2012 in review
I'm back from Cambodia! Just in time to be back in Singapore to have embraced the new year with my family, friends, and loved ones. But ...
I'm back from Cambodia! Just in time to be back in Singapore to have embraced the new year with my family, friends, and loved ones. But I wouldn't mind counting down to a new year in a foreign country; should be a different kind of experience. Next year, Melbourne? :)
Quick update on my trip: I travelled to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in 6 days, experienced the depression from reading and finding out about the torture jails and killing fields during the Khmer Rouge, wow-ed by the magnificence of the Angkor temples, tasted the Cambodian specialty amok fish (I brought a packet of spice back for my Mummy to cook hehe), and had many cheap cocktails woots.
I know I am lagging behind in my updates.. I have not blogged about London and Amsterdam yet! Urgh. I promise I will get down to it.
In the meantime, being New Year's Day, I thought I would do a short review of 2012. It wasn't the easiest year, and wasn't better than 2011 as I hope it would have been. But it was a year where friendships were strengthened, horizons expanded as I travelled to many different places and achieved some new accomplishments... and set some new must-do activities before I die.
Shall let some photos do the talking :)
January - visited Hong Kong for the second time + Macau and Zhu Hai with the biggest travel group by far- 8 of us in total! Snapped so many photos with so many cameras. Experienced HK in super cold weather. Even though it's not my first time there, travel buddies do make a difference as they provide different forms of experiences and perspectives. It was a great trip to start off the new year.
June - celebrated my 27th! That's considered a milestone and a highlight right? Haha. Very blessed to have my closest groups of friends celebrating for me. Coincidentally, Jason Mraz's concert at Gardens by the Bay fell on my actual birthday so I celebrated it with 9,999 other people with Jason crooning in the background hehe.
Closest group of churchies gave me a surprise brunch at Artichoke! Hugs over to Ah Tan for coordinating and organizing. <3
July - went to obtain my open water license at Dayang! Along with Fel again. I'm glad she's always jio-ing me to do stuff like this. She's a person always up for new experiences and such a frequent traveller I am envious! But I guess I had my fair share too this year. Hehe. We both been through stuff over the 2 years and I'm glad it has helped make our friendship stronger in some way. More adventures to come!
Diving is a really surreal experience. You gotta go through it yourself to know what I mean. Hoping that I can achieve my advanced diving license in the not too far future.
July - Specially went to Genting with 3 of my closest friends to meet my favorite Chinese pop singer at his concert, FDT aka Fang Da Tong!
His concert was fantastic and so was my company. I love him and I love my friends.
I wish all of you who are reading this love, peace, joy and hope for the New Year.
Till the next!
Quick update on my trip: I travelled to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in 6 days, experienced the depression from reading and finding out about the torture jails and killing fields during the Khmer Rouge, wow-ed by the magnificence of the Angkor temples, tasted the Cambodian specialty amok fish (I brought a packet of spice back for my Mummy to cook hehe), and had many cheap cocktails woots.
I know I am lagging behind in my updates.. I have not blogged about London and Amsterdam yet! Urgh. I promise I will get down to it.
In the meantime, being New Year's Day, I thought I would do a short review of 2012. It wasn't the easiest year, and wasn't better than 2011 as I hope it would have been. But it was a year where friendships were strengthened, horizons expanded as I travelled to many different places and achieved some new accomplishments... and set some new must-do activities before I die.
Shall let some photos do the talking :)
January - visited Hong Kong for the second time + Macau and Zhu Hai with the biggest travel group by far- 8 of us in total! Snapped so many photos with so many cameras. Experienced HK in super cold weather. Even though it's not my first time there, travel buddies do make a difference as they provide different forms of experiences and perspectives. It was a great trip to start off the new year.
January - April - Under the coaxing of Fel I took up golf lessons! Used to think that golf was like the boring-est sport ever and I think I surprised quite a number of my friends when I said I was learning golf. Well, I guess it will be a good skill to learn, much like driving and diving (coming up soon!)
