Chinese New Year 2009

17th Jan 2009, Saturday ~ One week before the arrival of the Lunar New Year, we went roaming in Chinatown, to shoot some pics before the place gets too crowded. Just before going to Chinatown, we lunched at Mr. Curry located at The Central, Clarke Quay.

Mr. Curry & Me =P


Usually, I don't take curry & don't like spicy food, but Mr. Curry is different. I'd been there several times & I love their curry! xD

Wide choice of yummy curry! xD

Curry loving Hamster! =P


After a delicious curry lunch, just for luck, I went down to pose with the giant lion display at 1st level before heading towards Chinatown.

Me with Lucky Lions xD


As usual, at this time of the year, Chinatown is decked out with Chinese New Year decorations in lucky colors of red & gold.

Red & Gold Domination!


And of course as the coming year is the year of the Earth Ox, there's no shortage of bovine displays. xD

Me with a happy family of Ox


To think Chinatown won't be crowded at this period would be wistful thinking, but at least it is not as crowded as in the evening.

A crowded lane in Chinatown

The crowd & the show goes on in Chinatown


Lined on both sides of all lanes in Chinatown are stalls overflowing with all sort of goodies essential for the celebration of the Lunar New Year.

Decorative items & lucky charms

Handicraft of Feng Shui Animals

New year's fashion colors of red & gold

Flowers of vivid colors to brighten the new year

Fortune Veggies & Love Bamboo

Kumquats & Pomelos

New Year Cakes & Candies

Sausages, dried meats & sunflower seeds


For many Chinese, it's frenzy shopping time! Many of those stalls selling new year snack happily let you try their products. You can literally eat your way from lane to lane towards a full meal for free! LOL! No... I didn't tried much. Am not so greedy! =P

The buying crowd

Try out the candies or cookies before you buy! xD

Grab your Fruits of Fortune!

Buy your Lucky Plants & Fortune Flowers now!


Amidst the hustle & bustle in Chinatown, there's really a festive atmosphere of welcoming a new year which make it sort of grander than the western/Gregorian calendar new year celebration. If firecrackers were not banned, it would be more impressive! xD
That's why I always go Chinatown at this time of the year... for the ambiance, the fun & the richness of the deep-rooted Chinese culture.

The Lion, The Ox & The Imperial Hamster! =P

Sale Promoter of New Year Goodies! xD

Cheap Sale! Everything Must Go! =D


After a hard day work... erm... play, I relax on a trishaw. Do I look like a Japanese tourist exploring Chinatown? LOL! =P

Konnichi wa! xD


As daylight faded, time to go coz more people will swamp into Chinatown & I won't want to get stuck. It had been an enjoyable day.

Beautiful display at Chinatown main road


Two hours past midnight & the lions are still dancing. Drums & gongs are still sounding. Little boys & girls are still playing. At 2am in the morning on the first day of Chinese New Year as I nearly finished writing this entry. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone A Happy & Prosperous Lunar New Year! May the year of the Ox bring you, your family & your love ones much Happiness, Wealth & Good Health!

恭喜發財!


Note: More & bigger pics in my Flickr album.

Gifts of Friendship

10th Jan 2009 ~ Saturday morning, sleeping cozily in bed & was woken by loud insistent knocking on the front door. My soulmate answered it & came back with a parcel, telling me "Hey, the parcel from USA arrived."
Yippeee!!! We had been expecting that package. It was sent by our dear friend & his wonderful family from America. My soulmate got to know him when they are members in an hobby forum based in USA. They have never met in real, but developed a firm & warm friendship on the net sharing a common interest in their hobby & many other things. I got to know him when my soulmate introduced him to me. At my first look of his pic, I nicknamed him PBCB - 'Pirate Baron Cutie Bear' LOL! xD
Pirate coz of his bushy beard, Baron is his rank in a medieval reenactment group which he's a respected member of, Cutie Bear... he is really cute & build like a bear! A kindhearted gentleman, he accepted the nickname gracefully in good humor. I believe he even likes it... hahaha... =P
We had received gifts from him in the past, but this time, it's different. He remarried recently & is happily integrated into his new family. We are very very happy for him as he really deserves a happy life! His wife is a gorgeous woman with a lovely teenage daughter. Very nice people, a wonderful family! And this is the first time they sent us presents as a family & that's what made these gifts so special!

I was very sexcited & in the rush to open the package, I completely forgotten to take pic first! Stupid little hamster me! Inside were not 2 gifts as I expected, but WOW! Imagine my astonishment... I can't believe my eyes! NINE fabulous gift-wrapped presents & 2 loose items. The 2 loose items are for my soulmate, an amazing spaceship model & it's Merit Award won at a model competition in America. It was a jointed build by PBCB & my soulmate through email. I have no idea why PBCB sent these as most of the work done were by him. My soulmate only gave a little suggestions. In my opinion, the award should rightfully belong to PBCB. If you are reading this, PBCB, that is my personal opinion & no argument over this please! Heeheehee... =P

Pirate Bear Spaceship


And you know what? I cried when I saw all those lovely gifts. Call me silly if you wish, but looking at all those beautifully wrapped presents, I can feel that they were sent with lots of love & care. Recalling that special moment, I am at a lost of words now. I dunno how to describe the exact sensation, except it's pure happiness, overjoyed that these friends really treasure our friendship. Opening those gifts were like in a fantastic magical dream, wonderful surprise after wonderful surprise.

