If Only

"I would have sooo... go out with you..."

...

'' I would have too"

Taste of Africa

So I was fortunate enough to be invited by my Chairman today to a wine tasting session organized by Barclays Wealth - Pinotage Wine Tasting Dinner at Raffles Hotel, a colonial hotel in Singapore, dating from 1887, visited by famous people including Queen Elizabeth II , Charlie Chaplin and Michael Jackson.

Pinotage, for those of you who do not drink wine a lot, is a red wine grape that is South Africa's signature variety. a cross between Pinot noir and Hermitage, hence the name.

The dinner started off with a pre-dinner out at the foyer of the ball room, where big bosses and directors in formal coats mingled, while I know for certain, were all sweating the crap out of their bottoms. Clumsy waitresses in white uniforms floated nervously among caucasians towering over them, balancing treys with orange juice and chanpaign on their palms. 'if only they were bigger palms', they might have complaint.

And then came the wine tasting session an hour or so later, with a variety of very yummy cheese and bread basically scattered around the ball room, and of course - 10 kinds of pinotage vintage. Ask yourself, what would heaven be like? Dinner was then a south african fine dine, 3 course meal, followed by vintage chocalate served on ceramic plates. not to mentioned, the great great people from around the world whom i dined with, interesting exchange on lifes from different corners of the world.

I really enjoyed the night.

P/s: got a bottle of pinotage as door gift TOO!

Stagnant

While reading back the posts I published in May 05, there was a post with 6 comments from 5 different people, some when I saw their names, I was like "wow, they visited by blog before? those are really good comments!".

I wonder if people still visit my blog though, now that its been stagnant for quite a while. ha...

Baby's Eyes - Thailand and Malaysia

I don't know where to start. But I guess while I am sitting in Gloria Jeans, waiting, I might as well do something.

though gutted by having to work this morning (I don't usually work Sats), I am relief its a long weekend, thanks to the celebration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death, Singaporeans get Monday off. Really need that break to catch up with rest, being sick aside, I am still tired over the visit up to Thailand - the land of free, and the short spin up Malaysia and Singapore, showing my kiwi mate Daniel around, experiencing the shocking cultures of Asia (Dan ate frog porridge... with much torture)

Thailand was great, I spent 3 days in Bangkok and 1 1/2 days in Chiang Mai. to satisfied my art-urge, I decided to experiment with my dad's 30 years old Minolta SLR film camera in Thailand, and I must say I am pretty happy with it, with that camera, I made some friends along the journey, though some of them turned out to be hardcore scammers. (check em' out, http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37094&l=88cc1&id=547966634)

I was not too fond of Bangkok (I didn't get away from Singapore to end up in another city, twice as big, twice as crowded and ten times as polluted), but I absolutely enjoyed Chiang Mai, good people, good food, no sign of sky scrappers, and absolutely lay back culture (made me thought of New Zealand, ha). but largely also because Sharon was there, and she really did her part as a host, we "dashed" away in her lil' motorcycle around town, had interesting conversation about the King of Thailand, and I had the craziest shrimp dish, Gung Den (dancing shrimp in english, and it meant literal, the shrimp was live and kicking when they serve it. talk about fresh sea food huh)

With that, I asked Mr G (Google) about "Dancing Shrimp", see what I found:

"Dancing shrimp is the name of a Thai dish in which very fresh raw shrimp is served with a very spicy, garlicky, and limy sauce. Because people in northeastern Thailand and neighboring areas of Laos have a liking for raw foods spicily laced with chillies and seasonings and served with fresh herbs, vegetables, and steamed sticky rice, some food enthusiasts have opined that sushi, so identified with Japanese cuisine, might have originated here. What with the texture of the rice, the ritual of rolling it with the hand and eating it with raw meats, fish, and vegetables and spices, the idea sounds quite plausible to me"

so for sushi lovers, you know what to look out for in north thailand. awesome.

After some 24 hours of train ride, tons of walking under the sun, and getting pissed drunk in Thailand, alone, Dan and I took off from Singapore to explore KL and Malacca in 4 days. For the first time, I really explore and enjoyed Malacca. I guess while being with a tourist, you tend to see things as a tourist too. With a pair of very curious eyes. baby's eyes.

Peace out guys. See ya later.