The Original Juice

Sat 26th Mar 08

It was Sat night and Zubair was getting restless and said let's go to IMM. At first i said, "let's save it for Tues." Although he said ok, i remembered that i was again as always dejecting his ideas and decided to relent.


I just found out that IMM had a major renovation! But still the slip road to go into the building's micro Mini! There was a long queue and not even the shuttle bus was exempted!


There was a Sony sale going on at the Atrium. a Bravia 40" was going at $1899!!! $1,000 off with 5 years warranty and Free Home theater! Only 5 sets were available. If we had the money, and if we bought our house already, we surely would have grabbed that deal!


Our aim was to buy a new phone for our room digital voice line. It has been down for like 3 months or so. So wasteful that im still paying Starhub $10+ a month but can't fully utilise the unlimited free outgoing!


We reached there about 8:30 and only managed to go to Best Denki.


Bought a $33 phone with Handsfree function and Caller ID Display and 1 yr warranty. Although i havent subscribed to caller ID, i think its good for future lah. At first wanted to get the $19 basic phone, and then saw the $28-with-speaker phone... then saw the $33-with-screen phone.


Also, we bought a $19 webcam. Its less than 1.3MP but it serves the purpose lah... Our Paki family is missing us and wants to SEE us...


We had a great time talking in the train that i didn't realise it was our station already! Thank god he decided to take off those earphones!


We also managed to stop ourselves from buying OTAK2 and Cempedak and what nots!

Sun, 23rd MArch 08


Mummy and Ayah celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary on 15th May 08. They treated us to Sakura International Buffet at PAris Ris Downtown East last Sun! By us i mean our immediate family together with out fav cousins from Simei.


I dont have pictures cos my hp was dying at that time but i can tell you i'd enjoyed my time there. Prolly more so than in Carousel bcos:

1. there's more kind of food that im familiar with and like
2. there are still seafood
3. its cheaper but more friendlier
4. They have prepared-on-demand Teppanyaki and an efficient system to manage it.
5. The price is inclusive of unlimited drinks! LOL
6. The toilet has a jetspray and wall fan!

The only downside is, its not as posh looking as Carousel, at least not the one at Down town East lah.

On the way home, we stopped by at Upper Pierce Reservoir and met our good friends!

Monkeys! and lotsa them!

If you look closely, this one is actually feeding her young! All these monkeys were just loitering and relaxing on the road, gawking at us humans. And there are signs everywhere that says,

"Don't feed the monkeys. They have a lot to eat in the forest. Fine $500"

Ayah taking photos of leaves! Haven't seen how it turned out.

Singapore being a stone jungle, all these greens are really a rare sight.

You can actually walk up to the "shoreline" of the reservoir. A lot of pple were trying to catch the small fishes there but swimming is still prohibited of course, or else FINE! haha

It was about 4 close 5pm when we were there and it was glaringly HOT! but if you stay in the shade and with the breeze gently blowing... you might just find yourself flown to dreamworld. That is before the ants wake you up!

After the disappointing "Food Fair" at Suntec, i was thrilled to read in the papers that there's a HALAL Food Fair running at EXPO for the long weekend. Even more thrilled when Kak Ly offered to drive us there.


The title of the exhibition is Halal Food, furniture, lifestyle or something something 2008. Then the first thing we saw when we came in were wood furnitures and i joked, "Say, are these furnitures halal too?" LOL!


But 15mins into the fair, Kak Lily w stroller cldn't take the crowd and left the scene totally.


We were left to fend for ourselves. We spent almost $30 there!!!! *faint*

1. $3 Otak otak (haha all the way to Expo buy otak2 also!)
2. $2 beef lung
3. $5.20 personal Hawaiian Pizza
4. $6 Lemang + beef rendang
5. $5 Choc chip Baulu (which we later forgot it in the MRT!!!)
6. $2.50 on 2 drinks
7. $5 Chicken Kebab (bcos that Pizza is not enough for Zubair)

At least i'm happy that this is the true blue Food fair i've been wanting to show him. We even got to listen in on a seminar about Women. It was in Malay though, so Z cldn't appreciate it. I wish for an auto translator. Where is my darling Doraemon?

Then we took a look at the Book Fair and Baby Fair too.

Book Fair

Hmmm too big and disorganised you can't find something you're looking for but will certainly get some random interesting thing. The best part is Fictions were tagged at no more than $15 (even hard covered ones!) with average being $10 and lowest being $5!!! Some General books are even 3 or 4 for $10!

