Just the beginning...

I was lucky last year when I first moved to Sweden. The winter, although cold and snowy, was considered really mild and even though I did contract pneumonia, I handled the weather pretty well.

But I'm not so lucky this time. The winter this time round is much, much colder and I am barely weathering it through. I hardly go out of the apartment now and as much as the sun shines through during the short daylight hours, I know just how cold it is. And this is just the beginning of winter, it can only go downhill from here.

I had to go out today and walk to and from my home. Even though the walk was short, little more than 5 minutes, I felt every single gust and breeze. With every sudden gust of the icy cold wind, I felt it go through my jacket, shawls, hat, gloves right into the bones. My fingers ached, my knees creaked, and my face was frozen. And now I can't really bend my index and middle fingers of my right hand fully cos it hurts so bad.

The daytime is cold, the night time is colder, the apartment is always cold now and my toes are ALWAYS freezing.

Just wanted to complain....needed to....winter bites....literally.

Anniversary Weekend

Can hardly believe that it's been more than a year since I got myself hitched and flew me over here to Sweden and settle in this tiny town of Askersund. Like any other newly wed couple(am I still qualified to call myself a newly wed? hmm...), we've had our ups and downs, hits and misses and ridiculous moments together. It's the toughest year for any couple and definitely deserves a celebration. So we celebrated...the whole weekend. hee hee...

Our anniversary was a few weeks ago on a Monday but I guess one can say that we began the 'festivities' on Saturday when we travelled to the capital city of Stockholm for an overnight stay on a company leisure trip. And right after that, we headed on to Orebro, a big town close to Askersund to spend the next night in honeymoon bliss.

At the train station waiting for our train to Stockholm! Very excited cos it was my FIRST train ride in Sweden. YIPPEE!!

The men chose to stand and try to look all important. The men in glasses are the brothers/bosses/owners of the company. They're really nice.

Our train arrives!!

Our entire group of 12, all dressed in black and pulling rolly bags. Dear husband was the only one wearing blue jeans...ok fine..LIGHT blue jeans.

Me, happily getting on the train. Little did I know that I only had 5 minutes to get my butt ON the train before it leaves the station. A bit goondu lah but what to do, I was a train virgin.

Finally all settled into our seats after much disorder and confusion. This is Katarina, the bosses' sister. She intimidates me a little but friendly-ish..is that an oxymoron?

Patrik, dear husband's colleague and partner in crime. He brought his gf along but for most of the trip, he chose to sit with the bosses, saying she's grown up and can take care of herself. Hmm...not sure if I would forgive Mathias if he ever did that to me.

Bengt is the handyman/deliveryman/cleaner/jack of all trades but sales man and Katarina's husband. Mathias thinks he's 400 years old cos he's done pretty much all jobs in the world when he tells his stories. Eg. construction worker, farmer, property evaluater...

DH and I happily settled in our seats. Well, I wasn't so happy since my seat is nestled between 2 windows which means that even though I got a window seat, I don't have any windows. Which sucks cos I wanna look at scenery!

When we arrived in Stockholm, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed straight to this Asian restaurant. Apparently it's a very posh place and Swedish celebs go there all the time. But to be honest, the food was so so (supposed to be fusion-ish) and I can't even remember the name of the restaurant!

Our group table. Youngsters (me included of cos) sat on one side and the oldies sat on the other. And the only time that Patrik sat next to his gf for a meal on that trip. So lunch was high class Asian Buffet which included Sushi and sashimi. Totally thought of you, Praisie when I saw the sashimi.

Happily posing for the camera the only time Mathias remembers to take my picture.

The food may be so-so but I love the interior of the building. I believe it is an old building that was converted to a restaurant.

The ceiling is so high and the chandeliers really add a touch of glam and pompousness. I guess I can understand why celebs like coming here. It's the place to see and be seen. Many of such places here in Stockholm. And sushi. Stockholmers LOVE sushi. I think they consider it high class Asian food.

The restaurant is located right next to the Chinese Theatre where we went to after lunch to watch The Producers!! I loved it even though it was in Swedish. The fact that I had watched the movie before helped..a lot. But the actors were all FANTASTIC! I love it! Love it! Love it!

These Indians are buskers that perform close to our hotel everyday and play excellent, soothing music. They don't just busk to earn from passers by but also to promote and sell thier own CD which has a really nice cover to it. Very haunting music.

One of the things I like about Stockholm is all the old buildings and architectural wonders abound. It's sometimes difficult to fathom that some of the buildings are hundreds of years old.

This is a metal statue of a famous Swedish writer whose names eludes me right now. But what is significant about this statue is that the entire front and especially tummy of the statue is so nice and warm even though it is blisteringly cold. I almost thought that the statue is heated until I felt the back and realised it's cold as ice. It is the morning sun that keeps this statue nice n warm.

