Monday, January 28, 2013

WOOP WOOP

*Sniffing my nose off as I type this. Yesterday out of the blue, in the middle of the day, in the living room...my nose just wouldn't stop dripping. My brainwaves now are like ------------------- so less words more pictures!

Bergs // Bar Stories // Steve Aoki @ Avalon


Gourmet burgers by Haji Lane. Quite yummy though still can't beat the Burger Bar standard!


Cocktails at Bar Stories. No menus, just tell them what your palette wants to taste and they'll whip up something for you. Tad expensive though on average about $25 per cocktail.


And the epic photo of the century....


Chillin' with Aoki in the VIP lounge!


Yeah t'was a good night. ^^

Thursday, January 24, 2013

So What's New....


1. I got my iPad mini (finally!) All employees at Booking received one for Christmas!! Got my gorgeous pink snake skin case on Taobao (LOVE TAOBAO) for only $10!


2. Finally booked our Taiwan plane tickets and hotels for March! We deserve this long break we really do!! Funny story, we were waiting and waiting for the SQ sale fares to be launched, and I saw the advertisement on the newspaper while on the plane. Like how random, and I usually don't read the papers on the plane. So we immediately booked tickets when I returned. Whoopee!


3. Getting fat due to overload of CNY goodies. Save me.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Shanghai Jan 2013: 海底捞 // Room Escape

Was in Shanghai for the week for work, and had a chance to hang out with Rina (who has since relocated back to Shanghai to be with her husband sho shweet!). It's winter time, so the temperature fluctuated between 0 to 7. What frustrates me though is that the heating indoors is ridik! So you're shivering outside, and you're sweating indoors. It's no wonder I caught a tiny cold there, sigh.


***
On Tuesday, my lovely colleagues also brought me to eat 海底捞, which has since opened a branch in Singapore. It deserves a post of its own based on the excellent service, but well, I think the photos will mostly take up most of this post anyway. Basically even with reservations, you still have to wait because it is THAT popular. We went to the branch at Jingan District (北京西路店, Food Park), about a 10 minute walk from East Nanjing Road Metro Station.

So as I was saying, we had to wait for about 30 minutes. While waiting, they will serve you fruits, popcorn and drinks. You can have your shoes shined or get a manicure (for free!). When you finally get your table, you have a personal waiter doing everything for you. Ladies also get a rubber band so your hair doesn't get in the soup. You get a hot towel every 20 minutes or so. And when you visit the toilet, someone will on/off the tap for you and apply hand lotion for you. *jaw drop* And the total bill came up to only about $20/pax WITH BEER. L.O.V.E.


***
On Wednesday, Rina brought me out to play something new. Ever played Room Escape games? Those where you find yourself locked in a room and have to solve various clues in order to escape? Well, we did the real life version. Hmmmm hahahhah.


Apparently it's a big thing in Shanghai, and there are many different branches around the city. The one we went to was in a condo building, and we were so sceptical like...I look at you, you look at me, if anything wrong JUST RUN! LOL. But nah, everything turned out well, the owner was super nice and I had a good time trying to escape Hurhur. We only had an hour, so of course we couldn't escape on time, but it was a nice experience.

Ended the night with a nice dinner at Bellagio Taiwanese restaurant.


Booking.Yeah!


How exciting, to be here when the first ever TVC of our company is launched! The concept was unveiled at the Xmas Party last year, but it's still hilarious to watch the actual production. I think the idea behind is brilliant. No matter what you think of Booking.com, you can't deny how savvy the ad is, and how social media trendy this will become! It's gonna be launched in the US only, but let's cross our fingers that more will follow for the rest of the world!

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Cosy Housewarming

So Nigel and Irene moved after 2 years in Singapore, because property prices increased and their rent was raised by 20% (what's new Singapore!!! Before long all of us will be living in cardboard boxes cos that's all we can afford!). We had an impromptu housewarming and Chef Nigel cooked us delicious Spaghetti Bolognese. We brought them a little gift, rainbow plastic wine glasses! And Laylay bought mini plants for Irene to grow on her new balcony.

//Pardon the picture quality, my iPhone camera is going WONKS!

Monday, January 21, 2013

A Fishy 28th Birthday

On 12th January my big bundle of bubbling joy turned 28. I still can't believe it..28...she still looks like she's 18. Haha. Sheesh that means I turn 27 this year. Well age is just a number, don't let it get to your head. But that's besides the point. We got up early to have brunch at Marche, and visited the Maritime Museum & Aquarium at Sentosa.



The girls printed her a very cute redemption voucher. We have yet to visit the Adventure Cove Waterpark due to the shitty weather!! But soon!


We got to walk through the Maritime Museum. You get this cute passport which you can stamp at different stations. Basically you walk through different regions and eras, learning about the spice routes, pirates and taking photos with cute exhibits.



Having been to several other aquariums around the world, my review is: yeah it's big but that's about it. There weren't any special activities (like Bangkok had a water-glass boat ride) and it was waaaaay crowded. Also I don't quite like the idea that they opened the aquarium when some tanks were not functioning yet. I paid the full fare, I expect to see the whole aquarium. Would be interesting though to enjoy a fish dish at the Aquarium restaurant while watching the fish swim by (hurhur).



And after that, we indeed went....to have some seafood snacks HAHAHA. Mussel Guys at Vivocity for cheap beer and cheap snacks! I don't know why there's always no queue, and yet Kim Gary next door has snaking queues (it's not even nice!). But well, good for us then.