This is a little late. But we (aka CC, haiyati and myself) had dinner at Janelle's on Monday night. All food fully cooked and supplied by my little bitch - Katsu curry (demanded by me) with a dose of mince, potato and carrots, Swedish meatballs with sauce, left over piece of custard puff. Swore not to overeat but still came back from the dining table full as hell.

And a session of Guitar Hero on PS3 in her living room and a 45 minute bout of a stupid party game I dont know the name to. And I am the ultimate winner to the game.

I really sucked at Guitar hero,  but it made me want to go buy PS again. Just as I though I've gotten over wanting to buy one a month ago. Shit. Maybe someone could be nice and gift me one for my birthday (*cough upcoming *cough). But then again. Its too an extravagant a buy for me. Since I dont really have that much time to play it anyway.


We can totally do this again anytime.

I was looking for a gift for a friend, and I turned to browsing Siting's blogshop - The Royal Runway, to see what she has to offer and I found that named one of her shop's piece after me.

Touched to know that she still remembers this friend of hers.

Anyway. If you need to get some jewelery, you can always check out her blogshop. Or you can visit at her shop at : 

We are back in Istanbul after 10 days of traveling around the west coast of Turkey. Straight off the hook from the domestic flight, we filed straight to the


This is the largest of the hundreds of cisterns that hide under the city. This place is like an old under surface reservoir during the ancient times to keep and store water. And after diseases set into the city, people totally forgotten about it until sometime in the Ottoman rule. Old pillars of temples and buildings were found in the cistern, thus, each pillar had a different owner and each looked different from the next.

The cistern can store a lot of water, and i think drowning here is no joke.

This place was glowing orange from the lighting. But the place was cooling and very romantic for a couple stroll. Coz the place was so damp and still collecting water from the surface, the walkways were dripping with water from the ceiling all over the place.


On of the highlights for Istanbul is their grand bazaar market that lies at the heart of the city. This place is grandly one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world.

This place is huge with many small isle selling all the same few stuff. Each of the shop people are touting like crazy and its a horrible overly touristy place to be in. I honestly dont like this place for the fact that everyone there wants your money. With all these touts around, I dont even have the mood to bother shopping in peace here at all.


They sell every possible touristy thing in there, from pretty lanterns, to shisha pipes, to evil eyes in every possible size to carpets and linings to ceremics and whatever touristy thing you have to buy. There was this shop keeper that came up to my mom, put his arms around her shoulders and said

'I've waited 10 years for you'

That is how sweet talking these Turkish men are. If you are a sweet innocent naive girl in Turkey, you would probably have been married with kids the way all the men charm you away.



But the few streets outside were an utter joy. These are the streets were the locals go to to buy their everyday wares. There are a whole street of fabric shops and we even met the jolly pomegranate juice man who was going around the local shops selling his juice concoction from this really gorgeous tin flask on his back.

These streets were cooler from the evening air compared to the stuffiness in the covered bazaar. You can see the locals buying kitchen ware and fabric and there even the local wedding dress stores, where you can buy your prom dresses and dinner dresses.


Well, this is a short day to blog about, but there is one more last day in Istanbul to blog about. Shall do that soon.

To celebrate the Merry Christmas, I got myself a set of newly painted Merry Christnails. All for the price of nothing. Even though my nails aint that long enough for nail art merriness, I still decided to get them painted by Alecia today since she turned up with her bag of utensils. I have a candy cane, Rudolf with a merry scarf, an evil eyed snow man, a round door hanging thingy, a Christmas tree and a present.


What should I get for Chinese New year?

Please remind me its the year of the what?

Finally managed to go down to this little cafe near Ron's office at China square. Ron has been talking about this quint little place for the longest time and last night, we had a small Christmas dinner there with Jessica, Marcus, Alvin and JW.

It is a very tiny cafe in the heart of CBD chinatown, and I've got to say that it has one of the best touch of home cooked food and a very heart warming chatty chef who has more than experience and passion to share. talking to him and listening to him talk was so cheery. You can tell from his cheery disposition that every fibre of his being has the utmost passion for food.

See that snowflake on the wall? I actually went to work to try DIYing myself. 


Everything in this place if cooked for a healthy spread, everything single on thing on the menu is cooked from scratch with the freshest. Even that little garden on this back window ledge looks warming to be plucked (which he does to add spice and flavour to his food). Every single pot of spice and herbs sitting there is home grown and propagated.

First course was a tiny bowl of homemade creamless soup. There is

1. Pumpin
2. Mushroom
3. Cheese and egg (soup of the week)

You must be thinking what on earth does cheese and egg soup taste like? Well. just pop down and try it yourself.


This cafe is a floral cafe. Clement, the chef and owner, has multitude of knowledge about herbs, spices and floral arrangements for tea infusions. He asked what I would like for tea and i told him something with lemongrass and this was what he churned up for me. Why the hell does it have this blue inky color to it? Its lemongrass with bluepea flowers (the same coloring used in nonya kueh).

