my f l i g h t details is as follows: (i'm travelling ALONE)
SINGAPORE (Transit at TOKYO) LOS ANGELES --- Sept 10 (S i n g a p o r e Airlines 9.45am flight, arrrival at LA at 12.50am)
LOS ANGELES (Transit at PHOENIX) DALLAS --- Sept 10 (U S Airways 4.15pm flight, arrival at DFW at 10.47pm)
DALLAS (No Transit) CHICAGO O'HARE AIRPORT --- Sepr 18 (A m e r i c a n Airways 8.00am flight, arrival at ORD at 10.10am)

to all the k i n d t e r r o r i s t out there, please dont b o m b me. appreciates it.

one more month or so. i cant lie, i'm really super excited. i cant wait to leave! i think if i leave earlier, it will be much easier on the 'feelings' side. my baggage limit is only 45 kg! oh dear. and i think i got many more things yet to buy ...

i cant wait to shop at dallas! i cant wait to eat true american food! i cant wait to see my little cousin! i cant wait to live in an american house! i cant wait to step into chicago! i cant wait to make 'international' friends! i cant wait to meet my roomie! i cant wait to start school at NU! i cant wait to start this 4 years HOLIDAY! HURRAH HURRAH hurrah hurrah HURRAH HURRAH!

the peops at raffles: cms, his, hmms, rss, aob, infra, eunice, temp-ers (mainly)

so it's the start of something new! i can finally experience the real hols. always been wanting to wake up late, but since i'm so used to wakin up at 6.30am for work, i auntomatically wake up ard that timin each day! though i must say .. it has been improving ever since! now it's 11am. hehe. past few days had been fruitful. completed btt, had a haircut, medical checkup, been going out with friends & 'play' catchin up .. etc. the medical checkup part was rather 'disgusting' .. wish i wont have to ever go for another one in my life!

yichang's last day was last fri, so we all went back on fri for pastamania. sad everyone's gg to part sooner or later. the feeling of returning to bugis after work contract has ended, & seeing ex-colleagues is weird :S

things to look forward to: planning to dye hair again, gg to the the childcare centre which benjamin has been askin me to go ever since i've known him (lol! tmr, i promise! >.<), catchin up with old friends, class get together .. etc

of late ... i've taken a great liking to mika songs! whoo! u ppl should go listen too!

what a pretty sight!
wynn's posh lobby. did you see LV, DIOR, FENDI, PRADA?
bella and i at the back of the stone wall
WYNN

first thing first: i need to lose weight.
i need a dietician/physical trainer/yoga instructor/anyone who can help me lose weight.
make a bet with my mum that i can be lighter than her. and if that happens. my mum going to waiver my shopping expenditure.

shhhh ....... everyone is busy shopping! got to keep quiet!

HONGKONG was a mix-feeling.
i felt proud and sad at the same time.

the conditions were these:

1. raining HEAVILY almost 6 of the 7 days

2. my family went with my dad's GOLF friends. freaking rich families.

3. dim-sum almost every morning

4. sharkfin (not as good as my mum's), abalone japanese mushroom, meat, fish, veggie, soup almost every dinner

5. shopping with the girls (steph2 and lydia) almost 80% of the time

6. didnt get to eat lunch for many days

MARCO POLO hongkong hotel was located at tsim tsa chui. its 'attached' to this really big mall that has almost everything. from high end posh to low end posh. hotel was pretty sucky. the bathroom is very small. and having to squeeze 4 ppl in the 'superior double bedroom' was pretty squeezy. i think my mum has a hardtime sleeping at night. i got an extra bed all by myself so is pretty okay. my family is pretty budget on accomodations and luggage and other things. we travel light and 'conveniently'. the other families booked 2 rooms each or get the super super posh rooms (the superior double bedroom aint superior afterall). lydia got a room by herself, lucky her.

