A girl in love asked her boyfriend.

Girl: Tell me. Who do you love most in this world?

Boy: You, of course!

Girl: In your heart, what am I to you?

Boy: The boy thought for a moment and looked intently in her eyes and said, "You are my rib. It was said that God saw that Adam was lonely, during his sleep, God took one of Adam's rib and created Eve. Every man has been searching for his missing rib, only when you find the woman of your life, you'll no longer feel the lingering ache in your heart."

After their wedding, the couple had a sweet and happy life for a while.

However, the youthful couple began to drift apart due to the busy schedule of life and the never-ending worries of daily problems, their life became mundane.

All the challenges posed by the harsh realities of life began to gnaw away their dreams and love for each other.

The couple began to have more quarrels and each quarrel became more heated.

One day, after the quarrel, the girl ran out of the house. At the opposite side of the road, she shouted, "You don't love me!"

The boy hated her childishness and out of impulse, retorted, "Maybe, it was a mistake for us to be together! You were never my missing rib!"

Suddenly, she turned quiet and stood there for a long while. He regretted what he said but words spoken are like thrown away water, you can never take it back. With tears, she went home to pack her things and was determined in breaking-up.

Before she left the house, "If I'm really not your missing rib, please let me go."

She continued, "It is less painful this way. Let us go on our separate ways and search for our own partners."

Five years went by...

He never remarried but he had tried to find out about her life indirectly. She had left the country and back. She had married a foreigner and divorced. He felt anguished that she never waited for him.

In the dark and lonely night, he lit his cigarette and felt the lingering ache in his heart. He couldn't bring himself to admit that he was missing her.

One day, they finally met. At the airport, a place where there were many reunions and good byes. He was going away on a business trip. She was standing there alone, with just the security door separating them. She smiled at him gently.

Boy: How are you?

Girl: I'm fine. How about you? Have you found your missing rib?

Boy: No.

Girl: I'll be flying to New York in the next flight.

Boy: I'll be back in 2 weeks time. Give me a call when you are back. You know my number. Nothing has changed.

With a smile, she turned around and waved good bye.

Good bye...

One week later, he heard of her death. She had perished in New York, in the event that shocked the world.

Midnight, once again, he lit his cigarette. And like before, he felt the lingering ache in his heart.

He finally knew. She was the missing rib that he had carelessly broken.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sometimes, people say things out of moments of fury.

Most often than not, the outcome could be disastrous and detrimental.

We vent our frustrations 99% at our loved ones.

And even though we know that we ought to "think twice and act wisely", it's often easier said than done.

Things happen each day, many of which are beyond our control.

Let us treasure every moment and everyone in our lives.

Tomorrow may never come. Give and accept what you have today.

Wats a trip to Athens without visiting The Acropolis rite?
But the trip up the slopes under the burning hot afternoon sun is so unbearable!!



And just imagine, once we're up there, The Parthenon was under restoration works. How dissapointing! Hmmph!

But we did managed to take a couple of shots of the other temples and scenery though..





Ancient Angora was a much better sight...



And so is the island of Hydra..




Where the main form of transportation is donkeys.. as no motorised vehicles are allowed on the island.


We ate and drank so many times down there I almost burst!


I just wished that we had a longer stay in Athens. I so wanted to go to Santorini man...!

Recognize her?



Its Gwen Stefani, people!!



And who was at her concert just now?









Dahlia & yours truly...




We had such a blast. It was simply awesome!!

A sweet escape indeed... :)

Last national day, when the nation was busy celebrating the independence of Singapore, I went to see the actual 'Singa' itself..

At Lion's Park in Johannesburg, South Africa..


And my, what a magnificient creature it is..


Majestic in its own way..


No wonder its the King of the Jungle.


Of course, we cant even get near to the lions but the cubs, we are allowed to touch..


Its just like a big cat.. So cute! I even asked MD for USD$20k to bring one home. The white one cost half a million..


There's also other animals we got to see.. Like cheetahs, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, ostrich..








Having had enough of the African animals,


Me, Nicole & Ryan moved on to learn more about the people, at Lesedi Cultural Village.












Here I am with the Chief of the Zulu tribe, descendants of the great Shaka Zulu aka the Black Napoleon..

Ehem.. senyum nampak, Chip?

Check out part of the menu for our African lunch buffet..

which includes tasty crocodile and ostrich meat.

And what do they taste like? Chicken...

As much as I love Rome, Im glad that I decided to change it away for the Dubai-Istanbul flight. Plus, I get 3 off days ontop of my 4 days leave. Thats a whole week of not working, bah! How best is that lah!!

And Ive never seen so many Malay crew on a flight summore! Gerek seh..!

We decided to check out this club in Dubai called The Apartment at Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Not bad at all.. Quite happening.


And my cousin was there too!


I also decided to make my baju hari raya there. 2 pairs cukup lah.. Belum tahu I'll get to be in SG or not. Haiz... that will be determined by the next roster.

So anyway, highlight of the flight was getting to go to Istanbul. I didnt know Turkish guys and girls could be soo cute seh... Cuci mata habis kat sana. But lets not stray cos thats beside the point...

Its when I visited The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia that I realised how beautiful a mosque can be.










We also went to the Topkapi Palace, where the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire used to reside.






Although we didnt get to go to The Grand Bazaar (cos it's closed on Sunday). we did took a walk at the nearby Arasta Bazaar.




Thats where we had our kebab lunch.


and had a round of Turkish ice cream while walking....


They dun call it Turkish delight for nothing, u noe.. Especially after a long walk under the sun. Phew!