Teambuilding to Batam, AGAIN!

This is the 3rd time that my co holds its teambuilding at Turi Beach Resort, Batam, but it's the 2nd time I'm attending. This time round, the resort looks really different from the previous time I went, which was in 2005. It is now so much nicer with the newer & more westernised rooms. Besides the rooms, what I like most is their swimming pool. Hee hee...

Unlike in previous years, the teambuilding activities we had this time was kept to a minimum. Previously we did hiking, abseiling and paintball which some found it too tiring. So this time it was just rafting building and sailing. Actually at the end of the activity, I still dunno the names of some of my teammates. We had lots of free & easy time, which makes this teambuilding a really relaxing one. The gals & I even signed up for massage. Good for a relax, but not the best I had so far.

Haha...next week gonna be another short week, with Hari Raya Puasa falling on Wednesday. Hee hee.... :)

My Big, Fat Ankle...

Less than a week after my diving trip, I'm on 3 days MC starting from today. Haha...it'll be a long long weekend for me. Woohoo!! Actually besides having this opportunity to slack at home, I guess there's nothing much for me to rejoice over as I have a badly swollen ankle & 2 swollen toes now. And they really hurt with every step I take. Sigh...

Anyway, I think it all happened due to a very silly reason. I wore the diving fins until it cuts into my skin & now infection!!! Haha.... Or I guess I was too negligent to have ignored the initial minor wounds until my my ankle started to swell & ache.

But anyway, I shall just enjoy my long weekend before next week's teambuilding at Batam. Well, which means another long weekend then. Hee hee

My Virgin Dive Trip!

After dilly-dally-ing for so long, at last I've completed my open water course & I'm now a certified diver. Yeah~~

But this license definitely didn't come easy for me. I've drank lots of chlorinated water at the swimming pool, seawater in the sea, etc. But it was definitely an adventure worth sharing. Hee hee...

Prior to my open water trip to Pulau Tioman, I've attended 2 pool lessons earlier this week in order to master the basic skills required during the open water dive. Oh well, all I could say is I TOTALLY SUCK AT CLEARING A FULL MASK! This explains why I drank so much pool water. I was so used to breathing in & out through my nose that when I had to breathe in through my mouth & out through my nose in order to clear my mask I still kept doing everything through my mouth. Even the instructor, Rory, almost gave uphope on me. :'( But finally, after many attempts & after filling my stomach with plenty of chlorinated water, I succeeded. Next was to hope that I could do the same in the open water. Prayed hard.

We set off for Pulau Tioman, Malaysia, on Friday night after work. We were ferried from the dive school to Mersing Ferry Terminal in a van before taking the ferry to Pulau Tioman. In between was some hu-ha, with the van driver demanding for extra $$ for the trip & refusing to drive us to our destination when no extra $$ was given. :S

Luckily, we still managed to reach Tioman as scheduled. It was around 5am then. We just collapsed onto our bed as we have to get up at 7.30am for our dives. Just barely 2.5hrs to sleep. *Yawn*

1st dive was cold & scary. So I kept clinging on to my human life buoy. Haha... Just as I thought that things got better for the subsequent dives, I lost my dive buddy cum human life buoy during my 3rd dive as I let go of him & unknowingly, I floated up to the surface of the water. Not so scary for me as I could see civilisation on the water surface - pretty near to shore then & there were boats passing me a few times (though they ignored me when I waved for help). But poor buddy was panicking in the water then cos he thought he has lost me for good. *Phew* We soon reunited on the water surface.

Managed to clock 5 dives in total. Hee hee... So happy to have passed! Not only that, we managed to see alot of sea creatures like turtles, nemo, cuttlefish, angel fish & many others! :)

Really want to thank Tan, our dive instructor & of course, Rory as well, for the pool lessons & for making fun about me during the trip. Haha...

Now waiting for my license to arrive & I can then start on my dive journey!

Here's a peek at the turtle:

Qing's Big Day!

Finally....FINALLY!!! Finally I got to witness the big day of my jie mei, Qing!