The National Theatre where all the bigger plays, musicals and performances are staged. It's the Stockholm version of our Esplanade but so much more beautiful in architecture and presence.

Our hotel room at Hotel Scandic Royal Viking, my 5 star Swedish hotel experience. It was so so. Nothing really spectacular about the rooms or service. The Rooftop bar had a fantastic view of the city but is way too small and cramped and the bar staff aren't particularly helpful or eloquent which I would expect them to be since they hardly have a comprehensive menu.

The room is quite small but a very large mirror spans almost one entire wall, which comes to think of it, makes the hotel room rather sexy. And yes, it's not an afterthought. Luckily, I did think of that ..uh hum..factor while I was still staying the room. *wink wink*

The bathroom is not too bad and unlike all other hotels I've stayed in in Sweden, the bathtub is actually built into the wall so one doesn't accidentally tip the tub over a little. Yeah...personal experience.

After Stockholm, we continued on our little getaway and this time to Orebro where the rarely romantic husband surprised me with a booking at one of the boutique hotels, The Berhn Hotel, I've always wanted to stay in. And not only that, he had us booked in a 2 storey suite!! Ooh! Even better than our honeymoon!

The hotel is located in an old style building that has 4 tornets which makes it look like a small castle and our suite is up one of the tornets. So I kinda felt like a princess up in a tower looking down at the parking lot downstairs. Hee hee! The suite is divided into livingroom and bathroom downstairs and the bedroom upstairs.

That is the top of the tornet which is about 5 meters up from our bed. And blinds are installed which shut parallel to the floor so we can shut out the 4 'skylights' at night.

The stairs up to our bedroom. The only thing about the room is that there is no bathroom upstairs so one needs to walk downstairs even for the middle of the night number 1s.

Jacuzzi in the bathroom!! We used it a few times...on an overnight stay...heh heh...

The lovely couple on their way out to a nice Greek dinner. One of the surprisingly few pictures we took together that entire weekend. I must say, Swedes are really no good at taking picures.

My anniversary weekend was a blast which began on a train to Stockholm and ended with bowling in Orebro which the husband is very proud to announce that he won. Even though the very first time he ever tried his hand at it was when I brought him to a bowling alley a few weeks before. Good food, good company and lovely memories..that was my first anniversary.

My Crazy Cat, Sussie the Pussy.

My dear, darling and naughty cat, Sussie. Difficult not to love a creature like her and yet all her crazy and usually very un kitty like antics makes a mess of our house and I pause to wonder...what did we get ourselves into???

Let me list some of the strange things that she does, some of which is done while we're asleep. And I shall compare it to normal cat behaviour in similar situation.

Situation: Toy rat is idly lying on the floor. Cat spies it from a corner of her eye.

Normal cat will... pause and crouch down low in a hunting position and eye the target for a while before lunging at it and playing with it for a while. Cat may or may not roll around with toy rat but will eventually leave ratty alone in somewhat similar location.

Sussie will... see the rat and stop in her tracks. She looks around to make sure nobody is going to catch her in action (but we usually do) and lunges for the toy rat, grabs it by its neck and starts running around and around the house with ratty in her mouth, like a dog holding a ball. She will run at least 2 rounds into all the rooms of the flat before hiding the rat in a deep dark corner under our bed where I'm sure she does unspeakable horrors to poor old ratty. We may not see the rat for a few more days more.

Situation: Cat is under the sofa or bed, relaxing or playing.

Normal cat will...usually be licking itself, playing with some furball or toy it found or simply sleeping.

Sussie will... figure herself to be Ethan Hawke from Mission Impossible or that creature from Species and hang onto the bottom of the bed or sofa with all 4 paws so she is essentially hanging upside down and start crawling like that, sliding herself across back and forth the bed or sofa. She doesn't shred the underside of our furniture but just uses it as the medium that will allow her to do her 'spy-ish' activities. Once I caught her doing that under our bed cos she came too close to the outer edge and when we made eye contact, she froze for 5 seconds before running away. Cos she knows she'd been caught on a mission.

Situation: Cat wants to enter a room but has not been able to all night because room door has been closed. Now door is finally open and cat can enter.

Normal cat will... slowly and catiously walk towards the door, making sure that it is safe to enter before entering and surveying the room and doing who knows what it wants in there.

Sussie will... run like a cat high on Ecstasy towards the door but screech to a halt at the doorway and look around her very very catiously to make sure that neither me or the husband is going to chase her out or scold her before she rushes again under the bed, which in her mind is the safest place possible.

Situation: Nice new blanket has just been bought from IKEA and placed at an accessible spot on the sofa in case of chilly TV nights.

Normal cat will... perhaps consider it warm and cosy and paw the blanket into a comfy bunched up shape before curling down into it and sleeping away.

