Sunday, September 9, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
It's Spring!
YAY! September 1st is the official 1st day of Spring!! Even though it was still cold and yucky and wet yesterday, today was gorgeous and the weather's starting to feel like it's turning... tourists will be here soon and I'll no doubt have more photos of that in a bit.
Johannesburg Part 2: More Pix!
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More pictures from Johannesburg! There are mine dumps dotted all over the city - you see them from the highways driving from suburb to suburb. They're starting to re-mine some of them again coz apparently the technology nowadays allows them to get more gold that slipped through from back in the day.
Tried to get as much greenery as I could in these pix to show the world's largest man-made forest... and even in Sandton, the new CBD (and richest area in Jozi - this is where the most carjackings takes place coz of all the nice cars in the area), the buildings aren't really that high and built-up, and it still feels very American-suburbia.
The township in the 2 photos here are on the highway turn-off into Sandton, and it's a nicer one coz the houses have proper walls and roofs, built by the government (not shacks made up of billboards/ zinc/ any recycled material people can get their hands on).
It was hot on the trip there this week and the suit on the job was driving our rented car with the windows rolled down. She thought I was mad when I kept saying "KEEP YOUR WINDOWS UP! LOCK THE DOORS! CARJACKERS CAN SPRAY MACE THROUGH THE CRACK IN THE WINDOW!" ... even though we were driving a crappy little Hyundai Getz... I am a kia-see Singaporean after all mah.
Windows Live Spaces
More pictures from Johannesburg! There are mine dumps dotted all over the city - you see them from the highways driving from suburb to suburb. They're starting to re-mine some of them again coz apparently the technology nowadays allows them to get more gold that slipped through from back in the day.
Tried to get as much greenery as I could in these pix to show the world's largest man-made forest... and even in Sandton, the new CBD (and richest area in Jozi - this is where the most carjackings takes place coz of all the nice cars in the area), the buildings aren't really that high and built-up, and it still feels very American-suburbia.
The township in the 2 photos here are on the highway turn-off into Sandton, and it's a nicer one coz the houses have proper walls and roofs, built by the government (not shacks made up of billboards/ zinc/ any recycled material people can get their hands on).
It was hot on the trip there this week and the suit on the job was driving our rented car with the windows rolled down. She thought I was mad when I kept saying "KEEP YOUR WINDOWS UP! LOCK THE DOORS! CARJACKERS CAN SPRAY MACE THROUGH THE CRACK IN THE WINDOW!" ... even though we were driving a crappy little Hyundai Getz... I am a kia-see Singaporean after all mah.
Windows Live Spaces
Healthy Breakfasts here
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In Singapore, my daily staple in the mornings would be fried bee hoon, nasi lemak or mee tai mak soup. And I used to wonder why Erik (my Dutch boss at the time) used to look at me like I was mad when I had chilli with my greasy Asian breakfasts. Things have changed quite a bit... would be nice if I could have some yu char kway or that famous greasy rice cake with chye poh on the top from Tiong Bahru market (forget what it's called now..)
These days, I either eat Oat Clusters with soy milk or Jungle Oats Energy Crunch (it's like muesli, but it's wheat-free & gluten-free). The BIG BIG BIG thing here for breakfast is oats. Everybody LOVES their oats in the morning - "low G.I. and good for your brain!" is what I've heard from no less than 3 people already. Jungle Oats ("proudly South African" it says on the box) is in practically everyone's kitchen larder (i don't like regular plain rolled oats - it's more Kelly's thing)... I think I'm just a sucker for its packaging with the Tiger on the box.
In Singapore, my daily staple in the mornings would be fried bee hoon, nasi lemak or mee tai mak soup. And I used to wonder why Erik (my Dutch boss at the time) used to look at me like I was mad when I had chilli with my greasy Asian breakfasts. Things have changed quite a bit... would be nice if I could have some yu char kway or that famous greasy rice cake with chye poh on the top from Tiong Bahru market (forget what it's called now..)
