Effervescence

Income...

2010-12-29T00:52:00.002+08:00

came from dinner with Joanna, Kh and Shiling...
we had a very good dinner at Chong Qing Grilled Fish at Mosque street. famed for its grilled fish, we had our fair share of good food and burnt our tongue thoroughly...

it was nice to meet up, especially after i quit my job, im going to be grounded... i can see them more often...
somehow, from the conversations... we moved on to family and how much we are giving our family monthly... little did i realise that actually one of them was earning so much that the person was able to give a 4 digit sum of money to the family monthly and the other one was actually earning ard 8k monthly not including a yearly bonus of min 3-9 months... it really made what i am earning look like peanuts... one of them is going into investment banking too.. which means the income is going to be very substantial as well... What have i been doing??? Im not believing that going through the same education, the disparity in income is going to be so substantial.. not that it is that much, but its just that with comms, im going to get ard 5-6 in my new job, possibly higher if my closing rate is high but I dont wanna be limited and capped by the amount of work i need to do to get that exponential growth. maybe im just super ambitious, i wanna be earning a lot more than what i am now. its not the male-female income retrospect but its just a personal mandate. I will be fine if my wife is earning more than me, like what yiping says. i think i can live with that but that is if i am on a satisfactory level that i myself can agree with. otherwise, i will be looking to increase my income in more ways than one even if i may be earning a lot more than my wife in future.

investments is one way to go, in shares equities and property... one of them is actively in shares that its giving her a substantial amount of returns.. good thing is that she is going to pass her broker contacts to me, so thats one area which i can catch up on. Good thing is that they are not selfish, we share things around. The other one is already looking to buy property... that is something i can afford now thanks to my thriftiness but its going to be hard for me to sustain a savings buffer, shares holdings and property at the same time. On top of that, im looking to start my own business. thats gonna be impossible for now unless my earnings increase suddenly.

I guess for now, I will wanna settle into my new job asap so i can start on my business which i have been hoping to get it kickstarted. I will actively play in the market and try to earn some extra cash to invest in my properties and hopefully through the broker, i can earn some significant amount of money too. Looking into some joint collaboration with kk and beng to deveop housing where i will actively source for buyers for them and earn from it. Hopefully, i might get headhunted elsewhere by these future clients, oil brokering will be good too. I hope they get back to me on that one. From now onwards, I must work very hard, no more happy go lucky. Its my formative years for my future and I'm not about to give it up just like that. only after this, i can think of the rewards i can give myself for holidays and diving trips. I wanna achieve my residual income through my business, passive income from my investments in shares and properties asap!!!

The Social Network - drop the "the", just make it facebook

2010-11-05T22:18:00.003+08:00

i think i have just been Mark Zuckerberged....
i heard rave reviews of the movie when i was in US months ago... everyone was like saying how good this movie is... tts why i am determined to watch it. I must say its an eye opener, not a fantastic movie in the class of transformers or what have you... and I think most people walk away from the movie, so tts how facebook come about. The social media that everyone is addicted to. One which I am hooked on myself... 500million people in the network now, and if i remember correctly, i joined at 1millionth plus user... cometh a long way huh?

myself, I think i see the struggles of a setup, letting it form, seeing what it will become, planning its path, not killing it cos of small monies... the determination of making it succeed, making it your baby and constantly thinking of how to improve it, getting ideas from everywhere and anywhere. Total devotion to the project, sparks of ideas can come from anywhere and everywhere. Meeting the right people, be receptive to ideas, decipher if that idea matches yours and the direction of your business. (Which reminds me of a parable which i heard before... a real businessman will not be afraid to accept help in any kinds when it comes knocking, they will accept it with gratitude rather than thinking of the consequences...) anything negative, just throw it out... allow no glitches that will harm your progress or reputation as a startup.

I'm sure the movie has blown it out of proportions a bit... but devotion is when you are facing a lawsuit that threatens to derail you, but you are not worried about it and your mind is on your biz/project on how to make it bigger, better... this thing is just a distraction when you are onto something bigger and more important. That shows hows devoted you are and how determined and steadfast you are with your biz that the confidence that you have to make it work.

Affirmation of your biz is when you are Mark Zuckerberg, and someone comes up to you and tell you... your work is great... facebook me...

Knowing your resources and making use of them correctly is when how he latch on to Napster's founder's contacts to draw money to expand the business and making it better. Grab it with your both hands.

being receptive and Marketing it correctly is when he accepted the idea not to do advertising to "UNcool" facebook in its infancy. dropping the in thefacebook and making it facebook. allow photos sharing and tagging... turning up in pitching fashionably late and fashionably disastrous...

EMpowering is when you are not afraid to task your partners or workers and trust them, more brains can be better than one.. more creativity, more work done... empowering them with company shares and making them feel part of the company.

Building interest and public awareness is knowing how to make use the power of internet and the spread of word. passing 1 link to a person will lead to thousands and millions seeing it. Just like initially, the start of Facemash... subsequently Facebook when it become cool and exclusive to join and be part of the "IN" culture. Realising and giving what the masses want to know and retaining the privacy of being mysterious. eg: relationship status in facebook and the interests section or background like schools or work place. constantly innovating to draw interest...

Expanding the business and letting it out of control... how he expanded to other universities in US and finally to UK universities and open up to the world.

So, don't be greedy and shortsighted, why go for 14 trouts when you can net a Marlin?

sometimes, you gotta give up a bit to keep things going... like during the lawsuit, he was ordered to compensate Eduardo an undisclosed sum of money and the twin brothers 65 million dollars. The young lawyer told you, pay it up like a speeding ticket fine, its not like you cannot afford it, rather than to risk losing more and getting it more long drawn... Facebook was worth 5 billion during that time. Learn to look at the big picture.

Don't look at what has happened, Look at what is Happening now!!!

A taste of bitter now for the better/sweeter future.

last few days...

2010-11-05T21:32:00.001+08:00

a few things happened last few days... being offered contract to work somewhere else... making the transition, deciding when to start and how this job is gonna be... i think i got it all sorted out for now... its just a few mitigating factors now that will decide the actual dates.

next up will be how to use my resources available to me, how to tap into my network and expand my base. bankers friends, overseas friends, people moving in and out... my current pool of colleagues. they are all resources... its whether i know how to make sure i tap onto their network. details to be finalised....

contract not signed yet, nothing all too concrete, not gonna reveal much till everything is settled. details of building my base will have to be worked on when i got a tad more time to sit down and plan for it.

fate does play a spot on people, when I am leaving, i'm like getting the best roster period of my flying career, places i seldom get to go to or 2 long flts a month. the best thing now is my december flights are all rostered with friends and people i know. all my flights!! what are the chances? almost nil... but it happened... but certain things have to be given up for the so called greener pastures. Im trying my best to change for places i want to go but haven been or i haven covered properly. I think its slim but i have to forgo it if i have no choice. in my new job, Maybe i will meet good contacts who might pave the way for my next path, next stage in life. I must maintain good contacts with my clients and be their friends instead of a salesman. they are my resources for better clients or stepping stone for brighter path. I mustnt forget that. I'm just waiting for the email now...

met sheue yng in mel, nice to catch up with her, she brought me to a old school cafe in the suburb where everything was build on wooden planks and had the kampong feeling, serving all day breakfast.. not cheap but nice concept... i like... she is coming back next year, potential client for new job? maybe... met Louisa too to get things from her to pass to CJ and mum... errands trip this one. den i met Denise too...

Met Anthea for dinner last nite, i thot i planned for my future with my investments and insurances, but i never got down to details about the actual sums. She did, and she demonstrated how expensive and how she cannot afford mistiming in life. like she bought a condo, cannot afford car for now, cannot have baby if not it will disrupt everything. to smallest details like wedding rings and wedding tables and such. while it may seem to be calculative to some, but sometimes its really good to know your sums... I was wondering how come we ended up as slaves to money, something which we created... what i can do now to expand my sources of income?? more investments for now... since i am single... i need to really settle in my job fast den i can work on my sideline business which i have been thinking about. my passive incomes which i am ultimately aiming at and time to own my own properties.

she actually gave me a wake up call for relationship... maybe i was really used to relationships tt fall from sky, most of the time, my past relationships are initiated by my gfs... those which i like or try to work on, they never come out successful, and i know the reason why now...firstly im too mysterious as a person, people dun trust what they cant see... i always present myself as a friend, not as a potential partner.. that has got to change. I need to indicate my interest and work on it instead of fighting a guerrilla warfare which i always have been doing. Make the effort!! instead of touch and go... if the girl doesnt see u making effort, she wun be touched. The Mr Cool has got to go... now i know...

met joanna today, before she went back to states... i hope she come back soon, i miss chatting and having her ard... somehow we became good friends in terms of sharing ideas and investments. Shipping is the key word i told her today... maybe by the time she is back... i wud be more settled in and can start on something...

New York Round 2

2010-10-30T23:55:00.000+08:00

got new york again.. this time its my own... to my surprise... i saw charmy and yiling in briefing room and there is Nizam as well... i know now my flight is gonna be not so bad. its always good to have your friends ard...

wanted to go Neuschwanstein this time but weather was getting a lot worse... time not permitting with that kind of weather as well.. looks like tts gonna end up in my place to visit but never got to list... surprisingly I met Alvin from temasek hall on the flight too, he started flying as FO already.. keep asking me to switch over... honestly i would be lying if i am not tempted... but maybe not yet... i will see how things go in the next few months. So in the end, it was just heading to town and watching the girls shop. had the famous pork knuckles this time round, it was nice catching up with charmy and yiling and addition of another few funny characters... it made the flight a lot more enjoyable. Theres Amanda, Nancy, ADrian, felicia who is Charmy's batchgirl, brought us to see statue of liberty from afar on check out day and shopping at marc jacobs.

first day in NYC, we went down to wall street to see the NY stock exchange and the famous Bull.. and at night, dinner was at Bubba Gump... yum yum... i think i can safely say i completed walking through new york... i can say that i been to more places than other pple on flight cos they are always shopping in nyc. Bubba Gump is still delicious but we were simply too tired, i almost dozed off twice while eating.. i din know that could happen to me...

next day Barney brought me to eat Good Burger, another version of burger chain, i still think Shake Shacks is better. 2 weeks ago, we walked on the west side of NYC, this time round, we walked through East side... covered a fair bit, went thru the NY public library, din know it was tt grand and massive in the interior. at night, i skipped standby and headed to Queens to waiyu and barney to eat bbq korean seafood. its really good and the waiters dressed up like mario brothers and spartans.. kinda cool... but the food is pretty fantastic as well.. fresh and nice...

back in frankfurt... we ordered food in and had a small drinking session... nice chatting and catching up... simple and nice... thanks for making the trip enjoyable and memorable...

New York October 2010

2010-10-11T21:55:00.001+08:00

finally get to go New York. This time, its with Thams and meeting barney there.
looking back, its a amazing how i survive with so little sleep. upon touching down, i immediately met up with them to go out. I guess this trip i didnt expect that i am going to cover so much of new york that i can probably finish everything else by the time i come 2 weeks later on my own flight. Chelsea Market in the west village is the first stop, we had some lunch there and barney brought us to a new attraction, the skywalk which cuts through the entire city. it used to be a old railway system which malfunctioned. from the west village, we walked all the way up to Times Square, covering more than half the length of Manhattan along the way. Times Square is bustling with life as usual, neon lights and people always makes the city so lively. Caught glimpse of Chrysler Building and Empire State building. before walking back to hotel, only to collect our stuff before we head over to Barney's house to play Fifa11. its only till 1plus in the morning before they call it a night and we headed for supper before we go back to hotel. Next day morning, I was supposed to meet Ilynn for breakfast, she asked 2 other girls along to my disappointment. Well, at least i get to see her, its only natural to do since one of them is her friend, but after breakfast, i headed back before meeting thams and barney again in Soho area for some light shopping before barney brought us to little italy, chinatown and east village. Lunch was at Lombardi's Pizza where we ordered something out of the menu, more toppings than they were offering and it was phew... yummy. each slice of pizza is so heavy that all the toppings simply slided off when we try to hold it.

Thams gotta go back to rest for flight after lunch, me and barney we trooped through chinatown and decided that we should walk across Brooklyn bridge and go over to Brooklyn to admire Manhattan from there. it was a tedious walk to say the least. weather was good thou, it was will worth it. its windy yet not too cold. nice weather for taking strolls with cameras. we really took our time until Waiyu finished her work and we met her at Japan town for dinner at yakitori. that was pretty much it as we were all dead beat from the walking. I was to meet barney for breakfast at shake shack. the burger is heavenly.. the little flea market in the middle of town was pretty interesting as well with the Flatiron in the background. Central Park where so many sitcoms were set was next on the list, its amazing to see sucha gigantic park in a city setting, totally random yet it gave a twist to the whole surrounding. tt pretty much summed up the entire tiring NYC tour. the only place left to be covered is probably the Wall Street area and Ground Zero which we are going when I come next.

turmoil

2010-10-10T21:54:00.000+08:00

Maybe, i'm reading the signals wrong…. maybe she is not that into me…

i just watched the movie He's not that into you… its all about the love and relationships that people gone through and are put up for, somehow i think i see a few similarities in myself with some of the characters in there.
The part where you yearn for that someone you like to be equally into you, hope that she calls, hope that she is thinking about you, hope that she is dying to hear from you and see you soon. Somehow I ended myself up in this stage again. I dunno how, i dunno why… it was just one date, she asked me out randomly i supposed? maybe its just a friend friend thing and nothing more. go taste some milkshake, dinner, talked a little about life, our present status, taking little walks… Maybe my love language is spending time together. I was supposed to meet thams and esther after that to sort of make up for missing her birthday and she had to go home early cos she got london flight early next day.

we talked about meeting up after her london to go shooting photos, cos we got similar interest. I dunno why we din chat much after that flight, maybe cos she was attached? maybe she din attract me back then, all that happened was just some random post on Facebook and that was about it. until she took the initiative to ask me out and i obliged. she gave me a long hug on parting and asked me not to drink too much. not exactly very long but its a nice hug, slightly longer than a friendly friendship hug, something which i wasn't expecting and it was certainly out of the blue…. what was it suppose to mean? she did msg me that she was home after that. almost went for a movie date cos she couldn't meet me as she had ferns visiting, she tried to make time to watch a movie with me before that but tt failed cos no nice movies at then...

i didn't think too much after that as i was contemplating, should i go further and find out more. i find myself looking forward to her return, looking forward to spending time with her. i asked if she wanna come on to my flight, we can hang out and go out together. She did tried, after all many a times people just say they will try but they dun actually do it. But she did try, just that people didn't wanna change with her, i know cos i asked my colleagues on that flight. Was that a sign? i dunno… but after that i did miss her, even now when i was typing, images of her were running through my head, i actually miss her, i think i like her a lot more that i thought i did. i did try hard to change to her fra-jfk, but when i eventually did, she changed away and my surprise went up in smokes. She asked me not to do such surprise again next time, it did sound like a no. when i was like take it easy, she msged, wanna go sightsee for a change in nyc, wanna go empire state building. that lifted me up, it was a booster that i need. i dunno maybe im reading too much, its just having ferns on flight and making plans together. its a matter of perspective actually, honestly but maybe i chose to read into it. weather was bad and she found out she has a friend on the flight and she cancelled sightseeing, major boo boo… i just wanted to see her, i missed her, i just asked if she wanna have a meal together at least, she said breaky in nyc, i thot its gonna be us time, but she called her set of crew along, i became the extra. mixed signals? or maybe she is really just seeing me as a friend.

i hoped to meet her for meal, but she wanted to tapao and rest for the flight. thats another door slammed in the face… i'm confused now… i dunno what is suppose to happen. i asked wai cheng, she said girls don't simply anyhow hug guys. on her personal note, she told me, maybe she is trying to make me fall for her, its just her ways of doing things. maybe she is interested but not that interested, but at the very least she doesn't seem to dislike me. she did reply me when i msged her most of the time. she did give me a hug, she did try to change to my flight, she did try to find time for movie and she did try to have a meal with me. but she asked friends along for the meal, she did close the door on me for meal earlier, she didn't sound all that excited when talking to me, it seems to me that the roles has been reversed. from she being the initiator to become me as the initiator. me asking her out most of the time now. wai cheng said i am so obvious that i like her. but she said that i don't have a choice either if i wanna go after her. i'm now at the stage where should i go for it or back off slowly. too much is detrimental, but im scared that i will block her out like how i block other girls out too. or im back to psyching myself that she treats her friends like how she is treating me, i'm the rule, not the exception., i tried to pull myself back to reality. maybe im reading all the signs wrong, but her signs seems mixed. it does seem illogical for her to hug me right? if she is not interested, maybe she wouldnt even try to meet up or let alone reply sms. then again, she could be just polite.

Girl, you are killing me…. killing me softly and surely…

FML

2010-10-01T23:47:00.002+08:00

procrastination is the word...
procrastination at blogging.. procrastination at job hunting...
many things has happened since my last post... in may... so much so that i din even feel like posting after every long flight which has been my usual practice.

job huntings and interviews have come to nought so far cos i'm still where i am.. recently i come to appreciate the freedom of time that I have with this job, often wondering what i will be missing when i quit. I had always known what i will miss.. the time freedom, the relaxed lifestyle, the travelling, sightseeing and shopping overseas and sometimes meeting very nice people... but its only recently that i realise that how much i actually appreciate all these... but it doesnt mean that i am going to stay put. cos its not my character to do so, i hunger for success and progression... something which this cannot give me, true that i will miss.. but job hunting must intensify... just when things are picking up, my msn and hotmail crashed or got hacked... so i kinda lost everything that i had in my hotmail, all my job applications stuff are all in there... plus over the months, my lappie is acting up, its not all that old its just too cluttered with too many things. a little format and reinstallation will do the trick but i couldnt do it without backing up. plus i thot of getting a macbook. just nice there is a promotion a free ipod touch comes if a macbook purchase if u are tertiary student... so i managed to get my wifey felicia to buy for me but me paying of course. it just got delivered today. so im going to do a nice backup of everything before formatting this Asus and use as desktop at home. this macbook is going to last me for next 5 years at least. sleek and nice.. i like... but this year has been a spendthrift year for me.. with the camera, computers and other gadgets that i have been buying... very bad for savings... especially so if im planning to quit. its gonna be a massive pay cut.

FMCG is a little hard to get in without experience, i just decided to broaden my scope and suddenly i see widen horizons... i got more options now.. the thing now is im going to stop using hotmail as my main, im switching to gmail instead for impt stuff. my msn contacts is gonna be a major headache to retrieve... i hope hotmail can get its act together and unblock my everything so everything can resume.

these few months i picked up photography too with Kevin, Vivien and Jayme... had lotsa fun taking studio photos... i guess its partly cos of interest... i can learn a lot more here and maybe do some assignments. Ilynn asked me out last month, we had a good time out, she seems like a nice girl, i'm trying to find out... but i went out with wifey today... i always enjoy her company and i can be myself when im with her... i like that feeling...

BB is cranking up... i went to service centre today only to be told that it will take 2.5 hours of waiting and 1/2 hour of checking to determine the problem but prior to that... my bb has to be formatted first... -_-
not without backing up first!!! i decide to go after this fra-jfk which i changed for. I can finally visit barney in nyc and go sightseeing with thams cos he is flying 1 day earlier. Ilynn was suppose to be on the flt that i change forbut she swapped away for doing a good deed.. i missed her.. i will meet her in nyc i guess. suppose to be a surprise for her.. ended up she surprised me... negatively of course.

now i got a lot of things on my hand after 2 new toys just came in... please backing up of my hp and job hunting.. i need to prioritise and spend less time playing games...

cmon.. wake up!!!

a life in turmoil

2010-05-30T14:25:00.003+08:00

past months has been a life in turmoil... that i lost myself... i din know where i was heading and i was running away.. there were things to be done and i am just procrastinating... life's a lot more clearer now...

was suppose to start job hunting after im back from europe but lack of money and other things like SEP and exams drove me away... i wasnt even doing the basic minimal... tmr is the last day of sep, i shud get the first ard over and done with den i can fully concentrate on finding job... NO MORE PROCRASTINATIONS!!!!

ive been spending a lot of time to myself, din meet much friends... even the movies i watch them alone.. finally caught up with all the movies that i wanted to watch but i watched all of them alone.. sometimes watching movie alone can be an enjoyment.. just indulge in the movie and escape into the world of make believe... the world of fantasy... like Ip Man 2, robin hood, iron man 2 and i caught prince of persia with adrian and cara.. it was good stuff..

the plans of setting up wedding planning service got a bit screwed by tong.. cos he did something similar but we totally had no idea to what each other had in mind... i need to step on it fast... as i got more friends who are getting married soon and those are potential business i can tap onto. perhaps i can go into partnership with tong if circumstances permits but tt remains to be seen.

weddings of barney, waiyu and kaisi, hansen are the main events i missed for the backpacking trip. next week weifeng is going to propose to weijing and i got news that colin is applying for flat and wingkit just got his proposal accepted by margie.
seems like a lot of things coming up, i gotta be more focused and stop whiling away.. Speed is utmost essential in business world

there were discussion with chris regarding the opening of cafe again.. seems like it is revived.. and the partner seems like someone experienced, so there is a chance of it working out.. lets see how it goes...

soccer been terrible.. ic ant plays occer anymore, been playing like shit... adds to my frustrations...

went out with Felicia last nite, impromptu for ice cream, i miss her and miss seeing her.. i got a Hello kitty soft toy for her with a small bouquet of orchids... i like her candidness and the way she is being herself and not afraid of other pple... but cos of my procrastination.. she is now other pple's gf... too little.. too late... if only i can turn back the time and do something about it earlier.. i think there is positive feelings between us.. i can sense it or maybe im just overzealous... maybe something will work out in the future... i most certainly dun wish to plan for her wedding with someone else.. i saw the smile on her face when she receive the flowers and soft toy... i know she is happy.. :)

Serene is someone i have in mind too.. she is totally different from felicia.. she is more demure and ladylike.. but still my type of girl... but she always go disappear and appear only at randoms den disappear again and ask u for favours... i dunno if she is shunning me cos of my connections with zhenfu... maybe sincerity and perseverance will shine through.. i will keep at it and see how it goes...

for now.. its focusing on the tasks at hand... job finding, setting up my business and most immediate would be to get pass the first aid test tmr...

East Europe Blog

2010-05-11T20:28:00.002+08:00

ROMANIA:
Places visited: bucharest, brasov. Sighisoara, sibiu. Targu mures.