Sussie will... eye the blanket all night and when husband and I are asleep, pull it from the livingroom into our bedroom deep under the bed where she will paw it into a comfy bunched up shape before going back to the livingroom to sleep on her already comfily bunched up towel under the sofa. There will be no trace of new blanket the next morning when we wake up and all I have is a strange feeling that something is missing while standing in the middle of the livingroom. Blanket is found later in the day when we realilse what exactly is that missing something.

Situation: Potted plants are placed in various locations all over the house.

Normal cat will... consider it fun to paw into the dirt in the pot since it's an indoor cat and doesn't get to play with dirt very much. It's like a kid and mud. We understand. What one will be left with is a dirt-y (heh heh. no pun intended) mess all around the affected pot with trails of dirt where the cat headed to after it's fun with the potted plants. And after a while cat is relatively clean since it then spends hours licking itself of the dirt.

Sussie will... consider it fun to paw into the dirt in the pot since she's an indoor cat and doesn't get to play with dirt very much. But what I am left with is a dirt-y (heh heh..again pun not intended) mess all around the affected pot but no trails. My cat manages to make a mess at the scene of the crime and then perhaps tiptoe off before leaving a spot of dirt 3 meters away or more often in the next room. And yet not a speck of the plant dirt anywhere else but that lone spot a good 3 meters away. To this day I still wonder how the hell she does it. And after a while my Sussie is relatively clean since she spends some time grooming except for a spot of dirt at the tip of her nose, revealing what she'd been up to. Did I also mention she likes to eat dirt?

Situation: After a wild night, the house is littered with colourful confetti. Cat is given some treats and wet food is put into the food bowl.

A normal cat will... run for the treat and perhaps meow for it if one is too slow in handing it out. Then cat will possibly head on to the food bowl and attack the wet food. It had been a wild night after all even for a cat.

Sussie will... look at the treat with some suspicion, eye the wet food and give that some consideration. But ultimately, she will turn and spotting some loose pink confetti lying on the ground, run to it before gobbling it down like it was the best treat in the world. Did I mention that my cat likes to eat paper and chew on book covers?

That is the story of my crazy cat..or at least part of it. As she grows she will hopefully tone down a little in craziness but one never knows. But for now, it's just fun to see what else she can come up with.

Singapore trip

My trip to Singapore may have lasted a month but like all good holidays, time always seem to fly past and before I knew it, I was packing up to go back to Sweden.

So here is a pictorial summary of my trip in Singapore. Did not take that many pictures unfortunately cos I was just too busy with other things to remember to whip out the 'ol camera. And I only managed one picture of all the good food I ate cos I could never wait. Too bad..

Here are some pics of people I met and places I visited while back in Asia. Not in chronological order cos uploading a lot of pictures and trying to put them in order is a real P.I.T.A. So I didn't.

On my last day in Singapore, met up with some friends who had been working the midnight shift for breakfast. Advantage of being good friends with hoteliers? I got to enjoy a Marriott buffet breakfast! Yum! Oh and after breakfast, we decided to pull out a grey hair we saw on her head...in the middle of Orchard Road!

My best mate from work (ok fine..ex-work), Liyana, and the most chee ko pek boy you'll ever meet, Shaun. Don't be fooled by his charms at first tho. haha!

My dearest pal, Amin, who recently got promoted to Duty Manager (therefore my free breakfast!) handing me my Spirit to Serve Award that I had won in 2007. Finally!

My nearest and dearest ex-colleagues. Such a pleasure to work with and scold when needed.

Half of the gang UNITED!! We forgot to take pictures when we met Francine that one and only time. What a shame! So took these last minute while eating ice-cream at Macs.

Taken on first day of Hari Raya 2008. The best family picture we've taken so far with all the family (except my husband!)

Ate great food while in Malaysia. Sis in law made sure of that. This was a chinese restaurant we bumped into while on the search on a hot sunny day. Horfun looks good right?

But my beef kway teow was great!! Oh I love Asian food!!! How I miss it all!

Went to visit my 1st bro and his family in Malaysia where they had just moved to a new condo. How huge is the place, right?? The ceiling is sooo high up! Made my sis in law stand in the middle of the room for comparison.

A favourite pastime of my niece, Nadia when I came to Malaysia to visit. She LURVES sleeping on me and resting her head on my boobies. COMFY!

Taken at the entrance to one of the many swimming pools in that condo. So pretty right?

View from the condo if one was living facing the city side. We sneaked into one of the renovating units on our floor (24th floor!) to see what kind of view they had. Cos my bro took the forest view unit.Saying farewell to them as I left Malaysia and took the coach back to Sg. Sofia looks so SAD!

Was not a happy occasion when I was leaving. Everyone including little Nadia were upset. Aiyoh, how to leave like that right? I was also upset.

View of the swimming pool from the 24th floor. All the blue that you see is PART of the swimming pool. It actually continues to wind around the block to the other side.

