Crap Spot.com

Glee fever

2010-07-15T23:33:00.002+08:00

Ok. I have not been updating here since donkey years ago. It is simply because my life has become so mudane and so inspiring that I have nothing interesting to write. I can't be writing about me going to school, mug, eat, tuition, sleep those sort of stuff right?

Ok a quite update. Yours truly have just graduated, not officially though, still waiting for the administration to confer me the degree. So my 20+ years of academic life ends. so many years of studying, tests, exams and it all comes down to that piece of paper, which determines your future, or not. I am definitely not going to miss the 'studying' part of school, but definitely going to miss the 'non-academic' part of school life, talking cock during meals and breaks, doing funny things in lecture to keep myself and my friends awake, all the late nights doing things not related to studies. Well, I shall be looking forward to working life, and financial freedom!

Over the past few months, the television series, Glee has been getting a lot of 'attention' from me. It was recommended to me by one friend in HK, but i didn't get to watch it till I get back to SG. And once i watched the first episode, I was literally hooked. I love the semi-musical style of this series. And there seems to be many stereotypical labels throughout the plot and the characters that makes it really interesting. Sometimes, the storyline is just so-so and some of the episodes are rather meaningless. However, a few good episodes can literally save the whole series.

This series also brought back a lot of english hits from the past, as well as featuring modern pop hits. Don't Stop Believing is one classic that has been revived. Seriously, I have not even heard of this song before i watch Glee and Don't Stop Believing is such a classic that should be 'popularised' in this modern era. Many of these songs are on my iPod reruns and I would say I never get sick of some of these songs.

It set me thinking, would it be possible to produce a chinese version of Glee, bringing back hits from the 70s, 80s and featuring some really good tunes from modern chinese pop. Hmm.... perhaps some taiwan producers can do this and get together a talented cast to perform. Possible?

Some of the songs that wow-ed me.

7 days in Beijing! 北京欢迎你！

2010-01-04T00:11:00.008+08:00

北京欢迎你，为你开天辟地，流动中的魅力充满了朝气！
The plane was playing this song over the PA when I touched down in Beijing!

Well, Beijing is a city I had always wanted to visit. The last time i went was in 1995 and 15 years later, it's a totally different place!

The Old Beijing!

Outside Tiananmen 天安门！

@ The Forbidden City.

Inside Forbidden City 紫禁城!

Along the walkways. Reminds you of 金枝欲孽 yeh....

@ Temple of Heaven 天坛

Great Wall of China 万里长城！Now I am a 好汉！

豫和园 Summer Palace!

前门！

The NEW Beijing!

世贸天阶！with a gigantic screen above!

国家大剧院，the big dome/egg in the middle of the water.

Bird nest 鸟巢！

Ｗ

Water Cube　水立方！

Beijing Capital International Airport Terminal 3. Resembles HKIA actually...

Shall blog more about this city (and other cities) when i have more time!

11月29日反高鐵停撥款大遊行

2009-12-01T22:08:00.004+08:00

Any form of protest or demonstration in Singapore is definitely a no-no but the case is totally different in Hong Kong. On weekends, you often see groups walking on the streets, holding banners, showing their discontent with certain government's decision. To most Hong Kong-er, they are so used to it and one local told me that the largest demonstration will be held on July 1st every year.

11月29日反高鐵停撥款大遊行 is held to protest against the government's decision to build a high speed rail network from kowloon west to guangzhou. This project has gained lots of controversy since it was launched. People opposed to this for many reasons. Firstly, the project cost $65 billion dollars Hong Kong Dollars which is considered an astronomical sum. Furthermore, these $65B comes from the tax payers money. Many people do not see the need for this rail link as there are already many connections to mainland China. Secondly group of protestors are mainly the residents who will be forced to relocate due to the construction. Villagers of Choi Yuen Village, who have been living there for many years and had a sense of attachment to the place, had been told to move away. They were blaming the government for the insufficient consultation with them over moving and compensation issues. Another group are the enviromentalist who fear for the environmental damage the railroad will bring to the natural habitat in New Territorities.

CU student union is one of the organisers involved and thus all of us got an email notifying us about this event. Since I had never took part in something like this, and I may probably not get a chance to do so, I went down on sunday to take a look. I joined the demonstration and got the chance to talk to a few locals. Of course, they were very curious about Singapore's system and I similarily wanted to find out more about their view on this matter. Though most of them did feel that such protest is not going to help, they just want the government to know their thoughts. We walked down the street, held banners, holding leaves (which signify the green nature farmland which will be destroyed).

I did not stay through the whole thing as I was super hungry, so a few of us went off halfway. I read on the news the next day that a group had actually gathered in front of the legislative building and there was some form of clashes between them and the government. It seems like a few of them, perhaps the residents, really did not want their home to be destroyed and they held on till the end.

Well, many people asked why I joined since it is none of my business. Well, I went down mainly to take a look out of curiosity. I also knew a bit about the whole controversy behind this rail link and through different views, I got to see the whole picture. I feel in the short term this project may not work but in the long term, it may be beneficial as the whole of China is developing a high speed rail network. As for the villagers, development is inevitable and someday, one has to relocate. I am not in any position to say whether this project is right or wrong but I am offering this little insight. I am trying not to turn this blog post into an academic one, which i would rather save the effort for my essay.

Well, it was just a little eye-opener for me this time round.

It's cold!

2009-11-22T22:27:00.003+08:00

Everyone was telling me Hong Kong will only get cold in December or January and you could practically still be wearing shorts/berms in november. This year, it doesn't seem to be the case. The cold weather from the north moved southwards and places like Hong Kong got really cold. It went down to 8 degree celcius on certain nights last week. While i was in Guilin, the temperature plunged to 4 degree celcius and it was practically freezing cold, especially when the wind blows. Just when I was hoping to come back to sunny HK, I reached shenzhen wearing 3 layers of clothes.

Well, since I thought the weather will not be this cold, I was rather unprepared in terms of clothings. In Guilin, I had to go get myself a scarf and long john as it was really freezing. Luckily I could find these clothings at a really cheap price. Back in HK, I had a few pieces of long sleeves shirt and sweater that I could put on but I couldn't possibly wear the same thing over and over again. On another note, the local students really dress up well for winter. With nice coat, scarfs and leather boots, it really looks like a fashion parade in class (even the guys too!). With all of them dressing up well, I feel pressurised to look well (at least not wear the same thing everyday).

So off I went shopping for more clothes, which would mean more excess luggage charges. UNIQLO is a good choice as the winter collection they had was good and decently priced. However, it seems like the whole of HK is buying clothes as well, so it was utter chaos in the store. Items on the special price rack was strewn all around and it was so hard to look for the piece that you want. Long queues at the cashier as well. Luckily, there wasn't a need to go to the fitting room as we could just put on and try on the spot. Checked out other stores and it was the same situation. Crowded and messy stores. I guess the Hong Kong-ers were also caught by surpirse and needed to get winter clothes earlier than what they had expected.

Buying winter clothings was a hard choice for me. I had to make sure that what I bought can be worn back in Singapore. No point buying a thick and nice looking sweater when it is going to end up somewhere deep in my closet back in SG. Well, one way to stay warm is to wear many layers and take off some layers when necessary.

The classrooms at CU is kind of crazy. Some LTs still had the aircon on during the cold weather and all of us were wearing thick coat in class! They should have turned off the a/c to save energy! Well, at least some building do. Our dorms do not have any heater so sometimes, I had to sleep in long pants/sleeve/ socks under a thick comforter! I had used the inner layer of my comforter as my bed padding before and now, it is being used for warmth. I heard this marvellous way of keeping warm and comfy at night. Before you go to sleep, throw your bedsheet and blanket into the dryer for 5 mintues. Then grab it, run back to your room, put it back onto your bed and jump in to bed! Well, it costs some $$ but I think it is a sure way to keep warm.

The cool weather is kind of pleasant at times. I can walk for a long long time (down nathan road from TST to mongkok) without feeling tired or sweating. The cold breeze could make feel so refreshed. I guess with sufficient clothing, it will be ok.

Well, Beijing is gonna be freezing when I get there so it means more clothes to pack inside my backpack. Think xiamen is going to be cold as well... Well, when i get back to singapore, I am sure to complain about the heat all again!

香港天氣

2009-11-03T13:55:00.003+08:00

It's such a pleasant feeling waking up to a 17 degree celcius weather in Hong Kong. I was wondering when winter will come and finally, we see this day of cooling weather. Finally I can put my long sleeve shirt into action. Strolling along the road to class, seeing all those around me wrapped up in long pants and long sleeve (except a few who still wore shorts/miniskirt), enjoying the cold breeze in my face. It would be perfect if everyday were to be like this.

The bad news, cold weather is only expected to last for 2 days in HK. After the 2 days, it will be back to the hot sun and T-shirt and berms will come out once again. Have to wait till december.

And Beijing had her first snow fall of this winter, a bit too early though. After seeing the news, I then realise that the central govt did cloud seeding which caused the snow. I guess Beijing will be freezing when I visit in december. Need to buy winter clothes!

Another crazy weekend!

2009-10-28T13:47:00.023+08:00

All the last minute work for the past 3 days is killing me. Well, that's the price to pay for having fun during the weekend. Which means working my ass off on monday to finish an essay as well as to study for mid-term. Throw in another 2 assignments to rush through on tuesday night. Well, now i am only left with another mid-term and then I can go back to enjoying myself till the last week of nov or the beginning of december, where all the deadlines are.

It's gonna be a crazy exam schedule this time round. We have only 3 days of study break!!!!

8th dec - GRM3310 paper due

9th dec - Cantonese oral exam (give a speech)

10th dec - GRM3305 paper due

11th dec - UGC296U and GRM3310 Exam (Back to back!!!)

14th dec - UGC219E Exam

15th dec - GRM3305 Exam

18th dec - GRM2324 Exam

Looking at such a crazy schedule makes me hate december. But well, after the 18th, i am free to go travelling! Planning Xiamen, Beijing, Tianjin and Guilin in december. Tentatively, flying back to SG on 8th jan and sch starts on 11th! It's gonna be tiring.

First, it was Ocean Park on Friday (23/10). 6 of us went in the day, taking almost every possible ride. The last time i went to Ocean Park, it was raining cats and dogs and most of the rides were closed. This time round, it was sunny and we are able to scream our hearts out on the roller coster and the Abyss Drop. The Abyss Drop is the one that makes my heart skip a beat and it is really committing suicide. It is not called 跳楼机 for no reason.

all happy before all the games!

View from the cable car.

The plunge that got us wet.

This turn spins us round and round... looks innocent but it's not.

Roller Coster with a view!

The other roller coster. with overturns you 3 times!

The abyss drop. From top to bottom in less than 1 sec!

another turn round and round game.

Flying swing.. reminds me of genting....

Ocean Park Aquarium. Underwaterworld is better.

one of the halloween decorations!

The animal show! What a great backdrop!

All the CUHK peeps with 辫子姑娘，the single braid lady poster.... It's a CU ghost story and I have to walk past it to the canteen everyday..

Panda! They are my next favourite animal! So cute!

The most exciting part of Ocean Park is at night. When night falls, Halloween Bash starts and the whole theme park is turned into a giant haunted house. With lots of 'ghosts' wandering around the park and up to 8 haunted house to visit, it was definitely not for those with a weak heart. It is like Fright Night on a scale of the whole campus.

The haunted houses had themes such as a school, a hospital, police station and there were 'ghosts' inside to scare you. They will be hiding behind doors, under tables, lying down on the bed and they will jump up to scare you when you walk pass them. I do realise something, the more afraid you are of them, the more they like to disturb you. I did get a shock a few times, especially when i am leading a line of girls behind my back, clinging onto my bag. One of the haunted house even had each of us stand alone in an individual booth, while they show you some scary clips and a random ghost will pop his head into the booth. It's kind of funny seeing girls, and even some guys, who were so afraid that they kept the head down throughout the whole journey in the haunted house. And it's fun to hear them scream!!

The shock and scaring does not end once you step out of the haunted house. There were roaming 'ghosts' who will occasionally creep up to you on the streets, scaring the wits out of you. We were able to take pictures with some of the friendly ghosts though. I can see that a lot of effort was put into this halloween theme, with decorations and the ghosts' makeup. I even lay inside a coffin! It feels good to be dead. After all night of getting scared and screaming, I was wondering, is Halloween about scaring others? Well, whatever, at least all of us had lots of fun! The only downside, we had to queue for at least 1/2 hr at each haunted house just to get scared for 5 minutes.

Kudos to the ghosts! I think they did a great job and it was really tiring i think. To scare people for 5 hours straight? I wanna go be a ghost next yr!

This is referring to my school... yup. CUHK has lots of ghost stories.

The queue we had to endure through before getting scared.

Another haunted house site.

The police staiton. With lots of vampires inside...

Occult Lab. The place where you have to go solo!

Sleeping in a coffin! It's kind of comfortable. One should try sleeping in one cause when you really do sleep in it, you will not know how it feels like!

The Forbidden Mall. Another haunted house.

Taking picture with one of the friendly ghosts!

Another Friendly ghost!

A whole 14 hours spent at ocean park. amazing.......

After a day of recuperation, it's time to head out again. This time, to Lantau. One would not have been to Hong Kong if he or she have not gone to the Big Buddha. When I first touched down in HK, the Ngong Ping Cable Car was under maintainence till end of september and we were like, oh well, we can always visit it later on. (coincidentally, when i came to HK in 2007, the cable car had an accident and it was shut down till further notice) This time round, I finally got to sit on the cable car.

View from the cable car is great. You can see the whole of Tung Chung, the whole Hong Kong Airport Island and lots of mountains in Lantau. It really makes you wonder how the cable car system is built. After the ride, it was to the Big Buddha where you squeeze yourself in between all the tourists for a picture with the Buddha.

View just after leaving Tung Chung!

Hong Kong International Airport! Looks like i am on a plane!

Big Buddha statue in the distance!

upclose to buddha!

Group photo!

a really good vegetarian meal! I have not had so much vegetables placed in front of me for quite some time.

After Ngong Ping, we headed off to the other side of Lantau, to Tai O Fishing Village. What once used to be a quiet fishing village with a rather large salt industry has now became a tourist site filled with people on a weekend. I can see that there are still a lot of residents there and many of them are actually locals who visit their parents who stayed there. In a way, I guess the residents have gotten used to the large crowds on weekends. It means more money for those doing a business. We did manage to walk till Shek Tsai Po, a relatively quieter area, where we are able to sit down and enjoy the view.

Tai O packed with tourists!

Kind of like the peaceful surrounding and the 'old school' feel. Different from the Hong Kong we see.

Sunset!

What a weekend! Where to go next?

Super White.....

2009-10-19T15:49:00.002+08:00

This song i bet will never hit the Singapore Radio airwaves.....

but I was wondering if it will be available in Kbox? Imagine singing (or swearing) in Kbox?

Kind of absurd that there is actually such a song.

This seems somewhat similar to the"Delay No More" you see in HK. At least "Delay No More" still sounds a bit off from "diu lei lou mou" but "超级白" sounds exactly like CCB.

