FOOD! wat else??? food lah! i blog food!

(i took this entry away cos i wanted all the Koh Samui entries together as then i haven decided to do videos - nothing new yet cos BUSY! yes very BUSY! with sis's wedding prep, CNY preps, aching shoulders and being bac to work! will update sooooon if weekend permits! upcoming... for the first time i mit upload pics of my family pre-CNY cooking traditions... thats if i have hands and wot get scolded by mum for being a nuisance! haha... but she's used to me waking photos of everything bah...)

yes right after i came bac from the trip... that very nite, after all the unpacking, washing i was hungry! last dinner ate was on airplane! so gx got mil to tabao my favourite prawn noodles but opt for kueyteow instead of my usual yellow mee ... diet? also sharing with gx he like the white better...

the next nite... we had a sponsored dinner from sakae sushi... can't tell who came by cos its a secret. it was in exchange for a prep talk! i didnt eat much cos i was more concern to share with them... in the end i was so hungry in the nite, really ate very little... and blog till 4am inbetween stole 3 flower-shaped ginger cookies from fridge...

Yesterday evening met up with serene, went with her to check out her wedding hotel. She's looking at having it at Marina Mandrin. the lady coordinator that we met was very stern looking, kinda irritated me cos what also cannot give and everything almost reject... only some things i asked was yes for an answer but i think can count with one hand and didnt use up all my fingers! thats few right! but like i jus told ser its gog to be a nice wedding cos its how she will make it to be... i am gog to ignore that coordinator as long she does her job rite provide the right service and thats her job and like ser say, she will carry out her job well bah.

then i was hungry! hungry cos very cold in the hotel and i only had soup wanton mee for breakfast and lunch and no tea break! ser saw a crowded restuarant at a corner and we sat down for philippine food. YES first try! restaurant name is 7107 Flavours. i took serene's receipt cos she paid for dinner, so that i get the names of the dishes rite in case any of u wana go try! the food is not bad! the services here is good!

ser ordered a steamed rice while i tried garlic rice. very garlicky not too bad but sometimes too much in a mouth full! very fragrant thou.

the fried calarmari was fat! crunchy skin like bk onion rings. chewy squid! nice with tartar. Filipino dish name - Calamares Pinoy. i chose this prawn dish. its defintely high in calories and cholestrol! its cooked in crabfat sauce... yes crabs got fats! asked the waiter he said its found on the side of the shell, orangy stuff... its good but at first the prawns were jus cook and we found it a little raw so we got them cooked again... its filipino dish name is Sugpo sa Aligi.

ser chose this dish and its jus called as written on the receipt - Grilled Pork Ribs. I like this taste i like this kinda grilled meat. i was jus too full to help to clear the plates! ser say i must be to tired thats why smaller appetitate. i ate quite abit still not that small lah! its their portion is quite big! We ordered 2 green mango shake which was good. refreshing! heres restuarant priced so i will suggest find more friends and then will get to try more dishes. really not too bad.

then ser fetched me bac to mum and mum was having dinner at 10! her work is really getting into her health... wish she quits soon. was alittle sad when i saw her. she's really tired... ser came in to say hi and chatted with gx for advice, sis also receive copies of marina mandrin wedding package details and we started chatting about how to fight for what they need for wedding! gx should start a seminar! he gave them good tips on how to bargain! haha... he's rational and i am emotional! i only know my mum was sitting at a corner, smiling...

Koh Samui and jus us.

this is another video but contain only images of us, jus the 2 of us! the fireworks are from helen's thou. cos i used agnes' and mine in the group video. the differences in the video is that there are pics of us snokkeling and doing atv. also i would like to thank helen, agnes and mic for taking some of these precious moments for us. I love your work! and what better way to remember my trip... I simply love the 2 songs i used in this video. with no choice this is in 2 parts cos youtube say tooo long... so heres part 1 followed by part 2.

