My "Good" News

Lee Choo sms just now asking for updates. I can't bear telling this news actually. To most people, it's no big deal but it's a real big one to me.

That is... I tendered my resignation.

Don't go "cheh!!" hor. I'm leaving a company that I love so much. The wonderful colleagues, the cordial one big family environment, the only job in the world that allow me to start late and knock off early, the annual company trips.

There's no office politics in this company, nobody pushing blame around, nobody bossing you around. It's the perfect company in the world!

But why am I leaving a company I love so much? Why? Cos I've decided to do something drastically different.

That is, to be a homemaker. Yeah, you read that right, a homemaker!

For the time being lah. I will still get another job. Till then, I'm only a mother to my Tara and a wife to my Bob.

And the best part is, I'm gonna sell my car, to scrap actually, cos there's no selling value already. And that! Is one of the sad part too. No car!! After 3 years of having a car, I'm going to go without it. So from then on, it's MRTs, buses, taxis. And I'm gonna miss my car!!

So isn't it a major change in my life? From a happy, comfortably paid job, driving my lau pok car.. to a homemaker.

I'm really sad when I tendered my resignation. But I gotta move on, cos I know I'm no longer suitable for this job. My superior was shocked too.

And I'm still in shock and very sad. I wana cry leh. Sob sob.

Good News on Friday!

Major changes in my life this Friday. Till then, it's a secret. Shhhhh.....

Proper English

Tara: Nan nan, nan nan (doing the squeezing action to sign for milk at the same time)

Mummy: Tara, speak properly. It's milk milk. Not nan nan.

Tara: Nan nan, nan nan (and kept on signing for milk)

Mummy: Tara, it's milk milk. Say milk milk.

Tara: Nan nan (giggles)

Mummy: Milk Milk!

Tara: Nan nan (continue giggling)

Mummy: *Realised "milk milk" is baby talk* Okay, sorry Tara, it should be milk. Say mil..k!

Tara: Nan nan!!

Mummy: No! Mil...K! (exasperated)

Tara: ..K!

Mummy: *faint*

Ninja

I changed the title of this blog, cos I think she looks more like ninja!

Guess who this ninja is?



Don't know? Now see the next photo, familiar?



It's Tara with drypants on her head! Me and my sis were at the karaoke just now and this little imp was so naughty, and hands super itchy. So when she took out her spare drypants to play, I asked if she wants to wear a hat and promptly pull the drypants over her head.

I slipped it on so fast, Tara didn't even get the "eye-hole". She walked around the room blind and bumped into the table. It was so amusing.

Sis re-adjusted the diaper so Tara can see where she was going. Then she decided Tara needs to breathe and pull the diaper down to show her face as well.

I still can't stop laughing!

Yikes, bad mummy! Poor Tara!

Hahahaha... Oops.

Miss Scatterbrain in Action!

Yeah, I did it again. This time with Tara.

I was driving her to Mum's place this morning and was travelling the same highway that leads to my workplace. I was daydreaming of the tasks I'm planning to do and forgot to exit when I reached Mum's place and so I thought, darn, I will exit at the next one a distance away.

And guess what? I forgot to exit again! And I travelled for 5 mins, singing to one of my favourite songs on radio, before I realised that I missed my exit again! And when you are driving at 100km/hr, 5 mins is quite a good distance away.

I asked Tara why didn't she make some noise or something so I know she's in the car. But she just stared at me blankly, maybe thinking that Mummy is such a lunatic, and continued sucking on her thumb. Yeah, I felt stupid too. For pushing blame to the innocent kiddo.

The best part is I've recently installed a mirror which allows me to see the kiddo while driving, without turning around. And yet, I can forget she's there. Grr... Glad my scatterbrain disease wasn't that bad yet. At least I didn't drive all the way to office and left her in my car while I rush my work in office. Yeah, lucky loh.