We didn't buy anything though with only $12 left in my pocket! Not necessary anyways.

Baby Fair

Hmmm When we stepped in, we were quickly approached by this Malay guy asking us, "Are you planning for your child's education?" We said no we are not thinking about it yet as we have no children yet. But he kept on talking about his land investment. Wait a minute, this sounds familiar, i remember listening to Mel explaining it to me when she was with Jardine Smith.

but other than that, nothing else appeals to us since we havent actually HAD a baby YET, considering they were selling diapers like hot cakes!

Teck Wei CAR Roadshow

outside, there was a car roadshow and Zubair fell in love with Honda Fit. the new model retails at $500/mth for OPC (weekend car). I said to the agent, "But that's almost the same price as that MPV over there!" He said, "Oh that is Fiat, ya know. Cannot compare. That one uses up a lot of petrol!" I suppose he's right but dont know whether he just wanna "goreng" / fry or sweet talk us.

Then he told us that he has sold 20 cars just today alone!!! Imagine one single car salesman sold 20 cars a day, how many total Singaporeans buy a car in a day? in a month? How much does that salesman earn? If for eg, he earns 5% commission and the average price of a car is $30,000, he would have earned $30,000 in a day!!!! *faint* Should i get Zubair to become a car salesman? Or should i just switch career and be a salesman myself?! LOL!

since the tragedy on my hand happened.


I was a fool to have thought that my hand would soon return to normal when the stitches are out!


It's been 7 weeks since the last stitch was taken out here in Singapore and still my thumb feels stiff, sore, lame and "ngilu" (tingly?).


I have made some progress in achieving small small tasks but really am tired of it.

Small hairs are sprouting on my left hand where they've never been before. Zubair said it's prolly bcos of dettol! LOL


I've just bought a new box of special latex free, waterproof plaster that cost me $6.50 for some 20pcs and im allergic to it! and now the wound area is itchy as hell! But then again, could it have been the prawns ive been eating? Can't be cause i havent stopped my seafood nor egg intake since the incident, and it hadn't affected anything before. ERgh!


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Speaking of tired, i can't wait for things to settle down for my husband too. When will that day come, i wonder?


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A lot of stories to tell, not many pictures to aid in writing. I must take it slowly.


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The long weekend was spent with moderate amount of relaxing, working and going out, money came in and also out~...


One Question has always remained lingering in my mind: SHould i sleep away on a weekend or should i do something about it?

Eg: if we were out in the morning and home by say... 4pm... should i sleep (cos im very tired having woken up so early) or should i play game? *guilty look*


Come Monday, instead of feeling refreshed, i will still feel tired. Maybe even more so.

My Current Acer Desktop's 5-yr Warranty will end in Feb 09.








And already im dreaming which other computer i wanna buy!

When we went out window shopping some time ago, i fell in love with this

HP Pavilion Slimline s3000

I super love Slim CPUs can!! Also I LOVEEEEEEEE the wireless keyboard and mouse that come with it. I HATEE wires that are now cluttering my desk! If possible i want wireless screen and speakers too!!! 1gig Ram and around 120GB HDD (Who's counting?).

It's retailing at $1,500 at Courts with 3 years warranty. or $1,200 with 1 yr warranty. I hope in a years' time the price will plummet some more.

But this one has always been MY DREAM Computer!

It has a built in webcam and the disk drive is behind the screen!

Complete with foldable keyboard and mousepad.

But i searched for reviews for this computer and it turned out negative! Retailing at $2,799, The IT industry seems to think that it's suitable for pple who has the money to spend on aesthetics. Apparently there are a lot of other notebooks and laptops out there with the same or better system at a much lesser price say... $1,800? That's 1k cheaper!

So there!

We went toiletries shopping on Mon at Mustafa.

We picked and dumped things in our trolley and got shocked at the cashier. But i suppose it is still worth it as compared to shopping at other places.