Koh Samui Tour!

heres a short clip i did to thank the other 2 couples! THANKS and i hope u will like and remember the good times we had at Koh Samui! Love you guys! Thanks for the memorable trip! cheers!

koh samui captured!

there are definitely many ways people capture shots and here's mic and agnes' photos taken in koh Samui! With kind consent, i was given permission to link to their albums which will speed up things for me! cos if not i will have to wait till tonite get cds, load the many almost 600 pics and scan thru and then post up on blog which takes forever! I will post pics from helen and soh on blog if they give me permission and if time permits... i haven started cropping pics for album!!!! since 9+ i have here saving cds for the 2 couples! anyway heres where u see the group pics we took, atvs , island hopping, snorkelling photos, jus check out their fotos to see what we have done! Dun think i will wana post any of our pics! i wana concentrate on album! running outa time! anyway, mic jus info me that u mit have to log in to facebook to see the pics! click on link and see what it says...

Part 1 : 3 pages
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11391&page=1&id=610814906

Part 2 : 3 pages
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11395&id=610814906&ref=mf

Koh Samuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii........

first of all i need to thank the couples who travelled with us. THANK you for all the planning of the trip and all the laughter! this trip would not have been same without you all! I will post group photos when i get the photos from the other 2 couples cos i have many candid shots taken of the group and hardly any 6pax foto. i am gog to do a quick update so that i can get bac to do my handwash laundry, folding dry laundry, running around with friends for their wedding, meeting ex-collegues, finish the KS album and videos from this trip, taiwan and hk before going bac to school next monday... FAT HOPE .... i know but i would like to try....

DAY 1 : to be honest, i did very last minute read up tp update myself what to expect so i know what to pack for clothings... when i stayed over at mums when gx was working midnite shift on wed, i log on to check out the place... then started to pack on thursday evening, after meeting serena. then continues to pack on this friday morning when gx was back from work... then it rained so we waited and lucky the heavy rain stopped and we went to airport by mrt and the train was packed. we were last to reach... we checked in and walked around to shop. i spotted a nice burberry belt... rather expensive but i loved it so i sneaked with mic's help cos my passport was with gx...went to get it when gx was in the washroom....
flight was delayed. the seat we had was small and squeezy... but maybe we were surrounded by many HUGE bigger people... we were like elves .... dinner was chicken rice.

when we got there we got off the plane and hopped onto a tram to get to the openair hut arrival hall. there was only 2 officer as there is only 2 counter space! we then waited for quite awhile to get onto our little van to get to hotel.

think it was about 9+ that we got to our hotel and we made our way by walking to the nearest shop opened to find dinner or can say its supper. nice little place with nice paintings. the alcohol drinks are scary! there is so much alcohol and little mixer!!! gx had singha beer which he was ok only, as he prefered Chang beer which he had most of the time in KS. We had tomyam goong and pad thai and it was not bad, i actually think it was one of the better pad thai we had thru the 5 days. yup end of day 1 cos after the meal we went to 7-11 to grab some water and we were done for that nite!

Day 2 : Saturday. breakfast at hotel restuarant. took a walk at the beach behind the hotel. we had to cross a little bridge over the canal, thru the beach bungalows and reach a quieter beach area with coarse sand... not the fine type.

then we head bac to change and walked to the other side of the beach thru the other back exit from our hotel. we walked quite a distance to get to the more exciting more lively filled with people beach area. then we settled down with one of the jet ski and off i went crying for gx to slow down when he haven even really went to the fullest power of the jet ski... i reall was afraid to fall into the waters... dun like the feeling of seeing no land below my feet or land far away from me... it was fun but not my cup of tea and prob he would have more fun w/o me...
head bac to hotel for a quick shower and off we went to find lunch. as we walked out along the streets very near our hotel we saw something very familiar to us singaporeans... pratas! this vendor is very friendly, smiley! when he heard us saying prata he knew we were singaporeans. this is called banana pancake here. cos there is sliced bananas in these pratas. in fact all the flavours had them the variations are chocolate, nutella, cinnamon and more. not bad cos i love bananas! the first one we tried was nutella!

