ron_andante's Xanga

South Africa, Lesotho & Swaziland ..

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:21:16 GMT

There's just wayyyy too many pics from South Africa to finish in 1 post.. and since i'm soooo free from not having to plan any trips..

Lunch at Moyo shortly after our arrival in Durban.. Man it's sooo different from beautiful Cape town. Somehow reminded me alot of Kizkalesi in Turkey.. just alot messier and no gorgeous maiden castle.

We meant to spend 1 nite in Umkomaas to do a dive or 2.. but unfortunately the swells were too big for the launch.. :( we ended up wasting our time walking ard the not-so-lovely beach of Durban.

Moyo was pretty nice actually.. well decor-ed with wealthier south africans and tourists as patrons. They even offered free face paint and handwashing services at ur table!

day 2 we headed up Sani Pass into Lesotho for the sake planting another country flag.. :p That, was really the immigration point!

with the crazy windows blowing at us, we managed a smile in front of the basotho village huts & our 4 wheel drive ride..

Our host for the day, she offered us the bread she baked.. Seriously, i swear all that baking will kill her one day. the damn hut has no ventilation except for that 1 door.. Imagine inhaling all that carbon dioxide - if not carbon monoxide~~ i almost choked myself to death being in there for approx 15mins.. poor red blood cells :((

our guide & tour buddy Alex, a frenchie livin in UK for over 10 years. He's got very gd brit humor less the french airs.. & he's coming by Sin in Dec/Jan on his way to Australia as part of his 1 year travel-the-world plan! Jealousss..

Outside Sani bar..

2nd highest peak in Africa.. @ 2873m high

Driving to Swaziland.. 306km of straight road.. *yawns*
A gd thing i'm a non-driver..

Elo swaziland ... The very last monarchy in Africa!
Did u noe that Swazi land has the highest HIV % population in the world of an whooping 38%?! tat's more than 1 in every 3 person!!!

We got a speed ticket 40mins past immigration driving 100km/hr... cost us 60sgd. DAMN..

Manzini city centre..

Our not-so-luxurious accomodation for a night which cost more than any of the gorgeous ones we have in Cape Town... & it came with a giant cockroach! Damn the non-existant tourism industry in Swaziland..

We read about the possibility of Schistosomiasis in Swaziland (technically only in still water) but to play safe, we minimised tap waters and had to brush our teeth, wash up with our carton of bottled water. Insanely-careful yes, but better that than infected. I'm still alive!

Luckily breakfast was decent.. & we drank the non-bottled drinks coz they were piping hot. We had our fill before the long drive to Kruger for the best & last part of our fantastic trip.. :D

After getting slightly lost in the wild, we finally found our way!

Helo gorgeous Chitwa Chitwa~

Sabi sands is Kruger's private game reserve where safari vehicles could go offroads to get better sightings of animals. Boy & i figured if we're gona do a safari, might as well do it luxuriously in Sabi sands than the camping grounds of Kruger.. :p

Our first sighting at lunch where the dining area over looks the lake (watering hole)... so cool ;)

The cheetah sent everyone from all over the lodge running over to the watering hole. :D

Panaromic view of our room! :D Gorgeous!!!!! it had a patio with a view of the watering hole for us to see the animals~

Isnt it yummy? I could soooo live there..

The teabreak area where we get morning & afternnon teas before game drives..

Chillout bar for pre-dinner drinks

The enormous kickass fire place at the chillout lounge area.. luv luv luvvv

Game drive 1 + animal 1 = Cheetah. Apparently it's very rare to see cheetahs!!!! and a really fat belly one too!

Buffalos... super grumpy old men aret they?

Wildebeest.. it looks damn skinny coz of the vertical lines!

Helo Hippoooo

Zebras!! or is it Jeebraa ala Ris Low ? :p

Wat a big boy ;)

Have u had enuff of animal sightings? :p

Our first leopard sighting...

Desserts by the bed every nite.. so sweet!~

Becoz it was my birthday... boy & i had a private birthday dinner in a boma lighted by candle lights & a bon fire... totally romantic. too bad for my lousy photography skills.. :(

It's so romantic ANY girl will melt.. it was by far the best birthday i had.. :)

just the 2 of us..

Just as i thought it was already perfect, they danced, sang a lovely african birthday song and...

presented me with..

a SUPER YUMMY home made choco cake!!

I felt like i was dreaming!!

Day 2 game drive: a giraffe...dead.

warthog.. it looks damn cute!

opps another dead impala..

Murderer!!!! Wild dog.. South African's most endangered carnivore. Damn rare sighting!

it's really rare to see wild dogs, let alone see it kill..

Leopard mama and its baby

Boy ticked off one of his to-dos: Run in a safari..

We followed closely behind just in case they ran into any dangerous animals.. Boy had Johan (our guide) with him..

Chilling on the deck after our lunch at the dining huts.. It was one of the few places with a decent reception!!

Impalas by our pool in our lodge..

