Princess & Billy serenades SilverFox on his Birthday booze bus ride to Stereolounge.

Second baby snake we found in the house in the past 2 weeks. Apologies for the shaky and out of focus video, was quite squirmish at the sight of that thing.

Dad thinks it might be black cobra because we get quite a few of those around our area. I shudder to think where Mummy cobra is…

What worries me is the fact that we found these 2 UPSTAIRS! Where could she have laid them babies?!

I think it’s also an old Malay folklore that if you find the nest and don’t kill the mother, she comes back with a vengeance and attacks! Whole villages have said to been evacuated until the mother is hunted and killed.

What can we do to drive them out of the house? Suggestions?

Late last year, I decided to take part in another Adventure Race. The memory of pain from the previous race in Penang had diminished, so I signed myself up for another round of torture in January earlier this year.

The SAFRA AVventura is an adventure race consisting of multiple disciplines ranging from trail biking, running, kayaking, rope ascend, abseiling, navigation and mystery tests all rolled into one exhilarating race to fully challenge those with a passion for adventure.
Taken from the SAFRA website

This year, my race buddy was Andrew (ickle’s hubby), who is an adventure racing veteran and possibly 10X fitter than me. And without his help and motivation, I probably wouldn’t have completed it. Again, I jumped into another race without training and survived. Was stoked that I finished it, although we had to miss the abseil because there were just too many people in the queue. Nonetheless, chuffed.

I love my mummy. She left this message in the kitchen table so I’d see it in the morning on race day.

For this year’s SAFRA AVventura, Some 274 adventure racers took part, which was a larger group than I had expected. We were told that the total distance would be approximately 51km. In hopes to keep things competitive, we weren’t given information on the combination of activities. We had no idea how far we had to run or how long we had to ride.

Post event reports say we had run 17km, cycled 26km, kayaked 4km and finished off with a biathlon of 4km. And besides physical endurance, they also threw in few mental challenges at several points in the race.

If I remember correctly, we had to solve a word puzzle after a bike leg, thank goodness it wasn’t Sudoku. Second obstacle after another bike leg was to inflate and deflate bike tyres. Andrew was pro at that and got us in and out of that challenge in good time. And the last one was to move a potato across 20 metres by striking it using another potato hung by a string tied around your waist.

Other obstacles included crossing a swinging bridge, monkey bars, Jacob’s ladder and army crawls. All this in unbearable morning and mid-afternoon sun, heat exhaustion would have definitely been the #1 cause of casualties.

On the last run leg of the race, our race support crew Janice and Chris were waiting by the road with ice lollies from 7-11!!! When you’ve been racing for 8hours, anything and everything tastes so good.

It’s really a test of your mental and physical endurance. By the end of the race I was broken, and so were my adidas trail shoes. Looking forward to doing another adventure race soon.

Housewarming at Carol’s new crib in the east.

Was also celebrating her baby Vera’s pink-themed 1st birthday.

She made that cupcake tower all by herself, we were all very impressed.

Ended the evening by watching the beautiful sunset on her balcony and catching up with Danli, Diamond, Evan and Hanwei.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♫ Loves it! ♫ ♥ ♥ ♥
I’ve always had a thing for songs in minor keys. Great track, melody is haunting and melancholic.

Have yet to try some of that green fairy juice prepared the correct way, and not poured down my throat by Javad at a boat party (circa 2003)

Ushering in the new year in style at Mezzanine Grand Hyatt Hotel Singapore. This is probably the 3rd time I’ve done the Hyatt countdown dinner/party and this year it was by far the worse selection of dessert! Me thinks the pastry chef is feeling a bit uninspired or perhaps it had been a bad year for him/her.

We had quite a huge group, so we managed to book out the whole table at the cellar of Mezzanine. Dressed in our best, we left our baggage from 2009 behind and rung in the new year with lots of love, friendship and laughter.

After the countdown, it was a bus ride to Sunny’s place at Sentosa Cove for Casino-themed after party and 5am breakfast by the pool! Happy New Year!

A bit late with the blog post. Was drafted in December. Whatever.

I love my old man.

What I loved about studying at an international school in Singapore was making friends with people from all over the world. Whether they were temporary or Singapore residents, our paths will keep on crossing at different times of our lives. Singapore just seems like one of the most transient cities in the world, perhaps second to Hong Kong and New York.