One Night Stay @ Pan Pac

Bob must have realised that I had some bad weeks and decided to book a night's stay at Pan Pac for me to relax. Of course I welcome that, I love hotel stay!

And Pan Pac has always been our favourite. Cos it's so near to the malls and cinemas. Pre-Tara, we always loved to watch a late night movie during our hotel stays. Especially walking down to the cinema after I had my shower, just made me feel so... so... eh, I don't know how to describe. I just love the feeling loh.

After we had Tara, we would bring her along to our hotel stays. Some of my friends asked me why don't I leave Tara at home and enjoy "二人世界" but we actually enjoyed ourselves more when we have Tara with us. It's so fun! Bringing her for swims, shopping, dinner etc. (That was before she became the "Miss Terrible")

It's always our habit to shop for food and snacks after we've checked in, but this time, I had to shop alone cos Bob has yet to recovered from his sprained ankle. I brought the still sleeping Tara with me. I wouldn't bring her along if she's awake. The pesky little kid.

I'm had to buy lunch and I really cracked my head before I decided on the roast duck from "店小二". I've been eyeing this duck for so long but couldn't get to eat it. I ordered the "十全烤鸭". It's superlicious!!!! So yummy!! Sorry peking duck, you have to drop to the second place liao. I've also ordered Seafood Paella from Changing Apettites. Alright, quite nice but a little too greasy and portion is too big!

Fortunately, Tara still has a set of swimsuit in her size. And we even brought along the bathrobe MIL bought for her from Kelantan! She looked really cute in the swimsuit and bathrobe.

Tara wasn't too keen in swimming. We didn't let her swim a lot cos she always caught the flu bug after swimming. After 5 mins in the water, she couldn't wait to get out! No matter how we cajoled her. She actually enjoyed running around the poolside more than soaking in the water! And check out the tummy! (hers, not mine yah?)

And the little girl was quite bored in the room. After rummaging through the drawers, tugging at the toilet roll, taking out all the drink bottles from the fridge, playing with the faucet at the bathtub, she decided she will do something she always do at home, stacking. Stacking what? Creamers she took from the fridge. She must be really bored!

We spent most of the day sleeping and only came about to ordering dinner at 10pm. We decided to get room service, since Bob has difficulty walking. We ordered Beef medallion for Bob and lamb cutlet for me. Too bad I woke up too late, if not we can order from Hai Tien Lo and Keyaki! Their orders up till 10pm only. Oh yes, we also shared a lobster soup. Yummy!! The food is so better than Conrad.

The second day of our stay, we had our complimentary buffet breakfast at the Summer House Cafe and relaxed at the hotel room till we checked out at 2pm.

Before we left, we even brought Tara to take the lift with a view. We can only see the interior of the hotel from the lifts that goes to the floor where our rooms are.




I love the view of the business district. Makes me so happy everytime I see it from afar. It gives a strangely soothing feeling. Irony right? Business district suppose to be a busy place with stressful people but it calms me. Yeah, sometimes I don't understand myself either.

Bob told me we will try out Mandarin Hotel the next time. Yeah, can't wait!

My LOs for the Crossword Challenge

Clue 2 - Relationship



I submitted this a couple hours before the due time. Glad I made it.

Clue 3 - Love



I did this last night. Had wanted to sketch out the layout and do it tonight but I got stuck once I started matching the papers. Only slept at 4am this morning. But I'm not tired at all! Surprisingly! Guess scrapping is really the thing for me. Yup, I'm happy again!!

I love this LO! And I love this photo. I'm so much slimmer back then. And no double chin. Sob.

Empty

That's how I'm feeling nowadays. I don't know why. Just feel lost. There's nothing exciting in my life or there's nothing that I'm excited about.

Haiz, must find things to do. Must find satisfying things to do. But what? I don't know...

Tara's Milestone @ 19 months

I think I saw her feet off the ground when she was jumping and dancing the other day. But it happened really fast and I couldn't get her to do it again. I think it's a major development if she can do that!

