tropicana ~ life is a kaleidoscope
Join The Princess in her journey of a plethora of changing colours and patterns

Of Christmas In The Tropic

Thursday, November 30, 2006
The annual Christmas In The Tropic Light-up has been going on since early November in Singapore. This year, the stretch of Orchard Road is lit up with fairy lights. Trees along the boulevard are decorated with glistening jewels and birds of paradise. Shopping centres have themed Christmas decorations, pumping up the atmosphere of approaching Christmas. Christmas is one of The Princess' most anticipated season, although she's not a Christian. The thrill of shopping for presents (or rather the act of shopping itself) and wrapping them up in fancy paper and ribbons, decorating a Christmas tree with bells and stars with an angel sitting prettily on top of it, the joyous sounds of Christmas carol filling the air - fun!

















Yay-ness. The Princess just discovered this nifty function in PS to make the pictures all glowy and the subject angelic looking. Ok,maybe she OD-ed on the last picture a lil.

Who's dreaming of a white Christmas when you can have a golden shimmering one?
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Of The Princess Diary

Thursday, November 23, 2006
Things The Princess did last week:

  1. Started her torture regime - She has to be a vegetarian for a whole month.
  2. Played hopscotch 40,000 feet in the air (No kidding)
  3. Got a jab on her butt as prescribed by her dermatologist. *shy*

Things The Princess' gonna do this week:

  1. Continue her torture regime.
  2. Maybe get another jab on her butt.
  3. Get on a Hippo bus with Princess MoMo for a tour of Christmas In The Tropic Light-up in Orchard.

On a sidenote, Ken Lee will be turning into a chicken soon. She has been having KFC for 2 days in a row. Psst, check down there now. Do you see feathers? Eat sammo lar.

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Heidelberg

Monday, November 13, 2006
The downside with leeching someone's Wifi is you never know when that someone will switch off the modem (apart from discovering that his/her connection is being leeched, which is quite unlikely as that someone would have installed a password aeons ago should he/she knew so).

And so The Princess lost touch with the cyber-world for a few days. Going cold turkey on the Internet is no fun, as she's left not knowing what to do. Suffice to say The Princess has no life in The Sandpit.

Anyway, this is a long overdue post on The Princess' latest adventure in Deutschland, or rather a small, quaint town in The Land of Sausage and Beer - Heidelberg. As she had two days in Frankfurt, she decided to make a sidetrip to this town about an hour away by coach.

The Princess and her travelmate, YL started at Bismarckplatz and walked down the pedestrianised Hauptstrasse (high street).Hauptstrasse is the main shopping streets lined with boutiques, souvenir stores, restaurants and whatnots.


The main street



Strolling down the main street, one can find many of Heilderberg's attractions, except for a few such as Universitätsplatz which you need to stray away a little.







A Gothic church - Heiliggeistkirche (Holy Ghost church)


The main star of Heidelberg is the Heidelberg Castle and no one should miss this charming castle sitting high atop the hill. From Kornmarkt, one could get a beautiful view of the castle.



The castle viewed from Kornmarkt

The Princess and YL eagerly started their climb up the hill to the castle. The climb is not too steep for young legs, but for someone Mama Tju's age, it's better to take the Bergbahn (mountain railway) to the castle. Why, oh why is it so hard to catch a glimpse of beautiful things? They either involve some serious climbings or major distances or extreme weather elements. Not complaining, though.


On the way up to the castle, with a beer in my hand to chase the winter chill away



Sneak preview of what's up there


Poor Princess was stung by a bee on the way. Hello bee, does she look like a giant walking flower to you? No more Jollibee for her. *Pout*



The old town framed by a window



Vanna White-ish pose from Wheel of Fortune



The view from the castle is simply stunning. Looking across the mountains, The Princess felt like yodelling and skipping around and getting frisky like a lamb. The clouds above cast an ever moving shadows on the mountains, and you could see a spread of lighter shade gradually moving from left to right on the green mountains.







Alte Brücke (old bridge) connecting the old town and the new town



Aku sudah gemuk - Tengok muka tembam I, adui sakit hati!
Great view of Old Town from Belvedere terrace




Adui sakit hati!