Ron ordered earl grey coffee. Have you even heard of yuan yang made fusion style?


Then dinner is served. Me and Ron shared a garlic chicken and honey mustard chicken. Filled on the side is a whole big heap of extra salad with really good 'orange' (or so ron said) dressing. The garlic chicken tastes just that the one Auntie Su bakes in the oven. But the honey mustard was juicy, with a whole full layer of chicken skin.

Jess ordered something called peanut butter and leek sauce with fish. You must be thinking what must have happened for chef clement to infuse peanut butter as fish sauce? Yummy, not something ill order but very yummy.

Then JW ordered the carbonara. Not something I'll order too coz I'm really not a big fan or carbonara. But I've got to say tastes good. Even the bacon sandwich Marcus ordered was mouth sweltering. Would so totally order the bacon sandwich if it was lunch time.


Then came the log cake. A whole 600g of creamless logcake ($48) made entirely out of rolled brownies with fresh Indian mango and cream cheese. Please go and eat it. The brownie is moist and dense, and when you have the section of the brownie that has that little spot of mango on it, all that went around the table was moans of 'hmmmmmmm'.


Then the actual desert came. Special Hibiscus Filo Pastry is what got chef Clement on TV twice. One bite into the pastry and all that goes on in your head is 'hmmmmmmm'. The cream cheese thingy stuffing inside has this tinge of sourness. Plus i love the filo pastry with all its multi layers of saltiness. When putting them both together, you totally cant decide if its sour, sweet or salty.


Please bring me there for food again. So wanting to try other things on the menu. Apparently, he has this lunch set special thingy that changes by the week and by this mood. Usually what is served on the lunch menu is not in the ala carte menu.

There, it said it all. After the three pairs of crocs I have in my shoe cabinet, I'm still craving for more. They are my daily work shoes. Wanted to go yesterday and didnt make it down coz I was busy busy busy the whole of yesterday with Jasmin and family coming down to Singapore and Hai holding a BBQ at his place.

But early this morning, with the weather freezingly nice and cold. I decided to drag my arse down to the expo to see if i can actually get any leftovers from the private sale + one saturday of sales.

My mom tagged along.

I am totally not regretting coming down. Although there were not many designs left, everything was going for $20 bucks. $20 bucks for crocs. As cheap as the ones I got from HK when i went there early this year.

Bought 3 pairs in the end. Almost gotten a 4th pair, but decided not to coz the size was not fitting enough. I think everything was something like $70 bucks. Is that worth it? Plus best thing is that my mom decided to pay for everything as part of my Christmas present for this year. I say that is one very practical present to have.


I'm so going to the next sale to see if i can get anything. I realized that crocs are so not worth buying at their original prices at the store. Just wait for the yearly sale and shopping spree. Buy one year's supply and wait for the next one.

There are so many people who have bought more pairs than me. And those kids shoes were so damn tiny and cute and colorful

Totally given up hope of blogging about Turkey coz sifting through all the photos has descended to a pain. Dont think i have ever been so ineffective in blogging a trip.

Ok than lets go to Day 9 of Turkey

So get the best of our trip, we joined an optional tour to go on the hot air balloon. Thus having to wake up earlier than 5am in the morning to make sure that we make it before sunrise. There are only a few places in the world where you can go on a commercial hotair balloon. Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and a few other countries. Reason being, there need to be a certain movement of aircurrents at different altitude for it to actually work.

Well. waking up early was a chore, plus it doesnt help it that its cold outside too. We arrived in utter darkness, fumbling around for hot coffee and biscuits. Then as the night lightened with mild sunrise, they started blowing up the balloons with shots of huge fiery flames.

I took loads of photos of neighbouring balloons being pumped up and from the distance, the fired up balloons glowed in the mild darkness of the early morning.

It takes 4 men to lay the balloons for set up on the group with the side of the basket sitting on the ground, and it takes 2 men to lug and tug the rising hot air into the balloons


The used huge turbo electric fans to blow air to fill the balloon before shotting flames into the balloon. Then somehow the balloon will tilt the basket onto a pivot and you just needed to hit the side to make it stand up.


Skipped all those morning photos coz the lighting were not that pretty and the landscape were still very low over the horizon. By the time we got up in the air, the view was fantastic and the air was warmer from the random shots of flame from the burner.

The balloon rotates in an anticlockwise manner so that everyone of the 25 of us can see everything eventually as the balloon turns. The basket was full of crammed up people trying desperately to edge out to the side for photos. And coz it was way to cramped, they had to get the other side of the basket to take photos.


The canyons down below were pretty. in fact this area had a landscape that i have never seen before in my life. Never seen it when i was in new zealand or iceland or anywhere.


This is our pilot. He has been flying balloons for 20 over years. and he knows the air currents in the area like nothing. he know which altitude to go to ride the current in which ever direction. He did try posing a photo for us, but had to concentrate on getting over the huge block of caverns on the side.


with all the other balloons in the sky it was nice to get photos. Some of the other balloons where so colorful and pretty.



