Save the best for the last

My 2 months break is about to come to an end. Starting the new NIE term on Monday and I won't have the luxury of having 2 solid months of holidays for a long time to come. So gotta make the best out of it! After all as the maxim goes : SAVE THE BEST FOR THE LAST.

This week has been nothing but packed! Almost every single day & night I'll be occupied; mostly meeting up with friends and now I'm suffering from indigestion as a result. BURrrrrrrp.

Alright let's do a recap on how the week went.

Monday: Badminton IHG against Hall 13 (won and on to meet Hall 4 on Wed)

Tuesday: 1st of Johor Bahru Exploration with Liling & Yi Yi.

3 single ladies armed with wit, guts and an adventurous spirit went about exploration of JB on our own. Despite stories about how JB is unsafe with roaming pickpockets etc, it turned out to be quite a pleasant experience for us. We met friendly taxi-drivers, security guards and passers-by, all of whom were not at all threats to our safety in any way! Needless to say, we pampered our tummies with really solidly cheap yet excellent food. Way to go gals!

The journey started with City Square where we jalaned around hoping to look for good steals (clothes, shoes etc) but beyond disappointment, we were horrified with the fashion industry of our neighbour!

Watched the movie, "The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus" for like 6RMB ($3 or less). It has not started showing in Singapore yet but we caught it already. Clueless about the show's storyline but had a short debrief after and the consensus was it was nonetheless worthwhile since its sooooo cheap!

LUNCH TIME @ Stonegrill.

According to the Liling, there's something similar at Clarke Quay but way more expensive. Each of us paid 10RMB for good quality cut of beef, chicken & lamb! Need I say anything more?

Ventured out of City Square in search of our massage place and possibly better shopping malls elsewhere. Tried Pelangi Mall (where Giant is located) but even lagi worse so it was massage. Oh before that...we bought HK drama dvds (real ones!) at a good price. Dramathon for us!

At our massage place. We did the 1-hr thai massage for 53RMB. Experienced a blackout in the midst of our cracking massage due to the downpour. Nice. Fortunately it was ladies tending to us! PHEW. Before the massage began, we had to goof around. What's new.

After the shiok massage, we got stuck in the torrential downpour. Stood at one corner and desperately flagging for a cab but we realised cab-drivers are so law-abiding. They really only pick up passengers at designated pick-up points. WOW! So i our flip-flops, we dashed to one in the rain. Told you we were made of steel.

Then came the highlight of our trip : the seafood dinner!!! We didn't know the exact place that LL's friend recommended but we chanced upon this 101 See Hai restaurant. Boy...were we happily filled up. Speechless at how fresh the crab, prawn and frog leg tasted in our mouth. And the price? 137RMB for 3 pax...do your math!

Truly sedap and spoilt for choice!

After 12 hours, we left for home. Unbelievable that we were out in JB for that long. Well-spent day.

Wednesday: IHG against Hall 4. Lost and we got knocked out of quater-finals. We were that close but alas, not to be.

Then dinner was with my marathon buddies. At chomp chomp and Ben chomped his way away!

Thursday: Part 2 of JB bonanza.

With Sharon, Anais and Ben (last minute hop on buddy) this time. We walked more, checked out more (lousy) shopping malls and of course also found more good food to makan. Could have eaten more but only Anais had the space in her tummy for it.

Ben stunned us when he spoke in fluent Malay to the cab-driver. Afterall, he grew up in M'sia so he was an asset to us! ok lah...our bodyguard as well even though we had to keep looking out for him wherever we went. Joker!


Based on my research, there was 2 famous bak kut teh places mentioned and we managed to locate one. Soon Huat Bak Kut Teh. Deliciously mouth-watering. Our lunch consisted of:
bak kut teh, oyster chicken & pig trotters. Again the price - 42RMB. Each person paid just $5! Crazy!

After walking for a while, we took a break. While waiting for Sharon's photos to be developed, we stopped by this alley for a drink. Craving for coconut juice and I had it. Slurrrrrrrrrpingly refreshing.

For dinner, we wanted to try out malay fare like nasi padang, prata etc but could not find suitable ones and we didn't have the energy to keep walking to search out these places so we settled for this roast duck shop. Good call it was.

We shared half a duck that was roasted in herbs. Wow...tender meat that just keeps you wanting more. But we had to control ourselves as we wanted to eat Baskin Robbins ice-cream to end off the day.

The next time we return, we will definitely be hunting down more good eating places. Goreng pisang, nasi padang, the kuay teow soup, fishcake, otah etc. So much so much....

Friday: Day out with grandpop. Accompanied for his routine check-up. Thank God reports were favourable. As he says, its a milestone in his life and every time he goes for his check, its a testament of God's unfathomable grace in his life.

We lunched at Dian Xiao Er where we had herbal roasted duck (again!), spinach in superior broth, old style steamed fish and guilin jelly. It was a set lunch for 2. Due to my weird stomach, I could not eat lot but I was glad to see Ye Ye eating heartily.

Then we caught Avatar (3D version). Initially wanted Sherlock Holmes but timings were too late. Almost 3 hours and we were enthralled with the amazing visual effects. Stunningly awesome!

Still got Saturday and Sunday to go.

Saturday:

- JYC meeting from 10-6pm. Oooh la la

- Grandpop's 86th birthday dinner @ Roland's. Like a king, he ordered a feast. A total of 10 dishes, 2 of which were forgotten by the captain who took the orders but grandpop still wanted them. A tad bit disappointed that the patin fish came last as he wanted us all to enjoy the fish. That's grandpop.

With his chocolate cake made by my sista.

The funkiest grandpop on earth using his handphone to kodak his cake.

After dinner, he text me saying "you all make my day". Awwwwwwww...sweet.

Sunday: Gearing up for the new term and official training for all my sporty events in the next 3 months! OCBC cycle (Mar), Biathlon(Mar) and the inaugural Triathlon (Apr).

Fruitful. Very very it has been.