the old folks speak...

Graeme and i were sitting around the dolphin table at the resort talking to 4 of our friends (DJ's dad, Alex, Ian and Julie) ALL 50 and above. Where i work you get to meet and greet many older folks. Their conversations and comments are bitchy, humorous, interesting and more often than not enlightening. (I am not surprised actually cos my grandma makes the funniest comments ever!) AND they laugh heartily it's infectious! They never fail to remind me to live for now and not get too caught up with the future. They are not asking us to be irresponsible but only to not forget what you have now and how you are living and to try to live it to the fullest. I am guilty of it as well and i welcome the reminders. I know we hear this a million times and i am going to say it again (to myself too)..Don't forget to take the time to smell the coffee and take slow sips :) ... (i prefer hot chocolate these days.. or bali coffee with a shot of baileys!)

Chinese new year in Bali...

The staff did a wonderful thing for me today. They knew i missed home and when i was asked what i wanted to eat i said i wanted a steamboat dinner. AND IT HAPPENED! ... they were clueless what steamboat was about and i explained to my assistant GM - Nyoman. He got me off my ass to explain to him and what food we needed and he got right straight to work! We didn't have a steamboat pot, so this is how our dinner came about: We used a gas stove, put a metal burner above it, sawed a circular hole on a wooden plank which was place between two table and in goes the pot. I was so busy checking them out and serving them food after that that i forgot to take picture of their mini invention! (how terrible!) I was touched. It was a simple dinner just like home. We had fish (ikan), prawns (udang), squid (cumi-cumi), chicken (ayam), pork ((babi), beef (sapee) and some green veges. Felt really nice to sit down with the people you want to. The picture below is the only one i took sigh... : Nyoman on the left. That's Ian and Julie, one of my favourite couples and good friends i made over the lst 7 months, they visit Bali 2 to 3 times a year. It was a good xing nian. (New Year).

Reunion Dinner - CNY

i was trying to remember if the picture above was a 2004 or 2005 reunion dinner. i have this picture in my wallet all the time since we took it. We were having steamboat like we always do. Fresh fish, prawns and abalone a must, beef, pork, quail eggs (think my mum stopped getting them because she said its really high in cholestrol!), crabsticks, lots of green vegetables (i just can't remember what's the name of that veg we have at steamboat that i like. It's joanne's favourite greens!). And when you are all full, you ladle out the tasty yummy soup from the steamboat and slowly sip away. On such an occasion where you get the whole family sitting together for a meal, that's when we whip out that bottle of red wine. We rarely drink at home until recent years when my dad acquired a taste for red wine. He is always the first to go red from head to neck :).

Today will be the first reunion dinner that i will miss. For the first time since i arrive here in Bali, i miss home, my family and all that chinese customs and festivities. No.1 & 2 text me two days ago and said they would like to buy me a ticket back home just for the weekend for CNY.It took forever to get through to any agents and there were no flights available till next week. sigh... It would have been a nice surprise for mum. Boy, i really miss home now.

I brought the picture below with me too. It's a photo of my grams,cousins and siblings taken probably more than 20 years ago. It was taken at Circuit Road (grams' old flat) probably at some Christmas, New Year or one of the gram's birthday. Can you spot me? :) Clam clam & dom dom: you were not out yet. Lucy Lam, sorry ha ha.. i know it's not the most beautiful picture of you. but look at what a meili gu-niang you turn out :)... Wei wei.. you look so cute even while you are wailing away. :) ... Hope you all have a wonderful reunion and pig out on my behalf and give Ma-ma a big hug for me. Hmm... I wonder if my mum will be helping me to keep my ang baos :)...

graeme's haven & heaven probably too...

beautiful pictures isn't it? photos contributed by those who have dived with us. We are glad to be living where the best dive sites are in bali. My favourite is the wreck at Tulamben - it's the USSR liberty which sank in 1943 i think. We did a night dive there about a month ago with a guest. I felt a little spooked but must say it was the best night dive i have experienced.. ok ... after Sipidan :)...