Well, a short entry as i am totally bored from reading my tutorial notes.

SHE 巡回演唱会2009 香港站

2009-10-17T01:25:00.009+08:00

红墈就是演唱会的圣地！

这一次能够有机会都红墈看一场演唱会，也了了我的一大心愿。在来香港之前，我对自己说，有机会一定要在香港看一场演唱会，买了最贵的票，我也觉得是值得的。朋友们临时放了飞机，我只好自己一个人去看了。自己一个人就不能high到疯嘛，但也能像其他的歌迷一样尖叫，一样摇着荧光棒，跟着SHE一起唱。

这一次的演唱会，在视觉上，真的做得不错，服装上也是千变万化。台没我想象中那么大，不过我觉得已经足够。在歌曲上，SHE也真的唱了很多很多，也跳了很多舞，我自己都不知道到底有几首。

我很喜欢的部分：

1）爱的KTV！体育场成为了一间超级大的KTV厢房，Selina，Hebe 和Ella 各带来一首KTV歌曲。 Ella 唱了周杰伦的简单爱，Selina 唱了崇拜，Hebe 唱了王菲的给自己的情书，而且是粤语版。之后她们再唱了两首high歌：终结孤单和三天三夜，真的全场high翻天！她们还为这项目特别拍了MV！能听她们唱其他歌手的歌，真的是新鲜！

2）百老汇版的触电！以及SHE的solo！

3）许多搞笑的时刻，像SHE以性感以及骚的方式演唱锁住时间，还有她们好多关于走光的笑话。还有Ella叫观众站我们就站，叫我们坐下我们也真的坐下，真是好听话的歌迷。

一时间也不能想起还有什么项目，就让照片来描述我的经历吧

相机的功能不是很好，所以照片都有很不清楚。

这一次真的是爽翻天了。我还心痒痒的，想去看郑秀文的演唱会，不过真的没有钱了呀！！！

Concerts!

2009-10-09T01:58:00.006+08:00

Concerts concerts and more concerts! The good thing about being in HK is that you do get a lot of pop acts coming into town, as well as local canto pop, which in itself is a thriving industry.

First up! (16 oct)

「S.H.E is the One@愛而為一」 World Tour Concert

I splurged on an expensive ticket at the famous Hung Hom (红勘) colliseum. Well, I told myself I must at least step into Hung Hom once in stay here and it so happens SHE one of my favourite groups. So there goest the $$. At least I am on the 2nd block from the stage. Hopefully a clear view next friday!

Next up! (31st oct)

Wild Day Out Grand Show 2009

9 hours of songs with pop acts from 苏打绿，范晓萱，蔡建雅，林宥嘉，黄贯中and many many more! Those mentioned above are already sending me into joy and it's totally worth the HKD380 ticket! What a way to spend my halloween. And we can dress up for the concert!

Hopefully I can hear another cantonese songs from SHE. And who's 特别来宾？ I am wishing/praying it's TWINS!!! haha..

Ok. I gonna have to stop at 2. If not I really have no $$ to travel at the end of the year. :(

Long Long Weekend holiday!

2009-10-04T23:35:00.012+08:00

Put National Day and Mid Autumn Festival together and you get a whole string of activities lined up in Hong Kong! It was truly a long weekend for most of us.

October 1st is China National Day and this year, being the 60th year of the founding of PRC, celebrations are much bigger than usual. Hong Kong, being part of China, of course had lots of celebrations lined up.

The night of october first was spent squeezing with loads of people at Tsim Sha Tsui to catch the fireworks. The fireworks lasted 23 minutes and it is definitely one of the grandest since 2007, when HK celebrated 10 yrs of return to China. We were lucky that we managed to get a spot where we weren't pressed human to human and yet able to get a decent view of the harbour. Well, some parts were blocked by the TST clock tower but it was ok. The most exciting fireworks of the day was the "中国六十" display! The whole display ended with a sky full of fireworks.

camping out at TST bus terminus waiting for fireworks to start

full of people!

The fireworks went "boomz" (Ris Low, 2009)

Next up was Mid Autumn Festival on Oct 3rd. The national day celebration continued and there was this 万人大游巡 held at TST. It was a litle disappointing as there wasn't much display to talk of. Just lots of people walking down the street like Big Walk. There were some bands playing and some uniform groups marching and that's all. The highlight of the parade were the celebrities whom zoomed past us so quickly that we were unable to get a good view, let alone get a good picture. At least I got to see 華仔，Ah Sa, Joey, Gigi and 谢安琪!

華仔 holding the flag. 让世界知道我们都是中国人！

容祖儿Ｊｏｅｙ！

谢安琪. Couldn't see her face.....

Ah Sa! She's waving at me!!!!!

Gigi Leung! Her car went past too fast!

In the evening, Mid Autumn festival celebration started and a group of us, exchange students, headed over to Victoria Park to join in the crowd. Lots of lanterns and display at the park, and not to mention the huge crowd at the grass lawn. It looks like a mass demonstration, like how Bangkok was shut down, people sitting on mats, eating, drinking, chatting.

We had mooncakes, cut using my CUHK card (cause we had no knife), and of course lanterns and candles. We made a mistake of not bring lanterns so we were kind of ripped off by the stalls selling lantern at the park. And we had fun lighting our lanterns, playing with candles. Didn't walk around as the park was too crowded so we ended up playing games while seated. I taught them the R.O.C.K Rock game! haha! The celebration didn't end after we left the park as we lighted our lanterns at CUHK and walked back from the train station to our hostel. It was definitely a cheap thrill.

Lots of decorations!

Lots of people on the grass lawn!

Group picture 1!

Group Pic 2, with our lanterns!

Outside our hostel!

Next day, on October 4, I headed out ot Tai Hang to catch the Tai Hang Fire Dragon dance, which is held every year for 3 night during the mid autumn festival. The "dragon" is made of straw and stuffed with lots of incense. It was too crowded and i was too short to get a good view of the dance. So i could only depend on my not so trusty camera to take a look at what's going on. For the first time in my life, i felt so short.....

The signboard telling you that you are in the right place.

This is my view.. lots of heads and a little bit of action....

lighting up the dragon. They stuck joss sticks onto the whole dragon!

The dragon tail.. I couldn't squeeze thru the crowd to get to the dragon head.

While they were parading on the other street, this is what i could see. It's too hard to squeeze through the narrow walkway to the other street, so i had to settle for this view.

Ok, so it's the end of the holiday. Back to school! I should skip more lessons :)!!

Studying in HK

2009-09-23T23:34:00.005+08:00

It is now week 3 of school and the workload is getting heavier and heavier by the week. Deadlines for assignments looms ahead and there's gonna be some tests here and there. I guess it's time for me to settle down, not think of playing everyday and start to do my readings. Well, it's Student Exchange Program. Students means you are still studying and studying means you got to mug a bit. The ideas of S/U keeps lingering behind my head but still, I need to study.

This semester seems to be have the heaviest workload since i started university life. I am currently doing 6 modules, 4 geography, 1 elective and 1 cantonese module. I used to tell myself I will never do 6 mods in one semester and yet I am doing it on what is supposed to be the slackest semester for me (exchange don't need to study hard right?)

The cantonese module was a last minute decision. I knew a little cantonese before I came over to HK and I realise that little cantonese is not enough. On the streets, in the school canteen, on the bus, at my hostel, everyone converse in cantonese. At times, I feel so lost in a world of cantonese words. Especially if you are chinese, most Hong Kong-ers will assume you speak cantonese, so they will speak to you in canto. If I can understand, I will reply them in canto. That spells trouble as they will continue blabbering on in canto and I will just have to ask them to repeat in mandarin. During my hall orientation (Hall-O), the local students were speaking in cantonese most of the time during the activities and I really appreciate the few locals who translate what they said into english for us exchange students. Part of me wanted to join in the fun for all 4 days but part of me don't want to feel awkard and lost in front of them. Sometimes at canteen, I really can't understand what the canteen auntie is telling me. If I am lucky, that auntie can speak putonghua. If not, I gonna have to guess what she means, and that may lead to a disastrous meal that is served to you. So, I was thinking, since I am in Hong Kong, wouldn't it be a pity if I don't learn cantonese?

At least the choice was right. I enjoyed the class (even though i only attended one lesson and it is freaking early at 9.30am). The teacher (Leung sin sang) is so damm funny and he totally loves to talk cock (chui shui). The 3 hours just passes by very quickly and I would say I feel more comfortable speaking in cantonese after just one lesson. Now, I will try to speak cantonese to my roomie! Practice makes perfect so I gotta speak more.
My geography modules are interesting and insightful in their own way. Transport and Logistic is my favourite so far. There are really a lot of things that I have learnt after just 3 lectures and things are getting interesting as I start to see the link among the different theories. NUS doens't offer transport and I am really happy i got to do it here. Third World Development gave me a very good insight into globalisation and the impacts of western colonisation on many colonies! Understanding Ecotourism brought me on a field trip to Lion Nature Education Centre in Sai Kung and being on a field trip feels like FS09 all over again. The taking down of notes in our notebooks, taking photographs. The only thing that is missing is the jumpshots! Population & Migration is something new to me and I have only been through 2 lecture (one was cancelled due to the typhoon) so I can't comment much. And another elective Magic, Myth & Supernatural offers explanation to the existance of myths, urban legends, superstition, rituals etc etc... The lecture are always fun to attend!

Lion Nature Education Centre at Sai Kung. Basically a park where many different species of plants are grown for people to visit and learn. Like a big eco-garden.

The beautiful greenery in HK. Hiking's up next!
Lecturer giving an outdoor lesson and everyone busy taking notes. Looks like Field Studies right?

Our attempt at a self shot group photo! Grasses is our project topic!

2009-09-21T15:08:00.002+08:00

Today marks my first month anniversary of living overseas. Time seems to fly by and it has already been one month since I left sunny Singapore (in HK, it is as sunny as well...). It takes some time to get used to living by oneself overseas but I still don't miss home. It was must the company that I have over here in HK.

Living overseas means having to learn many things from scratch. I still remember on my first day in the hostel, I don't really know how to operate the washing machine. Being a noob, I also didn't know how much washing powder to put (at home, it was just one spoon of powder into the machine). Then, I also learnt that I have to put my clothes in the dryer for at least 25 minutes for the clothes to dry. I have also learnt to compare prices when buying things, need to budget a bit. On top of all these things, still got my school work to handle (well, I am not going to study real hard....)

Travelling is part and parcel of SEP and I have travelled to quite a few places. Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Macau. Well, not a lot actually as HK is relatively well connected to many palces. And there are still many parts of HK which I have not explored. Hmm, I did have this crazy idea of getting off at every MTR station and checking out what's in the surrounding of the station. I guess that will cost lots of $$..... Perhaps taking long bus rides to the more remote parts of HK will be a better idea?

Well, 3 more months to go and I have lots of places I want to go! Next stop, Taipei!!!!

@CUHK

2009-09-04T00:39:00.007+08:00

It has been 4 days in CUHK and it's the end of orientation tomorrow. Will be moving out of our orientation dorms and into our permanent dorms, where we will meet our roomie for the next 4 months. Orientation here for exchange students isn't like the orientation camps that nus has. No screaming and cheering and stupid games. Just campus tours, administrative issues, talks, course registration etc etc. Well, the schedule still allows us to hit town for the night before coming back to school, in time to catch the shuttle bus uphill to ur dorms.

Just like any orientation, you meet a lot of people. Some will become good friends, some will be acquaintance while there will be some others whom you will forget. Saying, "Hi! I am Shan Jun. What's your name?" and a handshake, followed by "Where are you from?" is like the typical and SOP when you meet someone. One can't possibly remember 101 names in one day so those that I tend to remember are the ones that I had a more meaningful conversation with. Another thing I have to admit, all ang mohs looks the same to me. I really could not differentiate David from Paul and Mary from Alice. I could only remember my fellow sgporeans exchange mates names well, as well as the random people in the Singaporean clique.

Talking about clique, just like any other orientation, cliques are bound to form. Since we exchange students are all new in a foreign country, we tend to stick to our own clique. There are the ang moh clique (some cliques are like all americans or all germans), the PRC cliques, the korean cliques, the japanese cliques and of course the Singaporean Clique. Of course, there may be one or 2 people of another nationality joining a particular clique. Of course, yours truly is sticking in the familiar Singaporean clique, where i can just ratter off in singlish freely. Well, I do try to speak in standard english where there are non-sgporeans around. I don't mix only with singaporeans only ok?

Speaking is another interesting thing here. To some who are not as proficient as us in english, we have to speak slower. To some, we have to speak in standard english with a certain slang so that they could understand us. It's tiring at times but that's how it goes here.

Socializing is another thing that we have to constantly do. If you are stuck in a lift with students from other nation, or the person seated next to you in the LT happens to be an american, even in the toilet while you are brushing your teeth or filling up your bottle in the pantry, you are bound to meet someone whom you may or may not know. Apart from the "Hi I am blah blah blah" thing, the situation makes it such that you have to bring the conversation to another level and that is socializing. You think of topics to talk about, chat about your home country, chat about things that you know about the other party's country. One can gain a lot of insights through these conversations.

For example during the Welcome Dinner, we were seated with a few Swiss and americans and it is probably their first time having a chinese banquet dinner. We, as chinese, would definitely need to tell them more about chinese food, how we eat, the dos and don'ts on the table etc etc.... I am of course proud to introduce the chinese culture to them and they were as equally amazed and at times amused at the things chinese do. For example, the swiss guys were so amazed when they saw the chicken head served on the plate along with the chicken meat. They were also curious on how to use chopsticks the correct way. (Talking about chopsticks, all the westerners on my table were trying their best to use the chopsticks even though the westerners were provided with fork and knife. When in China, do what the Chinese do!) I am equally happy to share what I know with them and I did enjoy hearing stories from them about food back in their home country. That's what SEP is all about! Mix around and get to learn more!

Well, tomorrow we shall all be separated and I shall be moving into a hall, where the majority are locals. Another round of socializing shall begin all over again and I may need to use terms like " lei hou ma?", "lei sek jor fan mai?" etc etc.... Well, I did come to Hong Kong to learn more about this place and improve my cantonese. So I shall not be one of those anti-social people who will hide in their room the whole day.

Adam Schall Residence (our orientation hostel)

My room for 4 days.

the small bed.

walking around in Central (taken at IFC mall)

Group picture (6 sporeans, 1 malaysian and 1 japanese)

we each got our little mailbox.

Welcome Dinner for IASP students

Cam-whoring

Group picture before the dinner!

2009-09-01T17:05:00.002+08:00

After like close to 8 hours of travelling, I am finally back from Shanghai in Hong Kong once again. Lugging a 15kg backpack and crossing the border at shenzhen is really a bit crazy.

Once on campus, it was going around school settling all the admin stuff. Getting our matric card, getting information on course registration, checking into orientation hostel, setting up bank account, setting up internet, getting lost around school, conquering the slopes and stairs in CUHK. Phew! Most of these stuffs are settled. Next up will be course registration which I hope it won't be a pain in the ass. I think I won't ever complain about NUS anymore. The hill in NUS is nothing compared to here.

