Summing up '14. ▲

hello!

another year has gone by, and it's time to welcome yet another year.

goodbye 2014, hello 2015!

2014 has been one of the best years i've had throughout my 16 years of existence. it has been a rollercoaster of emotions, a journey of discovery and a stressful yet productive period of time where i learnt to push my limits and uncover my true self and capabilities. 

here are 5 significant moments in 2014 that i will truly treasure forever. 

(not in any order though)

1 ; primary school clique gathering 

after 4 long years of being away from one another, we finally got a chance to meetup. we met at sengkang in the morning and trained to jcube for lunch and iceskating. to be very honest, we wanted a successful turnout of at least half the class but it turned out to just the four of us, close friends out on a small adventure. i learnt how to iceskate thanks to wenxuan. after that, we went to a railway near rail mall for a photoshoot session before heading for dinner and ending the day with a long, heart to heart catchup at a secluded area. it truly brought back many primary school memories while we were chatting. it's amazing what friendship can do, to be able to come back as though we never left one another's side through these 4 long years. im truly thankful to have friends that still stay true friends after such a long time. thank you to benjamin, wenxuan & liting for being some of the coolest and most amazing friends anyone can ever have.

w/ benjamin

(my bro since primary 6)

group photo in front of the breathtaking scene of the abandon railway tracks.

after iceskating session with the squad

(wenxuan, liting, benjaming)

#ootd

group/squad/clique/teammts

friends forever. 

we iceskate cause we kool

(wenxuan, liting)

being a kid.

so hard to balance

(wenxuan, liting)

love you guys to the moon and back.

2 ; prom

i think this is an obvious one. every little girl wants to have the chance to experience a fairytale prom at least once in their lifetime right? well, i know that that's true for me. i've been excited for prom ever since it was brought up by the principal in 2013! prom was a magical day (Even though i didnt have a date etc) it was a fun night, pictures, events, food etc. well, i blogged about it haha (here) it was one last chance for us to be with our classes before we go our separate ways in celebration of the end of the major exams. everyone was dolled up for the event and i will never forget the whole process of getting ready for prom to actually being there at prom. im thankful for our school for letting us have such an amazing prom night. 

3 ; Olevels

you only take olevels once in your life (usually). and i finally understood the importance of olevels this year. therefore my increase in focus to do well for it. i will never forget the amount of effort and hardwork that i put into this national exam. because of the drive that kept me going, leading up to the olevels, i did amazingly well throughout my upper secondary school years. i will never forget how much i invested into doing well for my examinations. i truly pushed my limits by sacrificing sleep and entertainment to purely focus on my studies. i look back and this will always give me that motivation, knowing that i'm able to accomplish anything if i put my mind to it. thank you to all the teachers and friends that never fail to support and motivate me to achieve my best through these years. this is one of the life lessons that i've taken away from 2014. 

(i blogged about olevels here)

4 ; my grandfather's passing.

i'm 16 years old and i've never experienced being at a funeral or watching someone leave this earth with no return, until a week before olevels. i remember vividly that my grandfather's health condition was constantly wavering throughout the week and my emotions were very unstable, crying and being really antisocial in class. i didnt know how to react when my dad told me that my grandfather was going to take his last breath, and we were going to be there to watch his heartbeat go dead. i cried, i was the closest to him out of all his grandchildren and i couldnt bear for him to leave. i am grateful and thankful that i was there when he was leaving. i saw him take his last breath. the funeral wake was a disaster. it took me a full week to process the whole incident. i stood by the coffin day and night, talking to him, not believing that he was really gone. i remember not sleeping for the 3 days of the wake, just staying by his side, talking. i would look at his picture in the frame and still could not bring myself to believe that he was really gone. even after the cremation ceremony, i thought the whole thing was one long and horrible nightmare. i couldnt concentrate for a full week and it really threw me off my train of thought. however, this taught me that life is precious and we should spend time with our love ones while we can. people come and go, it's nature. we never know when someone will go, so if you have things to tell, do it while you can. my grandfather left when i still had loads to talk to him about. rest in peace, 爷爷.

(blogged about his passing here)

5 ; graduation.

graduation always causes me to think about my schooling years. i am very thankful for being in an amazing class with such amazing personalities that made studying fun! graduation reminded me of how far i actually came since i stepped into edgefield secondary 4years ago. ive grown so much throughout the years. i've become more matured, more responsible and definitely more decisive (i realised) i've never studied as hard as i did before i came to upper secondary and the teachers that taught me must be applauded for this amazing feat. im thankful for all the care that the teachers have showed towards me throughout the years, never giving up on me and showing me that anything is possible. now that i've graduated, it's another milestone completed. through this journey, ive found friends that truly understand me and accept me for who i am. im grateful for people like cm, sherman, vivian, xueying, weicheng, cheeyin, khengwuo, damien etc who have made an impact in my life, be it as a person or otherwise. thank you.