His items:

1. Disposable razors 10pcs $8.90 (this one item is outrageous cos Value is selling at $1.90!)
2. Fusion Razor that Thierry Henry's been modelling for or is it Tiger Woods? $16.90
3. Lynx AXE Shower Gel $6.60
4. Dove SHampoo $3.00
5. Nivea Men's Facial Foam Wash $5.50
6. Listerine 250ml $4.10
7. Sling Bag $9.00
8. T-Shirt $4.90
9. Kappa Long Pants $14.50
10. Austini Short Sleeve Shirt $8.90

Mine:

1. Dettol 500ml $3.90
2. T3 Pimple Gel $5.70
3. Floss $10.30
4. Simple Facial Wipes $9.90
5. Simple toner $10.50
6. Simple Facial Wash $11.50
7. Pearlie White Toothpaste $6.20
8. Sandal / slipper for short within 2km range outing $11.90
9. Black court shoe $6.50!!!!!

19 items in just 2 bags!! Lucky mummy could pick us up, otherwise i can just faint! Not that i will carry the items but i can just faint from the guilt of not helping him carry the heavy bags. Get it?

Anyway, still need to shop for food! Hmmmm

was hospitalised last Fri. and we visited her on Sun.


She was home alone at home in a 1-room HDB while her daughter, our youngest aunty was out working when suddenly her leg got jammed. Cannot move. Something to do with her "steel" bone(?). and was advised to exercise walking in the swimming pool! CAnnot imagine my "nenek" in the swimming pool.. like... what's she gonna wear? :)



Also, the doctor won't let Nenek be home alone. We need to get somebody with her all the time. But my grandma kept brushing the issue away saying she's still fit and all. and then my mum would say, "Yeah our mind and heart say we can do it, but in actual fact, our body cannot take it."


And another thing about my grandma is, she feels uneasy keeping still. She HAS to do some kind of housework. *shake head*


I wrote like i know her well... but the reverse is, in fact, true. More on that later (much later...). i guess what i wanna say is, im really happy i went to visit my grandma, whom i would have otherwise only seen twice a year during Eid. Esp when she said, "Oh my granddaughter" (in malay of course) when she saw me. i felt loved. i've never felt much of grandparents' love.

Zubair strumming cluelessly on Cik Girl's guitar

Nur wanted to jalan2/sight seeing... and Ayah brought us to Mount Faber.

A view from the top of the hill (obiously not a mountain as the name suggested) at dusk.

There are telescopes everywhere but one is faulty or something that we dont need to put in coins to see and guess what?!?!?! We can actually spy people's living room in that condo by the sea in the picture above!!! I wonder if the residents there are aware of this fact!

I missed outdoor prayer.

Looks like in a hotel na?

The evergreen lovebirds playing London bridge is falling down! LOL

Nice to have spent my two weekends with family AND caught up with my sleep.

We were supposed to be home alone last Sat. But the sisters decided not to go to JB after all, so we were left to find out own food. Where else, but to Causeway Point we went.

Main dishes are Pad Thai Prawn (Long's), Pad Thai Seafood (mine), Pineapple Fried Rice (Zubair's) and Seafood Fried Rice (Kak Ly's).

We had Tofu and Pandan Chicken Leaf as side dishes. And with the chilli, and my favourite lobster cracker as appetizer, and not to mention the MANGO STICKY RICE it was the best lunch yet.

God i havent had that dessert for like 1.4 years now!! The last time was when we all went to BKK Dec 06. And Nur, my cousin, just told me that they have the nicest MANGO STICK RICE at Suvarnabhumi Airport and we totally missed it!!!! ARGHHH

Kak Lily... please please please cook A LOT of this for us. OK ok... we'll just wait for Pakistan's Mango season. weeehooooooooo

Since beginning of last week, i was looking forward for the weekend to sleep in.


But come Fri, i decided to take the hub out. Hmmm let's see where to go? There was an ad in TODAY paper saying there's a food fair going on at Suntec.


We walked all the way from TG Pagar MRT to Suntec, taking time to take pictures, stroll... and at the same time chat! Nice.


We even stopped by The Esplanade and Z imagined he's the stick man playing the stick Grand Piano.




After the Esplanade, we hit the underground walkway and got SUPER CONFUSED!!!


At first, we were walking on automatic and found ourselves in MArina Square! So we traced our steps and headed to the correct exit only to see that the exit is closed and hafta walk back to MArina and circled a few times before finally reaching the bridge to Suntec! The bridge was within sight but didn't seem reachable! LOL


Then, had to go to the other end to withdraw some money then walk back to the convention.


And then the convention was predictably disappointing. I suspected there won't be much HALAL store if any! Not wanting to waste time, i asked the security guard, and he pointed to a kebab stall and that was it. Just one Muslim stall out of possible 30 food stations?


