Honeymoon

The honeymoon planning was way easier than the wedding, and much more fun too. We were initially debating heading to Hawaii but dropped the plan as we got increasingly exhausted with the wedding plan and didn't want to travel the distance. With the wedding approaching and the stress mounting, we were pretty set on a place to just relax and chill out post-wedding. And what better place than the beautiful island of Maldives.

We were spoilt for choice in terms or resorts I had to take a couple of days to read up before deciding, which is a pretty long time in PuiSan's world. I normally decide at the snap of the fingers. The hubs was indifferent as long as we don't overspend. So we finally chose Cocoa Island by Como Hotel. It's a quaint little boutique resort consisting of 30 over-the-water dhoni-style villas. Very secluded, quiet and no screaming kids running around - perfect. It's also featured in Mr. And Mrs. Smith travel website, check it out HERE for more info --> 

As we flew across the Indian Ocean, we were astonished by the beauty. Patches of aqua green, clean sea water are scattered all over, It's amazing just watching from above, even more amazing when you're on the ground. God's work of art never ceases to amaze me.

We arrived at the resort by boat ( hubs was disappointed it was not a sea plane) and were greeted with the usual welcome drinks and introduction of the island. It's a pretty self sufficient little resort with a restaurant, bar, infinity pool, diving/scuba school, library and most importantly a spa! Having a massage facing the Indian Ocean was unforgettable! Too bad the hubs doesn't do massages.

We spent 5 days there, not doing much. We wake up, have brekkie, swim, make babies, eat, sleep, scuba, get a little bit of tan, watch the stars at night, sleep. Perfect! Well,would be better if its not so hot but otherwise can't ask for more. Here are some pictures.

Hot and Cold

Are the colors of my toes

The Dinner in Ipoh

2012 is almost nearing the end but I am still not done documenting my entire wedding story. Gosh, I am such a procrastinator and very disorganised. Hence the next few wedding posts will be done in a random order. This one will be about the dinner in Ipoh. 

It was held on 4th August, 2 weeks after our first wedding dinner in Singapore. Comparatively to Singapore, this was stress-free as most of the logistics were taken care of by daddy dearest. And my dad throws a mean party when he wants to. It was a strong 300 crowd, consisting mostly of my relatives, dad's business friends and mom's school colleagues. I say it's an excuse for my parents to throw a party! It certainly felt more like their party than ours. Ah, no matter as long as everyone has a good time. 

The venue: Oversea Restaurant, Ipoh. 

Dad busy on the phone

My sis, Jenny and mom - the 3 lovely ladies at the reception

My new dad and mom in law

The bride arrives in daddy's new car 

My hair was down this time

The very talented 2-piece band that my dad hired

It was great seeing all my relatives, some I haven't seen since I was a kid. Heck, I even met my old piano teacher who taught me the the scales of A Major and a D# Minor. She used to terrorise me when I forgot to practice, and I am forever grateful she instilled in me the love of music. 

There were also cousins I haven't met for ages, aunties and uncles who apparently used to cradle me when I was young. 

Tea Ceremony begins - we must have drank a thousand cups. 

Stolen moment - Waiting for our turn to walk into the ballroom

Enjoying being the centre of attention :)

So is Cayden the adorable

                                      

Aside from the fact that it was tiring being hauled around greeting relatives and friends, it was relatively stressed-free. It was evident from the way we were fooling around after everything was over.

Fooling around after everything was over - what the hell is a Dyson fan doing here anyway? 

Yay it's over! 

I remember feeling elated after the dinner was over, because it meant the start of our honeymoon!! We were headed to Maldives. More on that later. 

Road Trip!

It all started in Starbucks. We all had coffee one day, celebrating Super Mart's return from Okinawa. The hubs suggested driving down to Malacca for food and to test out Beamie, his new toy. Law who could not wait to show off his car obviously agreed. Super Mart spun an intriguing story on his dad's place in the jungle and invited us there. And Bam ! a road trip was in place.  

We left the island around 9pm Singapore on Friday evening via the Tuas checkpoint. Traffic was pleasantly smooth. I expected worse for a Friday evening right before Diwali. 

Here's us looking happy at Restoran Jejantas thinking we would be wolfing down A&W Coney Dog and slurping Root Beers but we returned disappointed because it was closed. 

We stayed a night at Law's place in USJ. The hubs tried to make Beamie look inconspicuous. 

The next morning, we made our way to Mart's place. We were told to keep the location a secret, so can't really post a lot of photos here. Suffice to say it's tucked in a jungle and we have to drive Law's dad's truck to reach the place. 

Hubs and Yuan firing up the grill. 

The 2 Singaporeans in Malaysia. Fructose and Jus Manga (inside joke)

The happy family who were our hosts

And finally the trip wouldn't be complete with a visit to A&W!! Can we bring it back to Singapore please? 

All in all it was a successful trip; we ate too much and laughed a lot at the expense of each other. Even bites from annoying mosquitos and a speeding ticket couldn't get us down. I can see another road trip coming up soon.  

Love you guys much!

The Big Apple

We landed in JFK on Tuesday morning, checked in the hotel at Upper West Side, dropped our bag and took a bus over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The hubs was excited to check out the mummies and stuff in the museum but I was more excited in checking out the steps famously featured in several episodes of Gossip Girl. We spent like an hour there before heading back for a snooze but slept right through dinner till the next morning! Jet lag is a bitch. 

We spent the next few days visiting the usual touristy spots, watching Broadways and pigging out at random restaurants. We caught Phantom of the Opera and Avenue Q. Calv prefers the former, and I the latter. Also managed to catch a standup at Caroline's on Friday evening. I thought that was probably the highlight of the trip. Too bad the hubs wasn't around. 

For meals, we went to Capital Grille (Midtown) for steak, Blue Ribbon (South Village) for sushi, Good Enough to Eat (Upper West Side) for brunch with Gerry and somewhere in the West Village for dinner with Gerry + bf. Can't remember the name of the last restaurant now, man. Also visited Little Owl (West Village) to take picture of the facade of Monica Gellar's apartment. All were pretty good. Calv thought Little Owl was a rip off though. Hah. 

Photos below are in random order, taken a week before Hurricane Sandy aka Frankenstorm came along. Boy am I glad I left for home when I did. 

Central Park - Managed a jog around the reservoir. Many were training for the NYC marathon and Michael Bloomberg confirmed it is still on despite Sandy. 

Wall Street - NYSE

Monica Gellar's apartment (from F.R.I.E.N.D.S)

9/11 Memorial

The Empire State Building - Remember King Kong?

View from the Empire State

Caught Phantom at the Majestic Theatre

Grand Central Station was surprisingly clean! And obviously we stopped for oysters here. 

Time Square - We kept coming back here! 

Cute cab. Wait, it's a cab right? 

Legoland at Time Square

Last but not least, I got to mention our hotel. We stayed in Days Inn Broadway at 94th Street at Upper West Side. Location was great as it's just a few blocks down to Central Park and steps away from a subway station. The room was clean but very basic. There were no roaches though, for which I was thankful for. The lifts are rather old, and our door latch doesn't work. But no big complain as we only paid about $200 per night. 

All in all we had a great time in NYC. And for the little planning that we did for this trip, I thought we accomplished quite a lot. Till next time!