And because of that, there’s little separation anxiety or sadness when the time comes to say goodbye. People come and go, and you learn to accept that. But most importantly, you learn the importance of staying in touch.
With that, I also love the fact that our circle of friends keeps on expanding. When I mention I’m out with ‘the girls’, there is a core group of about 5 which then broadens to about 30!

(From left: Desray,Sarah, Marissa. Artika & Michelle Y.)

Christmas is usually the time when a lot of the girls are back in town to visit their families, and the best time to get together and catch up. Boxing day brunch was at Graze Rochester Park. Good food, great company. Just hope we don’t have to wait till Christmas to see everyone again. I leave you with some photos from that morning.

Prime rump hamburger (S$27), Eggs Benedict (S$17), Banana Pancakes ($13), avocado and tomato on toast ($15).

Nice photo!
(Top row: Camilla, Kathryn, Katiana, Kimberley, Natalie, Angela, Desray, Sarah)
(Bottom row: Bettina, Michelle, Anoushka, Artika, Michelle Y., Michelle M., Marissa)

Not so nice photo

One of the most famous bossanova songs ever produced. Listening to this now on a wet rainy Saturday afternoon.

Stan Getz makes me feel like picking up my saxophone lessons again. Has been untouched under my table for at least 7 years.

Sometimes that’s all you need.

There are a lot of mixed reviews on the internet but to me it is arguably one of the best burger joints in Hong Kong. Was first introduced to Shake ‘em Buns by Dru at the beginning of 2009. And the next 3 times I went back to Hong Kong, I was back there at least once. It almost became a pilgrimage.

Don’t expect McDonalds prices here, prepare to fork out around HK$60 for a burger and HK$12 for fries.

My favourite burger is the “South of The Border” which is a beef burger with Guacamole, Sour Cream and Salsa. What sold me was the guacamole…mMMmm i love guacamole.

Shake em Buns
Address: Shop No. 6, , Wan Chai (Entrance at Ship Street)
Tel: (851) 2866 2060
Opening Hours:
Website: http://www.shakembuns.com/

Francis Wang, CONGRATULATIONS! You are today’s lucky reader. Please email me your Singapore mailing address to angelaATblursotongDOTcom and I’ll post the 2 vouchers out to you tomorrow! Alternatively you can PM me on facebook.

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So… How many of you can relate to this say “I”!

Tery Lim, CONGRATULATIONS! You are today’s lucky reader. Please email me your Singapore mailing address to angelaATblursotongDOTcom and I’ll post the 2 vouchers out to you tomorrow! Alternatively you can PM me on facebook.

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It was our last few days in Hong Kong and one of the items to strike off the list was to have afternoon tea at The Pen.

The Peninsula (香港半島酒店) located at the junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road in Tsim Sha Tsui is also Hong Kong’s oldest surviving hotel.

Out of the 10 people I’ve asked, 7 said that The Peninsula has the best afternoon/high tea in country, so I guess The Pen it was. All 7 of them also mentioned that we should call to make a reservation a couple of days in advance, just so we wouldn’t have to wait in line for a table.

Afternoon tea was pleasant but slightly overrated. There were so many tables catering to demand, it felt over commercialized and almost canteen-like. But I guess everyone including us were there so we can claim we’ve had tea at The Pen.

Our tiered afternoon tea set comprised of snacks on silver platters accompanied with coffee or tea. For those of you who don’t know, top tier is usually scones, middle is the savoury and the last tier is the sweets. But nowadays no one really keeps to the tradition.

For ours, the bottom tier was raisin scones accompanied by whipped butter, fresh strawberry preserves and clotted cream. You must MUST have clotted cream, and none of that fake cream instant bottle crap. Second tier was finger sandwiches and assorted pastries, and the last tier the sweets: chocolate and cake.

To be honest, it was over-priced, but you pay for the colonial grandeur and ambience which is The Pen. There you are sitting beneath the arches of the lobby, listening to The Lobby String quartet, sipping tea like ladies of leisure. A tad bit chi-chi, and not exactly my cup of tea, so it won’t be a repeat visit. But at least I could tick it off the list.