Long gone are the days when exhibitions were normally accompanied by numerous yummy halal food stalls that you just can't choose!


In the end, we ate at Wok Express he had Claypot Chicken Rice and me Tom Yam Noodle. By that time, i was whining all the way. My toes were aching and my whole body was itching! Hey i bathe ok twice everyday! I think i have some skin problem lah... need to check it out too.


We managed to go home by MRT, but not before going to Marina Bay Station first in order to get a seat!

I didnt anticipate that the story for my MSK entry could get so much attention and spread like wildfire!

I got 1300 hits yesterday and a further 200 this morning.

To that end, Z and i both agreed that it could be dangerous for us and hence deleted the entry. But the damage is already done. Some bloggers cut and pasted my entry, others print-screened my page, and besides they can still read the cache.

My story is first and a half hand actually.. while i have relayed it as how i had heard it, there's no knowing the authenticity for i didnt see it myself.

And the fact that the media didn't catch the news gave me something to think about. it could be:

1. in the end, it's not him, but my cousin wasnt told
2. the police specifically told them not to release it

and look what i've done! *shake head*

I won't even ping this entry to ping.sg immediately i think.

i finally figured out how to upload an XML template. and wanted to change the blogskin.

But it's not finished yet... need to change the header lah bla bla bla... not to mention i dont have photoshop.

So i uploaded again the backed up html of my previous blogskin setting only to be told, "it's not closed properly" something or other.

ARGHHHHHHHHH *pulls hair!!!*

I think its because I saved the html into word doc so the alignment is moved!! And its already 4:15pm, going home soon and its the weekend... So you hafta put up with this till i come back on Mon! Lol

24th Feb 08


We were invited to our Japanese Aunty's house to celebrate Girls' Day. Daughters below 5 years old are being ceremonialized in the month of March for a week.


For Girls' Day, there are two symbols that you hafta hang or display to signify the daughter's existence:

This King and Queen "playset" complete with box etc

A Kimono

There is also a Boys' Day somewhere in June, if im not wrong. and you hafta hang 3 Golden fishes of 3 diff sizes.

Firstly, we were served with Sakura drink. The drink is clear, but the whole flower is inside the cup! Including stem! and all is edible. Mummy claimed it tasted sweet n sour like plum juice. Fine by her, cos its her fav... i just tried a sip but that was it Hee :D

Next is a special Girls' Day snack/appetizer made of rice! Very nice!

The Girl! Baby Sarina, our cousin. Almost 5 months now.

She's not always this grumpy though.

The Orginal Sushi

My uncle, Cik Ajis, said that the original sushi is served "loose" rather than wrapped with seaweed. That's great! Great for me who doesn't like seaweed, that is.

The Sushi platter

The dessert

They are mostly made with glutinous rice with varying sweeteners and flavours. Some is green bean, apple, sakura and dont know what. I didnt try any of it but finished 3 bowls of that snack! LOL!

Syifaa' admiring the view from the french window

Syifaa' caring for her aunty

That's the dialog i always use on Z when i need his help. hehe


I'm afraid, soon, it will no longer be valid! LOL


Yesterday marked the 6th week since The Accident, also 1 week after Dr discharged me from daily change of dressing.


I decided to meet Dr for a follow up check. I found out:

1. I can actually wet the wound already. ie FULL SHOWER! YAYYY
2. Just plaster will do. No need gauze. Gauze is only needed when the wound is still went and, in his words, "oozing"! (eyew)
3. It will take months for the skin to return to "normal". First the (i forgot the term) Emergency skin tissue helped to close the wound, now its going thru Remodelling process. I just wonder whether it will take 2 - 3 months or 24 - 36months!
4. I am to continue with the cream the dr gave me twice daily for another 2 - 3 weeks. But i dont hafta take anymore antibiotic! THank God!
5. Dr confirmed that no nerve nor tendon is involved when he saw me trying to gesture "twinkle2 lil star" with my left hand. He just advised me to exercise the fingers by practising to meet the thumb with the other four fingers.

God help me.

UPDATE:

I apologise for my insensitive post below. I was being emotional when i wrote it.

I dont actually HATE the pple, only the action. Also, it was wrong for me to generalise. In truth, i was trying to convey the msg to a certain someone. I guess it backfired, huh?


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I hate smokers to no end.

