Syscom

Had my last visit to Syscom with Mr. Wu on 28th Dec. I went for an important appointment in late morning and had the review meeting in the afternoon. I only announced my leaving to my colleagues in Malaysia on that day. Guess it was quite shocking at the beginning as nobody would ever think of my leaving at all. However, all of them are experienced enough to handle this and I believe they can carry on the tasks as usual.




I have spend most of my time and effort these two years in Malaysia and some overseas markets. I'm really happy to see the progress in the past two years because of out hard work and efforts together. That's the most fulfilling part. Guess I just need to keep looking for new challenges and new sense of fulfillment.

Last Christmas in Singapore

This is my last Christmas in Singapore before going back. Nacho organized a Christmas Eve Dinner at his place and invited a group of AIESEC trainees. I prepared two dishes. One is the dumpling contributed by my cousin and the other is fish. Luckily, I got dumplings as it could be quite difficult to eat the fish without rice. Guess that's the reason why I don't really cook dishes unless I got a few people to share the rice.

On Christmas Day, I met up with Albert at Raffles Hotel. We were thinking to visit the newly opened National Museum but my hip joint was doing well so that I can't walk properly. Anyway, we just walked around Raffles Hotel itself and realized that there is a performance from Victoria JC Choir in the early afternoon. That was Albert's school and he did the same thing 10 years ago I guess. They were really singing very well and it's so much fun to imagine how Albert looked like standing and singing over there 10 years ago.




Later on, we went to one of my favorite bakeries at Raffles Hotel, Ah Teng Bakery. I blogged about it a few weeks ago. Last week, I brought Matt over there to try their Kaya Toast and Dim Sum breakfast set also. I have managed to try their cakes, sandwiches, Kaya toast, dim sum, and scorns. I really enjoy the nice setting and atmosphere of this place and the price is quite reasonable. This should be a place that I would miss in Singapore.

Fosters - An English Rose Cafe

Ivan and Kay brought me to Fosters at Holland Village this afternoon. We talked about this gathering for a few weeks since I informed them of my leaving. Ivan actually did some research on line to find this nice place. Holland Village is quite a famous area in Singapore for its wild variety of nice food. I didn't really visited there often as that's quite far and not reachable by public transportation.

We ordered a afternoon tea set, one apple pie and one banana cripes. The food is really quite nice especially the scorn and I like the environment quite a lot. It's not easy to find a nice and quiet place in town where we can enjoy the sunshine.





Afterwards, we walked around Chip Bee Gardens at Jalan Merah Saga and this is a very interesting place with all the different restaurants and stores selling nice food stuff. It's really a nice place worth visiting and food there should be very good also.

Guess people would only start to treasure things that they know they are going to lose soon or they realized they have lost. Same here I guess. I really started to plan to visit many more places in Singapore these two weeks before I fly back. I have taken a lot of things for granted in the past five years as I know they would be around most of the time until one day I realize they are not.

The funny thing is the companion becomes so important and crucial to me somehow. I just don't want to go any places along. I want to go with people I care so that I can share the precious memory with them. Hope I got the chance to do so before I leave.

What a pleasant lunch!

I have officially announced my leaving of Singapore to my colleagues these two days. Guess it's quite a shocking news to most of them as they have never thought of that at all. My nice directors also started to invite me to try some more different and nice food in Singapore these two days. Yesterday, we went to try a nice Hokkien Mee at East Coast Road. Today, we went to La Vela, the Italian restaurant at Keppel Club. I had cod fish and that's really quite nice. Guess I would be having a few more meals like this these two weeks and it's always great to try some new and nice food.

Happy Birthday!!

Met up with my group of girl friends in Singapore tonight to celebrate my birthday. It was supposed to be only a small gathering and farewell as Bulan would be traveling in New Zealand and Australia from this Friday and we won't have chance to meet again before I fly off.

However, guess I select today as I just don't want to have dinner alone on my birthday. : ) We had dinner at Kopi Tiam located at 2F of Swissotel the Stamford Hotel as I want to have nice local food at nice ambiance. The food is really quite nice though the price is at least three times higher than the hawker food we got outside.



After we finished the meal, our heart-warming friends brought me an surprise with this cute Birthday Cookie. It's really beautiful and testy. Guess women just simply can't resist any sweet and high sugar stuff.