Still trying to get around with my broken cantonese. Did manage to ask for some stuff in cantonese as the other party could not speak english or mandarin. Even had to help some ang moh translate into canto at supermarket. Speaking a bit of canto is ok, but when the other party start to reply in bullet-train speed cantonese, I will just switch to mandarin.

Ok. Time to hit the town. What's exchange without enjoying ourselves?

1st Post in HK!

2009-08-22T10:36:00.003+08:00

Ok. I shall try to write more while I am here in HK.

So day 1 began super early morning with my jetstar flight to HK. Can't believe that my bags are over 30kg!!!! Luckily they didn't charge me any overweight fees. Don't know what the hell i brought over also. It's just clothes and shoes. Maybe I am bringing too much clothes? The flight was an uneventful one, except for the roller coster ride while we were landing. No food, no entertainment, no leg space. And it doesn't help that the fellow in front of me recline his seat. And the ladies on board got some free sunsilk shampoo thingy while guys get nothing. unfair! The aircraft flew over HK island, onto kowloon then turned west across the new territories before landing in HKIA. So we got a good view of Hong Kong. Can see the whole Victoria Harbour, Central, Kowloon as well as Tsing Ma bridge etc etc. Too bad i wasn't in the window seat, if not there wld be lots of pictures to take. Since we deplaned by stairs, the bus brought us on a mini tour of the airport while on its way to the gate. Too bad i was carrying a lot of stuff and I wasn't really in the mood for pictures. Which is why for the first part, there are no pics of my journey. Immigration itself was another pain as the queue was super long (i guess a lot of flight landed at the same time. And it doesn't help that a lot of ah tiongs were talking loudly at the queue.

Once out of immigration, it was a bus ride to Tin Shui Wai, where my uncle stayed. Went out for some simple lunch at a nearby restaurant. Their residential estate is almost exactly like SG, many town centres and amenities in every neighbourhood. Didn't take much pics but here are some from my trip 2 yrs ago.

天水围 Housing Estate

My uncle's block. Their block is 38 floor high!

After lunch, it was off to CUHK. My cousin studies at CUHK so she brought me to walk walk around first, finding out the location of all the places that i need to visit on the 31st, so that I won't get lost with all my bags. And if you think the hills and stairs in NUS are horrible, it's gonna get much worse here. The whole campus is built on a slope and almost of the road are inclined, so the shuttle bus are a huge life saver. We took a bus all the way up to New Asia College, then took a slow walk down till Chung Chi College at the bottom.

After the sch tour, we went off to Sha Tin for dinner. There are like 4-5 shopping centres in Sha Tin, all linked together and there was just lots and lots and lots of shops. But they are mostly ATAS stuff lah... UNIQLO is cheaper here than in SG. G2000 having this crazy sale where the whole shop was filled with ppl. In fact, the whole mall was filled with ppl. It is super super crowded.....

Think I won't post too much pics. They are all on facebook anway.

@CUHK main campus

The hall which I am going to move into

Snoopy World at Sha Tin. Boring for adults but makes a good location for camwhoring.

Ok, heading over to shenzhen for my flight to shanghai later. Think i wun be able to blog here as blogger is banned there. Shall see if there are any alternative ways to get onto blogspot.

2009-08-21T06:14:00.001+08:00

finally the moment is here. Getting on the flight to hong kong soon. A whole 4 mths plus of advanture awaits me i guess. A little sad to leave SG but am happy that i get to have one whole sem of fun!
More updates when i get back frm shanghai!

2009-08-19T00:33:00.003+08:00

Time is passing by quickly and it is just 3 more days to departure! Been putting things in and taking things out of my bags. There seems to be so many things to bring but there is always a weight limit there. Not sure why my bags are so heavy also. Maybe my clothes are larger and thus heavier? Or am I just bringing too much things or bringing too many extra things? If I pay more overweight fees, i might as well take SQ, which totally accept my 26kg when i came back from BKK (it even accepted khong wong's 31 kg bag!)

My accommodation in CUHK has been confirmed. Will be staying in Lee Shu Pui Hall. According to wikipedia, the hall is alreadly 15 years old so I hope the facilities will still be good. However, we had to stay in another hall for our orientation week, then move to our permanent hall only after orientation. Now happily looking forward to shanghai!

Had nothing to do so I finally watched Love of Siam which was on my comp for quite some time. Though it was a long 3 hours, it didn't felt long at all. I had long wanted to watch this on the big screen while it was showing but the timings for the movie were always unsuitable for me. I gonna rate this as one of the best movie that I have seen. If you look deep into the movie, you do realise it is not just about love between 2 guys. It about love in general. Love in the family, love between friends. Looking at the bangkok scene, as well as the thai music, reminds me of FS09 again. I really want to relieve the whole experience again. If I go again with another batch, the feeling will be different. Hope the "FS Alumni Trip" will pull through.

And I so love this song now! and I love the lyrics! Nothing beats singing to your true love from the bottom of your heart.

gun lae gun - OST Love of Siam

Song: You & Me / Gun Lae Gun
Album: OST Love of Siam
Singer: Q Flure
Lyrics & translation from ethaimusic

If I said that this song is made for you, would you believe it?
It's probably not melodious, not affectionate, not beautiful like other songs.
I want you to know that if there's no love, you can't write a love song.
But for you, my dear, do you know? I wrote it easily.

You've probably heard hundreds and thousands of love songs.
They might be meaningful, but they are meant for anyone.
But if you listen to this song, song that's written simply for you.
For you to understand the meaning of it, our hearts will be together as one.

Let it be a song on our pathways that consist only voices of you and me.
Together as long as possible.
As the meaning is told in a poetry that as long as there's love naturally there's hope.
Means whenever your love shines through the heart, I have a goal.

There are so many truth in love,
and in the past I used the time for the sake of finding the meaning.
But soon, I'd just know it, whenever you are near me,
That if life's a rhythm, you are as good as the words that is melodious and touching to the heart.

Let it be a song on our pathways that consist only voices of you and me.
Together as long as possible.
As the meaning is told in a poetry that as long as there's love naturally there's hope.
Means whenever your love shines through the heart, I have a goal.

There's a pathway for us to walk side by side and there are voices of you and me.

How to pack my life into a suitcase.

2009-08-16T23:50:00.003+08:00

It's 5 more days to departure and the pre-departure blues has officially set in. Usually, I will be damm excited about an upcoming overseas trip and i can't wait for it to arrive. However, this time round, the emotion is a mixed one. Part of me wants to go explore the world out there while another part of me dreads the thought of leaving home for 4 months plus. Been spending a lot of time at home and with my family for the past few days as I am not gonna be able to see them for quite some time while I am away. Despite all these negative emotions, I am still reading up on HK and China and the more I read, the more excited I get. So I should just make good use of the last few days in SG before I depart. I guess I wont' really miss things back home as I will be back in a short 4 months. Also, HK is very similar to SG lifestyle so I guess I can adapt strongly there. The sucky part is that I'm gonna have to share a room with someone else and there goes my privacy and alone time. For those who know me well, I had always preferred to spend a certain amount of time alone.

Packing is another chore on its own. How to pack your life into a suitcase and keep it under 25kg seems to be a challenging task for me. I set aside the clothes that I am intending to bring over and I wondered, "Am i over-packing? Do I need so many pieces of shirts?" I always hate to underpack as that would mean scampering around an unfamiliar place for things that you need. However, I really got to make wise choices on what I put into my suitcase so as to keep my bags under the weight limit (hurray to budget carriers). Worse come to worse, I can always buy the things that I need in HK. Whatever you can find in SG, you can almost definitely find it in HK! Right now, all the stuff that I need are in one corner of my room i swear it is gonna be over 25kg. So, it is time to sieve out things that I don't need (or presume that I do not need).

The rest of the stuff are more or less settled. Visa, money. Just that I still do not know which accommodation i am going to get on campus and whether i would be able to do the modules that I want. Well, all these can wait till i get there and get it sorted on the spot. Right now, I should just concentrate on planning my mini holiday in shanghai before semester starts at the end of the month. Well, the excitement is definitely there and I guess it will only kick in full force when I step into the departure hall. Well, that is me. I just have to suck it up, put aside all the negative feelings, take a step forward and everything will be fine. Hopefully, this will be an experience that I will never forget (it is something i have looked forward to since i came into uni). Till then, it will be several attempts to pack my life into my suitcase.

2009-08-12T21:56:00.003+08:00

Finally good news have arrived in my inbox. I will be getting the NASA exchange award after all. Heard from my friends that they have received mine while there was still no news for me sent me into panic and sian-ness for the past week. Just when I thought all was gone, the good news came. Yeah to forking out less $$ from my own pocket.

Since I am totally sick of going to town ( I detest going to town after FS09. Don't know why too...), me tee and by went to explore other parts of Singapore. 2 week ago, we headed down to the 'far' east, geylang and old airport road. Yesterday, we headed to the east again, visiting kampong lorong buangkok (the last kampong in sg) and sengkang new town.

It's not that hard to get to lorong buangkok. A short bus trip and a short walk took us there. It is not the typical kampong that one had always imagined it to be, with atap houses, zinc roof, plantation in the backyard, all the villagers spending the afternoon chatting outside their house etc etc. When we went, there was nobody in the kampong, or rather, I think everyone was in their house, just like HDBs. There were lots of nice cars parked beside the house. The houses don't looked that old.

We walked a bit into the kampong but unfortunately were chased out by a dog. I guess the dog was there to keep all the curious visitors out of the village and not to disturb the villagers.

Finished off the day with dinner at chomp chomp food centre. Satay Bee Hoon, satay, char kuey, bbq chix wing sugar cane juice. a typical fare at a singapore hawker centre. Need to satisfy my craving, especially those food that I wld not be able to get in HK. no more dim sum as i am gonna stomach down loads of siu mai and ha gaw in HK. but then, i guess it is always possible to hunt down a plate of nasi lemak, roti prata or satay somewhere in HK. We are now thinking of which famous hawker we should head to next. Balestier?? Typical singaporeans we are, willing to travel so far for good food. And why are all the freaking nice hawker centres in the east? The east side has lots of good food while all the brains are in the west?

2009-08-07T23:52:00.003+08:00

I went for my first ever concert this year in 2009 and now there is another first. Went to mediacorp for the first time and watched a tv show recording for the first time. It's 我要唱下去, a.k.a. 百万大歌星.

we were unlucky (or lucky) to have gotten the first row seats. me and bk were in the audience seats in front of the stage while jon, lionel and by were so lucky to be seated in those seats behind the mini stage, which means they will be seen more often on tv. we then had to act as enthusiastic audience who will cheer and scream, wave hands while singing etc etc.... me and bk were sitting in the chen wei lian fan club area, so it seems like we are his fans. the other 3 of them become joi chua's fan.

it took like almost 2 hrs to record a 1 hr show, with lots of pauses in between. they even have to test the key of the music before each of them sang. well, at least i got to see what's going on behind the scene. and i want to watch 百万大歌星 recording in taiwan!!

and now it is exactly 2 weeks to departure. everything is more or less settled. visa done. air tickets bought. modules approved by sch. just waiting for my accommodation to come and to see if i can get the modules i want in cuhk. looking forward to 4 months plus of fun and travelling! gotta watch the budget though....

and there is a special moment today (or rather yesterday)
At 12.34pm, 56 sec on 7th august 2009, it is actually 12:34:56 7/8/09!

FS09 Part 1 - Song Khla

2009-07-29T01:38:00.013+08:00

It has been some time since I blogged and I told myself it's time to blog about Field Studies, before all the good and wonderful memories fade away.... 42 days of maddness and fun is now 12.6GB of photos and videos on my hard disk.

Day 1-2 (17-18/5/09)

This is the day where it all began. After one whole week of thai lessons, we were all set to put our thai into use. Gathered at golden mile to board the bus all the way to Hat Yai. 18 hours journey. seems torturous but we realised there are much more worse trips that we had to do in thailand itself.

Us at golden mile before we start the long journey...

The bus that brought us to Thailand.

Reached Hat Yai and we transferred to their local bus for the short hop to Song Khla.

Checked into Viva Hotel, our home for the next 4 nights. Hotel was not the posh type, but still ok to stay in.

our room in a messy state.

We went down to Thaksin University where we met up with our Thai Buddies. I was paired up with this girl called Yu. They are english majors in Thaksin Uni and they are all very eager to practice their english with us. of course, we are also eager to speak to them in our 'chui' thai.

me and my thai buddy, Yu

After some ice-breaking games, we rushed back to the hotel to wash up and then it was off to a welcome dinner at a very nice resort. All of us were dressed up for the occasion (the only time in the whole trip where everyone wore so nice. the rest of the days were chui clothes)

Day 3-5 (19-21/5/09)

The next 3 days were spent in Song Khla, with thai lessons in the morning, some fields trip in the afternoon and then night market at night. Our thai buddies brought us around most of the time. Visited lots of night market where food is nice (aroy) and cheap! Ate freaking damm a lot in thailand cause food is so cheap.

Not forgetting the serious part of the trip, our thai oral exam. I was so damm unlucky to get the most difficult topic and once me and elaine finished the assigned topic, our teachers told us to continue speaking, so we just talked about everything under the sun in thai.

Our classroom...

Fooling around in between lessons....

class photo...

at the night market

at another night market (with more food!)

the canteen in school. we had to order our food in thai!

around thaksin university...

our main mode of transport - the tuk tuk....

us inside the tuk tuk. the tuk tuk was so short that most of us had to keep our heads down while inside.

Of course, we did some sight-seeing in Song Khla.

View of the whole city from a hill

temple on top of the hill. forgot the name....

us fooling around...

song khla museum.

with our thai buddies at KFC... we still can't get away from all the fastfood.....

beside Songkhla Lake.

Not forgetting the beautiful beaches in thailand!

Like every other long overseas trip, laundry is our top concern so we had to wash our own clothes (laundry services are expensive...) So this is how we wash clothes, using the sink!

That's all for Song Khla... Next Stop: Krabi!

2009-07-16T21:24:00.002+08:00

This is ridiculous!

It costs cheaper to fly from Singapore to Shanghai then from Hong Kong to Shanghai. Now i guess i am gonna settle for the 20 hrs train ride to and fro all alone.... :(

2009-07-12T21:21:00.002+08:00

I realised it has been a long time since i blogged. People probably knew more about what's happening to me through facebook. Seriously, the number of emails i receive from facebook on a daily basis is crazy....

And so I finally went to my virgin concert! 答案是The Answer Is.....孙燕姿2009世界巡回演唱会!! The concert didn't fall short of my expectations and the 5 of us were singing, jumping and going crazy at our seats! Who goes to a concert and sits down? I think we did piss those behind us. haha.. I am having a concert withdrawal syndrome and yanzi's song are on my playlist. I am trying hard to recall the order of the songs she sang yest night!

Went back to crash geog soc FIC as well as I am really damm bored at home. I really feel so damm old there ( I was the oldest guy in camp at one point). But seeing my freshies becoming organisers of the camp and bringing in a new batch of freshies, it really brought back lots of memories from previous years camp. Though i didn't spend a lot of them with them, I still managed to have some fun (last yr i didn't manage to play a lot... ) and got to know some other juniors. Today when we were looking for Lai Wa and we saw her car, i suddenly remembered her driving a few of us to engin canteen to collect food for GC and i realise, wow, it has been a year plus already....