In order to ensure that the entire customary wedding go according to the advised auspicious timing, we were told to arrive @ the bride's place before 6am. In other words, I'll have to wake up at 5am in order to wash up, get dressed & make up. But in the end, I only jumped out of my bed at 5.30am when Winnie smsed me. Oh no!! I just rushed like a mad person, from brushing teeth to make-up. I think I managed to step out of my house in like 15mins? Haha...Luckily I can easily walk to her house. Hee hee....

Most of the jie meis have already reached the bride's house by the time we got there. All were dressed in purple with a sweet purplish corsage tied to the wrist. But I think at that point in time, I was more excited about the gatecrash, oh well, nervous as well, coz I was to lead in the gatecrash. Haha....

Finally the groom & brothers arrived 15mins to 7am. Time was running short so we just have to speed up the "procession". Haha....to start off was the sour-sweet-bitter-spicy test where the guys have to gulp down the concentrates (not concoction but CONCENTRATES!). Haha....Like freshly squashed pure lemon juice, sweetened condensed milk, freshly-cut bitter gourd & chilli padi. But I think the guys played cheat by stuffing the chilli padi in their pockets. *Boo*

Next was a series of questions about the bride thrown at the groom. He got quite alot of wrong answers. Hmm....So punishment for them was to make them wear the adult diapers which I've decorated. Wahahaa.... Not forgetting our angpows, of course. However, as time was running late & the elders were rushing us to open the door for the groom, we let them in for the final round of love pledge before the door leading to the bride opened. Yeah!!!

At last we can proceed to the groom's house for the subsequent ceremonies before heading to Marina Madarin Hotel for the lunch banquet. Still a busy busy afternoon running around the hotel, helping the bride. But it was fun. Hee hee..

Hope that Qing & Cy will have a blissful marriage & also a great time im US. Gonna miss her!

Pretty bride!

Busy Weekend II

Phew! 2 busy weekends have passed!!

Finally, finally...we are going to see the transformation of "a chick into a hen" soon for Qing! Wahaha....Held a hen's party for her on Friday, with her dressed up into a "buttercat" or "catfly", whichever way you wanna call her. Haha... Coz she's dressed up in a funny combination of a pink, fury cat hairband + purple butterfly wing. On top of that, a sash was made for her to wear. Ke ke.....

The combination turned out to be like this:



Haha...we had some Arabian food but sadly, due to time constraint (& bride's resistance), she did not smoke the sheesha. :( Food took extremely long to arrive. By the time the food reached our table, our glycogen have already been converted to glucose. :S After dinner was a short stay at St James, with the bride in her pretty & sweet outfit walking in & out of the various clubhouse. Wahaha....

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After a late nite sleep I was made to wake up very early for my sis's co family day @ Singapore Flyer. Yawnz.... I just wanna experience the ride. wahahaah.... Thank god, the weather was nice & sunny & I managed to take alot of nice nice pics with nice nice clouds hanging in the sky. Hee hee....


I would say that the ride was ok lah. Luckily there's 2 cute Australian kids to play with & I was taking pics from each & every corner in the capsule. If not I bet it'll be very boring.



Other than the ride, guess what we did @ Singapore Flyer??

Look at the pic below. Can you guess it???

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Fish Spa! Got it right?? Given a promo price of $18 instead of the usual $28 for a 30min session, we decided to go for!!

Well, it felt a little ticklish initially, but after a while it felt nothing more than a mere vibration on your legs, just like an Osim massage chair. Haha....The turkey-borned fish were really hardworking! They didn't stop nibbling off the dead skin on my legs.

Result: Smooth soft legs!!!

One gentle reminder for those who wanna try fish spa. Best time to go will be in the morning, that's when the fish have the most energy. Ermm...I also think coz they are the hungriest in the morning. Never go after 10pm coz the fish are too tired by then.

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Sunday was the 3rd & final 10km race I'm doing for the year. Which means my next race will be a half marathon during the Stan Chart in December!!!! Well, back to the Nke Human Race. We were all in the red colour race tee. So when everyone started running, it just looked like a bull chase. Not a nice running route with lots of bottleneck along the way as it covered alot of narrow pathways & small tunnels. Glad that I've completed it though. Going to stay away from running for 1-2 weeks before I start training for 21km. But how do I train for it then? Haha... We shall see lah. :p