@slmkhoo said in Me Time!:

Not my generation getting married any more, it’s the next generation. One of my nieces is getting married next weekend, so it’s tea ceremony, church and lunch on Sat, and dinner on Sunday. This Sat, it’s the 1-month of another niece’s son - so another lunch and angbao. My daughter has Maths on Monday, so not so bad, and she doesn’t have a paper till Wed after the wedding weekend. She’s the youngest of the cousins on this side of the family, so her cousin forgot that there is still 1 more cousin taking A levels!

And our church young people are getting married one by one - lost count of how many weddings there were this year, and we have already been notified of a couple next year. We are invited to nearly all of the weddings.

Wow, that’s such a full season of celebrations for your family! It must feel special watching the next generation hit these big milestones one after another. Hope the upcoming weddings go smoothly and the whole weekend turns out meaningful for everyone. And if they’re doing any small keepsakes or fun touches for guests, things like wedding can coolers are always a cute idea. Wishing your daughter all the best with her A levels too!

That’s a very old post! That daughter taking A levels got married last year!

Consider meditation.

you ladies are still around!!
Surprise , Surprise. Long time no “see”.

I do log on to check once every 10-20days… if I can remember…

But it’s so quiet here, a dying forum…sad to see the once vibrant ksp dying as a result of a changed forum format

you ladies are still around!!

Amazing, right? I’m just slow to change!

@zac-s-mum said in Me Time!:

Hi to my fellow Singapore citizens above 21 years of age, remember to download your SG60 vouchers

️ and btw it is per person, not per household!

I just reminded my kids! I got mine earlier (>60) and already started spending.

Hi to my fellow Singapore citizens above 21 years of age, remember to download your SG60 vouchers

️ and btw it is per person, not per household!

Inner Mongolia! wow … share more with us when u are back!
U DIY or with a grp tour , private tour?
nowadays, quite a number of people do private tour ie get guide/cum driver from social media/tiktok ,instagram, contact thru we chat and go to china n meet the guide… i wonder how good and how “safe”

We went on a CTC tour - 18 pax altogether. We signed on with 2 of my husband’s siblings and their spouses, so we were the largest sub-group in the tour group. My sis-in-law was the one who selected the tour first, then we and the other couple decided to join in. I have no experience of private tours in China. I think I wouldn’t want to do a private tour unless someone is highly recommended - unless details are well-documented, things could go awry. And a lot depends on the tour guide - if they have their own way of doing things, or their opinions of what you should see etc, you could end up with clashes! At least with a tour company, it’s usually spelled out more clearly what you can expect, and there is a company to complain to.

Inner Mongolia was interesting, but the distances between places was quite long. We felt we spent too much time on the coach just getting from place to place. I don’t think they could have managed the tour any better given the distances and the time constraints; maybe if the tour were longer the balance between travel and sightseeing would be better. But that would increase costs, and my sis-in-law didn’t have time for a longer tour.

I wasn’t too impressed by the local (China) tour guide - 50yo man - I felt he didn’t do a very good job of the explanations etc, and was rather condescending towards the minorities, the not-so-great Chinese language of Singaporeans, and the need to make toilet stops every couple of hours! The Singaporean tour leader who came with the group was great, and helped smooth things over along the way, and also did a lot to make sure that some of the participants’ needs were accommodated (mostly in their 60s and some in their 70s).

@PiggyLalala said in Me Time!:

@slmkhoo said in Me Time!:

@Integer said in Me Time!:

@slmkhoo said in Me Time!:

@PiggyLalala said in Me Time!:

@slmkhoo I totally agree with Integer—you have been one of the most helpful forum members. You always express your thoughts so clearly, and I am sure many have benefited from what you’ve shared over the years.

Thank you! I do regret that I didn’t archive some of the posts I wrote over the years on the various topics and the exchanges with various other members. Oh well, too bad.

Guess no one could expect the migration results. Unlikely for one to archive one’s posts. But I can understand your “sayangness”, cause some of your posts were lengthy with a lot of helpful advice. Mine were just chit chats, so not so “wasted” like yours.

I just did a search for all my posts, and now there are posts back to 2011, which is about when I joined! Over 1600 pages of posts! When I have time (no idea when that will be!), I must look through them and archive some!

hi slmkhoo,
How do you go about archiving? Does it mean copying and pasting the posts into a document? If so, it sounds like a pretty slow and tedious process.

Haven’t thought about the mechanics of it yet! I just thought it would be something worth doing? Still got 2 projects I’m working on that will take a fair bit of my energy for the next few weeks (hopefully not longer). I wonder if anyone has better ideas for archiving past posts?

I’m actually going on vacation tonight for a week in Inner Mongolia(!), and the responses I’ve been waiting for in one of the projects have just started coming in, after I’ve been chasing for about 2-3 months! Well, I’ve told them they have to wait till I get back for me to proceed.

Inner Mongolia! wow … share more with us when u are back!
U DIY or with a grp tour , private tour?
nowadays, quite a number of people do private tour ie get guide/cum driver from social media/tiktok ,instagram, contact thru we chat and go to china n meet the guide… i wonder how good and how “safe”

@slmkhoo
Safe travels, Slmkhoo.
Inner Mongolia seems to be a hot travel destination for Singaporeans this June — you are the third person I know heading there.

Another friend is going to Outer Mongolia. She mentioned that she will be staying with nomads and will not be able to bathe for over 10 days.

Have a great trip, Slmkhoo.

Just got back last night. Yes, there were at least 3 groups from Singapore (same tour company!) we crossed paths with during the week. I guess there must have been other groups using other hotels and restaurants. Inner Mongolia (part of China) is very different from (Outer) Mongolia from what I gather. Our tour was quite tame and comfortable; of course, not as comfortable as in more well-developed areas. Overall, I felt that there was too much time spent on the coach getting from place to place, compared with the time actually seeing things. And there was quite a lot of required sightseeing (required by the local govt) which was not very interesting.

The Singapore tour leader was really great - organised, detail-oriented, caring (lots of older people), flexible; the Chinese tour guide wasn’t as good as I would have liked. Some of the sights were interesting, but not explained well. He was really interested in Tibetan Buddhism and that was the only thing he explained at great length! Overall, I would rate the tour as OK to good, but not excellent. I did get my first horse ride and camel ride (on very slow, stable animals).