Reinvention in progress

It never fails to amaze me how fast time flies. I can’t believe it’s been more than a month since I left my job and that we’re almost into the second half of 2017. Sheesh, where did all the time go? I actually feel guilty that I haven’t been making full use of my newfound free time but I’ve come to realise that that’s just how I am. I’m not exactly the most disciplined and motivated person around but I’m working on a to-do list for myself. I’d wanted to pick up jogging again but the klutz in me managed to sprain an ankle a few weeks ago and that pretty much ruined my plan. I guess there’s nothing much I can do but to wait for my ankle to recover.

I’m also happy to have more time to read so that’s something that I’ll continue to do. I’ve been to the library almost once every week in the past month and I’m loving it! I’m geeky like this and speaking of reading, I’ve also been busy planning my solo trip to Bangkok! I finally nailed down the date and I’ll be traveling there for five days next week.

Bangkok travel guides by Chinese/Hong Kong authors. I find them more relevant for my trip than the Lonely Planet types.

One thing that I’ve learned from planning this trip is – decide on the travel dates fast and grab the air tickets at their promo fares when you see them! As I’m going on this trip alone, I had the freedom and flexibility of choosing the travel dates. My original plan was to go during the first week of June but I missed out on a Jetstar promotion as I was afraid there might be a cheaper alternative. Yup, I know I was being kiasu there. Anyway, that turned out to be a wrong decision because the promo fares were all sold out when I returned to get them a few minutes later. It was that hot-selling. Eventually I got tired of waiting out for cheap airline deals and decided to just go with Jetstar. So yes, if you’re planning to travel and you come across a good deal from any of the budget airlines, just grab them and go. 

As for my upcoming trip, I’m super excited about it as I haven’t been there since 2013 (that’s considered eons for a Singaporean). However, I can’t help but feel a little apprehensive at the same time. This is afterall going to be my first ever solo trip and I really don’t know what to expect. Will I be able to survive being on my own for five long days in a foreign country? Will I enjoy the trip? Can I cope without a travel companion? I’d like to think I can handle it perfectly but I still get a wee bit overwhelmed when I consider the fact that I’ll be completely ON MY OWN with nobody to help me if things screw up. Oh well, I guess I should stop being dramatic and just go with the flow. Time to prepare my long shopping list and I’ll be back to share my trip report hopefully soon!

Flying to Taiwan

I’ll be travelling to Taiwan again in about six days’ time. I promised myself to write an entry for my Taiwan trip in October last year but obviously I didn’t manage to do it. Sometimes I’m amazed by my own procrastination skills. One year on and I still couldn’t find time to get it done. Looks like I should do one for my upcoming trip instead.

This time round I’ll be travelling with my family. I’m really looking forward to this trip because 1) this will be my first overseas trip with my parents and 2) I get the chance to eat and shop in Taiwan again. I finally managed to persuade (harass would be more apt) my mum to go on an overseas trip and I’m rather excited about the whole idea of travelling with my parents. Yes, there’s a high possibility of being driven crazy by them but I’m just happy that we’re able to travel and do something together. I hope we’ll have a great time in Taiwan and we’ll have more opportunities to travel together in future.

I’ll write about this trip after I return. Let’s just hope the procrastination bug doesn’t get me first.

Back to reality

I’ve been back from Taiwan for exactly a week but it feels much longer than that. Seriously, has it been only one week?! As always, I’m having serious withdrawal symptoms of the trip and I wish I didn’t have to come back so soon. Especially when I’m in my current predicament. I guess there’s really nothing much for me to look forward to in Singapore. In life, in fact.

Isn’t it nice to live a few days without having to face reality? Just like what I did in Taiwan. No need to think about my pathetic life in Singapore. Just enjoy and have fun. Quite obviously I had a great time in Taiwan. Thanks to the girls for making the trip so memorable and enjoyable. I can’t wait to go on another trip with you girls even though I know it’s difficult to plan another one in the near future. I also can’t wait to return to Taiwan. I have this belief that it’s a waste of time and money to visit a country more than once since there are so many other countries waiting for me to explore. However, I realised this doesn’t apply to Taiwan. The country’s amazing. So many things to see and do and no matter how long you stay, it doesn’t feel long enough. I wish I can visit Taiwan again. Cheap shopping, nice food and great people. What’s not to like?

Just for the record, I took more than 1,000 pictures in Taiwan. I know, I’m crazy like that. I shoot anything and everything. I promise I’ll do a trip report as soon as I can, once I sort out the pictures.

Before my trip, I also managed to complete a task for my Day Zero Project. After procrastinating for almost one year, I finally had my pair of jeans and two pairs of office pants altered to the desired length.

My freshly altered pants
Back from the seamstress…

I don’t know about you but don’t you find it difficult to shop for a pair of jeans/pants that actually fit nicely? Ever since I began shopping for my own clothes fifteen (or so) years ago, I hardly ever come across a pair of pants that fit me perfectly, length-wise. They’re mostly too long for me. Now that I’ve discovered the existence of a seamstress who operates a stall in my neighbourhood, ugly fold-in leg cuffs will be a thing of the past. Hooray.