January 31st, 2012 by sixpegs

Today, I am here to gossip about others.
Coincidentally, all three of them have names starting with A.
They are all very interesting people, but in very different ways.
One wrenched my heart, the other made me bewildered and the last one made my toes laughed out loud.

Ok, I cannot wait to share so I shall start now!!

For those who have watched enough local comedies and sitcoms, you would have seen Abigail Chay before.
In the past (actually even until recently), I have always been unable to determine her gender.
Do you know she is also the daughter of the famous McDonalds Granny who appeared in many McDonalds TVC in the 90s?
For those who don’t know how Abigail looks like, here is a few pictures to refresh your memory.

I chanced upon a video about her life not too long ago and it really touched my heart.
I never knew the woman whom everyone laughed at and teased actually had such a turbulent life,
and spending many years of her life in turmoil and confusion.

The following excerpt is taken from thestar:

She was born Caesar Chay Tuck Kwong and had her formal education at an all-boys school.

But even at the tender age of five, she knew she wasn’t like other boys,
who’d kick a football about and catch spiders in her neighbourhood, while she played dolls with the girls.
Whenever her mother was out, she would play with her make-up.
Another time, a majie (housekeeper) in the family’s employ put her in a dress and took her to a nearby provision shop.

“The neighbours all remarked, ‘wah, you really look like a girl’.
I was so happy,” she says, flashing a toothy grin at the thought.

But school was hardly a drag, even though there was the annoying presence of
a bully who used to rain punches on the effeminate 12-year-old Chay.
When Chay’s backlane friends wanted to teach the bully a lesson, she put her pale,
frail body between him and the small mob – something which earned the respect of the bully,
who stopped his taunts and told Chay she had yi qi (Mandarin for loyalty).

“School was actually a place to take my mind away from being a girl trapped in a boy’s body,” she recounts,
absent-mindedly twirling her clumpy long tresses again.
“Whenever nice-looking guys came and talked to me and I felt attracted to them, I always felt sinful.”

That feeling of guilt – born partly out of being the only son and child of traditional Cantonese and Christian parents,
both of whom worked in clerical jobs – pushed Chay to date a girl from church at 15.

“She was wondering why we never held hands over the one year we were together.
She asked me what the status of our relationship was. I said, ‘I tried, but I don’t think I can’.”

Unable to love a girl and unable to let herself fall in love with boys,
the teenage Chay read psychology books and decided a sex change was the solution.

But, first, there was the business of National Service,
which she had to endure after her pre-university education at Our Lady of Lourdes.

“I was scared to death of going into the army. I thought I would surely be humiliated for being a soft boy.”

But, “wilfully optimistic”, she thought the experience might toughen her up.

As it turned out, not only did she not suffer at the hands of macho men,
everyone was protective of the skinny boy, with some fellow soldiers even offering to clean and carry her rifle.

After National Service, she worked as a window display artist
at a fashion store – “ironically, it was called Heshe”, she recalls.

Her mother also paid for her to attend a modelling course,
and it was there that she met a transsexual who told her about a rumour of a new government policy
that would see new transsexuals get “marked” on their identity cards by the end of the year.

Fearful of being branded for life and in a hurry to beat the supposed deadline,
Chay finally came clean with her parents and pleaded with them to pay for her sex change.

Here are four clips you can watch to find out more about Abigail’s life story.

I think she is really brave and lucky to have such supportive parents.
Next time when you wanna laugh about how out of place she looks, think again. :)

I recently also watched Jack Neo’s new movie “I Not Naughty” with A and my Mom.
I checked out the reviews on the Golden Village website and saw some comments about this certain Amos Yee in the movie.
All bad comments, just in case you’re wondering.
So after the movie, I decided to head home and find out for myself who on earth this Amos Yee is.
And to my surprise, this Amos Yee is actually this annoying potato boy in the movie.

I wondered how a 14-year-old kid can stir so much shit and cause so much unhappiness, so, I went to check it out.
And to my horror, the Zhonghua Secondary School student is not only a smart alec but also a spoilt and arrogant brat.
All his fame started when he won the FiRST Film Fest organized by The New Paper with his painful-to-watch video, Jan.