most of the time we are shopping mainly at causeway bay, admiralty or mongkok. taking cab is absorbitant. the tunnel fees across the ocean is pretty expensive. i'm pretty good with directions, so i lead the ways for the girls. by leading the way. i ushered them to the trains MTR. is very convenient. the girls shop like mad. really mad. whatever they like, they just tossed it into the cashier and *ching ching* bought the stuff already. they lead me into really high end shops like bulgari, bottega venneta, prada, burberry, chanel, louise vuitton, fendi, versace, armani, tiffany and co. and many many many more ... shops like esprit, mango, and even coach ... were hardly entered (unless i insist)
whats best is that they asked for rings and diamonds (plus, did i mention that they are fluent with all the seasons' design and their unique names and code number?) lyd asked for a 4.5 carat diamond at tiffany. she was ushered into a room just to wear it. hah. i dont even dare to ask to wear any of the diamond rings. steph bought REAL fox fur (nicely made up like a shawl with the shape of the fox itself from nose to the bushy tails!!) and chinchilla's fur. gawd. lyd got herself a 17k chanel goat leather bag. hurr.
i felt like a noob in shopping. i'm so not well versed. hah. not that i'm planning to be well versed in it. maybe next time, when i really got money (not my parents money, felt bad enough that i'm spending quite a sum to study at NU). then yeah. i will busy myself with those.
dont know what's wrong with me. i cant shop infront of them. so weird right? i have to excuse myself. hop to another shop or go to the other end of seibu dept store and start frantically buying stuff before returning back to the shop they are in :(

food was passe. i get really sick of the high end dimsums and dinner. is all the same! the good thing is that breakfast and dinner were paid by the uncles. we hardly fork out anything (unless we scuttle off for our own private breakfast and dinners .. which were really yummy!!! i insisted on local delicacies, wanton mee.milk tea.char siew.roast duck.thick toast.vietnamese kuay teow.)

MACAU was really nice! its like LAS VEGAS in the making. all the big names are already there. MGM. THE VENETIAN. WYNN. we stayed at Wynn, which has a very posh lobby. cuz of the endless rows of high end boutiques. the rooms are sooooooooo big and spacious. so is the bathroom. decor was really nice. almost las vegas-ish. most of the hotel occupiers are china mainland ppl. i played at the casino. 18 years old are allowed to enter. lost HK$39.90. aint that bad. compared to the rest. amazinly my parents dont gamble either. so actually only who tried to gamble away HK$40.00.
but apart from the gambling. macau is pretty empty. not many places sell the portuguese egg tarts. but the one at LORD STOW was o-kay. not impressive but fine anyway. should come to MACAU in 3-5 years time. it will be really like las vegas then. all the new age and oldies played through the lobby, lift and corridors. musical fountains at the front of the hotel. colourful lights and decor on each buildings. big spacious rooms. nice~ for now, its really nothing else to do, except gamble your money away ... haha

hongkong is really getting very cosmopolitan-tourist are more diverse, large portion came from mainland china and they are good spenders. almost all hongkongers can speak a little chinese and english. the mood is really for shopping at hongkong. i'm guilty of the shopaholic crime too (heh .. bought jeans and long tees for my US trips ma ...) hongkong's great sales start 30th june.we werent late for it. thank goodness. haha. hongkongers like to rush a lot. buildings are really close and cramp. an HDB can house almost a hundred floor with many more units than those found in singapore. some hongkongers are rude, especially towards customers. hongkong can be said to be more advanced than singapore. hongkong's shopping districts are hardly empty, ppl throngs everywhere at every minute (great big tourists proportions), weekends are horrible, everywhere.

my buys:
2 skirts, 1 dress, 1 jumper, 2 tops, 1 jacket, 1 long sleeve tee, 3 jeans, 1 necklace, a few hair accessories (for gifts and personal usage), 10 or so tees (mostly for gifts) and a COACH BAG (limited edition, LAST MINUTE buy, one and only one at HK, anniversary collection, 30% off, mum encourage me to get it, cuz she loves it but she doesnt look nice in it)
the bag cost as much as every other thing i buy. while the every other thing i buy was on great discount and sales. (there goes my 1 month salary at rmg + tuition). mum got herself another bag in the LAST SECONDS cuz she want to be as happy as me with a new bag -.- (same goes with lyd's step-mum who also want a chanel bag after lyd got one)
i want to kick myself for not getting SHOES for school, a never-been-able-to-get WALLET, and a COVER/BAG for my mac book. ugh!!! oh well. what a long entry

princess stephanie
p.s: congrats queen amanda for ... 'freedom'