Went to the zoo on the eve of Hari Raya. Timing was not fantastic I admit but it was quite fun.

Our fairly lively welcoming party perched on a branch just above our heads.

And other not as lively members of the zoo family.

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I miss Singapore so much and all the people and the food. Hai...Sweden is really not too bad but how to not miss Singapore when there's so much to miss there right?

Winter comes early

Woke up this morning and headed into the bathroom for my morning rituals. Suddenly I heard the urgent cries of dear husband, telling me to come out. Rolling my eyes thinking he needs to use the bathroom AGAIN (if he needed it so bad, why didn't he run for it like I did??), I told him he could enter but instead he opened the door and waited outside.

Wife: What? Come in then.
Husband: No, no. Look outside! Look outside!
Wife: What for?
Husband: Just look outside! Quick! It's snowing!!
Wife: (rushing to the window like a woman at a John Little sale) Where? Where?!

Thinking back, my reaction can be classified as a bimbo moment. I mean...where? where?!...one can pretty much guess that if there's snow, it would be generally....everywhere. Notwithstanding, we stared out the window in wonder as the snow fell, not just in little sprinkles. Some hard core snow flakes were making their way down to the ground in some serious mission to blanket it entirely. Did I make sense there? Possibly not...but it is barely 8 o'clock in the morning and I just woke up, my morning rituals disrupted and SNOW IN OCTOBER??! Heavy snow at that too!

I'm just so excited that there is snow and so much of it that I just want to run out and play with it. But I can't. I'm not even allowe dto go out and frolick a little. Cos I'm sick. Hai....So all I'm allowed to do by the dear husband is to walk him to work and go STRAIGHT home...and I HAVE to listen to him cos I don't want to fall sick when we go on our little trip to Stockholm this weekend. I'm already getting better, don't want to do anything to mess that up. Not even for snow.

But my cat has been thoroughly fascinated by the snow. The last time she saw snow, it wasn't that much and she was only a kitten so maybe she doesn't remember much? Are cats like us as in that way? Anyway, Sussie's been sitting by window, moving from window to window, trying to catch snow flakes through the glass. It's so funny to watch her that focused on watching the snow.

So here are some pics to show what I saw when I looked out my windows this morning. Oh and it's 0 degrees C this morning. Chilly!!

View from my kitchen out to our parking lot.

Snow covering EVERYTHING! And to think that just 2 days ago, those bushes still had roses on them.

View from my living room window. Apple tree looks sad and lonely out there in the snow.

Final checks off my list

I'm leaving tonight(technically on Saturday but it's at 1am so I still have to be at the airport tomorrow) and am frantically trying to find time for all my friends who I want to catch up with or meet again. Many people would probably say, why busy myself so much doing all of this in my last days here? I'm supposed to be chilling and packing up instead of heading out at all hours and arranging several meet ups in one day.

But the people who say that to me simply don't understand that this is an annual thing. I know I will not come back often and next time I do come back on holiday, who knows how long I can stay for. It's just that since I'm not working right now, I can afford the time to come back for a month. So many people whom I will not be able to meet for a long time, so many good things to eat that I will not be able to even sample once I'm back home. So of cos this frantic search for people and food is important to me. The the ENTIRE reason why I came back and for so long. Many assume it's because of Hari Raya...but tell you a secret...it's really not.

I doubt I'll come back for Hari Raya next year, heck I wasn't even planning on coming back for Hari Raya this year. But the timing just worked out that way. So anyway, with my final day in sight, I have been able to check most of the things on my list. My all important, Things to Eat list. I may have gained a couple of kilos in my quest but it's a small price to pay to release some of that sense of loss I had from being deprived of my beloved hot and spicy food.

Food or food places that I can finally strike off:

Nasi Lemak

Roti Prata (plain AND egg)

Laksa

Mee Siam

Nasi Padang

Hari Raya dishes and cookies!! (good time to come back)

Swensen's ice-cream, calamari and FISH & CHIPS! (amazingly, very difficult to find in Sweden)

Fish & Co seafood platter FOR TWO (for one is just NOT worth the money)

Thai Express

McCafe and cheesecake

Starbucks

KFC (this was THE fast food I was looking forward to most. No fried chicken place in Sweden!!)

Sambal fish and prawns

Fried Kway Teow

Hor Fun

Hokkien Mee

Maggi Noodles that's NOT Tom Yum (Tom Yum's the only flavour I eat back home)

Marriott's Crossroads Cafe Breakfast Buffet

Fried Wantan

Fried Sambal Kangkong

Wonderful soft soft bread (The breads at home are SOO hard!!)

Kaya

Ayam Masak Merah (The love of my life...in terms of food of cos. Must put disclaimer ah if not KENA)

McSpicy Burger

BK's Turkey Bacon Double (doesn't exist in Sweden!)