(grad post here)

now that 2014 has ended, i'll welcome 2015 with open arms as i anticipate the next chapter of my life. im excited to start school in a new environment, inching another step closer to adulthood. im thankful for a wonderful 2014, may 2015 be in my favour.

happy new year!

thanks for 2014!

Bangkok '14. ▲

hello!

I just got home from 6 amazing days in bangkok, thailand! the shopping, food and transport were crazy cheap and being the shopaholic i am, i went crazy over the insanely cheap prices. the whole experience was different from the first trip to bangkok 2 years ago. i'll be back really soon! 

but in the meantime, 

here's my trip to bangkok from 4/12 to 9/12. 

excuse the photo spams haha.

day 1 (4/12) 

we left sg (changi terminal 2) at 5:35pm sg & reached bkk (dmk airport) at 7:05pm bkk after a short yet tiring flight. there was a long queue at the airport to get a taxi and we waited for about an hour before it was our turn to board the taxis. we had to take two separate taxis and both groups (me&daddy and mummy&daphne&effie) got cheated by at least $10 in all from taxis. it was already 10pm bkk / 11pm sg time and we walked 15mins to 'home kitchen' for a late dinner which encompassed tom yam soup, olive fried rice, vegetables, fried egg & two thai desserts that i couldnt pronounce or have the knowledge on its spelling. after that, we returned to the hotel at about 12am bkk and did a brief planning of the following day before we called it a day.

before the flight from changi to dmk.

me&daddy.

idk what im doing.

my new bff.

in the plane towards dmk ;

mummy , effie , daphne.

our hotel ; courtyard marriott ; 

the desk area (?)

living/bedroom.

my two sisters' messy bed.

the bathroom (duh)

day2 (5/12) 

left hotel at 9am bkk and started our way down an alley near our hotel in search of breakfast. we stopped by the bts station (similar to mrt station) to confirm our directions and my mum bought a cup of thai milk tea at a side store for about 35bht (less than S$2) and it was amazing. the cup & the take-away bag was so pretty and the drink was outofthisworld. 

you have to try this omg.

anyway, first stop was mbk centre. otw there we stumbled upon snoopy paradise and we started taking photos HAHA my dad even took selfies. 

excuse my hair HAHA

elephant & i.

we got cookies that smelled like pandan or something like that, from a side store along an alley for 20bht a pack and it was so worth it haha. before heading there, we stopped by a plaza opposite platinum and walked around. it was like a second platitnum and my mum spent 800bht straightaway. we also went to a nearby swensons and the sundaes were surprisingly cheap omg. i got myself an 'american tower' for just 75bht. before taking the bts to our destination, we walked around yet another mall (forgot the name). we finally got on the bts towards mbk at about 2pm bkk. upon arrival around 2:30pm bkk we walked around before having lunch at The Fifth Food Avenue in mbk. 

cookies that smelled like pandan(?)

'american tower' 

bts. (mrt in bangkok)

fifth food avenue in mbk.

some random teddy in mbk.

idk in mbk.

we then went to the hypermart to get some snacks and drinks. there were cup noodles in the flavour of 'spicy cheese' haha. so we got some because of its unique nature. aftermath, we trained to the thailand cultural centre and took a short shuttle bus trip to the siam niramit show. it was a 2hour long show that depicted the evolution of thailand's culture and belief. its was definitely breathtaking and exciting and i was kept at the edge of my seat the entire time. the stage is officially recorded in the guiness book of records as the tallest stage in the world. some parts of the show that really caught my attention were the performance of life in hell & heaven. it is a mustwatch if you were to visit bangkok. it was already closing on to 9:45pm bkk (10:45pm sg) and so we made our way back to the hotel by train. had a short skype call with cm & wc upon reaching the hotel before showering and calling it a day. 

me & daphne.

my ticket to siam niramit!!

selfie heh

see! they hold a world record!

lights!!!

elephants!!

