My day @ Goodwood

Went to Goodwood Park hotel for Grace's wedding rehearsal just now. 2 more weeks to her big day, I feel so excited and happy for her. I can sense that she is getting nervous. Afterall, it is not easy to deal with all those wedding banquet logistics and expectations of parents and relatives. But don't worry gal, I believe that everything will turn out perfect.

While we were waiting for the hotel manager to bring us to the ballroom for the rehearsal, Amy gave me my belated birthday present.

My belated birthday gift

Makeup pouch with multiple brush compartments and tissue holder from Mphosis. Sweet Amy inserted a small personalised note in one of the compartments. :)

Amy, thanks for the gift. Your friendship is blessing to me for the past 11 years too. Must good care of yourself and try eat more k...

Pissed

I chatted with ST via MSN on Friday.

ST: Hi

Pegz: Hi

ST: What you doing tmrw?

Pegz: Going facial tmrw

Pegz: Y?

ST: Thought of asking you out, it has been a while

Pegz: Ok

ST: Ok, lets confirm tmrw

Pegz: Ok

So, what does "ok, let confirm tmrw" means? Yes, it means that we may or may not meet up. I am fine if he is busy. But isn't it basic courtesy to send sms or give a call to confirm? Afterall, he is the one who wants to meet me.

I am kinda pissed with this friend of mine as this is the 2nd time he is doing this. And whenever I told that I am not free to meet him, he will make sarcastic remarks like "wow, you are so popular, must book you so many weeks in advance". wtf!

To think that he actually ask me to recommend some of my girl friends to him, I am glad that I didn't. With such character, he better remain single for life!

Keeping my Accessories

My accessories have been in a mess for the longest time...till I decide to buy some storage cases from Daiso yesterday to keep them

Looks so neat now!

Visual Management as I will know if my accessories are missing! I apply the 5S which I learnt from my lean six sigma course...hehe..

I feel happy that my precious accessories are now properly kept. I need to buy 5 more storages cases from Daiso to keep all of them as there are still a huge chuck of accessories in my drawer. Ah..who ask me to be such a shopoholic?

Planning for my Next Holiday

Holiday travel is never enough. Though I just came back from my HK trip for less than a month, I feel like traveling again. My friend jokingly said that I shouldn’t have quit my flying job since I love to travel so much. Well, duty travel and holiday travel are 2 totally different experiences. I admit that my ex-flying job allowed me to visit many places and gained lots of overseas experience. However, nothing beats being able to travel with your loved ones.

In fact, I remembered that there were many occasions in the past which I wished I didn’t have to go on flight. Don’t get me wrong, I am not referring to those turnaround flights in which allowances are not as lucrative. I am referring to popular flights in which allowances can be as high as $1800.

Yes, I should start planning for my next holiday trip. I am most probably going to Europe with mum so that I can also visit my sis in Berlin. Just checked the price of the ticket to Berlin, only $1190 via Qatar, $700 cheaper than what I have paid for previously. Hohoho…

Hair Experiment

Sandy just cut her hair and her new hair style is similar to this:

To be exact, hers is slightly longer.

But it still brings back memories of my younger days. It makes me wonder why I used to love short hair. Hmm…Easy to manage? No, I don’t think so. I had to spend about 5 to 10 minutes styling my hair every morning when I had this punky hair style. As compared to now in which I can leave home without even spending a minute to comb my tresses, having that punky hair is considered troublesome. In fact, I am quite adamant that I will not cut my hair short for the next few years.

So what have I done to my tresses in the last few years?

1. Perm: I have my hair perm 3 times. The first 2 tries were total disaster as my hair was too short when I did the perm. I think I probably looked like a poodle. Yucks!

However, my third try wasn’t too bad.

2. Rebond: Born with natural straight hair, it is a waste of money for me to rebond my hair for no good reason. But I have done it 3 times, and I always did it after my perm.

3. Bleach: I did this once and it was unintentional! I merely told the hairdresser that I wanted to colour my hair ash brown and it turned out to be blond! I tried to darken my blond hair a few times but the hair became blondish again after several wash. Well, the scariest thing is that this incident came back to haunt me after seeing a picture of my blond head being posted by one of my friends on FB recently! OMG!

4. Colour/Highlight: Who wouldn’t have done this before? But I kinda stop colouring my hair already. I think that jet black hair is still what I prefer...for now...

Afternoon tea @ Lawry's

My sis just shared with me this promotion. Perhaps I should go for a girly afternoon tea with my pals soon...

Just another Saturday in November

We went to Goodwood Park Hotel, Min Jiang for hi-tea tim sum buffet.

Reached Min Jiang at 2.55pm, but there was a long queue at the entrance. Thus, we decided to wait at the hotel lobby.