NYDC desserts

Sambal Stingray

Cereal Prawns

Indian Fried Bee Hoon

Teh Tarik

Chrysanthemum tea

Bandung

......

My list is actually much longer than this but these are the most important mentions. to me.

I will certainly miss all of that when I have to fly back in a few hours time. But most of all, I will miss the companionship and the long talks of all my near and dear friends and family who have kept me so occupied. The comfort of old friends is something that cannot be created and can only be enjoyed when the opportunity comes. I have yet to make my own social network and until then I hang on for dear life to the network I have in Singapore. This is my life line and part of the reason why I sometimes don't just run amok down the quiet streets of Askersund when I'm at my lowest.

Settling down in any new place is tough but without friends, it's always tougher. So thank you to all my friends who took the time to make my day, my week, my month. You have no idea how important you are and how grateful I am to you guys for your listening ears.

I'll see you next year, I just don't know when. Until then, I'll keep on posting my ramblings on this blog, to keep me safe, sane and most importantly, to keep me me.

Firmly set in late 20s..

Today is my birthday. Well, technically my birthday was over about 5 minutes ago but as long I'm still awake, the day is not over yet.

Turned 27 and I think my life is right on track. Well, as good along the track as life can get with all its twists and turns.

I've never been one to think about my career. As a matter of fact, I'm still not sure what I want to do with my life. Aren't people supposed to know by the time they reach adulthood? Or at least by the time they are in their late 20s. But I digress...better get back on the track.

Why do I say I'm on schedule? Isn't that a rather sweeping statement? Does it not imply complete contentment and satisfaction and who ever truly is? Don't get me wrong, I'm not entirely satisfied with life, especially if I choose to look at everything with a microscope. Human beings, I think, are created with one thing in mind...hope. Now never underestimate the power of Hope. So many people work so hard in the hopes of a better life, a higher salary, a bigger car or house. A man hopes his boss will promote him, a woman hopes for a diamond ring, a child hopes to get that coveted toy. Everyone hopes and hope floats everyone.

If I was to set aside my Hopes for just a minute, I know that I am lacking in nothing and the things that I do have make me happy and not just alive. And that is why I am right on track. I have a husband who loves me more than I can fathom, we have a nice little flat that we call home, a bitchy cat who can be the cutest thing in the world and a clean slate in Sweden where I can choose to live my life any way I like, arrange my home any way I like and choose any vocation to dive into without stress or tightness of time. So I think I'm pretty good for now, but like I've said life is full of twists and turns and things can change anytime but that is a worry I will think about when I encounter it. No point stressing about something that has not happened, right?

When I was a little girl, as with Singaporeans, I laid a little plan in my head of what my life will be like when I grow up. But unlike many Singaporeans, the one solid thing that I truly wanted had nothing to do with career, salary, material wealth or type of residence. It had to do with love, a husband, a family and lots of comfort food. Is that strange?

And now I have the most important of my hopes and can go on to consider all the other hidden hopes I had. Enrichment of mind and body, doing what interests me and being able to do it well.

My brother keeps on stressing the point that now is the time for me to try and earn as much as I can and to think of all possible business opportunities to extend my economic potential. While I agree on his point of view and his line of thinking, am I a failure if I don't try and open up some sort of business? Am I a failure if I miss that boat of opportunity? Hai...all this business talk puts my emotions into a tangle sometimes and I get confused about what I want...all over again. Maybe I'll never really know what I want out of life...but I sure like what I'm getting out of it right now.

Frenzy

I'm in a frenzy...a shopping frenzy.

I promised the husband that I wouldn't clean out our bank account...I'm trying very hard to keep that promise...heh heh...

Ok ok, I sound like such a tai tai right? But I'm NOT! I've just been deprived...deeply deprived for so long. Imagine an animal that has not been fed for a long time. Release it out into a rich environment full of things it likes and it will go crazy.

I know most people have this very nice, romantic idea of Europe and I don't dispute that but sometimes it feels like it is a little too fashionable for me. I am quite picky when it comes to clothes and I don't always wear what is most fashionable at the moment. Take jeans for example. Skinny jeans are all the rage right now but that's so not me. I'm not that huge a girl but I'm not particularly small either and I do have thunderous thighs which bother me no end as do other trouble spots. I've always believed in wearing something comfortable or at least flattering even if it's not the most fashionable look (which incidentally causes my brother to call me a fashion victim sometimes but what does he know? He's colourblind and needs help to NOT pick out garish colours cos that's all the colours he can see!).

