After a year, months and days of procrastination, I FINALLY got my legs running again !!!!! All Thanks to the upcoming ICT that forced me to drag my feet to the void deck of my house and start jogging along the paths. Ya, I can't really run due to my poor stamina but I am sure I can after a few more runs eh. Though I have been staying here for about 6 years, I didn't know that there is a PAP Childcare Centre that's just few steps from my block !!! Though I know there is a playground and a small jogging track of about 200 metres just next to my block, I did not realise that there are also facilities for adults to train their body too. To think I only discover it 6 years later...oh well, to console myself, I am seldom at home eh...I guess if I were to add up the days I am at home, it'll be about a year or so only :D

Have been literally rotting at home for the past few days....Tidying up my room which is still so messy...Sitting around watching TV programmes, surfing the Internet, reading the newspapers and those useless magazines to pass off my time. Nearly bored to death. Guess what...I think something is wrong with my body clock...I kept waking up in the wee hours in the morning and only managed to sleep again at around 8-9 am. WTF.

Anyway, decided to treat myself to a 'sumptuous' American Breakfast last Friday...

Mushroom & Cheese Omelette with Bacon and sautee Potatoes. :D Not that nice I must admit...But practice makes perfect right :D

So I met up with the guys again last Saturday @ New York New York. Supposedly meeting 19/01 peeps but most of them were busy.

The Foursome @ New York New York. These guys are busy with their projects lately. Examinations are round the corner too...Poor them. Soon will be my turn...Damn it.

Here's the Final part of my Cairo Trip...

Started off the day with a visit to The Egyptian Museum. The General Entrance Fee is 50 Egyptian Pounds and to see the real Mummies inside, you gotta pay an additional 200 Egyptian Pounds. Being Superstitious, I decided to give the Mummies a miss. Nothing to regret about after poor reviews from my fellow colleagues who went to pay the Mummies a visit. Anyway, the museum was hugh and really lots to see inside. At least, they gave you a brief history of Egypt and its pyramids before you see the actual things. Kinda interesting and very crowded. Oh ya, the museum itself has no air condition thus it can get abit hot and stuffy especially with the large crowd and the unforgiving weather outside.

The replica of the Sphinx with Me outside the museum

Not sure what's this but it looks cool eh !

As usual, no photos allowed inside the museum but can assure you guys that it's worth a visit.

A long Drive through the City to Giza...

Notice the buildings in Cairo are either brown, yellow or grey colours ? Well, according to our tour guide, Omar, the government only allow such colours for Egypt is located in the desert, the colour of the buildings will be such after a few years. Thus, they encouraged people to paint the buildings with such colours.

This is one of the Family House in Cairo. The whole big family stay under one roof. Have you watched Ch8 drama series " Tong Xin Yuan " ? Their house is the same concept as those in Cairo. So maybe the first storey is for the parents, 2nd storey for their eldest son and his family and so on etc etc etc.

A Visit to the Papyrus Musuem

The tour includes a demostration on how Papyrus is made. Kinda interesting but I detest the people there. They are kinda pushy when it comes to persuading you to buy their products. In the end, I was the only one who came out empty handed cos I have no interest in such stuff and refuse to buy any from such people.

Saw this small little makeshift stall outside the restaurant where we had our lunch. Very nicely decorated and if you look carefully, there are lots of small chinese lanterns hanging on the blue Pepsi shelter...Nice eh. Wonder how the Uncle survive...It's super duper hot.

Our Seafood Lunch...Delicious though

The Pyramids of Giza...View from outside the restaurant.

The Models of Pyramid of Giza n the Sphinx.

A View of the Sphinx and the Pyramid of Giza. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get close to it like the other tourist u seen in the photos. Reason : Cos we were on camels and horses which were forbidden near there. What a Waste ~ !

Say 'Hello' to our friends who will be bringing us around.

The Four of us...Carose and Desiree on the Camel while Badhi and I each have our own horse :D

Can you spot where I am ?

In the Great Sahara Desert....Don't u wander too far in case u get lost :D

The Camel admiring the Majestic Pyramids....' Awwww....This is sooooo sooooo sooo Beautiful ' Wonder how those people built without any technology.

My favourite Horse and I...Oh...Riding the horse was sooo fun :P

Ya, that's me....Over excited over the Pyramids and the Horses :D

Now I got the Chance to ride the stubborn camel ! After the ride on the Camel back to the rental shop, I tell you, the ride on the camel was so freaking uncomfortable. The Horse is still the best. Each step the camel took, you will feel abit uncomfortable around your groin area. And for your own safety, you have to hold on to the saddle tightly cos chances of you slipping off the camel is kinda high. Also, when the camel kneel down or stand up, you have to hold to the saddle damn tightly or you will just fall off. Yes, it sounds dangerous but actually it's fun ! At the end of the ride, my legs were wide apart for a moment before I could walk normally again...wahahahaha.