Day 1
Took 1 full day to reach bucharest. Flight to milan, switch terminal to transit easyjet to bucharest. Take a bus to town(Gara de Noord) heavy backpack walked ard the town to look for our hostel. Finally rested our feet aft 24 hrs of travels. Butterflyville is very cosy n homely. Felt at home immediately, andrei is very friendly. Rested a while, moved out to explore the city, parcul=park. Went to a park near hostel, lotsa pple in the park, animals, pond with swans, ducks. Walked to romanian parliament house, 2nd biggest building in the world aft pentagon. Looked imposing and grand. Walked along city river to town area, stravopoleos church, national museum of romania, many govt buildings located in the same area. Oldest inn, "hanul de munuc", oldest church etc.. A bit of grandeur and communist feel at the same time. Dined at a nice restaurant to reward ourselves. Nice ambience, old pub/inn feel with romanian dance performances in the middle n a chill out bar. Walked to piata de revolutional, saw some commerative monuments of the revolution before heading back.

Day 2
Headed out to brasov. Left late, day trip. Couldn't go to Bran to vist dracula castle. Might make a trip there from sighisoara to visit rasnov fort at the same time or head to sibiu. Stayed in town in brasov. Took bus to old town central, walked around, met a very kind hearted gentleman who showed us ard a bit and told us the history of brasov. Saw the 2 "entrance" gates of brasov, which wasn't on any tourist information. Saw the black church, which was black cos of fire. Wanted to take a cable car up the tampa mountain but it was closed. So recommended to climb up to the black tower(which was white) and white tower to get a nice view of the old town. Seemed like we will achieve the objective of losing weight with the climbing and walking tt we do but the setback is nice food is cheap here. We walked in the main street of old town and went up the eastern fortifications of brasov where fort walls were build to protect the town from wild animals like bears and wolves. Cos along the wall, there are hunting towers for shooting at wild animals. There is a piata revolutionlei here as well. Brasov is a more typical european town, pretty similar to heidelberg, as compared to bucharest. More well developed and runned. Its one of the 3 medieval transylvania towns, which includes Sibiu and Sighisoara as well. Too bad we din have time to visit bran castle and pele castle and the real dracula castle at ...

Day 3
The day began early, cos serene is finally joining us after many mishaps which prevented us from leaving together. We wanted to do some sightseeing before leaving bucharest. Realising that there is a unesco world heritage near our hotel where a palace was built for a princess by a prince to profess his love for her. It was in the very garden that we walked thru without us realising. We went down to the parliament house area again to the government buildings area, it was nicely done up as many govt buildings are in the same area. There were fountains along the whole stretch of road and it provided a nice view with the majestic parliament house as backdrop. We chance upon the patrichial cathedral and explored it before heading back to the hostel to pick up our stuff to meet serene. It was sad to leave butterfly villa as it proved to be cosy and homely to us. Met up with serene at train station and we managed to get an earlier train to sighisoara. Trouble brewed after we boarded the train as one of the tickets bored a seat which wasn't there. A little frantic, casey took the ticket and asked ard, apparently its quite common and we could sit anywhere just as long as the ticket is correct. Most unfortunate that casey lost the ticket and she had to pay a fine for it. The initial conducter was nice to ask her to pay half the penalty(30 lei), but there was a miscomm as we thot she is safe for the journey to sighisoara. But at Brasov, a different set of conductor came onboard and demanded for ticket, with no ticket nor receipt, she had to pay another 53 lei. Hopefully that's the end of the trouble as we made our way to sighisoara and being able to find our hostel with no hassle.. Hope its nice and cosy.. I'll buy her a beer later.. Having a hostel in the middle of the attraction means u have to cross a river and climb up the hill, hunt the streets to find the hostel. The owner was nice enough to wait up for us till 11pm. The decor felt nice and medieval, cosy countryside feeling. The bedroom is nicer than butterfly, its not at all hostel-like, more like a bedroom with antique furniture. The girls get the main bed while mine is a add-on. I had mine under the slanting roof with a sky window which peers out into the Romanian sky at night with the full moon in full view. Very much like what I would like for my own bedroom :) I'm happy :) feels especially excited when u know that all these is happening in a medieval town in transylviania with a possibilty of vampire or werewolf popping out of nowhere.. Dinner was at a count dracula themed cafe for some desserts and beer as all proper food was closed by the time of our late arrival.. Targu mures tmr.. by bus..

Day 4
Didn't have to wake up too early today as we were only going to Targu Mures. Bus was supposedly 1hr away and its taken at the bus terminal beside the Gara, ie train station. The bus ride across the countryside was pretty scenic, as we came across vast fields of greenery, forests, and farms where we saw pple ploughing their fields and grazing their herds. When we reach Targu Mures, it was a little surprising cos we seemed to have ended up in some residential areas. Armed with no maps nor any information, and the rain falling on us.. We were filled with dread, maybe its a wrong trip to come. Den we have to start asking ard the shops about where we can go, where to get information, lucky pple were warm and friendly. There is this guy who works in a souvenir shop that brought us ard to ask for a tourist map(harta turistica) but to no avail as we were smack in the middle of residential area. Eventually, he gave us the directions to get to central, where we trekked to thru the residential areas, drawing much stares from the locals. Can't remember how many km walk it was, we finally got to central and there was a flower parade going on, different breed of plants, flowers and all the tools u will ever need for gardening, can be found there. We walked ard town, saw some churches and the cultural palace and the palace of Avram Iancu. Then we came across a very huge piata which was fortified, it seemed like it used to be the opera house area as there were many defunct opera houses and stages within the compound. It was rustic and run-downed, but still gave an arty-farty feel as there were many sculptures and props lying ard the compound and a group of young teens were there, singing Songs and strumming their guitar. We trekked back the way we came from and took a squeezy packed bus back to sighisoara where we had our dinner at thr house of Vlad Dracul, where Count Dracula used to lived for a while. The food was rich as we had soup and main course which filled us to the brim. The setting of the restaurant was set to colonial times, or maybe medieval would be a better word to use. High chairs and tables with big plates and wine glasses. The waitress was a grandmother who treat us very well and often gave us extra portions. Dinner marked the end of the day as we gotta wake up at 5am next day to catch a train to Sibiu.

Day 5
Woke up very early to catch the first train to Sibiu. Everyone was cooperative as we have to walk a distance in the morning cold to the train station. No more missing train or losing tickets this time... Sibiu is a beautiful town with a super big piata.. We actually had a lot of time in Sibiu, so much that this is the first time we can sit down and relax, bask in the sun, slowly enjoy breakfast and coffee and reading the newspaper I brought from singapore, whiling away 2 hours just doing nothing but enjoying the atmosphere. We had the choice of making our way down to Medias, which is supposedly another beautiful small town and it housed the 3rd biggest leaning tower in europe. Apparently, a lot of people from all over europe come to visit. We gave that up cos Sibiu is a big city and there are quite a few sights to see, so we decided to take our own sweet time to cover the town thoroughly. The different cathedrals were main draw of the city besides the Stairs Passage which served as a connectin archway tt connects the upper and lower town and Liars bridge, which was the first ever iron cast bridge in Romania, built in 1859. Sibiu, like Brasov was a fortified town, thus there were fortified walls ard the city tt repels invaders in the past. Naturally, there would be watch towers and bridges which are icons of the town, most famous would be the Potters tower and Carpenter tower as they are linked by a wooden skybridge and Harquebusiers tower which was named after the guild house tts defending the tower then. The weather was nice and warm, which warrants an ice-cream. Lemon sorbet best served its purpose in this kind of weather. Dinner was taken in town too and we had pasta, which was like proper starch after so many days here.. Proper exploration of Sighisoara tmr, the last of the 3 main transylvianian towns, its another relaxing day before heading to Budapest at night on an overnight train, where new language and surrounding has to be learnt and hectic exploration starts again :)

Day 6
Had the luxury of waking up late.. We went out at mid day and had our bags packed and deposited in the kitchenette while we head out to explore sighisoara thoroughly. Due to that we were out very early and back very late, so its always a dead town when we see sighisoara. Finally entered the tourist information and the first thing tt attract us was the free wifi available. We literary camped there for a while as we update ourselves with news, facebook and emails. First stop was the museum where we climbed thru the clock tower and viewed the history of the city and the museum of weapons and the ancient torture chamber which was kept mainly in its original state and site. Its does feel eerie and cold in there.. Phototaking seemed to be the key objective, as we kept on taking lots of photos maybe because its our last day in romania. The covered passageway up to the church on the hill was 176 stairs but the view up there was beautiful with all the old buildings and fortified walls. We met a group of students on excursion and they requested to have a photo with us and duely it will be sent to them. Lunch cum dinner was at this pizzeria which serves spaghetti and pizzas as well. As there was free wifi there, we ended up staking out at the cafe for hours before returning to the hostel to grab our bags to head to the Gara for our train to Budapest Killeti. Feels sad to have to leave romania after u get used to the place and language. Though the country is backward, but the people are warm and helpful... Dispelling much myths about the pickpockets and gypsies which I often hear about.. Train to budapest next... I wud leave romania feeling sad to leave behind such a beautiful country and people.. I wud love to be back soon..

HUNGARY:
Places visited: Budapest, Eger.

Day 7
Reach budapest early morning, but not after much trouble with sleeping on the train and being awoken 2 times for leaving Romania and entering Hungary. Reachimg early in the morning does have its advantageous. Meaning that u have the rest of the day to sightsee but also mean that u are freaking tired after not sleeping properly the night before. After resting at the hostel for a while, though its for mainly using internet, clearing mails and updating facebook.. We finally headed out after the 2 girls bathed. Budapest is huge! Initially, we thought we could complete budapest in 1 day den we can head out to Lake Belaton and Pecs or a few of the smaller towns nearby. I guess fatigue caught up with us, we didn't move as fast we would like to. We only managed to walk down to the Danube river and covered the riverside before crossing over to Buda(old town) on the famous Chain bridge, trekked up the hills to the Mattias church, Fisherman's Bastion which is overlooking the Parliament house on the Pest(new town) side. The view is very nice, reminded me Venice and certain perspective reminded me of the Bund in shanghai. At the top of the hill was the Buda castle, it really looked magnificent and grand as we entered the compound. There was a fountain which resembles the Trevi fountain in Rome. Budapest is supposedly famous for thermal baths, there was one on the top of the Buda side but we weren't going there since the girls didn't bring their swimming costume, pity :( That pretty much summed up the day as we went in search of food, with the hope of catching a river cruise to have a view of Danube river at night, but we were too tired after that and we headed back to hostel after dinner, deciding that the next day should be spent covering Pest and the last day going down to Lake Belaton only. The hostel was very warm is welcoming us, the owner Gabriel is a funny man who tried to crack us up and was intending to bring us out for drinks but we were simply too tired. Sharing room with 10 strangers weren't a bother for me, cos I've been thru army, but listening to the snores at night was pretty interesting, I'm quite sure I contributed to the lullaby in some ways too. I think its fun staying in hostels like this, u meet peole, u talk to them, exchange information and I made some friends already with the backpackers from all over the world :)

Day 8
Woke up early in the morning while the girls are still sleeping. Decided to go ahead with breakfast as it would be a long wait for time yet again. They simply get on my nerves sometimes with their wasting of time and them going crazy over every single flower plot they see on the street. Otherwise they are pretty ok, cooperative and easy-going most of the time. The other thing which I dun understand is their need to make up even before they wash up and serene complaining about everything be old and smelly, I mean its like backpacking??? Who cares man, I dun see other backpackers making up. Oh wells, I wonder if its a girl's thing or issit asians or issit just them. Anyway, I met Pierre and gf from France who are studying in Sweden for their masters and the semester load is light, they decided to take a week off to travel to prague and budapest. Nice people really, kinda friendly, tt added a few points to the negative scores which I gave to Parisians on my one and only visit to Paris. I was talking to Gabriel after that, he told us tt its not a good time to go down to Lake Balaton as its too cold and windy now and most of the things are closed cos its not summer month yet. He even called his mum who is staying there to double confirm for us. Nice chap! He suggested that we go down to Eger, instead of Balaton or even Pecs, even though Pecs is like highly recommended. He said Eger got the older days feel as compared to Pecs which is and upcoming town, developing into city. Thus it was decided that Eger would be our destination tmr. And by the time the girls wake up, had their breakfast and usual makeup session, it was almost 12noon (-_-), tt left me pretty much fuming cos they were simply taking their own sweet time even though they were late, slowly strolling to add on to that. Heroes Square is the first destination, grand square with many statues of heroes. In the same area, there is the Vajadhunyad castle and a museum incorporated and a transport museum along with zoo, circus and funfair. But of cos with that pace, we naturally covered only the the square and the castle before its 4pm and time for lunch. We tried to cover the rest of Pest, including the Opera house, St Stephan Basilica, the Synagoge and the central market, which was some distance away which they insisted on going despite us managing to get tickets to an Opera based on the music by Wolfgang Mozart, lucky I would say, cos I wanted to see the opera house interior and there's a play available. Its super grand and themed gold and red. Exceeding the value of the cheapest ticket we bought by miles and the best thing is the usher gave us better seats cos it wasn't fully packed. Value for money if u minus the part where the girls were dozing off. There's a group of myanmese based in UK who came up to sit next to me and we started chatting a little, only to find out that they were doctors, taking a break and travelling together, they've been to most part of the world except Africa. Before this trip they spent 2 months in south america-Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. Next trip in october was 1 month in Korea and Japan, they recommended the Japanese Alps-Toyama and Takayama. The opera was pretty good thou I dun understand a single bit of it cos it wasn't in English. The opera was a saving grace thou for all the lateness and mad rushing done for today. Naturally, I konked out on bed immediately as we have an early train to catch to Eger. Its Barney's big day today, his wedding with Wai You and I wasn't around.. I wonder how izzit like...

Day 9
Woke up freaking early again, if they say fatigue is cumulative, I think I would vouch for it.. With the girls taking their own sweet time, there was a rush to train station again. Sometimes its rather trying to keep your temper in check when things are happening again and again, esp when they are your friends, I guess the tolerance level is slightly lower cos u would expect them to understand better. But on the train to Eger, it was all very quiet cos everyone is tired, everyone dozed off. The walk to centre of the town was mainly conversations between the 2 of them and sometimes it mellowed to whispers, I guess they know that I am not too pleased so they were staying clear from me. Tts my guess. Eger is a small place, but very culturally rich, most of the sights are centred around the town central, but I guess when u r tired, everything seemed to come to a slow and we couldn't even complete a small town like that. It housed the 2nd biggest church in Hungary-The Basilica. The Lyceum is supposed to be academic place now as it was a university converted to now a college. The archbishop palace was to commemorate the bishop of this small town being given the rank of archbishop in 1804, it houses many treasures and master pieces. Besides the Basilica, there is also the Rac church, Cistercian church, Minorita church and a Minerat which is one of the tallest in the country and one which is the northernmost built during the turkish era. The central square is is the Dobo square, which houses statues of the local resistance against the Ottoman empire in the past which they prevailed for the first time but fell when the turks came again 44 years later, Eger was occupied for 91 years. The castle became the symbol of patriotism against the Ottomans in the 16th century. It was originally a Bishop castle converted to a border castle with the help of italian engineers. Eger is a famed wine producing area in Hungary, they have a unique blend of local grapes with cabernet sauvignion and merlot which give it a semi sweet acidic taste. Its one of the better red wines that I came across. Of course, there is a legend behind it as valley of nice(beautiful) women is found here, (Szepasszony-volgy) the actual legend is lost thru time but it was roughly about beautiful women who used to sell Eger wines in one of the cellars. That valley was something we missed out with the Fazola gate and provost palace due to lack to time. Its our last night in Hungary, another long day tmr to Vienna... I hope everything turns out well.. :)

AUSTRIA:
Places visited: Vienna

Day 10
Woke up early to try to catch a train to Vienna... 5am to be exact, good thing is that I packed my stuff the night before, so there is basically not much to do. The girls were making a din thou, I guess the lack of consideration is a tell-tale sign, or maybe cos they never stay in a community living before.. Rules are set for a reason, esp when you are living with pple from all over the world and different culture and background. After creating a din for an hour with their packing and making up, finally the kind host had enough. I guess he must be wishing that we leave earlier. Train ride to Vienna was a concussed ride, everyone was just too tired. Reaching Vienna was more like a relief than excitement initially, hardly worthy for a city considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world. As we were too early, we weren't allowed to check in, in the end we had to deposit our bag at the lobby and proceed with sightseeing as we only have 1.5 days here... Definitely not enough, this place is for enjoyment, not rushing thru.There were many sights to be seen here, some of the most beautiful churches and museums. I wanted to get to the tourist information to get some directions to the places we can visit, but casey has already found out the way to schonbrunn schloss without saying anything. Bad enough wasting time, we proceeded to schonbruun schloss first after deciding to cover the rest of the city the next day since its the furthest one out. It was a magnificent palace with marvellous compound which comprises of a extremely big garden, a zoo and a gloriette which sits on top of a hill which gives a skyline view of Vienna city. We spent at least 3 hrs there, as we toured the palace, and went thru the history of the Austrian Empire. I always knew that there was an Austrian Empire in the olden days, but I never expected it to be that big and grand, possibly overshadowing that of the French and Ottoman and comparable to the scale of Caesar's reign. No wonder most of east europe's history is so closely linked with Maria Therese, who was the ruling Queen then, with her husband Frank Joseph. I left the palace deeply impressed, pity I couldn't take any photos as membrance. Next was to Stephansdom, the national cathedral, foundly known as Steffi to the locals. The weather turned bad and began raining. We had no choice but to sit at one of the cafes near Steffi to wait for the weather to clear up. Maybe its psychological, I find the coffee extremely aromatic in this coffee city of Vienna. I'm glad for the rain partially, tt gave me some time to sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee instead of rushing to see the sights. I find it extremely romantic here to enjoy coffee and waste time away and in budapest too. I dunno about prague yet cos I haven been there... But I'm already considering here for honeymoon, couple that with budapest and maybe prague or santorini. Somehow, I started thinking of christy, I dunno why, but its the 3rd time I thot of her for this trip, once in romania-sighisoara, 2nd time in budapest along the river and now in vienna. After coffee, we decided to continue sightseeing in the rain, hofburg the winter palace was next on the list, its a palace Maria stayed at during winter. Then there is the Minoritar church, Schottenstiff, before the girls decided to catch a performance of mozart and strauss music while i opted to roam the city on my own to try to cover as much as possible. Finally there is some time to myself... Not that I'm dying to get away from them, they have been nice and considerate most of the time, its just that they tried to but they dun practice it. I have been trying to be extremely tolerant but I find myself having to remind them to lower their volumes every other time. Felt like a nanny having to nag at them, though they are independent enough carry their own stuff, they dun really bother about anything unless its something they are interested in. I had to reigned them in for walking the wrong paths so many times, they dun read the map, dun bother to remember things, they like to take their own sweet time but yet expecting to cover everything... They just dun learn and I dun bother to say them too. Anyway, alone time in Vienna sounds good, I can go where I wanna go, walk where I wanna walk and make impromptu changes without having to worry if they can take it. I think sometimes they see tt I am quite black faced, but I never tell them off. I visited the Burgh theatre and Rathaus church/palace. Walked past the Wien Universitat towards Roosevelt platz where the magnificient Votivkirsche stood. I decided to give the parliament house a miss, thinking that I could make it back in time given the speed I'm at, so I headed towards the river, after deciding to take a look at this city from another perspective. There wasn't anything much along the river, I was pretty disappointed considering that this is Vienna, I would expect it to be lively, but food shop could be found towards more central of the city along the river. The heavy rain forced me to take a break and have dinner at one japanese restaurant which I chanced upon, I asked for a table but the waitress misheard me and thought I wanted a zipfer and brought me a glass of zipfer which is a local beer. Bewildered, I decide to not argue and just order some food to fill my stomach. Zipfer wasn't too bad, but I had to carry on the journey in the rain. I walked past the kassi-mak building which is supposed to be a place of interest and stadtpark before returning to the tourist information to pick the girls up after their play. It wasn't too bad considering the rain, I managed to made a round around the city centre. Though I wanted to detoured to karlskirche and belvedere and parliament before meeting them. Nonetheless, those were planned to be covered the next day, as the girls went in search for food, finally settled on pasta and illy. The girls had a good time oogling at the cute waiter who pisses me off cos firstly he din acknowledged my presence, secondly, when he offered the girls a drink, he din bother to give me one as though I'm invisible and throughout the meal, he knocked into me 3 times without even an apology, I was pissed and it was worsen by them taking their own sweet time surfing net instead of getting back to check in when its almost midnight. Tt summed up a pretty bad day for me except on the sightseeing part.

Day 11
Woke up early again cos of the limited time we have before leaving for prague. Personally I like it a lot in Vienna, I wanted more days here, but they decided during planning that there's nothing much to see, so they shortened the stay here. Now that they realised that there are so many things to cover, they want a piece of everything and expected me to bring them round the route I went the night before. Which I know inside me it wasn't possible given that we haven bought train tickets, haven visited Belvedere(beautiful view), Karlskirche, music museum(where the world's oldest piano is), national museum, only been to outside of steffi, and michelle told me to visit Mozart's haus, Hadny memorial. The task seemed even more impossible. Belvedere was so huge that we spent almost 4 hours there looking at the exhibits. The paintings, the history and artwork there is simply amazing... Prince Eugene came thru a lot to build up his collection and building Belvedere, only to be squandered away by his niece Victoria. He wasn't married and has no heir. Even more amazing is Prince Eugene lived before Maria Therese, tt gave me even greater respect for Austrian history now. However, thru these visits, I actually realised that I really like art, paintings and music, esp those of olden days. I realised that I actually took the interest to scrutinise the paintings and artworks, something which I din realise before. After Belvedere, we made quick visits to Karlskirche, Wien Museum, music museum, all on the outside and gave up on the parliament house so tt we can visit Mozart's haus. Due to time constraint, we had to rushed back to hostel to collect our backpacks before going over to Mozart's haus again to view the exhibits. It was nice but wasn't too impressive, most of the exhibits were replicas if not guessworks.. but to be fair, the lack of time din allow me to explore thoroughly this haus which Mozart once lived in for 3 years, yet at I learnt more about his life. To be honest, this trip to Vienna left me in regrets why I didn't have more time to explore this beautiful city thoroughly, so many places were touch and go but that gave me a reason to want to come back to Vienna soon. I miss this city of coffee, city of music. And I can't believe that I forgot to eat the apple strudel in vienna. Hopefully, thru these 2 days, the 2 girls wud have realised that they can't have everything done their way and yet wanna achieve everything. There is a reason why I wanna move fast and do things fast. If u ask me if I wanna go backpacking with them again, though they are nice but I would think twice, firstly for my own interests to see the things I want, secondly, to preserve my sanity...Blogged on the train to Prague... Hope we can find our hostel effortlessly later..

CZECH REPUBLIC:
Places visited: prague, kutna hora, cesky krumlov.