after seriously walking many miles... hee felt like it! but it was really a long walk. we settled down to have lunch at this restaurant with many different sitting areas but only one was opened. nevetheless, we went to the other areas to take fotos. cos after ordering was a long waiting time. while we were away to take fotos, the other 4 played uno!


i ordered a watermelon shake which was not bad icy cool. alittle too sweet thou. we ordered a fried fish cake to share. we were so hungry cos it was almost 2+ that we started eating! soh ordered green curry which was a little sweet in flavour but his rice was in a cool star shaped. i ordered fried rice and gx had duck soup noodles which the stock tasted more like pig organ soup!


before we left the place. they were deciding whether to rent car, get driver, book tour and the only couple shot taken at the restaurant. how i wish i have a garden like that.... day dreaming

we walked not long and we spotted haggen daz and as the sun was scorching we headed in to get cool air and also some cold dessert. i got a tall glass of belgium chocolate and banacoffe? dun know how to spell... must ask agnes who records everything we eat during this trip! she is sooooo hardworking using her pda to record all the dishes we had including the thai names of the dishes! only gx had hot latte.

we walked on and spotted a very cute stall at the roadside but the voodoo dolls and the wooden dolls, according to the other couples was expensive. the stall owner speaks chinese and won't let them have any good discount so in the end they didnt get any...
the other cute thing we saw was this place called the library. its not a public library but a boutique hotel called THE LIBRARY. they have very design like things, at the front a white statue sitting on a bench reading a book. will show u the back of the place which faces the sea later. then there was roast in some of the restuarants. but no one wins this african restaurants as the roast a babi everyday! the wiring here is scary... on the first nite we even hear sparks from the wire near our hotel when we walked back... so my advice was

DO NOT WALK UNDER THE WIRES!

then yes its dinner time! so fast? not really bcos we walked into many shops where we didnt take fotos thats why it seems short. we wanted to catch evening beach walk and also to find a seaside restuarant. we did couple shots before it got dark! walked quite a distance and found a place to eat and it was already dark! seafood here is expensive... not as cheap as langkawi... so no lobster... not as i have expected. was so prepared to gobble a lobster! and sad my coconut didnt have any flesh they took it all away? jus lucky that it taste sweet... food was alrite. dinner was not cheap thou. belows what we had for dinner!

after we finished eating we bot lucky lantern as the samuis called it. smaller than taiwan's tian deng and we jus lite them and very fast it gets heated up and we let them into the sky!

after that we met up with a guy we called terriorist cos he sold us fireworks! after bargaining we got 4 single shots and a box of 9 series of fireworks. YES fireworks was seen along the beach when we were eating. we were so excited when we saw our own fireworks! the feeling was good! LOVE IT! that was a perfect way to end our long walk day!

we took a local bus back to the hotel. our shopping for the day and guess we bot the least cos the other 2 couples got loads of slippers and other stuff!

Day 3 : Sunday morning should be a late wake up day... but we woke up early to go on a trip around the island to some attractions that the group chose to do.

first place we went was to thousand hands goddess of mercy... agnes would prob kill me if i say this but she tot the english name for qian shou guan yi was HOLD HAND goddess... the photo is in her camera... we took one specially for her! as i say all the group fotos have to wait! mic and agnes got lots of group shots as they brought their camera stand! very pro!

after which we head to 2nd attraction place THE BIG BUDDHA... i really wonder if i got all the places named right... cos i didnt study any maps or info at all! i left it to the rest! i will prob look the info when i am gog to do the album!

the view at the top with buddha was magnificent... i really think of it that way cos u really get alot of blue view here and its very peaceful esp when i hear all the bells chime. it felt good to do the prayer bells. i prayed and got a good qian and it gave me alittle peace cos i was having alot of uncertainties...