selfieeee

day3 (6/12)

we left the hotel at about 9am bkk and started off towards chatuchak (weekend market) via the bts. it was a short ride to the last stop of the bts where we walked down and into the busy and noisy market. i spent a total of 700bht within the first hour. (the shopaholic in me) we ate alot of streetside food and we stopped at a store along the alley of the market to get lunch. saying that, it was a really really productive shopping trip! i bought 16 items for ONLY 1340bht (about SG$54) so everything was an average of SG$3 omg what a steal. after walking chatuchak for about 8hours, we took the bts back towards siam paragon for dinner. 

thai milk tea at road side store in chatuchak.

chatuchak.

me being fab.

with the two sisters.

cause bored.

we went to a restaurant called 'cafe chilli' for dinner. it was really nice but the food was so spicy though. before going back to our hotel, we made a trip to the supermarket in siam paragon to get some snacks. upon reaching the hotel, i had a short skype session with weicheng & chunmun. it may sound chiche but i kinda miss the guys despite going out with them a day before departing from singapore. after about an hour long skype session, i called it a day. 

menu (ft my dad's phone)

exterior.

they have damn pretty drinks lor.

(lemon grass juice)

fried chicken & duck larb.

papaya salad.

chicken & others.

OH THIS WAS DAMN NICE 

the everpopular tomyam soup.

interior.

day4 (7/12) 
we left the hotel at about 9am bkk and walked to platinum zone 1&2. we walked around the last floor which sold accessories and such and i quickly spent way too much money on solely accessories. before all of us could spend more, we went to have lunch before continuing on to look at the apparels. i spent over 3000baht on over 30 apparels and i was so proud of myself. i wanted to continue on but my family was dead tired and hungry, so we left at about 6pm bkk and went to a streetside store for dinner. then, we went back to the hotel and called it a day. 

me & daphne.

side store.

with effie.

ootd.

in the tuktuk.

with daddyy.

@ roadside store for dinner.

day5 (8/12) 

we left the hotel at about 9am bkk and headed straight to the bts station after having breakfast at a roadside store. we took the bts towards the station where we could take a boat to the grand palace. we took a dragontail boat to the grand palace and it was damn fun. the 15mins ride left us at a busy and crowded grand palace doors. we walked around for about 3hours looking at every sector of the area under the beating hot sun. (not much to say about the palace) aftermath, we took the same boat to chinatown where we walked around the crowded place till we got to a place known as T&K for lunch (it was 4:41 bkk). then, we went to siam centre & siam paragon to walk around for a brief moment before going back to the hotel. it was great because my fatigue recovered after chunmun's sudden and unexpected whatsapp message that led to a funfilled night of us just spouting nonsense to each other. (bestfriends for lyfe) i had a great sleep that night just because i had an awesome second last day in bangkok.

ootd to palace. 

bts stations.

w/ daphne.

it was a good day to ootd.

MY NEW FRIEND

like i said, it was a good day.

in the boat with daphne & daddy.

horses at the main gate.

day6 (9/12)

we woke up at about 8am bkk and packed all our luggage & bags for check out. we checked out at about 10am bkk and headed to a roadside store, madamekrok thai food, for breakfast. we then walked a distance for our last trip to platinum before going back to sg at 8pm bkk tonight. 

w/ daphne.

madamekrok thai food.

pad thai.

tom yam.

fried rice.

chicken.

w/ daphne (again)

w/ effie.

menu @ madamekrok.

papaya salad.

fam selfie.

w/ daphne omg stahp

exterior.

i spent another few 100bht at platinum zone3 before we walked over to BigC Supermarket. we visited the supermarket there. it reminded me alot of the lotte mall in korea, brought back fond memories. we had our last meal in bangkok @ MK in BigC Supermarket. it was a steamboat restaurant that was supposedly good. after that, we made our way back to the hotel to pick up our luggages and took a taxi towards dmk airport. the taxi ride from the hotel to dmk was almost an hour long due to the jam along the expressway. we reached the hotel at about 7:05pm bkk and we had to rush through the whole process as boarding time was 7:35pm bkk. the plane finally took off towards singapore at 8:15pm bkk.

awkward ootd

w/ daphne & daddy

for the steamboat.

steamboat @ MK.

oh gosh the meat there was amazing

steamboatt

MK's cute mascot.

and they had huge drinks.

steamboat.

@ MK.

bye bangkok // hello singapore.

so that was my trip to bangkok!! i had a blast despite spending so much money on shopping. i got so many new clothes and even new shoes & accessories etc. i'll miss platinum & the weekend market the most, i'll definitely miss the nice and friendly people there. thank you bangkok for another fun and cheerful visit there! i'll be back soon!