#SG50

it's the year of our golden jubilee, Singapore turns 50! <3

my favourite sunny island in the world, we've come a long way. from a fishing village, our leaders have developed our city state from being a third-world country to a first-world and i am so thankful for it. although LKY never got to celebrate with us at our 2015 NDP, he will always be dearly missed. without him and his contribution, i wouldnt be where i am today. i am grateful to have received a world class education, learnt to be effective bi-lingual, grown professionally and nurtured in a clean and green environment with efficient public transport and access to good infrastructure.

i went back to Singapore for three weeks in july and it's a pity i didnt stay long enough to watch the NDP live in action. and of course, i jumped at the chance to celebrate our #SG50 national day with the rest of the Singaporeans in the UAE. this year, it was held at the grand hyatt, dubai and tickets were a sell-out!

it was a mix of nostalgic and patriotic feelings as we recited the pledge and sang along to our national anthem and some of our childhood national day songs. followed by a open buffet of singaporean food such as chicken rice, rojak, cereal prawn, cheng tng, kueh lapis and live cooking stations of laksa, satay and dim sum *nom nom* they arent the best but i guess the closest they can get to some of our local favourites. and did i mention that tiger beer was on free flow???

all decked out in my red & white

*on a side note, after the event, my boy brought me to barastic beach bar for a drink because i have been complaining he didnt bring me to anywhere nice recently :p

roadtrip to dibba :)

one of the reasons why i moved to the UAE is that i get the opportunity to travel around the middle east or rather anywhere 50km in radius from where i am. i would say i am well-travelled in and around the far east and pacific region. And especially when Singapore makes a good base for travels, i was fortunate to have frequented cities in Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Australia as i grew up along the way. and now, being in the middle (east), i have a new base from where i get to explore :D

this will be my first roadtrip to the Dibba Coast in the emirate of Fujairah. Musandam Oman as well as Sharjah also share a part of the Dibba coastal region which is the northern tip of the Eastern Arabian peninsula.

we drove 2 hours from Abu Dhabi to Dubai, then further north another 2 hours to Fujairah. it was an enjoyable as we saw camels upclose along the road (it could have been dangerous but was fun anyway)

my favourite driver in the world

check out the road behind me

then we checked in the Le Meridien Al Aqah Resort as i read excellent reviews online and it was a logical choice for a SPG platinum member. upon check in, we were immediately greeted with welcome champagne and fruits and got a complimentary upgrade to a club room which offers access to the club lounge. we spent the first day chilling by the beach and pool side, enjoying the sea breeze, ordered room service for dinner and had a few drinks at the hotel bar.

sandy beaches with hajar mountains

checked in at Le Meridien Dibba

Gulf of Oman right at our balcony

beautiful pool and beach bar

club lounge for guests

woke up to a decent breakfast spread with good variety and i always need my coffee! a visit to the fujairah fort concluded our trip and i am looking forward to the next one already!

first GROM outlet opens in the Middle East

nothing screams WELCOME to the sweltering heat in dubai louder than Grom Gelato which opens its first outlet in the Middle East earlier march this year!

and so, i recall how i spent two weeks of my 2013 summer travelling the north of italy. other than gourmet italian food and fresh produce, i had my sweet tooth cravings satisfied daily by the homemade italian gelato goodness! my favourites have always been bacio (hazelnut and chocolate to put it simply), biscotti and any dark chocolate variant. just how relieved (from the heat) i was when Grom opens its doors.

grom in milan

my dark choc gelato for just €1

GROM again in Florence store

double scoop along river bank of Florence 

random gelato somewhere in italy

the reason why Grom tastes soooo good is that they use only the high quality ingredients - be it fresh milk, cage-free eggs, freshest fruits from Italy and their very own organic farm. furthermore, they boast no addition of artificial preservatives, colourings or emulsifiers. also, their sorbet contains at least 50% fruits. good to know that my gelato and sorbet arent bad for health ;)

and finally, here goes my grom gelato from boxpark, dubai

just an update - i was just there last week, and they are still not serving cones, just gelato in cups. price was on the higher side, just like everything else in dubai ;)

2 flavours - 19 AED or USD5.20

3 flavours - 28 AED or USD7.70

dont forget to check out their monthly new flavours here 

GROM

Boxpark, besides Adidas store

Al Wasl Road

Dubai, UAE

oh hello there, after a good ol' 8 months...

hello there!

i know it has been a while but as i'm sitting on my bed with my laptop on my lap and mtv channel playing in the background, i'm feeling kinda bored :/ been sitting on my ass for the past 14 hours to be exact, i haven't been getting active (physically as well as mentally) ... i left my yoga mat back home in Singapore (ok lame excuse), i am on morning shifts at work this week, i wash my hair this morning and i cant go running then wash my hair again in the evening (say NO to double shampoo-ing in a day). all these above-mentioned excuses have rendered me a new chance at blogging

let me just do a quick recap in a hundred words and less. i decided to relocate away from Singapore last october. then is the point in my life where i still stay with parents and have absolutely 0 household chores to do, no lack of a social life - family and friends and am very well-settled in my job or life you can say.

i wasnt in a bad place, i was just getting too comfortable. and then that is what they say - if  you always stay in your comfort zone, you will never grow. i was never looking to move away from my firm which have always sponsored the premier league until recently, and then, this opportunity came along. fast forward 8 months, i came to realize that i actually quite like it here and have no plans just yet to move back (contrary to what many people might think). even though it's an easy and simple kind of life over here in abu dhabi, i can make do with a few travels a year to exciting cosmopolitan / cities with a rich heritage. besides, dubai is just a 90 minutes drive away. speaking of which, i'll be heading over to grand hyatt dubai for SG50 national day dinner this weekend! cant wait to don my red & white and have delicious (spicy hopefully) local food!

anyway, i will do up a few more posts from the past few months so as to fill the space during my hiatus in cyberspace.

and i really do hope above is a hundred words and less. well, at least i've tried ;)