No new vocab though. It's still the same ol' "bye bye", "no more" and stuff like that. She's repeating more of the words we said. Oh yah, she can recognize and said "bird" when she sees one. Though it sounded more like "ber". And bread is "包".

Nowadays, when she wants water or milk, she will lead us to the kitchen area where the stuff are, and point to it, indicating what she wants. She even know where the biscuits are.

And boy, her temper is getting fiery! Her screams get louder when she doesn't get what she wants, or if I take away something dangerous which she is playing with. She knows that when she cries, her demands will be met but that doesn't happen with Bob and me. If she starts crying, we will refuse to give her anything she wants. Only if she behaves, then we will "reward" her, sort of. Still teaching her though, she still cries when she wants that sweet or that toy. I hope she can learn that she can get things by not crying, or rather, by behaving well.

The other day, she did this really funny thing. She was holding one of her alphabet wood block under her chin and walked over to the sofa to placed it down. Sort of like transporting the blocks from the floor to the sofa. She did that for quite a while. I gave her a piece of banana which she was playing and to my amusement, she did the same too! She held the banana under her chin, so that she can use both her hands to hold the blocks. It was so funny! I wish I had the camera with me. Sometimes, kids do the darnest thing.

I think she's starting to get into a conversation with us. She will look at us and start talking gibberish, in a straight face, as though she's talking to us in terms we understand. At times like this, Bob and I will just reply her as though we really understand her. I was hoping this might encourage her to talk more and eventually talk in proper language.

She has learnt to keep her toys when we asked her to, which is quite surprising to me, I didn't expect her to do it when I casually asked the other day. Then on, she will do it everytime I asked.

And now, finally, she understand most of what I said to her. The other day, she was throwing the worse tantrum and after she was in her good mood again, I asked her if she wanted water, she nod her head. Then I said I'm going out of the room to get her water and she is to sit on the bed and wait for me, and she nodded. Then I said she won't cry right? Cos Mummy will be back soon, and she shake her head, indicating that she won't cry. And truly, I left the room and came back to find her sitting at the same spot when I left her. From then on, I realised that she can indicate accurately what she wants, by nodding and shaking her head to what I asked.

She knows how to "squat down" when we asked. And "退后" when she's too near the TV.

The only frustrating thing is, she doesn't respond when we call her name. She knows her name, but she always refuse to respond. And I wonder why. Hmmz.

Tara's New Sandals

From Jurong Point's Kiddy Palace. The only pair left. In size 21. Big. But she can at least wear for the next few months before I had to buy another pair.

Now I really need to get more clothes for her. She's outgrown most of her clothes too. It's time to spend, again.

Altered Lunch Box

My first altered lunch box! I love it! Too bad Scrapbooking Cove ran out of stock for the lunch boxes. I wana do more!!

My LO for TSL Crossword Challenge

Finally finished the layout for the challenge, it's due tonight. I have just uploaded the file to TSL gallery.



I'm only able to finish it cos I'm not working today. My fever hasn't gone away after 2 days so the doctor gave me 2 days sick leave. And Bob had sent Tara to Mum's place so I can get my peace and quiet rest.

The medicine has kicked in, I'm groggy now. Going to sleep. Yawnz..

Belated Birthday Surprise!

Last Saturday, I received an sms from Cindy after I parked my car. She wanted to pass something to me and asked if I'm home already. I've been getting her to pass me Bob's DVD and Tara's aloe vera gel so I thought she wanted to meet me up for this purpose.

I purposely walked to my block slowly so she can meet me down my block instead of going up my house, but she told me to go home first and said timing was just right, which left me feeling a little puzzled.

When I reached home, I saw a paperbag hanging on my door. Besides the DVD and the aloe vera gel, there's also a nicely wrapped package. A birthday gift for me!

I couldn't wait and immediately opened it up and guess what... it's a scrap kit! Finally I have the chance to do sizes other than the normal 12 x 12 layouts.