Seriously don’t know what is so funny.
Little Amos must be influenced by those NigaHiga and Kev Jumba videos. Meh.
Ok, the thing is, there’s nothing wrong with a 14-year-old trying to be creative and experimental.
And apparently, he REALLY speaks with that American accent.

All the trouble started when he posted a video mocking the origins of the Chinese zodiacs and
stating how he feels the Chinese New Year is “copying the American New Year”, leaving many netizens enraged and agitated.
He calls the Youtube video “a joke executed well”.
And of course, this joke has already been removed from Youtube.

UPDATE: Managed to find the video uploaded by another Youtube user. Here it is!

Jack Neo gave him one of the roles in his movie because the director was impressed by him during the film fest.
Instead of being thankful and appreciative for the chance and recognition,
he talked crap about the movie at its press conference.

Damn well done.

Here are some excerpts from xinmsn.

The teenager further elaborated his views when he was asked on how would have improved on the script and shared,
“There shouldn’t be so much weird transitions.”

“Do you realised that the film has a lot of fade in and jumps from scenes over and over and over again,”
the Zhonghua Secondary School student said and added, “That is confusing.”

That’s not all. On the development of the characters in the movie, he said,
“You can do it at the beginning but it goes on for the entire film.”

“And that bothers me,” he revealed, “and my whole family agrees that it’s freaking messy.”

Despite his critical remark, the 14-year-old actor was earlier spotted singing praises of movie director Jack Neo during the conference.

“Oh, Jack Neo, you are awesome. You are like my uncle,” he proclaimed. He also mentioned that he likes his scenes in the movie.

Watch the interview here if you wanna be annoyed by the kid too.
Reeeaaaaallllyyyy arrogant, spoilt and 不会做人, that’s all I can say.

Ok, and for the third interesting person today, I shall introduce Mr Aaron Tan!
I came across this person from MrBrown’s website.
It happened quite long ago so I hope there will be a few people out there (like me!) who haven’t heard of him before.
Hehe!

Apparently this 18-year-old Ah Beng made a video to threaten a 14-year-old kid
who tried to “be funny” with his girlfriend on Facebook.
And get this. His girlfriend’s name on Facebook is Nina Wantyouonly
and the 14-year-old kid is called http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000745753183.
Freaking haps.
How come people wanna put such funny names on Facebook ah?
The Ryan boy got balls also. According to his Facebook info,
he is from the same secondary school as Aaron – Bulok Town Secondary.
Yeah the Aaron boy is 18 and still in Bulok Town.

I think this Aaron is quite interesting and I really had a look laugh.
Priest lor. Is lily beh funny lorz!

January 26th, 2012 by sixpegs

Tattoos are addictive.

I’ve been wanting to get another tattoo for the longest time.
But I haven’t decided what I want yet.
There are many designs I’ve been looking at,
but I’m taking my own time because I know the answer will come to me at the right time.
It’s always like that.

Since I’m at the the topic of tattoos, I wanna share some of the gorgeous pictures I found.
I hope you like them too.

I really like moustaches, not like real ones but the Pringles one!

And I think I’ve listed it into one of my favourite designs.
I drew a little moustache on my finger and see what how much fun it can be!

OMG I love A’s meow meow cats.
♥

January 26th, 2012 by sixpegs

Before I begin, let me wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!
Hope the Dragon Year would be a HUAT HUAT year for everyone and may everyone be happy, sexy, glam and healthy!

♥

This Chinese New Year has been a rather quiet one for everyone in my family.
We didn’t do any visiting this year because of Grandma’s recent demise,
but we still had fun at our family chalet! :)
I visited A’s place though, and it was a lot of fun meeting her family.
I hope A had fun at my family chalet and family dinner too. Heh!

I also received some pretty clothes to wear for the new year!
Special thanks to SugarThreads for the super adorable striped dress and
LustMonday for the comfy and stylish looking chiffon shirt dress!
Many many love!

I shall continue with my travel to Chiang Mai!
This is probably my favourite part of the entire Chiang Mai trip – visiting the Karen Tribe in Mae Hong Son and Elephant rides.
But before I start on those, I MUST share this amazing place in Chiang Mai that A and I chanced upon
while we were researching about Chiang Mai couple weeks ago.