Looks like it will be outings outings and more outings and then i am off to HK!

2009-07-01T16:10:00.002+08:00

It has been 4 days since I came back from Thailand and i am still missing every moment of it. It really feels weird to have meals alone, sleep alone and wake up to nobody around you...

The FS09 gathering we had yesterday really brought me back into the Field Studies mood. It is really like FS all over again, the same group of people going from places to places, having meals together, cracking jokes and making lame comments, making lots of noise wherever we go, taking pictures, jumpshots, unglam pics... This whole field studies is something which i will never forget for the rest of my life and it is definitely the highlight of my student life! I will strongly encourage all geog majors (or even non geog major) to go for it if you have the chance!

And something to mention. I almost got a shock of my life when i collected my SEP acceptance package. The letter states that the dateline for the submission of documents for my application is 1st July!!! and i collected my stuff only on the 29th! so i had to rush around cck to get my hair cut (to take a decent looking photograph that is going to be on my student pass), rush to the bank to get a bank draft for payment, rush home to get more documents and finally rush to the post office to get my mail sent over to HK by express courier. costs me $18 (heart pain...) Haiz.. This is what i get for extending my stay in bangkok (which i blew another 10k baht)...

And i am so sad that they took George O'Malley out of Grey's Anatomy.... This season ended with a cliff hanger, both george and izzie in resuscitation. Apparently, T.R. Knight contract is not renewed so i guess o'malley is dead. izzie should survive since she is still a regular on the next season.. I kind of like his character on the show... He is this guy who isn't really the smartest and brightest and yet still tries his best at everything.. for season 5, he was given very little screen time and i guess his departure is evident... and now i got to wait till 24 sep for the new season and I hope i will be able to watch it somehow in HK..

off to KL tmr.. will definitely blog about Field studies as there are really so many good memories that i want to remember and share. Will need to do so before everything fades away...

2009-06-22T23:55:00.003+08:00

Finally, FS2009 is over! While the rest headed back home, a few of us stayed back in Bangkok to enjoy ourselves.

It has been a long trip since the starting, on 18th may. Went through thai lessons in Song Khla, headed up to Krabi. More field trips, crazy survivor day at Railay, our first project. After Krabi was a torturous train journey up north to bangkok, then to Khon Kaen. At Khon Kaen, it was more orientation field trips, including the crazy 3 hours trip to Laos that blew our visa. Next up was our humanoid project, where my group went for a home stay in Chi Kok Kor village for 4D3N. Totally immersed in village life and before we got used to it, it was time to head back. Went for a 2nd border crossing to extend our stay in Thailand and straight after that was an overnight coach to Chiang Mai. Upon hitting Chiang Mai, we were stuck with doing our project and the yellow book. After project presentation in a mountain resort, we flew back down to Bangkok and I headed out into the city while the others flew home.

Well, that was a executive summary of FS09.

Though tiring at times, I really never did regret coming for this trip. The amount of things I had seen and experienced is really a lot a lot a lot. Plus, living together with so many others, being away from home for the longest time ever. All these are new experiences and I will never forget them. Not forgetting to mention the strong friendship that i have forged with some of them, all the funny moments and the funny quotes like "secretly", "chui maak maak", "maximum chui", "cha yen wann it noi"etc etc.... I am starting to miss ppl on the trip.....

I am still not missing home and I am secretly 1/4 a Khon Thai (thai ppl) ..... need to brush up on my thai language then i can live here already....

2009-05-31T11:06:00.002+08:00

Another update from the field.

Fieldwork for project has just been completed. The past 2 days was just running around the different sites, doing site observation, surveys and tourists. I am like repeating this phrase so many times.

"Hi, sorry to interupt. I am a student from Singapore who is currently doing a project on cave tourism in Thailand. May i ask you some simple questions?"

At least we got to visit quite a few sites, crawling into the different holes in caves and visiting railay beach again... a pity that i couldn't lie down on the beach in railay or swim in the waters there...

well. back to project. will update again when i have time

FS09 update 2

2009-05-26T11:03:00.002+08:00

Another update from thailand!

Haven been able to get to a internet cafe for the past few days and the free wifi at the krabi hotel is not very good (cause the whole world is online).

Right now settling in a internet shop on Railey Bay. It is a super tourist spot with all the beach front hotels, restaurants, pub, shops all catering to tourist. basically an enclave lah... Things here area much more expensive than usual but the views are stunning at certain spots.

So, yesterday was Survivor Day (this was what dr carl called it) and it was more of amazing race. We didn't know what was going on till yesterday morning. We were separated into groups and then we were told to board a longtail boat at the jetty. The boat then took us to this "mystery location" and we only knew it was railey bay when we reached. There, we received an envelope containing all the instructions. So we went round the island, wadding in shallow sea water, climb up cliffs and mountains, walked along rocks, trekked through the jungle. A totally shagged but fun experience. Too bad we didn't really got a chance to soak the sun at the beach or swim in the beautiful beaches.

Ok.. i shall go.. the rain has stopped and i am going to soak in the pool for a while..

more updates when i get decent internet access again.

FS09 update 1

2009-05-20T21:24:00.002+08:00

It'sn the 3rd day into FS 09 now and it still seems like an extended holiday for some reason. Even though we have thai lessons everyday, it feels like holiday mood.

Ok, a quick update on what has happened for the past 3 days.

17/5
Boarded the bus at golden mile for a gruelling 15 hr bus ride to hat yai, followed by a transfer to song khla on a local bus with thai MTV blasting on the bus. Had a welcome dinner too and all of us were all so glam. of course we took the opportunity to cam whore. will post pictures when i get the chance to do so. the dinner ended with almost all of us getting so high dancing, singing and drinking (soft drinks). even prof ziegler sang on stage.

18/5
start of our thai lessons. 6 hrs of thai lessons, with more thai words, sentence structure.... of course, we do not miss the chance to cam whore... went down to the beach, night market with our buddies and ate lots of good and cheap stuff.

19/5
another 6 hrs of thai lessons to prepare for our oral exam. the fun thing was after exams, we headed down to the beach as well as going up a mountain (which i forgot the name). again, we were camwhoring like tourists. headed down to another night market again for the night for more aroy aahaan.

ok.. my 30 baht is almost up. shall update another time.

All ready to go! FS09!

2009-05-16T10:51:00.003+08:00

All my bags are packed i'm ready to go, to enjoy myself in thailand for 5 weeks whole

After ziplock-ing all my stuff and doing CPR on my backpack, managed to get all the stuff needed into my bag. I am a bit kiasu also lah... bring more better than bring less.. With both bags almost full, i think i gonna need another bag if i were to go on a shopping spree in bangkok. well, shall try not to spree there considering i have no space inside my bag.

So looking forward to 5 (or rather 6 for me) weeks of fun! and thai lessons and field work! and of course the long bus and train rides...

So I'm leaving on a jet BUS ....... (Chin, 2009)

2009-05-13T23:18:00.002+08:00

sawatdii kharp!

thai lessons everyday from 9am to 12 noon is really tiring. doesn't help when i keep going out after lessons and there are still homework and FS stuff to settle when i get home.

had a really fun k-session with the FS ppl yest at chinatown. realise we are going to see each other everyday for the next one month plus and we confirm will get sick of one another... went shopping with elainey today for bong's pressie and buy some stuff for thai.. realise we are spending a lot of $$ before we even depart.. and i am like bringing a lot of clothes there leh... a bit kiasu is it? If i don't bring, i feel a bit like insecure...

ok 4 more days to go and i am super excited! till then, it's gonna be a busy week!

2009-05-04T16:25:00.002+08:00

Finally done with my last paper! Poh poh's part was difficult, but I still left 1/2 hr early. No point staying there if you really have absolutely no idea to the ans.

The horrible part about todays' paper is not the paper itself but the queue before exam starts. Apprently, exams halls are opened one hour before the start for temperature screening. I reached at about 8.20 and the queue has already snaked all the way through MPSH6 to the main road outside. Intially, wanted to go find weiwei they all to cut queue, then i saw a few people sticking the thermometer into their mouth. I went forward to ask if those with thermometer can use that entry point and it was a YES. So I took out my beloved thermometer and was inside the exam hall within minutes. I think if I were to queue all the way, I will be too dazed to do the paper. Well, it's the first day they are doing this and hopefully there will be more effective measures coming up for those who are having their papers in the next few days.

I was wondering if singapore is going to produce another of such video.

Time to pack my room and my bags too (praying trip will proceed as per normal)!

2009-05-03T12:53:00.002+08:00

11th July is the day! my first yanzi's concert! Now i am so damm excited already, even though it is like 2 more months away. yanzi's songs are blasting away while i am mugging.

Thanks boon kian for helping to buy the tickets!

ok.. back to mugging. last paper! woohoO!

oh, i found my thermometer... surprised it is still working after 4 yrs... back to the days where we will stick it into our mouth once a day. Hopefully, such days will be over soon.

2009-05-02T23:47:00.002+08:00

so the "showdown of the year" came to an end today with the new guards being given a vote of no-confidence. Dubbed as a marathon extraordinary general meeting, it saw close to 3000 women taking part in it.

I was constantly keeping myself updated or entertained with the 'showdown' through twitter. It is really amazing how the evolution of new media and wireless technology allows people to be updated at the very first minute. Watching the feeds on twitter, I can really imagine the atmosphere in the centre, esp when Josie Lau is being booed at by the audience. It really reminds me of some tv drama, when two ends fought over inheritance, power. Perhaps this is something that has not been seen in Singapore, people fighting for what they believe in. Perhaps Singaporeans are not that laid back and accept what comes to them? Well, 3000 people is just a small number and out of those 300o, how many really came to fight for their beliefs? Imagine AWARE is a government organisation, will such a 'showdown' even be possible?

Now that the saga has ended, I was wondering if they are able to manage the 3000 members and how many of the 3000 members will be involved in and contributing to AWARE? and not to mention the $90k price tag for this 'showdown'.

The updates through twitter sort of brought me through the revision for biophy. Lots to things to learn and remember. And i realise that i seem to have taken a liking towards physical geography, especially terrestrial related topics... Maybe I should start doing more phy geog mods? starting with geomorphology in HK?

2009-05-01T20:28:00.001+08:00

Saw this in my mailbox today.

"In view of the heightened alert status, the University is suspending all official overseas travel for staff and students from today to 15 May 2009. As the global Mexican Swine Influenza situation is evolving rapidly, this restriction will be reviewed in a timely manner. "

Hopefully the whole situation can get under control and we can all leave singapore for thailand on the 17th.

Seriously hope this whole swine flu thing will not disrupt any of my travel plans, incluidng SEP in the 2nd half of the year!

2009-04-28T22:32:00.002+08:00

So I am more than halfway through with my exams. Left with 2 more papers with a little break in between. Well, so far, the experience has not been a really pleasant one, except for today's paper, which I have intention to s/u it. Public transport to school in the morning during exam times is also a horrible experience, causing me to arrive just on the dot for my soci paper.

well, 2 more papers and it will be thailand for one whole month!

2009-04-24T15:46:00.002+08:00

I always have these type of bad dreams during exam period or close to exam results release date.

(1) I was seated in the exam hall, all ready to start. Then I flipped open the paper, something very unfamiliar appears in front of me. I know I have studies about these things before, but yet I don't have a clear memory of it. E.g. During last sem exam, I dreamt that I was doing a calculus problem. I have done it before (back in JC) but I have forgotten how to do it.

(2) I got back my results and I freaking got C for my modules!!! I even dreamt I failed my alevels, just like my normal results during JC. I did however have sweet dreams of getting CAP 5.0 for one of the sems...

(3) I woke up and I realise I overslept! I tried to run around the house to gather my stuff, but they could not be found. As the clock ticks away, I stand there, almost wanting to cry! I am so freaking screwed! I still remember, for my SE1101E paper which was in the evening, I was so tired at 1+ pm and I wanted to take a short nap for 2 hours. I even set both my h.p. and my alarm clock to make sure either one doesn't fail. And in that short 2 hr nap, I actually had this terrible dream and I woke up with my heart palpating.

Just last night, a new type of exam nightmare being added to the list: It was supposed to be an open book exam but when I reached the exam hall, everyone was saying, it is not an open book. I went "Shit! I am doomed!"

When i woke up this morning, I immediately double checked if all my open book exams are indeed open book. Yup.... It is still 3 open book exams.

Recently, the newspapers are flooded with news on AWARE, where a supposingly religious group affliated exco took over the organisation in what many say is a coup. Many felt that it was this group that is trying to spread their religious values that is against homosexuality through the feminist group. Much of things going on and the takeover was in secrecy, and this fueled more speculations and actions from others, mainly the pro-homosexuality group of people. Well, I was reading the papers today and they did show their viewpoint of anti-homosexuality. This confirms the speculations of many and I am really interested to see what will happen during their AGM in may. I feel sad that people are pitting their own religious values to the values of others. I mean, everyone has a right to believe in what they choose to believe in and by enforcing what you believe on others, is it really what your religion wants you to do? I have been rather disturbed by the way some of these religious group try to spread their word, even coming straight to my doorsteps. Well, this isn't some anti-religious group thing going on here but I am just sad to see that some sexual minoirty groups don't even have a space of their own. Let's see how this saga is going to end.

p.s. the term 'religious group' used here to avoid any direct reference to any specific group.

2009-04-21T17:32:00.002+08:00

"As I looked down on the world, I began to let go of it. I let go of white picket fences and cars and driveways, coffee cups and vacuum cleaners. I let go of all those things which seemed so ordinary but when you put them together, they make up a life, a life that really was one of a kind. I’ll tell you something. It’s not hard to die when you know you have lived, and I did. Oh, how I lived.”

Edie Britt

The resident slut of wisteria lane is gone...

2009-04-17T23:35:00.002+08:00

today was just hell loads of fun! like what jon says, it's my last day as a year 2!

was hanging out the whole day with the geog soc peeps.... went for immunization jab with the 2 weis, which cost me a bomb. next up was kbox, dinner at HV and then a talk cock/gossip/bitching session at a cafe... It has been a while since i caught up with many of them, like bk and elaine as we are all taking different modules. In fact, i am taking different modules from them.. e.g. the whole world is doing enviromental sustainability and i am not. seriously, i can't imagine how my uni life will be like without this grp of ppl....

and we have started to plan for thailand trip! still heading to bkk after FS but will change plans if things get chaotic there.. alreadly planning to go shop, massage, dye hair, club (funny since i dun club in sg), and watch p**n in hotel (mentioned by someone)!

ok. had enough fun! time to mug!

2009-04-13T19:32:00.002+08:00

argh!! we will no longer be stopping by Bangkok for FS09 due to the political situation in the capital.

I want to visit BKK! I want to witness the chaos in the city, run about the city completing the 24 hr project. I am very much a 'city' person so I am really looking forward to visiting the city.

Shall hope that the situation in Bangkok will be resolved and I can drop by for a few days after Chiangmai.