Whoa, how blessed I am. Can't wait to start on the kit. But not before I finish up the Crossword challenge due for submission tomorrow and the lunch box. Yep, I'm a happy woman.

Fresh Milk for the First Time

This morning, Bob and I brought Tara to Mac for breakfast. She had a Hotcakes Happy Meal with fresh milk.

I'm pretty skeptical at first, cos she never tried any other types of milk besides her usual formula ones. I only allowed her to take a few sips. Hope she won't get any tummy upset later.

If it's okay for her to take fresh milk, maybe I don't need to bring any milk out in future and just get off the shelves full cream fresh milk? Or is it not advisable to give the tot fresh milk? I wonder..

Terrible Two Phase

I think it's here already. Everytime I bring her out, I have to deal with her meltdowns. It's tiring and very frustrating. And it always make me feel like a bad parent, cos I really don't know how to deal with it. I've tried cajoling, hoaxing, warning, scolding, shouting and smacking but nothing seems to work.

I wonder when this phase will be over? Please let it be over soon, before I go berserk.

We went to Bob's colleague's place yesterday for a full month party. Whenever the little tot ventured some areas out of bounds and I tried to carry her out, she would bawl so loud as though I had smacked her! Even when I did smack her, she wouldn't cry this loud.

Haiz....

To the library

Yeah! It's back again.. The "drop everything and read" campaign. The campaign that allows you to borrow 8 books per card, instead of the usual 4.

I brought Tara to the Fun with Tots reading activity on Wednesday and after the activity, I went up to Baby section to borrow 16 board books. Yes, it's 16 board books. Imagine how heavy is that??



One thing I hate about libraries, except the one near Bugis Junction, is that they don't have any carparks! Especially the one at Jurong West, it's located neither here nor there, no matter where I park, I still have to walk a distance to reach the library.

That day, I was carrying a hand-carry totebag with a flask of porridge inside, 16 board books (which I had to hold 3 big ones cos they were too big to go into the book bag), and heavy Tara (she's 9.5kg now, and that's very heavy!). I had to walk to the carpark a distance away and after we reach home, I gotta walk a distance to my block. And the little imp refused to walk too! I put her down on the ground and she started fussing, no matter how I cajoled her, she refused to walk.

When I reach home, I thought I'm gonna faint from over exhaustion. Told Bob if I have to do this everyday, I will be very slim in no time. Guess the next time, it's wiser to bring a pram.

And why would I want to borrow 16 board books one shot? So that I don't have to keep going to the library. It's so easy to finish 4 books in one night. And I usually try to read each book at least 3 times. Now with 16 books, I don't need to go to the library for the next 12 days.

Not so new LOs

Did these layouts a few weeks ago.



I love this layout! But it's only because I love Tara's expression. Hehe.



My fastest layout ever! Did it under 20mins.



Most stressful and disorganized layout. Joined the Bingo Challenge at Laine's. Didn't plan what to do and end up with very slip shoddy work. What a waste! The photos especially.. Love the cut-out of her name thought, especially the T!!

Hi-5 Live Action Hero Concert @ Expo

The day finally came! I've been wanting to see how Tara will react when she see her favorite Hi-5 characters live.

The place was totally packed with screaming kids! And parents were busy taking pictures and buying Hi-5 stuff for their precious. Yeah, I'm one of them too.



I bought a t-shirt for Tara, even though I hate T-shirts with loud and cartoony prints. I thought it makes a nice souvenir to keep. The small size toddler can only fit in the XS size and there's only 1 design left in blue. I slipped the t-shirt over her jumper and even bought her and my niece and nephew a Hi-5 hand. Top-to-toe Hi-5 fans!! They sure look like they came from some fan club.



When the show started, 2 ladies came out and tried to warm up the crowd. Tara sat wide-eyed throughout, unaware that it's the Hi-5 show. It's only when the theme song of Hi-5 came on and the 5 characters of Hi-5 came prancing out, did she got excited. Really excited, to be exact. She kept jumping on my lap! I wonder her legs would ache cos she was jumping throughout the whole show!!! Full of energy, the little one.