Afterwards, we moved on to my favorite bar in Singapore, City Space, at the 70th of Swissotel the Stamford Hotel. We had a lot of fun with drinks, chats, songs and games. This is really one of my best birthday. Thanks!! All my dear friends!!

Sunday Brunch

Have only four weekends left before leaving. Therefore, I tried to plan my activities to visit as many places as possible. So I asked KT out for Sunday brunch at Marmalade Pantry. I ordered this "Egg Benedict" and KT ordered "French Toast with Caramelised Applies fig & Honey Ice Cream". They are quite nice though I was actually expecting it to be much better as I have read quite a number of good reviews about this place and the brunch. Generally speaking, it's quite nice place and food. Would try to have some other dishes again if I have chance.

After that, we caught two movies and walked around Orchard. Since this might be my last Christmas in Singapore for the upcoming few more years, we just tried to record down the magnificent view of this giant Christmas tree at Ngee Ann City. It has been an interesting experience to see five different Christmas tree there and I do expect to see a lot more different design in the coming years.

10 Things I would miss in Singapore

I have been trying to list down things I want to do, places I want to go, or food I want to have before leaving Singapore. I did come out a few of them such as visiting the new revamped National Museum, having brunch at Wild Rocket and Marmalade Pantry as well as Dinner at My Humble House, but that's about all up to now. May need to do some more research or inputs to experience more about the different faces of Singapore in the last four weeks.

However, during the process, instead of listing down the new things that I want to try, I managed to list down 10 things that I think I would miss in Singapore. There are food, places and shopping. These may somehow summarize my past five years living in Singapore. Guess I would try to visit places again and take some pictures.

1. Black Paper Crab and Chilly Crab from Jumbo
2. Kaya Toast from Yakun
3. Sugar Roll from Polar
4. The Night Scene at The Altivo, Mout Faber
5. The Night Scene at Cityspace, Swissotel The Stamford Hotel
6. Kinokuniya Bookstore at Ngee Ann City
7. Shopping Malls along Orchard Rd.
8. Mango
9. Chicken Rice from Wee Nam Kee
10. Popian from Qi Ji

P.S. Mango just started their sales yesterday. Bought two dresses as it's kind of good price. Should have some occasions to show these two nice dresses soon. : )

搭訕

今天還頗有感而發的, 所以就繼續下去吧。可能因為從小就是眾人目光的焦點, 所以我也習慣了旁人注目的眼光。我可以很清楚得感受到人家在看我, 但我還是依然故我, 畢竟眼睛長在人家臉上, 我也不能怎樣。

但有些時候就不只是眼光而已。 開始工作之後, 遇過幾次搭訕的情況。我是個很不常上夜店泡的人, 所以記憶中搭訕的狀況都發生在路上。今天中午出門去烏節路走走, 在多美哥換車的時候就感覺到一個人一直跟著我, 我是個走路很快的人, 所以我試著改變路徑嘗試擺脫, 畢竟我不怎麼時興在路上交朋友。最終還是被堵住了因為去烏節路的人真的太多了, 所以千遍一率地問題來了: 要去哪裡啊? 要去吃中飯嗎? 跟男朋友還是老公約嗎?

老實說, 被搭訕可能是種讚美, 畢竟不是每個人都可以這樣鼓起勇氣在路上跟陌生人講話, 我可能真的那麼有吸引力吧! 但是, 當搭訕的對象完全不在我個人可接受的範圍之內那就變成了一種騷擾。尤其被問了三遍有沒有可能共進午餐也明確地拒絕三遍之後, 他還硬遞給我他的名片, 我開始有點擔心我的人身安全, 所以我就真的大步且快步地離去。

寫這個不是想炫燿, 而是我開始思考我是否吸引到不適合的目光。也就是說, 怎麼都沒有我喜歡那種形的男生來搭訕呢? 後來想想, 我應該不是那種可以在路上就結識人的人吧! 有印象以來, 吸引我目光的人通常都是在工作上讓我覺得可以跟我匹配的人, 所以我應該別奢求"搭訕"可以幫到我什麼忙吧! 但我想我還是頗期待有個真的讓我覺得impressive的人來搭訕吧!