Resident woodpecker. we heard him metres away before we actually spotted him!!! so cute!

Drizzling on day 3 morning game drive.. the winds didnt help and we seriously looked hideous with the ugly poncho.

Watch out! Elephant crossing!

Bats in our hut..

my $12sgd shoes purchase.. thats the only thing i bought!! haha ... no choice when all i packed were sandals.. sigh

baby & i stopping for afternoon tea break.

Our ranger spotted it on a tree in the dark! amazing eyes!!

Bush baby!! so cuteee

boma dinner on the last nite with the other 12 guests in the lodge..

i swear if there were mini giraffees, they will make damn cute home pets!

Our norweigian friends (ladies in the middle) ,.. both doctors!!

Starbucks in the middle of the safari.. boy feels blessed..

Boy with dr livingston.. our fav guest in the lodge..

Our croco sighting finished our safari in Sabi Sands with a bang!

View of Nelspruit from restaurant Orange..

i tink the view's better than the food. :p

Nelspruit airport... looks like a resort on its own..

Our last stay for the night came with a small gift :D

& baby's fav nespresso machine!

That's about it for my best holiday so far!!! I cant help but keep raving about South Africa to everyone!!!

So if you've not been to South Africa.... GO!! It's such a perfect place for honeymoon i wonder where i can go for a more memorable trip when it's my honeymoon.

& just in case I'm biased coz i planned this trip, Boy affirmed the awesome-ness of this holiday too! He kept repeating how much he enjoyed the safari.. best holiday he ever, loved the food, he could live in Cape town, bla blah blah blah blah...

Soooo sooo blessed

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:11:50 GMT

HATE the fact that i've took many holidays this year...

i cant go on anymore paid holidays :(

2010...
can u pls come real soon???

It's so beautiful anyone will fall in love...

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:17:11 GMT

Cape town!

we couldnt catch our breath the moment our car hit the coast line towards Simon's Town..

It's not just a seaside... it's a freaking long never ending stretch of beautiful coastline coupled with clear blue waters.

Then we finally arrived at our lovely guest house in Simon's town,

Dinner recommended by our host. U could so hear the waves crashing in the whole time.. the view of the ocean was just breathtaking... Totally reminded me of Icebergs @ Bondi beach in Sydney!!!!

our comfy room with SUPER gorgeous view for the night....

we actually woke up to this!! AWESOME VIEW!!! Thats our balcony leading to our ensuite kitchen...

Gorgeous Boulder beach

Boy & the gorgeous blue waters!

Very Important Penguins!!!

See! its just sunning its belly ignoring the rest of the world... SO CUTE!!!!

Look! they're all around!!! :D

Helo mama ostrich & bb ostriches!!!

Our view on the way up to the lighthouse in Cape Point..

too far away from Everywhere~ :p

us attempting to capture that lovely view with our big heads all in one..

Lunch at Foodbarn @ Noorheok

Whale watching @ hermanus coast.. :D

Dinner @ Le Bon Vivant

Dieu Donne guest house, Forrest Room

Yummy breakfast prepared specially by the owner & his mom..

Afrikaans Language Monument @ Paarl

Table mountain was close due to bad weather.. :( Robben island was closed coz the ferry was in drydock. WAT LUCK!! :(

So we went on to eat... @ the Old Biscuit Mill

Captonians enjoy hanging out here on a sat with friends over food and wines.. u could buy and eat there while sitting on makeshift furniture like crates & planks!

Our lunch... ..it tastes even better than it looks!

After just aimlessly driving around Cape town killing time in the rain, we ended up for our supposingly highlight of our trip... Aubergine restaurant. Not my fav unfortunately.. :(

tired.. more pics from durban, lesotho, swaziland and the really awesome kruger. Another time will be better i guess..

p.s. it's FRIDAY!!!

our most expensive decision ever..

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:00:51 GMT

Boy and i were looking at buying a place last year when the market was down..
But because of some stupid 30k and numerous meant-well advices of mkt going down further,
we didnt close the deal.

The exact same place is selling like 250k higher now..

The damn property market had recovered so quickly this year, many sellers are asking for ridiculous prices once again. It's almost like sub-prime never happened!! Plus facing our ending lease in Balmoral Place coming Jan, we had to decide if we wanna make the same silly mistake of throwing more money down the rental drain again..

We decided otherwise!
& made our move extremely quickly this time..

i was back from South Africa 5th Oct,
& we got the cheque in & accepted on the 8th Oct!

Hate hate hate being wishy washy!!

Now all that's left is for the apartment to be ready in a couple of months!!
Yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~

Our new home - The Inspira
(artist's impression)

More pictures when the boy's back tomorrow and we head down to the site for his 1st look!

helooo.. i'm home!!~

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:43:24 GMT

South Africa
was astonishingly beautiful...

it's just a pity with the weather when we were in Cape Town...
so no Table mountain, no Robben Island

& no diving in Durban :(

Still,
the most amazing part of the entire trip can almost be summed up in 1 picture....