then we head to our next destination which 1st stop was lunch! again after ordering food we went to take some photos. a i like the exterior of the place cos its got lots of orchids which i love. a policeman even offered to take pic with me! haha which i didnt.
one of the group shot that i had as the boss offered to take a foto for us. the food here was not too bad. the ice tea here was very sweet! hardly tea taste!

helen had a orange shake which was really nice. its mandrin orange like and prob is. i ate glass noodles in soup and it was not too bad. we ordered side dishes to share and got a shock when the waiter brought us a plate of raw prawns nicely placed on a plate with a saucer in the middle of the plate.... we ask the waiter to cook the prawns as we see straight away we know we wot be able to swallow the raw grey prawns!

then we went to a bakery nearby which have HUGE loaves of bread and many different types. saw a custard bun and we bought to share! gx was willing to have it and i jus found out today yah jus as i showed him all the fotos after i loaded everything... he told me that the bread and the noodle coming up was good and right timing cos he was still hungry after the small portion of lunch! Soh bought mango to share and it was not too bad seasoning a little spicy thou.

thou i didnt know what the wall says i like to take pic with it as a backdrop. then along the walkway outside some shops i took pics with lots of orchids and took a pic of gx with a tie dye cloth as backdrop. ths cloth was used by the shopowner as a shade bah or mayb they were selling the cloth. wasnt sure! but i like the foto!

we step into their supermarket Tesco. 1st thing i saw was dunkin and i bot 4 donuts and 6 mini ones. thou singapore has got soooo many donut shop... i still like dunkin and mister donut best. here the curry is bought fresh and by weight!

then next was trekking to waterfall. we didnt choose elephant ride so we went on feet! a long climb thru the forest... tiring and tried to catch breath to keep up.

lazy me always lookong for place to sit once they stop for photo! we climbed like 2 portion of the waterfall and we turned back. gx was jus telling me this morning that he wonder what would we have see at the top... he guess was a pool of water where we could swim in... we will not know. and why did i scream? no i didnt scream lah... haha it was either the mosquito or jus playing with gx!

we took a water, ice cream break at the foot. there was a poor monkey caged up. and caught fotos of elephants when we heading out of the place. next was to the mummified monk temple

then we went to see special rocks. they are known as grandpa and grandma rocks. you will know why they are special when u see the pics.

the rocks are shaped this way naturally! unbelivable right! the place, the big blue sea was beautiful the scenery was really nice! soh ordered sotong to try, was not really nice like the ones in taiwan better... then we all bought this freshly made kueh, got gula melaka, pandan and black glutinous rice flavour triangular kueh. this is nice and the lady must be happy the other 2 couples bought alot! helen was her good helper but she was more on our side cos she help to put 2 more in each bags!

next stop was to a view point. the view was great... then we went back to hotel to dump bags and i changed out of the bikini cos i felt uncomfortable! then hopped onto the vehical and the driver alighted us at the thai local market. gx bought a pork sausage and it tasted sour... threw it away and we saw a stall that had steamed eggs but its got feathers... got it? my hand hair stand when i saw it...

we head for massage. i had thai massage with ginger oil. it was ok not too bad. dinner at a eatery call NINJAS! they are highly recommended on the mags and they have lots of photos, letters written by guests. but personally i find the food soso... the fish cake here is HOT! too spicy..chilli hot! i like the chicken cracker... soh say its chicken skin... no wonder it was nice.... here in ninja, i like this best... fatty! gx ordered green curry and it was not good... no brinjals... no green tomatoes but peas!

i ate something like our local fried kuey teow... i ordered a ice milk tea shake ... not bad but again sweet and didnt know wher the tea was and i got an orange shake as the food got too spicy! ... as we were walking back... and heading to a shop that we all wanted to go check out... it RAINED... HEAVily... we took shelter at a convenient stall and sat outside after buying our stuff to wait for the rain to stop... then gx walked out and i was shock didnt know what he was up to! then he asked us to walk out... the rain was reduced to drizzle little and prob stopped ... the water that hit the ground the ones we saw was actually rain coming down from the u roof... yah wasted some time cos we didnt know!