Decided to put together a blog for graeme and his favourite "space" while my love is mugging away. You see Graeme is currently studying for his dive instructor license right now. The course and exam is in about 3 weeks time and he is studying hard for it in his little yellow and blue dive shop which we call the "boot room" just next to my office. He hates physics, well we all do! We have been waking up and going for swims in the morning to get him prepared for the physical tests. Am so proud of him and find myself admiring his focusness and determination. Did i mention that he is trying to give up on smoking too! (it's been no more than one packet a day now ha ha ... i,e just 16 sticks)... so here i am trying not to disturb him and thinking of what to cook for dinner... you forget what day it is over here.. every day feels like a sunday sometimes... btw, muffin's mum, fyi, we ended up having healthy yummy salad last night and scotch and coke ha ha. Tt was tomato,cucumber,onions,olives with feta cheese and doused with apple vinegar and olive oil. Deeelicious! Chef was Mr. Graeme Birch :).

the wonders of technology. my si-fu cranky gal passed on from her si-fu the art of how to back-date! as promised i will be swarming the blog with my last 6 months pictures... but really i only started the blog on 19th jan'06! enough for today... night everyone...

from the bali girl / my sister say i look like "mena" now...

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PINK CHICKEN!

test test silly duchess :)

hear ye! the duchess speaketh!

shhhhhhhhhhhh... if you just be quiet for a moment you can hear it ...."clap clap clap" big applause all the way from Singapore (AMK, Marine Parade or Senkang etc)... ha ha... finally the duchess has got her blog going ... the impetus? i believe there are a few. One - in no order of priority or importance - a beautiful photo of sunset that i took about a week back which makes me realised the zillion shots that i have taken since i arrived and would like to share and of course am just living up to my trigger friendly reputation! :) ...Bali - 'the land of gods", despite all the corruption is really quite beautiful and to me on most days when i actually stop to get out of the little office i am in, i see mother nature at work. i feel at home being so close to the greens and the blues. I find myself grinning silly sometimes with my bali kopi or bintang or gin tonic in hand :) ... some say to me "but it hasn't changed for the last 200 years!" ... i guess perhaps that IS the beauty of this place...

the second push factor to start the blog, hmmm... probably the upcoming wedding ... a sure way to keep your friends updated. i must say there is a handful who seems much more excited and kan cheong than i am ha ha... thank you for your enthusiasm, ideas, and advice! Especially to crankygirl and two of the mum-to-be. i look forward to our next the msn chats!

Now.. i was thinking the best way to back track to the past 6 months would be to swarm the blog with pictures and more pictures :). i mean i have been chatting and updating most of you (i think) of all the adjustments and nightmares and grief and days of doing nothing and just geting a tan ... blah blah... "so slack" would be what cranky girl would say :) ha ha.. i will promise from this day forth, you get to see a posting well at least once a week? ha ha...

i believe there was a third push factor as well... it's the big three O this year :)... and i think i am getting forgetful (with or without the occasional inebriation i must add!) ... time passes too quickly these days and i just can't seem to keep up with the memories anymore! ha ha... if you ask me what did i had for breakfast this morning i probably go "er...." for the next 5 minutes :)... i decided to start this blog to remind myself of the good times and bad, to remind myself not to take for granted a beautiful sunset, seeing dolphins bobbing up and down the sea, experiencing a wonderful dive, all the sunshine i get giving me my to-die-for tan (ha ha ha), having wonderful friends, supportive siblings and my adorable hubby-to-be who has this incredible power to take all my shit!

To old memories and new ones we be making ... :)

my dear crankygal look absolutely stunning.congratulations and best wishes.sorry for missing the day!

kodak moment ...

Whenever i can, i sit out there and wait for that perfect sunset... it was worth the wait! captured with my canon ixus 30. present from my da jie and er jie :).