24th October 2006 - Underwater World and Pink Dolphin Lagoon

During the Hari Raya holiday on 24th Oct (Tue), I had to go back to my lab for the morning, so Clint and I could only hang out in the afternoon. We wanted to visit Kusu Island, but somehow it didn't work out and we went to Sentosa's Underwater World instead. It's all good. We had a great time. The underwater world has been around for ages but I have never been there.And pink dolphins! Man! They are so special....

6th Oct 1006 - Mooncake Festival

This year, I celebrated Mooncake festival at Esplanade. It's my mum's suggestion but I thought it seems great, so we decided to check it out. There was cultural performances by Chinese Orchestra, Chinese dance groups, taichi demonstration and among all these, I like the lantern parade the best! There was a big group of people carrying lanterns of all colors and shapes, walking around the Esplanade.The kids look so happy! We brought some mooncake and ate them under the beautiful full moon.

30th Sept 2006 - Malay Festival

One day after visiting the Lantern Festern in celebration on Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, Clint and I visited the Hari Raya Fair/Market in Geylang Serai. This year, Mid-Autumn Festival, Hari Raya Haji and Deevapali (Indian's Light Festival) fall within the same month! The 3 major ethnic groups in Singapore are all in festive celebration!

The Malays make up about 18% of Singapore's population. Hari Raya is their biggest festival, and resembles Chinese New Year. It's the festival they pay respect to their elderly and give thanks. There's a lot of feasting, visiting relatives, and wearing new clothes.

Geylang Serai puts up a Hari Ray Fair every year, so people can shop for their festive needs and to build up the festive atmosphere.

29th Sept 2006 - Lantern Festival

After work on the 29th Sept (Fri), Clint and I went to the Lantern Festival in Chinese Garden, with a few colleagues of mine, as well as their spouses.

Every year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival period, Chinese Garden will put in beautiful lantern displays. Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as mooncake festival, is on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar calendar. It is believed that this is the day of every year when the moon is the fullest. This year, it falls on 6th October.

28th Sept 2006 - Starlight Cinema

Nokia Starlight Cinema is an annual event in Singapore, whereby an outdoor cinema is set up to screen different movies every night for 2 weeks.

On the 28th Sept, Clint and I went to catch "Just like Heaven". Thursdays are Ladies Night, hence I enjoyed free admission. That meant, S$15 for the both of us.

The location was great, the ambience was perfect and the quality of the movie projection was pretty good too! We were there 1.5 hours before the movie started to get a place with a good view and to have picnic dinner.

17th & 19th Sept 2006 - Beach and Restaurant

On 17th Sept (Sat), Clint and I spent an evening on the beach in Sentosa. We swam in the water, had a picnic dinner and just sat on the beach to watch people, chit chat....and look at the roaming peacocks, including an albino one!






On the 19th Sept (Mon), we decided to have dinner at a fancy restaurant called
Equinox. It's on the 72nd storey of the tallest hotel in Singapore, Swissotel Stamford. The food was not fantastic for the price we had to pay, but the view was gorgeous!

1st & 2nd Sep - Dance Synergy Concert...."Destiny"

2 weeks after I returned from my trip to USA, I danced in a concert with NUS Dance Synergy, the dance group I was with during my undergrad days.

My disappearance from 3 weeks of rehearsals or 8 sessions, annoyed my dance instructor/choreographer. I was afraid I might be kicked out of the concert, but fortunately, I was able to catch up with the others and he didn't pursue the matter. Phew...





The concert was a great success, the second night being better than the first. I danced in a total of 4 items. It was very tiring, but I had fun.

4th - 19th August 2006: US trip

This trip was to visit my friends / ex-coworkers in the bay area (I do miss them so), visit universities (planning to do grad school) and to visit Clint's parents in Holliston, MA.

I had a lot of fun although there was too much rushing around. I guess that was necessary to do the most things within our limited amount of time......2 weeks.

The trip started with a camping trip in Yosemite with a few friends from the bay area, and one from Singapore. Pauline arrived in Yosemite a few days before us and we met up there.




The day after we returned from Yosemite, Clint and I headed for Boston, MA. We arrived pretty late at night. Clint's parents picked us up from a Greyhound bus terminal near their place and we went straight to their house in Holliston.



The morning after we arrived, I was given a tour of the house.....






And Clint's dad's machine shop....



Clint and I also went to Portland, Maine, to visit his little sister. Roz and her fiance, Dana, showed us around.






Of course, I was also given a city tour in Boston.






The day before we returned to California, Clint and I spent an enjoyable day in Provincetown, which is 2 hours from Boston by fast-ferry.





Back in the Bay area, I visited Cerus and had lunch with Immunology group people.



On the same day Clint and I hosted a East Bay Newcomers dinner in Walnut Creek. The turnout was great! About 20 people showed up (I consider that a lot, although about 10 others who replied to my evite with a "Yes" didn't show up). We ate at an Indian restaurant called "Breads of India"





Yup, so I guess that was about all the exciting things I did during this trip. Our trip with a dinner in Berkeley with friends mostly those whom we haven't had a chance to meet up. From there, Clint and I went to SFO to catch our midnight flight back to Singapore.