Joo Seng Teochew Porridge

So this happened months ago but I just got around to blogging about it. Since then, AA has left and joined another agency, and the only time I managed to catch up with her over dinner, I was like 2 hours late, no thanks to work. But that is life and we all grapple with it somehow.

This was on a nice hot Saturday afternoon and we met up for Top 1 Noodles at Beauty World. The lunch outing was fraught with difficulties. First, we were stuck in the car park because the barrier was faulty and then we were stuck in a horrible jam. When we finally reached Beauty World after more than an hour, we could not find parking so we had to circle the parking lots thrice. When we parked and got to the food center, TOP 1 NOODLES WAS CLOSED. Both of us could not believe our luck. 

So we crossed the road and had Joo Seng Teochew Porridge instead. AA's recommendation and it was good! Good variety of tasty dishes and the place was relatively quiet so we could sit around and chat (read: bemoan about life). Prices were ok, though not the cheapest, but I guess nothing at Timah can really be considered cheap. Nice way to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon!

14 Cheong Chin Nam Road

They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.

So today was one of those days when I really needed a drink. But I am sick and coughing like my lungs are going to give up on me so I cannot drink and can only curl up in a corner and bawl my eyes out. And now that I am done with that, I have decided to just type away. This is going to to come out like a stream of consciousness and maybe I will delete this tomorrow. But hey, I should not be ashamed of myself in this weak shitty state. If you are reading my blog for flowers, pretty sights and the untrue side of social media, stop reading now. I have no lies to feed you with tonight.

I heard this story sometime ago:

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’

The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’

My Evil Wolf has been growing stronger day after day for a long while now. The little voice, the gnawing thought that I am lousy, that I am not good enough, that nothing I do will ever be good enough, that little voice has been grow louder, stronger, and more real each time I feed it. And it has been so easy to feed that voice nowadays. So many people have been helping me feed my Evil Wolf these days. I used to have a strong Good Wolf. Strong enough so that I know when people are just being mean, unhelpful and demeaning, and not let them get to me. I learnt early on in my job that people can sense weakness, and once you are weak, you are dead because people will just go in for the kill. Applies in the jungle, applies here. So my Good Wolf was always strong, my mind was always strong, and I know what I was doing, where I was going. 

I don't know what happened but one day the balance tipped. And now here I am, in a sad pathetic ball, not knowing how I got here. A little like being drunk except that this is reality and I did not drink a drop. 

At my saddest moment today, I went to Bugis and bought a kebab from my favourite kebab store Stuff'd. I have never realised it before but today I noticed that there was a quote on each kebab! And mine was so apt...

They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.

Evil Wolf says, "Please, woman, you are a rotting corpse. Just accept it and do your part as an organic fertiliser."

Good Wolf says, "See? You are a seed. One day you will grow into a big strong tree and you will thank the people who buried you."

I will feed the Good Wolf tonight. Even if it takes all the strength I have left, I will feed the Good Wolf tonight. 

11D8N Eastern Europe Tour with Chan Brothers Day 1 - Berlin (Germany)

So this is the first of my series on our recent Eastern Europe Tour with Chan Brothers and I feel like I should get the disclaimers out of the way. I am in no way affiliated to Chan Brothers, I was definitely not sponsored to write this, and my family paid the cost just like everyone else to join this tour. *Signs imaginary statutory declaration*

Now that that is done, I shall share a bit about my experience with Chan Brothers. If I am going for guided tours (which I have learnt is the best way for family trips), I will definitely choose Chan Brothers. I have joined Chan Brothers for a Taiwan trip and a Korea trip. I find that their tour packages are the most value-for-money, they provide generally good hotels throughout the trip, the tour guides are experienced and, you know what is the most important? I always know upfront what the optional tours or meals are, and how much they cost. I like honesty and transparency, no hanky panky going on there man. I tell everybody who is willing to hear to go for Chan Brothers if the price is right. I am, in a way, the unpaid and overly enthusiastic Chan Brothers fan. I guess I am secretly afraid they will go bust and I would have no more value-for-money tour operators to go on family trips with in future.

Thus, we signed up for the 11D8N Eastern Europe Tour with Chan Brothers and traveled from 20 Dec to 28 Dec 2016. Yes, we had a white Christmas! Very exciting but I will share the downsides of being in Eastern Europe over Christmas in a later post.

Flew Swiss Air and landed in Berlin on a grey wintry morning together with the tour group and our tour leader Eva. I managed to snap a quick picture with the tour leader flag before we left the Berlin Airport!

Heard about the truck attack in one of the Christmas markets in Berlin just the night before and felt the somber mood through the capital of Germany. Flags were at half mast through the city and it was a very real reminder that such attacks can indeed happen anywhere.

We had a rather boring cream and rice lunch at Potsdamer Platz before heading to the city tour. Potsdamer Platz brought back lots of fond work memories. I came to Berlin twice for work and, despite the crazy busy meeting schedule, we managed to stop by both times for a quick bite at the Potsdamer Platz Christmas Market and I collected two mugs from the market.

Visited the Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, East Side Gallery, Museum Island, and drove past a bunch of interesting places (like the huge Russian embassy) while listening to the local guide's description of World War II through the audio guide. Loved that Chan Brothers provided the audio guides for this trip so the local guide did not have to shout and scream over hordes of tourists and I could listen to everything clear and crisp through the audio guide.

Checkpoint Charlie.

Museum Island.

East Side Gallery. Did not manage to take much pictures of the artwork on the wall because my hands were shaking too badly from the cold.

We pulled up at the Brandenburg Gate where the German flag was also at half mast. The Goddess of Peace stood at the top of the gate and in the distance, the Victory Column was a familiar sight.

We returned to the Mall of Berlin where we had a bit of free time to shop. Walked around a little in the mall and eventually ended at the food court where we bought currywurst and fries (yippee!!).

The coach took us to Mercure Tempelhof Airport Hotel where we checked in and were free to find our own dinner. We walked along the main road and searched for dinner. Eventually, we stumbled upon Jasmin, as Asian eatery that served really good pho. If you are staying at this hotel and don't mind venturing out, Jasmin is a great place to have some yummy hot pho on a cold wintry day. The hotel was conveniently located beside a few supermarkets and we bought bottled water from one of them before heading back to rest.

Check out Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7.