2008 the lion day & nite

2007 Auld Lang Syne

this is the first time for them – my nieces, celebrate new year in tropics. No snow, no worry, having year end in humid hot weather is much better ) forget all thick outfit, gloves, socks, hats.. let’s wait for the fireworks in lighter clothes, bikini & thong if you dare.

2007 Chinese & Japanese Garden

It meant perhaps for local Singaporean, not for wai guo ren – foreigner like us. This garden is definitely slice of paradise in this tiny island nation. So quiet & peacefully. Tall green & green open space are in proportion. Plus water, falls, bridges & man made ornaments.

The other gorgeous greenery is the famous botanical garden. We’ve been there on the beginning of year 2000. No worry if we skip it now. My Sis & her family will live here for long time. I’ll put it to our next itinerary.

Here are the Chinese Garden :

and the Japanese Garden :

2007 year end meals

Praise the Almighty, first night in SIN, we had this beautiful seafood dinner in No Sign Board resto in the East Coast. We had deep-fry fish, steam fish w/ ginger, garlic & soy sauce. Two gigantic crabs, in chili & in black pepper. Prawn in crunchy batter & some vegies. Nis & Nad didn’t touch this things. They had peanuts, carrot & on the way back home, their Pa had to stop in BK for their chicken nugget & burgers.

The next morning we headed Vivo City, on the gate of Sentosa Island, having brunch in Bakerzin. The babies had freshly made waffle dusting with sugar, dollop of vanila ice cream, plus strawberry. They also had french meringue cookies. The adults had their own choices. Mine was mix salad, well.. last night diner put me already 2 kg more in my waist, no more indulgent today )

The next dinner was in Spring Court resto in Chinatown. The main reason we’re here, because Nis – my Sis’s eldest loves duck. So, quickly I browsed the booklets & nets, found this resto serve Beijing Kao Ya, yes the Peking Roast Duck. But, nothing will match the original. This resto kao ya was edible, but far away from superb. And worst thing was, my Nis even didn’t touch her fav.. well, that’s normal isn’t it )

2007 my SIS & her SIN

meet Bigs, my Sister in her Singapore. Yes, she just moved here on June this year. Left her european “heart” in Paris, Annecy & Geneva. And brought over her two european daughters. Yes, this two little girls speak more fluent in France than in my Mom’s language. And I hope they move to SIN, will give them more languages advantage, Singaporean-English, Mandarin-Putonghua-Chinese, Tamil-Hindi, and hopefully Bahasa Indonesia.

That my wishful thinking. My sis & her husband enroll Nis, the eldest to French School. Thank God, this school also teach english in early stage. And Praise the Almighty, Nis, has all A in her english report. Nad, the baby, also prefer to follow her sis, for daily conversation. With me, they speak mixed salad. A bit of Bahasa, a dash of French, bunch of English & for more flavor we added some Deutsch, Mandarin & Tamil.

2006 SIN Chinatown

2006 Singapore Art Festival

This city once wasn't my favorite, but thank God it's change. Perhaps me, but definetely Singapore – the city – the island – is now more vibrant & briliant. Shopping is outdated. Art & Culture is in. In the past, my beloved mall-addicted husband always wanted to stay longer. But this time, I begged him to browse this island in and out, in details, day and nite

Forget the famous Orchad Road. Marina & Raffles area are more exciting. China Town, Bugis Square, Little India, Arab Street are amazing. Along the river – all Quay : Boat, Clark Robertson are glitering. Dine-out places are countless.

2006 Fashion follows Function.

Master Louis Henry Sullivan said Form follows Function. I’m just his follower. Fashion should follow Function, pardon for my limited interpretation, but I think this is me. Function for me, means the basic, timeless & borderless. They should cover my body in a proper way, must comfortable & clean. So, as long as their color are still bright & no hole in them, I’ll wear them forever & everywhere.

Form follows Fashion, I think this is for Dede – my old friend, or Biglets – my dear sis, or what Fashion suppose to be. There are Form that „in“ and „dated“. There are also Form for every occasion : go to work, shopping, party, picnic in the beach, gateway to the mountain and so on.

But no matter we differ in style & statement, we : Dede & I; or Biglets & me, are always buddy. I met Dede yrs ago, when we worked in the same company, different department. We then met again in summer 1999, explored & shared Beijing in and out, before she headed to many Central American countries & now ended in Miami.

Pitty, last year on our USA trip, due to our hectic schedule & limited time, my husband & I couldn’t swing to visit her. And this year, after booked in advance 6 mths and emailing frequently for this special meeting, at 13/6/2006, on her way back to Jakarta, we finally caught her in Singapore. Alhamdulillah, Praise God the Almighty, thank you for this opportunity

7 yrs I haven’t seen her, Dede is as always, lovely, slim & petit. For about 3 hrs we cramped our time for lunch, talked from A to Z & acompany her for outfitt shopping. Compare price to Miami, S’pore’s are peanuts But she definetelly isn’t a shoppaholic, she need them for a whole year supply

2000 Millenium bugs

At the end of 1999, we flew back from Beijing to Jakarta, visiting my parent. I had cultural shock. Many Jakartans were so rude to us. People in the street bugging, shouting & insalting us like we don't have any feeling. I never have this experience before. Am I change ? I don't think so. I still wear the same kind of outfitt that I wore many years in Jakarta. I also talk & act exactly as I did. What happen to my own people ? Why can't they just shout their mouth, if they can't say something nice ?

Since then, if itsn't necessary, visit Jakarta is always on the bottom of my priority. The traffic jam's never change. SO2 & CO2 are getting worst. Plus now, I have terrible culture pollution.

We flew out from Jakarta heading Singapore, a night before 2000's New Year Eve & wish we could find better place & treatment there. The SQ flight attendant lied to us, there're no brilliant fireworks as its promised. And in the Eve, the Singaporean walked like Zombies… hey, everyone're also exhausted, but this is the new millenium, couldn't we just smile or at least showing happy faces ?.