Thebarefootfoodie

Beijing Encounters ( Part 2 ) Posted on 4 Nov 2011 Mutianyu - Great Wall   This is a stretch of the Great Wall which is further afield - read fewer tourists, less touch-up work. Its appeal factor is boosted by a ski lift ride uphill and a tobaggan ride downhill. The catch - it is a good 180 minutes from Beijing by public bus. Our two intrepid travellers rose to the challenge.  First, we needed to track down special bus 867 that goes from Dongzhimen to Mutianyu. We set off bright and early at 7 am, bracing ourselves for the usual hit and miss rounds of getting directions from the locals. Bus 867 was supposed to leave the terminus at 8.30 am, or so the guide book said. We made it to the bus-stop at 8.45 am, after a convoluted search, huffing and puffing. There was a long queue before us - a good sign that the bus has not left without us. Rubber time operates here. The bus arrived at 9.30 am and everyone scrambled aboard. The more fortunate found seats, others li...

Beijing Encounters ( Part 1 ) Posted on 3 Nov 2011 I ended up as an accidental tourist in Beijing to pin down a good pal who has so much on her plate that she has no time to do lunch, let alone anything else. After a few missed lunch appointments , I decided to wait till she gets back to planet earth.  And so the weeks went by, until one day, a sack of durians got dropped off at my place with a message from A " Hi Y, thought you might like these." Another time, on a not so happy occasion, we met at a wake and when I mentioned lunch, hoping to be third time lucky, her husband, KH,  said that he was also subjected to the same. Ok, forgiven. Being the architect who has had a hand in designing some of the icons and landmarks in Singapore, I guess brilliance breeds some eccentricity and is entitled to a wide berth. Then came the invitation to join her and KH ( the hubby ) in Beijing. Reason - KH will be running the Marathon, and since she will be there.... Prime Ho...

Of Freebies and Phobias. Posted on 22 Sep 2011 The phone rang and a strong accent spoke.It's one of the one-miilion foreigners we have on our shores ( talent or otherwise). The accent dangled the bait -  "You have been selected for a free treatment of massage, body firming or facial at our Spa. The offer is open to first-time customers only." Since it was as good a time as any to get a facial, I  bit at the hook pathetically. The confirmed appointmet was promptly followed by an sms message, giving detailed directions to an unfamiliar address. So here I was, this morning, like a fly in the spider's parlour. As I was filling up the peremptory particulars form, a sales rep dressed in black plonked herself next to me and spewed her opening line " You have very dry skin."  Not a very good introduction , I thought. " Don't women of a certain age have dry skin?" I asked innocently, resisting the temptation to say something like ...

Lessons My Children Taught Me (2) Posted on 17 Sep 2011 "No, you cannot have one more";  "That's enough." ; "I said,let's go NOW"; "No, that is too expensive/fatty/skimpy/childish/messy/time-consuming/dangerous/sweet/salty/gassy...and so on and on..."No ifs and buts, just do your work"..."No...No...No!" No, if what you want does not fit into MY schedule.  No, if what you think is not what I would like you to have. No, if what you feel does not agree with what I want you to do. No, if what you do offends MY sense of taste or sentiment. Just do your work..."No...No...No!" When I was a little girl  growing up, I would pop the perennial question " Why not? " to my parents'  No-s. They were not too impressed and I did not get answers to my question. The more they imposed their will over mine, the more indifferent I got.  There was also an inverse relationship between control and bonding. T...

Banking on Boredom, Insecurity and Greed = BIG bucks. Posted on 8 Sep 2011 A few days ago, I brought my son, D, for his facial - gasp! Yes, real men do take care of their own self-grooming. This is for those who do it so sporadically, that once in a few months, it is good to just let a teenage boy go under the expert hands of someone who knows how to coax those angry outbreaks and clogged pores into submission.  While waiting with a book for company in the relaxation room,which is rather conducive for a nap as well, in strolls the relationship manager who politely asks if I wanted a hot drink. Why not, I said, and nodded approvingly - thinking, good service here.  She returns with a cup of ginger tea, ( great for flatulence ) and lingers on to chat. She - " Why don't you do a facial as well?" Me - " I just did it here last week. You had a promotion for a complimentary treatment." She - "Would you like to try a special facial for dry skin?...

Lessons My Children Taught Me (1) Posted on 7 Sep 2011 It happened on Monday 5 Sep. Prior to the meltdown, it was part of the ground rules for work before play, yaba, yaba, yaba, striking a healthy balance, or so it seemed in theory.  Except that when it comes to D, things are not that clear- cut. He is one of those characters who would sit for 5 minutes to do work, and gets up for the next 15 minutes, looking for a snack or two, stopping by along the way to his bedroom, to fiddle with his nerf-gun, sneak in a chapter of his reading material, before remembering to detour back to his work station, and so it continues... After spending a couple of hours on this routine, he walks up to me in the evening and asks for the pass-word to his virtual world of fantasy on the computer, in anticipation of reward for work done. I asked what seemed like an innocent question to me - how much work have you done so far? Answer - a whole chapter of Chemistry.  My response - it...

Art and Craft - Posted on 5 Sep 2011 Friday was a day well-spent, doing girl stuff, with a girl-friend,PL. It began with a wholesome breakfast of home-made quiche, (thanks, Freda) with Malacca kopi. Then to work, as PL whipped out her arsenal of lanolin, glycerine, vitamin E, essential oils, colourings, and other paraphernalia for soap-making in delightful mounds of roses, bumble bee, cameo victorian lady and hearts. We measured with due diligence, chopped up the soap base and stirred the prepared brew till it morphed into a liquid of desirable consistency. Then the colours were added, with a squirt of glycerine to separate the layers, and the liquid soap carefully poured into the soap moulds. Half an hour later, the soap was ready to be separated from the moulds - in theory, that is.  We realised, to our dismay, that the soaps remainly stubbornly lodged in their intricate moulds and refused to budge. Minutes of huffing, puffing, pressing, squeezing and painful finger...

Reflections on Cleansing Stream Retreat Bangkok, 19-21 Aug 2011 " The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation" - Walden, 1854.  Some call it resignation, emptiness, meaninglessness; others call it depression, oppression, stress. There is a whole spectrum of such diverse emotions, from mild to severe. I've learnt that these are called by other names - a spirit of fear; a spirit of guilt, shame and condemnation ; a spirit of an orphan heart; a spirit of poverty and lack. and even a spirit of death. How did it happen? Let's go back to the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. After God has created and set the universe in place, He created the animals, the birds, the fishes, and then came His Masterpiece - man and woman. While all the rest were good, man and woman were "very good.". The woman was designed to be "a helper comparable to him." Thus  God instituted marriage and decreed that "they shall become one flesh". God gave...

A Marriage of Mutual Utility. Posted 29 Jul 2011 Driving at an unearthly hour this morning, the resident audio book ( Now playing " Bee Season"  by Myla Goldberg ) threw out more (punch )lines than I can remember, with such a kapow! Here are two I like. "She has often felt that her outsides were too dull for her insides, that deep within her there was something better than what everyone else could see."  "Miriam realizes she is a broken vessel, pieces of her scattered everywhere. She has been finding those pieces, in their many forms, and bringing them together so she can be whole again."  Then there was one more - " A Marriage of Mutual Utility". This one latched on like an unwelcomed guest and wouldn't go away. Traditional wedding vows always contain the obligatory " For Better or Worse...till death do us part." Perhaps couples should just say it as it is " For better...or until your utility value...