This clip was taken during the 15min break. She was jumping to the background music, but less energy as compared to during the show. I wonder how to rotate the video clip to portrait?

On our way there, Sis said her friend told her one of the gang was replaced by another gal, and I said might be one of the girls got pregnant. I had thought it was Charli cos she was married first but I'm surprised to find out it's Kathleen, she's 7 months preggie. Ahh... so nice. But quite a waste cos I kind of like Kathleen, her voice is good! A girl by the name of Sun replaced her, she's quite good too! Tim, Nathan and Kellie put on weight and Charli still look nice and slim as ever. Okay, enough bitching.

The show was good!! And every penny was well-spent cos Tara enjoyed herself tremendously. She was screaming and laughing all the way. And when the characters asked the kids questions and the kids answered yes or something, she would follow suit and go "yea..". Cute!



If there should be another show in future and if Tara is still interested in Hi-5, I will bring her there again. It's a great feeling to see your little baby happy.

Day 4
Our flight was at 2.30pm. We left the hotel at 11.30am and the tour guide brought us to one final location, the usual kind of tourist-ripping local snacks shop. It's so expensive, the cost of one packet of tidbit can buy you one pair of shoes. I slept late the night before, so I was dead tired. After cheonging to Ximending for one last time with Cheryl, stocking up instant cup noodles, I couldn't wait to get on the bus for a short nap.

Once we reach the shop, the tour guide told us to use the toilet first. Obediently, we trotted to the toilet. I was last in the long queue. Tired, sleepy and slightly grumpy, I gave up queuing and walked out. I heard the tour guide calling my name and I thought, did something happen, I lost my passport, left something in the hotel room or something, cos she never address us by our name before. I saw a small crowd of colleagues already gathered at the table.

I walked towards them and saw the surprise.

A birthday cake for me!

I was so touched, I'm almost speechless! My colleagues gathered round and sang me a birthday song. It's a really... really nice surprise. Cos we were still in Taiwan and none of my colleagues (except Cheryl) knew it's my birthday so I wasn't expecting anything and it's just like another normal day to me. I think I will remember this birthday in many years to come. Oh yah, the fruit stall owner there gave me a big "jambu" too.



The candle was a question mark, so funny. The tour guide said she don't want to reveal my age so she got the question mark candle. Right picture taken with the tour guide. Thanks Kelvin for remembering to take this picture. I was in such a daze that when they told me to make a wish, my mind was in a total blank. Everything was so sudden so I didn't prepare my "wish list".



We each had a bowl of meat ball vermicelli before we left for the airport. It's very tasty and the meatball was quite crunchy, but some of my colleagues said it taste like those instant bee hoon we have in Singapore. Hmmz, don't think so leh.

Oh yah, I wore my new shoes which I bought on my first day in Taipei, at Ximending! I love it so much but none of my colleagues share the same sentiment. Not nice meh?



The one reason I love flying. Blue skies, beautiful white clouds. Makes me happy.



But I'm even happier to be home, cos my babies are here.



Total damage after 4 days in Taipei: Approx S$1,000

Nothing much to buy and I have no idea why I spent so much. The additional 2 pcs of luggage was mainly the snacks and tidbits. Feel so unbalance, no clothes, no bags...

To summarize, Taipei is fun! I would love to go back again, cos it's a food paradise to me. And I love food! That explains my size. Hehe. I miss Taipei already. Haiz.

Taiwan Trip - Day 3

Day 3

台北101大楼 (Taipei 101)

Tallest building in the world


Ticket comes with a $15 off for ice-cream, which cost $160 each


Beautiful galaxy lights on the roof of the fastest lift in the world.


View of Taipei on top of 101. Very congested, and rather polluted.