Nimmanhaemin Road is supposedly the hippest and most artsy place in Chiang Mai.
Littered with lots of cute cafes and chillout places, this is the perfect place to escape to
if one wants to escape from the typical “Chiang Mai sights”!

If you google or youtube the place, you can actually see a lot more pictures of the streets.
There are about 19 or more little streets branching off the main Nimmanhaemin Road, almost all are awesome!
Lots and lots of hidden treasures!

We saw this pretty little shop and we were blown away!
A lot of the things in there were made from recycled materials and they are all super cute!
It’s at Nimmanhaemin Soi 19, for those who are interested.
There is a shop, a cafe and a Ukulele shop in one!

There is this funky statue there. Look closely and you’ll see that it’s actually decorated with coins!
Creative!

Here are some of the things they sell in there.
A bought that blue/green document bag you see in the collage.
When we first saw it, we were guessing the material it’s made with.
After checking with the store assistant, we were pleasantly surprised that it was actually made from an old fridge door!
The sides of the bag has the rubber tubings from the old fridge too. Mad special!
It’s not cheap, about S$200, but definitely worth the price!

Our main aim at Nimmanhaemin Road was initially to find this shop we saw in one of the Youtube clips.
After asking around and some googling at the WIFI cafes there, we finally found it!
It’s called iBerry at Nimmanhaemin Soi 19. Super cute!
I wish there is such a place in Singapore too!

SUPER BIG STATUE!
Look at the size of the chairs and tables next to the statue.
We were super tired from all the walking but thrilled when we finally found the cafe!

Trying to look like that little thing on the table. Hahahaha!

Then we found this thing where you can stick your head in and take photos!

We had this super yummy thick toast thing there.
IT WAS FUCKING GOOD!
The bread is toasted and cut into little cuboids.
Honey is drizzled on the bread and it tasted heavenly with ice cream.
I’m drooling now already. Bring me back there!!

The next day, we visited one of the prettiest temple I have ever seen.
The White Temple.
It’s unlike most conventional temples because it looks very modern and is entirely white!

This place is almost like an art exhibition.
Check out these photos and you’ll understand why I said that.

The artist’s depiction of hell.

Something quite funny. You can actually see the artist’s standee all over the temple.
Apparently, he is tired of taking pictures with the tourists so he planted a lot of standees. Hahaha!

Inside the main temple hall, photography is prohibited.
But I managed to sneak a few photos. Hehehe!
Look at this! In which temple can you see such funky wall paintings?!
These are the things that we mortals are all caught up with, that we forget the true meaning of living.
I see Milla Jovovich in Resident Evil, Kungfu Panda and Transformers! Can you? :p

More pictures around the temple as we leave.
I LOVE this skull thing. Almost like McQueen!

For those who have watched this really good Japanese movie called Departures before,
you’d know what a stone letter is.
Here is a stone letter A and I exchanged in the temple.

After the temple, we ventured out to look at the infamous Golden Triangle.
I never exactly knew what the Golden Triangle is before I got there.
It’s actually a little triangle formed by borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand,
and it was one of the most illicit opium-producing areas a few decades ago.
I wonder if there are still such businesses going on in there now.

Allow me to introduce our funny tour guide.
Her name is Thip and she got the funkiest accent ever.
She pronounces January as “Jan-jer-ree”, Belongings as “Bee-long-jings” and Louis Vuitton as “Loo-wee-tong”.
Hahahaha. But she is still totally amazing.
A says she will make an awesome sales person. :p

After a short 10 mins boat ride, we crossed the river and ended up in Laos!

You can buy postcards here and mail them to your friends.
They will receive them 2 months later. Haha.

We also saw the funkiest baby “basket”!
And of course, adorable children. :)

Saw neatly arranged rocks. I think these must be some children’s toys.

Then we went back to Thailand (sounded so far haha) and checked out the actual Golden Triangle itself.
Okay lor, it was just a piece of triangular-shaped land.

After a short bus ride, we reached the northern most end of Thailand, just a bridge away from Myanmar.