Ok we ALL know that smoking and drinking can cause cancer.

But i can't believe that they can ignore the fact that they:

1. have extremely BAD Body odor
2. have extremely BAD breath!
3. have black ugly dirty fingers
4. have black lips

heavy smoking decreases sexual capability by damaging the tiny blood vessels in
the penis.

Alcohol intake decreases the bodys ability to produce testosterone.

The above quotations taken from this site

If they think that smoking or drinking SOCIALLY or just once a day will not endanger them, well they should think again. Because from that very once-a-day habit, it CAN and it WILL lead to an addiction.

I suppose im feeling strongly against this this morning is because yesterday, Z told me that his friend is being diagnosed with a stomach cancer.

At first, i felt pity for him. But after i learnt that he is a heavy chain smoker, i said, "Serve you right!" Yup he totally deserves it. What's more, a year or two ago, when pple advised him about his health, he arrogantly said, "I've been smoking for so long, don't you think i would have gotten it already if i were to get it?" It's not like they didn't try to make him stop.

Insolent Smokers don't deserve any compassion

They fail to think of their health. Most importantly, they fail to see the long-term effects of their own irresponsible actions.

This friend of Z has a wife and children. Now he has to take 10 injections a day, possibly, with each costing some PKR 120,000 totally SGD 30,000. Sure he's rich. But can wealth returns your health? Probably... but do you DARE to take the chance? Would you take the risk of dying early? Yeah sure, death can happen to anyone at any age, but why TEMPT him? why INVITE him to you esp if you're not ready?!

At the very least, think about your family. Please. ERghhhh!!! *pulling hair*

If these reasons are not enough to stop them or at least, to deter them from picking up the habit, i can't imagine what can!

1. She said her parents told her to wear long sleeves but that for own engagement or wedding, can wear short sleeve(HUH?!?!?!?!)
2. Covering the head with a loosely wrapped dupatta with hair very much visible is acceptable.
   
3. Don't need to cover feet
   
4. At home, no need to cover even with distant male relatives / male guests around
5. With brothers-in-law, no need to cover your head, just dress decently
   
6. An uncle can hug her distant niece, just as a guy can hug her totally no blood-relation "sister"

We were getting ready to go to the doctor's for the last time. But before that Ammi gave out Sadqa (donation) in the form of Naan channey.

They called in all the kids on the streets and everybody who wants to take. Me and Z gave them out. it was so fun and chaotic and it felt nice to finally get to see the kids in the area.

The living room and drawing room.

Mamoo Ilyas in the Kitchen

With regret, i hafta say that i barely entered this part of the house. I didnt even get to learn cooking from Ammi cos of my poor hand... awww...

The other room where the brothers slept in while i was here

The door on the left leads you to the service balcony where Ammi does the washing and where the new heater is.

This is to show that the kitchen has a half wall. Should put bar stools in front of it some day.

Three luggages in all.

Managed to at last capture a shot of a provision shop.

From left: Hira, me, Humaira, Ali and Ikra

These are the girls from the neighbours house whom i had promised to take pictures with when they send me off to the airport.

There were a big big confusion on the way to the airport trying to arrange seats in the few transports that we had for the travellers, family, neighbours and not to forget BAGGAGE!!! Just TWO bags were enough to fill Uncle Shaukat's back seat. i was put in the front seat ALONE for comfort due to, again, my hand. The rest squeezed into the van. Truth to be told, i was a bit scared being left alone in the car w an uncle i barely knew. Thankfully, we paused at the side once we reached the main road and i was ushered to mamoo Ajmal's friend's car w Z. It was a Toyota sedan. Ah! At last! A "normal" car. hehe

At the airport, Rizwan and Z's ex colleague the IT Teacher and other friends were there already. Rizwan gave me a nice beads keychain right when he saw me. So Sweet. But my mood went downhill from there. Bcos he had been hugging all his "sisters" and "darling" aunties who are just a few years older and/or younger than him. ERGH! Totally outrageous!!

And also because the checking-in counters are situated inside AFTER the custom checkpoint and we haven't arranged for seats together yet bearing in mind we didn't book our tickets at the same time. PLUS, it was FREAKING COLD cos there were no walls no house in the patrons of the airport. Same goes to the non-existent chairs to wait for your flight to board or whatever whatever. Not to mention i was under pressure to go to the loo but Ammi in the other van still hadn't come!