Day 12
Reached earlier than planned the night before, the extra stay plus miscalculations cost us dear in the hostel expenditure. It was additional 30 euros spent, something which I can ill-afford now considering the amt of resources I have left. Plus we need to take a cab to airport from prague and from milan bergamo to malpensa. The only saving grace is tt we got a good night sleep.After breakfast, we headed out to the prague castle which was supposedly the biggest in compound grounds in europe, surprisingly, cos I would expect castles of england or germany to be bigger. We walked on the Charles bridge, and it was a sight to behold. If not for the number of tourists, it wud be a real magnificient sight. We met this elegant japanese lady who asked to me take a photo for her. Initially, she spoke in jap, thinking that I am one, but I couldn't reply her, so she knew I am not. She was totally shocked when I counted in jap tt I captured her shock expressions, she asked where were we from. It was a pleasure to meet her cos she is so elegant and ladylike. Nonetheless, prague castle is really huge, they have 2-3 palace in the castle, not counting the number of churches and cathedral and amazingly, they could fit a vineyard inside, together with a belvedere and old castle stairs. Those took up a lot of time and casey went missing. We went hunting for her to no avail and she replied to our sms stating she want me-time. Oh well, so serene followed me on a prague sightseeing trail. We went ard in the city seeing the major sightseeing points like the Rudolfinum, Astronomical clock, Tyn church, Powder tower, municipal house,Henry's bell tower, went down to Wenceslas Square then to Manes which is Prague's art house. That was followed by National Theatre and the Bethelam chapel before meeting casey at the old square at 8pm for dinner. Plans were altered for the next day as its more convenient to travel to cesky krumlov by bus, so we decided to go kutna hora first and on the way back, buy bus tickets to cesky krumlov. So it was settled then, we headed back to hostel for sleep, passing by the square first, took some nice photos den back to hostel..

Day 13
Changes in plans meant tt we were heading down to Kutna Hora, where the famous bone church is at. The real name of the church is Sedlac Ossuary or Kostnice. The journey wasn't too far, just an hour, this gotta be the nearest day trip tt we made. The church is situated slightly out of town, its much nearer from our train stop, only 10 mins walk. We discovered tt the church is actually a unesco world heritage site together with 2 other churches in the same town- St Barbara and St Maria cathedral which is just opposite the bone church. Thoroughly amazed by the interior of the church, we spent a long time in there cos there were 4 pyramids of human bones, and the walls and ceilings were decorated with different parts of human bones. There is also a chandelier made of bones too, not to mention 2 anchors, the code of arms of the town, 4 lamp stands and 2 large ornaments. It would be amazing to see the church in original state cos some of the structures has collapsed, there used to be confession room made of bones too and other things which fell prey to time or undisciplined visitors who stole the bones. We skipped going into the st maria cathedral and headed straight to town instead, where a few other buildings were supposed to be significant, like the silver museum, the town square, italian church, a few others and Kassa Kamena, which is related to the water source of the town. Finally, we reached the st barbara chruch on the other side of the town, it was really grand looking, looks a little like the Duomo in milan. I guess, after 18 days, everything starting to look the same, so it doesn't really matter anymore. We were just rushing to cover the sights. We ended the day early and headed back to prague. Thinking that we can get the bus tickets to cesky krumlov. We didn't realise tt it was publick holiday in czech on sat, so everyone is taking the chance to travel. All buses were full, our only chance was to go by train, tt is if we decide to go, which we did in the end.

Day 14
Very early in the morning, woke up at 430 to prepare for the train ride. We got to transfer train at cesky budejovice to get to cesky krumlov, I would expect the place to be packed judging by the turn of events. Small trams were used for the transfer, in our carriage, it was a tour group of deaf and mutes, it can be quite interesting when all of them started communicating at the same time with all the different hand signs and odd noises they make, but they all seemed so happy and enjoying themselves wherelse, the able-bodied always seemed to be fighting and quarrelling amongst ourselves. Think casey is in one of those moods again, its pissing pple off. We still got 2 more days together den its headed for home.. Decided to do some random walking in cesky krumlov... Without a map, we were just walking randomly, seeing whatever we want without any aims... At least cesky krumlov looks pretty much different from the rest of the towns tt we have been to, there is a river that runs thru the town, and the entire town is built on both sides of an ox-bow river, the castle flanking the exterior of the river, protecting the town inside. This town is very different from the rest of the town partly also because many of the buildings had their walls painted with different patterns to decorate it. We just randomly walked into the castle, and there were bears reared in the castle moat. The castle too has her walls painted and it presented something very different to us, something refreshing. We visited an exhibit by a local artist which is held in the castle dungeons, something which we hadn't experienced the entire trip before, the eerie lighting and the astract art brought a fresh breath of air and brought us into the artist world as we read thru his perspective which was inscripted besides some of his works. Further exploration brought us to a bridge linking 2 cliffs and a castle garden which was right at the end of the whole compound. That brought the end of the castle tour and we made our way down to the little town below where we saw groups of people doing river rafting. Coupled with the cool breeze, maybe its the river tt brought a different sight, maybe its the anions, maybe its the pace tt we were walking on and perhaps its the different interesting ornaments tt we see in the cobbled streets, any fatigue was taken away and we thoroughly enjoyed this day trip out. We walked along leisurely, looking for souvenirs, I got a little crystal deer for christy, and starting looking for a wedding gift for hansen and kaisi and finally found a porcelin pair of holy babies pink and sky blue for their house cos I missed their wedding which is today. The holy baby is suppose to be the symbol of czech republic, not seen elsewhere. Since its a pair, so I thought its just perfect :) I'm glad I found them. I got a pair of small ones for myself too and an table ornament which changes design whenever u flip it, so its always different, and of course magnets to remember this little town. Pleased with my loot today. We took nice photos of the river and the life on it and stood under the magnificent stone bridge of the castle and of the castle tts built on the cliff before deciding to chill and have something to eat along the riverside, to relax and enjoy the town before we head back to prague. Even the tram back to ceske budajovice was nice because it ran thru the countryside and thru the forest which is different from the usual path. Lucky for us was tt we decided to ask the conductor cos we were wondering why the train didn't arrive, little did we know tt we were suppose to take a different bus to another train station for the train back to prague. Tmr is the last day of our east europe backpacking, its gonna be in prague. As much as its enjoyable and I wish it to continue, it too had taken its toil on us cos of our hectic schedule and constant rushing and of course having to put up with each other's tantrum and differences along the way. I think I gave my fair share as well as taken them.. I dunno, but all in all I enjoyed ther trip thus far, maybe the next one will be a all guys trip? Or one with my loved one, hopefully its christy maybe? I need to step up the efforts... Prague tmr!!!

Last day
Woke up late today, courtesy of going to take night shots of charles bridge. When its the last day and there is nothing on your agenda, u tend to be slack. After breakfast, fatigue carried me to sleep again till 12 noon. After that was simply following the girls ard town, doing shopping. Basking in the sunday atmosphere of prague. From the looks of it, prague is a very much more lively and visited places than even milan or some other major european cities. We spotted a sunday flea market where serene went crazy buying things. After that is more charles bridge and we visited the dancing building before I split up with the girls to catch the final day of premier league season at a pub while the girls go walking and shopping. The pub recommended by the hostel was good, its showing all the major games of the day, the title decider between man u-stoke, chelsea-wigan and the champions league qualification battle between arsenal and spurs playing fulham and burnley respectively. So u have different groups of fans sitting in diff corners cheering their respective teams on. No trouble or quarrel yet.. Beer is real cheap too, 1 euro for a pint?? We tried local street food, roast bread and crepes on the go..End of the season, we won but we lost.. Beat stoke 4-0 but chelsea won too, we lost the title by 1 point. I guess its an early night for we need to catch early transport to airport tmr.. End of holidays... Back to work. Return to singapore is shrouded with uncertainties now, as latest news had europe airports closed for the last 2 days running, only reopenning in the afternoon today. Worried and uncertain, we had to get back and started pondering over alternative plans, trains to milan? 20 hours... Alternative airports like frankfurt or munich were some of the options we considered, but can we get on from there with our milan tickets despite us being crew. In the end, we decided to check the airport at midnight since flight is at 6am. Still open... Decided to go ahead with plan, lucky us, at least now we are in Bergamo, milan, trying to get to malpensa. Tts not after the 2 girls pissing off our roommate with the noise they make when they come back, and the wizz air groundstaff forcing me to stuff my camera bag into my bag and crushing the boxes... Ask me now if I will come holiday with them again? I think I will say no, at least not when I'm the only guy, thou they are independant, I can't put up with the inconsiderations and sometimes attitude, serene is not so bad at least, casey... I dunno...

Day Out with Iris

2010-04-22T01:44:00.001+08:00

woke up today feeling like there is much to be done, especially movies to watch cos there are shows which i wanna watch that are ending soon, with my East Europe backpacking trip in jeopardy... i needed something to distract me from it...

Iris called when she just woke up.. asked me... where are you?? wanna pei me go out???
immediately it was an ok.. i like her... i like to spend time with her... i think she is someone whom if possible i would like as a wife.. as mentioned before, pretty, well-maintained, bubbly, cute, someone whom i can click with and talk to all day, nice and filial... but too bad she is married...

it was just impromptu, but im glad im friends with her and had made the effort to remain so.. we had lunch at tcc lido before catching How to train your Dragon, i heard from friends that its pretty good so watched it in 3D. it was pretty cute, i dun mind watching cartoons at all... its enjoyable especially with good company, it did feel like i have a gf for the day, not tt i mind.. i like it :)

after that was just roaming ard in town aimlessly, cos she not into shopping, doesn't go for branded(how many girls can boast of that these days??), so we just talked and walked until we decided to settle down at 313, chit chat about a lot of things, she invited me to church on sunday... we'll see how it goes.

i had an absurd idea of watching Clash of the Titans after dinner, she's readily game even though she watched it twice already... i felt bad cos she wanted to accompany me to watch it again.. so i paid for her tickets... at least i have someone watching with me.. someone im comfortable with and someone i like :)

the night ended with a hug from her before we departed for home... what a blissful day :)

most achieved Tokyo-Los Angeles flight ever

2010-04-11T19:28:00.003+08:00

went out to narita village for dinner on the first day... super fresh and oishi sushi...
next day, i trooped out to village again.. looking for the temple which i always wanted to go but didnt... its was big and spacious, beautiful and sakura was in full bloom.

reach LA, no concrete plans were made but impromptu decided to go to Hollywood, cos i met jasmine there, she wanted to go as well...
many things happened, all the mis-information and denial of responsibility, finally drove there... i was pissed with her for her attitude and tantrums. this trip marked the end of our friendship and made me realise what a bitch she was, no wonder the ex-fiance broke off the engagement. im not surprised when she didnt pay me back for all the expenses for the trip.

cant wait to get back to Tokyo, to Ueno. walked the streets of Harajuku, Shibuya. waked up early morning the next day to go to Asakusa and finally back to Shinjuku Gjonyen, where the sakuras bloomed even nicer. family picnics and all.

Rekindled Love - Taipei or ....

2010-04-02T17:39:00.000+08:00

got called up to go taipei, was so excited... cos its been ages since i was there and im like dying to go since i might not be able to go there another time soon cos they are operating another aircraft there soon.

i miss the food, the night market, the pretty girls, the warmness of the people... turned out to be a very fruitful trip though the stay was short, much was achieved with xiaoyu on the flight and there was jan too. ximending, shihlin night market, drinking at the lounge, roaming ard at the taipei main station, found a gundam base shop was all part of it... i could really do with another holiday there... i just love taipei, and it kinda rekindled feelings for someone too.. i miss that...

how many times???

2010-03-25T16:35:00.004+08:00

how many times must it happen???
sitting on it till its too late...
like someone but dun do anything about it...
she became someone else's gf...
this is totally totally... flaberghasting....
like her.. like her character.. like her looks.. like her smiles...
dun dare to tell her..
dun dare to go out of your way to do something for her...
first its charlotte, den serene, den sindy, liwern, sue ann
now feli is someone else's gf now...
great job....
who is next?
katrina? janice? clara? wai cheng? samantha?

my crazy-ass friends from moscow houston

2010-03-25T04:38:00.000+08:00

got a great bunch of friends on this flight.. crazy people... super cartoon.. thanks april, joelle, genevieve, jeannie, janice and clara... for keeping me company.

din go out much but we hang out together... its great company... zouked last night with them... april is totally gaga... the rest are just crazy.. janice just makes me wanna protect her like she is my gf.. maybe she is similar in character to someone whom i would like... clara is very pretty but too aloof..

This has got to be my most fun, fulfilling Frankfurt trip ever…

2010-03-14T17:23:00.000+08:00

At the start of this trip, it was a little filled with dread and I practically had to drag myself to work. Partly cos I dun really know the people on my flight, secondly, I was feeling that I wanna stay back in Singapore, cos I wanna apply for jobs and there are things tt I wanna do that I felt it would be better and more convenient if I stayed behind. Another reason would be the exposure of the video of what happen to my flight last month where there was a brawl regarding a passenger who was emotionally unstable and got drunk. It was on the Spanish news, I didn't know how it people would come across it, especially when its reported in a language which most Singaporeans wouldn't understand. The video wasn't all too flattering and the worse thing was, I didn't know what was being reported because it was all in something which I didn't understand. Unwanted fame, I would say. When my friend told me about it, I was like telling her, keep in down, don't spread it around pls.

Nonetheless, the power of the internet age was so evident that once I reached Frankfurt and I switched on my phone, I was flooded with smses regarding that video, from my friends who wanna know what happened and friends who were trying to verify if it was me. Only then, I realized that it appeared in the Singapore news too. My facebook was flooded too. Never mind, I brushed it aside and carried on with my plans to go sightseeing. The original plan was to visit the castle which Disney was modeled after in Neuschwanstein and go to Black Forest as well. But the weather wasn't too kind and its pretty cold and supposed to be snowing on the day that I wanted to make the trip on, so plans were changed when yiping told me I could make a day trip down to Heidelberg, its much nearer and its one of the most beautiful town in Germany as well. So I waited for Priscilla to touchdown as she was on her way back from New York, being her last flight, she wanna do some sightseeing as well.

Heidelberg was only 45 mins away from Frankfurt, it's a really beautiful small town divided into the new developments and the old town. The old town still retains its rustic feel with new shopping areas being integrated into the old houses. With the street musicians playing in the background as we trooped down the walkway, it really gave a very rustic touristy feel which u would get from watching travel documentaries. Wonderful feeling!! 

We took a lot of photos along the way, had the most delicious Malaga ice-cream in winter. Freezing cold, and the ice-cream wouldn't melt, there were people looking at us as if we were mad to eat ice-cream in winter. There was the old castle of Heidelberg which was pretty rich in history, we were a little hard pressed for time cos Pris’ flight arrived late, so we missed the chance to go up into the castle. But walking around the town and viewing the castle tt was on top of the hill was a nice experience itself. We managed to find the old bridge that linked the scenic river bank and where all the representative pictures and postcards of Heidelberg was taken. We went snap happy and took a lot of pictures before heading back to Frankfurt.

Next day, I went with her to get some of her shopping done before meeting my set of crew for a meal and did some grocery shopping. Debbie, was on the flight, it was always fun when she is around and there is Daniel whom I worked with before and Jovi and Irene as well, who were good company. We found a lot of commons amongst us that we hanged out together the whole day, roaming the street, shopping, eating, chatting and sharing stories. It was good fun. The last surprise was that yiping managed to come back from London in time, she popped over to hotel and catch up with me even though she was so tired. She missed me the last 2 times when I was here, cos the first time, I didn't know she shifted to Frankfurt, the 2nd time, she was too busy with work to be able to meet. She really made it a point to meet this time and I really appreciate it a lot because most likely this could be my last Frankfurt flight cos of my plans to leave. We had a lot of fun catching up, discussing stuff and plans for the future. Its really good fun. I’m glad and grateful cos the last time I saw her in person was 10 years ago. We used to be so close back then where we see each other everyday in school in jc and in church. People’s life change when they took on different paths in life, sometimes, its just hard to catch up with people. Im grateful that im in this line cos I really get to see my friends overseas when I travel and all the sightseeing that I have done so far. I missed my old friends and especially someone like her whom I was so close to last time. I dunno when I will see her next, but I will make it a point to keep in contact with her. I will come back to Frankfurt once more just before I quit. Just once more. This has got to be my most fulfilling Frankfurt trip ever.

London with Zulk and Yoyo

2010-03-03T11:34:00.000+08:00

It was a trouble-filled trip which I din wanna mention why, cos it simply irks me and spoils my mood when I recall it. Some colleagues are just so undesirable to work with. Luckily, the rest of the people of the same rank as so nice that we became pretty united and watched each other’s back and covered for each other. I guess that's working life.

Wanted to pop down to Cambridge to visit yunshan initially, but zulk told me tt he is on the flight 1 day later and he will come find me once he touchdown, so plans were changed. We had a fun time hanging out together and yoyo was such a funny character to hang out with cos she is zulk’s batchgirl and was totally defenceless when teased. Tubes were down tt weekend, making getting around almost totally disastrous, the alternative plan of watching play was scrapped because that its just too hard to get back to hotel after watching play.

We had good fun having meals together and walking through Hyde Park thou… I like to walk in Hyde Park cos its just simple so big and so many things happening, theres a pond with all the swans, ducks, geese and people jogging around, so much greenery, kids roaming around rolling all over the grass. Dogs running around without leashes… that’s how a park should be. I think Hyde Park has got to be my favourite park.

I was praised for my work on the way back, so it did defray some of the injustice I suffered initially. At least, there are people who work with responsibility and work with common sense and a sense of mind. Thank God for that.

Cinque Terre via Dell'amore

2010-02-18T01:51:00.000+08:00

there was only one thing in mind when i was going to Milan this time.. i wanted to go sightseeing.. cinque terre or monte carlo, it didnt matter cos i know possibly this could be the last time and i wanted to go somewhere which i never been before.

being CNY eve didnt help very much too but thank goodness i got very nice colleagues, which makes things much easier and better.. touching down, plans were made to move out to cinque terre immediately, i got Sue Ann with me, she was game enough to wanna go sightseeing immediately without rest...

the journey there takes 3 hours by train, but first we had to take a cab to the main train station to try to catch the direct train if not we are going to end up paying more for a train tt goes by detour and on top of that its more expensive and we had to change train 2 times. So in the end, we had to change train at Genova and La Spezia before reaching the first terre at Riomapgiore...

Scenary was beautiful... not to the extent of breathtaking but good enough for city dwellers like us who don't see places like that everyday.. From Riomaggiore, we tried to take a walk to Manarola, connecting the 2 terres was this walk which was famous as the lovers' walk... Dell'amore... coincidentally, on this day of sightseeing, it was the Valentine's day... walking the Via Dell'amore on Valentine's day wasnt something that everyone can get to experience and especially how coincidental it was. naturally, the romantic part of me got a little positive feelings towards her after all the interactions, i find tt i can talk to her, be myself and not having to worry about what she think about me. We see couples graffitied on the rocks and walls.. placing locks on anything tt can hang them to signify their love.. how much it must have meant for them...

The walk to Manarola was refreshing, the gentle sea breeze coupled with the scenic view, it was so Quaint... like how Huazai would put it. Manarola is a beautiful village with all the colourful houses perched on the cliffs, there was a little harbour from which, u can catch the full view of Manarola in full view on cliffs... so picturesque. There seemed to be some festival going on tt day, we saw kids dressed up in various costumes from Zorro to smurfs, ninja turtles and angels playing all ard the centrale square, throwing confettis at each other. Maybe its Valentine's tts why.. we had confettis rained on us as we were walking through them... =) Corniglia was the next village, the walk this time wasn't as smooth, its a little rough, more like trekking amongst the rocks, and on normal days, we are supposed to pay to walk thru, but i guess because its Valentine's Day, tts why it was free. the rocky walks took us 40 mins, there was a suspension bridge too.. so beautiful albeit it being so small.

Vernazza was one of the villages with a proper harbour, we had to take a train from Corniglia to Vernazza cos there is no more through path, inter villages train come by very easily, so it wasnt a long wait before our train came. Vernazza was one of the bigger villages, but it seemed all quiet when we reached there, probably cos of Siesta, where they took afternoon breaks. streets were empty, dead quiet, we were one of the few people roaming in the streets while we were there... The harbour at Vernazza was petite and beautiful with a beautiful lighthouse. we managed to trespass a barrier and climbed up a cliff with a man-made balcony. it gave a nice view into the sea and overlooking the harbour port itself. The sky began to turn dark and we decided that its time to look for lodging since we havent finish exploring the last village. night view of Vernazza was beautiful, too bad i din have a DSLR, otherwise the photos would turn out much nicer.

Then on, we proceeded to Monterosso, the last and biggest village among the the 5. we got a room at 70 euros for the night, and we walked to town in the cold to look for food. luckily, there was a restaurant which opened till late. Food wasnt fantastic, but it was better than nothing, better than having to starve thru the night. though the night view is beautiful, we were wishing tt we could teleport back to our room on the way back. We slept early tt night, cos we moved out without rest since we arrived in milan.

Next morning was greeted by sun rays peeking thru the old fashion wooden windows. I couldnt resist the urge to look out of the window with the morning sea view greeting me. breathtaking!!!

so glad we stayed over, we got time to explore and while away since we stayed over, making sure tt we dun miss the train back to Milan tt is. breakfast was at a traditional italian grocery shop with a very homely feel, it was simple bread and youghurt and juice with coffee and danish pastry.. very simple.. very european.. very I like...

the rest of the morning was spent walking through the streets of Monterosso, exploring the small town, we managed to find our way up to some residential places and sat there talking to each other... walking around, snapping photos, before sitting by the seaside basking in the sun, enjoying the breeze before heading back to Milan on the train. It was a trip well worth it... worth every penny spent..

Back in Milan, Darren was trying to organise a trip to watch AC Milan vs Manchester United. who can miss that? its not everyday where u get to be around to watch a CHampions league game, let alone one by your fave club, against your fave italian team. there was much squabble becos of the tickets, cos we were not getting what we were promised.. nevertheless, still we made our way there and hoped that we can get in, the stewards denied us entry at first but seeing that we are tourists, and we probably got conned, they let us through anyway since we wun be able to make any trouble. Seated in the Milan corner, it was amazing to hear the songs and their cheerings and admiring the San Siro stadium... the only bad thing was that its damn constipated not being able to celebrate Man U's goals and near misses. not especially when Milan scored after 3 minutes. Wazza was on form and scored 2 and in the end Man U won 3-2 away, so who had the last laugh?? hahaha... i did...

all in all, it was a very fulfilling Milan trip.. i done visiting to one of the places i always wanted to go, i watched a champs league game, esp one which involved my fave team... shiokness i say....