2009-04-10T10:58:00.002+08:00

How sad..... spending half of a public holiday in school instead of in bed...

But it is ok. Just one more report to go before i am free from all the projects and assignment. gonna enjoy myself for 2 days first before mugging. After all that mugging, it will be 5 weeks in Thailand! We just had the FS briefing and many of us were already so excited. We will be travelling from Songkhla to Krabi, then Khao Lak, Bangkok, Khon Kaen and lastly Chiangmai. I will then be flying back to Bangkok for a few more days before returning to SG. One whole month out of Singapore. How exciting!

And lastly, I want to say be careful of what you blog. Lecturers do read ur blog, so don't bitch or make fun of him or her online. As evidenced from biophysical lecture, Dr Lu showed us some of the comments on him which he found online. A search on google showed all the blog with those comments. It was defintely the highlight of the whole lecture.

The funniest was:

who on Earth names their sons PP and XX (abbrevation used to avoid my blog being surfed by him)???! And why do I have this funny feeling that these guys belong in some live-action version of 老夫子?

Did you turn off your lights?

2009-03-29T20:32:00.005+08:00

Yesterday was Earth Day and at 8.30pm, we are all encouraged to turn off our light, to vote for earth, not global warming, as mentioned by the organisers. It is not meant to save energy (as some would have assumed). It is about raising awareness about the threat of global warming and by switching off your light, you are showing a commitment towards a more enviromentally friendly lifestyle.

Modern comsumption patterns and lifestyle makes all of us enviromentally unfriendly and all of us contribute to harming the environment. As mentioned on Nat Geo, the moment we are born, we are contributing to global warming (the amount of diapers we use). We can't possibly lead a way of life which has no impact on the environment. What we can do is to minimise the damage to the environment.

And so I switched off the lights in my house. It was indeed weird to walk round the house in darkness, not total darkness as the street lamps, corridor lights were still on. Watching tv in the dark, rumaging through the kitchen in the dark, trying to aim properly in the toilet in the dark. It shows how much we depend on lights. I looked around my neighbourhood. It doesn't seem like many took part in this activity. The dark units could probably be due to occupants not at home.

And you didn't save the earth just because you turned off your light for one hour. What matters is you knowing that you can play a part in saving the environment. What matters is you put what you know/learnt about saving the environment into action. If everyone were to take one less plastic bag, millions of bags could be saved. Each one of our actions counts.

Well, despite many people ignorance to this activity or the global warming issue, I am glad I did my part, even if others do not agree with me.

2009-03-23T01:47:00.002+08:00

One of the shows i try to catch every week on ch 5 will be Unexpected Access. This 'documentary' sort of took the bold route, showing viewers things that all of us are unable to witness on a daily basis. The first episode brought us to the morgue of the hosipital. then the next episode brought us to an abattoir where pigs are slaughtered for our consumption. the 3rd one brought us through the process of reconstructive surgery. the first 3 episodes are the 'gory' ones, and the show sort of tamed down in terms of its content from the 4th episode onwards. It's a good effort of the producers to bring us into areas where public access is usually prohibited and I hope there could be a 2nd season (next wk is the last episode) produced, bringing us to more prohibited areas. I will love to see erm... a gravedigger job, inside a jail etc.... more 'daring' contents please! and not to mention wong lilin is still so damm good looking at her age!

and i haven't been updating for some time. I had a crappy week, with things around me failing here and there.

2009-03-15T01:44:00.002+08:00

The soci take home exam is killing me over the weekend. It is more than halfway done but the more I look at it, the more i feel like something is not right. I feel this is going to take up the whole of my sunday as well .........

2009-02-28T23:51:00.002+08:00

went back to nus on an early saturday morning to help out witg GC2009. Time flies. I still remember the days last year when the 42nd MC were busying running about fass while ensuring GC went on well. and not forgetting all the meetings till 10pm until the earth lab aircon turns off. feel old liao... some of the 43 called me n jon 'old man' loh....

mid sem break also flew by... left with one more day to finish up whatever stuff that i have set a dateline for. well, don't think i can achieve my target judging from the amount of things left. and the 2nd half of the semester seems so hard to get through. already looking forward to field studies and SEP. the thought of wandering around for 5 weeks in thailand is so appealing. and i am thinking of a short getaway before SEP starts... hmm... hanoi?

video clip of the day. watch out for the baby panda....

slumdog millionaire

2009-02-20T20:20:00.004+08:00

After The curious case of benjamin button, i sort of had a rather high expectation for slumdog millionaire. well, being another oscar nomination for best picture.

The story is like any typical movie about one's life. all the drama that one faces. I liked how they linked the life of Jamal to the Who Wants to be a millionaire gameshow. And he was really damm lucky to guess the last qn correctly. And yup, the child actors did a good job. at one point, i was wondering how the hell did they pick up english?

I expected it to be like a bollywood movie. drama and action was typical bollywood style but this movie lacks all the dance and songs. perhaps it isn't meant to be a bollywood movie. It is after all produced by an english director. Despite it being slightly disappointing, it was still a very enjoyable movie.

The ending bolloywood dance sequence

mid sem break is finally here and i feel so lost. maybe because i don't have any mid sems? some ppl are gonna kill me for saying that... no mid sems means heavy project component....

overnight mahjong later!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-02-06T00:36:00.002+08:00

Just caught The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at JP just now, on the first day of its opening. Naturally, it attracted a large crowd (about 3/4 of the cinema is occupied), especially with all the hype going on about the movie and the 13 oscar nominations it received. I too, eagerly wanted to watch the movie to find out if it is really worth the time, money and the nominations. Another reason why I wanted to watch this movie was the storyline, which was really special to me.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the story of a boy, Benjamin Button, who was born old and he grew younger and younger as he became older in age. His lifestory was kept in a diary that was read to Daisy, a women he loved, by her daughter, as Daisy was in her last moments of her life. As his lifestory unfolds, the movie brought us through several stages of his life, from being an old man with a child's thinking, all the way till he is in his 40s (20+ in real life), then to his 50s (which he became a young hunk) till his death (he died as a baby).

Though the movie was long, 2 hours and 40 minutes according to sources, it did not feel that long. The movie picked up on a slow pace and continues to move as such a pace. Not rushing through his whole life story allows viewers to connect with the character much more emotionally as viewers are able to see and feel his thoughts through the different stages of his life. The movie has also gave us a lot of opinions on life. Thinking back, a 'child' growing up in a place where people around him dies, and he, thinking that his time may be up any moment, Benjamin is still able to put on a positive outlook towards life.

In fact, his life journey is just like any one of us, from child, till adolescent, adult and then old. There is really nothing special about his life, except from the face that he grows younger instead of older. Still, the movie is captivating in the way Benjamin's life is being depicted.

Overall, the movie didn't disppoint me although it didn't blow my mind off either. I dislike the part when they kept switching between the present and the past but overall, it was really an enjoyable 2 hours plus sitting in the cinema. The ending of the movie was the part I love the most, where there is a falshback of the main characters in the show, just like bringing us through the life of Benjamin Button once more again.

Certainly one of the films that I like (which explains the long post on it)

On a sidenote, I have not been to Jurong Point for some time and I was shocked at the scale of the expansion and the crowds. The whole place is really big for a neighbourhood shopping mall, packed with all the shops and eating outlets. Can consider heading there next time instead of town.

2009-02-02T01:27:00.002+08:00

Just came back from weijun's bdae party. It was a long way there and a long way back.. luckily elaine was around to gossip/bitch with me along the way.

All the new year gatherings should have come to an end and it should be time to hit the books. was so happy that i managed to complete the webcast lecture which i had ponned... webcast lectures are more intolerable than normal lectures i think!

and i realise that the new army uniform is just not just ugly but fugly. happened to see the recruits booking in at pasir ris mrt and omg, one patch of pixelated green is just not a sight that is pleasing to the eye.

lots of random stuff to say but i shall stop here... time to mug!

2009-01-28T23:08:00.003+08:00

So the CNY holidays came and went.... Time to get back into studying mode and no more holiday, despite all the gatherings and mahjong sessions coming up, lasting way till the 15th day of CNY.

was so tired in school today that i fell asleep in lecture, till my pen dropped onto the floor. It was only when i bent down to pick up the pen that i felt awake once again. I guess it must be the blood flow to the brain. Next time if you are feeling sleepy in lecture, just bend down for a while and get up. And i woke up to my lecturer telling us about his Sydney trip.

Went shopping for gifts today and got to talk to elainey... haven really chatted with her since last year as we are doing different mods... and my stupid shoe caused my last toe to hurt so badly... now got blister already....

and we saw 黄靖倫at the bus stop outside heerens. almost wanted to ask him for a picture, but decided not to disturb him ba... He was with his friends. I remember he mentions on 933 that he likes to take bus, so i was lucky to catch him at the bus stop. Another celebrity sighting added to my list.

2009-01-24T19:34:00.007+08:00

Some random thoughts

I actually drank expired milk for 2 days. The milk in my fridge expired on 19/1 and I was drinking it on 20th and 21st. Only discovered that it has expired in the evening on 21st. And I seems to be suffering from the effects only yesterday (23/1). Wow... things take 2 days to happen inside my stomach. Lesson learnt: I will check the expiry date whenever i take the bottle of milk out from my fridge.

I think i have become a mahjong addict. Went over to vivien's house to play 通宵麻将and I did not feel tired at all after 6 hours of gaming. I could still come home, send emails to prof asking them for recommendation letters, reply them with all the necessary info and do my tutorial balloting before I fell asleep. Now got mahjong kakis so near my house. Yeah! And the only thing I look forward to this coming CNY is mahjong. The coming year better be a good one for me.

Went shopping with yz at vivo and end up not buying anything. Found something interesting there. Action City i think. The chicken which Wee Heong (my YEP instructor) showed us. Apparently, when you press stomach of the chicken, the chicken will produce a loud, screeching crow that is bound to capture everybody's attention. He mentions that such tools may be used to get your team to listen to you. I did contemplate buying it, but it costs $28. too ex le... If it is under $10 i will surely buy it.

Talking about paying attention, i found this picture online that made me laugh out. Apparently someone is wearing his lifejacket upside down. Yup, it is from the US Air A320 that ditched into the Hudson River. He must be one of those who don't listen to the safety demo.

Talking about shopping, I realise neighbourhood malls are more suitable for me. Spent close to $70 in Lot 1 and i manage to get 3 shirts and 1 pair of shoes.. Whereas in atas places like vivo, i think i can only afford to get one item.

Happened to drop by Tanjong Pagar area to submit the insurance claim. Ate roast duck rice at one of the food shops there. costs only $3.50 for one big plate with lots of meat... It is really lots of big chunky duck meat.. Dunno if it is because they are going to close soon or they are that generous all the time.

Since I have nothing to do, decided to pop into URA City Gallery for a visit. Went straight to the 2nd floor as I have visited the first floor on MasterPlan 2008 before. The last time i visited the Gallery was in secondary school and I was so amazed by the mock up of the city. This time round, I am still impressed at the buildings... I can't wait to see the new downtown coming up.

We are supposed to write about Our Favourite "playgrounds"...

and guess what i saw?

must be one of those mischevious schools kids who wrote this....

While cleaing my room yesterday and today and i realise that the number of CDs I have is really a lot. Looked through them and I didnt' bear to throw them away. And the arrangement is realy too messy. I decided to do something crazy. I arranged the titles according to alphabatical order! English and Chinese titles are arranged separetely. Sense of satisfaction that i managed to sort out this mess. I think it will be messed up again sooner or later...

Banh Mi

2009-01-19T00:52:00.002+08:00

Guess what i found at Chinatown? Banh Mi !!!

Apparently, the vietnamese baguette, which is a favourite among most DD07&08 ppl, can be found in Chinatown CNY bazzar. The bread is not the long type, but more rounded type. You can see the vietnamese ham, the carrot and radish as well as the vege (izit parsley?). Got me excited for a moment, but then, the price is really steep. $3.50 for one, when you can get it in Vietnam for like 5,000 dong....

Now, i am craving for Vietnamese food... Fried spring roll, a nice bowl of hot pho and of course banh mi... Shall head down to Pho24 someday...

I tried to access the website listed in the picture above but there is no such site. But there is actually a restaurant Yummy Viet located along Smith Street (Chinatown). Maybe i shall head down there to see what they offer?

And there is this site for Banh Mi fans...

http://battleofthebanhmi.com/

Too bad they didn't list down places where we can find banh mi in Singapore....

Can someone start selling cheap banh mi???

2009-01-19T00:21:00.002+08:00

one week of school has passed and i am not feeling excited about this coming sem. Haven't got into the mood of studies too. I guess the upcoming CNY holiday during week 3 is causing the 'school has not started' syndrome. Right now, what's on my mind is what to do during CNY and when are all the gatherings, where to eat, where to play mahjong.... Neglecting both my school work and DD08 post trip stuff.

I had an exciting friday cause it is the karaoke session that i have longed for, since before exams last semester. As usual, headed down to Ten Dollars Club in Chinatown and I was amazed at how recent and updated their song list has become. 2pm to 7pm, free flow drinks + 1 bowl shark fins soup, for just $10. Really quite worth it. Hope next friday's k-session comes true. I gonna complete this song:

2009-01-10T12:25:00.002+08:00

I made a stupid stupid big mistake in bidding.. Didn't check my timetable correctly and realise that one of my tutorial (the one and only one) clashes with another lecture!!!! now i have to drop changing landscape.. waste 246 points.. somemore is the precious general account points!!! going to take sc1101e instead.... at least i am clearing up my UEs.. This sem timetable is horrible.. the modules i wish to take somehow clashes with other modules.. it is just so irritating finding modules to take.... hopefully this doens't reappear next year, if not my minor will be totally screwed..

Just lots of bad luck on me since i returned frm vietnam. my PC monitor went blank the day before i returned, and my phone sliding mechanism screwed up... a check with the warranty card says that the warranty has expired and i can only change phone from february onwards.. now i am forcing my phone open and shut whenever i use it.. will give way some day i guess.. hope it can tide me over till february... or shall i just bring it to the service centre and see how much it cost to repair it?

2009-01-04T21:04:00.002+08:00

It's Day 5 into the trip. So far, things have been great, haven't encountered any unpleasant event. And looking back, I have been spending almost 1 month in Vietnam (apart for the 4 days back in singapore).

Now we are in Dalat, a city in the central highlands. At night, when the winds are blowing, it is freezing cold!!!! It's a nice little city, very different from saigon. Less vehicles, less people. It's an experience eating you tiao, hum jim pang and cream puff with soya bean milk on the roadside in the freezing weather.

Recap a bit of my trip. Yesterday was spent in Nha Trang, where pampering myself goes to the max. We went to this hot spring/mud spa and enjoyed ourselves totally there. Though the mud didn't really make my skin smoother or better, the experience of soaking in the hot mineral water was simply heavenly..

For the 2nd and 3rd day, we visited the Cu Chi tunnels and the mekong delta region, doing touristy stuff, where everything is being packaged into a tour package meant for the tourist. Would have preferred exploring myself but joining the tour package is much more convenient and easy. Sinh Cafe tours have been good so far.

