Kusama Yayoi - A dream I dreamed

A beautiful yet disturbing exhibition.

Business travels Q1

The only thing I saw in Nanjing - snow and factories.

Chongqing was slightly better. True blue chongqing hotpot. Don't even try to identify what's in the picture...

Beijing was good to me with the blue sky. Distinctive night restaurant street. Peking duck instant pack from the airport.

Feb CNY & Phuket

Back to SG for a short CNY break. I loveee CNY foods and the usual gatherings with relatives are always nice. Even squeezed in a Phuket trip :p

Pleasant surprise upgrade to a private pool villa. Didn't do much this time. Just hotel and golf :)

Shanghai Jan 2014

Immediately after returning from Osaka, the pils came. Just their regular visit. And then immediately after, JD and Jo came with Romey. The house became very lively and Tasha was entertained (let's consider being chased fun) like never before.

We also celebrated Angel's bb Elizabeth's double full month celebration party at ASC Wine. Cute 2013 wines specially for her!

Zhou Zhuang 周庄 (29-30 Dec 2013)

Zhou Zhuang - a popular day trip out of Shanghai city ~1+ hour drive. Charming ancient water town, though some might say it's becoming too commercialised. I didn't really find it an issue. Love how the Starbucks totally fit the "ancient" theme. Since the folks were in town for the New Year, we decided to stay a night with Tasha in tow. Accommodation was quite traditional and it was freezing cold. Enjoyable nonetheless and I felt I was taken way back in time..

Niseko-Osaka 14-21Dec 2013 (3)

An umpteen-course dinner at Kahala**. What an experience! Worth the hole in the pocket ;)

Our stay at St Regis Osaka. One flaw (and a rather big one) was that they screwed up on a restaurant reservation made on our behalf. We arrived at the restaurant all excited but was finally turned away. Turned out they booked us at another place by mistake. By then it was too late to head over to that place as lunch time was almost over :/ St Regis made it up however by offering us a fully paid meal at their own restaurant (which is actually quite highly rated) and even covered the wine (which we didn't expect). Food was pretty good and so was the wine. Apologies accepted! They also sent coffee and chocs to our room the next day as an extra gesture. 气消了～Regis also has a nice chill lounge. Below, just bumming around the streets and trying for the first time teppanyaki abalone!

Lunch at Ippoh Honten Edobori*, a tempura restaurant which has been awarded 1 star for consecutive years since 2010. Private room with private cook freshly frying up tempuras in front of us. Pretty good. Except the fact that I had a really serious bout of allergy attack right after leaving the restaurant.  Nothing to do with them at all. S was perfectly fine. For me it might have been the prawns, or maybe the oil...I don't know. Happened before at another fine tempura place. *confused*

Chanced upon Xmas markets near the Osaka main station. Lovely atmosphere~ And this marks the end of our Niseko-Osaka trip!