Before bidding goodbye to one of the 7 wonders of the World...Thanks to the Tour guide who took this picture for me :D

Saw this signage on our way back to the hotel...They name a street ' 26th of July ' which is their National Day ! Kinda of Interesting eh.

Cairo is fun but I dislike people trying to get/ cheat money out of the unaware and gullible tourist. Again, thanks to the great company, I truly enjoyed this trip despite the super hot weather and some small hiccups along the way. Oh ya, Money really works well in Cairo. With a 'small fee', you can have someone looking after your car while you are away, you can 'cut' queue and get your food first despite tens of people who were in front of you, you can get your way around easily !!!

Meeting LL again tomorrow. That babe will be back from Hong Kong and San Francisco tomorrow. Can't wait for my leave to end because I will be heading to TAIPEI...Woo HooO.

Greetings from SINGAPORE !!!!!!

Yes, I am finally back from my 9 days long Moscow and Houston trip and am now enjoying my 8 days annual leave...Shiokness.

The 9 days have been real DRAGGY and am really glad that I am back to this familiar place. Moscow was boring as it was my third time there. Guess what...I did not even step out of the hotel during my 4 nights stay there !!!! The only time I stepped out was to buy food from the nearby supermarket. Nearly bored to death in Moscow. Fortunately, I had my own DVDs and my downloaded TV series from MOBTV to entertain me. To surf free Internet was not that easy either as it's only free in the Lobby area or you got to pay a hefty US$45 for a 24-hour WiFi in your own room.

Houston was slightly better as it was my first time there. As like other States station, Food and Shopping was very convenient as they are just located opposite our Hotel. Did not join the group to NASA as I have heard many telling me how boring it was and not worth a visit. Anyway, am not into spacecraft...so it's alright for me to give it a miss.

Had my long awaited Cheesecake Factory dinner after we touched down in Houston...

Hungry Us waiting to tuck in !!!!!

This Mushroom Soup is nice !!!! Tasted abit different from the usual ones we had but it's not bad ! Give it a try !

Sharon, Shameen and I shared these among ourselves... The Crispy Stuffed Buffalo Chicken, The Pasta and the Bang Bang Chicken with rice....Tell you...they are all damn nice !!!!! I swear that I will eat them again when I go San Francisco next month.

Saw this Fire Engine outside our Hotel while on our way to the shopping mall.

Love this Circular Hanging Road Signage...Damn Unique and Beautiful. Anyway Houston is very like Anaheim/LA. After spending 2 days there, I think I still prefer LA for its attractions but Houston for its shopping as it's just a stone throw away from our present Hotel. As for LA, you gotta take a bus...kinda a little troublesome. Of cos, San Francisco and New York are still the best.

The Galleria Shopping Mall....It's really BIG....Doubt you can finish shopping within a day. Abercrombie, Hollister, Aeropostle, Macy, Coach etc etc etc are all under one roof. Shop till you drop really !

Our dinner @ Chili's.

Wah Lau, I cannot imagine not having any Asian food for the past week or so. Therefore, I dragged LL right after her work, together with Darrian, from the airport all the way to Hougang Mall to have our usual Thai dinner Buffet yesterday. It was heaven I swear....Shiok!

Had my 6th driving lesson today after 1.5 months of not driving ( Sorry, been real busy lately )and it was kinda smooth...managed to able to control the clutch and the acceleration better compared to my last lesson...Hopefully can pass my test before June next year :D

Shall update my Cairo Part II trip on my next entry :D

Woah...The Australian Dollars have dropped so much that it's more or less on par with our SGD. But..No...I am not like the rest who rushed to the money changers to change the Aussie Dollars in bulk. Reasons being simple : Perhaps I am lazy to go all the way down to the money changer and most importantly, I won't spend that much whenever I visit Australia. On my every trip to Australia, I guess the most I spent per trip is approximate A$30. With this small insignificant amount, it doesn't make much difference if you were to change now or later when the Aussie Dollars may have risen. Whatever the case is, the only time I will really rush down to change foreign currencies ( when they have dropped of cos ) in bulk will be US$, Euro and my favourite HKD :P

And so, I did not manage to meet up with Fion in Auckland as planned. My sincere apologies to her for I left my HP in SG and that I was too sound asleep or was out when she called my room. Ooops...She must be damn furious with me :(

Anyway, I did manage to meet up with Jerry for a simple dinner and some catching up session. Not sure where to head for our dinner, I decided to try the mussels @ The Occidental in town.

