It should not be permissible. There is a filing in my molar tooth, the filing suffered a ‘fracture’, fine, it chipped! This is not remotely what I meant by it is not permissible, of course anything and everything is subject to wear and tear. What is not, would be the duration of the ‘fracture’. I believe it had been a year! I have been eating with an injured molar tooth for a year!!!

Finally, I decided to make it a priority, and made appointment with the nice dentist – only because I needed to go for a medical consultation at the public clinic too, I need a referral to the skin specialist for my eczema problem which is becoming chronic.

You wouldn’t believe this, but the one thing that nagged in the head after I had made the appointment last week, for yesterday, was how to transport myself from the dentist’s to the polyclinic! It’s probably under 15 minutes from Point A to Point B, but it’s not within walking distance, and I am sure there is a bus service, but bus is far more dangerous when I don’t even recognize places, say, when do I alight!!!

I am a bigger fan to designated taxi-stands than flagging a cab off the road. Apparently, from experiences, the women around the suburb neighborhood, who are around during the day time, have acquired exceptional skill in ‘robbing’ your cab! See, I suspect they spend a great deal of time practicing the ninja skill, and I must have missed the flyer to enrol! They must have mastered a certain skills level, because you don’t see them by the roadside when you stood under the scorching sun waiting for the next empty cab to appear, then, just when the cab approached, the housewives ninja-skipped and appeared out of nowhere and robbed the cab off you silly!

Am I not glad that the husband decided to schedule his dental appointment on the same day too!

After the dental appointment, we went to the polyclinic to get a number. The friendly security told us to go get some lunch and be back at 1:30pm. I didn’t know they had lunch time, I am not saying that they don’t deserve decent meal, I just thought they rotate breaks.

It was perfect timing. The husband is forever hungry, so we might as well grab our lunch first. We went to the nearby mall and had Japanese food.

I had Unagi Bento – eel with rice.

The husband had Teriyaki Chicken rice and salmon sashimi – I am a cooked food person, except for salad.

We reached the polyclinic at 1:45pm after lunch. It wasn’t as crowded as I remembered. My last visit was for my slipped disc, many years ago. I was required by the employer to seek medical help at the polyclinic. It was one of the most horrid experiences.

My lumbar disc slipped and protruded. It hit on the nerve in any way imaginable. I couldn’t sit, stand, or lie flat without experiencing excruciating pain. The wait was very long, the ventilation was rather bad due to the huge crowd. The referral date was even more ridiculous. The earliest date that they could get me for the orthopedic was a month away! Somehow, that was changed afterward to 2 weeks. Long story short, aside from my fractured hand accident as a child, that slipped disc incident went side by side with the fractured hand, in terms of pain index!

I am quite pleased, this time around. The polyclinic was renovated, so I was told. They have improved on the patients distribution, possibly by categorizing the illnesses at the registration. Things are more organized and efficient.

I am very literal, and I really have difficulty understanding the basic questions when asked vaguely. The nice lady at the registration asked, ‘What can I do for you today?’. I had no idea what kind of information she wanted, so I paused. I would surely like to register myself for a consult, if that was what she asked. The husband who was by my side, answered, ‘Rash’. She registered that with satisfaction, so I guessed the husband understood what was asked.

I am guessing that by doing that, it forms a primary filtering process in determining who goes where. Perhaps they group patients into chronic, follow-up, acute, and regular ailments, like mine.

We were given a slip to go to level 2, room 65 to 69. I was secretly grateful for the husband’s company, I might still get to where I should, but I am confident that I will make more rounds before getting there!

The waiting area is well ventilated with full length glass paneled windows that are wide opened. The weather in Singapore is forever unbearable for me, the humidity and the heat can really do nasty things to my eczema plagued skin.

The absence of air-conditioner is compensated with super powerful ceiling fans running possibly at highest speed. It was so windy, I had trouble keeping my hair in place! Oh, but I won’t complain about the fan, it’s better messy hair than hot sweaty skin.

We left the place at around 3:15pm, I would think it’s quite a reasonable waiting time.

It has been a very interestingly renewed experience with the public medical care, and the consult with the public doctor leaves an intriguing itchy kick in the head. Still, I am not complaining about it. It’s more of an insightful understanding into the behaviors and expectations of the practicing doctor and the general public, okay, perhaps I don’t count as general, I over think things but that enriches life, yes?

With that, we took off to the fun part of the day! We headed to my favorite mall, Great World City. We decided on “Battleship” over “Avengers” for movie, and decided against Gold Class ticket as they were left with just 2 seats by the side.

