And we continue on my journey of randomness through the “lost months”, during which I disappeared off the face of the blogosphere.

(Click here for Part 1)

 

October 2012 — Thundering TVRs

One Sunday morning in October, I had to wake up at a stupid time like 2:30 in the morning to make the drive to London to take part in an event called TVR Thunder in the Tunnels, which saw something like 100 TVRs thundering through the streets (and tunnels) of London city.

 

 

TVRs are British-made race cars that sound like a cross between a jet ski and an earthquake.

When you’re sitting in one, and it’s racing through a tunnel together with two or three other TVRs, and you have the roof off, you’re experiencing one of the finest examples of aural abuse.

 

 

 

 

I tried to take some action videos, but race cars are not the smoothest rides in the world so you don’t really want to be taking videos while you’re sitting in a racing TVR.

Watching the replays, which were mainly supersonic speed montages of ceiling, floor, body parts and metal, nearly gave me a seizure so I deleted them all.

 

November 2012 — Bangs

Cut my hair!

It’s been half a year since, and I’m still in two minds about it. Some days I love it and some days I hate it and wish I had my old hair back. But then I would remember that there were also days I equally hated my old hair, and that the wisest course of action would be to retreat into a Zen meditation state of chocolate bars and iPad gaming. End of story.

 

 

December 2012 — Graduation

I don’t remember ever feeling so relieved about completing something as much as when I graduated Montessori College.

 

 

 

I am now a certified Montessori Directress and my plan is to stay home and take a break forever to recuperate from the trauma of seriously the most mentally, physically and emotionally taxing course I’ve ever undergone.

It’s a good course, though. I appreciate and understand children a lot more now. I mean, I loved them before, but they were just screaming bundles of cuteness. Now I see them as proper human beings who have individual personalities just like adults, and they have valid reasons for everything they do, even throwing tantrums, so give them a break (but not a Kit Kat, it’s bad for them).

 

January 2013 — Freedom

So here’s me taking my break, doing some gaming, some cooking and, occasionally, some camwhoring.

 

 

Prawn aglio olio

 

So, it was January, a new year, a very special time of the year for resolutions and renewal. And I made a resolution to make no more resolutions for the rest of my life because we all know how they end.

Okay, well, the truth is that I was (still am) in a bit of a transitional period, shuttling between two countries, during which time a lot of things are out of my control. So my solution is… yes, chocolate bars and iPad gaming.

 

February 2013 — Singapore

I went back to Singapore for six weeks. It was mostly an eat fest. What else is there to do in Singapore?

I should rephrase. What else is there better to do in Singapore? Nothing, is what. This time, I didn’t have to go all over the place to eat my favourite things, which is a huge relief because I would be the happiest girl alive if I never have to take an MRT again, ever.

My dad had renovated his kitchen last year so he enjoys cooking doubly now, I think. He cooked everything I wanted. Some of the things I asked for he had never cooked before, so he Googled it and produced it and it was good.

 

 

Sweet and sour pork

 

Fried carrot cake

 

Kung po prawn

 

Chilli crab

 

Laksa

 

Sambal ladies fingers

 

Roti prata

 

Char siew pork rib

 

Tahu goreng

 

Hokkien mee

 

And that sums up my 6-week stay in Singapore.

Okay, not really.

That’s just a modest sampling of the stuff my dad cooked for me. And Piers. Piers came to visit for three weeks, lucky boy. He got to watch my dad make chinese rice wine. I love that wine.

 

March 2013 — Bangkok

When Piers was in Singapore, Nanny Wen had to make a sudden trip to Bangkok for work (she’s looking after the Nuffnang Thailand office at the moment) so we decided to follow her on a whim.

I don’t want to do a whole post on my trip there, so I’m going to try to sum it up in a sentence.

Bangkok is a repository of utility poles and power lines wound around each other 20 times over in a scary fashion admidst a hodgepodge of contradicting sights of dirty, rickety street stalls selling food covered in flies, modern shopping centres and very pretty women on billboards.

I don’t suppose that gives a very flattering picture of Bangkok, but I loved it there because people were friendly and the food was great.

Geez, you’re thinking, does this girl’s life have to revolve around food?

Yes, I’m afraid.

But it was a good holiday and here are some photos to prove it.

 

 

Indeed, a picture of the back of my head is excellent proof that we had a good holiday in Bangkok.

Nanny Wen did my hair, you see.

You know how girls are stupid over things like hair.

 

Okay, here we are in Chinatown, at a street restaurant where the tables are literally on the pavement of a busy one-way road. The tables also go into the alleyways between buildings, so as to make full use of every inch of real estate in the area.

 

 

 

 

And there’s a “Western Street” full of bars that promise not to check your ID while giving you very strong cocktails, push carts with large varieties of skewered fried insects which you have to pay money to photograph, and countless stalls offering fake ID services. You can get any ID for anything in the world in Bangkok.

 

 

There’s a nice chill-out place for eating, shopping and partying called Asiatique, which is accessible by a free ferry service if you’re on the wrong side of the island or don’t want to drive because, trust me, you don’t want to get caught in a traffic jam in Bangkok.

We took a ferry in but then followed Nanny Wen’s friends out by car. We were stuck in the car park for about an hour and a half because everyone was trying to get out of the car park and the road outside was also jammed.

 

 

There’s a really good restaurant called Somboon Seafood which I would highly recommend. The curry crab is really good.

 

 

And here’s a group photo to round up my Bangkok trip.

 

 

You can see the boys in the mirror, lol. On the right is Piers, taking the photograph, and on the left is Nanny Wen’s business partner, who drove us around to nice eateries in Bangkok.

 

April 2013 — Leeds

Once again, Piers’ company annual dinner and dance happened in Leeds because that’s where the head office is. The event was held in a ballroom at the Royal Armouries Museum, which is a nice touristy place to visit.

 

 

 

I didn’t take many photos because I didn’t like the way I looked. Haha. That is a completely valid reason to put away the camera all night. Yes, it’s one of those stupid girl things you will never understand if you’re not a girl, that is, a vainish one.

And that ends Part 2 of my year in two posts.

From here on, it is my plan that I will update frequently rather than wait until next year to lump another entire year in two posts.

That, I think, is a rather good plan if I may say so myself.