Adui sakit hati!


At the castle courtyard


Another view of the castle




After enjoying the many wonderful sights at and from the castle, The Princess and YL made a beeline to the River Neckar. Alte Brücke (old bridge) runs across the River Neckar and stand guarding before the bridge gate is The Old Bridge Ape.





The Old Bridge across Neckar River



Standing in front of Brückentor (bridge gate)



The castle as seen from the old bridge


Some interesting stuff from Heidelberg:









Edible PC, CDs and mobile phones? Now that's The Princess' kind of PC shop. On a sidenote, The Princess get to hold the cutest swan ever in Frankfurt weekend market.




No comment on the lady behind her, though.


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Of Head Of Medusa in Bathroom

Friday, November 10, 2006
What kind of tiles do you use for your house?

Where The Princess is staying, these tiles are used.






Don't play play.

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Of An Itchy Feet Princess

Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Princess plans to visit Portugal or Czech Republic (10 days) in August next year. Anyone willing to accompany her?





or




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Of These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things

Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The Princess had a short stay in Frankfurt and came back with LOADS of chocolates. Chocolates in Germany are not only cheap (you can get a bar of 100g chocolate for as litte as Є0.30) but also of good quality, unlike those found back home (Bon Bon comes to mind) which are overly sweet and used to leave a film of white, greasy fat on your tongue.


Here comes chocolate robot man to conquer the world!


Whenever you're in Germany, do remember to stock up on Ritter Sport (Є0.70 ea). Sometimes, special editions are available as well, such as the winter edition out now which contain alcohol (Jamaican Rum, Vanilla Liquer etc).

And The Princess loves, loves, loves Giotto! It was love at first sight, or rather, bite. The love affair begun in July during the World Cup 06. Giotto's gaze caught hers, she took him home, had a sweet loving time and the rest as they say, is history.

Hanuta is also worth stocking up on, although The Princess could live without it. It is a firm favourite with her family back home, though.

Another favourite brand of The Princess would be Milka. The chocolates come in purple packaging with a picture of a cow.

Last but not least, do make sure to leave some room for the yummylicious sausage (bratwurst). Brochen with bratwurst make up her staple diet whenever she's in Germany. She would have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And for snack, it's pommes frite with, what else, sausage.




No choice, she couldn't bring pork into The Sandpit, so she had to settle for beef sausage instead.

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Of A Naughty Princess

Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The Princess has been naughty and got herself

THIS!



Now let's take a peek inside. Careful now, open the box.







Ta daa! She got herself a spanking new purse Porte-Trésor International. Now she's raked with guilt for her indulgence. *Gulp*

On second thought, fuck it. She works damn fucking hard she deserves a treat for herself. And when the nice lady handed her the purchase, nothing beats the feeling of carrying the crisp, LV insignia paper bag in her hand. Even if it means she has to scrimp and save the following month.
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Athens - Day Three

Wednesday, November 01, 2006
At 6.00 in the morning, still bleary-eyed from the lack of sleep, The Princess and Ken Lee were already up, preparing for their departure to the the airport. The nice owner was waiting for them outside to ferry them there. After many byes and thank-yous, they checked in their luggages and proceeded to wait in the departure hall. The scheduled departure time was 7.20am, but an announcement was made informing passengers on the delay of flight to Athens.

Soon,1 hour turned to 2 and then 3, and announcement was made throughout this time, each time only to inform the delay would be getting longer without stating any reason. Finally, at 11.00am, they were cleared for boarding. The reason for the delay was due to heavy fog in Athens, rendering the plane unable to land, so it was better to take-off after the fog had cleared.

The Princess' plan of making a short trip to Athens was messed up. The connecting flight from Athens to The Sandpit was at 3.15pm. They were probably the first to visit Greece without setting foot on Acropolis. *Sigh*

And you would never guess where they went instead. IKEA. They were so desperate to get out of the airport they went to IKEA, which is less than 5 minutes away. They had a nice lunch there before returning to the airport. And had enough time to camwhore a bit in the airport. *Clap hands*


This is Malaysia


And this is Athens


The Princess promises to return to Athens, this time making sure the mainland is the priority.


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He Says, She Says

Royal Entourage