Firstly I have to say that this was a decision made at the veryyy last minute. I had to actually ask my boss for a sudden 2 day leave (RIGHT AFTER a task delegation meeting). But when you give yourself the opportunity for excitement and joy to come into your life at any moment, thats when you know you’re truly seizing it (told myself I would work doubly hard when I got back to work – but little did I know that disaster would strike on Day 2..).

Day 1 (10.07.07)

We left by a special coach bus (more expensive from all my previous bus trips) but it was worth it. There was an air conditioned waiting area with sofas and TV where they served coffee before the bus departs, and the bus even had a professional steward that served us breakfast during the trip! It was a double-decker with a small lounge located at the ‘lower deck’ – which we maximized by playing chor dai dee and Citadels on the table during the trip..

The bus dropped us off at Copthorne, and Uncle Tony was there to fetch us to our hotel. But there was like 8 of us + luggage including himself, and he was driving a Kia (Rio I think), but we actually managed to squeeze in!

*squashed in the backseat*

At first glance from the outside, the Marina Mandarin hotel looked realllly ordinary. Even the ground floor concierge was nothing to shout about. Then we took the lift to the 4th floor lobby and whoaaa…

The whole building was well, for lack of a better term, hollow! Sunlight was streaming in from the top, you can see the walkways of all the floors, and look over the railings down to the lowest level. There were chirping birdcalls echoing loudly all over the place, it was like a manmade paradise. At first I thought that the sounds were recorded and was being played back on speakers, but found out that they actually hung real songbirds in cages all around the place! The acoustics in that central area was simply amazing. It was a truly gorgeous concept..

We checked in, lepak-ed a bit, Jacq got her ‘angpow’…

*have you EVER seen a $1000 note before?* Amazing!

It was quite possibly THE fattest Angpow I’ve ever seen. And it even latur turned out that a lot of the shops didn’t want to accept the note because they didn’t have enough change for it!

Time to go walking and to look for some food. Went window shopping through Marina Square Shopping Mall, and ended up at the Food Republic in Suntec City.

The Fountain of Wealth. We just went to splash water – not get rich

Eventually, we went back to the hotel for Jacq to get ready for her convo… Here are some of photos taken before the ceremony started..

The ladies all went in (only 4 tickets) for the ceremony and speeches, while us 3 guys rushed off to get changed. Took a cab to Tampines Mall to buy flowers and I grabbed a shirt, and we went to Andrew’s apartment to change. Dammit, didn’t get to meet Andrew’s SIA stewardess housemate though

Came back just in time for more photo taking..

One should STILL throw the mortarboard even/especially if there wasn’t anyone else around..

OK, by now, you can really see that Jacq is putting all her effort into maintaining that smile hehe..

We went back to the room, Jacq’s mum and Elaine both took turns trying on the gown for ‘old time’s sake’ and posing for the camera.. it was really cute – but don’t need to put photos up here lar horr?

Rested for abit, then headed out again for dinner/supper. Andrew took us down to Geylang for some famous frog porridge there – which I have to admit was pretty awesome!

And then back to the hotel room – this time for some much needed rest.

My tummy was feeling a little uncomfortable by now, but I managed to sleep it off.. And thus ends our first day..

Day 2 (11.07.07)

It was a slow morning the next day. My stomach still felt sensitive when I woke up, and it stayed with me all the way till lunch. I rested as much as I could though before Uncle Tony came to pick us up to eat at this place called Tao’s.

They served what they claimed to be ‘Modern Pacific Cuisine’. There weren’t many selections in the menu – mostly different choices for different courses in a set. I realllllllyyy wish I could have tried some of the stuff here, but my condition was worrying me and I ended up ordering only a bowl of herbal soup. We ordered a massive assortment of all their dishes so that everyone can try almost everything (except me). I have to say that they get my 2 thumbs up for food presentation though. Here’s a montage of what we had…

I stole a little bit of every dessert which upset my stomach even more. After lunch we went upstairs where we waited for Uncle Tony to collect his car.. I wasn’t feeling too good, so I went to sit down on the nearest platform I could find. It was about now, that the girls went trigger happy with both the cameras..

was trying to figure out how to make the ‘pain go away’.. Caroline actually thought it was a ‘cool’ shot hehe

I’ll buy a drink to the person who can fill those text bubbles with the most creative content

was so stuffed that when she tried jumping, this was all she could manage..

Uncle Tony’s car arrived.. and the NINE of us squeezed into the car (successfully yet again!) for the drive to Orchard Road.

We alighted at Takashimaya, and proceeded to walk around. Took the following photo there

It was at about now that I couldn’t take it anymore, and had to give in to the nausea. Made a beeline to the toilet to kneel to the Toilet God. It was the first, but it was definitely not the last. I managed to help Drew and Wwai find Paradigm Infinitum at Emerald Plaza for boardgames, before the nausea came back..

Let’s just say that every 30 mins became a struggle for me hence on. I was barely conscious about my surroundings, and had to head back to the hotel lobby to wait while the rest went on to Max Brenner’s – a chocolate ‘restaurant’ franchise that cannot be found in Malaysia.

Now A LOT more gorgeous photos were actually taken during this period, but since I wasn’t there, I guess it’d be funny to upload them on my blog

Suffered all the way to the bus and suffered even more on the way back to KL. Vomited countless times, all the while wondering why this had to happen to me.. It pretty much ruined what would have been an awesome end to a fun trip. Had to miss the following 2 days of work, and then the weekend ‘almost’ glazed by..

‘Almost’ because I actually managed to recover enough to attend the 2nd Catan Qualifers at Mage Cafe which was postponed to Sunday, despite still being terribly weak. Sad to say, I didn’t bring my camera, and despite making it to the last round, I didn’t qualify either – but congratulations to Khai and Joshua who did!

And so, Monday comes, and life goes on…