The Peninsula
Address: Salisbury Road, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Hong Kong
Afternoon Tea is served daily from 2pm to 7pm
Dress code: Casual – smart casual

Zack Yap, CONGRATULATIONS! You are today’s lucky reader. Please email me your Singapore mailing address to angelaATblursotongDOTcom and I’ll post the 2 vouchers out to you tomorrow! Alternatively you can PM me on facebook.

CLICK HERE to find out how YOU can win free Starbucks coffee too!

Oh Meng Hui, CONGRATULATIONS! You are today’s lucky reader. Please email me your Singapore mailing address to angelaATblursotongDOTcom and I’ll post the 2 vouchers out to you tomorrow! Alternatively you can PM me on facebook.

CLICK HERE to find out how YOU can win free Starbucks coffee too!

Am so disappointed. All that sneaking around this whole week living in fear to avoid assassination gone to waste.

First of all the game got canned, and second, found out my target was not even in the country! I didn’t even stand a chance.

Today is Sunday and I’m still recovering from the Saturday morning stake out! Woke up at 3:30am to pack my bag ready for battle. Snacks, newspaper, water, dossier, handphone, water pistol. Waited at his HDB block all morning only to see his mother leave the house and no sighting of Agent Ice_Cool_Dude.

Back to the first point. So what happened? Typical of the Singapore Police to rain on the parade. They should be renamed the Fun Police. Sometimes they just got to loosen up a bit, it’s just a game! Citing the reason why it was cancelled is because organisers should have applied for an Entertainment License (which honestly they wouldn’t have approved anyway).

Here’s an excerpt from the email sent by the “Shadow Government” (organisers) to all “Agents” (me).

Police involvement:
Assassins, we regret to tell you that the Singapore police has requested that we shut down the tournament.

We always work with the local authorities to ensure a safe and fun environment, and although this really sucks for us, we shall respect their wishes and close this tournament early at 00:00hrs Monday March 17th

What happens to you and the game now?
As much as we respect the police’s concerns, we also respect your experiences so far, working hard as a top notch assassin.

We want to give you, the remaining players, some sense of closure, so we will end the tournament 00:00hrs next Monday March 17th. So those of you who are close to your first or next kill, you still have a chance to tally up your score and and close out any pending assassination plans that you have.

After that, we will be forced to officially close down the tournament as requested by your police department.

What the hell happened?
In over five and a half years of our history, we’ve never had issues with the Police. In fact, we’ve had help from the police in cities like Vancouver.

Apparently, we’ve just learned yesterday, that the Singapore police had contacted our local partners to express their concerns…..
…… we would have done all we could to iron out the issue right then and there with your police so that we can provide our best game experience for you all.

We are filled with sadness at this unfortunate and regrettable turn of events. We loved reading your stories and how much ass you guys are kicking.

We are sorry, sad face.

Response from the local rep at http://www.streetwars.sg/

The Real Story – Singapore’s Not Ready?
What did life lack in Singpore? A little excitement and color? Well that was what we thought when we decided to bring this game to our sunny shores. We always wanted Singapore to be a vibrant city and this was a great game concept that we just had to try to bring over for everyone to experience.

After just a week of play almost everyone that we spoke to mentioned about what a great experience this game has brought to their life. How it brings out the best in people as killers and targets trade stories talk about each other’s experiences and meet new friends. It was our great pleasure to see so much excitement in the players and it was fun while it lasted.

After spending over 4 months trying to get this great game over to our shores it looks like luck has stuck out for us. This was a love affair by the local organizers personally and not comercial in nature. If you were to run a quick calculation you can see that it was run at a break even/loss contrary to popular belief that it was for profit.

Was the cancellation due to poor planning or lack of effort? Yes and No. We should have made 100% sure before commencing the game that was our fault and we apologize to you the players for that oversight. However, we did try, we had contacted the police on this issue a month before and got the round about on what was needed to run this event here. We had mistakenly assumed that if this was a private event taking place in the whole of Singapore with no mass gatherings where only 2 persons are playing at anyone time, that no permit would be required. We’ve all had orientation and other corporate games in and around singapore organized casually and those went without any issues so what’s the difference here, we thought? We were wrong.

After all that’s said and done, the police don’t have an easy job and we respect their decision to shut down the game. Our intentions were to bring this great game to Singapore, never to cause problems for anyone.

We all learn from our mistakes and we seek everyone’s understanding as we try to dig ourselves out of this hole. Stay dry guys.