I forgot...

2010-01-15T01:52:00.002+08:00

i've been so engrossed with trying to find a more stable life that i actually forgot how fun flying can be when u actually meet very nice colleagues... no matter how tough the flight is, having nice people with work with is such a pleasure... I've been reminded of that recently in my recent flights... makes me feel like delaying my departure...

just back from sydney, i went out again alone... walked to Darling Harbour and Opera house again... the weather was cloudy and cooling.. slight drizzle... nice for a walk.. not nice for phototaking... i can only remember the last time i walk to Darling Harbour and Opera house was with Serene... we had quite a bit of fun... she is in her MIA mode again... i wonder if its because i am kind of related to her exbf who is my friend... maybe tts why...

I forgot that liking someone is about perseverance too... I forgot that people can be touched overtime too... dunno why.. i was suddenly reminded while working today....

admitting to something which i have been denying... thanks to yanjie and joanna...

2010-01-04T00:46:00.003+08:00

was a meeting overdue... ever since kaisiong left for perth... we haven meet up.. the tt means not seeing yanjie for a year plus... huaijie for shorter than that and i talk to him occasionally on msn.. of the 4, im turned out to be closest to huazai... tonite was suppose to be catching up with kaisiong since he is back, joanna was invited as well cos she haven seen him for a long time. it was a very good catch up session as conversation flows... joanna haven seen yanjie for like 5 years??? tts awfully long...

dinner was at crystal jade having la mian... before we proceeded to Gobi for dessert... the desserts were rich and good... the molten lava, chocolate meringue and all.. but they are not the highlights... it was fun just talking, nonsense and non-nonsense... joanna suddenly asked.. have u all actually sat down and ponder what went on well in 2009 and what was bad in that year and what are u actually looking forward to in 2010?

have you thought of it? in all honesty, there are things which i know, its somewhere in my subconscious mind, hidden, unspoken...

huazai: he's just changed job, he is happy that his old boss told him that he can go back anytime if he wants, nothing bad particularly happened to him so he is happy about the year and he is looking forward to the world cup in 2010.

huaijie: good thing: he changed job. bad thing: his old job. looking forward to maybe new jobs? i think he is kidding here

yanjie: good thing: his relationship with his dad improved after his dad retired and he took over as the sole breadwinner of the family, finally he understood wat his dad was going thru and his dad made the effort to repair the r/s that was severely lacking.. and im sure he is very glad he accepted Christ, thru a twist of events which touched him. bad thing: his closest working mate left for another job...

kaisiong: it was a good year for him basically in almost everything, he is glad he completed his perth training. looking forward to his proposal this year...wooo.. cant wait...

joanna: good thing: travels, she travelled a lot this year, went on solo trip too... bad thing: broke up with exbf, wasnt a good breakup... looking forward to...

myself: good things: i come to appreciate my job cos it gives me opportunities to travel which i dun have the ability to and i make it a point to explore new places. and the 2 holidays i took this year to japan and shanghai but i missed 1 shanghai trip cos of family issues. bad thing: family issues... the forever money problem...
looking forward to getting a new job this year...

actually it didnt come easy to come up with all these... i really searched hard for the past year what did i do, but in my mundane and monotonous life, i realised that i come to appreciate simple things in life. if joanna didnt asked, these answers would have been in my subconscious mind and left there without giving much significance to it.

it also made me realise that it could have really been my fault too in all these cos although i know and i appreciate that dad has been going out of his way to make things possible for me, but it irks me that we have no conversation and the only things that we talk about is money, im forever wary of him asking money from me. tts how bad our r/s has been. what yanjie said that he finally understood how his dad felt when he finally took over the mantle of being the family breadwinner... i realised that maybe it wud be true for me too... i made a rough estimate of my dad's income and expenses... it seems tight... but not to the stage of not manageable... cos i have been pretty frugal... able to get by with minimum spending if i am not buying things, but i dont understand why he cannot... maybe each one is different and he is really trying... and i always try to distant myself from him when it comes to money issue cos to me it seems like he is an endless pit, from all the stories previously. maybe hes really changed... he is really trying..

on the train, joanna further probed, i actually told her that dad's bday was yesterday, cos he asked about money and bonuses again. i was so put off that i dint wished him happy birthday in the face... i merely smsed him. he called me back and ask why cant i say it to him and i must sms instead, but the fact is i was struggling in me to tell him ornot till i reach the airport, and i couldnt bring myself to say it before i got off the car. i cant bring myself to tell him that i couldnt say it. instead i got irritated that why he had to call over something so trivial. Joanna said something which struck me... maybe it really bothers him cos he cares, all he wants is that simple Happy Birthday... i immediately felt guilty... i know he cares but i just hate to admit it... and i find it very hard to talk to him cos he is very mcp, no matter wat or how logical u can tell him things are.. he will always turn things right his way... so there is simply no point in talking to him, and i will immediately give up and leave things be just to avoid an argument. she suggested that maybe one day i shud really sit down and talk to him nicely, i think its needed too, but the fact that he is forever right really turns me off... but i guess it has to be done sooner or later when the time is right and situation permits.

Jo asked... do u wanna reach a stage that you regret even though you knew earlier but chose not to do something about it... and yet when the time comes, u regret not doing something about when you had the chance...
(you caught me nicely there, joanna... seriously) maybe its my stubbornness and my bad temper too...

walking home... as fate wud have it, i saw dad having dinner at 11plus alone at the coffee shop... i had the option of sneaking past him and go home straight without having to talk to him... I think i would have gladly done that... but i find myself walking towards him and sat down with him for his dinner, just to accompany him... suddenly i saw how old and tired he has become.. how stubborn and judgemental i have been towards him and sometimes rude and irritated by mummy who has been so caring and doting... how hurting that must have been... i will wonder you know, why others' family so loving and fun together, and my family is this way, i had grown to accept the fact that my family is broken... ever since young, primary 6 to be exact when i heard the major quarrel which almost got my parents divorced on the eve of my PSLE... my life changed ever since then, i think i became very selfish... protective... and i dun like to talk to my family about my life... when i shud have been trying to repair the family, but with my weird temper i derided it even more...

maybe its really time to do something about it now...
thanks a lot yanjie and joanna... for making me see things which i had been blind towards, although its staring at me in my face...

im so looking forward to meeting u all on 30th...

2009-12-28T03:08:00.004+08:00

i wish there is something i can do...

but i wun wanna jeopardize anything chances that i may have...

i got this major urge to tell u that i like u...

dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy... dun do anything crazy...

有一点初恋的感觉... 好久没有这样的体会... 怎么办??

think i posted this before... I like pretty, petite girls with a womanly feel and a tinge of class... like Shan Shan... like Iris... can have fun with a dual personality when calls for... maybe grace as well... u can include Cheryl and Serene as well... girls that i feel the urge to get married to immediately after seeing them or knowing them... i dint realised that it took me so long to realise the kind of girls i like... but yet at the same time, bubbly girls are fun with hang out with.. there is seldom a dull moment with them... like felicia and aili.. i'm confused... maybe i still dunno but at least i figured out that i like these 2 kinds of girls...

2009-12-24T20:18:00.002+08:00

我对你有一点动心...

多希望下一秒就见到你...

Another Chapter of my life soon?

2009-12-22T23:41:00.002+08:00

i just made a resolution to quit... im going to work on my resume after i come back from my mel flt... its time already...

and

it doesnt pay to be kind... not when u lend money to someone thinking that it will help the person tide over the crisis... money is a sensible issue, one must be prepared to lose the money when u lend it out... pple often said this... but how many pple actually heeded the advice.. its the second time it happened to me... once bitten twice shy they say... for me its twice bitten no more third time... i wun be lending money to anyone anymore. and for this time, i am not going to let my money go just like that.. not if its 1.8k...

and

feli.. so much fun talking to her.. i can picture us going out.. enjoying ourselves.. taking silly photos.. and even wedding pictures.. but the thing is i dun even know her well... hardly except tt we talk quite frequently online now.. and sms overseas too.. dunno wat hit me... but i am not going to indulge in it and lose myself all over it. one step at a time please jingpei..

From Russia with Love - Xmas came early..

2009-12-07T23:00:00.004+08:00

was dreading the flight, in fact if not for the money, i would very much have given it up and stayed in Singapore to perhaps work on my resume... luckily my colleagues are nice... reaching moscow on the first day, i spent the entire day sleeping... think i had too much sleep debt... i slept so much that early morning the next day, i work up at 4 and watched 2 movies before heading out to Red Square and St Basil Catheral... i reckoned that its probably my last time here before i quit so i had to sightsee... esp when my camera spoilt on the way there the last time round i visited Moscow..

weather was freezing.. -7 degrees when we headed out.. no snow yet.. but we were armed.. for the worst... the wind had ripping effects on our skin thou... on our way back it started snowing lightly... its not the first time i saw snow.. its similar to the ones i had in amsterdam and zurich... light flakes.. not too heavy... den we went for dinner at the italian restaurant... the 2 waitresses were very pretty.. one was russian.. the other looked some sort of mixed... got the asian jap looks... i was looking at them and i caught them looking at me on a few occasions.. no guts to pick them up.. haha.. not with so many people ard anyway.. its snowed heavily during dinner.. by the time we came out.. the entire place is covered with white... so heavy and so thick that we actually had a snowball fight on the way back to the hotel... and took some really nice photos... Mag and Jeremy were very game too.. these are the small things which i will miss when i quit... i know.. now i am seeing russia in a different light too.. the potential of the business here and when the economy booms.. hmmm...

met sandy at the lobby... she had stories to tell.. and she said houston was snowing too.. -_-... i didnt expect that.. i last checked the weather to be in the tens, almost 20... luckily we were prepared.. to houston tomorrow... will update... till then...

flight to Houston was severely delayed... sort of heard a loud boom at my door and the aircraft tilted when we were taking off.. caused a delay of 3 hours.. we were all totally drained from working with some people who dont have any welfare at all... never mind that... due to the festive season... there was sales everywhere.. real tempting.. i was suppose to be catching up on some work during the stay there but the nice people made it hard to refuse when they planned out the itinerary to go out exploring... NASA and factory outlets... though i must say its pretty enjoyable.. i like driving in States, thou it feels weird at first on the left hand side.. but we got accustomed pretty fast. Terry and Jo got everything planned out when they brought their GPS and walkie talkie sets.. cool huh... When Terry and me were returning the cars.. we got stopped by 2 hot Texan girls driving SLR... they drove up.. honked and stopped us.. wind down the windows and asked.. hey, u wanna go party with me and my gf tonite?? we were both stunned but Terry politely declined... tts the first time i got picked up by girls in States.. pretty cool...

next day was spent resting before going by to Moscow where i met Lynda for dinner and finally back to Singapore. On the departure day, it was really freezing like -20 degrees... now u know wat moscow is like.. scenary on the way to airport was fantastic.. pity i left my camera in the bag.. sigh...

Shanghai.... A wedding and Awakening...

2009-12-01T11:56:00.003+08:00

its funny how this trip turned out to be... initially, i was a little dreading to go overseas again for a holiday when my work already requires me to be travelling all the time.. but Candice's wedding is not to be missed plus i already missed out on the last shanghai trip in april with the guys cos of family dispute..

i wasnt too happy about not being able to be seated togethher.. and pple are unwilling to exchange seats... nonetheless, Candice put us up at Renaissance Hotel at Yu Garden... its pretty central and near to most of the things so tt made things really convenient for us. She met us for lunch immediately after we checked in and we had Portuguese food at this Macau restaurant which really filled us to the brim but everyone wanted Xiao Yang Shen Jian... which dunno wat it is.. but its really freaking cheap and turn out to be very good... no wonder its one of the people's fave, every stall that i see, its always long queue... we were at some shopping street, the girls left us to explore on our own while they left for pedi-manicure... so me and huazai went ard.. i spotted a few cK shirts which i really liked but the price puts me off... who the hell is going to pay $400, sin dollars for a cK shirt man???? I havent reach that level yet definitely... so i tried to remember how it look like and tried to get it tailored when we are going to the material market... but i guess some things, u really need to pay for it cos the tailors said without a sample.. they cannot just make the shirt with descriptions... So me and huazai we hanged out at starbucks, waited for almost an hour for the girls to finish up their pedi-manicure.. ktv was suppose to be up next but everyone's tired from the overnight flight which we din sleep well.. so we just went for a massage and headed back to the hotel..

2nd day, we went about the Yu Garden which is basically at our hotel's doorstep... its all the olden buildings refurbished, instead of the old run down roadside stalls u see in the chinese kungfu movies, its been taken over by the major brands.. like starbucks? diary queen? tt brought about something to think over... would u rather lose the rustic feel to a place and preserve the space or retain the feel and leave the place dilapidated? Nevertheless, huazai and me went about walking through Yu Garden while the girls are kind enough to queue up at Nan Xiang for us for breakfast... Nan Xiang is famous for their man tou and xiao long bao. There was a Da long bao too.. so big that people had to use straw to drink the soup from the bao.. amazing... textile market was next on the list as the girls wanna get some clothes tailored.. for me.. i just wanna try my luck to see if they know how to make the cK shirt. No one can resist having hairy crabs esp when its in season in shanghai... its a must have but too bad we only had it once for the entire trip.. simply no time and our stomach is too full most of the time. we went to this fu mao restaurant based on a fellow passenger's recommendation... its supposed to be more famous for its little lobsters... but it serves pretty decent baked hairy crab too.. so we tried and its not bad... The rest of them are pretty massage crazy... so we ended up going for massage again before the girls had to go for rehearsal for the wedding tmr.. Huazai and me slowly took our time and relax before deciding to go walk around the financial district and visit the Pearl tower before meeting the girls for dinner at Southern Barbarian.. food was good there... they had all sorts of funny beer too... so... we tried more than 10 different kinds of beer... till the manager thought that we are some beer connoisseurs.

Wedding day, the girls were up early.. 6plus am... they had to be at the venue... we werent really assigned any tasks so we can go later.. the hotel is pretty much like a maze... but its seriously damn cool to hold your wedding at the tallest building in pudong, overlooking Shanghai with your close friends and relatives... ambience was nice.. decor of purple with cream white looks smoothing to the eye as well.. Wedding lunch lasted till 3pm.. we were seated with candice's relatives and cousins, uncles... it was good to interact with them and chatting up, Gibson being so cute certainly cheers everyone up from time to time with his "yam seng" antics..

We headed out to the French Concessions after a brief rest to while some time away before a pre-party dinner arranged by Tom and Candice for the younger folks, it was held at a Sichuan restaurant which serves very nice "Kou Shui Ji", older folks were flatly rejected and post dinner party was held at a club called SIN.. with a man size bottle of vodka, bottles of whisky and boxes of cigars... u can bet that everyone is a sinner there.. not to mention many were falling sideways and all over and a few puked all over as well...

next day was almost our last day in shanghai, woke up at noon for lunch at Des Lys, a french restaurant, which we spent the entire afternoon there sipping coffee and tea after lunch before proceeding to massage.. yes again... den japanese buffet at night at Ri Yue Tang, beside the sichuan restaurant the night earlier... Candice family were having buffet there as well.. but we missed each other... but we met Candice and Tom for drinks after that before waking up the next morning for breakfast at Nan Xiang again before heading back to Singapore with a heavy heart.

Not that i get a lot of time alone on this trip, but i guess its the encounters that I had which made me really sit up and think what have i been doing? I've been holing up in this sheltered environment that i have been so overly protected and narrow in my scope that even when i am travelling the world, thinking that i seen a lot more than other people... i actually have been a frog in the well... I met candice and tom's friends who have achieved so much, gone through so much just to get to where they are today because of the competitive environment that they are in or where they come from. poor families, striving hard... getting to where they are now.. like Vincent, asst director of f&b at a hotel... tom, working in a company with a job scope that u thot only exist in movies? sabina liaising property in china from hk.. my job is indeed one which many would crave for.. seeing the world and stuff lidat.. its not that i dont appreciate it... there are many more places on the list which i have yet to visit and i want to visit... but i want more challenges... i actually crave for achievements, i think i found what i wanted to be a few years ago... its time to move on... first step now would be to start on my resume...

London 2 weeks in a row

2009-11-25T20:44:00.002+08:00

its my second london in 2 weeks.. one which i changed for... not that i mind anyway.. i like doing long flights... besides i was hoping that this time round the weather will be kinder for me to go sightseeing, at least to Bath...

Alas... weather got worse... severe rainfall affected throughout the British Isles.. Wales, Scotland, Ireland has all been severely flooded... Even my beloved Lake District hasnt been spared... its reported that it will take months to clear up, I hope it recovers before i get to visit before i quit...

This flight's got a few familiar faces, Chris and Yolene and Bin is on the flt... its really more fun to do a flt with someone u know... even then, there seems to have a lot of hidden agendas... something unspoken but everyone knows something is pricking everyone else.. sighh...

the bad weather restricted movement... all i did was some meals with the girls and the rest of the time were hibernating in the room... luckily there is soccer that weekend which i am able to catch over the hotel channels.. and i caught Man U vs Everton at a pub.. Chelsea fans.. Liverpool fans.. Man U fans all in the same pub.. but no brawls or disagreements or anything...

worked with yasmin on the way back.. she's cute... sweet and funny.. stays near me as well.. glad to make friends with her... but the one i really wanna know better is actually Ning... She's called Lee Kai Wen... not super pretty but got a certain coldness in her... a certain feel which draws me towards her... streaked her hair... a bit icy cold and nonchalent... quite seh... I like... Hope to fly with her again before i quit... so i can get to know her better i guess... din get to work with her... so communications is down to minimum... except that i asked if she was feeling ok during one of the lunch cos she looked pale... she seemed a bit touched maybe by the concern... but at the end of the flight, i couldnt help but ask why she is called Ning... she said its the chinese character.. it meant peace... cool... another point for her class... but wasnt warm enough for me to ask her for number... msn or facebook would be more apt... but no chance to ask either..

i dropped her a mail.. i hope she reply soon.. i really hope...

flying to shanghai in a few hours... with Kwanhua and Joanna to attend Candice wedding... really hope to visit Zhou Zhuang and Xi Hu... but they've been.. sigh... hope its a fun trip... main motive is Candice wedding anyway...

Ning's running though my mind... im hoping that she will reply soon...

Where will u be at the age of 35?

2009-11-18T23:32:00.003+08:00

Daniel asked me this question today.. do u see yourself continuing in this job? dun waste your degree... he told me...

actually before today, i was already pondering over my next step... im going to quit soon... and i am planning tt to be in may or june next year after my backpacking trip to east europe with serene and casey... but recently, ive been facing some issues thats enticing me away from this job.. its a nice job... i love the travelling.. i love being paid to see the world even though i worked for it... even though i had it tough at times.. i love take snapshots of people an scenary which i know i dun have the financial means to see at my own expense at this point in time. in all honesty, its a damn relax job where there is no take home stress... no homework... and u get to explore and see things from all ard the world...

i know i will miss this job.. i will miss the time away from home.. i will miss the time i get to spend on myself overseas... strolling, exploring the places... running through thoughts in my mind strolling in the major streets in different cities in the world. sometimes being away allows me to seek solace from the happenings back in sin... granted that i miss my friends... i drifted apart from them... i missed weddings... i missed gatherings and sometimes overseas trips with them. in exchange for wat i seen in these 2-3 years, i can say its still an eye-opener...

if not for the backpacking trip to east europe.. i would have no qualms about quitting anytime... i think.... except for the fact that i still got a few places that i wanna go.. Rome, vatican city, Pisa, Chinque Terre, Monte Carlo-Monaco, Cairo, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Niagra Falls, Brazil and Argentina(not like we fly there), great wall of china, forbidden city, heavenly temple, hawaii, hokkaido... seems like an endless list... but its still within my means yet...

i see jobs opening up at this point in time... the only way i am staying is that my business is up and running and im flying for fun... but at this point in time, i dun see tt happening, my partners are apprehensive about things, i really wanted something to get going... i might go ahead on my own.. i got a few ideas tt i dun mind trying out...

i got the sudden urge to do up my resume immediately... and i have to start digging for all my certs... maybe tts wat i will do in london if it rains again... tts wat i will do... go for a few interviews first...

at the age of 35? i see myself as the boss of my own business... and how am i going to get there? i have to give myself a kick in the butt first... cos i am getting too comfortable...

thanks Daniel for the wonderful chitchat session today... and for sharing so much...

London after a year and a half

2009-11-14T22:24:00.001+08:00

was filled with excitement going to london after such a long time.. firstly i am going to meet my cousin there.. secondly.. i am thinking about roaming the oxford, piccadilly, trafulgar square, bond street with the hope of popping over to Bath... Alas... the weatherman doesnt like me... it rained for the entire period that i was there... the only thing i manage to accomplish was to stroll around oxford street.. in the rain... met jillian for dinner on the first day, we had this fantastic steak that was really tender and well cooked... 2 servings was given its at Marybleone street or something... just a little off oxford... i think i wud be able to find the place again.. its a french restaurant anyway...

everywhere i go was rain and more rain.. in the end.. i met cecillia and we caught a play with her colleagues... Priscilla: the Queen of the Desert... it was a hyper play... full or energy and interesting.. about drag queens and their life... interesting though i first rejected the notion of watching it.. i was gunning for wicked... since i couldnt go to Bath and i couldn't go to Greenwich either... let alone cambridge to visit janice or yunshan...

i got 1 more london coming up in a few days.. its weekend, jillian can go with me to Bath.. hopefully the weather holds up and its good... i heard its really beautiful there and sigh... i am going to miss the IT fair...i cant get my DSLR... not that i saved up enough money yet.. but i was rooting for it...

it hit another major kerb... freaking guy whom i lend money to.. declared bankrupt.. i still have a outstanding loan of 1.8k with him.. tts not counting that i need to return 2k to mum.. and my capitamall asia IPO is out... i've been hit badly at a wrong time.. everything is going haywire...

definitely not helping is tt wanyu doesnt seemed to be too receptive, her stance has been pretty cold... i really wonder why.. joanna ask me to listen to her story first.. its very important... but at this rate... i dun even have any chance of hearing her... and i got her a little bday present from london... i dun even know if i have the chance to pass to her... a few things that i need to sort out in life...

RAINing NIUNAI....

2009-10-28T11:39:00.004+08:00

I get that a lot...
from Japanese asking me if I am nihon-jin, thinking that I am japanese, speaking to me in japanese, saying that I look like a Japanese... and many a times, customs officer in Seoul spoke to me in Korean, thinking that I am Korean and Taiwanese saying that I am no different from a Taiwanese...

suppose those are compliments, i always thought Japanese and Taiwanese are better looking people than south east asians... I get a lot of people saying that I look like a member of Energy, a taiwanese band, Niu-Nai.. and a few other celebrities too...

but the most recent to date, someone just told me i look like Rain, the Korean superstar.. wow!! thats like way cool.. im secretly happy actually..

i bought my blackberry... still trying to figure it out how it works... but worse of all i gotta retype all the contacts in... tedious chore... lotsa backlogs to clear too... sigh...