Later in the afternoon, we went out for a photo shoot bringing with us all those wonderful lovely presents. Took everything along, except the paint cups(for model building) which my soulmate loves, the spaceship & it's award as they are too fragile. We do not want to take the risk of damaging them after reaching us in such good shape! There's one more gift which we did not bring along. It's a 2Gb thumbdrive which PBCB sent & is choke full of beautiful music/songs which I'm still playing/looping them over & over in my iTune. Delightful choices, PBCB! I love all of them! Thank you!

Thumbdrive of Unchained Melody


And now let me present the rest of their gifts of friendship...
First is an elegant long red wooly scarf. I love to do a better photo session with this when I have the opportunity! =P

Elegantly in Red


Next comes a camo face netting for sniper. Awesome! Very appealing to me as I love military stuffs! I'm going to use it to compliment one of my military costume! Terrific! xD

Camo Me Please!


Followed by a authentic US military cap which will be fabulous with another of my military outfit! Perfect! xD

A Salute to Our Everlasting Friendship!


Then I found a cute little furry hamster with a remarkable pouch hanging from it's neck. What so remarkable about the pouch? Read on...

Don't I look like a hamster too? LOL! =P


The cute hamster was wishing for a star, for someone to takes it home. So I made it my pet of happiness & it's my favorite among all those gifts! xD

Take me home, please? xD


My Happiness Hamster kissed me & said, "You look so lovely with that cool goggle & exquisite necklace!" To which I replied, "The goggle belongs to my soulmate, but he is letting me wear them & both items are gifts from our wonderful American friends!"

Hamster of Happiness admiring friendship gifts


When I found Happiness Hamster, hanging from it's neck is a coin pouch, or so I presumed at first. Much later, when I was playing with that pouch, I felt something inside. Took it out & to my utter surprise, it was a charming silver Lucky Star necklace! Oh... I nearly cry again... that really makes my day. My happiness is complete! Many thanks to you, my friends!

Happiness Hamster with Pouch of Lucky Star


Note: The above story of the soft toy hamster with the pouch round it's neck is a make-up story, for entertainment purposes only. What really happened was, I put the pouch on the hamster's neck without knowing there's something inside. I presumed that it was a coin purse. On the way to the photoshoot, I was adjusting the pouch to fit better on the hamster when I felt something inside. That's how I discovered the Lucky Star necklace... many hours after I opened all those presents! What a silly hamster I was! =P

For the rest of my life, that unforgettable memorable day will be remembered as one of the happiest day of my life! My soulmate & me would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to our dear friends across the ocean, half the world away. Wishing you guys a great year ahead with many more to come! May all of you be happy, healthy & wealthy!
And also, we hope PCBC's design of a dome shaped house will be realized in the near future. That design is very intriguing to us & we believe that it will make an excellent home for the whole family! Hope that we will meet up some day soon & that will be another day to remember!
In appreciation to the love & support shown by our friends, I would like to dedicated this particular entry to PBCB & his wonderful family in USA!

Sincere thanks from the bottom of our heart!

CountDown to 2009 ~ Siloso Beach Party

31st Dec 2008/1st Jan 2009 ~ On the last day of 2008, we went to Siloso Beach Party for countdown to 2009 at Sentosa. Nath's friend had lots of tickets, so we got in free of charge. xD
Met Nath & friends at VivoCity & took the sky train over to Sentosa.

At Sentosa Sky Train Station


We arrived at the venue's entrance at 9.30 pm.

At the main entrance

At the foyer with Nath


The party was already in full swing & we jumped in!

Crowd at entrance & booths selling food/drinks

People were partying everywhere

Capoeira dancers


At the end of the party ground, there was a concert going on. It's where the countdown will be staged. We danced for a while...

Big badaboom songs & dance

Shake your bonbon! xD


Since it's still early, we went looking for some fun elsewhere.

We are the photohogs! =P

Putting our names down


First we tried mechanical surfing. Not as easy as it looks. We girls lasted 2 seconds & the guys about 5 seconds, but it's fun. xD

Dry land surfing


We noticed a dunking tank & headed towards it.

Dunk the victim! =P


Nath managed to convince or more like conned the guys to be her victims. So the lambs climbed up to the platform... xD

She got them! xD

Nath & her victims =P


Next was the Foam Party where we threw foam at each otherr & Nath became the victim with us stacking foam on her, making her into a bubble babe. =P

Crazy Foam Party!


Earlier we saw a trampoline bungee jump setup & thought we give it a try. Looks scary, but it's new year's eve, so what the heck! The idea is try to do a loop when you go up. Saying is easy. However...

Nath's butt face the sky! =P

I did it! I did it! I did a loop! xD


Stopped for a rest, but we are photohogs, so...

Posed for a few colorful pics xD


Nearly time & we headed towards the stage...

Near the stage & we saw stilt-walkers!


We couldn't resist taking pics with those cool stilt-walkers. Their fancy costumes are really awesome!

Sticking to stilt-walkers

Beauties & the Stilt-beast xD


And it's time! Countdown! 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


And to welcome in the new year...

Fireworks lit up the night sky!

Good-bye 2008 & Hello 2009!!!


The party went on till dawn, but we left at around 4am.

Happy Friends of 2009


Was it fun? You betcha! I had a great time & being energetic throughout the whole night! A wonderful start to a new year! xD
May all our wishes & dreams come true in 2009!

Wishing everyone a great year ahead!