*My eyes are getting a bit dizzy from all the uploading of photos and typing*

We later went to visit the Karen Tribe at Mae Hong Son.
This is one of my favourite parts of the entire trip.
I have heard so much about these long-neck people and I’m honoured to have the chance to meet them.
They live in the same village as another tribe where the women would enlarge their ear piercings.
It’s fascinating!

Her teeth is like that because of all the betel nuts chewing.

And this lady is one of the singles in this village, supposedly one of the prettier ones there.
Their skin is so fair and nice!
Put her in a singlet and jeans and she can pass off as one of our cousins lor!

And the long-neck tribe, also known as Karen Tribe.
They originate from Burma, present day Myanmar.

Looking at these women saddens me a bit actually.
The tour guide told us that these women need to put the rings into their necks by
slipping brass rings in molten state through their heads and let them harden at their necks.
So they will have a lot of burn marks under the rings.
THAT’S SO CRUEL AND SCARY!

But after doing some research when I got back, I realized that that wasn’t the case.
Tour guide kayu.
Here is a Youtube clip that shows you how the rings are put on and removed.
And yes, it is also a myth that these ladies will die and their necks will break the moment the rings are removed.

But in some articles, I read about how the muscles in the neck will weaken after prolonged wearing of the brass rings.
And that after they remove the rings, the woman must lie in bed for the rest of their lives.
It was said to be one of the punishments for adultery.

Here is an article explaining why the Karen women wear the brass rings around their necks.
“There are many different accounts of why the Padaung practice this bizzare custom.
Their own mythology explains that it is done to prevent tigers from biting them!
Others have reported that it is done to make the women unattractive so they are less likely to be captured by slave traders.
The most common explanation, though, is the opposite of this -
that an extra-long neck is considered a sign of great beauty and wealth and that it will attract a better husband.”

Anyways, it was the Thai Childrens Day that day so A and I decided to buy some candies and chocolates for the kids.
Some of them never eat chocolates before eh. :(
And they are so not in touch with society that they don’t even know it’s Childrens Day.

This lady has the most number of rings in the village.
Her picture is on the Wiki page about their tribe too eh!

She has like 26 or 28 rings around her neck!
A and I tried on the rings (there is only 17 rings here) and we are so glad we were not born into this tribe.
We would be considered freaking ugly if we were. Haha.

And one final photo with their pretty headgear before we leave the village.
I bought that yellow necklace I’m wearing in this picture too! Pretty? :D

Think I’m going to pass out if I continue blogging!
Have been at it for the last 4 hours. OMG!
I’ll be back with more pictures from Chiang Mai.
And till then, hope you all have a wonderful day ahead.
Cheers!

January 18th, 2012 by sixpegs

It’s time for another post for my favourite Dove chocolates!
And when I was told to blog about something close to heart -
something similar to the warm fluffy feeling melting a piece of chocolate in my mouth would give me,
I thought I should dedicate this entry to my beloved Mom.

My mother has always been an inspiration to me since young.
She always struck me as a free-spirited, optimistic and daredevil woman.
Although she is my mother, she has always been more of a friend instead.
We could talk about almost anything and we are comfortable to show our innermost feelings before each other.
Well, to me at least.

Mommy was a really adventurous girl.
She used to tell me how she just picked up her luggage and went off to Japan to live and
work for half a year when she was about 21 or 22.
And when she was in her late twenties, she did it again, that time to London.

In many ways, she has taught me how to be daring enough to go after what you want and follow your heart.
I see a lot of myself in her.

Mommy is my best friend and the one person I will never ever forsake.
With this entry for Dove chocolates, I’d like to dedicate this post for the woman I love the most.

Thanks for bringing me into this beautiful world and teaching me all the right things in life.

♥

I’m feeling all fluffy and warm inside now. Heh!
And of course, just in case you’ve missed all the wonderful silky smooth
Dove chocolates I’ve introduced on my blog earlier,
here is one reminder for you to try out the smooth chocolates from Dove.
Melt the silky smooth chocolate in your mouth for that warm, fluffy feeling of love too. :)

That aside, I just came back from my 5-days Chiang Mai trip too!
I was there with A and her colleagues, and I really enjoyed the company and Chiang Mai a lot.
It was rather chilly over there now but it can still be rather warm in the afternoon.
I wish Singapore had that kind of climate too!