Dinner with Jasmine

2009-10-24T23:37:00.002+08:00

Dinner with Jasmine...
its been a while since i saw her... so long that i 4got when and where i worked with her...

wanted to reach earlier to get my errands done and to buy my blackberry bold. but the shop closed at 5 while i reached at 530pm.. and i 4got to bring my IC and my staff pass to singtel, so i cant buy the phone... turned out that i got nothing accomplished... -_-

Jasmine came to find me after her lessons, she is so cute and i feel so comfortable with her. She looked a little distracted at times though cos of her assignments i guess prob cos she just had lessons so she is a little brain dead, not helped by the fact that tmr is full day of lessons for her.

small chats were exchanged and some jokes made.. it was fun to be in her company, i hope its the same for her too... we had dinner at Shokudo japanese pasta. She had to get a birthday present for her classmate's baby, so we went hunting for books... someone mistook us as couple and wanted if we are interested in taking wedding photos... haha.. livid but i think i wont mind a wife like her.. I shall tell you why...

We pop over to orchard after dinner at bugis... spent a good 2 hours in borders looking for the right kind of books for her classmate's 1 year old baby boy. ravaging, flipping, walking round and round Borders. SUper patient, despite the fact that she is tired, she just wanted to find the right book... her concentration and her patience, her sweetness... melted my heart :P

it almost felt like we are married and we are shopping for books for our baby... such sweetness... makes me feel like getting married... if the bride is her... i think i would be more than grateful :) wedding photos maybe?? :)

ward flt to sunny maldives

2009-10-20T15:33:00.000+08:00

fun to fly with pple i know and with people in the same ward i guess...
had fun drinking and catching up...
basking in the sun and snapping photos with camwhores..
simple relaxing flt is what pple deserve for a break sometimes...

Seoul revisited

2009-10-13T15:26:00.001+08:00

roamed the streets in Seoul alone this time... took a walk from the hotel to Myeondong to get some cheap facial mask to protect my face... the weather is not too bad... had a good time strolling down and looking at things which i haven really paid attention to... reminded me of the time when me and thams had our training flights and we will roam the streets together...

on the way back, stopped by the namdaemum market.. it was like a major pasar malam with thousands of things.. mostly female stuff thou.. and i passed by some of the places which we used to explore together... and we met cara and serene to have meals together... how fast has time flied by... that was in september or october in 2007... and now... its october 2009... so many things has happened... time just fly by so fast...

reminiscence...

Johannesburg

2009-10-09T12:25:00.002+08:00

actually, didnt intend to run this trip, but repeated failures to change the trip away left me with no choice but to decide to come here and hibernate.

oddly, its suppose to be summer, but its so cold that actually we were breathing out vapour during summer itself. seems like everyone planned to stay in for this trip, nobody wanted to do any sightseeing. this was actually the first time that i stayed in all the way cos its really been there done that, and its the first time where i actually lazed so much on the bed that my backached... :P

we met up for meals though, funnily, everyone bonded really well over the meals and we had a lot of fun talking nonsense and crapping over each meal... pity this wasnt a longer trip, a better place.. otherwise it would most certainly be even more fun...

went out with shan shan

2009-09-29T13:55:00.001+08:00

reaffirmed the kind of girl i like... its really her kind and iris kind... why people lidat are married already???
sians...

Manchester - Edinburgh

2009-09-27T12:29:00.002+08:00

after more than a year... finally came back to my beloved city of manchester... not helped by the fact that there was a colleague whom i absolutely dislike... nvm.. i was ready for war should anything start...

i got some really nice people to work with, minus him of course... i couldnt care less, as long as he doesnt step on my toes.. i wun be firing any missiles... im more looking forward to what i can do there in manchester... should i go Edinburgh or Lake District.. or I can catch the league cup game against wolves??

i brought the girls to the cottage restaurant which i like a lot on the day we touchdown... Man U vs wolves is that evening... was contemplating if i should go... in the end, the tram system was down.. and i figured that it would be pretty hard to get back, so i skipped the idea and watched in the room instead since there is a live telecast and next day early morning we are setting off to Edinburgh. I would say lucky i din spend the money to watch cos the game didnt cause much stir... and its rather slow pace... Man U won 1-0 thou :)

early morning, next day, we set off to Edinburgh, met a fellow singaporean on the train ride and she has been in manchester for the past 12 years cos she was studying there and decide to get a job there and got married there as well... quite a nice lady but deprived me from my sleep thou.. haha... Scotland is really cold as compared to Manchester, cos its more up north and there is a huge lake right next to Edinburgh so there is a constant supply of cold wind, which is not helping cos i only brought a thin jacket... never mind, we are not about to give up, carmen and catherine included since we already paid so much to come so far... we picked the major spots that we can cover in 1 day and set off first to the famous Edinburgh Castle... my first time visiting an actual castle... cos its pretty beautiful and amazing.. they actually have scottish guards blowing the bag pipe in old scottish kilt and uniform... we manage to take a few photos with him... very nice fella... :)

next up was the walk up to the other end of the city to the Palace of Holyroodhouse... I was all wondering how come there is a palace and castle in the same place... so it later dawned to me that castle was during medieval times while the palace was actually built for the Queen's usage... tt pretty much solved the riddle rite? after the Palace, we took a bus to Lenith, where Britannia was finally decommissioned and parked at... Britannia was the Royal Family's mode of transport and was on many missionary sails around the world and hosted many world leaders in her time... Britannia sailed to Singapore twice before... then, i was too young to know all these... It was an eye opener to see how the royalties lived on board... it wasnt a fantastically big ship like star cruise.. but its comfortable to house the British Royal family comfortably...

after Britannia was dinner at this restaurant pub called newsroom before we did a bit of shopping and headed back to manchester, reaching the room at only past midnite...

next day was OLD TRAFFORD!!! been there before, just wanted to revisit the place again.. it was a toss up between old trafford and lake district... i decide to save lake district for the next trip cos im still tired from all the trekking in Edinburgh...

next visit to Manchester... Lake district is top priority... :) hopefully with my DSLR...

Things I did today...

2009-09-14T20:36:00.004+08:00

woke up.. saw the market drop... watch the finals of US open.. Kim Clijsters beat C.Wozniacki 7-5, 6-3... was secretly rooting for Kim, cos it was a comeback for her after a long layoff and she disposes of the williams sisters along the way. but feel disappointed for Wozniacki cos i watched a few of her matches, and i think she got the potential too..

met candice, joanna and shiling for lunch in raffles place... been a while since i saw them, talked excitedly about candice's upcoming wedding in nov where we will all be flying over to shanghai to attend. and the things that they are planning to do there. but i pretty enjoyed the feeling of being around in Raffles place, i wonder what izzit like to actually work there, among all the high rise offices, join the morning rush crowd, fighting and jostling to climb higher.. i really wonder... we had fun discussing next year's holiday plans as well... to Hokkaido, to Bali... to visit Candice in London and maybe we can go tour east europe... but i already got plans to backpack with casey and serene... hmmm...

went to Dick's Beaumonde to get my measurements for clothes, discovered the first Etude House... grrrrrr.... informed roger and ruihan about it, ruihan's pretty concerned, roger has not much reaction, blaming hard luck i guess... we gotta act faster... got my measurements done but discovered that there are a lot of shop space for rental in shaw house... more than half the shops were gone.. i wonder why... changed money for my flights. chekced out the price of EOS 500D, 1350 for body and lens only... not too ex... i think i can get at cheaper price if i ask Eddie for connections, maybe some freebies thrown in i guess but no money now... 1 or 2 more months... din feel like going home, roamed orchard for a while.. realised tt i haven spent time alone in town for a long time already. cooped myself in Kinokuniya for a while... picked up a book about starting business in Chaos times... finished reading the book, interesting observations and some pointers which i think is very relevant. enjoyed reading and i finished reading a book today, cant remember when is the last time i picked up a book... actually i enjoy reading a lot... its just that i am lazy to pick up one... lotsa inertia... just like jogging... if i could, i like to wallow myself in books once in a while... i like spending time in bookstores... esp Kinokuniya... lotsa interesting titles to browse and look thru, i enjoy Kinokuniya more than Borders...

came home, wanted to go jogging, decided to sms ruihan to jog togehter, we did... around our neighbourhood... good pace... good jog... did quite a few things today... pretty eventful... quite happy... read and jog... healthy lifestyle... but i have a lot of work waiting for me... im changing my life...

380 training tomorrow.. sigh...

Change your life...!!!

2009-09-12T19:19:00.002+08:00

finally got to do something about it after so long... just when i am starting to enjoy my work, getting used to wat i am doing, i am thrown into another huge challenge... shud be able to get on with it after a few scoldings i guess... but tts not the main thing...

the main thing is i have been meeting up with ruihan and roger to try to do something about our life... something to change our life and possibly something we can call our own...

its tough to balance and juggle so many things... mustn't lose heart.. MUSTN'T!!!! cos i want to change my life... I WANT TO!!! I'M NOT SATISFIED WITH MEDIOCRITY!!! its easy to sit back and relax.. i have the option to, definitely... too bad i only live once... so thats not an option for me...

CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!!

The girl i like

2009-09-01T20:49:00.000+08:00

The girl I like

After meeting Iris on this trip, I come to suddenly realized which kind of girl I like. Someone who is like her.. petite, lovable, makes you wanna care for her. Pretty yet bubbly, makes u at ease when u are with her. At times does unexpected things which shock you but after the event makes u smile… I realized that shan shan is of similar characteristics, so is Stephanie… no wonder I like hanging out with them. Cos I had secretly liked them, like their characters without realizing it all these while. Dunno why I suddenly realized, maybe its because Iris lent me her shirt when I am in need. It doesn't mean that I doesn't like other girls, I think different girls attract me in different sense, but girls like them, give me a certain inclination towards them, too bad all 3 of them are married… I hope I find mine too…

San Francisco after 2 years

2009-08-31T20:48:00.000+08:00

Always glad to have someone you know on the same flight as you are. Carolyn and Abby are on my flight, initially there is supposed to be Cecilia too, but she changed the flight away. There wasn't anything much during the first stopover, except for the fact that I met Iris. So happy!! Its been ages since I last saw her and I missed her.. really… she is such a good friend and lovely lady, we can totally click, too bad she is married…

Plans were mad for san francisco, on the first day, we will be doing our shopping, which was duly carried out but not before having lunch at Cheesecake Factory. Its been a while since I ate there, so was quite looking forward to it. I had Iris joining us for lunch as she just came back from shopping and she haven ate. She is such a pleasure to have, such a livewire when we were all so tired after the flight, but she being very nice, the rest of the girls find it easy to hang out with her. So it wasn't that bad at all. We shared a gigantic portion of pasta, steak, and Madeira chicken, each had a giant size smoothie and had a chocolate tuxedo cheesecake to top it up. After lunch, shopping commenced, girls went to Victoria Secrets and got their stuff, while me and Iris waited for them. After that was shopping for cosmetics, couldn't find what Jamie wanted cos it was sold out and serene’s bobbi brown is surprisingly missing from all major departmental stores. Nonetheless, we moved on to Apple as meimei wanted to get something from there but was denied from buying cos she is not signed up with any American service provider. AnF next, there wasn't anything particularly nice this season, I had almost nothing to buy, though I was pretty tempted by their berms and a long sleeve tshirt which was super cosy, but the berms was too ex anyway. Couldn't bear to part the money to pay for it. In the end, settled for American Eagles, they seemed to be having sales as all the items were going for close to half price as compared to AnF. No Holister this time though.

Next morning, we met for breakfast at Sears, on Iris’ recommendations. The breakfast was fantastic, filling and yummy, the service is so much better as compared to Cheesecake factory. Filled and satisfied, we headed towards fisherman’s wharf, determined to go on a cycling trip to Sausalito. We rented bicycles, Abby and Carolyn on single bikes while Mei mei who doesn't know how to cycle had to go on a tandem bike with me. Initially it was hard, trying to find balance and coordination but after a while, it was pretty ok and we set off. Uphills were killers, some of the hills were so steep that we had to get off and push the bicycle up. It was good exercise anyway, except that the butt hurts. Cycling in san franz is a joy because of the seaside location, though the sun is at its best, you hardly feel it because of the windy conditions. Warm and yet cold, if you can picture what I mean. We took plenty of pictures along the way, stopping occasionally for breaks and breathers. The Golden Gate bridge is a view, thus ended up as the backdrop for most of our photos. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge is quite a challenge on a tandem bike with the constant stopping and braking for inconsiderate cyclists and pedestrians. After that, it was onwards to Sausalito, the journey is much smoother from then onwards cos we have left the hills behind us and it was downhill most of the time then on. Sausalito is a very beautiful seaside town, very much like Santorini but more colourful and more modern definitely. There is a certain village feel to it, laidback and relaxed yet not cut off from the world. Boatings are possible, fishing too, plenty of seagulls around. We boarded a ship which carried us back to fisherman’s wharf, passing by Alcatrez along the way. We proceeded to Boudin’s for the must have clam chowder soup before heading back to city for some last min shopping and retiring for the night.

Reaching Seoul, met Samuel on the plane but horror upon horror, my cargo bag did not arrive and it was left behind by the officers in San Franz, fuming and yet there is nothing I can do. I practically got nothing with me except my sleeping clothes and in a good mind, I left my jeans in my cabin bag. No shoes, no toiletries !!! sigh… we still went out for dinner after reaching hotel, Iris came to find me after her shopping. I accompanied her for some light shopping before going back. She lent me her sleeping tshirt just in case I got nothing to wear. So blissed  next day morning, Vijay called and lent me his spare shirt, which I thought is so kind of him to call and check on me.

Myeondong was on the agenda, headed out to pick up some clothes and necessities. But probably due to the jetlag, I couldn't get much sleep the night before so before long I was quite tired and the girls headed back to Lottemart for our grocery shopping after spending a lot on their clothes and accessories. Korean Barbeque was our lunch cum dinner as we were too full to eat anything after the buffet breakfast in the hotel.

Had my first ever mask by Carolyn’s courtesy, its such an enjoyment… now I know why girls buy so many facial masks when they come to Korea, that is now added to my shopping list the next time I come to Korea, on top of the cheap yakult, seaweed and Korean cup noodles. My bag finally arrived at 2am, just when you thought the saga is coming to an end, it was just another beginning as my bag’s lock is damaged, now I gotta send it for repair myself… grrrrrrrr… total waste of time and money.

All in all, it is still a fruitful trip, had fun with the girls, going sightseeing and hanging out together. Catching up with Iris, I am not intending to lose contact with her again. The only thing now is going back and make claims for my mishandled baggage and send my bag for repair. More things to do with the equities and have to meet up with roger and ruihan for our secret plan.

Fukuoka with Matthew

2009-08-22T20:47:00.000+08:00

Very lucky to have been activated for a 4 days Fukuoka flight, secretly pleased about it and I hope that there is more to come. Pleasant surprised to find Matthew on the flight too, so its turning out to be a even better trip than I expected. I was planning what to do in Fukuoka until I saw Matt’s name, then I knew I had someone to go sightseeing with. First day was just pretty much staying around in the city, shopping for grocery and window shopping for me… recently, damages to my pocket has been extensive, I must start saving up again. That night, we bought sashimi from the supermarket and had a wonderful sashimi feast in my room, using my cargo bag as the table. The spread? Scallops, more scallops, salmon, tuna, potato salad and hanagoyomi and of course plum wine and beer. Pure delight. We couldn't miss out on ramen as it is what fukuoka is famous for. So ramen very much became our staple food everyday.

The next morning, we headed out to Dazhaifu, some national historical town which housed a lot of ancient buildings and relics, so much so that it is termed as an ancient city and promoted as that. Armed with a rough map, we made our way to Dazhaifu on train and the weather is a killer, scorching hot sun and we had nothing to shield us. Sightseeing must still go on though, and we made our way ard on foot, trekking long distances just to see the historical relics and its not as if they are nearby each other. They happen to be pretty far apart and so we were all over the ancient city trying to cover as much of the relics as possible. From the famous Dazhaifu temple, to the Municipal Government building, the Kuan Yin temple with the Bonsho bell which has been listed as a national treasure. Interestingly, the Bonsho bell has been fenced up, but the kuan yin temple is pretty runned down. I am wondering more like if its fenced up cos it's a national treasure or because it's a bell of curse, which I think its used to curse someone if its rang… tts what I perceived from the Chinese name.

Something which I noticed in Dazhaifu is that people staying in the ancient city, all have very big backyards, which they used to plant their own vegetables and their own padi. Self sufficient or for sales in the market, but it was a sight be behold, just like back to kampong days in Singapore. After Dazhaifu, Matthew wanted to go back for some shopping and that was the plan imposed and we headed back to Fukuoka… dinner was at this famous ramen joint which always had a very long queue when I was there previously. Finally I get to taste it.

I just love being in this city. Love the food, love the magnificent hotel room. I wonder when I have the chance to be back again.. hope its soon thou =)

Zurich – Interlaken Grindelwald

2009-08-15T20:46:00.000+08:00

This post is so overdue because of the fact that I have yet to finish posting photos for my japan holiday and finish blogging about it. All in all, this is a pretty relaxed trip… I was contemplating between hibernating and resting in the room or going for the Interlaken and Grindelwald trip. In the end, the choice was obvious, I couldn't resist the charms of Switzerland, together with Yvonne, we decided to take up the tour… visibly irritated by the fact that Wendy was taking up so much time to decide to join us ornot and holding everyone up from their rest. Grrrr

Next morning had to wake up early to make sure that we get to the bus bay in town, so that we dun miss the bus to Interlaken. We arrived early enough to grab a bite before heading over to the bus down to Interlaken… excited!!! Finally going to a place which I have been wanting to go.. the weather is all good.. nice and sunny… a pity that I din bring thick winter clothings, otherwise this is the perfect weather to go up to Jungfrau, which is within the vicinity of Interlaken… nonetheless, the lakes at Interlaken really took my breath away, serene and peaceful, colourful houses planted in between the greens of the warm summer are not a everyday sight unless you live in Switzerland. Especially not when you have nice lakes in your backyard.. greenery and your own little boat to go out fishing in the lake… something I think I would enjoy…

From Interlaken, we can catch a glimpse Jungfrau’s peak.. was wishing so hard that we were going up there instead… pity pity… Interlaken town is just a small town which is beautiful, there is a restaurant which is on a mountain top which offers a panoramic view of the 3 interlinking lakes.. we didn't have time for that, but we managed to explore the town quite a bit and watch with envy as people did tandem skydiving.. something which I enjoyed a lot.

Next, we were picked up by our bus to head over to Grindelwald, Grindelwald is another sight, on the other side of Jungfrau, it was surrounded by mountain ranges. Different view, different feel, magnificent all the same. We bought a ticket up to one of the mountains by cable car and spent some time on the mountain, admiring the view and taking photos of course. Along the way, we were greeted by bells ringing, curious, we popped our head out of the cable cars and to our surprise, it was the cows making the noises as bells were attached to their necks. They will spread out all over the mountains, grazing along the slopes…

After more photo taking, it was time to head back. A good trip well worth the time.. not too sure about the money though, I think we could have done it at a cheaper rate… Beautiful Switzerland nonetheless.

the much-awaited JAPAN HOLIDAYS!!!!!

2009-08-02T18:11:00.018+08:00

this leave couldnt have come at a more appropriate time, i was feeling totally drained from work... disillusioned and totally sick of everything, i needed to get away and be away for a while... and so it came, not before i went for Yeeming and Sarah's wedding the night before before boarding the plane bound for Osaka, Kansai. Surprise upon surprise, i saw Xiangbin and Jingyi at the airport... they were going on a holiday too, to tokyo and Hokkaido. such coincidences considering that we were all at the wedding dinner last nite but we didnt tell each other of the holiday plans. it was arranged that we would meet up in Tokyo when i eventually finish touring my destinations and when they come back from Hokkaido...

FLight into Osaka was pretty surreal, doesnt feel anything like we are going on a holiday, me, thams and cara. Perhaps the mood hasnt really settled in yet. reaching Osaka in the wee hours of the morning, we got out of the airport and went in search of the limousine bus that can take us to our hotel, in less than an hour, we were promptly dropped at the hotel entrance, cos we were too early, we went off in search of food. We were lucky to find a ramen shop which provided us our first meal of our Japan holiday.. Yummylicious.. adjustments had to be made for our plan as we were all tired and we couldnt get a Ryokan to stay in. Originally, we wanted to stay in Ryokan in Nara and visit Kyoto from there the next day. but that was disrupted cos the Ryokans were really out of the way and we decided to shelf the plan and went to Nara for our first stop. It wasnt too difficult to get about in Nara with all the signboards leading us to the major attractions, temples and shrines and of course the nature park where the deers roam freely... Fascinated, we began snapping photos nonstop but soon we were not so excited by the deers anymore cos they were really everywhere... initially fascinated by all the Shrines and Pagodas, how grand they were, Cara soon lose interest as we went trekking for this particular Grand Shrine that was supposed to be in the woods. Stone paths didnt make walking any easier, there were talks of giving up but the fact that we had already come so far strived us on... Grand Shrine was pretty disappointing thou, it wasn't anything super MAGNIFICENT... it was just a collection of small shrines all together in the woods... so yah.. that pretty much ends our Nara trip.. Kyoto the next day..

The journey to Kyoto was arduously long.. we stood for 2 hours in the train just to get there... but it didnt dampen our spirits one bit even thou it was raining.. having travelled so far, we werent prepared to waste another 2 hours to go back to osaka and spoil our itinerary. As there were too many things to see in Kyoto, we had no choice but to be selective about it, choosing what we think will interest us... armed with info from the tourist information, we proceeded to Kinkakuchi, the golden temple... it was really beautiful and serene, definitely worth the money that we paid for to enter, pity we didnt have time to visit Ginkakuchi, the silver temple which is on the opposite end of Kyoto. should be pretty impressive as well. As we picked up some brochures along the way, Cara wanted to go to this Toei Movieland, where u can view and act as famous japanese movie characters from samurais to power rangers... after much bus transfers, we finally got to the place but only to find it not so impressive.. in the end we only to the entrance and didnt even enter.. pretty much a waste of time. we managed to find a local sushi joint and satisfy our cravings for some good sushi and it was really worth it. According to info, there is this temple which is on a hilltop that has a very nice view of Kyoto and off we went towards that temple..interesting local produce greeted us along the way up... but it was all worth the walk because the air is really fresh and there were quite a lot of interesting things to see at the temple and scenery is beautiful... spent some time there, took some real funny photos before we headed towards the central of kyoto, passing by some more shrines along the way but passing up on the chance to enter... Cara has had enough of the shrines, though there is another one which i wanted to go quite badly.. its the Inari Temple, the supposed head of all the Inari temple in Japan.. but time not permitting as well... ended up doing a little bit of shopping in Kyoto.. not me. but thams.. before taking the train back to Osaka...