About 20 minutes into the show, 1/4 of the popcorn stuffed down the throat.. the mini-drama began…
Me: **turned head to face the husband** **With super dramatically exaggerated facial expression, and a voiceless voice** O.M.G!!! Is. This. One. Of. Those. Freaking. Alien. Shows!!!!!
Husband: **guilty look and managed a wry smile** yah!
Me: **Enlarged eyes to largest** >_> —-stare —- husband with silly smile
Husband: It’s like transformer…
Me: Oh… **satisfied expression, continue to toss popcorn into mouth**

Yeah, he had talked about Battleship since the movie was out, I didn’t think for a minute that it would be about Aliens. I had thought it was some sort of normal combat show. Of course, normal is not good enough for me.

The movie was enjoyable, although I can’t say that it’s as good as Transformer. The distribution of the roles and parts in the show is not as great. Too much time and uninteresting bits are put into the first 20 minutes (or so). Transformer, on the other other, has a winning ticket into anyone’s heart with the cute boy who has the funniest details designed for him, such as riding his mum’s cute bicycle, and his babblemouth personality etc. The Harper boy has a less interesting opening which becomes too draggy when he screws up things too often, again, with uninteresting events. Then, the rest of the show was fantastic!

After the movie, we had dinner at Cedele. I ordered my favorite carrot cake. I decided to give the other favorite – grilled chicken salad – a miss because I was still quite full with all the popcorns.

I also had a scoop of caramel sea salt ice cream. What can I say, it’s marvelicious! The caramel is fragrant yet not overpowering, and the sweetness is perfect. Each spoonful of the ice cream leaves an interesting hint of savory aftertaste. It’s a perfect combination, with sweetness and salty taste enhancing each other. Don’t let the ‘sea salt’ scares you, it’s really just a subtle hint of aftertaste. Not to mention that this is made perfect with generous amount of almonds in the ice cream. Now now, I have yet another favorite food!

Not many photos taken because I forgot my camera at home. I took these photos with my cell’s built-in camera. My last phone died, so I am using the backup Xperia Mini. I still don’t do well with cell phone.

As we grow older, and hopefully wiser, we (also hopefully) achieve better clarity about how we want to live our lives. In the modern cities, we are led to live the dreams of someone else’s, including our parents, our mentors, and a bunch of people who are only passing through.

As early as we live independently, and think independently, we begin to sieve through the routines that we had adopted since we were children.

For me, I might still be holding on to some routines that my older sister who shared a room with me, would throw a disgruntled look over.

Now, being married has its merits. I get to be the matriarch of traditions, in our private (fine, not that private, since I blog, tweet, and facebook about our day-to-day small talks) world, that is. I don’t care to alter anyone’s tradition.

Aside from a bunch of new and abandoned traditions since we got married, the new tradition is the Soup Day, which is now maintained on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Today, I prepared some pasta to add to the soup.

Am I not lucky, the husband actually loves soup, a lot! I can’t really cook – at least not at risking to burn the apartment down – I sure can eat though. I fare quite well with the soup – and you can’t really go so wrong with soup – and once again, I am so thankful for internet. I scoured through the internet and found some recipes for vegetable soups (mainly for my post-Master Cleanse Program). I never knew different ways to cook soup, I would dump everything in the water and drizzle some olive oil on it. That didn’t taste bad, but the new way to cook the soup notches up the level of tastiness by a lot.

So, for the pasta, I cooked the pasta in boiling water for around 11 minutes, as instructed at the back of the package. (of course, I always follow instruction!) Drain the pasta and rinse them in cold water. This is important, because if you don’t do that, the pasta will still continue to ‘cook’ in the heat, by rinsing them with cold water, it contracts quickly and making it more ‘springy’. Ok, the rinsing and contracting part is really just my logical mind speaking, I haven’t researched on that. It works anyway.

I left the pasta in a draining bowl to rid of excess water. Excess water in contact with the pasta is likely to result in soggy parts.

This method is great if you are cooking a large pot – like I do – of soup.

Add the amount of pasta you want to a serving bowl, add hot soup on it, mix well and add pepper to taste. This way, you get springy great tasting pasta every time.

If you are interested in the step-by-step recipe of the vegetable soup, it’s blogged on my other blog – The Quirky Me.

Apart from the original recipe, I add/replace the ingredients here and there:

Califlower

Hairy Gourd

Sweet corn (you may use canned corn, I’d prefer the corn on cob and I slice the corn kernels down)

Asparagus

The good thing about using more different vegetables in your soup is that each spoonful of soup you drink, it gives quite an interestingly varied taste. With pasta added, you have a nice high fibre and low fat meal.

So, I am 10 steps behind most people, if not years. I started to watch “Friends” only after the show ended nearly a half a decade later.

Now, I am hooked on ‘Big Bang Theory’, I started from mid of Season 3, and I am not going back to watch the earlier seasons. In one particular scene in the laundry room, Sheldon was folding his laundry on the table while Penny emptied hers in the washer.

