Glimpses of Japan (29 Nov - 10 Dec 2007) Part 1

Steph and myself recently went on our 2nd trip to japan .. this time at a more relaxed pace since Steph is getting "bigger" hahah.. .. it was really nice, we dictated the pace, if we felt like waking up later .. we just wake up later lor .. no tour guide to hurry you .. no running around in a bus with tonnes of other tourist ..

As usual, good food, good shopping, burnt pockets ^^" ... but happy souls .. :)

here are some glimpses of our trip:

Remember Kung Fu Hustle - here's Bao-Zhu po sending you a "zhong" !!!

Picture taken in Arashimaya .. lovely autumn colors, so colorful that it is almost unimaginable

Nijo Castle in Kyoto .. .lovely castle that is well preserved
Kiyomizu in kyoto - autumn light up ... nice hor .. and cold too, around 5-8 degrees.

the famous Tori Gate at Miyajima island .... lovely island, we stayed a local ryokan on the island

Passion in life

5 months on after my customary wedding in August, life is good... and it will get better

so here are the highlights:

1. This is the most important, my wife Stephine is PREGNANT ! she is 5 months pregnant now
2. My baby is a BOY ! !!!!! ^^
3. Finally got used to my job ... ^^' it is still pretty tough due to very different cultures
4. We just went for our postponed honeymoon in Japan, it was AMAZING !!!

More pics of our place

have been pretty slack in my update of the blogs .. some of my friends have been screaming at me ..hahah.. here's more pics of the place.. hope you like them



the green room is the guest room .. thought it would be nice to have a sudden change of color plus it is green, so it is soothing for the eyes :)

Glimpses of the new house ( sorry for the late posting)

It has been > 2months since i moved in .. things have been busy .. new job, wedding ..etc.. I apologize for not updating the pics earlier. .

so here are some pics of the finished flat .. Hope you like them !

Master Toilet .. check out my cool design ! We took a while to conceptualize this idea, cute isn't it ... :)



My super shagedelic living room .. check out the "orh-reng" color man .. cool Right? Don't pray pray hor ...

Our DIY wedding montage ... hope you like it ..

A simple video montage that i did for our wedding .. it was a combinatoin of myself and Steph .. both of us did bits and pieces for it... a short video show of our lifes. I hope you like it and also see you can spot us in the group pics!!!!!

Software: Windows Movie Maker (and it is FREE!!!!) ... and it is really easy to use ..

tough work ... what am i actually working for .. .

It has been > 4 months since i started my new job ..

honestly, it has been tough, being told to read documentation when you have an issue or a problem, ... it is sooooooooooooooooooo frustrating !

somehow, i feel work is getting tougher .. old age perhaps?.. can't teach an old dog a new trick... hmm.. i wonder

many times at night i keep asking myself, what am i working for, would i be satisifed if i earn a lot of money, should I slog it out for the next few years? Or should i find a way to start a small business and get the satisfaction of having your own business, may not earn a lot but well, more flexibility...

*Sigh* .... then again, life is about making choices ...

My place is coming into shape ... Yeah baby Yeah !

Yes, the island is coming up ... :) yeah ...

The bench in our cosy area.. nice right ..hee,hee..


My room has an interesting corner, it is actually rounded, if you look from the outside, it is actually a chimmney feature.. not sure why it was designed like that. Anyway, it is cool, so we built a platform on it ... becomes a miny cosy area... now all i need is nice big bean bags, any takers? ^^

Check out the lights shining against the "oreng" ceiling ... cool right ??? .. the more i know like it, the more it looks like a european styled loft .. haha .. I LIKE IT !!!!


Another angle of it .... ^ ^

Renovations coming along ... decent progress

A peek of my master room toilet ... :)


The laminate in the rooms ... the walls are in brown .. *WRONG COLOR* ... we were horrified to see it as we were expecting green actually.. then again, the color looked interesting .. didn't go down very well with the wife, so called the contractor ... "BROTHER !!!! .. how come like that ......... " ^^

Remember the ledge in the earlier post, up comes my circular window ... cool right? :) I LOVE IT big time .. heehehe... very unique.. like looking into a different world ... the other side is the study-converted cosy area .... cool right? ... don't pray pray .. ha ha

Glimpses of my super cool kitchen with all the "oreng" cabinets .. hahha ... it is turning out pretty well, if i might say so .. *bow*

Funky toilet ... Woo hoo

Peek-a-boo .. check out my kitchen toilet ... color not too bad right ? :)


A better view ... sorry for the plastic bag, the plumber wanted to protect the taps from being stained by the paintwork in the toilet .. :)

Renovations ... more.. more....

The balcony window ... ;) see while it last .. it won't be there forever. .



That's me .. taking a picture .. if you noticed that my hair is a weeeeee bit messy, the picture is taken in the morning and i just woke up .. hee,hee

The study room converted into a cosy area ... not bad right, this is only part 1 ... more to come ..

Check out the colors in my house .. Orange or "Orh-reng" as my contractor always says ...

So far, renovations is going great ... painful on the pockets ... ^^"

Renovation works

The guest room with the aircon piping boxed up .. initially i saw the pipe casing in the open . .wah kau ... hated it big time .. when i came back, it was boxed up .. phew... so not so bad .. :)


Our MBR (master bedroom) coming into form .. check out the overhead feature .. :)
We will be doing up our curved corner too .. (create some suspense first, hee,hee.. all i can say that it is nice) .. (^^)

We may not be selling Big Macs, but this doesn't stop us from getting our very own Golden Arches ... :) YEAH BABY YEAH !!! ...

The Golden Arch says: "Do you think i am sexy?? Yeah Baby Yeah !!! " .... ^^

another angle of the rooms ... starting to like the color a lot .. heehee. .

Hacking ... Part 2

The works are starting .. finally ..
First view of the kitchen area, with the wall hacked .. it looks so spacious now .. nice isn't it ..


the false ceiling coming into shape .. the ceiling really took a while to decide .. the initial quote was a bit on the high side .. so we told the contractor, "No lah! too expensive,.. we go with the normal L-box lor" ...

the contractor went like .. "No lah, i think whole night then came out with the design" .. ha.. he seem disappointed, guess what, the next day he came back and told us he will give us a SGD500 discount off the cost of the ceiling .. not too bad ya? :D

Hacking begins .... KA - BOOM !!!

Finally after waiting so long, we found our ID and after much ding-donging.. .. the hacking begins .... let the destruction begin ...

the most expensive part of the renov .... hacking and replacing the floor

The raw materials....

The sand used to mix with the cement ..

the kitchen .. without the cabinet ... the wall on the right has to go....

Beginnings .... (part 3)

Last set of pics :)


Guest room that was converted to a study room

Walk-in wardrobe. The doors are a bit too brown for me.

Entrance to the Master Bedroom

Master Bedroom .. notice that we have a curved corner .. which is something very different and interesting :)

Beginnings .... (part 2)

More photos of the old layout and furnishing

Balcony area

Ugly tiles on the balcony
Kitchen cabinet ... seems like country style was the in-thing a couple of years ago.. very light wood color ..

The dryer in the kitchen ... the previous owner was kind enough to give it to us ... we actually wanted the tvs too . .haha.... but the owner's parents wanted it .. hee! .. well, can't blame us for trying right? ^^

Service balcony .. the wall that separates the kitchen from the wet area .. don't really like it .. so will get rid of it .. (some drama on this .. which we will talk about later in the blog )