Acres Annual Dinner

Two years ago while browsing through articles on animal welfare, I chanced upon an organization called Acres which was started by a young group a people who had a passion for protecting endangered animals.

At last year's dinner, I found out that they were planning to build a shelter for some of the rescued animals. Yesterday, at their 8th annual dinner, I was informed by one of the directors that the shelter has been built and they were just completing the legal paperwork.

I have been under the weather recently and yesterday was my first social night out after a long time. Thank goodness the dinner was all vegetarian (no animals was killed :)) as my appetite wasn't that great. I hope that when I am better, I'll be able to visit the shelter.

For more on acres, pls. visit their website : http://www.acres.org.sg/

'Chicken A La Carte'

This was sent to me as a reminder to count our blessings in life:

http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/1081/Chicken-a-la-Carte

Good Friday

Music on Good Friday

It's good Friday!! Happy Good Friday to all. Found out from some overseas colleagues, not everyone has a day off on Good Friday.
Some celebrate Easter on Sunday, some on Monday and on different dates. How
interesting!

It looks like it is going to rain over at my place so we are currently staying indoors. Turned on my TV box and heard Jason Mraz singing
"I'm Yours". Not sure what I am watching but it has a backdrop with the words 'NOBEL'. And the songs, one after another has been great! Taking a phrase from a song that is playing now, "It's Beautiful". I think the show has something to do with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking of music, Adam Lambert had another great week on
American Idol with the song 'Mad World'. The way he used the stage, the chair, the lighting has been well thought out. It was magical!

I'm so glad I'll be attending the Musical 'Catz' this weekend.
It will just be the right thing to feed my musical soul. Can't wait.....

Happy April Fool's Day!!

I couldn't wait for the digit to change. When it was finally 00:00, I launched my attack. Shouted loudly at a corner claiming there's a huge lizard. My husband reluctantly opened his eyes to check. His sister came running and I shouted "Happy April Fool's Day!!" and burst out laughing. How lame... I know but I just couldn't break the tradition. Been doing this every year.

*****************

I know I'm in for it. For today, I have to be very cautious. The other time I had a good laugh was when I told my mum there's a hole in the netting. She hunted high and low for the hole (in the middle of the night) before I finally told her it's April Fool's Day. But she was such a sport. Not sure if I would be such as nice... :P I think I would sulk for a while... haha...

********************

Anyway, Happy April Fool's Day to all the 'fools' out there who took the trouble to fool others... :)

Adjusting the hours to photo viewing

For the past 3 weeks, adjusting my watch to the local time of Holland, Hungary, Russia & Singapore seems like my past time hobby. Thankfully, Malaysia & Singapore is in the same time zone. That was the easy part. It was my body clock that was facing difficulty to wind & unwind. I would wake up at 4 am every night when I started travelling and now, have problems falling asleep. So what do I do? Arrange my photos... :D

Here's a peek into MY TRAVEL DIARY:

Arriving at Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam for my 5 hour transit

Sightseeing around Budapest:

I think this is the famous Fisherman Bastion:

To the freezing Lake Balaton (Europe's largest lake or so they say):

Back to Budapest:

Not sure if this is where Sophie got hitched or it is a bath house:

Famous St. Basilika Church:

Duna river that separates Buda & Pest:

Arriving in Moscow.

From what I gather from the taxi driver who speaks little English, this is the building for the ministers:

Exploring the city through the city rails:

Magnificent RED SQUARE:

Where Lenin rests:

Beautiful St. Basil:

St. Basil during the day:


And Back to Home!

It's Good To Be Home

Hah, I'm finally home after many flights and across many countries. Landing in Moscow with snow everywhere was an experience. Many must have felt the same as sounds of hands clapping could be heard as we landed.

The immigration was something I found a little intimidating as a lot of bulky man speaking in foreign language were pushing their way through. Somehow managing to exit, it was snowing everywhere.

The trains were also packed and I was rather unfortunate (or maybe fortunate to witness this) to be right in the middle of a brawl. It could also be a scam to pick my pockets. But many locals swear that the trains are safe. Though not speaking their language, I somehow managed to get to my destination with the help of many of the locals and a map. Many of the train stations are interestingly decorated.

And what a sight it was when I reached Red Square. It was spectacular to put it simply. Even in the cold, I could just stand there admiring the buildings. Magnificent! Kremlin square was large and St. Basil is everything I have expected of it. You have to go there to see how beautiful it is.
Throughout my stay, I noticed that all around, the buildings were impressive.

However, going home was another problem. No one seems to speak English at the airport and everything was in Russian. But the level of safety check were high. I had to go through a machine that scanned my body.

And now, I will have to adjust my body clock again.... ;)

Before Dreams

Moved from Szekes to Budapest today. *Yawn*. Am very sleepy but the whole hotel vibrates every now & then. I know there's a rail below this hotel thus I presume the vibration will stop in an hour or so when the train service stops. I wonder if I feel it more because I'm on the top floor? There's also the random sirens on the main street that I have to deal with. Total opposite of Szekes where it was really quiet at night. Nonetheless, Budapest is a beautiful city. The buildings are gorgeous.

I also learned that every calender day celebrates a Hungarian name. For example, last friday was Akos day. Some names have more days to them, like Maria. Other popular Hungarian names I came to know are Istvan, Gabor and Atilla.

And tomorrow, I'm off to another place...

Greetings from Hungary

Been here for a week and learned some things from here. Found out that 'Kusonum' is thank you, 'ackcio' is sale and so on. Also, found out that beef stomach is a dish that some Hungarians enjoy. Hmm, I thought it was only found in Asia.

Another interesting observation was that Hungarians say 'hello' even when it was the end of a meeting, whereby I would usually say 'Goodbye'. Initially, I thought 'yelo' was a Hungarian word for 'Goodbye'. :)

It was also mentioned to me that Szekesfehervar, where I am at now, used to be the capital of Hungary before Budapest.

Finally, I found Hungarian men tend to open doors for ladies and wait for us to go through first.

Signing off, 'Hello'