Tea + Dark Choc

I've been taking dark chocolate after reading this report about how its anti dpressing (phenyl ethylamine) capabilities if taken daily.
http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20040601/dark-chocolate-day-keeps-doctor-away
This is not exactly where I read the report but it talks about the actual benefits of dark chocolates.

Not long after, I picked up the habit of drinking chinese tea. What started out as pot admiration, got me into this tea drinking habit. I started to learn about the benefits of drinking tea.

What surprises me more is that I've never felt this good before. I used to be quite a paniky person. I realised lately I don't feel a bit paniky at all. What I feel it just be the combined chemical effect of dark chocolate and tea acting on the body.
But I'm not suggesting that anyone that has paniky try what I'm doing. Just to see if anyone can explain this in terms of medical science here.

Something from Sunday

I was slacking at home after coming home from fishing. There are two shows which I always tried to catch on SCV every sunday. Firstly its the american choppers show called OCC. I love the bikes despite the fact I don't have the license to ride one. Simply love how they customise the bikes. The other show is actually a supernatural investigation show called Ghost Hunting.

There's this team called TAPS that does the investigation on locations either reported by the owner of house or base on sightings. Many a times of course nothing much or concrete was captured on film. But have you ever wondered why nothing was ever captured on film? I know this sound spooky. My hp rang and gave me a fright at this very moment. I was suppose to be frightening you with what I am about to write.

My brother sort of know someone who's friend is involve in hauntings investigation.
Once there was this house which was said to be haunted. At this moment, my goosebumps has stood up already. The house has been sealed and thus investigation can only be carry out from the outside of the house through the limited sighting and gaps into the house. Motion detectors and cameras were setup. Thats when things go wrong.

After setting up the equipment, they left for a few hours before they headed back to collect the results. Upon returning, they were all surpised that most of the equipments had not function the way they were supposed to be. However, one of the motion detector did sense something inside the house. Since they have no access to the house, they could only make wild guesses of whats in the house.

Now probably this might not have sound frightening afterall.
Such investigations relay on the use of night cameras. I was curious to almost wanting to set up my camera overnight to see if I can "catch" anything. But on second thought, I drop that idea. I'm thinking.... What if I really caught something??!! I'd be scared the hell out of me. But frankly speaking, its not as if I haven't seen "it" before. Just that I refrain myself from coming into contact from such stuff as much as possible. I have a friend that is so curious about such stuff and kept asking if we can "teach" him to see. Yes I know, I can't believe he said that as well.

My Trip To Taiwan

These are some pictures which I took during my trip to Taiwan, Taipei. I must say, not only the girls there are pretty, on top of that they have a very orderly train system. Their people boarded and alighted the train in an orderly manner. Even on the escalator, they observe the rule of standing to one side ( for them its on the right). If only Singapore can observe such courtouesy. Anyway, enjoy the pictures.

The Famouse Taipei 101 Tower

The speed of the elevator "1010 metre per min"

On my way to Dan Shui, saw this gorgeous mountain

This is the Taiwanese style Ice Kacang. Its featured on TV before.

This is a famous food in Taiwan. Dao Pock stuffed with vermicelli, the secret is in the red sauce. Taste like sweet sauce. And there's their "Fu Zhou" fishball. Nothing special about the Bao though.

This is the infamous Yue Lao Temple. Singles, remember to visit this temple when you are there in Taipei to ask for blessings

My Tea Set

Here are some pictures of my tea and tea set. Feast on them.

Tea Set given to me by a good friend to help me start my tea drinking habit. Right pot is my favourite "Red Zhu Ni" pot.

Lao Ban Zhang

Tuo Cha

Philosophy on Tea Drinking

Lately I haven't been blogging. That's because I've devoted more time to tea drinking. You might ask, whats there to spend so much time on tea? Isn't it at most learning the proper steps to making tea? Well my answer is no. Let me tell you why as you read on.

Basically I find tea drinking very much similar to experiences in life. Lets start by first look at making tea. Before you get to taste your tea, you got to boil the water before you infuse your tea. Now, the thing with tea is that you don't drink the first infusion. You pour the first infusion into a cup which in is used to pour the infusion over the teapot. This is called "Yang Hu" (Feeding or maintaining your teapot. More on how this is similar to life later. )

Now, you pour in the next round of boiling water and waited for the 2nd infusion to be ready. And yes, you got your tea in your tea cup and you eagerly took the sip. Guess what happen? You scalded your tongue. Does this reminds you of lesson learnt about not jumping to conclusions or making decisions without first considering?

Ok, probably you think this don't happen all the time? Yes I agree with you. Probably the experienced tea drinkers know that its not advisable to take anything more than a big sip for the first sip. But, I must add that even the experienced make such mistakes. Its about coping with the eagerness in us.

Ok, probably you didn't really get to realise the taste of the first cup of tea.
You readied yourself, not wanting to make the similar mistake as the first. You took the first sip very slowly (once bitten twice shy) and carefully. You then take a bigger sip after confirming the temperature is alright. You gulp down on the third.
The look on your face tells me you don't like the tea. You suspected its the amount of time that you took to infuse the tea leaves. Refusing to give up, you decided to try to the best taste out of the tea by varying the length of infusion. But no matter how many times you tried, you just don't get the taste you expected.

Its the same in life, sometimes things just don't go your way no matter what you do and however hard you try. Have you ever though it might have been something else? Probably the tea leaves isn't those that is going to produce your desired taste.
In life, we got to take different approaches. Do not limit yourself to a narrow prospective.

I guess some of those reading this now might be raising their eyebrows about drinking tea, thinking its really a hassle to make your own thing. Yes, there's always the nearest tea joints or the coffee shops to quench your tea cravings. I beg to differ. Its a sense of satisfaction for me to drink the tea I make myself.

More on my philosophy on tea drinking later on in my blog.

Pictures Recap : Bangkok

I found some pictures which I have taken from when I was in bangkok about 2 years back. It was a trip worth remembering since its my first time there after that many years working without a break. This series of my pictures are of fruits. That was the first time I've ever seen fruits of such beautiful colors. I'll just let the pictures do the talking as of now.

About My Cheese

I listened to an ex-colleague spoke about his feeling on his career at this moment of time which sparked me to write something out of it.

I decided to tell him about a book that motivated me. I can say that this is the book that has changed the way I wan to lead my life completely.
This book is entitled "Who Moved My Cheese?"

Well I can see some people raised their eyebrows here.
Anyway, if you have not read it before, the story is about 4 mice, each other different mentalities about cheese. The author portrays men as mice, insearching for "better quality and more cheese", which is the equivalent of better life and living conditions.

As such, I was telling him I used to be just like the clueless mouse that does not know what to do. There's this motivational morale to this story and that is "What would you do if you are not afraid?" Basically its to encourage people to disway the thought of thinking of failure without even trying.

Its really motivational for me. If it can change my life, I bet it might just changed yours too.