on top of the world

i may never climb the himalayas.

heck, i havent even tried to scale bukit timah hill.

but, today was the day that 3 crazy singaporeans, ie jo, sam and i climbed this 529m tall peak in Sintra, Portugal called Casa Alto and lived to tell the tale of a magnificent view which stretched all the way to the Iberian Coast (the Atlantic Ocean). it was so exciting i had to call my mom and mms her a picture of what i was seeing. it was freaking cold, but after navigating through forested paths (ok, sam did the navigating), slipping on loose gravel and trudging up rocky paths, we just didnt really want to leave being at 529m above ground. and getting there was not much fun because the main train station in Lisboa was closed (how can u close a central station for goodnessake!) so we had to catch a metro to another train station and take the main train to Sintra, something like 45mins away from central lisboa.

seriously we were in the middle of nowhere. NOWHERE.

but we survived! at least the upper half of my body and my mental faculty is. my calves and feet are busted.

i could retire in lisboa

for the benefit of my cousins, serene and sherri, i just have to say that i´ve completed my food pilgrimage in lisboa by having those sinfully delicious portugese eggs tarts. and not at any other place, but this cafe at belem (a town slightly off the city centre) which has been making portugese pastry since the 1800.

i´ve got the photos to prove it.

anyway, lisbon is the place to retire after i finished working in barcelona. plans for my life after law school are really vague and misty, but i do know i´d like to spend some time in barcelona and just retire and eat egg tarts and climb narrow cobbled alleyways in lisboa. this is an amazing amazing city, thats less rushed, less hustle and bustle than barcelona but still entirely livable. from the portugese version of the hongkong cha'chan'tangs to the antiquated trams and funiculars to the old grannies hanging their clothes out to dry from their apartments crammed choc'a'bloc with each other to their meat and seafood to the friendliest people ever in europe to the spectacular views after climbing for hours on 45 deg angle ankle busting slopes, (did i mention food?), to the more economical lifestyle....

this place? its pretty much my paradise.

hola from barcelona!

for the first time ever, im blogging on a spanish blogger dashboard! how exciting is that!

anyway, been in barça (check out the ç-cedille!) for the last 36 odd hours and after the initial trouble in finding the hostel, barcelona has been extremely satisfying. probably because we´re all back in the hostel after a hefty lunch of spanish seafood and paella. and we´ve got dunkin donuts for later too! its a great place, barcelona. there´s a youthful vibe here and at the same time, the city ambles on slowly and makes you want to siesta like all the time. and i couldnt ask for a better-linked transport system than the one found here. weather´s rather chilly but it beats freezing your ass out in scandinavia.

more adventures of southern europe later!

vellkommen til kobenhavn, everybody

its a good thing that most of us come to europe on exchange in the end-summer months of august/september. when its still sunny-cheery, blue skies and green foilage surrounds you.

because coming back to copenhagen in the middle of january really sucks. winter here is no pretty snowglobe city lookalike. its wet, wet and very wet. it was pitch dark when the plane landed at the airport at 7am, and the aussie girl i was sitting next to was horrified that she was gonna face the next few weeks with 4hr daylight. and when we got out of the train station, it was pouring like crazy.

hence, im extremely thankful that i'm able to come back to comfortable appartment and sit indoors nice and warm as i watch the rain fall relentlessly down.

anyway the semester starts only in feb, so tommorow will see sam, jo, jac and myself in barcelona, then lisbon, then marrakech. lalalalalala.

quite frankly, we're rather bored here. we've got nothing to do, its too cold to be frolicking outside, there's no sun even to frolic in even if we wanted to. and its surreal to be back in copenhagen, its like i never left. but without first semester's bunch of friends to hang out with (val and karen, i know u're reading this :)) what are we to do?

im sleepy. jet lag is getting to me.

back on the 20th!

extreme tracking reports that i'm still getting traffic here, yay!

i'll be back in copenhagen on the 20th this time, instead of the 16th so its more time spent at home with my family. if any of you still needs me to bring up stuff to europe, drop me an email ok, before i use up all my luggage space on more prima taste and lee kum kee packets.

anyway, i headed to the newly opened national museum of singapore, and its a lovely lovely place that i wholeheartedly give 2 big thumbs up and a wide smile to. its a very pleasant place, which houses 2 permanent galleries: the living and the history galleries. (oh yes, students only pay SGD5! after all the european museums, this is a steal! plus you rent the audio guide for FREE!!!) basically, in true singaporean fashion, the museum is technologically state of the art. its highly interactive, so i recommend that you dont come on a day where MOE decides to bring school kids for a museum visitation, otherwise i doubt you'd get a chance to play with the nifty gagets. there were a few tourists around yesterday as well.

but while museums do aim at the tourist dollar (they charge SGD15 for them), more importantly they seek to preserve who we are for posterity. i honestly learnt a few more things about my own country yesterday, like the differences in the tik-tokking of the tok tok noodle seller (high pitch for wonton mee, low pitch for bakchormee) and that the teochew secret society members are pretty fond of rioting (so much for being refined!).

the NMS is cool, go visit.

warning: shameless advertising ahead

hey y'all!

are you craving for some good old chinese new year cookies that come in oldschool jars and are honest-to -goodness homemade? well! look no further! now you can have fresh-oven-baked-zero-trans-fats-no-artificial-flavouring-and-placed-in-glassjars-not-cheena-looking-plastic-jars-with-red-caps ORANGE AND LAVENDER SHORTBREAD COOKIES!

and how is this jar of ORANGE AND LAVENDER SHORTBREAD COOKIES different from what your mother/sister/auntie/grandma/godma/(insert random female relative) (see how i use all female relatives here) makes? because the LAVENDER that goes into each piece of ORANGE AND LAVENDER SHORTBREAD COOKIE comes DIRECT from MELBOURNE and my cousin has painstakingly sampled it from different farms in melbourne. so she's done the work for your mother/sister/auntie/grandma/godma/(insert random female relative) and done the berry picking JUST FOR YOU!

so the LAVENDER hails from Warratina Lavender Farm (confirmchopsignguarantee) because she's found it to be the most fragrant, without being too overpowering to the taste buds. and because its chinese new year, one has to keep with tradition and ORANGE makes accompanies the LAVENDER to make it a dynamic combination.

she's even offering FREE DELIVERY IN SINGAPORE for orders ten and above, up till 25 January. thereafter, she will arrange collection at a couple of locations. btw, each jar goes at SGD15, lest i forget that teeny weeny nugget of information.

now check them out:


if you need any more details, direct emails to roxanne toh at redskittlez@gmail.com. her food blog can be found at Pat A Cake.i dont get commission for this (dont worry) so there are no hidden costs! if im lucky enough, maybe she will give me a free jar for this shameless plugging.

i hope all that caps-locking of the significant keywords has done some sublime conditioning to you who is reading my blog.

now, go GET THEM.

damn the waistline!

its worth flying 12hours across several timezones if i get to eat the perfect christmas lunch, with kickass roast beef, and newyear's lunch at palm beach with my mee goreng, black pepper crab, cream crab, chilli crab, yew char kwey with sotong, etcetcetc. jo and shuz, i ate them for you too! no photos, later you get jealous. haha.