Selection of tim-sum

My recommendation: Must try their Chicken wings and Mango Pudding

Each pax is given a durian pudding; Lucky FK, he had 2 as I don't take durian

It costs only $23.90 ++ per pax, kinda value for money. But gotta make reservations to avoid disappointment.

We wanted to catch 2012 at Cineleisure after our hi-tea. However, the tickets for the next screening were sold out. I wonder whether we can still catch the show in cinema after FK's 16 days Langkawi trip...

Bumped into a few friends and went to Monkey Cafe for drinks.

The cookies and cream smoothie which I had was a disappointment. I think the milk shake at Macs taste better! Well, the banana blend which WS ordered tasted really good...so I guess it is probably called Monkey cafe for a reason...

Wellness Village Scam

I was happily surfing in HK when I saw this article on CNA news:

Has Wellness Village Spa left its customers in the lurch?
By Alicia Wong, TODAY Posted: 10 November 2009 0704 hrs

SINGAPORE: For over four years, it operated at the Pan Pacific Singapore hotel. But over the course of a day, the Wellness Village Spa left customers and the hotel in the lurch when it suddenly shut down, disconnecting its phone lines.

At its Pagoda Street outlet in Chinatown, the premises were empty, with the doors wide open when MediaCorp visited on Monday. Neighbouring shop owners said they saw movers shifting equipment and furniture on Sunday afternoon. In the quiet of the night, the same scene was seemingly repeated at the Pan Pacific outlet.

A nearby shop owner said the spa began retrenching workers last month. He noticed remaining staff packing up late last week, and believes that customers were told it was "fully booked" to keep them from coming down.

This was certainly the experience for one customer.

Ms Elaine Ong had been trying to make an appointment, but the spa kept telling her that it was fully booked.

The "first hint of trouble" came last Thursday when she called the Pan Pacific outlet and an employee told her only two therapists were being employed, said Ms Ong who is in her 30s.

As she has recently signed up for a $600 package, Ms Ong said she was a "bit alarmed".

At Pan Pacific on Monday, a hotel employee told guests the spa had closed without informing anyone. Dutch businessman Laros, 39, who had been peering through the spa's glass door, said the hotel's reception pointed him to the spa for a massage when he checked in.

The hotel told MediaCorp the spa "leases and operates the premises independently".

It "sincerely regrets any inconvenience experienced" and is now re-directing guests to nearby spa facilities. It will "continue to attempt" to contact Wellness Village Spa, it added.

Checks with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority showed that Wellness Village was incoporated in June 2004 and is still a "live company". Permanent resident Lia Meyrina is listed as its director. MediaCorp could not reach the company.

Wellness Village Spa and Fitness, a limited liability partnership with Ms Lia and a Mr Christopher Tan Khee Howe listed as partners, was struck off in September. It was registered in 2007.

Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) executive director Seah Seng Choon was "not surprised" by the spa's actions. "Don't be fooled by the location. Spas are generally small businesses, unless they have an international chain ...

Consumers have to be careful when transacting with them," said Mr Seah.

Since last year, CASE has received five complaints, including unsatisfactory services and difficulty in scheduling sessions, against Wellness Village. Four were made this year, with the latest complaint in October. CASE is trying to contact the company.

I have 2 more unused sessions and I was shocked to see this news.

Not that I think that the owners are making huge profits from this Spa business but the fact that they were still asking customers to sign up for their packages on 31 Oct09...This makes me wonder whether this is a scam to cheat customers.

Yes, I had my massage done at Wellness on 31 Oct09 and I was one of the customers whom they have approached. But luckily, I declined immediately as their service was bad. The massage ended 10 minutes earlier than expected and no drink was served after the massage. I also witnessed an arguement between a staff and a customer at the reception.

In fact, I was supposed to go for my massage the week before (24 Oct09) as well. However, a staff called to inform me that 2 of their staff were on MC and thus, they had to cancel my appointment. So now I know that this was a lie, the staff weren't on MC. They were probably retrenched long ago.

My friend, QN, is also one of the victim of this scam. She called Wellness in Oct to book for massage sessions in Nov but was told that the spa would be undergoing renovations.

Though I think it is unlikely that we get refunds, I hope that the necessary legal actions will be taken against the owners.

Around Europe in 18 days (replicate of what I have shared with Dolce readers)

With the intention of visiting my elder sister, who is posted to Berlin by her company, we (my mum, my younger sister and I) embarked on an eighteen days trip to Europe. In a short span of two and half weeks, we travelled 5 cities (in 3 countries). The cities are Berlin, Dresden, Rome, Munich and Prague.

Needless to say, our first stop was Berlin where we took a seventeen hours flight (inclusive of 3 hours of transit time at Istanbul) via Turkish Airline to get there.