So I prefer to wear bootcut jeans which balances out the thunder thighs quite effectively. But with skinnies dominating the shelves, it's next to impossible to find bootcut jeans that look nice and fit me well simply cos the selection has shrunk to a mere fraction of the jeans collection. So call me crazy but I went mad when I walked into Dorothy Perkins (haven't found a DP store in Sweden so far) last night and found bootcut jeans that look great on me at a FANTASTIC price! I bought 2 pairs straightaway which cost me only a little more than when I bought just one pair at Giordano (and that place has become too trendy for me. You guessed it, skinnies and straight cuts galore!). I spent a good part of the hour getting the salesgirl helping me to get pair after pair after pair of jeans and pants, all the while wondering what the husband would say if he was here (nothing if he knew what is healthy for him but I digress).

So now I can cross out jeans from my To Get list. As my dearest and nearest know, I am a list girl. I list down everything just to have some sort of order to my messy life. So coming to Singapore, I had a few lists of cos. I've crossed out most things on my To Get list but I'm still a woman deprived of retail theraphy so the To Get list has lots of space at the bottom just waiting to be filled. The To Makan list grows almost everyday but I have made it a point to eat something new at every meal and so far the only thing that I have eaten twice is prata, nasi lemak and the seafood platter at Fish & Co (they are just too good for me to pass up). I'm sure I have a To Do list lying around somewhere but seeing how my To Get and To Makan list keeps me so occupied both night and day, I keep forgetting I have a 3rd list, and worse, I'm not sure how long that list is. Hee hee!

I'm not looking forward to having to take that loooooong plane ride back to Sweden but all good things must come to and end. My sis in law wants me to extend my stay in Singapore till the end of the month but as much as I'm ACHING too, I must always keep in my mind that I do have a husband waiting for me in faraway Sweden and I need to consider his needs as well. I've missed us celebrating our first Hari Raya as a married couple and my birthday and our first year anniversary looms ahead in 2 weeks so I feel a mass of conflicting emotions that keeps me confused and guilty. It'll probably be a year until I'm able to come back to Singapore and Malaysia to visit my family and especially my nieces whom I love to pieces so I feel like I want to spend as much time with them as possible. I see my husband everyday and us being apart like this will no longer be the norm. But the guilt comes because I miss so much of the important events in our lives during this short month that I am in Singapore. Hai...I'll work things out, that much I know, and in the meantime, I'll be enjoying all that I can...mmmm....shopping...food.... Singapore is so great compared to Sweden because of the variety lah. I like!

Food Culture

The more I spend time in Singapore and Malaysia, the more I realise just how different the food culture is between Singapore and Sweden. Not just Singapore but one can safely say, the entire South East Asian region.

I've always been aware and am grateful of the fact that I grew up in a country and society where food is more than just nourishment, it is a lifestyle. We talk about what we're going to have for breakfast the next day when we have dinner, we talk about what we're going to eat for lunch at breakfast and we discuss our dinner options at lunch.

My brother says that Asians eat all the time because we need to. It's the heat..we need nourishment and replenishment of the energy we lose in the high temperatures we're subject to. So that is the main reason why we eat all the time. And yes I agree..it does feel like we eat ALL the time.

Dear husband doesn't quite understand how and why for example the Malays can eat things like nasi lemak, lontong and mee rebus for breakfast. As a matter of fact, the fact that Singaporeans eat hot food like curry puff, char kuey and congee in the morning confounds him. All he can muster at 8am is a bowl of cereal with orange juice and even chicken ham on crackers if he's feeling adventurous. Hai angmohs...how you miss out on the fun of food.

My father in law once asked me, how do you taste the food if your food is so spicy? Well, this is something that will forever evade those who are unable to or resist to capitulate to the wonders of spice and spicy food. What is nasi lemak without the sambal? What is laksa without the kick of chili in the gravy? What is malay food without the all important chili? How can the food not be spicy if it's all ABOUT the chili? That IS the taste of the food. That is what we LOOK FORWARD to. For the uninitiated, they would view the very idea of sweating through every pore of your body (and most unglamorously your upper lip) and sucking in air through your teeth to cool the burning tongue as you wolf down a plate of nasi briyani or sambal prawns or rendang most distasteful. But for the 'victim' who has to endure the fire burning in the mouth, it is mouthful after mouthful of pure heaven.

Most Singaporeans would say, where got KICK if we don't have sambal with nasi lemak?. And that's what we're looking for when we order a bowl of hot, steaming tomyum soup.

I have been away from my food paradise (Singapore lah, where else?) for almost a year and as I flew my horrendous flight to Singapore, it was mostly the thought of all the food I will get to enjoy when I arrive that kept me from teetering over to the dark side at my lowest point on that flight. And it is not just the fact that I will get to eat all the traditional food that makes Singapore such a food paradise for me. It is also the variety of food that is available and just how easily I can find food at any hour of the day. I just need to know where to look. But in Sweden, no matter where I look, it is next to impossible to get food other than what is sold at petrol stations late at night (which is 9.30pm). There have been moments of dire straits when I had had a craving so strong, I actually wanted to send the husband out to look for something to eat but it was like looking for a diamond in a large cave without any tools. It just could not be done.