By now, Cara was totally sick of temples and shrines... she threatened to boycott us if we decide to go to another shrine or temple.. haha.... which was real funny.. thus the original plan of going to wakayama was scrapped and we stayed in Osaka, visited the Osaka Aquarium which turned out to be very nice, good recommendation by Ivan :) amazed by how big the aquarium is.. there are whale sharks and quite a few of the amazing ocean creatures in them... like turtles, sharks, and even manta rays!!! they managed to do up the place nicely and even had different animals and specialty species of the fishes from different parts of the world in there. was definitely not what we expected as we were all pretty skeptical about going to an aquarium. From there, we took a boat over to Universal Studios which is on the opposite side of the port. Its officially my first Disney themed park.. so its pretty much an eye opener for me... the rides are disappointing thou.. nothing too exciting.. but the park was nicely done up with different themes like, spiderman, peter pan, jurassic park, waterworld, Jaws, just to name a few... there is a lot of american feel in it.. sometimes its easy to forget that we are in japan since we are already so used to the language as if we were japanese ourselves. we stayed for the magical lightup at night, it was really nice to see the lightup parade... and all good dreams come to an end, as curtains fall and we headed back to namba area for dinner. We went into a local sushi shop where they dont speak english at all.. so with our limited japanese, we began ordering food. The old japanese men in the shop were obviously tickled by our presence, they kept talking loudly and laughin loudly.. obviously talking about us, cos i could still make out a few words. I think one of them couldnt resist it anymore, decided to talk to us, which i promptly replied with my broken japanese. after a while, they were talking nicely to us and tried to be friendly and even took photo with us. i think they are interested in cara anyway... hahaha...

Cara's last day with us... She wanted to see the Osaka castle and of course thats where we headed... but the weather is hot, with me ard, the mode of transport is always by foot... funny thou, it didnt seem that far when i walked there the other time. maybe its the weather, freaking HOT!!! everyone was sweating by the time we reached there, the castle looked impressive as it is but any enthusiasm is doused by the scorching sun... with Kobe on the agenda as well, and shopping too as its cara's last day, headed to Kobe soon after... we didnt know wat to expect in Kobe except that it was an old seaport and the buildings there were very different.. and so it was said. reaching there, it seemed like there are quite a few places to visit but rather spaced out apart.. i guess fatigue was catching up with us, we were all pretty disinterested and only wanted to go to wherever is nearest to us and more importantly, we wanted to taste the kobe beef. we were not disappointed, it really heavenly soft and tender and juicy... freaking ex as well.. 50 sin for 2 small slices not more than 60gram... its a delicacy..

Next morning, Cara is leaving for the airport, we were too bloody shack to even wake up and send her off. Later in the morning, we woke up.. packed up and set off for Hiroshima... and our first ever Shinkansen, Bullet train ride... woooh excited!!! train ride took a good 2 hours, we packed some japanese food and eat on the train and fell asleep all the way till Hiroshima... the most disastrous thing that could happen to us on a holiday so far is about to happen in Hiroshima... cos it just so happened that its the Baseball All-stars game that weekend, and its being played in the Hiroshima Mazda Zoom zoom stadium... all or rather most of the hotels in the city centre are all fully booked. As we didnt make any reservations earlier, we were left facing a very real problem of sleeping along the streets. Rather desperately, we sought help from the tourist information counter, after much calling to all the different hotels, they finally found us a room at a Ryokan.. Elated i would say, cos finally we are going to stay in a Ryokan, and we found a roof over our head. To our dismay actually, Ryokan in a city is of course minus all the onsen and nice settings, due to the space constraints. we wheeled our cargo bag across a few blocks of streets only to find our Ryokan a little run down... pretty disappointing i guess but we dont have a choice. a roof is better than no roof. laying aside our disappointment, and bags of course, we set off for the first destination immediately... the Japanese Shukkien(Garden), the weather wasnt too kind on us as it started raining once we were inside the Shukkien. It didnt deter us from completely exploring the garden though, braving the rain, we quite enjoy our walk in the garden. as the rain was getting heavier, we decided to seek refuge at one of the malls there wasnt too far away, and with that, we explored the shopping area of Hiroshima as well. I was suppose to meet Yuki in Hiroshima, but because of tham's presence she refused to come out cos she is too shy to meet strangers. Somehow the all-star game was disrupting our plans, so that night we formulated a plan to see if we can make any changes to our itinerary. Unluckily, we couldnt get tickets to the all-star game. but Luckily, because we covered 2 of the major spots today, we
decided that we cut short our stay in Hiroshima and go over to Tokyo earlier, so that we can have an extra day to pop over to Yokohama. For that, we gotta thicken our skin and ask for a day's refund from the owner of the family Ryokan, which includes possibly losing $100 and forgoing Okayama.

Luckily, the owners were very nice, they refunded us when they heard of our plans, so the next day, we went ahead to visit the Atomic bomb site and monuments. It was pretty heartbreaking to see and read the narration of the stories of the innocents who suffered during the war... both side got their stories to tell... but war... harms the innocent, the peasants and civillians are innocent victims.... moving on to the next destination. Hiroshima castle was on the list, the castle is surrounded by the deep moat around it, to repel invaders i would believe. This castle was pretty different from the one in Osaka which has been refurbished and rebuilt many times cos of fire, but the Hiroshima castle still maintains its ancient feel to it, well preserved i would say. There we met 2 japanese girls who helped us take photo, upon chatting, we found that they are tourists too from Tokyo actually. 4 of us were actually going to the same destination next Miyajima, maybe we will meet them there later, after lunch that is. Thankfully, our boat ride to Miyajima was covered by our JR train ticket. Miyajima is one of the top 3 scenic places in Japan because of the location of the Shrine which will be partially submerged in water when its high tide and the beautiful scenery and sun rise and sun set on the mountain range.

We met the 2 Miss Tokyo in Miyajima again, really quite coincidence cos there were so many people there and still we manage to see each other. The journey back is pretty long, so we din have time to go to the mountain top at Miyajima, hastily, we made our way to one of the biggest temple on the island and found some really cute stone carvings of different Buddhas. There we also met 2 very cute japanese girls from Nagoya, very friendly indeed. Yuki smsed me and told me that there is a very grand display of fireworks at the Hiroshima Port that night, and asked if we were going. In the end, we decided against it cos we were taking the first train out to Tokyo the next morning, so its early sleep for us tt night.

Reaching Tokyo, its was already way into afternoon, good choice that we came over earlier as well, gave us plenty of time to maneuver.. since it was already quite late, we just decided to hang ard in Shinjuku and pop over to Harajuku since its sunday... disappointment is that we din spot tt many at all.. but first day in Tokyo did us both pretty big damages.. cant imagine the days to come actually.

YOkohama was on the list the next day, we woke up early and set off pretty early... it didnt take us long to reach Yokohama, many thanks to Shinkansen and we fully made use of our JR pass to the max whenever possible. The Chinatown in Yokohama is supposed to be one of the draws of the city, of course we didnt miss that out and its our first stop in Yokohama and for brunch as well. They got some pretty impressive buildings there but overall, its still pretty small so we moved on to the Yokohama Marine towers, went up to take a good view of the Yokohama port, one of the busiest and bigger ports in Japan. It was a good panoramic view of the city, visited one of the decommissioned ships lying in the dock and had a koHI in one of the cafe by the seaside. Japanese mothers like to take their babies and kids out to seasides and bask in the sun... cos there are really a lot of mothers who wheel the pram out with their kids during our time in Japan, Yokohama is no exception. Coincidentally, Yokohama is celebrating its 150th anniversary and launching its mascot Tanemaru in a fair there... and there are quite a few rides and a giant mechanical spider gimmick. pretty interesting and it drew a lot of crowd. We also visited the red bricks buildings as recommended by the concierge, according to them, its historical buildings, one of the few buildings left tts built of entirely red bricks... very famous. saw some of the landmarks of Yokohama before a sudden heavy downpour drove us to run for cover and go back to Tokyo, afterall we had pretty much covered what we wanted to cover in Yokohama. Later at night, we watched the news den realised that the sudden downpour was due to typhoon. Typhoon hit Japan in Gunma area, just north of Tokyo, a place which i was thinking of visiting if we have extra time... it caused massive damage and cars were flung around.. luckily we din go there and Yokohama wasnt badly hit... Similarly, due to the Typhoon and torrential rain.. HIroshima experienced severe landslide.. i would say, we are very lucky.

bad weather the next day forced us to postpone our visit to Hakone and Mt Fuji, so its was left to the 2nd last day before we leave for home. The next day was left to visiting the Tokyo Tower, Ginza area, Shibuya and Harajuku.. more shopping damages... and we visited Ueno Park as well, too bad it wasnt Sakura season, otherwise it would be so lovely... walking through rows and rows of Sakura trees.. admiring the cherry blossom. Bought lotsa snacks from Ueno, cos its like way cheaper there...

Last clear day in Japan, no matter what, we are going to Hakone, we utilised our JR pass again to take a train to Odawara before taking a bus to Hakone itself. The bus journey was pretty long... a good 40 mins... but we keep ourselves awake cos we dun wanna miss the stop. Weather dont look too kind on us by the time we reach there, it was super cloudy that the clouds were actually touching the surface of the Lake. Any chance of seeing Mt Fuji was dashed by the sight of that... how can this thick layer of clouds clear up, it was as good as mission impossible.. sigh... we still proceeded of course, we tracked thru a ancient cedar tree forest, the air was really refreshing, been a while since i went for any nature walks... went thru a preservation village before reaching a port where we can take pirate ships across to the other side of Lake Ashi. Being on the pirate boat is pretty fun, with the clouds tt low, we got really drenched when we pass thru it and the wind was quite strong as well... by the end of the journey, my hair was all standing, the boat lady called me Goku, super saiyans from Dragonball... and she was obviously enjoying herself and having a good laugh about it.

On the other side of Lake Ashi, we took a cable car up to Togendai, supposed to be a live volcano but its been dormant for a while, still emitting smokes and it has become a site for mining of sulphur... the gimmick about this place is that they cook eggs in the volcanic water which was suppose to be super nutritious.. eat 1 egg can increase your lifespan by 7 years... i had 3 and thams had 2... so we increased our life by 21 years and 14 years respectively.. haha... since we are here, we took a walk along the side of the volcano, funnily, all the water that flows from the stream are rather milky... and due to health constraints, its not advisible for anyone to stay long on the side due to the fumes, esp so for elderly, young and the pregnant ladies.

that pretty much marked the end of our tour in Japan as we made our way down from Togendai back to Odawara to head back to Tokyo... so sad to leave... and the worst thing to end such a wonderful holiday is that u meet some damn nasty, rude and unreasonable pple on your way back to Tokyo... because of this incident, i developed a severe dislike for Hongkies, they are totally rude, inconsiderate and arrogant... on the train, me and thams were so tired that we practically doze off on our seat, we took 1 row each individually. this hongkie family got on and the granny sat beside me and the fat mother sat beside thams. throughout the whole journey, they were talking loudly, shouting across the cabin as if they own the whole train. disgusting... a man in his 40s was jumping on and off the train into different cabins at every stop.. causing a huge nuisance and the fat woman was worse when according to thams, keep standing up and sitting down... shouting to her sons to come over to look at this and that... he was basically bouncing up and down whether she stood up and sat down. the worst thing is i dozed off and she came over and slapped my hands a few times and said loudly "EXCUSE ME, YOU ARE TOUCHING MY MOTHER!!!" i was in a dazed cos of tiredness, she demanded exchange seat with her. after that when i was more sober, i got really pissed cos i couldnt sleep anymore and very pissed by the fact that she was so rude to slap my hand and reprimand me... c'mon who wanna touch your mother, she is old enough to be my granny, u think i am interested? idiotic woman... spoilt my holiday... thams was having a good laugh about it, i was so angry that i am determined to give her a piece of my mind when we get off the train, but she was fast to disappear... freaking rude...!!! angry!!!

oh well, to think i used to like HK tt much last time, now not so anymore... on the flight back, saw chris and Kaai on the flight, such a pleasant surprise... it was a really good holiday... really enjoyed myself thou it was tiring... i wanna go back again soon.. Okinawa and Hokkaido next... cant wait!!!

we also saw many pretty girls... one of them got a super figure and super demure and sweet looking, like those u would like to bring home to show your mum... and there is one who look like Kelly Chen, sweeter version, wears specs and in suit.. just to recall a few...wow.. i love japanese girls.. hahaha..

Tokyo & LA again… not that I mind

2009-07-03T18:04:00.000+08:00

From the start, this seems to be a good trip, got a good boss, got my friend Chris on the flight, then I realize that Marcus is on the flight too. Then, there are Chen and Florence, who are super nice from my previous encounters with them, and my SEP “gf” of course, Joanna. People gradually opened up, and they were all very friendly and helpful. Funny of course, they are a great company, I haven had such a fun flight in a while… all the craziness, nonstop nonsense, being so game to try and go for everything and nonstop teasing and kajiaoing each other. I had a lot of fun, we had a lot of fun.

In LA, we went out to Santa Monica together, used to hear so much about the beach, but when we reach there, it was a little disappointing, it wasn't as fantastic as I thought it would be, but there was a different feel to it. There’s something melancholic about the beach. Its one of the widest beach I ever seen, there is probably a few hundred metres of the beach before u actually reach the sea… despite the chilly weather, people still hang out at the beach, family activities, volleyballing, suntanning etc. few of us took out our shoes to walk in the water… was super cold but the sand there was a bit different… some kind of surreal feeling, solid yet soft, sank a little when we walked on it, so fine that you cant tell its sand and it amazingly gave a very good reflection like a mirror for a beach. We came across a cemetery on the beach itself, which was pretty startling as it wasn't something you come across everyday. Maybe tts what gave it its melancholic feel. It was something which was to commemorate the war dead and injured. Pictures and namelists were put up indicating what the soldiers had contributed, their nature of death and injury whilst on war duties in Afghanistan and Iraq. Americans are fiercely patriotic people, I guess.

Lunch was carried out at Bubba Gump, they have very good seafood, especially shrimps which Chris said that was something which we absolutely must have in our cafe next time. Next was shopping at the Third Street Promenade, AnF was pretty disappointing this time round as there was absolutely nothing to buy and nothing worth taking a second look.

On the way back to Tokyo, Chen was teasing me and Joanna all the way, and keep trying to matchmake us and say we should be together. Although, she is attached now, I gotta admit that I had a very small crush on her when we did sep together last year. Today, was a major Japanese lunch buffet with the whole gang. The itinerary planned was shopping at Ueno, Harajuku then back to Shinjuku… more nonsense to follow I guess.. not that I mind 

Harajuku, the girls went crazy, totally amazed by the fashion on display, though disappointed that there weren’t much Harajuku girls that were about. It's the weekdays afterall. But we were so full from the buffet lunch that we couldn't even think about eating the famed crepes… and from Harajuku, we trooped down to Shibuya and camped at the Starbucks to look in amazement the people crossing the famous traffic junction. Secretly snapping pictures along the way, and in the end we went berserk too joining the crowd in the street and running ard and snapping photos before the man turns red. That pretty much ended our little adventure as we went to Ueno to get the tidbits before heading back… such fun I haven’t had for a while…

Melbourne June with Aili

2009-06-24T17:32:00.001+08:00

Was asked to fly to Melbourne last min, not that I mind since I don't go to Melbourne often and I got a few friends there… this time I was planning to go to the 12 Apostles, its gonna be pretty taxing after work and it's a few hours drive away along the Great Ocean Road or something… but it didn't materialized anyway cos I was too tired. Decided to meet up with Aili, its been a while since I saw her and the first time I meet her outside school. She is finishing exchange program there and having her exams before heading to NZ for a holiday…

I didn't used to realize that she was such good company, and I felt a sense of ease and comfort when I was around her. We were able to talk about a lot of things though we haven’t met in a while and it's the first time that we actually went out for a meal together. So we just trooped around town area a bit, despite the flu scare before heading to Big MaMa, this Korean Japanese food joint recommended by her. The food there wasn't too bad, cos she had a paper 2 days later, so we didn't hang out too long, popped over to Chinatown to get some egg tarts before walking her back to the train station. Its always good to meet your friends overseas, this trip felt fruitful in the end… and i found new places to explore the next time... Yarra River and Docklands :)

Soccer weekend

2009-06-21T14:28:00.002+08:00

first time i actually played so much soccer in a week eversince i graduated... played with adrian and co at futsal east coast on wed.. den patrick came back on friday.. we had street soccer on sat morning, at night, i had supper with roger and sunday eusoffianos... woots!! shiok to the max...

its been a while since i had so much time to spend with my friends... it was fun catching up after soccer at KFC... updating each other and sharing nonsense... these are the fun that i always miss out in my line of work... i miss times like these...

gonna be catching pat, barney, thams and maybe roger for dinner on wed before pat flies back to shanghai...

Fukuoka Yahoo!!!

2009-06-18T14:04:00.000+08:00

got called up for this flight... so happy cos it disrupted another flight of mine and i would gladly take Japan flight anytime... actually wanted to go to Dazaifu but got a little lazy...

spent the first day having dinner with my colleagues, but before that i met Naomi to eat some traditional Japanese "Skep" men... its kinda ramen style but its cold dish and the noodles is more like udon.. and u dip the noodles in a separate bowl of soup condiments to eat... pretty different, tasty all the same... :) after that was eating at a famous ramen shop where they had an interesting panel outside the shop indicating whichever stand alone seat is free... a little shopping after that and i got the raisin biscuits and the yellow bean paste snacks from Hakata Station... nice!!

next day, i decided to explore the city on my own since the rest are only interested in shopping... passed by the Tenjin underground shopping centre on the way to the train station to take a train to Nishijin. reached there, its a place famous for having pushcarts market... where all the fresh produce are wheeled out daily from meat, to fruits and vegetables. armed with a map, i made my way to the Fukuoka tower, one of the main feature of the city and the Momochi seaside.... very windy and nice weather... i was enjoying spending time with myself and enjoying the sights of the city... den i embarked on the crazy idea of walking back to the hotel from the outskirts of the city... had my route planned...

next up was the Yahoo! Dome... baseball stadium.. home of the Softbank Seahawks... too bad there wasnt a game being played, otherwise i could have caught it... visited the Hardrock cafe and camped at the starbucks for a while to enjoy a matcha frappucino after walking so much in the hot afternoon sun...

next up was visiting the City garden, Ohori Park... its a lake with 2 tiny isles in the middle... nice and serene.. quite a lot of pple pinicking, jogging there... leisure monday afternoon... kois, mandrain ducks and turtles are easily spotted in the lakes... after Ohori park, i went to check out the Fukuoka castle ruins... most of the time i am alone in this entirely huge castle ruins... only occasionally, 1 or 2 pple appear... eerie enough, sometimes i do wonder if they are humans too...
cobwebs were often seen on trees indicating how deserted this place is... but there are plenty of sakura trees and plum trees there... i suppose it will get pretty crowded when its the right season.

chanced upon a school, was fortunate to catch the children training for their respective eca.. tennis, soccer, baseball... den i passed by the Gokoku Shrine, one of the bigger Shrines in the middle of the city... and proceeded back to Tenjin, passing by a street where there is lotsa shops by the 2 sides of the road, somewhat similar to orchard road but on a smaller scale.. not as posh but its interesting enough, to spot and notice the things that they sell in there... entered the Keigo Shrine on the way back... but it was pretty much closed as its evening... den i decided to have dinner before going back to hotel... had Unagi don and premium Asahi beer... nothing beats an ice cold beer after walking in the sun for the whole day... refreshing and satisfying...

more places for me to explore next time round i come to fukuoka.. :)

that hurts a little...

2009-06-11T08:48:00.003+08:00

spent a little time with someone recently...
thought she is interesting to hang out with and see how things develop... but maybe its just me acting up again... maybe i got a little soft spot for her.. she being carefree, friendly and all.. i guess its just her nature...

we went cycling at east coast, and supper... last nite was dinner... shopping at Ikea.. not too much time, just about right for small beginnings... dunno if i am reading the right signals... but i guess i have to remind myself that she is the kind of person who is friendly with everyone and everyone wants to get friendly with... so whatever she does has nothing too much to do with her being interested in me, just a normal gesture to her, its just that maybe i am seeing her on the other light, thats why i might be reading things a little differently...

stumbled on her blog, she mentioned a negative on having someone special in her life and she is enjoying singlehood now... ouch tt hurts a little... uhuh... but i have been denying her and putting her down when she makes suggestive remarks that i am interested in her... the right course of way perhaps, cos i am still getting to know her. Maybe its right, i am interested to know her better, spend more time with her, thats about it so far. i havent found enough in me to say that i really like her yet. I guess she might be in the same situation, just exploring and just enjoying, maybe just that little bit of interest but nothing concrete... i shouldnt be reading too much into it. but she does look for me when she needs help or when she is facing problems... hmmm... maybe its a good sign.. at least she thinks of me when she needs someone, a positive way of thinking on my part maybe..

i am sure she has no lack of suitors anyway... we'll see how things go... we'll see... we'll see...

she's got a soft spot for red... and doesnt eat beef cos she's a Buddhist..

How Bizarre????!!!!

2009-06-06T01:09:00.002+08:00

yeah... haven been blogging much... dun feel the need to blog too... din feel like blogging either.. even thou i just been to amsterdam and tokyo and los angeles recently... until tonite... something most bizarre i heard from my friend, made me wanna pen it down somewhere... cos stories like that dont happen everyday, you know it and i know it...

just a brief update... amsterdam trip, i went to Keukenhoff to try to catch the last of the tulips for the season... its a pity that i can no longer catch them in the fields cos they have all be harvested, but seeing them in the gardens is still not too bad thou, i would still like to be wowed by the vastness of the sight of fields of rows and rows of tulips... i dunno if i will be staying long enough for me to catch that next year...

this tokyo, LA trip is pretty much mundane and nothing too exciting.. been to a few new places yes... but they are nothing that wud take my breath away yet... LA, i followed a colleague to meet a friend who showed us ard newport beach area, visited the big bosses houses and the rich man area.. i think he must be pretty loaded himself, cos the houses that he showed us either belong to rich bankers or owners of roxy or some sort lidat.. either that or they overlook the newport harbour or the owners own boats... freaks!!! when can i reach tt stage... then there was some business deal about negotiating importing of some cabin bags for sale... pretty viable i guess but lots more ground work to be done... yet to decide if i will embark on it... but in tokyo, its pretty saddening cos i was planning to go to Mt Fuji, Hakone but it rained the whole time... the only sightseeing was to the Tsukiji fish market where we saw fishermen haul in their catch and sell them at the wholesale centre berfore they end up as sashimi in our stomach... saw all sorts of funny fishes... and giant tunas... and yes i mean tuna the size of humans or even bigger... tt pretty much sums up the whole month of not blogging until tonite....

maybe i can use our conversation here to make it simpler for myself...