And I don't feel like going back to SG. Going back means sch is starting!!!

2008-12-31T22:10:00.002+08:00

Backdated post: 31/12/08

The first day in Ho Chi Minh City has so far been enjoyable. Met a lot of new vietnamese friends who were very friendly. Treated us to dinner, brought us around the Reunification Palace. Can really feel their warmth and hospitality. Considering that we were strangers before today (they were boon kian's friends). I was thinking, was i like them when overseas friends came to visit me in SG?

2008-12-29T12:19:00.003+08:00

After touching down and crashing into my bed for about 8 hrs, it was off to meeting up with my dear friends whom i have not been spending time with since sch ended.

First up was with the kachangs girls.... haven't had a full outing since (dunno when)... part of the gathering was also to send ziwei off, who will be spending the next sch term in UK. after a yummy lunch at crystal jade, we headed off to marina 'BRArrage' where we took some absolutely stunning pictures...

After the kachangs girls was DD07! It has been a year since our trip last year and we all missed the good times we had together... It was definitely fun telling them stories of what happened on our trip and remisicing the good old days of DD07. It suddenly just felt like we were on the trip itself, except that this time round, it was at ben's super nice house instead of the villagers' house.

Yesterday evening was spent with the geog soc ppl.. a simple potluck dinner with fru fru licking and climbing onto all of us... fru fru has grown really big... time spent with them is always so enjoyable, catching up with boon kian and of course all the lame jokes frm cliff.

entries about dd08 coming up soon..... maybe after my vietnam trip!

2008-12-26T19:45:00.001+08:00

I'm finally back. It has been a long 19 days and it was indeed very very tiring.... shall update more next time round!

and i am so happy with my results this sem! Finally able to pull my CAP up to my desired score. of course, that is after S/U-ing the C+ that i got...

2008-12-08T09:10:00.002+08:00

It's a freaking cold morning.....

and i am departing in a few hours time. Unlike last year, there seems to be no excitement for me this year. Perhaps it is because it's my 3rd time to danang and definitely i am much better prepared...

ok... will be back on 26th dec.

2008-12-04T13:17:00.002+08:00

I got my SEP! not at hong kong uni, but my 2nd choice, chinese university of hong kong. I would have preferred HKU as it is nearer to central and causeway bay area whereas CUHK seems a bit ulu... Well, it's still hong kong and i guess i am gonna take that. Was initially quite worried that i will be posted to china but now things are more or less settled. and it's a start of a long administrative process before i fly off. 1 more sem to go... It feel good to be able to get out of SG for a while.

and it is just so hard to concentrate on cities for one more day!!!! I am getting so so so distracted here and there!!

2008-12-01T17:03:00.002+08:00

3204 is just horrible. Half of the time, i am doubting what i am writing. At least it was a rather clear cut choice on the qns cause the rest of the qns were just ......

at least i have much more confidence in tomorrow's paper.

and it's just one week before we depart for danang and i have the feeling that many things are unsettled... maybe it's just me, or maybe it is really a lot of things unsettled?

2008-11-28T05:37:00.003+08:00

I am so happy that i have covered a lot of ground in the whole night not sleeping revision. Not burning the midnight oil but having slept too much in the day, the eyes are wide open at night.

It's really quite, peaceful and cool. Ordered McDelivery when my stomach was growling, it took freaking 1 hr to come. by the time the food came, i wasn't really hungry already. Even the delivery guy asked "studying izit?"

As usual, once i am bored of studying, i went surfing around and i found this.

Though i do know of the existance of the automatic mahjong table, but i always wondered how it worked. Now i know how the thing worked. The video really shows in detail the mechanism of the machine. The guy who invented this thing must be real smart. I guess part of the fun in mahjong is to wash the tiles and then stack it up but for lazy ppl, this table will be damm useful.

Now my fingers are itching. damm!

2008-11-22T02:25:00.002+08:00

It's 2.30am now and i can't sleep. Got really sick of all the readings and thus i am here to write more. haha..

Saw this on the news just now. The grand opening of Atlantis The Palm hotel in Dubai. If you think Beijing's firework was extravagant, this is just speechless. Fireworks outlining the whole shape of the palm. Wonder how much money goes into that.

Dubai is really an architect's playground. Just look at the amount of development going on there. Like those who say, they are building an oasis in the middle of the desert. I think of Dubai as playing simcity with cheat code. Building a whole city from scratch without having to worry about money. They are going to have more of such artificual island in the persian gulf, 2 more "the Palm" and "The World". I guess in 5 to 10 yrs time, flying over Dubai will be a damm interesting view. and they are going to build this gigantic airport with 6 runways in addition to the existing airport, which just opened a new terminal extension!

With all these luxury hotels and homes spinning up along the dubai waterfront, i wonder how many people actually can afford these properties? I wonder if the occupancy rates are good. well, people are willing to pay for such luxuries. How about the locals? Concepts of social polarisation and gated communites come into mind (study too much alreadly). actually, there is a lot of studies that can be done in the UAE. come on, bring them into our lectures. haha...

now dubai seems to be another country on my 'to go' list.

2008-11-22T00:45:00.002+08:00

It just sucks that there always have to be some form of renovation going on during my exam period. It has happened for the last 2 exams in uni and now it is happening again. A unit down the corridoor. The noise of workers dragging their wheelbarrow in and out of the lift (the lift is just right beside my unit), banging the door in the process, and the noise when the unwanted tiles are being dumped downstairs, it just gets unbearble at times, esp when i want to sleep in a little later. No choice, got to shut my windows tight and turn on the aircon, and my nose just keeps dripping non-stop. At least it was not as bad as this April/May, where there was drilling in the unit up and beside mine and i could practically feel my whole house vibrate. A much nicer environment to mug will be late at night, when all is quiet except for the humming of my celling fan.

Well, I have not accomplished much. I am not panicking yet, perhaps it's because i only have 4 modules and out of which i gonna s/u one and my geog papers only starts on 1st dec, so that gives me quite a bit of time to catch up. Finally finished catching up with all of 2204, so now left with a whole chunk of 3204 readings. And i hate myself for trying to save paper and print 2 pages in one side of an A4 paper. It just makes the reading more irritable, esp when it is not a 'wow' article.

So during the past one week, other than revision, it was catching up with all my tv drama. Finally finished 家好月圆 in 2 days, caught up with other shows. I also put my culinary skills to test by cooking on some days and doing housework voluntarily. The most impt being catching up on sleep (it was really Sleep Not Enough during sch term). I hardly need to sleep 6 hrs a day now to be able to concentrate on my revision. And most impt, also had to finish up all the remaining paper work/money stuff for YEP. really praying that we can get the money in time. lots of stuff not settled yet, but i tell myself i am not going to be bothered/distracted by them. most of my team members finish exam early so i shall let them do the stuff then and not bug them now. Till then, i shall be on a Do Not Disturb Mode and if things don't go well, then so be it, we got to live with it (i am quite pissed at certain things actually).

It seems like i have a lot to write. must be because i have not written anything for a long time. As usual, entertaining myself with silly videos during study breaks.

It just makes me lol and make my day a slightly better one. Mug hard everyone! It really sucks my exam end so damm late!!!!! On the good side, i have more time to study!

2008-11-12T23:23:00.002+08:00

While everyone is busy mugging alreadly, i seem to have been slacking a bit. After GE3204 on monday and then Viet 1 test on tue, i seem to be so free, with nothing to do... Decided to pamper myself with a whole night of drama marathon on tue night and apparently it lasted till this morn. Was still catching up on Heroes before heading down for sch. Ok, this friday onwards, i gonna start serious studies. For these few days, just relax a bit. Really, sch term is so much busier than exam period. at least i can ensure that i am getting sufficient sleep during exams..

I am really glad that DD08 stuff are on track, but there's still lots of things here and there not settled. Well, since things might always change when in vietnam, why plan now? but me being me, i will not feel at ease if there is no plan. there's still a shit load of paper work for the trip itself that i haven prepare. maybe tmr evening. no more procrastination.

Vietnamese oral test tmr... well, i don't feel so stressed out compared to the written test. Guess my spoken viet is so much better than written. I shall try to be a joker tmr during the test.. say i wanna be an singer (ca si) next time? say i like to watch violent film but like to listen to classical music?

Meanwhile, i have been keeping myself entertained with http://failblog.org/

2008-11-04T23:24:00.002+08:00

After a few weeks of bad things happening to me, something good finally came today! Hope it is not some false hope or something, if not i am going to kill the person who told me about it! HAHA!

Well, just 2 more weeks till sch ends. Now i am left with one more major project. The only thing that is making me uneasy is my viet test and oral exam next week.

If all things go well, i shall treat myself to something good this weekend. Muahaha!

2008-10-24T22:21:00.002+08:00

Finally, a public holiday is coming up. But not much rest for me though. loaded with tuition and projects, it's gonna be another hell of a week.

The last week was just plain bad bad bad.. things just didn't went well and all the bad things came together at once. luckily, there are some good things here and there and today, good news sort of came together. I guess these good news sort of made life much more bearable.

Just when i have time to post an entry, my creative juices are just so dried up. well, forget it... shall write more next time..

Wisdom tooth horror + Ubin team retreat!

2008-09-26T21:41:00.008+08:00

It's the mid sem break and i am suffering. Not just with school work but with my wisdom tooth extraction. The swelling seems to be still around and i am still surviving on a porridge diet... The extraction itself was rather horrible. First, the dentist injected 3 LA into each side of my gums, and i can feel the needle going deep in. I think the LA doesn't do much to relieve my pain as i can still feel the sharp pain when the dentist starts tugging out my wisdom tooth. What was worse was the pain after the op. I had a terrible headache and it went on for almost 2 hours. The worse thing was i could not sleep with all that pain... Now i am having 2nd thoughts about removing my 2 upper ones. Maybe i should go under GA for that.

me with swollen cheeks

what i have been eating for the past 2 days

Tue to wed was spent with the DD08 members in Ubin. Staying in auntie siew eng's house, kampung style. Well, it is an environment that team members could potentially face when in Vietnam, so it seems to be a chance for all of us to experience kampung lifestyle and bond from this overnight camp. Cooking team did a great job with the yummy dishes whipped out in the kitchen. I'm glad that facilitation sessions were not boring for them (I hope) and most of them were very enthusiastic. Spent the rest of the time cycling, playing orienation games such as zhong ji mi ma(which include eating egg mayo from the dustbin), R.O.C.K rock, MRT game and many many more, including those stupid intellectual game like Fuzzy Wuzzy, what time is it now and stuff. It was really a good time away from Singapore as well as school. and i get to know my team members much better. Found another junior frm RVNP again, winni. last yr was Bel. what coincidence huh...

Sulking when tasked to wash dishes

Facilitation session 1

Facilitation Session 2

head out on bikes (also my first time cycling the tandem bike)

Group pic (slanted because my cam was on the bicycle seat)

Another grp pic

Grp pic with auntie siew eng, who is so nice to us. she lend us some of her pots as well as brought us pig trotters!

Now that all the fun is over, it's back to school again.. 2 tests coming up in the next wk and i have not started. Sh*t. at least i have finished my assignments so i don't have to worry abt them.

p.s.: this is an entry with lots of pics as i am feeling so damm bored at home.... waiting for my grey's anatomy season 5(2 hr premire!!) and ugly betty season 3. I wanna watch them before school starts....

2008-09-16T00:13:00.002+08:00

My wisdom teeth has been causing me extreme discomfort for the past 2 days. it all started at grandma's hse after the ubin recce trip. even before dinner, it starts to hurt. kills my appetite for dinner and mooncake (my auntie got some atas mooncake and i never ate it). Finally decide to drag myself to the dentist and get some painkillers. arranged to have 2 of them removed next thu.

argh!! i gonna survive on pain killers for the next few days...

2008-09-12T20:34:00.003+08:00

Another busy week has passed. It's alreadly week 5 and time is simply flying by too fast. I realised that this blog entries have been getting less and less in the past few weeks despite so many things happening.

First up, DD08 stuff seems to be getting more on track, which to me is much more of a relief. Right now, the proposal is still bugging me and causing me lots of sleepless nights. But i am really glad that there are really enthusiastic members on our team and i hope the team retreat planned during the mid sem break will be fun and enriching.

Geog soc handover dinner was held at yuna's house and it was really fun to get together with the geog soc ppl. I doubt there will be much chance for us to get together and talk cock and laugh at silly jokes. I guess i gonna miss most of the ppl there. We will only be seeing each other during lectures. some of them don't have same lec as me... and i finally got to see fru fru. he's so adorable and active!

I am not going to study today.. shall wait till tmr.. time to indulge in 溏心风暴II and shows such as Amazing race asia 3. and all my fav US shows are coming in 2 weeks time! S*it!

2008-08-27T23:46:00.002+08:00

It has been quite some time since i have updated.

Just had our first DD08 meeting. After months of just planning and 3 members, we finally welcomed another 26 into our team. Definitely excited about this year's trip. Hopefully, work gets done on schedule and everything will go well!

And also, the 42nd geog soc MC has ended their term of office and we have a batch of enthusiastics juniors taking over us. Well, i will still be around to guide them (esp my successor). I feel like joining the next MC, but i figured out i will not have much time to commit to the projects. Shall let the younger ones take over. Will definitely help out in geog soc activities if i am free.

and LAV1201 is hard!!!

2008-08-16T23:34:00.003+08:00

A nice afternoon spent at prof chang's house, which is really Banyan Tree. It's really nice of him to host the GC thank you tea at his place and he even took us on a tour of his house! His 3 dogs are also really cute and friendly!

We ended up cam whoring everywhere in his house like we are visiting some tourist attraction.

This is the funny pic.. look at who's in the mirror?

2008-08-11T23:21:00.003+08:00

I walked into school this morning and i see so many unfamiliar faces around. I suddenly realised that i am no longer a freshie. I cannot be blur anymore.

The crowded library means that school has started. An irritatingly long queue at the library photocopy room. All because the stupid machine does not accept EZ-link card on Giro. got fed up and walked all the way to AS7 to photocopy. and poor bong lost her matric card....

first lecture starts tmr.

2008-08-10T17:06:00.002+08:00

This is my country, This is my Flag,
This is my future, This is my life.
This is my family. These are my friends.
We are Singapore. Singaporeans.

Watching NDP repeat now. Partly because there are no exciting olympics matches on tv. I don't like soccer, and all 3 channels are showing soccer. Yest was watching volleyball and synchronised diving this morning. now i feel having starhub digital cable helps. and these matches are causing me to delay my AGM report. And, the olympics opening was indeed a wow! the way they light the olympic flame is so interesting. Must be tiring for the guy up there.

It was a real busy week. Went to Danang for recce. Met up with the kachang girls, S07 and geog soc. will update more with pics when i am more free.

2008-08-05T00:42:00.002+08:00

Thanks to RJ who brought her lappie. with wireless access, i can surf the net in our hotel room.

After like 4 hrs of travelling, with a stopover at the beautiful siem reap airport (looks like a resort), we finally touched down in Danang at 6pm. The Silkair flight was not bad (good service), but was super turbulent. Making it hard for us to eat and i almost spill my orange juice.

