Here are pictures from 2 of my 5 overseas trips done in April!!
First it was Gillian's 30th bdae so she invited Mike and I and a buncha her friends to go to Bintan for the weekend. Awesome company! It was super fun hanging out with them and having a shiok villa with its own pool :)
I didn't take much pictures though coz I didn't feel like "working". Also coz I didn't bother to put make up. Fucking lazy when you go to beach resorts. And Gillian also didn't film anything for the same reason! LOL WTH hobby become work.
Here's our food at Rin, the Japanese restaurant. The food was a-ok but nothing fantastic and a bit too overpriced.
Awesome view but no aircon.
From left: G, with her newly bought LX3 (I almost went to buy for her for her birthday luckily I didn't yet), G's hubby Bryan, waiter, G's best friend Ying and Pat with her super tall hair.
G discovering how to take artsy photos thanks to moi
Cheesie must love this place
Mike's prawn thingy
My cod fish. Yums!
Our resort (Indra Maya) actually has a MINI ZOO in it! *shocked max*
Colourful headed bird
CROCODILES!!!!!!!! I'd love to toss people I don't like inside
Would make a great bag
Bryan, G and Pat in their buggy.
Fucking joker lah this Bryan kept refusing to charge their buggy, saying won't run out of battery one lah and in the end it did so everyone (non inclusive of me coz I was doing a hair spa HENG AH) had to push the buggy up a hill.
G was sitting in the back seat while Mike was pushing (and Bryan comically putting on foot on the accelerator and other food pedalling) so G felt really bad seeing Mike do the all pushing while she was extra weight.
And she made the decision to hop down of the buggy to help but it was moving faster than she thought it was and she fell, face down, sprawled starfish style, on the ground. For a while everyone was like "What?" while she was left behind on the ground yelling "I'm ok!"
AHAHAHAHA She bruised her hip a bit but it's great entertainment! Even though I wasn't there to see it's still funny. Sorry G.
And the Ah kuas wanted to do Banana Boat, which I have never tried before in my life. I had lash extensions on and didn't wanna fall into the sea so I didn't wanna do it, but they all assured me that banana boats are very secure and would never capsize so I agreed.
IT IS A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Banana boats capsize ALL THE TIME and it is the highlight of the activity!!! Yes I never knew this until the trip! CCB the locals pulling our banana with their speedboat even asked, "Capsize?" and stupid Bryan said yes!!
I broke like 25 fingernails, drank 2 gallons of sea water through my nose and had my lashes soaked with sea water. Thanks ah guys, never believing you all again!!
But ok lah still quite fun I guess. Next time I'd hold my breath falling in and wear goggles. Although I don't really see the fun in the capsizing!
Rozzie joined us the second day. She knows Bintan damn well lor wtf
Over photoshopped photo of me
Rozz.
And that concludes the Bintan trip!!!!
Next G and I go to Georgia to attend a conference where we gave a talk to the local Georgians about Internet TV!
This is the Georgia in Europe and not USA btw. It is not that tainted by tourism especially from Asia so I'd say it's a real eye opener!! Also confirm very few people in Singapore have the Georgian stamp on the passport. This means I am very worldly!! HAHAHA
Thanks to Mari and Singular Group who organised this awesome trip for G and I and the amount of care taken to accommodate our every need. :)
We had to transit at Istanbul's airport for 7 hours...
Here's G trying to order Kebabs coz she said must try local food...
Awww chicken is sold out and she doesn't want lamb...
And I had Burger King. Check it out:
Nothing special? Look again:
A TRIPLE WHOPPER WITH A MEAL IS 28 Lira!!! You know how much this is in SGD?
$24!
$24 can buy a plate of awesome crabmeat linguine (almost it's $26)!
Fucking hell! Their cow made of gold ah so expensive!!
Mad cheated I ordered a hashbrown (medium) and chicken drumlets (six) and a small coke for $16 sgd!
I didn't know it was so expensive lor. Worst fast food meal ever.
Mari and Mamuka picked us up from the airport and we arrived at our hotel in Tbilisi, Georgia.
G snapping pics
Weather was perfect, like aircon temperature but bathed in golden sunshine.
Staircase to our rooms
Here's Gillian giving her very, very detailed talk before me. She had like a zillion slides and super a lot of statistics and sounded mad pro. I'm angry with her. She only did her slides the day before (or so she said) and why so pro one????? She's like those irritating classmates in school last time who always say they never study but secretly they studied damn a lot of score damn high.
In constrast I had, erm, 7 slides and yabbered only opinions with no basis and filled up most of my talk by showing the Georgians the best Youtube videos.
Still. I think they enjoyed it and hopefully learnt stuff. *embarrassed face* Next time I'd work harder on speeches!
BTW I wasn't afraid at all to talk in front of so many people like I used to be so I think I conquered stage fright. Or it could be that I didn't know the Georgians I guess.
Here's the audience, looking pretty serious.
They lightened up a lot towards the end when we showed them Hutch kissing a grandma in Numbnuts HAHAHAHA
Mari giving her speech. I had no idea what she spoke about how it was in Georgian (it is a language unique to Georgia and one of the 14 alphabets systems in the world or something so the Georgians are major proud of it).
Actually I heard some of her speech coz there was this AWESOME TRANSLATOR who amazingly translated Georgian to English and vice versa WHILE the speakers were speaking. I don't know how the hell she does that.
Camwhoring while listening to Mari's speech in English
After Mari was my turn but first lunch!
Gillian mad loves Georgian food and the Georgians themselves are super passionate about their food too!
It's super weird coz their food is either very unhealthy or very healthy.