Jingpei - too busy to even reply these days?
jt - :) haha
jt - yea man. im in nrt now
Jingpei - hows the big business coming along??
jt - meeting my fren tmr in LAX to firm things up,most prob not getting house, cos got other plans. i need the money for business
Jingpei - i was going to ask u how much is the bank gonna loan u...
jt - and my good fren may be getting the house so if he gets.. i might move in with him so far without submitting tax, XXXk
Jingpei - tts quite a lot actually
jt - yah but can have more after submit tax............i stay with him lor,we planning to get married
Jingpei - !!!!!???? stunned !!! u are kidding?? i dun get it..
jt - lol ,haha dunno how to explain but something along that line la. nobody gets it anyway..
Jingpei - so u are faking a marriage to get the house?
jt - no la, the house he is getting on his own, so dun need to get married la. just that its an amazing kind of fate that we met. honestly we did talk bout marraige i even went out with his mum and all alr. its a very twisted kind of fate
Jingpei - u just met the guy? or a long time fren? tts pretty shocking news to me
jt - long time fren, my jc fren
Jingpei - oh still shocking thou haha
jt - its very twisted fate la
Jingpei - yea its all twisted to me.first i met u on board... going hols with xxx...
next is me doing ams with u den u broke up with xxx not long ago... now u are getting married
jt - if he din come back to singapore, i wldnt have reconcile with him and..if i didnt break up with xxx , ill prob wldnt meet him
Jingpei - so.. hmmm he is your ex bf?
jt - LOL he is my buddy's good fren. he is like the male replica of me. we share the same interests we envision the same future.and we have the same ideals and passion
Jingpei - sounds bizzare to me
jt - its hard for pple to understand
Jingpei - its not tt pple dun understand its just too bizzare and sudden to accept. if u are telling me tt u just got attached, maybe tts something more acceptable. but u are telling me tt u are getting married...??? im like.. hello... am i in mars?
jt - cos pple wont understand unless they are in the same situation
jt - am attached la. married of cos not now la!!!!
Jingpei - u did make it sound like its gonna happen in a few weeks or a few months time wat. cant blame me there. so tt pretty much explains your recent disappearance
jt - no laaaa its just that really, if i didnt break up with xxx. i wldnt have met him again . and just nice he just came back to spore then cos i didnt intend to meet him at all, until i was single again, and he came back to sg for 2 weeks and i wldnt have met him or wld have missed the chance if things didnt fall into place nicely...cos he has been away for 5 yrs he came back for 2 weeks to settle some stuff and during that 2 weeks i broke up with xxx and my buddy kept asking me out but i refused until onw fine day he came to my house with him and he didnt even know my buddy wanted him to meet me and i was kinda forced to meet them cos they came all the way and my bdudy wanted to meet me to cheer me up after the break up so if i didnt break up i wldnt meet my buddy cos he wldnt contact me for noting and i wldnt have met him again
Jingpei - u cant put it tt way wat!! its just a nicer way of seeing things... if u wanna put it tt way... u shud have said... 25 years ago.. if your dad din meet your mum... there wudnt be u... tt wud sound ridiculous although its perfectly logical
Jingpei - hmmm.... i dun wanna sound like a skeptic or trying to empty a tub of water over your nice painting lah, to me its just tt its coincidental....
jt - i told him that things may be coincidental so be it. but we clicked so well bcos we share many similr interests we both do flips
Jingpei - tt is something u found out after u met him wat
jt - yah!! i mean i love mrtial arts and i love to do flips i wld never expect to know a guy who does that too. out of 10 guys how many are gymnasts plus other stuff like diving, golf, photography, our interests overlap which make us click so easily
Jingpei - im happy tt u found someone similar of course tts good for u lah. i guess wat makes it difficult for pple to understand is the way that u choose to put it across
jt - he knows i know can alr =) and honestly i never thought of getting married so soon and i told my best fren. he actually made me wanna get married and its really because of him. i met his mum recently and the mum told me that he called her and told her that he loves me alot. and she smsed me and told me that she loves me like a daughter and thankful that i made him happy .im ver y glad la that his mum loves me so much
Jingpei - lemme tell u how your love story sounds like... u are making it sound like its prophecized... and its just waiting to happen... tts wat makes it difficult for pple to understand i guess... naturally pple will be happy for u... be it tt things are happening purely based on coincidence... tt things just so happened this way... but the thing is u are making it sound like its following a script somewhere in some story book... not tt it bothers me lah... its just pretty unbelievable... becos of the way u put it across.. not because pple dun understand u.. im glad u found your fairy tale anyway
jt - cos i know its difficult for pple to understand anyway . im just glad cos i finally know what i want
Jingpei - but i am telling you now tt they way you are explaining to pple.. is exactly like wat i told u above
jt - u know wad?? i never explain to anyone before. i neevr even told anyone im attached!
Jingpei - are u going to tell me tt i am going to be the best man? hahaha, i need a super big red packet
jt - nahhhhh.... just that im really happy now and thats all it matters. he also HCJC ... wahahahahaha
Jingpei - tts ok... i know my place... i am just someone whom u scream HCJC at if i pissed you off... haha... but now i am going to lose tt privilege too. just kidding hhhahahaha

well... love story do exist huh... sometimes it just happened so bizarrely that its really hard to believe... its almost like watching a bedtime story unfold before your eyes. for an outsider like me who knows her from what she has to this stage of getting married in like a few months... you can put it across as a nasty shock... well... not exactly nasty.. more like pleasant actually but pretty much nasty cos it came all out of the blue...

fairy tales do exist huh... i wonder where is mine... ive been waiting for 27 and a half years....

Taken

2009-05-10T02:58:00.002+08:00

was at home for the past few days... thinking a lot... well.. not exactly thinking a lot... but just staring into blanks and wandering... letting your mind wander is sometimes a form of freedom...

couldnt take it anymore... needed to get out of the house... smsed huazai and joanna to see if they wanna go out... huazai was busy... had to meet his friends... joanna obliged, albeit only after dinner... i din mind... as long as i get a breather... she suggested ice rock ice creamery at holland v... where we can have ice cream and catch up. she was filling me in with the ongoings in shanghai, the very trip that i missed out last min... hearing it already makes it sound damn fun... i would love to be there, amidst all my troubles...

watched Taken with her... heard good reviews of the show, but didnt expect it to be this good... i could connect with the movie... briefly, its about a divorced family, dad was neglecting the family cos of higher calling from the country. he was working as a preventer. his daugther lied to him regarding her overseas trip to gain his consent as she was underaged, only 17.

Given his job nature, he has every sense to be paranoid and extremely careful about things. He was fuming when he found out on the way to the airport... but he managed to see things from another perspective... letting go is a form of learning... Daughter got kidnapped in Paris, by human smuggling organization. he was so calm about things that it was almost unbelievable. he din blame his ex wife for deceiving him so that the daughter can go for the trip. he collected himself, organized and flew in to paris to save his daughter... one man.. alone... i think most people, or rather 99.9% of the people would be shouting at the ex wife if such a thing happen, i think i would too, esp when one is trying so hard to protect his beloved daughter, the wife is busy helping the daughter cover up... i guess rationality ruled over emotions in this situation. think most people cant do that, but its the movie, yet i am impressed, very...

practically, he caused a mayhem in Paris... utter destructions, wantonly killing, even though they are bad guys... police couldnt do anything to him, cos he was much better trained than them... several notches above... from basically almost no evidence or clues, he managed to hunt the society down and almost entirely wipe them out himself... typical hero movie i guess... but i guess the focus here isnt all that actions and explosions. for me, the focus is how far a dad is willing to go to save his daughter, so selfless... so careless...

i see my family relations, a certain extent in the movie... the broken family part... the distance between father and daughter, partly cos he doesnt know how to express himself, of course at the end, the daughter grew so much closer to the dad, but i dun see it happening for me... i dun see how my dad wud go all out for me... maybe he will, maybe he has been doing it in his own ways silently. sometimes i feel it, but maybe cos i am skeptical, i tend to see the other things that he is doing that is keeping the distance between us... i see my mum overwhelmingly loving me... just like in the movie, all the coverups...

yes, i come from a broken family... sometimes i wonder if there will be a shadow in me when i start my own family... one thing for sure is i know i will love my wife and sons and daughters to the end of the world. Just like Liam Neeson in the movie... i think he just sealed his status as a father whom anyone would love to have... i do!! i would love to have a father like him in the movie...

Fukuoka

2009-05-04T20:41:00.002+08:00

Finally get to come to Fukuoka...

was glad that i met my drinking buddy on the way here and his newly wedded wife... when that happens, u know that any plans of going sightseeing is virtually dashed...

fukuoka, famous for Ramen, is definitely a place to start trying some authentic ramen if you haven had any.. well... i must say they are pretty good.. but it seems like everyone here eats ramen for every meal... cos everytime we want to try a certain shop, there is a super long queue at the store and the queue doesnt dissipate...

first day, we roamed the Tenjin area, clothes are super expensive there, at night, met ernest andd joanne for dinner at some bbq joint... the place is pretty cosy, typical japanese style where u have to sit kneeled but of course we couldnt do it... the full is pretty tasty though not filling, in the end, we had to eat something else from the roadside street stores to fill up our tummy... roadside street stores seemed to be a dominant feature here, i didnt see them in other parts of Japan before. Maybe its a specialty feature here... in the end, we ended up drinking till late into the night, talking cock as usual... its nice to catch up...

next day, was raining the whole day, i had wanted to go sightseeing but the rain pretty much spoiled everything... so ended up shopping again and visiting a Shrine... its the first time i visited a Shrine in Japan... so its pretty exciting and an eye opener. coincidentally, its the Golden Week Festa here in Japan. so it seems like the whole of Japan is having a week of off... everyone is out and about.. and there is a parade in the streets, lotsa festivities and performances everywhere... after that was back to the room and here i am online, and packing my bag full of tidbits from Japan... I need to come back here again to do some proper sightseeing the next time... Fukuoka.. Capital city of Kyushu Province...

at least and i miss...

2009-04-26T12:18:00.003+08:00

today was suppose to be day 2 in shanghai... suppose to be touring ard after last nite's Eason Chan's concert... but here i am stuck in singapore... i wonder if they are enjoying themselves... must have been fun over there... i was i am there too...

at the very least, i met up with lousia yesterday, she is going thru a bad patch... not easy for her i guess... esp when one plucks herself out of her own world and rebuilt it ard someone whom she loved dearly... not easy... not easy... one really feel for her, tried to make her feel better... but things are not in her hands... i think i know that feeling...

at the very least.... i managed to play soccer after so long.. so happy...

somehow i am missing C... was suppose to meet up 2 days ago... but she fell ill... wonder how she is doing now, esp when she still has to go to work... funny thing is why am i thinking so much about her when we haven even gone out yet...

i merely wanted to be friends with Leia, but i guess intentions misread... Sarafina tried to matchmake us but keep joking and teasing about it but i think it hasnt gone too well with Leia... now i dun even dare to add her on facebook... just wanted to be friends, i guess good intentions can sometimes go bad...

imbalance...

2009-04-24T02:07:00.003+08:00

feeling very imbalanced...
things dun seem to be happening right...
quarrelled with dad recently... the bad blood between us always has the same root... to me... he is always trying to spend my money... to him, i am a selfish brat who has serious attitude problem, enuff said... add these 2 together, a super potential recipe for volcanic eruption... just that i have been tolerating all these while... keeping quiet... but this time, i answered back once.. only once.. but its enough to create a big enough problem for me to have to forsake my shanghai trip with kwanhua, joanna and candice...

worst thing is i already changed money and had the itinerary planned out... we were going to Eason Chan concert... going clubbing.. going to Westlake and Hangzhou... all these gone up in smokes... partially cos of the quarrel.. i had to stay back to settle the issue... the other thing is i couldnt get a return ticket back to sin. all the flts that i can take to come back in time are fully booked... total sadness. was so looking forward to westlake and hangzhou...

C cancelled on me 2ice... cos she is in bad mood i understand... i wish to share her burden but apparently, not so easy... when she is not letting anyone in...
just did flt with C's roommate... Grace... din work with her.. worked with Peiying all the way thou... can click quite well.. thot can be friends... so i asked her for her number, but got rejected... not thoroughly, but bad enough... she said she will give me when she sees me the 3rd time, cos she dun give out her number to colleagues... its stinging me... grrrrrrrrrrrr.....

the issue of Kunda and Korean came up again.. one girl just msg me.. omg u look like kunda..... did anyone tell u that? er... ya... you are not alone...
she said she saw energy's advert on tv.. Kunda came on... thats Jingpei!!!! hmmm... okies... it resurfaced again... my batchgirl oso said i look like korean just now...

C.A.T.S

2009-04-13T23:21:00.003+08:00

watched CATS last night...
was widely anticipated... cos we were talking about it for half a year...
but was dampened by the news that joanna and kh's friends said its boring..
nonetheless 3 of us still watched.. cos we bought $140 tics...

it was nothing like Avenue Q that we watched.. but the sets were impressive... the costumes, singing and dances too... Andrew Lloyd Weber really lives up to his name..
but the first segment was really slow... the singing was really hard to catch and there are only a few highlights... so for someone to go after work.. it naturally act as a lullaby... :P
but at least i manage to watch most of it thou i dont quite understand whats going on... not like joanna who was nodding off all the way... hahaha... kh oso struggled and fell prey at times...

the highlight was the performers tried to integrate the audience.. we got cats running amongst us at times.. and one of them actually came out to let us take photos during intervals... pretty cool

2nd half was much better... faster paced and everything came a little more to light... at least i caught some ideas of it... so more action = an awake jingpei...
its good thou, i really enjoyed it thou i dozed for a while... would like to catch it again to really know whats going on... wanna watch more musicals man!!!

Perth Fremantle

2009-04-12T23:14:00.001+08:00

finally get to go Fremantle...
all thanks to Kaisiong's Courtesy who came to pick me up after a tiring day out with his gf... wahahhaha

but really thanks to him for making time to meet up... could most prob be one of the last few times for me to go perth...
dinner was suppose to be at this beer brewery but we were denied entry cos of not having proper identification... they are quite strict there...
so ended up eating seafood platter... not too bad still.. but the dessert!!!!!
was superb... San Churos... wah seh.. super yummy... maybe its something worth considering... hahaha... hint hint.. i know what i mean....

the caramel and chocolate is so gooooooooooooooddd...
yumyum...

bear... pass and come back soon.... i dun wanna say come back soon, cos it can be quite bad luck.. tts why i say pass and come back soon... haha

surprisingly, Paul is staying opposite bear... everyone was wondering where he disappeared to...

Greek Mythology finally... Athens...

2009-04-06T20:33:00.000+08:00

Was lucky enough to finally get to go Athens... initially planned to squeeze the tours and tried to go to Santorini and Mykronos...was hoping that i can manage it but it proved not feasible...

to start it off, the first venture out to the famed Acropolis started on the wrong foot when we went in the afternoon, after lunch. We were busy snapping pictures of the magnificent structure.. the Parthenon... marvelling at how rich the Greek Gods are when they are able to pave all the pavements with marbles.. Finally the trek up brought us nothing but disappointment when the Acropolis is closed.. at freaking 230pm.. all thanks to that, we didnt get to see the Parthenon.. and we are flying off early next morning to Santorini..

we managed to book flt and transport and lodging at the hotel we are staying at.. albeit its a little costly but it was not to be missed...

thankfully we took a flt anyway, cos we reached early and the weather is good and the place is beautiful... we cant stop snapping photos even right at our balcony... that took us a while before we manage to drag ourselves out to rent a car and look for food before we start exploring the island. our lodging is at this little town called Firostefani.. we drove down to Fira, the main town for some food before deciding to go to this black pebble beach called Kamari and a nearby town called Pyros where there seemed to be the highest concentration of Churches.. Churches seemed to be everywhere on Santorini and they are easily recognisable by their blue dome...

nearer evening, we rushed over to this place which has supposedly the best sunset view on the whole island... called OiA... for a while, it seemed like the whole island is congregating at that spot because its simply packed with people... but i must say that the view is really breathtaking, we went crazy taking photos and came up with quite a few nonsense photos of ourselves. pity the sky is too cloudy, we din get too nice a sunset... but the people disappeared as soon as the sun set. we trooped ard looking for food at some restaurant to rest for the night, planning to wake up early the next day to catch the sunrise..

the weather next day turned bad actually, it was all gloomy, foggy and rainy... we din manage to get out of the hotel till close to noon time... we rushed to cover as many places as possible... first stop was to visit the only port on the whole island... as the island is very mountainous, the port is situated at one of the lowest point on the whole island... there were doubts whether our little Piccanto can climb up after going all the way down... but it did nonetheless. luckily...

next we visited the black volcanic sand beach and the supposedly red beach... before rushing over to the lighthouse... we run into a group of fellow travellers 2 times.. before making friends with them only to find out that they are malaysians on a holiday... so coincidental...

the sky turned really overcast when we are rushing back... we lost our way and got trapped in the fog on top of the cliff... cant see more than 1-2 metres in front of us... and almost drove over the cliff twice... lucky we got out of it alive and made it back to the hotel. by then the rain was super heavy and the reception was nowhere to be found, leaving us really worried about missing the flight.. one of the fellow stayers was really nice and offered to drive us to the airport to catch our flt... we were more concerned if we can make it back to athens on time cos we are leaving the next day. the weather is not helping but luckily we covered the most impt places on the first day.

the ATR propeller plane greeted us at the airport, did nothing to lift our spirits as it was old and rickety and most certainly not comforting but its quite an experience sitting thru it afterall...

Skydiving..

2009-03-25T00:04:00.001+08:00

finally did it!!!

been thinking about skydiving since long time ago after i left 4th coy, i left something which i always wanted to do.. but doing it somewhere else gives another form of perspective with a very beautiful scenery as well..

in christchurch, i managed to finally do something which i always wanted to try... at least once in my life... skydiving!!

much was anticipated... but funnily i wasnt even really nervous leading up to it... no jitters... no backing out.. just much anticipation... cant wait to get on to it.. but from the video.. i look obviously nervous... but i wasnt feeling so.. think i am not comfortable with cameras... haha

had to wake up super early in the morning to get to the dive site... changing up and waiting for the airplane took us close to 2 hours wait cos the weather is good, so lotsa people came to skydive, so we had to wait for our turn.

the flight up to 12000 feet or 4km took a pretty long time... its pretty cold actually cos of the cold new zealand air... once the sliding door opens, there was no turning back.. no chance of backing out and wanting to take the plane to ground cos obviously, everything had to go... there wasnt any time to think or get scared.. cos immediately u are out... the only thing u can hope for is the parachute is working... otherwise just enjoy the experience... just enjoy the scenery... which was breathtaking with all the mountains and greenery in view.. exhilarating experience.

i had the luxury of meeting Miro, who allowed me to control the parachute until the last part where he had to do the landing... superb jump!!! i love it actually.. i wanna do it again...

DP 08/09 - You got a friend in me..

2009-03-20T23:59:00.000+08:00

been looking at the stock market recently... trying to get a hang of it and do some proper investments... still learning... still learning...

lucky to be off tonight, manage to get a ticket to go back and watch DP this year too... it really feels different to be watching DP as audience 2 years running, no longer i am on stage dancing, no more long hours or practices into unearthly hours in the night, no more bunking in at UCC, no more magic of DP or at least i dun feel it anymore... feels so detached... when you go back, only that few people recognise you cos they were my juniors when i was still around in hall, but they are now at the stage of reclusion as they are graduating soon too...

I saw the alumni dance... i wanted to be part of it so much but my schedule wouldnt fit... but i must say most of the seniors come back to watch cos of our love for DP.. our love for hall... its good to see that there are people carrying on the traditions, carrying on our love for DP... carrying on, believing that magic.. that special feeling when you are on stage dancing, acting, putting everything together..

though i must say, this year the quality really dropped, script was really weak and dances were not as impactful as previous years, there are still a few highlights to pick out.. Darren's General Bao was hilarious, alumni dance, xinyi's dance, julia and yijun dance and wanyu's dance probably were among the brighter side of things... well, it don't matter that much anymore cos the show went on without a glitch... though we alumni feel that there is much to improve on after this year, but the night still belongs to the performers for their hardwork.. let's hope they still feel the magic... like joe says, this is the show that never ends... and it will go on and on my friend..

Ironic as well, cos this year the title is You got a friend in me... DP has always been one of the factors that people come back and watch and see how each other is doing in their lives cos we are all separated after hall.. its good to see people again... but we have grown so distant....

restlessness

2009-03-09T12:45:00.001+08:00

i have been lagging in my posts again...
there seems to be a lot on my mind... but i just couldnt sit down and get to it...
maybe listing them down will help me focus better...
i wanted to start my business with ruihan... met up with her and discuss a bit recently.. thanks to her actually that i am keeping in touch with one gang of my secondary school buddies... yeeming, ah bi, shenyong, yongqi etc... cos we just had a ktv session before she went back to sydney...

been looking at the market recently... thinking of getting some blue chips as investment... been monitoring a while but the market is really volatile... i think i set my eyes a 1 or 2.. maybe i shall get them tmr if the price is good.. my first step towards being a millionaire..

been considering very long about getting a condo unit as an investment... but i haven really got enough cash to sustain it... sometimes i just wonder why am i not born rich... then so many of my goals and ambitions could have a much better starting foundation... maybe its time to really scout ard for a proper unit and look into the property market now... during the economic downturn, its the best period to get rich...

maybe i have been stressed up by my work recently, not that i am not enjoying travelling but its just that work has taken a newer definition where i have to serve a "higher" class of pple.. and i am not so familiar with my work in that area yet...

maybe also because i haven been able to contact L... some sms and some online msges has been sent to no reply... but suddenly out of the blue, she sent me her work schedule... and its dead silence after that again.. what does this mean? i know i shouldnt be reading too much into it...

has grown to be really good frens with mavis and xinz...

there are a few locations which i am really dying to go visit now... Athens... Fukuoka, Nagoya, and going back to Tokyo, Shinjuku... and revisit Manchester again... i miss the place... not forgetting HK and San Francisco... haven really spent time there in a long while... i hope i get these places in my next month's schedule.

suddenly lost the drive to go skydiving and bungee jumping in christchurch... think i better force myself to do it, cos i dunno when can i go again... there are so many things which i wanna do and i wish that i can do right now.. but just not possible.. which is making me extremely vexed and sians...

i just wanna spend time back in hometown... catching up with everything and settling my plans.. but yet at the same time i am feeling so bored with nothing to do.. so tired that i dun feel like working but yet at the same time i wanna be away for a while...

next month... i am going shanghai with huazai, joanna and shiling to visit candice... hope it will be fun.. and supposedly going LA with thams in july... Barcelona on the cards? i wish so too... but planning for LA gotta come first...

right now, i just wish that i can gallop away on a horse on vast plains... feel like buying a horse... and go horse riding... saw on the news that in Dublin they are selling horses as cheap as 40 pounds... think i am interested in getting one... Mongolia sounds like a nice destination for now... wanna be a kite with no strings attached....