We were glad and happy when we saw familiar face, Vinh and Hung, as well as Loan. The vietnamese students were really friendly and we spent quite a while chatting with them in a bar. It feels great to come back here again!

Alright. off to bed now. have to wake up super early tmr to do a recce on the project sites. also excited to meet up with our host families for last year on the 3rd day!

2008-08-04T10:27:00.002+08:00

super super sianz!

Didn't check my preclusion for one of my SS modules properly. I only realise this morning that i cannot take cause i have taken another module before!!!!!! Now i have to go hunting for modules... and so paiseh to deguang, have to pang seh him for this mod... what a bad morning to start off a day.

one good thing, my dad is able to drive me to the airport. don't have to take train there!

2008-08-03T23:56:00.003+08:00

I'm actually looking forward to my Da Nang Recce trip tmr. It's has been about 8 months since I last went and i am wondering how Da Nang has changed. Also, i will finally be flying a full service carrier with food and drinks. no budget cheapo flights for once.

This trip also marks the start of work for DD08. Recruitment, interviews, team selection, team bonding, pre-trip expedition, planning, fund raising all the way tillt the expedition itself in december. Gonna be a fun filled and yet tiring semester ahead.

DD08 blog is up! Anybody interested??

Some updates

2008-08-01T22:29:00.004+08:00

It has been quite a while since i am back in Singapore.

My supposed vietnam trip is postponed and i guess i shall see it in a positive way. at least i get a bit of time to relax myself and to spend some time with friends!

Met up with the DD07 guys, though only 9 of us were able to attend the gathering. A night cycling trip with some freshies n councillors. A mahjong session with my good pals. plus time spent with family.

And of course turning into a couch potato, watching shows like You Are My Destiny and 溏心风暴II家好月圆。

Some interesting pics...

came back on the Snoozer Seat consortium bus. Feels like i am flying business class. with the electronically controlled recline seat, no more front ppl eating into your space. and of course a PTV to keep myself entertained through the 8 hrs journey. I dun mind a bus like this to Perhentian!

National day preview. The 2 fighter jets were doing the HEART shape. Imagine if u tell ur gf/bf that this is for her/him. haha

Night festival at the National Museum. The facade of the building actually changes. i only managed to catch 2 skins out of the many many skins. The inside was freaking crowded and it is quite fun to explore the museum close to midnight when the crowd thinned down. Night at the museum yeah....

And of course busy organizing meeting with different group of friends. And we are trying to get all the S07 ppl together for a gathering! we haven't met as a whole class since like 2005?

2008-07-23T14:37:00.002+08:00

Apparently, I sort of became a korea drama fan down here in cameron. Every weekday night at 7.20pm on KBS World on Astro, the show "You are my Destiny" is showing. And since watching once episode, the 3 of us are sort of hooked onto the show...

This series has over 100 episodes!! muahahaha..

More details here. Isn't the main lead actress(the one in pink) sweet? Matt thinks the slutty girl in yellow is chio. Me n November disagree.

There are some interesting sideline story plot too. Like the guy who likes an older lady and the lady's daughter is in love with the same guy.. complicated... tat's how K-drama are.

KL

2008-07-21T21:57:00.003+08:00

Back from a short getaway to KL!

It's saturday morning and 3 of us were getting bored in Cameron. So, we thought, why don't we visit KL? We can go catch a movie, go onto the skybridge at Twin Tower and November can go to get her report. So we bought our bus ticket, checked online(Internet was super super super slow) for hotel and off we go.

Set off from Cameron Highlands at about 8.30am on sunday morning and then reached KL Puduraya Bus terminal at about 12 plus. Checked out our first choice hotel but it was under renovation. Got ripped off by a taxi driver on the way to our 2nd choice hotel to realise that it is fully booked. We finally settled for a 2 star hotel which has a bathroom that has a view of the main road outside(there are curtains lah).

So off we go to KLCC. wanting to visit the skybridge. Had lunch at A&W to settle our craving, and then when we got to the skybridge area, we realise that tickets for the bridge have run out. apprently, there are only 1640 tickets per day. duh! so, feeling disappointed, we checked out movie timing for Dark Knight. Settled on a 8.15pm movie. So we have about 4 hrs to kill. What to do? Nov went for another movie, Matt went for church, I headed off alone to Mid Valley Megamall.

Navigating KL is quite easy. Took their MRT and after transferring here and there, i finally reached the mall. The mall is really Ass big. haha.. so started to walk around slowly and found some good deal at FOS. rushed back to KLCC to meet up with the other 2 for dinner. Dark Knight has a really good plot but was a little draggy for me. There are lots of twists and turns here and there and the ending was indeed impactful.

Woke up this morning, took a cab to the National Meteorological Station for some data, then went to buy books, visit the indoor roller coster at Berjaya Time Square(damm. cannot take), then shopping at Bukit Bintang area.

Boarded the bus back to cameron. The bus brought us all the way to Tapah, then we had to transfer to a 'cui' bus up to tanah rata. the journey seems never ending.... and after all the travelling, we are back in cameron.

The spontaneous trip was really fun, despite not being able to go up to the skybridge. We may be heading out to Ipoh this week too.

Pics coming soon. I am not blogging using my lappie. Shall upload pics to Sunny Sees the World soon, or maybe when i get back.

and i have sort of officially called myself Sunny. Nice name rite?

Now i am starting to feel sick. S*it!

Mattress mattress, buy a mattress

2008-07-17T21:20:00.003+08:00

something interesting over here ...

This truck actually "followed" us all the way from our apartment to Tringkap.

cabbage with worms

2008-07-17T21:07:00.004+08:00

We got free organic vegetables from one of the farms that we visited and it was quite a bad experience for me while cooking it.

For those who know me, i am damm afraid of long and slimy stuff which includes snakes, worms etc. For the cabbage that we have gotten, there are earthworms stuck in between the leaves!!! imagine the horror..... i became so conscious that i have to keep checking all the vege for ka-ka(Tan & Ng, 2008). brocoli and cauliflower are the worse. there are some ka-kas stuck in it and it only comes out when we cut up the stalk into smaller pieces. so we are eating small pieces of brocoli and cauliflower. Ever wonder if the clean organic vege in singapore are really organic?

and it's freezing cold here!!! pics coming up!

2008-07-16T20:59:00.002+08:00

Ok. It's the 2nd night in Cameron Highlands. So far, it has been fun visiting the various farms and climbing up slopes, balancing on narrow roads between watercress ponds and looking out for various things.

It is cold cold cold here... Even in the day, i had to wear long pants and jackets. I brought a few pairs of berms and i don't think i will get to use them.

Tanah Rata is just a small town with most facilities available. In fact, i am now at the internet cafe, which is about 10 minutes walk away from our apartment.

Shall update more with more pics in the coming days.

Survivor Batam

2008-07-14T18:22:00.006+08:00

It's just 10 days in Cameron Highlands and i am like bringing loads of stuff there. Blame it on the sweater and the laptop. Comparing to Danang last year, i am really bringing more stuff compared to a 21 day trip. Luckily we are not going to backpack and walk all around with out things.

Just came back from Batam yest. It was a really enriching and fun course. Thanks to our instructor Wee Heong, we are able to learn a lot and hopefully apply these skills to our project. Not only do we learn about yep matters, we learnt a lot about human relationships, leadership, conflict management and so on. Of course, the fellow participants were all very proactive and this really made the difference. Another good thing was i got closer to my co leader yuna, as well as other yep leaders in nus. We gonna need each other support and advice i guess.

We reached Batam and were treated to a drink at Batam View Resort. Shortly after, we proceeded by a fishing boat to this island called Pulau Nongsa. It's a small island with a lighthouse on it and there are quarters for the indonesian navy personnals, as well as a small food/drink store on it. As our instructor mentioned, time on the island passes slowly and i really do feel that. Must be the laid back and relaxing environment. Imagine having lessons beside the beach, enjoying the sea breeze and hearing the waves.

the small island on the left is the island we stayed on. Actually, the 2 islands are connected when low tide.

the lighthouse

our sleeping area.

Shipwreck! so survivor rite? Wanted to take a pic in front of this ship but didn't have the time to do so

me and yuna. notice both of us are wearing geog soc shirt? they say our shirts very nice. "GET LOST" and "WHAT ON EARTH?"

the beautiful sunset. Can see the skyline of singapore if you look closely. We watched NDP fireworks from this spot on the 2nd night!

The beautiful sunrise

The ugly funny looking stonefish. If you look closely, you can actually see 2 eyes (actually not eyes) and a sad face. Compare to the smaller ones by the side, we realise that as the fish grows older, the face becomes more sad.

We got a chance to visit a nearby fishing village on the 2nd afternoon. Very kampung, ubin feeling. Ubin is sad cause there are practically no domestic animals roaming around. Down here, we saw lots of chicken, dogs, cats etc...

another view of the village

Yup. tat's about it for the pictures. In fact, i don't feel like heading back after spending 3 days there. Of course, the company play a very huge role in it! I guess most of us are so excited to go on YEP immediately. Like what eugene mentioned, there's like 1 whole sem and 5 exams to go through! argh!!! definitely looking forward to recce.

Ok. Setting off for cameron soon. 8 hrs bus ride... what a torture.

2008-07-10T23:26:00.002+08:00

today's weather is just plain bad for me. For certain reason, the rain got bigger when i was out of a shelter and when i am indoors, the sun came out. From morning till night, this happened. talk about climate change huh.. or simply god hates me.

the past 3 days was spent at first aid course. It did help to refresh my memory a tiny bit, but most of the time, i was rather bored actually. Looking across the class, there were people sleeping like nobody business. at least the test today was super slack. it's sure pass one.

ok. off to batam tomorrow. hope it won't rain there or else we are gonna be so freaking miserable...

2008-07-08T00:33:00.002+08:00

the past 2 days have been spent at YEP leader's course. It was really an enriching one, though it can get quite boring and draggy at times. learnt a lot of human relations, team bonding, group dynamics and being a YEP leader indeed holds great responsibility. I really do hope i can inspire my team mates and enable them to benefit from the trip. The stories shared by the trainer and fellow course mates are rather interesting too. i am those type who loves insider stories and gossip. haha. looking forward to the batam training. heard we wld be on a small island. so survivor style...

and modules are out. Should be taking cites in transition and cities and regions. sci gem: complimentary medicine and health. SS: Managing singapore built environment. Vietnamese level 1. anyone taking these mods? and also, whether to go on SEP is really bugging me. money prove to be the biggest issue here. sigh...

first aid training from tmr till thu.

2008-07-03T23:07:00.002+08:00

What a coincidence. I actually realise today that Sheng Zhi (geog soc 39th MC treasurer) is actually my colleague in my temp job. saw him wearing a geog soc t-shirt and i asked him if he is from geog soc. what a small world it is. I guess coming from the same organisation sort of broke the barrier between us and throughout the day, we got to talk more (actually this is my 3rd day working with him already)

So the job that i am having now is giving me a good tan. Standing under the sun for hours and hiding occasionally into the shade when the athlete are not in action. Pay is ok only, but i would say i got to learn a lot. I was a non-track n field person so i had very little knowledge abt the technical aspects of the races. Through this job, i was lucky to get rotated around often and so i got to learn bits and pieces of the different events.

my final day tmr. and after that i wld be all over the place. Ppl commented it's a jet-setting lifestyle. No it's not. I am not flying all over...

And yup, it was nice meeting up with some of the FIC ppl for dinner at Manhattan yest. Somehow, the conversation just got really RA and it evolved into Jurassic Park. Totally enjoyed the company!

and not to forget to mention my first visit to a museum under NUS matric card, which gave us free access to all the museums in singapore. Went to the peranakan museum with boon kian. the trip was so spontaneous and well, i do learn a bit more abt peranakan culture as well as chinese culture (both culture are very similar). Wanted to visit the Philatelic Museum too, but they don't have free entry for NUS students. I actually asked the counter "Do you have complimentary visits for NUS students?" I avioded using the word 'Free' as it would make me sound damm cheapo. maybe someday i shall start visiting all the other museums. shall learn to be more cultured.

still too full from the super late dinner just now... can't sleep...

2008-06-29T23:04:00.002+08:00

I almost got cheated by thismoney changer in Chinatown. Was changing quite a few currency at time same time and when it came to Vietnam Dong, i didn't check with him what is the rate. I just passed him the money and told him Vietnam Dong. He did some calculation and gave me a rate of 1SGD to 7340VND. I was like, WTF? So low? He actually dared to say "Now US Currency strong". Even if the US dollar is strong, 7k plus Dong is seriously way too low. Well, the Dong is alrealdy in my hand and i told him it is not possible to have such a low rate. He just gave me that "not my business" look and then went on to serve another customer. I just walked over to the next changer and he quoted me 1SGD to 12,000VND. I feel so cheated so i went back and demanded that the rate around is 12K. He asked his colleague inside and then mumble some stuff in Tamil, and then asked me for my Dong that i have just exchanged. The guy inside did some recalculation and he gave me the rate of 1 SGD to 12000 VND. He didn't even bother to say sorry or anything. WTH! I will boycott that store from now on. The rate at other stores are about the same anyway. I went there because the queue was short.

So lesson learnt, always ask clearly the rate of the currency that you are changing and if he gives a stuck up attitude, just walk away.

Btw, the lot 1 money changer also has very bad customer service. Thinking abt it just makes my blood boil!

2008-06-26T16:27:00.002+08:00

What a quiet afternoon at Changi airport. Now sitting at the terminal 1 viewing gallery. Not much activity on the tarmac except for 2 garuda plane. Going to depart to Jakarta and Bali respectively. Even the usually noisy gallery is exceptionally quiet today, apart from some chit-chatting.

what a way to hang out in the afternoon. and thank god for wireless@SG. can chit chat with someone and view planes at the same time. shall wait for evening peak hour to arrive to witness more action on the tarmac. but that would mean hell when going home.

saw this avid photographer (maybe one from airliners.net) snapping away when a MH plane landed. he must be bored with the limited action today. and now changi doesn't have a decent viewing gallery with a view of the runway. He would be much happier if there is one. Just saw a SQ plane roaring off but he could not get a decent shot of the bird. just some side view of the jet. he has since moved on to other locations. eh.. not much other location also.

GA897 bound for Jakarta has just pushed back and is now taxiing towards the runway. now the garuda jet has gone out of my sight. shall wait for another garuda B737 to depart.

This is what one would do when he is totally bored. What a way to spend a relaxing afternoon alone.

FIC 08

2008-06-23T23:48:00.005+08:00

22nd June 2008 (Earth Lab)

Exactly one year ago (22nd June 2007), at the same spot

One year ago, I was still a freshie, still unfamiliar with NUS. Came for the camp, hoping to make new friends so that i won't be lonely on the first day of school. As a freshie, i really had fun at the camp and have met wondeful people. Decided to give the post of FIC P.D. a shot.

One year later, standing in the pic at a Project Director, really happy at the outcome of the camp. Seeing freshies coming to the camp, I feel old alreadly.

First up, Geog Soc Freshmen Immersion Camp (FIC) 2008 was a huge success. First major breakthrough, having 21 freshies! that is seriously a lot considering last year was only 6. Things in camp went smoothly. The freshies had fun. The councillors had fun too!