Something else that has become precious commodity to me? Coffee...more specifically, mocha frappucino. The 2nd day after I arrived in Singapore, I rushed to the nearest Coffee Bean to indulge in a frappucino...any frappucino. Except perhaps caramel or some funky spiced frap cos I'm not THAT desperate.

This trip and I think for every single trip back to Singapore from now on, will be a trip spent mostly on buying spices, sauces, condiments and special mixes. Just so I can enjoy my favourite foods when I have to go back to the land of mashed potatoes, meatballs, jam, roast beef and bernaise sauce.

Wondering when lightning would strike and plane would crash

Finally I arrive in Singapore, a longed for visit that has been haunting my sweetest dreams for the longest time. Most of all I'm looking forward to the food and bustle of a cosmopolitan city and I dun have to fact GHs (grey hair) all day.

But before I can enjoy all that, I would need to go through the plane journey. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm more of a destination person than a journey person. I dislike long journeys and usually spend most if not all of the journey time fast asleep and hopefully wake up in time to get out of the car, bus, plane or boat. So the fact that I need to go through at least 13 hours of flying time in order to get to Singapore really bums me out. This time was no different. But if I had known what kind of an experience I would have during my flight, I wouldn't have gotten into the car and left for the airport no matter how much I wanna eat that nasi lemak.

I can safely say that even though I flew by SIA, this must be the worst flight experience I have ever had in all my years of flying both budget and hi end airlines. As much as I would like to, I really cannot fault the crew or the level of service that they rendered me. Simply put, it was just a case of true blue almost cannot get any worse bad luck with a generous dash of Murphy's Law having it in for me.

Eve though my worst experience was while I was on the SIA flight from Frankfurt to Singapore, the start of my journey didn't bode well either. My flight was at 9am in the morning in Arlanda Airport in Stockholm so dear husband and I had to get up at 3am so that we could leave town by 4am in order to get to the airport by 7am. Hai...a 3 hour drive just to get to the airport. This, for a girl who thinks that any trip going beyond 45 min is too long.

I had to take an SAS flight from Stockholm to Frankfurt and rush to find the gate to go to through in Frankfurt airport since I only had barely over an hour of transit time. As I approach my gate in Arlanda airport, I realise that something doesn't look right. The screen above the gateway stated Paris instead of Frankfurt. That was when I doubled back and realised that they had to change planes suddenly which delayed us by more than half an hour. I started sweating bullets hoping that I wouldn't miss my connecting flight in Frankfurt. The lady at the counter told me to try and run for that flight otherwise the next flight out to Sg would be later that night.

Shite. Especially since I still had to go through passport control in Frankfurt. Double shite.

But I made that flight with enough time to spare to go to the bathroom. Phew!

But that was the high point of my entire journey. Everything just went downhill from that moment on.

I was seated on an aisle seat which I was grateful for or else I may have seriously injured someone later that flight. While waiting for takeoff, some kids nearby started screaming and crying. 'Oh no', I thought, 'this is not good. But never mind, once the plane is in the air, I can just switch on my in flight entertainment systemm and drown out their voices. So I was really looking forward to my entertainment that was to accompany me for the next 11 hours.

But 30min into the flight, I realised that something was seriously wrong. My movies wouldn't start, I couldn't access any music and the crew kept on rebooting my system to no avail. After about 2 hours, the captain decided to reboot the entertainmant system for the ENTIRE plane since I wasn't the only one who had that problem. Apparently, over 60 seats had the same problem as me. With an almost full flight and over 60 probelm seats, no way I could get a working system. So I was basically left with nothing and I still had over 9 hours to go.

Shite.

Fine, I took down my MP3 player so that I could at least have some music and hopefully that would help me doze off. I was having trouble sleeping (of all times!!!) cos my stomach was feeling very bloated and uneasy. I managed to sleep some but only in 10 minute blocks, at most 20 min. That did not help the time to pass. 4 hours before we were scheduled to land, my MP3 batt died on me. What a luck!

So there I was, without music, movies and looking all around and seeing how others have a working system which really elevated my frustration. The steward and stewardess who had been helping me out knew of my predicament and they tried their best to provide me with anything I needed. At around that time, the air steward approached me as I was taking a walk up and down the aisle (to pass the time and stretch) and apologized again for the system failing me. As a token of apology, his supervisor gave me some compensation which I can use on my next flight with SIA. I was very surprised and totally didn't expect it so it was a nice lift for my spirit...for 15 min.

My last resort to pass the time was finally to read my book which would certainly keep me occupied for a long while. So I switched on my reading light and dived into my book, feeling better although I still wished that I could sleep. 10min later, I realised my light was moving. I looked up and saw the guy sitting in front of me was pushing my light to face the opposite way! I almost shouted, 'What the hell!' but the stewardess came and asked him not to do that since it was my light he was moving. So he started pushing the light back my way but he didnt push it far enough back and the light landed on the Japanese man sitting next to me instead. So it was still too dark and I could no longer read my book. Bastard. You can only imagine all the expletives running through my head as I burned my glare into the back of his head. And the curses of all curses was put upon him.