Me: Hey, I want that thing, the folding thing, do you think it’s for sale?
Husband: I think maybe he invented that?
Me: Shucks, I WANT THAT! (agreed with the logical deduction that it could be an invention off the show, by the quirky PhD holder!)
Husband: Looks interesting, eh?
Me: Will google tomorrow

Sure, I googled a few days later, and was super excited to know that Flip-Folder is a real product! It’s a bummer though, that the shipping is USD40-ish; while the adult size folder is USD18.90. I posted that video on facebook. Friends and cousin responded rather quickly that similar products are available at the pop-up stores located at bus interchanges in Singapore.

Apparently, the folder is only new to me! hahaha! It’s no surprise there though, considering that I have not been to the bus interchange for years now.

I would love to get the original Flip-Fold, but well, since they are not marketed in Singapore, I will settle with whatever is available here. And I have gotten one, without leaving the apartment! I am so grateful for internet and online shopping! I got mine at SGD13.90.

The folder arrived yesterday, and I left the ‘crossed-eyes’ at the computer desk (from overworking on the codes for website) immediately to play test out on the folder.

The folder stank bad with nauseating plastic smell when newly opened, it went away by the next hour though.

Here goes:

Step 1 – place the tee flat, front side faced down on the folder

Step 2 – flip the sides, one at a time

Step 3 – Flip the bottom section

Voila!!! The egg, the hatched chick, the chick, and the rooster are happy now! Fine, I am happy.

We fold clothes this way when we pack for travel. It is neater and frees up space. Now, I get the same size for all clothes, all the time!

The husband and I enjoy amicable relationship, and I am guessing that we respect each other’s way of enjoying life. I don’t believe in compromising, because most of the times, that means settling for less. It serves no meaning to me to get into a lifetime partnership with someone only to live a life lesser than as a single.

We continue to enjoy quality life together, but separately. We get to do what we enjoy doing before the marriage. We make adjustments, but not for less, but to improve on overall enjoyment as a couple. We don’t need to do everything together – thank goodness for that! I kind of resent outdoor activities and social get-togethers – but we do have a common interest – watching too much telly!

The difference here is that we don’t always like the same shows, and that is fine. He watches his scary flesh-eating zombies shows on his own; while I watch my girly romance shows and nearly monotonic documentaries on my own. We just schedule a common time-slot that we will get to watch shows that we both enjoy. There is very little ‘sacrifice’ in our marriage, personally, that word is overrated.

Human beings can be pathetic at times, in terms of inflating self-worth. We seize every opportunity to make ourselves look like heroes, at home, at work, in a marriage, in a friendship, in everything. There is no shame in not wanting to make unnecessary sacrifices. When we do something for the people who matter to us, we don’t sacrifice, we just do out of willingness and love.

Sacrifice is when I decide I will die in place of someone, or something bigger than myself.

Now, watch the video of Sheldon folding the clothes…

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As with me, anything, anytime, everything, and every time can be crazy, not like today, it’s crazier than crazy!

I decided it’s one of those mornings that I should go out of my mind and attempt to ‘poison’ the husband! I COOKED! Not just sandwich, but I COOKED porridge, boiled salted eggs, and even cooked prawns – which failed terribly!

First up, brown rice porridge with sweet potatoes.

The husband bought a pack of organic brown rice just before my Master Cleanse program ended, I asked him to. It’s difficult to try to cook brown rice, because only Mike and I eat brown rice. As a matter of fact, I have always loved oats, bran, and wheat, kind of food. I don’t like white rice, because of the sticky texture and the sweet aftertaste, that bugs me always.

Brown rice tastes more oaty, and I love it!

I cooked the brown rice in rice cooker, but added plenty of water. I also added chunks of sweet potatoes. I find that sweet potatoes add a subtle hint of sweetness to the porridge, and makes the porridge smooth and fragrant.

I wanted to try to cook prawns with airfryer, and it failed terribly. Details on what I should have done is blogged on my other blog – the quirky me.

Believe it or not, I have not cooked salted eggs before! I have absolutely no idea how long should I keep the eggs in the boiling water! Good thing it turned out just fine.

The breakfast was fine, the husband refused to take another prawn after the first. hahaha! He is super particular about freshness of seafood and I have to admit that this batch of prawns weren’t as fresh as I hoped.

The husband survived the breakfast, so, yeah, my plan to poison the husband flops too.

Of course, back in my head, I am craving for the airfried honeyed wings that mum made just days ago. Recipe and details on the other blog too.

For the rest of the Sunday, we should have junk food that the husband bought last night from Old Chang Kee, and have more tea. The husband loves the Golden Mango Green Tea that I ordered on iHerb. At this rate that I am drinking – 2 teas per day – I am looking at reordering the supplements and LOTS of teas by end of the month.

