See ya 2008...

Christmas has come and gone… sigh! We spent it in the mountain range of Snowdonia, North of Wales in a quaint little cottage which I later realised was about 400 years old (!) and was a grade II listed building (whatever that means) which made me feel like I was staying in somewhere of significance. Anyway, it was really different staying with a family of 5 (parents, Ruth, YL and I) as opposed to just YL and I that I'm so used to. Food seemed to finish up exponentially faster! Haha…

We had our splendid Turkey dinner on Christmas day – this was made magnificently by YL (who I feel has become quite a good cook in the kitchen!), the turkey meat was juicy and moist with a hint of orange and spice flavour. Needless to say, we walloped the whole bird in less than ½ hour. Mum ensured that we did not forget Singaporean fare and so prepared her usual suite of excellent yummies throughout the week, we had bua kuluat, chicken curry, pork chop, dumplings etc. Mahjong was the order for most days, sometimes extending into the wee hours of the morning. When we weren't playing Mahjong, it was cheesy movies, settlers of catan, billards, and just chatting. We were also very blessed with good weather, which is unusual for the time of the year so we made the most of it by roaming the countryside and putting my "fake" 4x4 to good use. Anyway, its all good and we arrived back in London without any hiccups (albeit all slightly heavier) after a week of fun and relaxation. Mum and Dad will be returning to Singapore in the next couple of weeks and Ruth will be going back in the end of the month.

Next up – more holidays have been planned, one ski trip in 3 weeks time followed by another with Adrian and Sharon in the 2nd week of March, a 2 week cruise to Turky, Egypt and Israel in early May, and hopefully (fingers crossed) our dear friends CW and LPs from Singapore will finally come up and meet us in London in March/April. So – an eventful 1st half of next year is planned and I can't wait. 2008 has gone so quickly but it will be etched in our memories as a splendid and eventful year living and working in London, wouldn't give it up for anything. See ya 2008…