We took a total of 10 lessons and ended with one on an actual golf course. Tho it wasn't the full 18-hole one but just an executive one with 5 holes, it still felt kinda of exhilarating to actually be "playing golf" haha. Unfortunately golf clubs are so expensive and I haven't been able to go back to the golf course ever since our lessons ended. Hope I don't forget how to play golf so soon..
bought my first pair of golf gloves for lessons!
first time on the golf course at Jurong Country Club
April - the first barbarian to get married: chicken!
was receptionist for the matrimonial service - so hawt in the sun!
:)
at the wedding dinner
May - Went on a 1.5 week trip to Perth with my brunch bunch Suzie and Xian. It was a trip to partly visit Weijie and partly to relax and keep my mind off things due to some incidents that happened. Unfortunately it only lasted as long as I was there. Still, it was a really relaxing trip and I enjoyed myself quite thoroughly. We took a road trip down to Margaret River and I really love that place for its nice vineyards and cheap wine! Thank you Suzie and Xian for always standing by me and making sure I'm safe and sound. :)
dinner at our holiday home at Margaret River - Moonrise Retreat!
Closest group of churchies gave me a surprise brunch at Artichoke! Hugs over to Ah Tan for coordinating and organizing. <3
Woggers, iwok and wokpek had a birthday picnic with me at Botanic Gardens. I'm a truly blessed girl indeed.
July - went to obtain my open water license at Dayang! Along with Fel again. I'm glad she's always jio-ing me to do stuff like this. She's a person always up for new experiences and such a frequent traveller I am envious! But I guess I had my fair share too this year. Hehe. We both been through stuff over the 2 years and I'm glad it has helped make our friendship stronger in some way. More adventures to come!
Diving is a really surreal experience. You gotta go through it yourself to know what I mean. Hoping that I can achieve my advanced diving license in the not too far future.
July - Specially went to Genting with 3 of my closest friends to meet my favorite Chinese pop singer at his concert, FDT aka Fang Da Tong!
His concert was fantastic and so was my company. I love him and I love my friends.
August - I chopped off my bob into a super short pseudo pixie do.
I was deciding between growing out my bob or chopping into a pixie. In the end I really doubted my ability to carry off a full fledged pixie so I settled for this instead. Some people liked it and some people preferred my bob. I like it for it's easy to maintain - save shampoo and takes faster time to dry your hair haha.
October - second barbarian to get married: Zhen! To be honest, her group of brothers was the toughest group I have met by far. They were obedient for maybe the first 10 minutes and spent the rest of the time messing up our stations and bullying their way in. Was totally exhausted trying to fend them off at the end of the gatecrash haha.
October - November - was also the period I travelled solo for the first time to London and Amsterdam. Have blogged a brief summary of it here and I promise to do up proper posts for it soon! I also had a staff retreat to Medan - we visited the Lake Toba and it was really nice.
December - Travelled to Cambodia as mentioned at the beginning of the post. Will also do a proper post for it soon. Hahaha soon ahhhh soon. I also completed my second half marathon with a timing of under 3 hours which is a personal feat for me!
With that, I have come to the end of my 2012 in review. As I mentioned, it hasn't been an easy year but I have had the blessings of many friends who truly care for me, and also the blessing to have had many exciting travel experiences.
Unfortunately for me, my new year's day didn't start off on the best note. But I hope that doesn't set the tone for my new year. I have to constantly remind myself of the many blessings in my life and the many things I can look forward to in this coming new year.
Although I never believed in new year's resolutions, I do have some things I hope to be able to achieve, and one of them includes completing a full marathon and to go skydiving amongst others.
Ending off with a photo of my sissy and I after our hair cut/treatment at Salon Vim yesterday. Here's to sisterly love and may we grow closer in the coming new year.
Till the next!
