Photo Challenge Tag

Hi Monica! Thanks for tagging me for this photo challenge. Normally I don't do a lot of tags. Not because I don't want to, but because some of the tags that you guys (I mean Mariuca and Lady Java and the lot) do are just far too technically challenging for me. Luckily this photo challenge tag is damned easy!

The rule you've set for me is quite simple - just go to the 6th folder in the folder with all your photos and select the 6th photo and post it. Oh, that's piece of cake, even for me!

Voilà! here's the 6th photo from my 6th folder.



Scherrer Park in Morcote, Switzerland

The photo was taken during our weekend trip to Morcote while we were staying in Zurich. Morcote is a village on the lake of Lugano in the Italian part of Switzerland.

Scherrer Park is located on top of a hill overlooking the lake. To go up, you have to take the steps. Imagine how many steps we had to walk before reaching the top!

Not to forget - poor Petty was carrying Piggy all the way up as using baby stroller was out of the question. That's why you can tell from the photo Petty was simply exhausted after the walk!

And of course, at 6 months old, Piggy was already the size of a small sumo wrestler! Just look at the size of his head. No wonder basketball was his nickname back then. Hugo at the time was only 4 years old. My boys are my world.

I like this photo very much. It has all my favourite people in it. I have very fond memory of this trip. We drove all the way from Zurich. Then stayed at a charming small hotel located right by Lugano Lake. It was in October 2007. The weather was too cold for us to go into the pool. I remember looking at the pool from our hotel balcony, thinking: how I wish it were summer time!

Scherrer Park is a very beautifully landscaped botanical garden. It's really worth a visit when you happen to be in Morcote. Readers in Switzerland, do check out this place! If you're curious about Scherrer Park, here's the information straight out of Morcote Tourism:

**Scherrer Park, rich with luxurious subtropical vegetation and many kinds of buildings and art, both original and copies from all over the world, were left by Mr. Scherrer's widow in 1965 to the village of Morcote with the desire to open them to the public.

This Eden, made of an impressive subtropical flora including palm trees, camellias, wisteria and oleanders, cedar and cypress trees, camphor and eucalyptus, magnolias and azaleas, orange and lemon trees, bamboo and many other kinds of fragrant plants, attracts and fascinates every visitor. The gardens are also suitable for cultural and artistic events which have always been successful.

About sixty years ago, there was a small house with a stable on the shore of the lake here, with cultivated and partly wooded hills rising behind it. At that time Arthur Scherrer acquired the house and bought plot after plot of the land surrounding it. He altered and improved the house until it became a beautiful home. Scherrer was a romantic and a passionate gardener too. In time, he was able to create what is now called “Parco Scherrer”.

Arthur was born in St. Gall (Switzerland) on 2 November 1881. He was the eldest son of Mr. Gustav H. Scherrer, a merchant and town councillor, and he had five brothers and one sister. Scherrer went to school in St. Gall, was later educated together with other boys of respectable families from different countries at the then famous college “Institut Schmidt”.

Later he went to Lausanne to complete his study of French, and then he studied at the Textile and Weaving College in Aachen (Germany). Next he staged in Siena (Italy), where he studied Italian. He then went to North America to learn English and to receive a business education. On his return to Europe he took over his father’s cloth-trade in Munich (Germany), developing a modest “Loden”-Shop into one of the smartest fashion-houses for men. Arthur Scherrer died in 1956.

In 1965 Mrs. Scherrer donated the Park to the Commune of Morcote, on condition that it was made accessible to the public. This exclusive garden offers today a unique and marvellous background for cultural and artistic events, and with its new structural improvements it brings ever more visitors to share in Arthur Scherrer’s dreamworld.**


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Leon, Maiylah, Jade, Gagay, Bill, Emm, Miss Igorota, Nurin, Marlene, PinkLady, chinkygirlmel, Kikit, *Lynne*, Vicky, Azlan and Romy! Let's play along with the photo meme tag! Have fun!

Interview with Hot in Singapore's Angie

Morcote in the Italian part of Switzerland

The lovely lady with a big smile from Emm in London is in the mood to interview fellow bloggers. I've volunteered and this is the end result.