We stayed at Royal Princess Hotel, which was right smack in the middle of the main Night Bazaar area.
Lots of food, shopping and massage places all around so it was fabulous.
The hotel itself was pretty alright too. :)

Okay, to be honest, the writings on the wall freaked the scaredy-cat me slightly when I first entered the room.
But after I surveyed the other rooms and realised it was just a design, I heaved a sigh of relief.
You can’t be too sure, when it comes to hotel rooms. Hahaha.

It was already rather late when we we done with the hotel and all,
so we decided to just head for dinner and then start cruising around the nearby night market.
The night bazaar start at around 5pm daily and the stalls will start closing at around 10 or 11pm.
The stalls here are almost the same as those found in Bangkok actually.
But shopping around here is so much more pleasant because of the fine weather.
It was be quite cold at night, so even if it’s quite crowded, it never gets hot and stuffy. :)

I love the work by this artist!
He paints with a brush and uses powdered lead.
Super awesome right!
Look at all the details on the face and all!

We stopped for occasional drinks too and we found some exotic juices!!!

Painapple and Mongo juice. Never drink before right!
Hahahaha.

I also found a new love, banana crepes.
I always say dirty looking things tastes the best. Hahaha! Kidding.
But these banana pancakes sold at those roadside stalls are to-die-for!
The chocolate, the hot pancake, the banana and the cornflakes! YUMMY!

It’s very easy to make me happy. :p

Day 2 was the first full day we had in Chiang Mai.
We started it with a visit to the famous Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.
According to the tour guide, if you didn’t visited this temple during your Chiang Mai trips,
it’s as if you’ve never been to Chiang Mai.
SO! Here we are at the beautiful Doi Suthep Temple!

We bought candles, joss sticks and lotus flowers.
We were supposed to walk 3 rounds around the main pagoda and your wishes will come true!
Of course, I took the chance to make a wish too. :p
Something random, the lotus flower is really pretty.

A says we were supposed to ring the bells to “announce our presence” (or something like that).

After the short stay at the temple, we took one of the mini buses up the hills to visit on of the tribes living in Chiang Mai.
The roads were really narrow and I really had to give it up to the bus drivers!
Our regular tour buses were too big and these are the “buses” we took.

The weather was great and we were lucky to catch quite a few cherry blossom trees on our way up too!
If I’m not wrong, the tribe is called Miao Tribe or something.
I’m never good with names.
They made a lot of handmade stuff for sale and seem to have green fingers because all the flowers up there were gorgeous!
Pretty simple and happy looking people if you ask me. :)

Spot the cherry blossom! Almost felt like Japan kay! Hahaha.

The girlfriend looks quite hot even when she’s shooting hanging papayas. :p

And pretty flowers that were littered all over the mountains!

And do you recognise this particular flower?

If you guessed Poppy, then you’re right!
I have seen the poppy plant when it’s all colourful and pretty but I never knew after all the petals fall off,
the core of the flower is actually where the opium came from.

The tour guide also showed us how they get what they want from the plant to make opium and heroine.
Apparently, you need to score the surface with a needle or something and collect the sap from the bud (or something).

I rubbed some of the sap on my fingers and took a whiff.
Smells really funky. It was not pleasant but not exactly awful as well.
Just erm.. smells like plants lor. But the smell kinda grows on you and become less unpleasant after a few more whiffs.
Interesting.

And the marijuana plant.
This is the one that gives you your weed, your magic mushroom or whatever crazy hallucinating brownies.
Hahahaha.
These plants ah… tsk tsk tsk.

We toured around the village a little more and met some of the people living there.
No matter where you go, the kids are always so cute.

I shall end today’s post with this pretty cherry blossom tree we spotted there!
I miss my blog so much after 5 days of being internet-less!
Will be back with more pictures and updates.
I love and hate my wanderlust!

January 8th, 2012 by sixpegs

This is the first Sunday Advertorials of Year 2012!
I am currently discussing with my web designer to create a new plugin to make shopping much easier for you
to check out the new stuff at blogshops every week!
Stay tuned for this new change and new look for the website coming up soon!
As for today, I hope you enjoy this two blogshops stacked with lots of Chinese New Year dresses for you to pick from.
Have fun!

♥

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