3 hours transit at Istanbul airport where we couldn’t wait for the time to pass for us to take the transit flight to Berlin to meet my elder sister

Sight-seeing in Berlin : Brandenburg Gate

The famous currywurst in Germany – We bought this a roadside store in Berlin and paid about 4 euros

Sight-seeing in Berlin: Charlie Checkpoint – Tourist can pay a token to get a stamp their passport

Sight-seeing in Berlin: Charlie Checkpoint – We are crossing the border

Sight-seeing in Berlin: Berlin Wall – The sky was turning dark when we visited the Berlin Wall and perhaps that was the reason I found this place very quiet and eerie

We took a day trip to Dresden, a nearby city which is 2 hours away from Berlin, via the intercity train, also known as DB Bahn. The buildings in Dresden were magnificent, though my mum commented that they looked like those abandoned haunted building which we saw in the horror movies at night. *Laugh*

Sight-seeing in Dresden: Dresden Frauenkirche




Sight-seeing in Dresden: Zwinger

Our third stop is Rome. Yes, you must be wondering why we went to Rome because it is almost on the other side of Europe. Well, the reason was simple. We have always wanted to visit the popular city and since we are already in Europe, we decided to take a short flight to Rome. Weather in Rome was so much better (as compared the rest of places which we had visited) at a comfortable temperature of 18 to 24 degrees.

On the tourist ‘Green’ Bus - Hearing so much about the pickpocket syndicates in Rome, we decided to tour the city via the tourist ‘Green’ bus, which brought us to nearly all the attractions in Rome

Sight-seeing in Rome – The famous Colosseum

Sight-seeing in Rome – Trevi Fountain where people toss coins and make their wishes

Sight-seeing in Rome - View of Dome of Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, where the pope stays

Sight-seeing in Rome – View of ceiling in museum in Vatican City

After spending four days in Rome, we took flight back to Berlin where we stayed over a night before to move on to our fourth destination – Munich. Munich is 6 hours away from Berlin via the DB Bahn and is a more lively place than Berlin. If you even have the chance to visit the place, you must visit the Bavaria castles because they are really beautiful.

Most famous beer hall worldwide

Sight-seeing in Munich: Walking toward Linderhorf Castle

Sight-seeing in Munich : Linderhof castle

Sight-seeing in Munich: Ludwig's castle – Neuschwanstein. Doesn’t it look like those which you have seen in fairy-tales?

Sight-seeing in Munich: View from Neuschwanstein

The famous desert from Bavaria, also known as Bavarian Cream. It is really yummy!

I have heard from friends that Prague is a very scenic place and finally I get a chance to visit it! We took a four hours ride from Berlin via the DB Bahn to get to Prague.

You may not know that famous school shoes brand in Singapore, Bata, originated from Prague and the Bata shop in Prague is 5 storeys high! And don’t be mistaken that Bata shoes are cheap because a simple pair can cost about S$150 – S$200.

Sight-seeing in Prague – On Charles Bridge

View from Charles Bridge

I have learnt from this trip that I should never take safety for granted and assume that low crime means no crime. My elder sister told me that Berlin is very safe but yet, I nearly got pick pocketed when I was on my way to the train station to travel to Munich (luckily I caught the pickpocket and scare him off by screaming loudly)

Despite the fact that we had to spend a lot of time and effort planning and booking tickets prior to travelling, we found it all worthwhile as we had a great travelling experience. In fact, I have always believed in planning my own trip (instead of joining tour groups) as I can manage the time can manage my time better.

My eleventh visit to Hong Kong

Back to Hong Kong after 2 years. Stayed at King's Hotel in Wan Chai. This is my first time staying in Hong Kong Island; I stayed in Kowloon for the other 10 visits previously. The weather was not as cold as I have expected. I could have brought my summer clothes instead.

FK was busy with work and thus I am out on my own most of the time. Managed to meet up with Shan who is now happily married in HK. =) I think the last time we met was about 5 years ago when we were still working in Prescriptives in Tangs. Time really flies...

Though my objective of visiting HK was to shop, I didn't buy much as the shopping malls and night markets were selling winter clothes. The most miserable shopping trip to HK ever...

Nevertheless, gotta eat my favourite egg tart from Tai Cheong. I can finished 3 in less than half an hour! Yummy!

Tai Cheong egg tart in Wan Chai; previously it can only be found in Central

Eating FK's favourite cold noodles in Mongkok

Crab porridge at Langham Place

Sharing Mango Sago with beancurd @ Kwai Fang with Shan

My last meal for this trip: Tim Sum @ Wan Chai

Lazing at home on a Friday afternoon

It is rainy heavily. I am glad that I am off today, lazing at home, just watched episode 7 of 下一站, 幸福. Episode 8 will only be shown in taiwan this Sunday...sighz...another long wait.