Finished Products

Finished up my bag just in time for our trip.  Took it out for a test drive today and it seemed to work pretty well. 

I used some leftover Ikea fabric

Really loving my gold zippers for some reason

A look at the inside

Proudly wearing my bag - ready for China!

Being the first one I made, it has a few flaws.  I would probably move the straps in a little more and use an adjustable strap next time, but I didn't have time to go out and find the hardware necessary for that this time.  I still managed to put too many things in it, so it was heavier than I had imagined....I'll blame it on all the change Andy dumps on me.  

Speaking of change,  I finished my beaded crocheted coin purse (or however you call it).  Can't seem to bring myself to actually use it...it looks so pretty just sitting here and I don't want to get it all dirty...

I picked up this hobby from a friend of mine in the lupus support group I go to each week.  She's really crafty and sells her handiwork at the hospital we volunteer at and then donates the proceeds to the Lupus Association.  I think I might give it a try as well and put this little bag up for sale.  Then I can use my hobbies for a good cause.

And on a completely unrelated note, tonight is taco night!  I splurged and got some tortillas....hard to believe they cost $6.50 (which is on sale!).  Tex Mex sure is a delicacy here.

Tomorrow we'll be off to China for vacation, or "on holiday" as they say here.  I'm super excited - hope things go smoothly.  Better dust off my Chinese cuz it will get some good use!  Alrighty, time to do some last minute packing.  I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures when I get back!  Zai jian!

Getting Ready

Well, I'm just about recovered from a pretty rough case of food poisoning.  Hopefully, my stomach will be fully recovered and extra-fortified because we're heading out for a trip to China in a few days!  It will be my first trip to China so I'm really excited to visit some friends and see the amazing sights of the land where my family came from. 

For my trip, I've been looking for a small crossbody bag to carry my essentials in.  I want to be able to carry a few items like a map, guide book, maybe a bottle of water, but not have to lug a big bag around.  Spending the past half a year navigating Singapore on foot has got me trying to cut down on the amount of things I carry around in my bag.  After a few hours of walking around, even the smallest amount of stuff can get rather heavy.  I did some shopping, but all I could find in my price range were some cheap knock-offs at the mall.  So, I am working on my own....

Just a sneak peek, it's still in the works...I picked up these awesome gold zippers from the Japanese $2 store (that place is fast becoming my 2nd favorite place to shop....right behind Ikea!)

Here are some other projects I've got going on:

A friend has got me hooked on crocheting - I'm working on a beaded crochet coin purse.

A few baby bibs and booties

Hopefully the bag will be a success....finished products to come shortly as I'm working on a deadline.

Singapore Zoo!

Last weekend, we took a trip up to the zoo to check out all the cool animals they've got there.  The exhibits were really well integrated and they gave visitors many chances to get up close with the animals.  First, we met the Orangutans.  My favorite was the little baby Orangutan who kept fooling around and couldn't sit still. So cute.

Orangutans like to suck their thumbs too

White tiger on the prowl

I couldn't resist taking a picture with these totem poles

We decided to sit in on the elephant show.  

Elephant walking on the log

Then the elephant proceeded to turn around on the log, while keeping all four legs on the log

The giant tortoise is bigger than the kid!

Then we walked into an enclosed area where there were birds, butterflies, giant bats, lemurs, and iguanas walking around freely.  Saw these guys up close:

Lemur or sloth hanging out

Iguana trying to scare us off

This guy was letting people pet him

Even though we don't have kids, we had a fun time acting like kids at the zoo.  I put up the rest of my pics in my flickr album so you can check them out here.

Melaka Getaway

This past weekend, we took a trip to Melaka, Malaysia.  Originally, we planned on going on the weekend of our anniversary, but we put off planning for too long and then couldn't find a hotel room because it was a school holiday weekend, so lots of people were travelling.  So we had to push it back a few weeks.

We got up early and caught a luxury bus from Singapore to the Melaka bus terminal.   It was a smooth ride, only 3.5 hours and very comfortable as the bus was a regular sized bus with only 29 seats.  We had plenty of leg room and could recline pretty far back.  Andy's long legs were happy.

Andy got us a nice room at the Holiday Inn with a view of the Melaka Straits.  He had used his points to get us a free room, but they made a mistake when assigning the room and we ended up with two single beds.  So, after some complaining, upon which he flashed his Platinum status (thanks to all those nights spent in Victoria last year), he got us upgraded to a nicer room with a water view that came with free breakfast.  After checking in, they brought us this welcome treat - fancy! 

Our view of the Melaka Straits and a mosque.

After some resting, we headed out to explore the sights of the town.  First, we stumbled upon the "Pimp My Rickshaw Contest" at the plaza.  There were all these rickshaws lined up with numbers and I guess they were being judged.  

This is one really souped up rickshaw.  You could rock out while riding the streets of Melaka.

One of the creepier rickshaws, decked out in.....barbie dolls.  Weird.

A muslim woman at A Famosa, the old Portuguese fort. 

The front side of A Famosa

The ruins of St. Paul's Church

A local school boy looking out the window of St. Paul's Church.

Me hanging out inside the church.

Just down the hill was Christ Church of Melaka, probably the most famous tourist sight of the town.  Of course we took a few pictures.

We also spent some time strolling down Jonker Street, which basically closed down at night and became one really long night market.  I picked up some cool leather bracelets for my sister for $1 a pop.  So cheap!

Jonker Street at twilight.

After dinner, we were zonked out and headed back to the hotel.  The heat and humidity can really be a killer here.  The next morning, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and headed out to the mall where I got my shopping fix in.  Stuff in Malaysia is so cheap!  At the mall, there was an archery store, so Andy and I gave it a try.  I even hit the bullseye on one of the targets - to which Andy remarked, "Were you actually aiming for that one?" Surprisingly, I was.  If you know me, I definitely have a lack of hand-eye coordination, I've even missed the cup when pouring water before...so I was really proud of myself.

Watch out Robin Hood, here come the Sokoliks!

After shopping and archery, we headed back to Jonker Street and had some Hainan Chicken and Rice Balls. It was pretty good, although I think I still prefer the Singaporean version with rice in a bowl.

This cost about US$4! So cheap.

So we basically spent a little over 24 hours in Melaka, but had a great time.  Getting back to Singapore was a bit of an adventure since we waited until we got to Melaka to buy tickets for the return and found that all buses back to Singapore were booked.  We then found ONE company that still had tickets to Johor Bahru, Malaysia, (which is right across the border from Singapore) and had to go there, then take the public buses back over to Singapore.  Took almost 6 hours to get home.....  

So, we got to celebrate our anniversary in style, a month late...but better late than never!  I posted the rest of my pictures in my flickr album so you can check them out here.