No movies, no music and now no reading, sitting in the dark summoning all the curses I could think of. 4 hours before landing. And to top it all, we had the worst turbulence I had experienced. The plane kept shaking and there were moments where I felt I was in a carnival ride not a plane. Which so did not help my growing headache.

All I could do then was to keep asking for snacks. Once, I asked for a sweet drink hoping the sugar would help ease my headache. But the steward that passed me was one I had not seen and he was passing around snacks. But when I asked him for a 7-up, all I got was a look like he didnt want to do it and he didn't even bother to acknowledge it apart from his look. He then just continued walking down the aisle without a single word uttered. I was left wondering if he will give me a drink. And that was the last thing I needed. By then I was very very close to tears.

20min pass and still no 7-up. I got desperate with my raging headache and walked to the galley where they store the food to ask for water so I could eat medicine. And who would be standing there if not the same steward? When he saw my face, he suddenly remembered my 7-up and apologized but by then all I wanted was water and the strength and courage to survive the rest of the 4 hours without killing anyone.

Managed to sleep for 30min for which I am so grateful for but then was woken up by the damn stewardess who askedme if everything was ok and thatthey will be serving breakfast soon. Hai...do they really need to disturb my much needed sleep just to tell me that? But during breakfast, more turbulence came so we could hardly pick up our glasses to drink cos everything would slosh around so much.

I sat there for the last 2 hours just wondering when the lightning would strike and the plane would crash cos that's all that's missing from my 'AWESOME' flight experience. It truly sucked out all the joy and anticipation of coming home.

One would think that the worry and frustration would end there. But of cos it didn't. We landed in Terminal 3 which made me nervous cos I wondered if my brother who picking me up would realise that I was in Terminal 3 and not 1 or 2. I tried calling my sis in law...no answer. I tried calling my 2nd brother...no answer. And it was 630am so I wondered if anyone was awake even.

Shite. This is the last worry I needed.

I kept wondering if I should try going to terminal 1 or 2 in case they were there but that would cause even more problems if there were at the airport. So I went through passport control and waited for my luggage. Fatigue, frustration and worry started building up again when after 10 min my luggage was still nowhere in sight. Don't tell me my luggage didn't make the transit since it was so short. UGH!

But after almost 20 min, finally my luggages emerged from the bowels of the luggage compartment. Came out into the arrival hall amidst all sorts of peopel waiting for arriving loved ones and who did I see?

Nobody I knew.

My brothers were nowhere in sight and it was already more than 30 mins since I landed. I walked up and down the entire area a few times but still no one. I decided to try calling again but I only had coins so I went to the only coin phone in the entire arrival hall.

It was dead. Hai...

Started wondering if I should take a taxi home or wait or just go to the nearest toilet and drown myself in a toiletbowl. Walked up and down a few more times before I finally spotted my eldest brother coming down the escalator.

Phew...finally the end of my torturous journey was in sight. Thank God.

I am NOT looking forward to going back to Sweden.

The room that didn't WOW me..

When we first saw the pictures of the hotel when we booked it, both husband and I liked the look of the hotel. But when we finally got there in the late afternoon, I was more than just a tad disappointment by our room. I was inconsolable by how horrible I felt by just being in that room.

The moment one entered the room, all one saw were white walls. Not only was the room incredibly small (one could sit on the edge of the bed, which is pushed against one wall, stretch out one's leg and touch the table that is pushed against the opposite wall.) there were NO windows at all. The only thing it had to provide us with some natural light was one skylight in one corner of the ceiling. Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day i Gothenburg so all I saw were white clouds with not a hint of blue sky. More white. I felt like I was in prison and the ceiling was so low!

Since we arrived so late, we couldn't get another room straight away as the hotel was full. So one advice is try not to check into a hotel late, ever. The good rooms are always given out first and after that it's a what's available.

But we got to change rooms the next day and even though it still wasn't great, I was so happy to get out of that first room. Since I was so upset in that first room, I forgot to take pictures. But here are pictures of the 2nd and note BETTER room we had

View of the foyer from the bed. It was a separate room that led to the bathroom and the space for our clothes. Notice that my camera captured 3 walls. The room was not big, that's for sure.

View of the bed from the doorway. Only 1 window in the entire room but it was a huge window. No bedside table cos one could walk all the way around behind the bed to open and close the massive window wich makes up one wall.

See what I mean about walking behind the bed?

What the hotel seems to view as great and innovative clohing space. 2 shelves and hangers with a 'nice', very narrow mirror. Lovely room right? Hai....Luckily the location of the hotel is so great or I would never go there again.