Best thing of the morning was champagne right after we landed. Alcohol right at 8am in the morning. it was even before we went back to the hotel for breakfast. And while sipping our drinks the staff got in task for getting the balloon folded up. It takes 4 men to keep the balloon. and the do this everyday of the week.

The landing was damn cool. Piloted straight on top the waiting lorry.


Here is a family photo with Mr hot air balloon pilot.


We went to visit the rest of Cappadocia's caves and old towns. There are many sites of old churches and temples that were carved into the near cliffs and hills. Many houses and living spaces were dug straight into the fairy chimneys.

People were living in these spaces that were so tiny.



We traveled around the regions to areas with different formations. This little area was where a tiny handful of us from the bus went excited hiking up the sides of the rocks. Reminded me loads of that one time we went hiking in NZ. It was like up and down pretty steep sides but the view from the back was amazing.



Turkish carpets are one of their most expensive exports. Each Turkish carpet is double knotted and hand weaved by many countless women. We took a very educational trip down to the local carpet factory place, were the ladies demostrated how to hand weave a carpet.

A single silk carpet can take a woman 2 whole years to complete. And some designs are so intricate and carpets so large, it can take 5 women 3 years to weave. And of course these carpets you will have to pay an atomic bomb for it.

This particular factory pays local women for their skills. local women can register with this company and they can produce carpets in the comfort of their homes for wages, their looms and weaving materials are fully paid for by the factory and all they have to do is to sell their handicraft they do at their free time.


There was some sort of carpet exhibition. they rolled out many different ranges from silk to wool to blends. Some of the carpets are simply to damn gorgeous. This carpet on the right is simply my favourite piece of art in the whole room. Silk on silk double knotted and only cost USD$50,000.

When will i be able to afford to own a carpet worth that much?
answer: NEVER


They served us drinks, and we took the chance to order Raki. A Turkish hard liqour called 'lion's milks'. its a clear colorless alcohol from a bottle that when you add ice or water, it will turn a milky white. Tastes like alcoholic cough syrup.



We were looking at local wares. we totally loved their hand crocheted table clothes. They are all done with a very fine thread and their needle work is good work. ended up buying a couple of small squares back.


Turkish ice cream was nice chewy and very fun to play with, or be played by. This ice cream man was very funny. He was playing with my mom and end the end my mom played him back. by not letting him get his grasp on the money we had to pay for the ice cream. haha.



More fairy chimneys. I seriously wonder what is the point of calling them Fairy Chimneys when you dont even need an imagination to know that they look just like dicks. Calling them fairy chimneys are just a polite way of saying its cock.




Visited the local ceramic factory. A family business where they showed us how to use the traditional kick spinner thingy where you put your blob of clay on.

There is a new special exhibition that has been town since 16th October and running all they way till 23 January next year. And I took the chance to use my very expired matric card to go for a free run of the exhibition last week. All students get through to all exhibitions FOC. Love the fact that I've saved so much money since I graduated just by flashing my student card.

The last time I was at the National Museum of Singapore was with Lynette sometime at the beginning of the year. This time there is 'POMPEII' exhibition, where they brought in about 200+ pieces from the Museum in Pompeii, Italy.


Most of these pieces are resin recasts and replicas of the originals that are still sitting in the grounds on italy being restored to their 2500 year splendor.

All of the exhibits depicts the life of some 20,000 people living in the city just before it was burried under the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Pompeii was a town which flourished over the fertile land of the volcano, and since it's people were so used to the minor tremblings of the area, no one expected the eruption.

Almost the whole of Pompeii was covered in 12 layers of soil up to 25 meters deep. People were trapped in houses, dogs were strangled by their chains, many fell casted under the many meters of pyroclastic volcanic stuff.


They have the old amphoras for wine and olive oil - two very important commodity in the ancient world. There are replicas of old weighing stations.


Coins with very pretty imprints of the head of Caesar Augustus. They look pretty much like our 5 cent coins, just 2500 years chioer.


Then there are these metal weighing contraptions. like those Chinese medicine weights for the herbs. Even right now, i dont think there is anyone in Singapore using old weighers.


Small treasure chests. Made entirely of nice wood. but the beautiful part of this box was its lock.


Many other things like an oil lamp


Wall depiction of Bacchus. Bacchus is actually Roman version of Greek God Dionysus - God of wine, theatre, fertility and whatever such,


Statue of Venus


The hand of Bacchus. This is usually stuck on pole or handheld poles during rituals.



Floor mosaics


Bronze statue of Fortuna


Greek miniatures.


A beautiful fresco. They had one of those eagles head lions bodied Griffins at the top red borders. Just like the original marble pillars i've seen in Turkey at Appollo's temple. I think I am beginning to love the symbolism of the Griffin. As a mythical creature, I think it kicks enough arse.

Will love to have a pet Griffin.


There are on exhibition many unfinished or totally worn out frescos. But the colors remained so intense.