At first, i was determined not to cry. Also because i was eager to go home at that time. Not that i dont like Pak bcos i really really do! But i was missing the facilities and convenience in S'pore ESPECIALLY with my hand all wrapped up and frozen.

However, unbeknownst to my own self, i suddenly cried when i was hugging Sadia. Actually the tears were already welling up when i hugged Ammi but it started to flow a few min later. I was prolly imagining and visualizing how i'd miss them when i reach back to S'pore that finally made me give in to the tears...

2 hours before our flight was scheduled to depart, we entered the checkpoint. Looked like EVERYBODY's luggage were being inspected. By this, i mean that they asked to open the bags, and they'd feel around roughly in them. Thank god i didnt lovingly arrange and pack those luggage myself. I could've cried to see my neat bag being violated! LOL.

Well... i had a little bit of a problem with the DVDs i packed in my luggage. We stood there at the customs for some 10min?? Z gave them some story and after a BIG Hesitation, they let us off, alhamdulillah. i should have chanted "summum bukmun" before this. ok save this tip for next trip lah. Anyways, my only question is, "how come they didnt ask to open Z's bag?" Is it because:

1. they're tired to inspect us already
2. they know it might belong to Z, a pakistani, bcos its black and not as colourful as mine and therefore might not have curious touristy thingies.

Well... our three bags amounted to 96kg!!! *faint* (Thanks to the painting of his father that Z insisted to bring back to Spore! haha) We were about to be charged some PKR 4000 (SGD 100) or something. But the person at the counter called the person-in-charged. Turned out he's the one we met before in Thai Airways office at the airport and he waved us off with a suggestion to take 7kg of them as handcarry. Then the guy who was ushering us and picking our bags up and down actually ASKED for a tip of PKR 200. He claimed HE persuaded the officer to lay off the extra charges. Ok lah whatever.. at least he had helped Z with the bags. He was getting irritated that he had to carry all 3 of them, all 96kg of them, up and down the several gateways. LOL!

That's the holding room.

We haven't had dinner yet but felt that we cldn't wait till the meal in the plane, so i treated ourselves with a light meal at the "restaurant"

Just burger and extra fries to share

We didn't see Uncle Airport. Nor did we get a wink of sleep in the overnight flight! by the time we reached s'pore we were deadbeat. Originally, mummy said that ayah will pick us up after Jumaah prayer, some 2 hours after we landed. And i thought it was alright since i wanted to bring Z to Popeye's... but nay! We were too tired and cldnt wait to get home any longer that we took the cab home.

One thing we both felt: Singapore is so hot!!!! LOL

Alhamdulillah Z was granted 1 mth social visit pass from when he entered Spore ie 8th Feb 08.

Guess what?! 8th March is coming and already Z went to ICA like two times!!!

He went to ICA on Mon to get the visa extension or long term or whatever he can get lah. Only he was told that MY confirmation of employment letter is not valid. They needed a new one. WHY? We had been using the same letter for the past applications no problem what. Besides, its the PR Application that needs the letter to be dated less than 1 month!

I went ahead to get my HR to issue another letter but asked Z to just go again on Wed. He returned with the same outcome but this time with a clearer understanding as to why they rejected our application.

They need the letters to be dated in the same year as application. ie 2008!

Unfortunately, the letter is still not ready as of yesterday 2pm. so my dear Z hafta go home again. But not without a stern reminder that the letter HAS to be done by thurs, otherwise he would hafta go back to Pak (?!?!?!?!?) and my punishment is to fill in the forms myself. but i managed to squirm out of that one :D


At least, the good thing is we got to lunch at Turkish Cafe! Yummy!


This morning the letter is finally signed, so Z is coming and going again. hmmm where shall we lunch this time>?

Finally got the chance to snap a picture of his "street" or alley more like, in daylight, while we walk a few steps next door to Mamoo Ajmal's in-law's house. Told you its like M'sia x (-10) + 100 sand! only their houses are made of bricks and not wood.

This is Lareb the happiest baby girl in the world! always laughing she is.

We were welcomed to milk and this sweet dish (wana wanna help me w the name?) first as they were still preparing lunch.

