel has been turned into a profit making area for the Vietnamese. And the tunnels which i visited were "modified" to fit the big sized angmohs.

Anyway, that was a bit of history for those who have no clue about Chu Chi Tunnels.

Map of the tunnel system

One tourist tried to get into the little hole leading inside the tunnel

The entrance to one of the many tunnels

Everywhere in Chu Chi there were monster worms

Me in a tank!

We head into the tunnel with smiling faces

Birger & Joe in the tunnel

I'm so glad i'm small enough to fit comfortably in the tunnel

Our triumphant put up your fists to show that we survived Chu Chi Tunnels

left to right (Birger, Me, Joe & Tony)

The Making Of Beautiful Pots (Vietnam)

My friends and I took a half day tour to go to Chu Chi Tunnels. On the way there, the tour bus stopped us at this place where they made plates and pots and all kinda stuff. Coz everything was in vietnamese so i didnt know what was happening. But i reckon as usual, words do say a thousand words....

Some men putting black stuff on the plates

Egg shells for decor

Its a long painful process

The line of workers

AL's Believe It Or Not!

TORNADO IN SINGAPORE

Today as i got out of the Changi Airport in Singapore i saw the most amazing thing! A real twister in Singapore! I just got out of the loo and as i was waiting for my boss Sabrina outside and i just happened to glanced out of the window and i saw this weird funnel thingo... And knowing the suaku me...straight away i shouted out "TORNADO"!!!

I could not believe my eyes. A real life twister in Singapore. I mean you'd expect to see it in US but not here in sunny Singapore. Gosh! What has the world become. And the most ironic part is that only last week i watched the movie Twister on HBO so you can imagine how excited i was when i saw this live one right here.

Well i'm sure tonite the news will be plastered with news on this twister. But all you privelleged ppl who read my blog you got first hand information right here on Al's Tales.....