Thanks for popping by but I no longer can find the time to blog about my wanderlust and my insatiable appetite for food glorious food, especially with the arrival of my bundle of joy and mounting workload back home.
Why I blogged
In 2006, I started blogging when I migrated to the concrete desert of Dubai. My former colleagues in Shenzhen inspired me to create a personal website as they anticipated I'd be bored stiff in the Middle East. Besides, Blogger was blocked in China and I could never have blogged about my great travelling experiences when I was living and working in the socialist nation. True enough, I couldn't find much to do under the hot sweltering sun, except to explore the new media world during my long hours listening to Arabic trance on tv.
Why I had to stop
Early this year, I found that Blogger had started to block me from uploading my photos and had been prompting me to pay for extra photo storage. As I hit my limit to upload more photos taken of my life, I decided it was time to call it a day. After all, this was meant to be my photoblog, not my online diary.
Of course, I had other blogs elsewhere in cyberspace, but I no longer can commit to blogging about my otherwise prosaic life in Singapore. Yes, I'm back. And no one is interested to read anything about boring Singapore. Neither am I inspired to write anything about my job, not that I'm allowed to broadcast.
In the meantime, you can visit me at: http://www.facebook.com/amandagoh68 to find out more about what I'm up to these days.
Thanks for your support. I'll surely miss my good old days as the carefree wife of a diplomat.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Closure of Citriclub
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Random meanderings...twenty-five of them.
A few friends on Facebook sent me this request to share 25 random things about myself. Here's the ORDER:
Once you have been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it is because I want to know more about you. To do this, go to the "notes" tab ( next to "wall, photos," etc.) on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of your note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people and click "publish".
1. A self-professed museum buff of sorts who likes to conquer renowned museums and art galleries around the world.
2. A diehard (unique) playing cards collector who is still contemplating whether to sink in $700+ for the Dunhill bridge set and the $400+ Burberrys duo-deck. Collection currently stalls at 200+, thanks to the economic recession.
3. Not quite a hotel junkie but love to try out different types of lodging, including dingy pensions in the backstreets of Barcelona with common toilets and exotic riads tucked away behind some dusty alleys trespassed by an occasional donkey, in the midst of a bustling medina souq in Winston Churchill's fav city--Marrakech.
4. Enjoyed rowing a boat (that did not come with lifejackets) amongst gigantic swans up and down Vltava river and beneath Charles Bridge in Prague 11 years back...
5. Still puzzled how I collapsed in the middle of the dance floor of a Mumbai disco, during my first overseas trip at 17, without mom and pop.
6. And occasionally would wonder how a glass of whisky neat at a Spanish pub in London could cause the same effect on me at 22.
7. Once in a while, I'd mused about how I chased a Russian pickpocketer for hundreds of yards in a heavily congested Metro station during a peak hour in St Petersburg, and miraculously, even managed to recover my Canon camera from the very stunned robber brandishing a penknife.
8. At times, have hoped that I could recover my Christian Dior wallet which another robber nicked from me as I was sipping expresso at a diamond factory cafeteria in Amsterdam.
9. Not quite an adventurer but managed to be convinced by hubby to trek across Sahara Desert for hours on an anorexic camel and camped overnight in tents with berbers singing, camels snorting and stray dogs howling through the thousand and one nights. Nice feeling to be able to pee on the dunes and sleep under the North African stars with hubby.
10. Disappointed that pregnancy has enlarged my fingers that I could no longer fit the wedding band that my hubby and I spent 3 days scouring the jewellery shops in Kowloon and HK to hunt for the best choice in 2002.
11. Remembered the times when I'd visit the Burj Al Arab with hubby to gaze across the Arabian Gulf at the mysterious land of Persians which I'd yet to step foot on...
12. Am rather amazed that I could still remember how to drive a car, with a wailing baby in tow, after abandoning the wheel for nearly 5 years in China and UAE.
13. I was never a permanent resident in HK but managed to visit the territory over 30 times within a matter of 3 years.
14. Am glad that I hadn't had Isaac when hubby and I were stranded without our luggage for 2 nights in Tokyo and 2 nights in San Francisco, all thanks to unforeseen weather conditions.
15. Terribly miss all the yummilious, albeit sinful cuisines, in the Pearl River Delta region.
16. To date, still not sure why I had taken the broad step to migrate to a remote industrial district in Shenzhen to live with hordes of migrant workers.
17. From time to time, I'd mull over my Shanghai discount cards, wondering the day I'd revisit the Bund to finish up my manicure, facial, laundry, supermarket credits.
18. Used to be nuts about bags and shoes, but have kinda become more prudent these days, with the arrival of Isaac. Strangely, I am no fan of watches and costume jewellery.
19. Simply adore cosmetics and beauty products to death, and swear would never use the same brand twice.
20. Miss the times when I'd listen to Radiohead crone and watch the monotonous English pastures fleeting past on British Rail...
21. An unabashed loner at times, I don't mind living on my own for long periods.
22. A flower lover with no green fingers, I must say I prefer not to live in a house with a garden.
23. Am a human being who is afraid of any kind of living things, apart from human beings and ghosts.
24. Hoping to satisfy my insatiable wanderlust in the near future as I type my 24th random thought.
25. Looking forward to the day when I could take Isaac with me to Jordan, Beirut, Istanbul, Tehran...those, to me, are the best flashcards ever.
~ The End is Yet to Be ~