Another touristy thing I've done. At the observatory, they rent out DVD camcorder at only NT150 (S$7.50). 30 mins of filming and a DVD for souvenir. What a deal! Of course I have to rent it. But frankly, there's nothing much to film besides the scenery.


The mini DVD I got from Taipei 101

So both me and Cheryl decided to self-narrate various of boh liao video clips. At one stage, I had the camcorder pointed at myself while I start blabbering nonsense, something like this "You may realise that my face look really big. No choice, my arm is too short that's why I can't hold the camcorder further than I would like." Yeah, nonsense like this. Or else, it's totally impossible to finish the whole of 30 mins! I have yet to watch the clips. Frankly, I don't have the courage to. I think it's quite funny to watch yourself on film. But the whole filming thingy was super fun!

I bought some souvenirs there as well, 2 mugs, 1 bag, 2 decks of poker cards and postcards, which I sent one home to Bob and Tara. It's really cute, they have those nice little stamps like "Love from Mom", "Love from Taipei 101" which you can use on the postcards. Postage cost NT12 (S$0.60) and you can post it into those cute little mail boxes there too. I was too busy holding the guide phone (a phone like thingy where you press buttons to receive info of the Taipei view), the camcorder, my camera, my shopping bag to take more pictures of the observatory, quite a waste.

I even had those superimposed picture of myself against the Taipei 101 scenery taken at the photo studio there! The photo comes with a certificate as well. Very touristy indeed.

We took too much time filming the video and the gang left without us. By the time we were done and went downstairs for food, the gang already finished theirs and shopping around. They told us to meet again at 3.30pm. With another 1 hour to spare, Cheryl and I decided to cheong to another famous memorial hall a short distance away. My feet on 2 inch heels finally decided to surrender and I had to buy a pair of cute pasat slippers (S$2.50) from Watsons. I don't care it's very auntie-ish, and it doesn't go with my outfit. It's s..o... comfortable!

国父纪念馆 (Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall)
We get a nice view of Taipei 101 from here. Besides that, there's nothing else. We went inside the hall to see another guard changing ceremony and since we were there, we decided to walk around. We enter the museum and saw this table, with a lot of rubber stamps.



I whipped out a photocopy of my passport and start stamping the back page. Cheryl suggested going into the souvenir shop to get a postcard to stamp instead. Typical tourists again! Glad she suggested that, cos we found this in the shop.



The booklet for those stamps! Another 2 sets of stamps are located in different parts of the museum, so instead of looking at those meaningful displays, both of us are going around searching for the stamps! We had to call the gang and tell them to go ahead with their plans cos we are having so much fun with the stamping.

It's only when we almost finished stamping the book, did we realise the small print at the bottom of the booklet.



It's for kids. Bleh...

The gang had went back to the hotel, so both Cheryl and I decided to explore on our own. Both of us felt quite safe to go around on our own. Cheryl even told me she felt like she's finally home. Haha. That's how much she love Taiwan. Me too, I felt totally comfortable. The rest of the group lamented on how boring Taipei, but both of us enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

鼎泰丰 (Ding Tai Feng)
How can we miss this restaurant famous for it's 小笼包 (Xiao Long Bao). But frankly, the 小笼包 tasted exactly like Singapore's. The beef soup too. The dumpling, however, was super yummy! Just the way I like it.





After the meal, Cheryl went to the ladies, when she finally walked out after what seems like hours, she got this cheeky and amused look, and told me I have to go and see the toilet and bring a camera as well.

High tech facilities. Sensor activated water sounds to hide your embarrassingly loud peeing and warm water to wash your butt, and even a dryer! I stayed inside for quite a while too, must try mah and I haven't cleared my bowels for 2 days. Hiak! Suaku Singaporeans. Well, both of us haven't been to Japan, and this is the closest encounter we had with high tech toilet facilities!



I'm berating myself for not reading the threads at TSL, cos someone told me that there's a scrap supplies shop in Taipei and it's around the same area!! Too late..

