Buffets and Gym

When I was about to update my blog on my recent being, then only I recalled I have tonnes of pending posts like Shanghai trip, Phuket trip and Mount KK hiking...

Let this post to be simple, recently I have just signed up 2-year gym membership together with 12 weeks personal training. Hopefully I can see some results soon... (To be in the healthy range, I need to lose 10kg fat mass and increase 6kg muscle mass :( need to seriously work hard!!...)

But at the same time, I have been indulging in ceaseless buffets.. I recently love sushi sooooooo much!

This is my second sushi buffets in one month.. 

Don't drool~

Phuket Trip Day 1 and Day 2

Foreword: The first half of 2012 was an eventful one. I travelled to Shanghai and the cities nearby as well as Phuket. And the most rewarding one is I passed one of the two exams left; I am officially left with one! 

At this juncture, I am typing with MacBook Air. Yea! You don't hear me wrong. I didn't know I have been wanting to experience Apple products so much until Alvin told me so. I think I had been subduing my subconscious mind.. *laugh*

Okay.. This post is about the interesting Phuket trip! I think after I was back from Phuket, I saw many friends posting their Phuket trips on Facebook as well, I guess this is credited to AirAsia. It seems there is a trend in traveling to a particular destination, all I could think of is AirAsia again~

Without further ado, let's me start with Day 1. 

We (Alvin, Shane and I) reached the airport at seaside (duh~) at around 4pm and was welcomed by the agency staff to send us to Alfesco Hotel in Patong. 

A new and neat hotel after 2008 Tsunami

(After Tsunami, a lot of budget hotels were constructed nearby Patong beach. Those hotels' room rate are really affordable and the service is good too)

The first day was a free-and-easy one. After showering, we met up with our another two friends (Alicia and Yee Voon) who reached earlier to start our dinner exploration. We took the Tuk Tuk service provided by the hotel to Patong beach, and had our first seafood dinner there (while we were still loaded with Thai baht). The dinner was sumptuous! 

Not only seafood, we sampled the famous Thai cuisine of Phat Thai, green curry, Tom Yam Kung and pineapple fried rice. After the dinner, we strolled along the street and tried the crispy chocolate pancake by the roadside. 

Yummy~ I miss it...

It is nice but might be a ban for those people on diet. 

We started our Day 2 with breakfast in the hotel and then a cam-whoring session at the swimming pool on top of the hotel. 

Yee Voon at the back and Alicia at the front

Delightful Shane on the left

After that we went for a city tour with the friendly tour guide. I think she is up-to-date as she always offered us to snap our jumping post. 

Just in case if you don't know what is jumping pose

Patong beach is the most famous beach in Phuket, definitely not for her scenery, but for her nightlife and convenience of accommodation etc. So we bypassed Patong.

We went to Karon Beach and thought it is the ever best beach we visited not knowing the best are saved for the last (coming Day 3 and Day 4). We then proceeded to View Point where we can have a spectacle view of 3 bays - Karon, Kata and Kata Noi. 

Five of us at View Point

We then went to Chalong Temple where there were a lot of devotees visitors praying and getting some hints for their future undertaking by shaking out a stick indicating good, medium and bad luck. 

After that, we made our way to the Big Buddha. 

Before lunch, we were brought to do something which stimulates Thai economy, that is shopping at a souvenir shop and junk food shop. We then loaded our stomach with Thai cuisine before stimulating the economy again at a T-shirt factory. 

Getting ready to wolf down the nice food

We ended our city tour with a sight-seeing in Phuket Old Town. 

After a short while of rejuvenating in hotel (dancing and bathing), we went to the fairy-tale theme park, Fantasea! 

Fantase Theme Park, unique~

The ladies 

The gentlemen

We granted our stomach with lots of chicken in the buffet dinner at Golden Kinnare before visiting all the spots in Fantasea. 

Last but not least, we watched the interesting traditional show too in the magnificent building below.

Stay tuned for Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5.

In Good Fit

Finally after months of unfit in 2012, I am in good fit to donate blood again :)

Stress ball from Health Science Authority (HSA)

I am happy because the blood can save lives and at the same times, it means I am healthy :) No more fainting and unconsciousness. :) I actually begged the doctor to let me donate as he afraid I would faint again, convincing him I had a good sleep and nice meal before this. Feeeeeeel really greeaaat now...

One more interesting to share, we can actually donate platelet and plasma every month, read more details from HSA.

Standard Chartered Bank Treat

I think almost every Singaporean/whoever working in Singapore has 2 SC credit cards now... Why? Because they give away SGD80 in each card! 

I was quite suspicious about this great deal, and didn't apply during the promotion period last year while every of my colleagues were applying. Then last month when we were on the way back to office, there are some staff promoting SC credit card, so without dilly-dallying I applied. The staff was really helpful and he told me I was his first customer of that day (almost since morning until 2pm). I chuckled and said of course, almost everyone in Singapore has SC credit cards already, unless they are willing to give more!

So last week, after I got my credit card, I rewarded myself with a sumptuous meal of one of my favorite food - dim sum! 

Here goes my SGD 80 :( in Jade Fullerton

I tried dim sum before in Yan Palace Restaurant and Yum Cha Restaurant, I still prefer the one in Jade Fullerton Restaurant, I think it is close to my expectation :) Try it out guys if you want.. The a la carte buffet during weekend is only SGD36 per pax before tax :)

The recent me, just in case you have not seen me for a long time :)

2012 is really not my year!!