This is the spread after 45min of waiting, salad, yoghurt, fried fish and fish methi w aloo ala prata (that's the prata with potatoes in between. Cool~)

While waiting for food to be served, we talked with the captain of the house. He works at the airport as a technician. His English is perfect despite his retired age. Typically pple who work for the govt agencies tend to speak good English. Anyways, i asked him what does he do at the airport, and he explained how the baggage machine works and how he goes to work, by bike. etc etc. If i could eat that translation donut from Doraemon (Japanese robot cat cartoon), i would have interviewed everybody in the neighbourhood:

1. What do they work as


2. What they do at work


3. How they get to work


4. What is their ambition

Being a close relative indeed, we spent 2hrs at their house! We hung out at the roof and saw these children playing. After i snapped this picture, my eyes quickly caught on an infant baby being left alone by his siblings near the stairs! And their stairs don't have railings or anything and he was like an INCH from falling! And i asked Z to tell the kids to bring the baby down to safety. and boy did he shout. OMG, my heart like almost stopped in anxiety. Thankfully he was saved much to his siblings' anger and frustration (that we disturbed them).

The goats, chickens, sheeps, horses, donkeys have full rein of the streets! Lol

1. History of Lahore Fort


2. History of Lahore


3. Map of Lahore (in a single sheet w great details)


4. White Mughals, a novel constructed around Lahore Fort


5. Teach Yourself Urdu x 2 (PKR 550 / SGD 14)


6. a very thick Urdu to English and English to Urdu Dictionary (PKR 450 / SGD 11)


7. Urdu Children's story book x 3


8. Urdu's A B C
   

And i came out a happy girl. There was no time to shop for Zubair's luggage. instead, we went straight to The Band's House where we were invited for dinner.

Shumail and Shaji live in DHA (Defense Housing Authority. Read as "rich pple's houses"). Did i tell you that there is a restriction to build houses only up to 2 storeys in DHA? They have a VERY large compound. like twice or prolly three times the size of a regular Sporean's "garden" and their driveway run for just as long. The main door opens straight away to a living room w a fireplace facade w sofas all around and a corner with guitars.

We chit chatted for a good 45min or so over chicken soup. Once again, i had the opportunity to interview... this time, an army colonel whom gave an insight of the Kashmir border problem. I asked, "So why is it diff for Pak to just you know give in?" All the guys replied, "No can't. The pple won't let it. The govt will face strong resistance from the citizens." Technically, they are still hanging on to the idealistic view that the pple of Kashmir should be given the right to choose which country they want to join but India suppressed that right and claimed it theirs. But then again, a lot and a lot of people and resources have been sacrificed for this lost cause when what? 50% or more of the citizens are deep in poverty!? The hatred has been very much ingrained in these pple's minds that its very hard to change them.

Then, we got to talking about the band. and i asked what's the meaning of their latest song Raastey. Raastey means road if i remember correctly and basically the song is about asking oneself where is he heading to, where is this life leading him to, to what end? and for how long... this like that. WOW! it's such an inspirational song! (i'll post it soon) and not a typical lovey dovey song. i like!

Uncle explained that they, the band, composed the whole song first then they called in a professional poet to write the words. It works like this: he gives a few diff kinds of first lines, then they decided this one is good and THEN they work from there. Definitely diff for the poet for i think this method restricts the creativity flow of the pen. I always imagined that words are written first and we will turn them into music. *shrug*

the most interesting thing is that Uncle told me that HE was the one who wrote Janey Kiyoun!! Before i had the chance to ask him what it means, we were called for dinner.

Fried rice, pasta & meatballs, fruit salad, SPECIAL yoghurt that even I like!, shami kebab, chicken in something and chilli beef (not in picture)

To my greatest surprise, Shumail was ... impeccably polite! The perfect host. But you can tell he's being trained and brought up that way. I take my hat off him. Why am i surprised he is so nice? Because he's a NIGGA wanna be! and has spiky hair and swear at every other word.

And because there's no girl in the house, 3 sons in all, the burden of tasks were rather evenly distributed actually. That's another thumbs up for this family.

If you see the timestamp from this picture, it was almost midnight! We then retired back to the living room, for another chit chat, present giving and 2 songs!!!

Before heading home, Zubair and Salman wanted to stop by DHA Y Block to buy paan and tea. They were so sweet to surprise me with hot milo when they came back! We hung around at the self designated "car park" (lol) while we finish our drinks. suddenly, Z spit out his paan (sireh/betel leaf)! I said to him, "Hey.. Please keep DHA Clean" quoting the slogan on the signs all over DHA and they laughed.