寂寞與孤單的差別

已經五年沒好好地用中文寫作, 該是時候要好好練習一下。總覺得我從小就已經習慣寂寞, 畢竟從小長時間就是一個人。以前也讀過一本書"享受寂寞", 講的就是如何享受一個人的時光, 畢竟那可能是一個人唯一可以沉澱思考的時間。這五年來, 我也老覺得寂寞是正常的。就算之前有男朋友的時候, 我也會一個人逛街, 吃飯, 看電影, 因為我還頗享受那安靜的時光。

但是, 最近這幾個月發覺我不只是感到寂寞, 應該說是孤單吧! 一直在想寂寞與孤單的差別, 照字面說來, 寂寞應該是寂靜沉默而孤單是孤獨, 感覺上好像沒大分別, 但是是有分別的。寂寞的時候可能只是覺得一個人而已, 你還是有可以一起分享生活點滴的對象, 但孤單可能就沒有了。

我想孤單的感覺應該是我做出回台灣決定的主要原因。最近常有感觸很深卻找不到可以分享對象的時候, 也常有想要有一個伴一起生活, 旅行, 分享的感覺。但生活總不是完美的, 不是事事都能順心的。所以我想回"家", 老實說, 我已經搞不清楚哪裡是我的家, 而家又會是怎樣的感覺。

我很清楚的知道, 這次"回家", 應該也會是短暫的。最多一兩年, 畢竟那已成為我父母親的家, 跟自己的家還是有差別的。但我知道, 父母跟家人會是永遠陪在我身旁的人, 尤其是孤單的時候。那種想打電話找人講話卻翻遍電話簿找不到一個人的感覺只有"悽涼"兩個字可以形容。

我想這樣的情形跟我在新加坡整體的狀況有關。但我就是個不喜歡自己不開心的人。我母親給我最大的影響應該就是這個觀念吧! 她總是說快快樂樂也是一天, 憂憂愁愁也是一天, 為什麼不快樂地過日子呢? 所以我總是要求我自己不開心的時候, 要不就接受現狀改變心態或是改變狀況讓自己過的更好。我想我試過改變自己的心態去接受現狀, 但我終究不能接受這個漸漸喪失鬥志及熱情的我, 所以我決定在我最美麗燦爛的時候作個完美的告別。重新開始, 開始去尋回那永遠鬥志高昂的我。

改變不一定都是好的, 但我相信嘗試是必要的。我做過一些改變的決定, 結果有好有壞, 但我另一個信念就是雖有遺憾但不後悔。所以現在的我, 決定了要過更好更充實的生活。我不知道回去後寂寞或孤單的問題會否依舊存在, 但我相信新的挑戰應該會讓我無暇思考這些東西。或許那是解決孤單最好的方法吧!

Ah Teng's Bakery

Visited Ah Teng's Bakery at Raffles Hotel two weeks ago with Jessica as we both wanted to have brunch at some interesting place. So we had their sandwich set which cost only S$7.5 (I did take some pictures but somehow it just disappeared. Would take it again as I want to try their scone set also and show you the whole series later.). That was surprisingly cheap as we thought Raffles Hotel should be quite ex. Today, I went down to try their high tea cake set. There are so many different cakes and I chose this one which is pear and chocolate.

Wanted to explore the different aspects of Singapore as I have decided to return to Taiwan in second week of Jan. I have exactly four weeks or twenty eight days left to find out more about this city that I have spend my last five years and four months. Guess I have been taking a lot of things for granted or just didn't bother to explore too much as I thought I would just stay here.

However, now I have different attitude towards everything. Trying to list down all the places that I want to visit or things that I want to do before leaving. Only got a few on hands up to now, but I would definitely try my best to make good use of the balanced twenty eight days in Singapore.

Shenzhen

Was visiting suppliers in Shenzhen last Wed to Fri. That was my second time visiting China for the past five years working in sourcing. Guess I have been trying to avoid visiting China unconsciously. If not, I should be there a few more times as that's the major places that my products are manufactured.

I was a bit scared before reaching Shenzhen as a few friends warned and threatened me that place especially the security part. I have heard at least three cases of murdering just within 7 days before I left for Shenzhen. I thought I should be able to survive as I have traveled around Indonesia or Vietnam. Shenzhen shouldn't be any problem, but I was still a bit worried. However, I was quite surprised that the place is not as bad as what I expect. Maybe it's because we stayed at a new area and we hired private cars to travel around the city instead of taking taxi on the road.

Guess I can't avoid visiting China from now on as I wouldbe be getting involved more in the Greater China market. I should have more chances visiting China but not sure which part of it.