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We are cutting back on travel trips for this year. We usually travel in the early part of the year – coincide with Lunar New Year, mid-year in May – avoiding crazy crowds in June school holidays, and year-end in October – coincide with my birthday.

We have a lot to do this year, not that we had lesser to do the years before, but this year is just overwhelmingly MORE.

The better time to travel this year after the Chiang Mai trip would be May, but we have so much on our plates now, we might not make any travel plan for the rest of the year.

What’s been keeping me busy? I say, every department!

On the health department, I have this crazy chronic eczema condition, which first occurred several days into the Chiang Mai trip. It’s been months now, but I eczema rash is visiting me religiously every night.

It prompted me to take stock in my health status.

My sister introduced me to ‘Master Cleanse’ program, and I had hoped it may help with the nagging eczema problem. I went through the Master Cleanse 10-days program, although it didn’t help with the eczema condition, it surprises me with other health improvements! I never imagined that eye-sight, complexion and joints pain could be improved! I wrongly thought that it’s natural to lose vitality as we age, and all the ailments are byproducts of aging. I cannot be more wrong.

This program opens a wide window of possibilities to improving health and quality of life.

The 1st day after the 10-day program ended, we were to make ourselves vegetables soup, so I searched for recipe online and found one. I didn’t know we could cook soup like that, of course you would know by now that I don’t exactly cook.

The soup is super tasty, and now I cook a big pot of soup once or twice weekly. Mike and mum love the soup I cook. On weekend, Mike and I would have the soup as meals for the day. The soup is not only nutritious but also filling since I use many potatoes.

Right, I become a tad more health-conscious than usual. I ordered some supplements online and they arrived yesterday. Many Singaporeans order through iHerb. Not only that they are a lot more affordable, they offer a huge range of organic products too. (Details of the products with prices are blogged on my other blog)

I have heard so much good things about Liver Detox, and so I am putting Mike on this supplement too. I have quit the regular coffee since the Master Cleanse, I have decaf coffee in place of that.

I have tried the Pero coffee today. I have to say that it doesn’t really taste like coffee, but more of a chocolaty flavored coffee. If you love regular coffee, this is not for you. I never really liked coffee, I like coffee with plenty of creamers or milk, therefore, I love flat white, or latte. I hate the acidic and sour aftertaste. Pero might just be the right beverage for me.

I also tried the Organic Earl Grey just a while ago. Love love love it! I am not an expert on teas, but it definitely tastes great! I love earl grey, always. I have my earl grey with creamers and sugar. Earl Grey, is love at first sip for me. It has this distinctive aroma that puts me in a perfect mood. The light hint of sweetness pictures a perfectly good afternoon.

Getting more health-conscious, my sister and I shared the cost of the airfryer, and gift it to mum as Mother’s Day present. Way in advance, that is. Of course, other than the day we went to see doctor at Vivo City, I haven’t been out of the apartment, so it makes perfect sense that most of my shopping are made online. (thank goodness for internet!)

Mum absolutely love the lesser oil, if not oil-free, food. She made Ngoh Hiang, and we brushed olive oil lightly before frying. Perfect!

Next up, the yam cake. We actually prefer the airfried food now, because it unlike oil fried, airfried food keeps the inside juicy and tender while crispy (little oil is needed, as yam cake is nearly oil free on its own) on the outside.

On the work department. I have been swamped! It’s quite an accomplishment for me to have completed the huge doll for a custom order – Indian Saint, Sai Baba. It’s about 42cm tall, the largest doll by far, that I have made in my crafting career.

I also managed to finish – finally! – the 99 squares blanket. It has special meaning in choosing ’99′ as total number of squares. This shouldn’t take as long as it had, but I have very small windows of time divided for different activities. The good news is that no matter how much work I have piled in the schedule, the dominating activity is always sleep time, I still enjoy 7-9 hours sleep every night.

The Love Story series – School Sweethearts, is completed nearly end of last year, but I only rolled out the product last month.

As busy as I have been, I squeezed time to make some ninjas. I have stopped accepting MTO and custom orders, so I am inflating the ready-stock inventory.

Right after the Chiang Mai trip, I picked up where I left off on the order for the wedding party. This order was accepted 6 months earlier. Each of them is personalized, so it really takes more time to fill the order.

This pair of Modern-Chinese wedding dolls is part of the order with the wedding party. I just rolled out the pattern yesterday.

Similarly, this pair of Classic-Romantic couple is part of the same order too. The large dolls were delivered before I left for Chiang Mai.

I sure know how to make full use of even the smallest window of any remaining time in allocated time slots. I use them to make new coasters – starry. Should be out by mid May.