Me with Georgian fries and fried chicken fillets. OMG I purposely chose a seat next to the fries coz it is SO FUCKING AWESOME and I don't know how the hell they do it!! Very yellow and super duper yummeh!! I think it's coz it's fried fresh and not frozen.
Behind the fries are salads (Very healthy) and Khachapuri (pizza-looking thing, very unhealthy).
Now the Georgians LOVE AND ADORE the khachapuri. It is like our rice is to them. Every single meal G and I hear the Georgians discussing in Georgian what to order and they always excitedly talk about khachapuri!
It is kinda like a mixture of cheese prata and cheese pizza... The most commonly eaten khachapuri I've seen has cheese stuffed on the inside, cheese on the top and is glazed with butter. Very yums but sinful!
Gillian is a big fan of all the salads. Not me I don't like my food cold!
The favourite thing I ate in Georgia was this creamy chicken thing where they cook their chicken in this fucking delicious garlic cream sauce omg yums. And their fries.
My damn cute stockings. From topshop!
Empty conference hall during lunch... I sneaked back to prepare my presentation.
G working hard
Mari and I!! xoxoxo
She is damn cute she is super excitable about everything and would camwhore non-stop even worse than me!!
There I am, frilly little thing in the distance giving a serious talk -_-
This is the clearest photo G took of me. The rest all blur. So lousy out check out the photos I took of HER:
SEE SO ARTSY!
Granted she is gesticulating in a very weird manner but that's beyond my photography skills if she wants to look funny.
Menu in Georgian
Here's the director of Singular (left, I forgot his name sorry Georgian names are confusing to me!!) and Mamuka.
Cute photo coz Mamuka is normally quite serious lol
And btw the director is only freaking 21 or something. These Georgians are a really smart bunch!
Me posing with the toilet sign
Look at their trademark tomato + cucumber salad! SO MUCH CILANTRO/CHINESE PARSLEY ON IT MAKES ME WANNA DIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
When I told a sadfaced Mari that I am sorry I can't eat the salad (which she was hoping that I liked) coz I don't eat parsley, she was so confused and was like, "You mean the stuff on top?" coz the Georgians don't call it parsley.
They call it "Greens". -_- And quizzically Mari told me that she has never encountered anyone who doesn't like "greens" and that everyone loves it. HOW CAN IT BE THEY ARE SO HORRIBLE MAX!!!!!!
Turkish kebab in front (special order no "greens" in it for me) and Khinkali (dumplings) at the back.
The Georgians also really love their Khinkali which is almost exactly like a giant xiao long bao!
The skin is thicker than xlbs and the inside consists of pork + beef and also oozes soup! And it's so cute coz the top of the khinkali is too thick to be eaten so you can count the stumps on everyone's plate to see how many they ate!
Unfortunately this also consists parsley so I had only half before I gave up.
Georgian fries mad awesome. OK I googled. This variety of fries is called "Fresh-cut fries" and are fried using fresh potatoes. And it's very hard to get right!
Inside of a Khinkali
Twilight in Georgian! Now terrorizing tweens in 37 languages.
This is a bookstore cafe and it looks like something straight out of a storybook. Most of Georgia is very quaint and beautiful like that. :)
Put yellow flowers into G's otherwise boring camera bag...
We drove up a hill to a gorgeous church and it was so breathtaking up there...
Camwhoring attempt one: Fail coz got dustbin behind
Camwhoring attempt two: Slight win got scenery behind
Camwhoring attempt three: Super win got castle behind!!!!!
G and Mari
Tbilisi
You may think these 3 photos are the same and therefore pointless but they chronicalize Gillian's precarious descent down the slope while filming at the same time.
Ancient church. Super a lot of weddings here!
Mari
Gorgeous tree with pink flowers
Mari camwhores with it
Another church
Even the non religious can appreciate the beauty :)
And food again! It was the birthday of two of Singular's members
Woah a real old school bakery! I've never seen this before... It's like a well that goes deep into the ground and the bottom is filled with burning coals.
The baker, using 2 long prongs, slap the raw dough onto the SIDE of the walls of that well-like thingy (I'm sure it has a name wtf) and it is supposed to STICK there and turn golden brown.
The smells are amazing.
Mari says if your bread falls into the depths onto the coals below you are considered a lousy baker.
Mari and birthday boy 1 who is the designer in Singular.
Birthday boy 2 (director celebrating his 21st birthday fml I'm so mad old there) with his fiancee (18 or 19 fml x 2) sitting next to him. They look like Adrian Brody and Heather Graham respectively I swear.
One more pic
Me and G who always looks so chio despite not wearing make up the world is not fair FML X 3.
Mari captioned this on facebook as "Brunette. Blonde. Redhead."
Very popular drink in Georgia... Like a sweet soda that comes in Pear (my favourite), lemon (not bad) and Terragon (!!! Like mouthwash).
They are all called "Lemonade".
Ornament carrying the bread that's freshly baked and a glimpse of the terragon flavoured lemonade, which is a poisonous green.
This is apparently the least popular flavour so if you don't specify which flavour of lemonade you want they will confirm give you terragon.
More parsley fml X 5
The night before our flight home, Tbilisi had FIREWORKS!! Unfuck my life
Beautiful. It was like the world was trying to please us or something. :)
Georgia was fun. It was NOTHING like I've ever seen before and their country has so much history and unique culture! The people were friendly and generous with their hospitality too. I only don't like the "greens"!
Didn't take that much pics in Georgia either coz most of the interesting stuff will be coming out in the next episode of Guide to Life so be sure to stay tuned to CLICKNETWORK!
One day after we got home Istanbul airport was closed down due to the volcano. UFML X 100,000,000
