Cafe spree

One of our friends who is working in the US is back for holiday. A group of us went out, making it a point to go somewhere new.

Indeed, we really went to quite a few places today! Was like a discovery trip in Singapore. We went to Tea Party in Bukit Timah Road as one friend had read about the place. It is an average place and we ate too much though. :)

Then we remembered we read there are horses and a rider cafe nearby that area. So we hopped on Fern's car and went searching for it. We were so excited when we see the horses, commenting so loudly in the car, the horses would have been frightened should the car window be opened haha.

The riders cafe looks a nice place though we were too full to eat anything. http://www.riderscafe.sg/ Nice ambience indeed and most importantly does not look overcrowded. Then we went seaching for an elusive seafood restaurant. We discovered a golf course instead.

Next we decided to go somewhere for a drink and settled at Little Bali (http://www.littlebali.com/) at Gillman Village. Is quite a comfortable and relaxed place. There were even a karaoke competition some tables away as teachers from some schools were having some event to celeberate Teachers' Day! In a way, we enjoyed some *live band* music.

Had a great time laughing and talking about "anything under the sun". Mostly exchanging gossip news that we read from the press or exchanging updates of ourselves. The most memorable part was at the end of the session, all four of us girls were "fighting" to settle the bill. We were having such an animated and boisterous exchange trying to get the bill that some other diners were laughing at us. J even showed some gongfu stances to stop the rest from going near to foot the bill! :) It must be hilarious looking at us!

There were much laughter today and it is really a great day out! :)

Mail reached

I received a message from my friend that my mail has reached her! Wow it is really much faster than we expected. 12 days is all it takes for the mail to reach Nigeria from Singapore! Wow!

Online Shopping

Seems like more and more people are doing online shopping for clothes. My friend just passed me a pair of pants that she could not fit in after she bought from the Net. Not sure I can squeeze in too, been putting on weight.

Was asking my colleague yesterday on a new dress she bought and discovered she got it online. It was a very good deal! Apparently she has also started buying her clothes online as they were very much cheaper than those from the stores!

Wow, seems that one can save and have more choices when buying clothes online! Time to probably do my homework. My online shopping has so far been limited to airfares, hotel rooms, chocolates, concert tickets and books. Its time to venture further. haha

Stop the horror with soap and water

I saw this picture on the bus the other day! Isn't it hideous? Was shocked by the picture, the hand really looked monstrous! Took a further look, it is an ad "Stop the horror with soap and water" by the health promotion board to encourage people to wash their hands with soap.

The message did work though! I could not bear to look further at the picture and just wanted to alight and wash my hands!!! haha.

But after alighting from the bus, I forgotten about it and went along my business haha. Nevertheless the picture does leave an impression and in a way, it has done its job, spreading the message across and people remembering it.

(PS: Picture was not taken by me, was trying to look for it online and found it in google by a blogger who has taken a picture. Thank you for the pic! )

Mail to Nigeria

My friend has just left to Nigeria for a month not so long ago. She will be spending her birthday there.

First thought of Nigeria is "Scam". There are too often reports of scams cases from Nigeria in the news. In actual fact, Nigeria is also thriving economy, one rather significant oil producing country and one whose economy is relatively more developed among the African nations.

Anyway I was so excited when my friend mentioned she was going and wanted to send her a mail. Was thinking of surprising her with a parcel, until she told me that it is likely the mail will only reach after she is on her way back. I then insisted that it is ok, I can find a way to send her.

I wahinking how difficult can it be, I can always use Fedex or UPS. Didn't they said they can sent a mail anywhere in the world. I remembered sending a mail by Fedex to the USA was not too expensive, starting from 30 plus dollars. Thus I went about searching for the postal rate to Nigeria and was shocked! It costs upwards of $400 dollars to Nigeria by Fedex or UPS. The base rate is $400 plus, thus even if you are sending a 50 gram letter, that is the minimum cost!!!! I initially thought there was some mistakes, rub my eyes :> and checked several times etc.

Wow the drastic difference in the rates between sending to Nigeria and USA! I know there will be differences but did not expect that huge a difference. No wonder my friend told me that there is no need to send her anything.

I later learned I can send a letter via Singapore Post to Nigeria for $2.50 via Air Mail. The mail will be sent via Singapore Post to Nigeria where it will be transferred to the recipient via the local postal system. To test the Nigeria Postal system, I have happily sent her a letter via Singapore Post. Will await the result and let you know haha! :)

Fell down from bus

I often heard about old people falling down when alighting from bus. Must be careful when you are with your parents etc as it is no good for old people to fall since they take longer time to recover.

Never expect that I will be a victim too. For no reason, I was alighting and the next moment I was flat on the ground. I felt more embarassed than anything haha. Some people were walking by nearby and I could still remembered their shock expressions! Hmm....did I fell too loudly or was my fallen posture dramatic? Maybe. (I wonder how to fall in a beautiful manner, must learn ;> ) Not that I screamed, but I thought there was a loud thump sound. Lucky I was alone. After getting over the shock, I quickly dusted myself up and left. I thought the bus driver also knew as the bus stopped for quite a while. Thank you for waiting for this clumsy person to get up before you went on your way! :)

Just a few scratches though my ankle still sored after 2 days. All well. Do be careful when you alight from the bus next time.

100 m record

Have you watched the record breaking 100m run by Usain Bolt? Wow, he went under 9.60 seconds at 9.58 seconds. A fantastic timing. It was thought that man cannot go under 9.60 seconds but he did it! He showed that you can have fun and yet performed well at the same time.

Actually I feel for Tyson Gay. He is also a very good runner and he also wanted to win a lot. However in life there can only be one winner in the physical race. But he should be happy too, I think he broke his own record despite having some injury.

Often the process of the journey is more important than the ending. Both are winners if I look at it!