I don’t really indulge in retail therapy, but what I do really requires smart and effective acquisition, without me leaving the apartment.

I shop online, for 95% of the time. It sounds strange, but online shopping cultivates my patience. The busy schedule helps too!

When your order arrived in package, it’s the closest thing to receiving a present. I don’t participate in most of the family events, or any event that involve a huge crowd. I love Christmas, minus the crowd, know what I mean? Gifting is always pleasant, whether on the receiving or giving end. Most of the times, giving is more gratifying than receiving. It’s like sharing a very private part of yourself – your thoughts on the gift, sharing what you think is perfectly nice, the unspoken blessing you have for the receiver.

To top it off, the husband bought me the wax seal!

For now, I need to finish blogging on the Chiang Mai trip and finish up all the orders. Even though plagued by the nagging eczema problem, I have to say that it’s been a wonderful 2012 so far.

The 1st gift that the husband, then boyfriend bought me is a diamond bangle in white gold. I already had a good-sized diamond bangle which I purchased impulsively. I love to choose my jewelry, and I don’t always love jewelry.

He promised not to buy ring; he bought a solitaire ring as proposal ring; I returned and exchanged in less than a week’s time, solitaire ring scratches. As the ring was among the highest priced series in the jewelry shop, I had to choose another pair of earrings to make up the difference.

The husband has since learnt to buy practical gifts.

More than often, men are ‘trained’ to believe that the more expensive and glamorous gifts they buy for their partners, the more it shows how much they treasure and cherish the relationship. I am not sure if that proves to be true for others, but I think, the value of affection cannot be weighed on the scale of materials and prices.

I don’t really know what happened in between, but we are 5 years old! I mean, the marriage is 5 yeas old!

I am still talking about our love story and wedding day as if it just happened not too long ago, and it’s already been 5 years since the big day. Besides growing older in physical appearances, I think we are still young lovers.

So, on commemorating the 5 years mark in our marriage, the husband found a perfect gift.

I have loved typewriters forever. I especially love vintage typewriters. Like historic architecture, that once housed people of a long time ago, and there must have countless of stories within the building, or of the building. Typewriters, operated by a real person, must have typed so many moving words, formal letters, and stories of a completely different time and cultural background.

So much, only imagined in my head. That alone, fascinates me.

The sound of the typewriter is like music to my ears.

I imagine, back in those difficult days, job must be scarce. The sound of typewriter indicated that the typist had a job. Sound of importance and self-esteem.

Yes, I also love hot seals, envelopes, manual inking pens, and beautifully pressed letter notes.

Although I love vintage tools, equipment, and architectures, I don’t resent technology. I love new gadgets too. Some days, what we have and use will be vintage. I embrace the past and the now.

I hardly hint. If I want something, I take proactive action to make it happen; or to dismiss it as passing desire. I have wanted a typewriter forever; it is just in the lower priority group due to various considerations such as space constraint, and the time needed to source for a typewriter and the ribbons. Singapore moves very quickly and hardly known for keeping slow-moving stock – profit justification.

The husband has been looking out for a vintage typewriter, and gave several finds a pass due to unattractiveness of the machine and other factors. He had left his contact with the antique shop so that he could be contacted immediately to view new arrivals of old typewriters.

The shop never phoned.

He checked on the shop regularly anyway. A week before we left for our Anniversary Vacation to Chiang Mai, he spotted the perfect typewriter!

Needless to say, he bought it without hesitation. It was not in exact mint condition, some parts were rusting badly. He had the shop sent the machine for restoration – he was told that the restoration work will be performed by a aged mechanic.

The husband had told me that he bought me a gift, but left me to guess what was it. I made several crazy guesses, but I couldn’t think of anything that I really wanted at this time. I always want something, but I don’t need anything. The hints were that it was in my ‘to-buy list’, it had to be ‘made’ hence not readily available, and it can be used, but I would probably not use it often, and that I would not allow him to use it. (Oh well, the last hint was useless, I don’t really share many things with him, I even have my own quilt!)

My last guess was Wacom Inkling! I would love to have that, and it is taking forever to launch in Singapore. So, perhaps he placed a pre-order for the Inkling!!!! I was confident of my guess, but he denied. All the more, I confirmed my guess.

Today, the husband came home wearing a cheery expression on his face. ‘Your gift is ready!’

After unwrapping the typewriter, he went on with the ‘story’ of this very meaningful present…

More than 80 years old machine – Imperial Model 50 Typewriter, introduced in 1927

It is important that the machine is aged and dated back to way older than both of us – even with our ages added up!

The old age of the machine signifies that we will continue to enjoy many anniversaries, and celebrate our love even when we are 80 years old.