Emm, as she's confessed, is a South African living in London. Her blog is all about her adventures in the UK and the holidays she takes. She is curious and energetic - these are great assets frequently shown in her travel posts.

If you're a TV addict, book worm, movie freak cum music lover, you should not miss Emm's Emm Media. Here you'll be able, amongst all other things, to pick a movie to watch based on Emm's review.

If you're into current affairs, Emm also runs a blog called A passion to understand. It's a collection of current affairs and selected news which has caught Emm's attention. She then publishes the story in her blog with a twist of her own added flavour.

Emm is also a very special person as far as my blog is concerned - she is by far my first ever follower! Hooray!!

Now let's find out what Emm would like to know about me. Ahem, here we go........


1. What made you start blogging? Did you have other friends that had blogs or did you spend time reading other people's blogs and decide it was for you?

In 2007, a colleague introduced me to a blog written by a Taiwanese woman living in Switzerland. Through reading her blog I found out that she could manage to earn a decent income by writing about her daily life and compiling the written posts into books. She then proceeds to sell her books on the net.

And at that time I thought: Hmm, I can do that!

But as you can see, currently I am still stuck at the stage where I'm writing about my daily life.....but then, blogging is fun. It combines my love affair with words and photography. That's why I'll keep doing it in the foreseeable future although it's far from rewarding financially.


2. What did you think about moving to a foreign country the first time you did it? Had you done lots of travelling before that? How did you fit in?

The first time I left Malaysia, it was for me to go for further studies in London. It was daunting as I had not done much travelling before that. I was foolhardy, totally unstreetwise and I was only 18. I remember the first time I went out with an English boy. He came to my flat with half a dozen of Foster's beer and a box of condom. I was expecting flowers and romance and turned out that he was only interested in sex! What a shock for an 18 years old looking for love!

My second move was from Malaysia to Switzerland after getting married with Petty. With my smooth London experience, I thought it would be easy peasy to live in another European city. But as it turned out, Zurich is NOT London! It's not just another European city. To start with, I had to start learning a new language. i.e. German. In my first year in Zurich, I couldn't even get our local butcher to cut my sirloin steak at a certain thickness. The first time I cooked for Petty and his friends, I chose a piece of horse meat from the supermarket when all I wanted was a piece of beef fillet! Oh dear, those were the days. The unglamourous truth of living abroad.


Singapore city centre


3. I have been to Singapore but never to Malaysia. Are the countries similar or completely different?

Singapore and Malaysia are similar in many ways. Not to forget, not too long ago the two countries were part of the Federation of Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore, under the rule of the formidable Lee Kuan Yew, was expelled from the Federation to form the Republic of Singapore, after Mr. Lee's disagreement with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur.

Though similar in terms of geographical make up, the two countries are world apart when come to things like politics, population and cultural make up. To start with, At 707 sq. km, Singapore is the smallest country in South East Asia. Along with Monaco and Vatican City, it is also one of three remaining sovereign city states in the world. Malaysia, on the other hand, is a vast country with land area totalling 329,749 sq. km.

Politics-wise, Malaysia was established as a constitutional monarchy having the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (The Sultan) as the Head of State who assumes largely a ceremonial role. Singapore's political framework is based on a parliamentary republic whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government. Though largely seen as a democratic nation, Singapore has long been classified by the Economist's Intelligence Unit as being a hybrid model with democratic and authoritarian elements.

Both Singapore and Malaysia are multi racial nations. However, Singapore has a majority of Chinese in the make-up of its multi-racial population whereas Malaysia is a Muslim dominated society in which the Malays are the majority.

On a lighter note, Singapore is well known for its high rise government sponsored HDB flats whereas most Malaysians live in terraced landed-properties. Singapore has kiasuness - it literally means fear of losing. This is a unique Singaporean mentality. The adjective, kiasu, is mainly used to describe a social attitude of being afraid to lose out in a highly competitive society. Malaysians, with the Malays majority, are generally regarded as being more laid back and easy going by nature.

I guess I am boring you to death with all these dry facts. Let's move on to the next question.