Organising the camp was indeed a huge tiring, headache affair. What my committee members can give me was just their invididual parts. What i have to do was to piece all these together. Had dunno how many sleepless nights before the camp. so glad that i was still sane during the camp and i came home in one piece.

First of all, thanks to all my freshies who are so enthu and spontaneous. Hope you all have had lots of fun and made lots of new friends during the camp!

Of course, not forgetting my councillors who made this camp possible. Wei wei, Yong Chun, Margaret, Jing Xiong, Puey Ling and Bright. Without you all, the freshies would be all over the school and would not be having fun! Thanks for being so ON!

Not forgetting my fellow 42nd MC geog soc mates:

Yuna: Thanks for helping me with all the admin stuff and please forgive me for all the late night smses.

Deguang, thanks for the help with programs, and the wonderful fright night that all of us had lots of fun!

John, thanks for helping me with the running of the camp and all the late nights settling the next day programme stuff.

Boon Kian, thanks for being our food man, bringing our food to us early morning, and driving me to around on sat!

Matt, thanks for last minute agreeing to help out in log stuff!

Jiaqi, thanks for reinbursing us so quickly and taking care of the money matters as well as logistic matters.

Alex, thanks for all the advice and for dropping by the camp despite ur work commitments. Hope i have not disappointed you as your successor.

Kelly n Ziwei, thanks for the pub poster and the T-shirt. A lot of freshie says the poster is nice! sorry to make ur work so hard!

Beejooks, thanks for helping out as a councillor and bringing lots of laughter to the camp.

Winnie, Jade, Val, thanks for coming on friday night after your work to help out with fright night.

Mel n Jade, thanks for helping me with the sponsors. We got quite a few items that are really good this year. $10 mahahttan voucher.. haha

And to Cliffy who popped by after booking out and almost missed your chance to sleep in your bed for one last time b4 flying off to japan.

And thanks to all for the Birthday Cake! I am someone who is really bad at remembering ppl's bdae (I even forgot my mum's bdae once), so for those of you whom i forgot to wish your happy bdae or wished you all happy bdae late, please forgive me....

The end of FIC also marks the end of my project director role in the 42nd Geog Soc MC. I will certainly miss the days of working together with the committee. Though tiring at times, it is really wonderful to have worked with you all. Of course, i shall not forget all the great friends that i have made through geog soc too. I think next sem will be really different if i were to step down from the committee. I feel like taking on another term, but i want to go to field studies, and with DD08, i am afraid that i am unable to commit. I don't want my school life to be all studies too.. haiz.... so let's all hang out together at our usual spot after class ok???

Realised that i have not updated for quite some time. Have been busy with many many things... Will blog more about some of the events that happened during this period. will also post more pics soon! esp the unglams ones.... haha

2008-05-30T22:39:00.002+08:00

I was doing my transcript the whole evening and my ears are going to go deaf soon i guess. Blasting the recording on a headphone so that the speech will be clearer as i type. but for the money, i shall hang on.

Heard this song and radio and i searched for it immediately when i got home. It is 收藏 by 萧敬腾. After 一眼瞬间，now this is his first hit from his upcoming album.

No MV yet. Just a audio rip from radio.

2008-05-30T15:24:00.002+08:00

Now all the kiasu ppl like me are all online checking out our results. Well, i am still a little little bit disappointed by this sem results. one word: stagnant. well, at least i did better than expected for methods.

so many things have happened in the past week. time just flies when one is so occupied with many things. at least for the moment, i am able to put down a few things in my head. I'm tired. I need a good break. I am learning to look at life from a new perspective.

Travel Blog

2008-05-22T00:22:00.001+08:00

I was totally bored yesterday afternoon and suddenly, this idea came to me.

I shall start maintaining a travel blog. Since I gonna be travelling quite a bit this year, and hopefully in the years to come, why don't I maintain one to share my experiences and thoughts?

So the first Genting post is up here. Do give ur comments!

I am now blogging thru iPhone.i can't make an entry in the space below. Arch!!!!!!

2008-05-20T18:19:00.005+08:00

opps. a big boo boo.. what i was playing with was not the iphone but the iPod touch. It looks exactly like the iphone but it does not has mobile phone capability (which was why i thought it was the iphone).

First of all, as with most apple products, the screen is really big and clear. While eliminating the keypad, it allows for the screen to be big without making the whole gadget looking enormously hideous. The wifi function allows one to access the internet in places with wireless network. It has no problems displaying most websites ( i am not too sure about other phones with such capability as i have not used them before) and being able to zoom in and out of the webpages and scrolling through the page by pushing the page around, this function is handy and so cool. Video function is as good as the ipod series.

Downsides of it. The QWERTY keyboard that appears on the screen is not meant for people with large fat fingers. I had so much difficulty logging into blogger.com and then making the above title entry. It would be good if a stylus is provided. Another problem that is present among apple players, no FM radio!

Though it is not the iphone, it does give a little sneak preview to what the iphone ill be like. Most probably I won't be rich enough to get this phone when it is being released in sg later this year. Well, I don't mind holding one such gadget if like say, someone were to give it to me free? I guess I just have to get used to the functions of this phone. My current phone isn't doing very well either. (battery is screwed). I shall wait and see if I should make such an insane investment in the days to come.

So embarassing. I went to tell the whole world that i used an iphone. argh!!!

and i finally got my handphone connected to my PC through bluetooth. haha..

2008-05-17T00:07:00.002+08:00

after the fun filled 4D3N msia trip with geog soc, it is back to work work work....

so many things to settle... and i feel i have bad management ... really need to sort things out... manpower issues is bugging me now also.. danang side is still like.. unplanned... everything is still in a mess. argh!!! the urge of not leading is just so strong sometimes...

The tuition session tonight just slipped off my mind.. even though it was written down on my organiser. i feel really really bad now cause the poor kid waited quite a while for me.. then in the end have to cancel it... this is so not me!!!

I was thinking, if i am rich, i will just book a ticket online, then fly off to somewhere.... just disappear from this world for a little while..

sorry i sound so emo.... must be too many emo shots at geog cafe in malacca...

will be updating abt the trip soon..

2008-05-10T00:22:00.007+08:00

It's has been a tiring, busy, fun two days after exams!

geog soc hosted students from the national taiwan normal university (NTNU) 國立台灣師範大學. Since my chinese has improved, i shall blog in chinese!

这两天的交流真的非常好玩！我在跟他们聊天非常自在，这或许是应为我常用华语与家人及朋友交谈。不过我讲的华语，算是新加坡式的华语，总参杂着英语。所以在跟台湾的朋友沟通是，我必须一直提醒自己要用纯华语，不然他们会听得莫名其妙。在文化方面，我发现我们与他们非常相像。我们吃的食物，穿的衣服品牌，看的电视节目，消遣活动，几乎都是一样的。所以在一起时有非常多的话题聊。他们跟我说，新加坡的物价比当地的贵很多。若我们到台湾，一定开心死，可以在夜市吃到肚子爆。

由于他们得做个专题作业，我和matthew(顺仁??) 带着我们的小组到了甘榜各南(Kampong Glam) 作实地考查。我们先到了马来文化中心（Malay Heritage Centre), 不过到了才发现他们到了下午三点才开门，于是我们便到附近的小巷逛逛。在这里的这些旧店屋，许多都被改成了非常现代化的商店，甚至有一些与马来文化没关系的商店。在Sultan Mosque 外的那一排商店，卖的几乎都是旅客的纪念品。而我也有机会踏进会教堂看一看里头到底是什么样。

各小组做完实地考查后，我们便到狮城大厦集合。享用晚餐后，我们便带着他们沿着乌节路逛逛。最终我们走到了义安城，在那里拍了许多的照片。我在想若明晚有空的话，可能会再跟他们到处观光。

我今年因该是没时间到台北玩，不然由他们带着我们到处逛，一定非常好玩。希望我能和这一群朋友继续保持联络。我这一次尽地主之义，真的希望他们玩得很开心，并希望他们会回到新加坡！

From left 文暄，智窑，德珊，恺泽，matthew, 山峻，小管

in another 7 hours time, i shall be meeting my dear geog soc mates again. from next monday to sat, i shall be seeing them non stop. so exciting!!

and i almost forgot to mention this. Duck kena bird shit on his head! he actually rather the bird shit on his head than into his ice cream ........ poor duck....

2008-05-08T00:02:00.002+08:00

Yeah! It's finally over. I shall not think too much about results. To think godfrey tried to tell me my results today when i met him. He mentioned that "the 2 of ur did ok" when there were 3 of us standing there. I shall assume that i am the ok one. but what does ok mean? A bloody just pass?

today's LRT paper was such an enjoyable one. I enjoyed writing the essay although my hand do hurt from all the writing. Perhaps it is also because the paper is the last paper. a wide grin on my face when the examiner said "Time's up. Stop writing". went for lunch with geog soc ppl at vivo and then a long awaited K session at 10 dollars club in chinatown. It's gonna be my regular haunt in the coming months. $10 to K frm 2 to 7. free flow drinks! cheap!

now i am planning my activity for the holidays. may n june wld be mostly geog soc stuff. then it is on to cameron highlands and saigon. hope all the trips would eventually work out. I dun wanna be stuck in old boring singapore. hopefully, i can get a job for the remaining weeks as well. I like things to be properly planned out. so hopefully, all will go smoothly!

Seriously, i dun feel 'high' today even though my papers have ended. sadz...

2008-05-05T02:05:00.003+08:00

I am now studying for LRT instead of SE paper tomorrow. how great this is... I do realise SE qns are all very generic qns and one just needs to know the main idea/concept of that particular topic.

And i hate evening papers!! one will feel shitty for the whole day till 7pm.. argh!!!

what a disaster presentation...

2008-05-04T17:10:00.002+08:00

After my paper on wednesday, I have been behaving as if my exams have ended.. Reason? For LRT, i am almost done with it before exams started. for SE, haiz.. something is not good when the thought of "why the hell did i take it in the first place" pops up while revising thru the topic. Reading through the readings and realising that it does not have any link to the lecture content doesn't help much. Though lecture content are something interesting, (Note: is lecture content, not the lecture itself), i am consistently lost throughout the semester.

I am sleeping more than during school term. I cooked my lunch and dinner for my family. I even did household chores on friday. I just finished clearing up my desk and wiping off the dust that has been accumulated on my computer. what can i do now??

2 more to go!

2008-04-30T01:36:00.003+08:00

oh crap! i can't sleep despite me waking up at freking 6.45am this morning. alreadly finished studying for methods (doing selective memory work; my brain can't absorb all the things from the course). been browsing through my notes again and again and nothing seems to register into my brain. now i am surfing the net on my lappie on my bed (cheers to wireless) and i hope i can really sleep soon. luckily my paper tomorrow is in the afternoon. If it is a morning paper, then i am totally screwed.

my papers so far? well, RE finance was a total disater. apart from the calculations (which i hope i did not make any mistake cause i was extremely careful), the free response part was just gone case. did not have time to really think and conceptualise the answers. plus panicking made my brain go blank. today urban land use was much better. having 2 hours for 2 essay enabled me to properly plan my essay. even had a essay outline written out. seems like my only hope for A. many agreed that it is an easy paper, so an A may not be guranteed.

and on the good side, Betty is back!! haha! just watched the first episode after the WGA strike. this show is really getting better!

ok.. off to bed.. people online are asking me to sleep!!

Doomsday

2008-04-20T23:32:00.002+08:00

I was watching Super Comet: After the impact on discovery channel yesterday as i was truly wowed by the show. I love the way of how they present what would happen to earth if an asteriod were to strike earth. The way these facts are presented are simple and clear and it makes things much easier to understand to non-scientists like us. What was interesting enough was not just telling us all the facts, but they created a storyline behind all these facts. How would the different groups of people react to this catastrophe and what are the difficulties they faced in order to continue surviving. Though the ending was cheesy (the dad n girl meeting back with mum who was separated), the whole show still managed to keep me glued to the tv for 2 hours. It has been shown on discovery channel before but this is the first time i watched the whole episode. I do not know how scientifically true the show is, but the level of distruction to earth and the human race is really huge. Those surviving after the impact will experience extremes of temperature, shortage of food and water. If any were to really survive, it would really be amazing.

This show has sort of aroused my interest in 'Doomsday" and i was surfing around the net. There are actually a few asteriod that came very close to earth. Many religions in the world have prophacies on Judgement day, where human will be wiped out and disappear from the surface of the earth. I have not had time to plough through these different perspective. Doomsday may not necessarily be in the form of asteriod impact, but may be caused by other factors such as spread of diseases, natural catastrophe and many others. there is even a doomsday clock, measuring the degree of nuclear, environmental, and technological threats to human beings. currently, it stands at 5 minutes before midnight.

I doubt i would live to see doomsday, but it would be interesting to just think about what happen if tomorrow is your last day on earth?

Ok. back to mugging.

2008-04-15T22:57:00.002+08:00

I am so glad that i did not flunk my personal journals for LRT. This, being an individual piece of graded work, has given me confidence in this module. Now i am motivated to start revision but i am still stuck with readings at the final chapter. Duirng tutorial today, i realise i have forgotten about the content of most of the readings. lazy me did not do summary for the readings and i think i gonna suffer ploughing through the thick stack of words. Lucky i did highlight the important points and i hope this would help. I caught a glimpse of our grp project grade ( i think that shld be the grp grade) and it wasn't as well as i have expected. but it is not bad too...

a bit about our trip to STB. the whole settings looks like it is the 'in' place to work in. too bad they only take in second upper class n above and with my current grade, i doubt it wld be possible to even qualify for entry. The tourism sector is one area which i may considering going into. One main reason being i love to travel. To be able to put what we see in other countries into singapore would be interesting. Reminds me of the concept of world cities being more and more alike . Worldly Tourism Pursuits (Terkeneli, 2002) of transworldment, enworldment, deworldment and unworldment. See, i am doing revision by blogging. haha. Maybe i shld consider blogging down the entire syllabus and it could also benefit my frens who are reading it. Haha. ok, back to career choice. it would be wither tourism, urban, transport or aviation sector for me. Maybe i should still keep my options open and after 4 yrs, then i will seriously consider where i want to go to. Well, there is always the option of a mid-career change but i think that would be seriously challenging to do so.

Due to the constant good meals (NYDC after STB) and me sitting down all day at my desk, i am putting on significant amout of weight. Got quite a shock when i weigh myself. I guess the amt of food i took in during the past few stressful week contributes to it. Ok, i should control what i eat and hopefully get my ass down to jogging.

It is alreadly week 13 and it is going to be an excruiating 2 weeks ahead. After exam would be genting + malacca trip with geog soc ppl. Genting is boring but i am sure with geog sock company, it would not be a bad trip. Maybe i should start building up my luck from now and then gamble in the casino. Taboo includes people tapping me on the shoulder, walking under women's laundry (esp underwear), not touching a book (unless it is revision and i shall call them references (参考资料) instead of book (书). Anything else??

see.. i am being rubbishy (they say i am high) when i am stressed. so can imagine how stressed i am?