These days, I either eat Oat Clusters with soy milk or Jungle Oats Energy Crunch (it's like muesli, but it's wheat-free & gluten-free). The BIG BIG BIG thing here for breakfast is oats. Everybody LOVES their oats in the morning - "low G.I. and good for your brain!" is what I've heard from no less than 3 people already. Jungle Oats ("proudly South African" it says on the box) is in practically everyone's kitchen larder (i don't like regular plain rolled oats - it's more Kelly's thing)... I think I'm just a sucker for its packaging with the Tiger on the box.
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Charles & the Fire
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Gaye's cat, Charles, doesn't like the cold winter - she either curls up on your lap or sprawls out in front of the fire. Very cute!
Gaye's cat, Charles, doesn't like the cold winter - she either curls up on your lap or sprawls out in front of the fire. Very cute!
The Staircase
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So our apartment's nearly... almost... done. The silly built-in cupboards we've made have been standing there, without doors, for the last 3 months because of 1 screw up after another by 1 silly contractor after another. The doors finally were installed a few days ago, but to our dismay, the idiots screwed on most of the door handles SKEWED, some doors were missing the latch-catch thing on top (so they'd swing open slowly), AND!!! the bloody colour was a beige-y off-white (the rest of the cupboards are WHITE-WHITE). Back they go to the goondusamy contractor again. WAH LAO EH. It was really shocking workmanship to say the least.
The next big thing we're getting done in about 2 weeks is getting rid of the ugly staircase that goes up to the mezzanine floor. If you look closely, you'll see each step has a gimmicky cut-out bit on every alternating step. This not only looks ugly, but is also impractical and dangerous coz you have to waddle down the stairs with your legs wide apart, and if you miss a step you'd most probably go crashing down to the bottom. It takes quite a bit of foot-eye coordination. Whoever designed this ought to be shot. So we're removing the entire staircase and putting in a spiral (also helps to save a bit of space).
Found a metal workshop that does beautiful steel work, and we're getting a similar spiral they have in their workshop put in (they're designing us a sweeping balustrade that starts from the top where the study will be, which sweeps down around the stairs). It's gonna be quite a task - with cranes & winches to remove and transport heavy steel parts up & down the side of our building through the balcony. The whole apartment will be a mess for at least a week or 2 (we've been warned we can't use the kitchen nor the upstairs)... but I think it'll be worth the temporary disruption.
So our apartment's nearly... almost... done. The silly built-in cupboards we've made have been standing there, without doors, for the last 3 months because of 1 screw up after another by 1 silly contractor after another. The doors finally were installed a few days ago, but to our dismay, the idiots screwed on most of the door handles SKEWED, some doors were missing the latch-catch thing on top (so they'd swing open slowly), AND!!! the bloody colour was a beige-y off-white (the rest of the cupboards are WHITE-WHITE). Back they go to the goondusamy contractor again. WAH LAO EH. It was really shocking workmanship to say the least.
The next big thing we're getting done in about 2 weeks is getting rid of the ugly staircase that goes up to the mezzanine floor. If you look closely, you'll see each step has a gimmicky cut-out bit on every alternating step. This not only looks ugly, but is also impractical and dangerous coz you have to waddle down the stairs with your legs wide apart, and if you miss a step you'd most probably go crashing down to the bottom. It takes quite a bit of foot-eye coordination. Whoever designed this ought to be shot. So we're removing the entire staircase and putting in a spiral (also helps to save a bit of space).
Found a metal workshop that does beautiful steel work, and we're getting a similar spiral they have in their workshop put in (they're designing us a sweeping balustrade that starts from the top where the study will be, which sweeps down around the stairs). It's gonna be quite a task - with cranes & winches to remove and transport heavy steel parts up & down the side of our building through the balcony. The whole apartment will be a mess for at least a week or 2 (we've been warned we can't use the kitchen nor the upstairs)... but I think it'll be worth the temporary disruption.
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