I swear! 2012 is really not my year!!!

This morning, like usual, I took MRT to go working. When it was one station away from my office, I started feeling very dizzy and my sight was getting dimmer and dimmer... I tried to hold tight the pole beside me, but the next moment, I was lying on the floor!!

I fainted! I lost conscious once again! When I fainted, some passengers made an emergency call to the ground staff. So when the train reached Raffles Place, I heard someone asking if I was alighting at that station. I nodded while I was lying on the floor.. Then some passengers carried me up and passed me my handbag, they told me to walk to the control station, there would be staff coming to my assistance.. At that time, I was very weak, I was thinking how could I walk. Because it was like the immediate moment when I regained my consciousness, I was being dragged out of the train. Luckily an auntie approached me and walked me to the nearest bench.. I think I was being dragged to the bench, as I was extremely dizzy.

The auntie is a very kind person. She hugged me as she said I was sweating cold, and even asked me to lean on her shoulder. I was leaning on her shoulder, while she was stroking my palms and hands to keep me warm. I was very touched to meet such a kind person! 

Then the MRT staff pushed the wheelchair to my direction and sent me to the staff office to rest and had a cup of water. Argh.. How I wish to take the auntie's contact number to really thank her.. She is really my Samaritan! Not to forget to thank the MRT staff too, who assured the auntie she would take care of me and make sure I am safe before I left for my office. 

Why am I so weak nowadays?! I was actually suffering from fever during the weekend. Sigh.. I almost fall sick every alternate week! I could not imagine the next time I lose my consciousness and could never wake up anymore.. Live is so fragile.. *sob sob*

2012!!

What a year to start with!

I ended year 2011 with a flu and started year 2012 with the flu. Two weeks later (the week of CNY) I was suffering from flu again. So yea, half of my January was spent with flu! 

Beginning of February, I had eye infection (stye) which lasted for a week. I thought everything should be fine, and God knows, last Friday, I was stumbled down by stomach flu. The whole Thursday night I was suffering from stomachache, I was half-awake, half-asleep for the whole night... At wee hours, I started to have diarrhea and throw up. At around 8:30, I finally dragged my weak body to see doctor. After seeing doctor, I only realized my shirt had the stain of my vomit *yucks*. I felt so embarrassed, thinking what would the doctor think @@ The whole Friday and Saturday I spent time on bed sleeping as every medicine given by the doctor has the warning of drowsiness. =.=

Now I am getting better. And I wish to add in one more resolution: a healthy 2012!

How to Accomplish the Impossible

A great article I read this morning: How to Accomplish the Impossible| Genius sometimes just means not realizing something is impossible.

Beijing Roasted Duck (Video)

I am planning a trip to Shanghai and was looking some pictures taken in Beijing. 

This is the way roasted duck is cut into slices in Beijing.

It is nicer than the one in Jalan Pasar :)

Of Being Flawed

This CNY I asked my cousin, "why do you always take the trouble of snapping pics with your lomo camera? which require you to refill film and send to photo studio to process them? plus you cannot edit until after you process and scan them into your pc..."

She answered, "I like things with some flaws"

I was totally stunned and after a while I was really amazed by her statement. In life we tend to be too perfect until we become too fake. Every picture we see on the advertisement has undergone a painstaking Photoshop, almost every Korean artist has gone through plastic surgeries.

Sometimes in life, we really just have to be what we are. *grin* Life can be a bliss if we are contended with the flaws we have.

Fitness Myth

I recently read an interesting article from Forbes magazine about some common fitness myths. 

To cut the article short, here is the summary:

Thinking that an hour workout can make up for the day long unhealthy eating is too presumptuous.  A strict healthy diet speaks more in reducing weight. 

It may sound reasonable that we could burn more fat with empty stomach in the morning jogging; but this not only causes us sub-optimal performance but also burns our muscle instead of fat. 

Shake might be thought to be healthy and ideal for a diet plan. But its side effect is we will never get full and satisfied, subsequently crave for more food intake. Whole food intake on the other hand can increase our metabolism rate while make us feel satisfied. 

Egg is thought to be a banned item from a diet plan. But a recent study says egg yolk is efficient in reducing our bad cholesterol, LDL. 

Stretching before intensive training is an conventional wisdom to reduce injury. But in fact, it not only weaken our muscle but also increases the risk of injury. 

Thinking that we need to hit certain heart beat to reduce fat is a common misguidance from the cardio equipment. The way our body burn fat is simply too complicated for an equipment to comprehend. 

My Fitness Corner

I am delighted that almost everyone who sees me says I am thinner.

This motivates me a lot on my coming workouts!

So I will keep a diary of the future sweatout workout in My Fitness Corner.

Autumn in My Heart

Not sure how many of you still remember this lame touching Korean drama! For the first time, it aroused many teenagers' thinking of whether they were accidentally changed in the baby ward. *smile*

I still remember my dad watching this whole drama with us, and in one episode, he was touched until tears welled in his eyes! 

I couldn't remember every single detail of the drama, but I can always remember how we one whole family cried on the saddening fate of the main character in the drama. And how we discussed the drama, how we vowed to love each other even more...

It has been so many years since this Korean drama was aired. Nothing is more important than the sweet memories etched in my heart, forever and ever.