....

she crept slowly but gracefully past me while i "forced" smile for that "lifethreatening" shot...
she was just an arm's length away!!

& what the boy didn't capture following this shot (probably due to shock)
was her stopping in her tracks at that same exact spot.
She sat upright, stared back right at us and snarled...

Her cold carnivorous aura made all on the landrover shudder
except our crazily calm guide who mimicked her snarl back at her..
with love..

way cool..

I'm STAYING!

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:11:08 GMT

It's been 6.5 months since the boy took off to Rotterdam for that bigger responsibility, money & brighter future job.. & likewise, it's been 6.5 months i've been thinking when i should finally pack up, break the rental lease, get a mover for the furniture, and join him to rot in Rotter-land.

I've done almost everything, spoke to my local boss... my UK office stingy crappy MD (who offered a super insulting salary package).. my rotterdam office MD (who is unable to hire coz of his overflowing headcount.. my company's largest competitor's Rotterdam branch & a super big kickass supplier (with refineries & the whole chain!) whos big boss is some total coolness race car driver!!!! (yes i googled him.. )

And then ..NOW i'm staying put. & i'm darn glad i'm! Lots of reasons to why we've derived at this decision after being 100% firm about me going over to rotterdam for the past 6 mths (even w/o a job!!)

1. my awesome job.. (no kidding when i say i luv it).. i get 3 hr lunches... past 10am etc.. beat that.
2. i'll be there only for a year since effectively the boy is done in march 2011.. its now sep.. i'm back from the next trip in Oct... bonus month is in Jan/Feb. so by the time i move, its... March 2010?
3. Boy's only in Rotterdam 1/3 of the time coz he travels all the time for his projects :(
4. Boy's not at all keen to stay put in Holland after this project. Holland is not his ideal place to settle down..
5. We're already meeting like at least 4 days a month with the current arrangment

Yet to break the news to the competitor and the racecar driver boss but i finally sat my boss down today to inform him i'm not leaving! Thankfully he wasnt close to hiring to replace me & i still have my job, my desk and my benefits!

The boy promised to move back after his project is done in 2011 march.. or at least, by then we can then move to a new country again... where the headache starts all over again :s

I'm making the right choice trying to balance my career & my love life rite? I know i've been thru a bad long distance relationship.. but they do work right?? *hopeful*

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Updates:

** The boy just got an in-principle "go-ahead" with his HR head & his CFO to be "based" out of Singapore!! So technically he's here.. but travelling most of the time kinda. Still aint too bad yea? Yipeeee

** Race-car driver boss must have gotten a sign from the Gods that i'm talking about him.. he texted me a couple of hours back to discuss more about my future "job scope" in Rotterdam. I broke the news to him about not leaving anymore.. 1 down.. another one to go..

Rain rain go away.... come to Oslo another day...

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 15:49:41 GMT

We had a crazy day of non-stop pouring in Oslo day 2

Look how wet we ended up..

Another 6 days and baby's home with me in Singapore...

YIPPEEE~!

more Oslo pics when i get some free time from planning our coming trip..

Monday, August 31, 2009

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:36:35 GMT

Copenhagen Summer (Aug 2009)

Boy & i headed to Denmark for 3d2n over Singapore's national day long weekend
to join the lovely extended family for their annual family gathering/tea + dinner..

3 of the kids amongst all the crazy grown-ups.. :p

i got Isabelle 10 cutesy hair clips & she wore them ALL instantly..

The kids & the policeman cousin hang out in the garden..

he's so cute i wanna pinch his cheeks ALL THE TIME!

Super cute rite?! :p

She's gona be a super hottie in the future!

the children got bored with dinner & settled in the garden once again..

& the kid in me had to join them..

My fav part of dinner...

the boy's dessert plate..

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Just over the wkend, some of my cousins from my mum's side came crashing...

The little ones were happy to seek refuge @ my place..
basically away from all adult supervision...

while the big ones(like my bro & i) stuff them silly with lotsa food, snacks, mahjong & boardgames

talk abt some gd ol family chill out fun...

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:24:59 GMT

Can u tell what i'm counting down to this time?

our next trip in 29 days!!!

yippeee yaya yipppe yipeeee yaaa..

I lurveeee spending my birthday with uuuuuuuu!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:28:52 GMT

i'm soooo in luv
with the fall 2009 fashion in shops this year!!!

The totally affordable labels like H&M and even freaking PRIMARK stepped up big time!
Such an awesome collection this season i sooooo wanna bag everything just lookin at the pictures!

== Primark's Fall 2009 Collection ==

Unfortunately nothing here showed up on the racks when i was in the Rotterdam store.

Turns out, quite a few will be launched only in Sep. ARGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

store display in Oslo H&M at Karl Jonahs Gate..

H&M was gd tho.

Really gd...

Really Balmain-good

p.s. i'm secretly hoping they dont bring H&M into SG.. dont wana see the whole world wearing the same stuff! heee