we made it to the shop i was worried it was closed! i love the paintings here and the things all very cute but gx doesnt allow me to buy many things that take up space... my buy was a hp mr p strangled and 2 hi 5 hands stirrer for our drinks and i got lucky and got one free! it was a hard bargain but he was nice to have given me one! i know singapore have this but this is produced in thailand and prob cheaper! we walked back to hotel and stopped for a banana pancake. this time i ordered a cinnamon. nice spice with banana! had a really bigger bottle of BETAGEN like our yault think tis is 500ml? but this isnt the biggest! think they have a 1litre bottle!

went bac to shower and met up at mic's to play uno... endless so hard to finish game! had a good laugh during the game and that got me tired and we had to wake up early the next morning!

my newest instrument but this for good luck so must play from bottom to top!

Day 4 : Monday... earliest morning - after breakfast we waited for our transport and it turned out to be a landrover... old very old one. got to the jetty and we waited for many more people to come... we were very first few so we waited for a long time. photos for the morning was taken by a disposable water camera which haven send to develop so gota wait... for it to be done... and mic's got the wet cover for their camera they took lots of fotos but will wait for them to share their fotos. lucky for us we had them to help take some shots for us. not as i expected, unlike langkawi...

1st the trip to to snorkel took us 40mins to get there and there was no island to land... it was jus speedboat anchored somewhere... given one hour to snorkel in the water deep water unlike the shallow ones in LKW... i was too shock at 1st, gx calmed me down taught me a few tricks to help me in the waters and off i was happily snorkelling but hated the salted water!

saw many fishes mostly same kind but i did managed to see other kinds too and loved it when a school of them swim past! althou not very exciting i treasure the experience and am always glad gx is my buddy. he couldnt understand how come later i got so happy under the water all the time... i figured out since i hate salt water and every time i got up i take the off the tube to breathe the water surely gets in so i chose to stay under water to breathe and enjoy the view!

off next to an island to eat lunch. while waiting for lunch, went to play swing. the string connecting, holding the swing was attached to 2 trees. as gx pushed the swing... i asked him to sing me a song... he refused but i urged him and he did ... facing the big sea, looking at the greenery little islands far away... feet on sand... as the sea breeze brush thru me... when i was near him i could hear his singing... i love this moment... it was nice... we stopped for lunch. when everyone went to get lunch... i teared... cos i was very touched and it was a moment i will remember forever.

had a very nice pic taken with agne's camera of us with our lunch! must wait for her to pass me! then after lunch we had time to rest. i chose to sit under a tree... watch the island and water and enjoyed the breeze and jus stare blankly relaxing thinking of dun know wat jus feeling blur blur and relaxing ... gx chose to stay in the sea water to do the same...

then next we were kayaking and was glad gx was good at it. went under some rocks and was quite fun but i was very tired after we were done! then we sat the long journey back, fell asleep on the way back and i knock my head 3 times on the pole next to where i sat! got back and sat the land rover to ATV area.

the ATV place was small but nevertheless 1st time try was pretty excited. cos its like hey i am riding for the 1st time, driving my own vehical the 1st time! i didnt buang for the 1st 2rounds.... and i was too eager to finish the ride so jus as i was about to reach, the last turn i knock into a tree area and i jumped off the machine but unhurt. the guy who came over called me a stunt gal! the verhical turned and the seat flew! yah that bad... hee!

went back to hotel to shower then head to town again 1st we went to Mr P shop cos we decided to get SIL and bf a handphone toy cos really over here we really dun know what to buy here! gx refused to let me buy the tape dispenser!!! i bugged him till end of the trip! then off to massage! the back, neck and shoulder massage was good! very relaxing!

we walked a long way to get to the end of the beach to check out the place as it seemed very happening when we saw it the other nite from very far. it was such a long walk that we got hungry so we stopped by Thai McDonalds to eat fries and tried out their very own chocobanana pie. it was good!