This sturdy machine survived World War II, and it still types; perhaps not as handsomely, but it still types decently, presenting a different charm.

The Typewriter

He gives me a typewriter so that I can type our love journal with this typewriter.

I sure hope he meant it as analogy! This cutie pie is not exactly the easiest thing to work your fingers on! I guess I will type a few love notes with it, but long story, erhm, please get a carton of correction tapes! This gorgeous does not correct! Say, it’s a machine of truth and perfection! ha!

Thank you, dear. I love the very meaningful gift, coming from the very thoughtful you.

Now, what would you buy when we hit the 10 years mark? Can’t wait!

What did I get for him, you ask? No..thing? I make coffee every morning, that’s very consistent loving gesture.

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We started a restful and unexpectedly interesting vacation before kick-starting the year of Dragon.

When we booked the room, we knew what we were getting ourselves into, we just didn’t expect a series of pleasant encounters and experiences while staying in a small and somewhat private compound of 4 independent traditional Thai houses.

We’ve been needing a well rested vacation, to catch up with reading, and just physical and mental rest. Apart from achieving that objective during this vacation, we have enjoyed great company during our stay – from the exceptional hosts (young Chinese couple who speaks considerably good English and fluent Mandarin), and the 3 house-kittens and occasional visits of other cats from the neighbors.

Bonus and lessons:
1. Our Mandarin ought to be improved; half the time, we paused in between sentences and tried to figure out the appropriate Chinese words to express our thoughts, while communicating with the hosts.
2. We have traveled to Thailand countless of times now, it’s a shame that we hardly knew the history, or culture of the Thai. From this couple, we learnt a tad more about Thai living, and also took an inside perspective into the Chinese culture.

By learning, we may then hope to understand the behaviors and attitudes of people from all over the world, and all walks of life.

From the colorful and lively night bazaars – Saturday Bazaar, Sunday Bazaar, Regular Night Bazaar – to serenity. There is no moment of boredom. Of course, there are tons of established day tours that we did not take much interest of, since our main objective is to do less for more.

We eat (too much), walk (a lot too) and play with the house kittens.

Don’t believe me? We had Thai food (most of the time); Japanese food; Italian food; regular food, exotic crazy insect snacks (nah, I took the photos, but don’t dare to try) and what do you know, we had the honor to be invited to a cozy birthday celebration with the lady boss!

It’s a near two-weeks stay, and we are not eager to explore the whole of Chiang Mai. We know we will come back again. On our 2nd day in Chiang Mai – since we arrived in midnight on our first night, the considerate host merely gave us a brief tour around our villa, and left us to rest – the informative host gave us a substantial amount of information of where to go, what to eat, and how to get around places.

We only went far for food, that includes The Good View restaurant located along the Ping River – it reminds me of our Boat Quay, but less rowdy; Fuji Japanese Restaurant at Central Airport Plaza – a huge shopping market with more upmarket brands and better restaurants.

Oddly, we rarely visit temples; not in Phuket, Bangkok, Bali, Siam Reap, nor in Chiang Mai. Personally, I don’t prefer to go out in the day, since I feel that I am completely incapacitated by the heat and sun.

Just a few more days left in this beautiful city, we decide to sit back and ‘hang loose’ – as if we had any hectic day, to begin with. Ha!

This is one of my best vacations. Staying in a big enough villa means more personal space. If you live in a hectic and fast paced city like we do, you will appreciate the bigger and quieter personal space where you feel ‘freed up’ from being caught up with too much happenings.

We have brought our iPads, and a notebook. We made a conscious decision not to work during this trip. We’d always worked even when we holidayed, that put our mind in constant ‘thinking for work’ mode. We often felt more rested, but not completely discharged of work load when we pinned our mind around improving our working methods.

This lodging has been more than perfect. I managed to catch up with some reading, and lots of sleep. I had worked continuously for too long, I need the restful sleep, badly.

We are staying at ‘ChiangMai Summer Resort’. Be warned, there are only 4 villas, and they are fully booked for now; and bookings have been made till April 2012 for most days. Be sure to book early, or you may be another – amongst the many interested tourists – who came and went with disappointment. We’ve been here for 10 days, we know for sure.

On some days, I secretly gloated over my good fortune when the others disappointedly left. They exclaimed, ‘So beautiful!!!! Are you sure there is absolutely no vacant room?’.

This place is new, but quickly becoming the highly rated and recommended hotel. A renowned journalist in China visited and made a rave review, within hours of her recommendation on ‘Weibo’, endless of inquiries are received and visitors flocked to view and reserve rooms. Seriously!

References: ChiangMai Summer Resort on Facebook
ChiangMai Summer Resort Official Website

P.S: This is not an advertorial, other than the usual friendliness and warmth, we receive no special payment (in kind or monetary) for recommending this exceptional tucked-away gem.
P.P.S: One of the reasons of this post – I found the wordpress for iPad and can’t wait to try out! The detailed blogging on this trip will be blogged when we get back.