I suggested to Cheryl that we should try their public buses too! She was skeptical at first, worried that we will get lost, but we checked with the waitresses at the restaurant and the best way to go to our next destination is to take a bus to the MRT station to take the MRT. Yeah, we get to try the public buses!



Very clean, very organized and the driver even annouced the stops! Taiwanese get on the buses at the back door and alight at the front door. And they only pay when they alight. So no one can cheat! Smart!

五分埔成衣批发区 (Wufenpu Garment Wholesale Area)

The paradise for the trendy chicks! It's quite big and there were rows and rows of garment shops! Here you can find the lastest trend clothes. But it's not for me. Not because the style is too trendy. It's because the clothes look so small, I think they can only fit my thigh. Besides, they don't allow trying, so in the end, even though I managed to find loose fit clothes, I dare not buy, I only managed to get a hairband, yes, hairband. Well, my head size is still normal mah. Only body size got problem. Hehe.

We gave up after walking a few rows cos there's nothing that suit us. We went back to the hotel to "offload" our shopping bags, and I changed to a comfortable, tummy camouflaging t-shirt top cos our next stop is surrounded with food streets. Yeah, food again.

龙山寺 (Longshan Temple)
Cheryl, the buddhist, just had to visit 龙山寺. It's just another temple that's very nicely decorated, to me. But I heard it over 100 years old.

华西街 (Huaxi Street)
Across the temple, it's Huaxi Street, or so we thought. The streets was buzzling with activities! And Cheryl saw this. Scratch and win. It's quite easy to win NT100 or NT200. I bought 3 tickets for NT200 and won NT100.



I managed to grab a set of clothes for Shermaine and some pants and tops for Tara at NT100 (S$5) a piece.

Yeah, another food paradise!

We ate a bomb here. It's super duper yummy! It's just like those Japanese ball ball thingy we have in Singapore, but here, it's much bigger, loaded with ingredients and so much more yummy!



Dessert with 粉圆 (pearl), 豆花 (soya beancurd), 红豆(redbean). Refreshing and delicious.

蚝仔煎 (Oyster Omelette) Singapore one taste so much better. Theirs pretty yucky. Blurks...

We were at the end of the street where we ate the oyster omelette so both of us wonder how come the Huaxi street is so short so we decided to ask a couple on the next table if there's more of the Huaxi street we didn't explore.

Cheryl asked the couple if this was the end of Huaxi street, the couple gave us a puzzled look and said this is not Huaxi street, but 广州街 (Guangzhou street) or 广东街 (Guandong street) or something. And Huaxi street was further up. Wah lau, both of us walked on the street for an hour and it's actually the wrong street!

We walked over the Huaxi street and within 10 mins, we were out. It's a totally touristy street and specialized in snake dishes, where they will kill the snakes right in front of you. Freaked both of us out and we couldn't wait to get out.

西门町 (XiMenDing)
Yup, we went back to Ximending. Cos it's so near to our hotel. Tried the famous 阿宗面线.



Shopped around a bit more, but there's nothing to buy. When most of the shops closed, we went to the massage center again. This time, I opt for the intensive 1.5 hour full body massage cos my back was aching so much.

I really miss the massage there, cos it's s..o.. good! I even add in another 40min foot massage cos my legs are also aching terribly. I got another 师夫 this time, and he's super duper good! After the massage, I felt I could run a mile!

We reached the hotel at 2am. Both of us chilling out and watching Taiwan variety show. At 3am, I came out of the toilet, Cheryl went all perky and asked "Guess what time is it now??!". Tired and sleepy, I said "3am loh." and she said "No!! It's present-giving time!!" And whipped out a present for me. She actually brought the present all the way from Singapore and waited till the day of my birthday to give to me. No wonder she was quite secretive when opening her luggage. I was so surprised and very touched! She told me I will like the gift a lot.



And she's totally right man! Scrapbook supplies!! And I've been wanting to get the flower foam stamps for so long! She also bought a baby girl kit for me. I'm so happy! Hehehe...