so materialistic

The people I know are really busy chasing money. They work in an environment where they are allowed to claim overtime. They can start clocking overtime from 630am. Yes, you are right, 630 in the MORNING. One of them reached the carpark at 610 in the morning. My my… I am still at home! When they reached the office, they will be either busy chatting away during normal office time or play solitaire and yet they claim overtime at the end of the day. Don’t they feel tired? Don't they need time for themselves and family? One of them managed to purchase a $130K sports car.. Sponsored by his overtime monies! Imagine the incredible number of hours he must have accumlated. There was another lady who complained that her forehead was full of pimples. Isn’t it obvious that the pimples are the result of her own doings? She simply did not rest enough as she works 12 hours every weekday and 4 hours every sat. That works out to be 60 hours per week! They can chose to knock off early on Fridays and not even report to "work " on Saturdays but they are lured back by MONEY. They seem to be willing to be a slave to money and then splurge on spa, facial and massage. How ironic.Not all are like that though. Some do overtime when their job requires them to (I respect this kind of people), Well, that is the real purpose of the reimbursement of overtime (I suppose) and not for employees to abuse it. However, no one reports such bad behaviours.

WONDERFUL Rice Cooker!

Rice cooker is a great kitchen helper! Ohh... i'm starting to fall in love with it. I explored the options (in the office pantry) within these few weeks. The results - Marvellous! Why am I cooking in the office? Because of my office's remoteness.....

Day 1 - Chicken Stew

1/2 whole Chicken - Marinate overnight with the following mixture

1 tablespoon of finely chaopped Garlic

2 tablespoon of Oyster Sause,

2 teaspoon of Dried Parsley

1 teaspoon of white pepper

Vegs - 3 skinned & copped potatos, 1 carrot, 2 tomatoes, 2 white onions

Mix the veg & chicken into the pot with water. Make sure that the water do not flood the mixture. Stew for 2 hours

Day 2 - Yong Tow Foo Soup (serves 4)

Soup - 1 whole chicken BONE (ribs + neck), 3 tablespoon of ikan bilis, 2 teaspoon of light soya sauce to taste, 2 thinly sliced ginger, 3 tablespoon of soybeans.

Boil in rice cooker for 1 hour. Put in the Yong Tow Foo into the soup 10mins before serving

speechless...

my colleague sat beside me this morning while we were on the way into our site office. The morning chat became an eyeopener when he happily tells me that he got a chinese 33 yrs old local galfirend. Its no big deal right, but hey, he has three grown up children (so you can imagine how "young" he is), married (with his wife working in singapore) and got a belly (he isnt a hunk, after all). He then continued that he, being a St James' member, visits the club regularly with his gal. He proudly add that even with this fling, he manage to reach home everynight "on-time"! His wife needs to work on nightshift occassionally and that's why he get such "freedom". Well, I laugh it off when i heard all his account directly from his mouth.

The next best part - his galfriend has a full-time boyfriend who is a businessman. My colleague was so shameless to admit that he is just her part-time boyfriend! He added that his galfriend's full time boyfriend got lots of mistresses in thailand. Why is it that there are so many people busy cheating on their partners? Are human really so lonely and deprived of attention? so messy.. so complicated. I really dont think we need all these.

Yokoso Japan!

Day 1 - After 6hours of flight, I got my foot down on Osaka's international airport. We took the rapid train to Kyoto @ 2000yen. We got this special rate after much help from the local train station crew. He was real helpful. He could stand there for a couple of minutes and try to understand our travelling plans so he could recommend the best "priced" tickets.



After settling down in Sunroute hotel (which is a very small room), we head to GION. Gion - a place of night entertainment especially by Geishas. We managed to catch a glimpse of 1 Geisha after we spotted a group of people waiting outside a restaurant armed with cameras. Once she walked out, all of us was busy snapping away. PAPPPARAZI @ work!



Day 2 - We woke up 7 in the morning and got ready with our "gears" and we hit the streets to walk our way to Kiyomizu-dera Temple (清水寺)! The Buddhist temple was about 30 minutes walk from our hotel. We were greeted with rows of shops selling sweet delicacies. At the end of the street, we saw the wooden temple sitting on a cliff.

Its one of the oldest temple in Kyoto. It was very crowded today, filled with many young visitors (mostly students).

After lunch (where we had our meal in a small shop. I had Tempura udon while Kwan had Don), we head to Kinkakuji Temple via bus. The single bus trip cost us 220yen per person. That works out to be about $2.30!

We paid an entrance fee of 400 yen each. It was a beautiful garden with trees, pond. The Golden Pavilion temple lives up to its name as its glided with pure gold.

Next, we took another bus to Arashiyama Area - a beautiful landscaped area located at the western outskirt of Kyoto.. its an escape + lots fresh air but expect to walk alot to explore the scenic place. The weather was good.. cooling and isnt too humid. Thus it makes the strolling very pleasant.

This is the bamboo forest within Arashimaya

Day 3 - Osaka + Nara

Again, we took the Japan's subway to Nara. We head to the Nara Central park (where wild deers room around, freely) and the Todaiji Temple (where the Japan's largest Buddha sits)

Nara Deer Park - as we strolled along the pathway, the deers were so sociable... greedy i mean. What i am holding arent biscuits, they are just tissue papers. They arent stupid, they will walk up to your hand and smell it. I managed to touch their horns and was surprised to know that their horns are rather smooth and soft.

Next we walked to Todaiji Temple (Great Eastern Temple). It is also the world's largest wooden temple. I remembered that there is a huge circular column where alot of sutdents where queuing to squeeze though the rat hole. It is believe to bring luck to the person who can manage to crawl though the hole.

Osaka - After much travelling, our hungry stomach lead us to OSAKA! its another big city in Japan. We tried lots of food over there. It started to rain once we reached the Osaka train station. Not wanting to waste time, we went into a shop to try their omelette. Its very delicious. Its generous with their sauce and cabbage!

Lucky Mother Nature was on our side, the rain stopped once we walked out of the shop. We continue our food hunt!

Mass Celebration

Its not a mass wedding but a mass birthday celebration for the Gemini babies (Wynne, myself, Wendy & Jiahui). Oh yes, very old babies in fact as all of us are turning 29 real soon. AHHHHH \('o')/.... this is our last year celebrating our 20 something birthday.

We had a sumptous dinner @ the Rendenzous Hotel however I was down with gastric. ('~') What a terrible way to response to such a dinner. How can we forget the most important portion: Candle blowing! since its a buffet, we got a plate full of mini cakes and a candle. Each of us making a wish for ourselves :) (what's my wish??? i'm not telling.. hehehehe.)