It was a little strange because even JW had never met this cousin before. What was even stranger was that JW asked his cousin (after being introduced to each other) if he was the groom. Hahaha. Oh well…

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Beijing, although I was only there for 3 days. The icy wintry air, dazzling christmas lights and familiar city sights brought back such wonderful memories of this lovely city. I can’t wait to go back there again. A pity I had to take the red eye flight back to attend another meeting the very next day. 🙁

This time around, I stayed at The Regent. Unlike some people who fear staying in a hotel room all by themselves, I love staying by myself when I am overseas. Thankfully, in my organisation, we all get our own rooms when we travel overseas.

I embrace freedom, and having everything all to myself. 😛

Check out the bathroom’s open concept. Perfect for the exhibitionists. The blinds are automated, so if you have guests over, you can shut the blinds.

I celebrated my birthday yesterday at Au Jardin @ Botanical Gardens. The ambience, attentive service and JW’s company left me with a warm fuzzy feeling. 🙂

I had the 8-course dinner set while JW took the 4-course. No photos of the food though. Both JW & I agreed that while dining in such an ‘atas’ restaurant was an interesting experience, we are certainly no connoisseurs when it comes to food. We much prefer the simple pleasures in life, such as char siew rice, duck rice, salted duck soup and mango sago dessert Hahaha.

If I really had to pick an upmarket restaurant to dine in, I would still choose The Cliff over Au Jardin. Nonetheless, I cannot deny that the service at Au Jardin is impeccable. The waiters made sure that I was treated like a princess, and all of them wished me happy birthday at one point or another during the dinner.

Stealing a shot of my beloved bf

Trying to act demure but I think I look rather contrived haha. The silky purple top was a birthday gift to myself, which I got from Vera Moda, a European label that can be found in major cities around the world, including Beijing. Their clothes fit me to a T! Much to my disappointment, it’s not found locally.

We decided to catch a midnight movie after that. I wanted to watch Enchanted, but the seats were so lousy that we eventually decided on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, which starred acting veterans Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman.

The movie started off well, but the ending felt incomplete. We both felt that the plot lacked substantiation and was seriously lacking in many areas.

Camwhoring in the car while we were stuck in the Orchard Road jam.