last nite here so we were out to eat the seafood but still no lobster cos price too steep... but this time we got 12 prawns! loved the ones that were cooked in white sauce with basil. best dish that nite. calamari here was good too. helen's moo chop (moo=pork) was very nice oso.

we walked a long way to find the same guy who sold the firework to us... couldn't find him but in the end we got other vendors who appeared after we walked for a very long time! we settled for a pack of 5s and 7s and off we burst the fireworks into the sky! walked further we found another guy with a box of 19s! we ended up saying that we are the ones with the most money cos we let off in less than 10 minutes so many fireworks! a whole series! it felt good to see the fireworks so near and knowing it belongs to the 6 of us! went back to hotel to pack up as the next morning it would be check out then head for town.

Day 5 : Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed for the beach near our hotel. we took a short walk and enjoyed the sea breeze... saw a very cute dog but its got a very sad face cos it all wrinkled! but we didnt manage to take his sad face...

off to massage! we booked 2hours each! the foot massage hurts a little when they pin point on the feet... that means health not very good! gx 1st time feet massage cos he dun like pain... is normal to put pain and feet massage together as a package. well most of the time he said it was bearable but i guess i was lucky to catch the not so ok part! the ladies were very helpful. when agnes asked where can we buy mangoes, they offered to take her to the market on motorbike to get some. so all of us got agnes to help and she came back with 8kgs!

we headed back to ninja as it was the nearest place to eat and we were all very hungry after the 2 hours of massage! new dishes we tried here was morning glory which is prob the same kangkong we eat here! the garlic butter baracuda- a kinda of fish was tough and doesn't seem like a fresh catch, best try that day was banana in coconut milk dessert! love it! had chicken cracker each couple shared a plate each this time! worse dish was the fresh skin prawn spring roll that had herbal, hard to swallow cos taste kinda bitter?and my vote for favourite drink here ... orange shake. cos after i ordered the rambutan freeze i got an orange to end the meal!

we walked around to get our last buys and i got 3 herbal "buns" they are for massaging. got one for each set of parents and one for ourselves! had our last banana prata and i tried lemon sugar. was not bad prefered the cinnamon better thou!

took airport transfer and got to the airport early. the place was in a weird order.... we gota take trams to the next station to check in after we got our tickets... went into a Jim Thompson shop and got myself a very nice illustrated thai cookbook. my best buy from Samui! then we checked in and in the no aircon airport... we sat near dfs which was small but very cold with aircon. the best thing about the airport was ... a courtesy counter. whats a courtesy counter? its a bar where u get free food little kuehs and biscuits. tea, coffee and cold drinks! the washroom here are very clean and they have fishtanks mounted in the walls. guys get to face it to p'!

after the after tea and game of uno at the hut like waiting area, we were on the tram to get to the plane. this time we board the plane thru the back door! had pepper fish for dinner on plane and look thru recipe book and played uno to pass time. home and thou we didnt buy much we had lots to clear from luggage!

our loot!

gx paid for my gucci perfume and yes all the liquour! my best buy the cookbook!

new things i did during this trip was Fireworks! love the experience and enjoyed it. it was unexpected event and it was good! kayaking on the rubber kayak was my 1st but plus 1st longtime ago canoe experince this was nicer cos i had gx around and more interesting cos we went under big rocks! the lanterns were our 2nd time experience but it was still nice cos i enjoy letting off big lanterns that really flies and flies up real high up into the sky! the chiming of bells at big buddha was a calming experience. trekking was tiring but didnt mind the experience. as i mentioned the best moment was prob on the beach where i jus enjoy the breeze! not all the time i have such luxury of looking at very blue sea and do nothing! no modern day disturbance and alone with myself! the best dishes i like from Samui are the banana cinnamon pancake, orange shake, banana in hot coconut milk and prawns in white sauce with basil. overall, i enjoyed the place as it is.