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We walked over to the reception area to check out some day tours, and were quite interested in exploring Chiang Rai 1 day tour.

Mike decided to explore the city in the afternoon. I stayed in to read up the eBook on Fengshui tha I had purchased a few years ago, and never had time to read up since.

It was a while later that he came back, panting with sweat! It appeared that he got lost when coming back from Chinatown – I was relieved that he went alone, I wouldn’t like getting lost in such weather! – but he managed to find his way back. He came back with a pack of roasted chestnuts and mangoesteens.

Mike continued reading Steve Job’s bio on his iPad; I stayed upstairs to read and nap.

Generally, I don’t do small talks well. Although the owners of this resort had been very friendly and easy-going, they were not intrusive. Apart from the fact that they were busy with the work, they tried to leave us alone to enjoy this old city.

The cats in the compound were extremely friendly. One of the cats hopped up on Mike’s lap while he read. So, the cat was curious about Jobs too!

Or not… He fell asleep in the cozy cuddle.

We headed out to have dinner when the sun began to set, and the temperature lowered.

We had dinner at Cafe de Thaan Aoan, situated near our hotel.

The clear soup tom yum.

A little bland for my taste.

Chicken with basil.

Chicken with cashew nut.

After dinner, we walked to the minimart to top up the beers and snacks.

Mike mentioned that he would go for the tour on his own. I was resistant to the idea of day tour because they happened in the day when the sun was at the hottest.

This was the typical relaxed pace. Say, returned to basics?

The man was out to hunt for food – well, not exactly the hunting-hunt, it’s more of the urban hunt, you know what I mean?

The woman stayed home to work on the domestic stuffs – of course, that was limited to washing dishes and laundry, we were on vacation, what were you thinking??

We eat, sleep, played with cats, talked nothing too constructive or productive. Ah… Life is good!

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We got up at 8:30am to a very cold temperature, and had breakfast. I decided to do laundry using the self-service washer in the compound.

Chiang Mai Summer Resort is operated by the lovely couple, Ju Wei, and Junlan, and it is safe to say that the little 3 kittens co-own the resort too!

A small notebook – handmade notebooks sold in various places including the night market – is left in every villa for the guest to leave some thoughts, feedbacks, and for me to doodle on!

Mike’s blackberry ‘died’ on him completely. While he went out to the IT Mall to see if repair service was available; I stayed in to read up some materials on the iPad.

I love the unique furniture and decorations that the owners picked out for the resort. The swing that is made from a tree is one of my favorites.

Lana-style lodgings are not uncommon, however, it is the attention to details that sets a world apart from the rest.

View from our room window.

What’s for lunch, you ask. Mike came back with a happy grin on the face as the smart phone is replaced with a new battery and up and running again.

He came back with some fast food too! KFC and Dunkin Donuts. I can’t say I liked the donuts, they were too sweet for my liking.

Mike bought extras to give to the friendly owners. It was just our way to say thank you for making our stay a pleasurable one. We were pleasantly surprised to receive a bottle of rum from Ju Wei later in the afternoon.

There are some virtuous Chinese saying, 礼尚往来，礼多人不怪。I believe the earlier can be explained as ‘reciprocation to courtesy’; and the latter as ‘It costs nothing to be polite and courteous’.

As beings, we reciprocate to what done unto us. Be civil and good, we are more likely to receive the same. That said, we have a choice to ignore rudeness and not respond to it.

Mike and Junlan shared stories about the ‘phenomenal’ group behavior in Thailand; one that I never knew of.

Thai holds very esteemed respect and love for their King, at 6pm, some public places and most movie theaters play a special piece of music, and everyone stands still until the music ends. It is similar to our national anthem, except that we don’t play national anthem in public places.

According to Mike and Junlan, the music is played in the cinema before the movie plays – every single time slot.

I was quite intrigued and curious about it.

We were out earlier this day, to the Sunday Night Market. At 6pm, a brief announcement was made through the public announcement system, and the music played. Mike gestured that we stood still. Some foreign tourists had no idea what was going on, and continued to move. Group dynamic is powerful in manipulation a person’s behavior, even without verbal instruction. Quickly, everyone knew that it is the right thing to keep still. A tourist beside us held up his camera and took a shot; many turned and looked. I wished I had the guts to do that too!

My fear precedes the curiosity for the taste of exotic snacks; I have not tried any.

Crispy fried fries for you?

Or, squishy fried worms?

How about deep fried grasshoppers?

When I was a little girl, temples were more familiar as my mother brought me to many temples. I was a difficult baby.