Roach Reefs Resort in Tawau, Malaysia

4. What do you miss most about home? Do you ever visit? Would you like to return home eventually?

When I am out of Malaysia, first and foremost I miss my family dearly. Next comes all the local food, especially Malay food such as nasi lemak and sambal prawns. Since I moved to Singapore in July 2008, I took the opportunity twice to go back home to visit. First visit was to Kuala Lumpur to show my newborn, Piggy, to my mom and other family members. Second visit was to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family in Tawau - a small seaside town on the island of Sabah, otherwise known as North Borneo.

I doubt if I will ever return to Malaysia eventually as I've tried and tested my life in Switzerland and I do like my lifestyle there. When I am out of Switzerland, I miss my friends dearly, and of course the natural beauty of Switzerland is always on my mind no matter where I go.

5. Which country would you like to visit that you have never visited before? Which country would you never visit?

I love travelling. Currently my favourite countries to visit are America, Argentina and South Africa. To me, there isn't a country that I would never visit. Each and every country in this world is worth at least one visit in my lifetime.

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Now if you'd like to be interviewed:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

There you go. If you would like to be interviewed by me, please write to me at my email address angieeverywhere@gmail.com. I shall then email you my questions. Have fun!

Have you ever?

I've been tagged by Monica, the attractive owner of Turn-U-off.

Anyway, here is my first ever meme!


1. Have you ever been on TV?-- Yes many times. I was featured in Tampax ad, Nivea skin care ad and coca cola ad in which the woman was swept off her feet by a hunk....honestly, NEVER. *sigh sigh*


2. Have you ever sung in public?-- Yes, I was crazy about singing and secretly hoping that I would be discovered at an early age. I sang in my high school singing contest. To my disappointment, I got consolation prize only. From then on, I've never sung again, in public.


3. Have you ever dyed your hair blond?-- Yes, not completely blond but with blond highlight. Having dark hair is boring. No offence to dark haired readers.


4. Have you ever eaten frogs' legs?-- Yes, but not so keen on it. There's not much to eat anyway. I prefer chicken legs.


5. Have you ever received a present that you really hated?-- Oh yes! When I was working for a US investment bank, every X'mas we were given a small gift. It could be a classical music CD or a gift voucher of a local book store. During one particular X'mas, the firm wanted to please a client so badly that it bought lots of books published by the client. Didn't know what to do with the purchase, the firm gave us the books as X'mas presents. I then passed my copy to my mom in law - it's a hard back thick as hell business book written in German! I wonder if she's finished reading it.


6. Have you ever walked into a lamp post?-- Oh no. This is because I've been trained to be very careful with lamp post. Once I was in Bangkok on a busy main road, I saw a middle aged man blowing his nose while waiting for the traffic to stop. He then caught the snot with his right hand and conveniently smeared all of it on the lamp post nearby. From then on, I've been very careful with lamp post. I never go near it. Never touch it.

7. Have you ever cooked a meal by yourself for more than 15 people?-- Never. The most is for 6 people. If I have to do so I'll call my sister. I heard she could easily cook for the whole village!


8. Have you ever fallen or stumbled in front of others?-- Yes, in Davos during my first skiing lesson. I was going downhill (a gentle slope) and I was screaming, "Get out of my way! I'm coming! I'm coming!" Another incident happened after I finished high school. I was a language teacher teaching Primary 6 kids Bahasa Malaysia and English. This school was quite peculiar. In each classroom it had raised platform for teacher to give lecture. With my formal office attire and high heels on, I was oblivious with my surrounding while teaching passionately about English grammar. Suddenly BOING I was out of the platform and landed on the floor. But funny enough, nobody dared to laugh. So I told the class, " That's strange. If it'd happened to my teacher, I'd have been the first one to laugh!". Only then the kids laughed out loud as if it was really funny to find me on the floor.


9. Have you ever done volunteer work?-- Let me see. Not that I know of. When I worked for a bank in Switzerland, every year before X'mas the bank would arrange for some old folks to come into the office on a weekend to make use of free phone calls. They were encouraged to dial to whatever countries that their hearts desired. I'd always agree to turn up to assist them but without fail, I'd fail to turn up! So the answer is NO. I've never done volunteer work.

Now I'm going to tag Uncle Lee, ShuLing, Jade, Lynne and Lin. I hope you guys would join in the fun....:-)