The last time I had my dinner here was 2.5 years ago. Nevertheless, the food still taste as great. Really enjoyed the dinner and will definitely make a trip down again on my next Auckland trip.

The pot of HUGE mussels...We ordered the Brandy & Lobster bisque Mussels and it really tasted so fresh and delicious. I must admit it's sooooooooooo ( rather million times ) much better than those I had in Paris which were soooooo small and pathetic. Taste wise...The Occidental won hands down without any hesitation.

Since the night was still young after our dinner, we decided to head over to SkyCity where we tried our luck at the casino. Oh ya, fyi, Auckland seems to be so quiet and 'dead' after 6 pm. Boring.

Congrats to Jerry for winning a little and well, for me, I was just wondering around the casino and observing how others gamble...Hahaha...not into all these actually. And if you ask me to play jackpot, I think I rather play those table games. Jackpot are computerised and you should know what I mean. Also, it's soooooooooo boring sitting there, pressing the same button every time and staring at the animated screen. What a waste of time!!!

Alright, glad that my 8 days annual leave is approaching. At last, I can have some time for myself. Have been really busy for the last couple of weeks...practically I am out of town the whole time. Oh ya, just had a hair cut yesterday and it was a disaster...I hate my hair now...it's sooooo short.....Eeeeks...Hopefully, it will be much better 2 weeks from now.

Alright, will be away for the next 10 days...be heading to Moscow and Houston. Since I have been to Moscow twice, I guess I will stay in the newly renovated room and take my much needed rest and catch up on my sleep. Heard that there's nothing much in Houston except for shopping...I guess I will just wander in the Mall opposite the hotel and have my favourite Cheesecake Factory food :D. Ciao.

These were what greeted me when I came home this evening...

Vegetarian Fried Bee Hoon ( Bought by Dad )

Asam Fish Head Curry ( Specially cooked and brought over by my Grandma )

'Hei Bee Hiam' (w/o Hei Bee/shrimp this time) specially prepared by my Grandma

This is what I call Shiokness ! WooHoo~

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CAIRO ( 03-06 Oct ) - Part I

Just came back from Cairo this morning and well did manage to visit one of the 7 Wonders of the World - The Pyramids of Giza. Weather for the past 2 days in Cairo was really HOT...Sweltering heat under the Scorching Sun and it's damn dusty. Fortunately, the low humidity made the weather more bearable.

Day 1

The View outside my Hotel - Beautiful Cityscape along the Nile River.

Some interesting sights around our Hotel area while on our way to have our lunch at the nearby Mall...

A small little boy riding his dockey on the road.

A small roadside 'mama' shop

'Delicious', 'unique' and 'exotic' made-in-Egypt snacks.

Initially we planned to visit the Museum but due to the earlier closing time on that day, we decided to visit the Bazaar instead.

The many cafes lining the street...Lots of Choices to choose from !

The crowded narrow alleys at the Bazaar

A stall selling the shisha waterpipes...different designs and different sizes :D

Introducing Desiree

Look @ the looonnng and special shaped sausages !

This car seemed to come from the 1960s eh. Antique.

The Fashion of Egypt

Next...Introducing Carose

The Bazaar was brimming with tourist on a hot Friday afternoon.

Nice Arches...I love this photo.

Lastly...Introducing Badli

Damn Cute hor...Sleepy Cat lying outside one of the many stalls.

Narrow Alleys lined with stalls selling Eygptian products.

The Representatives of Egypt...Pyramids, Camels, Rive Nile, Sphinx etc etc

Spices !!!

The quieter part of the Bazaar.

The part of the Bazaar that was closed and much less crowded.

Yoz...my Signature pose

Notice the diff

The Old Fashion way of roasting the sweet potatos...Interesting eh

The Foursome...Need no more introduction I guess...Anyway all their names are kinda uncommon and unique...Carose, Badli, Desiree and Jang Son :D

The Eygptian Pharmacy

While waiting for our transport to arrive, we notice that 80% of the cars that zoomed past us were all Taxis !!!

A Drive through Downtown of Old Cairo

Kebab !!!!

Notice how crowded the Kebab stall is...there's no queue cos people just try their best to push their way in. But in order to get your food fast...there's one way...gave extra tips lor ( a.k.a 'bribary' )....That's how most things work in Cairo.

Guess that's their apartments...Look familiar right...Like those in Hong Kong

Oh man, have to turn in soon. Only slept for a couple of hours after I came home from Cairo. Got to wake up very early tomorrow because I am heading to Auckland again. Yes, just came back from there last week. This time will be more exciting because I will be meeting my two friends there...WooHoo~ Looking forward to seeing and having makan with them :D

Alright, shall post my Part II of my Cairo tour after I come back from Auckland.