But hey, my night is FARRRRRRRRR from over! We had another house to visit! This time it's the house just opp of his. This is the house they stayed in while their house was being reconstructed ie during the period when we were "dating". They had every right to be offended bcos they lived so near and were most dear to the family but yet, they were the last for us to visit.

Anyways, we fulfilled our promise to come over, at 2am in the freaking morning! The host has 4 girls and they now occupy the first floor which Z and family were staying at tt time.

Once again there's no living nor dining room. They entertained guests in the bedroom. His old room is connected thru the main bedroom. Did i tell you that its normal not to have windows in the bedroom?!?! I suppose its a respite from the extreme heat in the summer and extreme cold in winter but still... its just... simply new to me. Shortly after we came, the electricity failed on us yet again!!! That didnt stop us from enjoying ice cream and what nots. yes ice cream in winter!!! *faint* Oh well at least, my blur and confused facial expression is not on display when i try to guess what they are all talking about. That is, when none of the girls were shining their torchlight at me! LOL!

They are nice pple really... all the girls were super excited to get to know me. So much so that Hira prepared a lot of drawings to show me... and they gave me a LOT of costume jewellery.. rings, bracelet, hair clips.... so kind so kind.

We didn't get to take pictures as we didnt wait for the light to be up again cos it was SUPER late... and the girls got sch.. but i promised them we'd take pictures when they send us to the airport the next day.

So stay tuned!

Granted, i havent taken the train in the morning for almost 3 months probably... but what happened this morning is truly a phenomenon!

You see i come from the north on the red line. Im going to Tg Pagar on the green. So i hafta change at Raffles Place and wait for the train on the green from the east to come to send me to Tg Pgr.

I was baffled to see a lot of people crowded in front of the door when i alighted at Raffles. But even MORE so when the train heading west didn't come for a few LONG min but the train from up north kept coming every minute!!! It wasn't until FOUR!!! FOUR trains from north came and spewed out even more passengers west bound that the train we've all been waiting for came. (For awhile there i tot there might be another HUGE train delay or something.)

But of course, i cldnt get in!! When the next train came in another 1-2min, i did get in... but it felt more like a stampede lah! So scary. i didnt hafta move in... people actually PUSHED me in! Argh!!!

And you thought the traffic jam in the expressway was bad?? at least you're sitting lah!

1. Early in the morning, he sleeptalked this, "So what are you? a Crocodile or something? a crocodile or... or... lizard?..." Later, "I told you no need to take the whole forest!" LOL!!!
2. We called "snap" twice on each other. Firstly on the phone in the morning, after return of salam / greetings, we both said, "kaisey ho?" (how r u?) both in urdu at the exact same second! we even snapped together!
3. Secondly, we were talking about love when suddenly both of us broke into this songg, "Sayangkuuuuu..." and we went snap snap snap.
4. Dr Nandha finally declared that he is now confident to let me do the bandage on my own! ie no need to go to the doctor everday. Last night's dressing to be changed after 24hrs. Onward, need to apply the cream twice daily.

So although we didnt have a grand celebration and that things are not rosy all the time.... i take heart the little little things that make me happy. Truly, he is such a giving and compromising person. I resolve to be just as giving and compromising in return.

Only after 10 days we reached Spore, did Z finally has the chance to visit popeye's. Though initially we tot to go there immediately when we landed since the outlet is at the airport, but on that day, we were too tired!

Upsized with additional fries!

We swore we cldn't eat another stalk of fries for another week! (But we broke our own promise a few days later in favour of BK!)

So since we're here, why not we take a look at the spanking new Terminal 3?

We were from the Old Terminal 1 going to T3.

It's rather inconvenient that the Skytrain to Terminal 2 is wayyyyyyy at the other end some 5min walk away. I dont mind lah but what if somebody was in a hurry? It is after all an airport! I understand tt it is prolly impossible structurully to connect to T3 thru the existing Skytrain platform to T2 together but still! they could have done something about it!

Yup this is it. the bright and breezy Terminal 3

Below is the exit for incoming travellers. We wont get access to it until we well... take SQ to Australia or NZD or some place.

w glass and greenery everywhere.

Can you guess what are these?

The Mothership

The Transit Lounge

Since my very first flight out, I often fantasize of TRANSITTing IN S'pore cos its so nice and full of fun games!! But now.. that's impossible isn't it?

The Depature gate below the Mothership

Can't wait for my next holiday! LOL