really lost girl

poor girl. she makes melanie marquez sound sensible. and at least melanie marquez can come up with clever answers - albeit grammatically weird!

this girl is just way too LOST!

mr. hong kong 2007

tonight, i followed the telecast of mr. hong kong 2007 for the very first time in its 3-year run. out of sheer curiosity, i guess.

it was interesting. but i just don't get the process.

there were 12 contestants - some i question how they got into the competition - divided into two groups: one for 18-25 years old, then another for above 25.

they go through your usual competitions: talent, swimwear, casual wear/interviews. then the audience votes decide who gets eliminated at the end of each competition.

then they select one "winner" per group - then one wild card from all eliminated finalists. the final three do a "showcase" (martial arts this year) from which mr. hong kong will be chosen - still by audience votes.

it's a good thing the good ones end up chosen. we all know how audience voting has ruined reality shows.

the winner, benjamin yuen (photo). i must say, among the lot, he's indeed a good choice - at least in the looks department.

it may be a cultural thing, and it may be a result of to much exposure to miss universe-type of pageants.

but after watching the telecast, the production, the whole she-bang, and after living here in hk for exactly 5 years, i guess, there are just some things i still don't get.

all about food

after 2 months of laziness, i finally managed to write about my first-ever trip to singapore (and update my blog after a year).

my first trip to singapore - it's all about food food and more food.

when i tell people all i did in singapore was eat, some say it's because there's nothing else to do. but since i LOVE to eat, it's all that mattered!

i had the luxury of having a singaporean as host. my partner chris graciously showed me around and let me sample (yes, i haven't tried everything) the flavors of singapore.

i only had one clear instruction to chris: no fancy meals, just the stuff singaporeans would normally eat day-to-day, plus food that are distinctly singapore.

this is quite long. just read (and salivate) at your own pleasure.

day 1: june 14

so within an hour from landing on june 14th, there i was trying out local food at the foodcourt ran by the airport staff.

chris made me try and order something. so i got a mix of fried mee hoon (bihon), ngo hiang rolls (kikiam) and sauteed eggplant.

well, let's just say i need more coaching on what's good to eat in singapore. good thing is chris came to the rescue and got something much much better.

so here's my first meal in singapore: fishball noodle soup, chinese rojak, and the mixed food i got.

about 3 hours after, i'm once again downing another meal. this time, ayam paggang (malaysian chicken barbeque) at plaza singapura. forgot to take a photo though.

later that night, chris took me on a tour of singapore's red light district - geylang. we walked the alleys in the midst of swarms of female prostitutes (damn!) and houses-cum-brothels. it was kinda freaked out that i was really walking fast the whole time.

and what's the best way to cap a trip to the red-light district? a midnight snack consisting of a hearty serving of braised frog legs and fried oyster cake.

day 2: june 15

on my second day, we headed along tanjong katong road (don't ask me where it exactly is - i couldn't remember) to sample a good shrimp laksa, otak-otak (fish cakes), nasi lemak (rice with egg and anchovies), and calamansi juice.

let's just say, i absolutely loved the laksa.

then, we headed down to marine parade for a walk, and ended up getting some fried wonton dry noodles. (note that this was less than 2 hours after lunch!)

from marine parade, we made our way to bugis where i had a photo of my aura taken. just wanted to try it out. findings were interesting.

to sum it up, at the point when the photo was taken, i was in a state of growth, healing and renewal. which means i'm entering a period of transformation and new beginnings.

we were planning to head for the zoo and the night safari that night. we took the mrt all the way to ang mo kio, then had to change plans, so we can meet up with my friend from college, tiffy.

so we headed back downtown. met tiffy. and had a big dinner at lau pa sat consisting of barbeque stingray, hokkien shrimp rolls, fried raddish cake, fried hokkien mee, chicken satay and ice kacang for dessert.

day 3: june 16

we headed down the cbd once again on the third day to do tourist-y stuff: the ducktour. but of course, before hoping onto the boat, we grabbed a quick bite at a nearby foodcourt.

lunch consisted of nasi goreng, with chris' order of squid and kangkong on the side.

we went on a ducktour after lunch. let me say the experience was fun - and a disappointment (it was raining the whole day that day).

anyhow, after the tour, of course, we had to grab something to eat (again).

this time, dropped by kenny rogers. we just wanted the corn muffin, but ended up getting a quarter chicken and 2 side dishes - for snacks.

walked around, fed some koi fish, walked around again, then grabbed a cup of ice cream (told you this trip is all about food).

we then decided to head down south to vivo city just to check out what's this new place all about.

from down south, we headed north (talk about a hectic day) to the night safari. the trip included an mrt and a bus ride, which took over an hour - enough time to rest our tired legs.

the safari was something. seeing nocturnal animals up close was great. unfortunately i didn't know how to operate my digicam, so no photos from here (didn't see the tarsier either).

we left the zoo past 10pm already and we were starving. we didn't know where to grab a late dinner then realized that there's a 24-hour hawker center behind the ang mo kio transport hub.

so for dinner we had some more popular "local" food: grilled chicken wings, and xiao wan mian (小碗麵), which included fish balls, braised mushrooms, dry noodles and a hotpot.

day 4: june 17

after quite a busy day, we decided to just take it easy on my last full day in singapore.

we started later than usual, heading for the lavender street hawker center past noon for lunch. this time, i sampled singapore's char siu noodles, fried kway teow, fried carrot cake, and popiah (lumpia).

after lunch we headed down to orchard road to meet up with another college friend, tina, who i didn't know moved to singapore recently to be with her other half.

orchard lives up to being singapore's main tourist and shopping area. it's like causeway bay on weekends - busy and crowded. and while walking along orchard, i realized that it's just like central on a sunday - it's full of pinoys.

after practically walking a good stretch of orchard, we grabbed a nonya rice dumpling then boarded a bus to bugis for an appointment with his chinese doctor.

got a (really painful) chinese massage and cupping from the chinese doctor. he explained the pain was due to tension blockage, plus rheumatism.

from the bugis area, we headed back down to the cbd for dinner. and while i told chris i didn't want fancy meals, he insisted on a good dinner for my last night with him in singapore.

we went for a nice shanghainese dinner at the mall/hotel across the "chopsticks" memorial. of course, and what would a shanghai meal be without xiao long bao and jade sprouts?

then we capped the night with some typical singapore desserts: ice jelly and ice soursop.

day 5: june 18

it's my last day in singapore. it was the day i dreaded - not because i'm heading back to work, but because i'm leaving my chris behind.

after packing my stuff, we headed down the beach for a leisurely walk before grabbing lunch. it was a nice day, a stark contrast from the dreary weather on day 3. damn!

we walked to the marine parade hawker center, where we had mee siam (similar to palabok) and fried shrimp kway teow. yummy.

after lunch we went back to tanjong katong road to buy some rice dumplings to bring back to hk, then took a cab back home - got a plane to catch in a little over a couple of hours.

and since chris knows me so well that he just had to bring me to a restaurant at the airport terminal to have an ice cream before i finally crossed the immigration checkpoint.

needless to say, i did put on a few pounds and centimeters after that holiday! more photos here.