As the night fell, the crowd poured in. Sunday market is more spacious and longer in scale. The street is closed, and transforms into night market. Many vendors participated in the Saturday market too. Note that Saturday and Sunday markets are not hosted at the same venue; they are on different streets.

We passed by a small open-area, outlined with concrete wall around it with big brass bells along the wall. I believe the bell-ringing is a way to send blessings along with the prayer.

I think I love bells, not necessarily to ring it, but the shape of the bell is quite fascinating.

We passed an area of food stalls. I wasn’t in my best comfort frame as the crowd and noise grew. Although I proposed to eat here as Mike is more curious and adventurous about food than I. I guess Mike could tell that I was way outside my comfort zone and suggested to eat at Cafe de Thaan Aoan – the restaurant he had lunch the day before.

A wide variety of food is sold at the market.

Like the Saturday market, performers occupied the middle of the walking path. Most of them performed at Saturday market too.

There was a stage put up at the exit point. Like a regular tourist, I snapped a photo of it only because many others did.

By 8pm, the restaurant that we planned to have dinner was closing. Many other restaurants were closed or closing too. We had dinner at Pirates Cove instead.

It was a long wait before the first dish was served. Mike didn’t like the soup.

By the time we went back to Chiang Mai Summer Resort, I was tired.

We saw a group of people sitting in the garden; among was a fellow Singaporean. We exchanged brief polite greetings and conversation and headed back to our villa. It was the Lunar New Year’s eve, it was nice that the friends gathered to spend the evening together, since they were all away from home.

I went to bed soon after, I was beat!

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Had a very good sleep, and only woke at 8am. We had breakfast downstairs. Even though we were provided with coffee maker, we preferred instant coffee since we are not familiar with coffee maker that uses filter. The owners gave us bamboo sticks of steamed glutinous rice, it is probably a common Asian food, but it was new to me.

My solo keyboard was behaving quite erratically since the ‘spill’ accident. We borrowed the screwdriver tool set from Ju Wei and opened up the keyboard. I took the drastic measure to rinse the keyboard – but avoiding the microchips  and battery – thoroughly under running water, and dried with hairdryer.

While Mike used his notebook downstairs, I stayed upstairs at the reading corner to write the travel journal.

The weather condition in Chiang Mai is quite drastic from day to night. I decided to stay indoor till the sun was setting, I figured that it was the only way I could truly enjoy a vacation. Hot sun doesn’t only fry my skin and hair, it has the horrifying power to fry my patience and mood dry too.

My plush meow was much neglected since I had real cats to play with.

It was so comfortable to have some personal time alone. I spent the afternoon trying to repair the keyboard and watched television programs.

Besides the sound of nature, the environment presented a very peaceful sensation. It was perfect for us. The common problem with busy city people is that we are so used to packing our time so tightly, often, we sabotage our vacation which is supposed to help us take a real break from the hectic schedule.

I planned to catch up with my reading; I ended up with catching up with the much-needed sleep and rest – exactly what I needed most.

Mike went out to Cafe de Thann Aoan for lunch; I had fruits instead.

By rushing, we miss the small things that make this world beautiful. By pacing down, we see the beauty of nothingness, and the chance to capture the trivial moment that makes a difference in our lives.

After a good nap, we got ready and headed out for the Saturday Market.

We walked for a bit in the crowd, and decided to have dinner first.

Love local markets, always. The vibrant colors excite the visual senses and almost always lift the spirits.

We bought some (more) cats ornaments. In time to come, my new home will be known as ‘House of Cats’, real of fake.

There are many temples in Thailand; Chiang Mai is no exception.

We decided to have dinner at Cafe de Baan Kern, situated along the stretch of Market.

I love the interior decorations of this restaurant. The night market was beginning to get more crowded, it was very comfortable to take a short break from the hustle and bustle and enjoy a nice meal.

The vintage style furniture always get to me. Perhaps it trails back to some fond childhood memories, faded and vague memories, but it must be fond memories because it warms my heart.

So, I will always be attracted to old things, especially dated back from 50s-70s when people tend to keep things for centuries. That doesn’t warrant that I will want to own old things. I am not much of a fan for rusty and rotting furniture, so remakes work better for me.

Overall, we were very pleased with the dishes.We had fried rice.

Chicken with basil leaves.

Vegetables.

Thai shrimp cakes.

Fried chicken wings.

There were many streets performers in the middle of the walking path along the market. Many were too young, too old, and some disabled.

After the market, we went to 7-11, the convenient store, to buy ice-creams and 3-in-1 coffee mix.

For the rest of the evening, Mike played game downstairs, while I watched tv in the room. It was cold at night, and the temperature dropped to around 13 degree Celsius. With such cool air, we left the window opened for the night.

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