Pennies for many thoughts...

2009-02-21T13:55:00.002+08:00

hmmm...
haven really been in any mood for blogging much recently...
its been the same few places... working now is more like hoping that u meet nice people and there is good money cos of the recession.

been to Amsterdam recently, cos of the cold weather, haven really been to anywhere except visiting the sex museum and the flower market.. which reminded me of V, cos her one and only sms reply was send my love to the tulips in Amsterdam. since then i haven heard of her. Is she sending out signals that i should give up since she dun even reply anyway. Zul ask me.. hows things with Miss Tee? the fact is there is nothing to mention cos there is no interaction at all. things dun look too good... he says.. everything seems to be pointing to wat he mentioned.. its been so hard for me to like someone, den i got drawn to her character and personality... den it just died a premature death... without me knowing why...

looking into business options with ruihan recently... a few ideas came up... we are exploring that currently... which means more things to keep me occupied for a while... den at the same time i am also trying to pick up photography and stocks and shares.. been trying to observe the market... think i will be making some small purchase soon...

met charlotte for drinks last nite, she is giving me a treat for my belated birthday. so very nice... then there is this certain someone who has been msging her and trying to call her to want to meet her the whole night... pesky... now i know how it feels like to be on the wrong end of the stickiness... i used to like charlotte a lot... now we are very good friends... but funnily.. i felt a tinge of jealously and uneasiness when i found out that its a guy trying to get her.. does it mean something? den i have been talking a lot to xinz recently oso... there seems to be some form of attachment...

i keep saying yoyo is a very confused girl... actually now i am beginning to think that i am as confused as her if not worse... i keep complaining that i dun have a gf... but am i really treasuring what i have in front of me?

these are the pennies for my thoughts...
need to sort them out soon...

A Parisian Love Affair

2009-02-07T08:44:00.000+08:00

Finally got to Paris after so long. They say, Paris is the city of romance… city of love… city of branded goods. I agree to pretty much a large extent of it. After experiencing it myself, I must say that it's a place where people are extremely proud and highly racist too. I am not making a sweeping statement, of course there are people who treated us, as in Asians very well, give us very good service, but what was disappointing was that in such a high class society, high class city. There are people in branded boutiques who don't give two hoots about customers who walked into the shops, treated us as if we were invisible, as if we were dirt. Security guards looking at us as if we are thieves, searched the girls’ bags when we enter. Yet at the same time when the locals came in, they just waved them through. Think there is still much to be done towards the mentality of the people to make them as beautiful as the city itself. Their attitude is certainly a huge black mark, huge eye sore in this beautiful landscape. Just as much as they hated the Effiel tower, claiming that the huge metallic iron is standing out like a sore thumb, an eye sore to the city’s skyline.

Nonetheless, despite all these, I still pretty much enjoyed myself during the stay, having fun exploring the city with the company of 2 lovely ladies. First day, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. I had heard so much about this restaurant even before I got there, claiming how delicious the food is. What is a better way than to taste it for yourself. I was indeed won over by how tasty the food is, no wonder it's a must go when we are there. After lunch, the girls decided to go shopping, for of course what Paris is famous for. First stop was some streets where only Goyard was found and some of the rest pop over to Hermes. I myself, luckily was never into such stuff, so this is a money saving trip for me. I am more interested to see what this city has to offer. Nonetheless, after visiting these 2 places, we went over to Champs-Elysees, supposedly the main shopping street of Paris, the Orchard Road of Paris where you can find all the big brands. I had a fun time taking photos of this beautiful street with all the lightings and Arc de Triomphe at the end of the street giving the pictures a very nice view. Catherine brought us to LaDuree for dessert, suppose to be a very “upmarket” restaurant with very find food and dessert. Due to some unpleasant incidences which I mentioned above, we ended up choosing not to eat there and just packed some dessert to go back to the hotel to eat. In the end, we ended up having mussels at Leon’s which was near our hotel. Much was heard about this Leon’s mussels too and certainly it didn't disappoint as well. We had nothing but just mussels for dinner, huge bowls of it cooked in different styles before going back to the hotel to sample the desserts and for the girls, to check out their shopping spree.

The next day, Liwen and Leane were my buddies to go sightseeing. Even before they were up, I was already out in the blistering cold trying to take morning sunrise photos at the Arc de Triomphe. It was a beautiful sight, though not as nice as what we saw on the first day where there is a red ball of orange in the middle of the arch. But it still provided some of the most beautiful pictures I captured for this trip. After that, I went back to meet them before heading out to our first stop – Monmarte. It's an area where a very famous cathedral is located on a hilltop and boy! What a view it is. The white building looks gorgeous against the clear blue sky and a antique looking carousel brought us many memories from our childhood days. We had a whale of time taking photos there and climbing up to the cathedral at the hilltop allowed us a scenic view of the Parisian skyline. An extremely beautiful view. After Monmarte, we headed further down the street after being told that Moulin Rouge was around in the same area, being hardcore sightseers, we have no qualms of walking in the cold to get to see this famous playhouse that was in the movies. Reaching there, it was somewhat disappointing because it was not as grand as what I thought it would be. It was merely a pretty shabby looking two storey high building with a windmill at the top of the building. Well, at least I seen what izzit like.

Next stop was towards Notre Dame Cathedral where the cartoon Hunchback of Notre Dame is based on and where certain scenes of Van Helsing was shot. Its some distance away so we had to take metro to get there. The church is beautiful and as usual, we had a lot of fun taking photos at the church with exquisite carvings. From Notre Dame, we took a long stroll in search of the Lourve Museum. Who could give Lourve a miss with the beautiful glass prisms being such a unique feature. We spent quite some time there taking photos after photos… until one of our camera went flat. It was then when we realize that its time to move on to our last stop, the Effiel tower before we are totally out of battery for any photos. The huge bronze tower was a sight, we had a lot of fun fiddling with our camera, shooting random, stupid photos, ending up in endless laughter. That was not the end as someone had to get some items somewhere else before the shops close and we headed back to Effiel again later in the night to see the light up before having dinner at some cafe nearby to settle our hungry stomach and heading back for the night.

Was certainly one of the more fun sightseeing trips that I had so far, and I find myself caring a lot for a certain L. maybe its her character and who she is which attracted me to her. Actually, I dunno what to do now, for fear that I might scare her off if I come on too direct… just gotta see how things go I guess.. take things easy, it might just be a crush afterall. Paris is certainly a city with love, a city of Romance…

Adelaide Birthday

2009-01-30T08:35:00.000+08:00

Celebrated my birthday in ADelaide... alone...
didnt tell anyone about it, prefer to let it pass just like that, but i went to Glenelg beach. very nice place... beautiful with nice beach area and very inviting waters... too bad i wasnt geared up, otherwise i wun mind a dip in the sea. had a cold beer, a rum and raisin icecream and Nandos for dinner.. thats all for my birthday...

Surprisingly, i got a few sms wishes from my friends... pleasant surprise cos i have never really celebrated my birthday over the years, but they still remember.. pleasantly touched. when i came back, i was shocked to see my facebook flooded with birthday wishes, i know the advantageous of technology, but your friends actually bothered to even leave u a msg, thats pretty sweet enough for me...

not forgetting that i went to Candice's housewarming cum engagement party at night... her condo is seriously very beautiful and i fell in love with it immediately... if only i am rich enough to afford one on my own... but joanna, huazai, junzhi and candice celebrated my birthday with me with my birthday cake after the whole thing end... so sweet of them... my jc classmates... i am glad i am in touch with them and we are pretty close...

Milano Malpenza Jan09 - a heartbreaker

2009-01-19T14:17:00.003+08:00

this was suppose to be a some sort of "honeymoon trip" for us... we were grateful that things has been kind to us that i managed to come to this flight to be with her. things turn for worse before the flight...

the original itinerary was to tour ard milan and pop over to romantic venice... but this was spoilt by few other colleagues who wanted to follow... leaving me no private time with her... that was still ok until someone keep hogging her for photos... which left me really angry indeed... given the turn of events before this trip... this trip has become extremely crucial in salvaging our r/s. but with all these happening, it only spelled the end for us...

everynight, when we talked on msn, we were always talking about us... things that we couldnt say to each other when we are together cos there are too many people around. it was such a torture, cos i come back facing heartache every night. to make things worse, she cannot talk to me face to face over these issues, i absolutely hate msn in this sense cos it sets us drifting apart...

she told me she is contemplating going back to him cos he has done a lot for her and she feels that she owes him a lot... this was exactly what i feared most... the past memories playing a part in her decision, memories is something which i dun have with her... its a luxury that i dun get to enjoy... time factor not on my side... i know i am fighting a losing battle in this sense yet i am hapless to do anything about it... it sucks to be me... all the haplessness and hurt in me... she say she cannot get over the fact that i am 1 year younger than her... she says he gives up a lot for her and changes a lot for her, he knows how to cheer her up when she is down, is very knowledgeable and has many contacts around him but all these are established over time when she knows him better, there wasnt any chance of me showing it... its totally unfair, knowing her it wun sink into her.. how does she knows that i am not willing to give up things for her, i dun have contacts and i am not knowledgeable?? we hardly have time together... which is severely handicapped and unfair for me... she is too blinded to see things from another perspective, that he divorced a woman to wanna be with her... maybe he was even seeing her behind his wife's back, that i didnt know... if he can do it once, its possible that he do it again.. but i dun wish to see her get hurt, and of course i couldnt bring myself to tell her this... love is blind afterall... im fighting a war in me...

as much as i want her to be happy, objectively i cant help it but feel that she is going back to him cos of guilt... i hate to admit it but i have grown attached to her... for who she is, independent, driven, focused and all.. on a selfish note, a really selfish note, i wish she can come back to me... i really wish so...

this honeymoon has become a heartbreak trip for me... a painful place to come... i hope the next milan will be a happier trip, maybe i will visit Pisa, chinque terra, verona or even sicilly...

right now, i have to try to come to terms with this... somehow...

Time alone...

2009-01-15T00:45:00.002+08:00

feeling vexed all day...
cos i know he is stalking her... and i am worried.. worried that she might give in.. cos afterall they had a past... there was something that they once shared... lotsa memories and times together... something that i dun have.. something which i wish i can do something about..

i wish i know what she is thinking... and she talked to him the whole nite on the phone... something which i haven been able to do... cos she says she cannot express herself talking... sorely jealous i suppose...

desperately looking to go out, almost going bonkers... until Claris ask me if i wanna meet for coffee cos she got time before her salsa class... she still look the same as half a year ago.. still pretty and sweet.. still my pretty neighbour.. we had dinner at waraku at novena... den singly, i made my way to yishun to watch red cliff alone... awesome movie... i quite enjoy the loneliness... maybe i am turning into a hermit... maybe thats my way of protecting myself... maybe i need more time alone to think of what i really want...

i have been distracted so much that i haven done anything which i am suppose to do...
lemme wallow in this for a while... just leave me be...

Winter Amsterdam

2009-01-14T13:23:00.002+08:00

AMsterdam in winter is really freezing cold.. not helped when the temperature is -8 degrees plus Amsterdam is a river city, Venice of the north... so the winter wind is really freezing...

i guess together with the cold, it took away any enthusiasm for any sightseeing... the original plans of visiting Antwerp is put on hold till the weather is nearer... din even visit any museum or Anne Frank's house. managed to meet up with Lewis to have steak and some catching up... the next day was just shopping along the streets, din get to eat the famous pork ribs too... cos it opened at some weird hours from 8pm to 4am... managed to get some christmasy street food on Lewis' recommendations - pofferties, waffles and dutch donuts... its really yummy...

there is even an ice skating rink out in the open in the middle of the streets... din try that thou....

i wanna be back during the tulip season... which is april? or may?
looking forward to that...

Milan tmr...

moody..

2009-01-07T21:37:00.003+08:00

i dunno why i suddenly feel this way...
things are not going on well between me and her... things used to be going on well... the lovely time we share... the funny moments... the sweet smses... all these seemed to be a thing of the past...

i still remember the first date we had at sakae sushi at causeway point... shopping trip in town... the relentless smses when we are overseas, the cant get enough of each other and constant sms no matter where we are... eating at bishan coffeeshop, reliving your secondary school days.. our first movie watching madagascar II... roleplaying characters in journey to the west... going to wedding dinner together.. the suppers we had... hanging out at east coast and sipping white coffee... sweet moments spent in the car when i pick her up and send her to work...

i know i am suppose to be strong to tide thru all these... especially when you have so much to face... but i am hurt too... i have my weak moments at times... i miss u dear... i miss what we were...

every relationship....

2009-01-01T18:34:00.003+08:00

Every single relationship don't happen by chance, it takes a lot of factors and commitment to nurture it...

funny how television programmes can sometimes read the mind of people, or is it that when we are affected by certain issues, we tend to be able to pick out dialogues which especially seemed to be written for us... extra sensitive i guess...

i met someone, been dating recently... spent lotsa time together, until she was away for a while.. i could sense a difference in the mood.. i kept to myself cos she has lotsa heavy burden from work already... i didnt wanna make an issue out of nothing. but i guess my fears are not unfounded. she was troubled by something, something which was very unexpected, she needed time to resolve it before coming back to us again. I am still finding out about her, i wasnt head over heels over her... but i like her enough to wanna protect from any kind of harm. i still feel hurt, still feel lost, still misses her when i dun see her. she knows how i feel towards her, she initially likes me a lot too, but time apart made her unsure of her feelings towards me. she felt something for me, but she isnt sure what izzit. last nite, she told me, our feelings are very shortlived, what we had wasnt giving her enough courage to overcome whatever she had... she said she couldnt accept someone who can be friends with anyone... there are differences to our characters...

Unwittingly, i didnt realise that i had given her so much insecurities, she is special.. i think i found someone whom i can really feel that i can spend my life with and one whom i can really like for the rest of my life. at this rate, everything seems to be dying a premature death... i wish i know what to do, to allay her fears and resolve the differences... i need some divine help.. i am at a lost.. i think i cannot afford to lose her...

Capetown = SUPER LOVE!!!

2008-12-27T08:25:00.002+08:00

just got back from Capetown... as much as i hated missing Kristian's wedding... i must say that this trip is one of the funnest and the most unregrettable one. firstly cos of the destination... its one of the most sought after ones and one which i am really dying to go to. secondly, i got a bunch of totally spontaneous colleagues who are game for everything, so that made the trip all the more worthwhile... all very nice people, very on people, we went sightseeing together, drank till late together, tell each other ghost stories... dine together... like a real family... so its all good...

reaching the hotel, the group of us were so enthusiastic about it that we wanted to move out almost immediately. after some thought, we decided to take it easy and have a good rest for the full day of tour the next day. so we had lunch at a local restuarant nearby with absolutely humongous servings which most of us cannot finish and nearly feel like puking... after that was shopping at a local mart to get the ingredients ready for the nite's party.. drinks and mixers, a giant watermelon, beers and such... Xmas overseas need a bit of celebration too...

Ngeow, Theresa, HUili and me headed out to the beach to take a stroll after doing the grocery... wanted to enjoy the capetownic sun and the super nice coast... which pretty much ended up like a camwhoring session... but at the same time i picked up some phototaking skills from ngeow... before heading back to the room to crash for a while as we haven slept for more than a day and we have a long night ahead with an xmas dinner and party coming up after that. dinner was carried out at the hotel restaurant and we adjorned for drinks after that.. it was all silly games and all the funny incidences and making the slightest mistakes at the simplest games, everyone had a good time laughing and it lasted till into the wee hours of the night, ended with ghost stories telling... not exactly very christmasy but still a good gathering overall...

the next morning we had to wake up early at 8 for the tours... with only some chocolates in my stomach... we headed out to the Table mountain... we were lucky cos the weather is good and sunny.. the scenery is breathtaking overlooking the oceans, and the plateau of capetown.. numerous photos were taken and i mean numerous... got some souvenirs and we are off to the next destination... the seal island. Jasmine was telling me that she got an ostrich egg from capetown... so i was lucky to find it at the harbour and got myself one too.. its really exquisite and beautiful... luckily the boat rides are open cos its afterall christmas day... no one expected them to operate... so its a 40 minutes ride out to the island where the seals are basking on.. some of them got really wet cos the waves are really rough, thou we didnt really expect the seals to smell so bad...

after sealing was lunch at this restaurant by the seaside called Bertha's, they serve very nice seafood... the wait was agonizing long thou cos everyone was starving and we waited for an hour to get served... penguins were up next, its pretty amazing how these little creatures manage to swim across such great distance from Antarctica to get to south africa, having to escape from the predators - the sharks. Cape point and Cape of Good Hope was next, thats like the thing i wanted to see most after Table mountain. The climb up to Cape point was pretty arduous considering that number of steps we have to climb.. but thankfully, i had training from Yeh Liu in Taipei, so it was all expected... beautiful scenery says it all.. we couldnt stop taking photos there and sealing our memories of the place... before heading down to Cape of Good Hope. the coastal place was amazing with all the waves and rock structure, its definitely a place which i wanna revisit again and i hope its soon... so gonna miss this place and my fantastic colleagues who are ever so sporting...

Capetown, Table Mountain, Ostrich Egg, Cape Point, Cape of Good Hope.. I WILL BE BACK!!!

catching up....

2008-12-20T14:45:00.002+08:00

these few days been spent on catching up with my friends... friends whom i haven manage to meet cos of clashes in our work schedule... met up with kerson, ling, thams, sandy, venus and julian.. and my beloved batchgirl tang smellyfeet cara.. haha... nice seeing them again after a while... ktving, drinking and talking cocks and the rough play of pinching and boxing each other.. its a guy's game.. only when julian is around actually...

fun nonetheless...

Catching up with Tiphany

2008-12-18T12:57:00.002+08:00

just came back from taipei and manage to meet up with Tiphany again... she is really a very good host, like a big sister... came to pick me up, bring me around to run my errands for my aunt and friends... bought me local delicacies at the shihlin night market. no ktv this time thou cos its only me, and anthea is not ard... i din think she let her friends know that i was coming anyway...

actually, for such a short stay, there is only so much you can do for a night in taipei, basically eating and buying some simple stuff, its too far from anywhere to travel out and not enough time too anyway. Tiph brought me to Miramar anyway, to take the Ferris wheel.. supposedly the 2nd biggest in Asia.. she got motion sickness thou, but still gamely took with me... tts wat i call a super good host...

after that was movies... first time watching movies overseas, we watch twilight.. quite a nice show and headed for tou jiang you tiao for supper before sending her back and myself going back to the hotel for my much needed sleep...

Wedding dinners

2008-12-10T10:17:00.000+08:00

Just attended a distant relative's wedding dinner, some sort of cousin, though he is younger than me and is the son of my grandma's uncle. sounds far? far enough for me to never have seen him before and the first time i see him is to attend his wedding... what a weird fact..

but it brought out something nice too, ended up i manage to meet up with my cousins which i din have the chance to meet over these 2 years cos of work... its some sort of gathering too for my aunts and grandmother, esp when they chase all their kids away to sit at other tables while they sit among themselves.. haha... things lidat happen when you are old enough to take care of yourself...

there are quite a few weddings this month to attend, but i wun be able to attend cos of work. actually i feel quite bad, cos they are like my close friends and i haven been able to change away my duties... weddings are afterall once in a lifetime... i have Lifen's wedding on the 20th, this saturday... and Kristian's wedding on the 26th... which both i will be away... I will miss meeting up with my friends on these occasions, playing tricks on the couple, catching up...

KL Getaway

2008-12-03T01:14:00.000+08:00

Immediately, after Fra-Jfk... i headed down to KL with huazai and joanna for a mini getaway for them.. i am more like a joiner cos they were planning for everything.. initially we were suppose to go to BKK, but all thanks to the turmoil, we had to change to KL instead since they had already taken their leave...

for me its economic crisis... so i was only spending on the essentials and food and only getting what i needed... but for them its one hell of a shopping.. but at least its objective met... and we set our new year resolution together.. so for this new year... we are going to work hard to fulfill our resolution... GAMBATTE!!!

First Frankfurt - New York

2008-11-30T00:44:00.000+08:00

was very excited about this trip, cos its my first ever frankfurt, New York trip after flying for so long.. a little apprehensive cos my colleagues were all super senior, worried that i cant live up to their expectations but in the end all turn out well. they were all very nice people... Patrick, Candy, Julina were my buddies in Frankfurt when we were in frankfurt cos we went to town to explore and julina was very nice to show me around cos its my first time to frankfurt... frankly speaking, frankfurt has got nothing much, there wasnt really anything much to see unless u travel out of the city. besides that its just eating pasta, pizzas and buying chocolates. i guess everyone is looking forward to new york, frankfurt is something that u had to go through to get to new york i guess. nonetheless, we manage to get some sightseeing down, in the branded shopping street and visiting the old town and new town... i guess the only highlight in frankfurt has to be that we were all caught in very heavy snow.. initially excited, but soon we were cowering for shelter and desperately trying to get out of the blistering cold snow. its the first time ever that i ever saw snow accumulated on my jackets and umbrellas... and thats when the snow war begins, all thanks to julina

in new york, julina brought us to soho area, times square. New York is really a neon lights city, bustling with life and forever packed with people. exactly what we always see on tv, signboards and all... the next morning, we were for american breakfast together before trooping over to 5th avenue, did some shopping but nothing much for me except 2 AnF tshirts. there is nothing much to buy cos of the winter season but AnF gave a very happy environment, warm and cool.. the staff were all friendly and dancey... yes u saw right, they were all dancing, seems like a very friendly environment. on the last day before departure, me and julina did the craziest thing ever, we woke up very early in the morning, to brace the cold winter wind and weather to catch the thanksgiving day parade... lotsa bands and paraders and giant balloons, but in the end it was too cold for us to bear, we had to seek refuge in starbucks for some warm chocolate and food. before exploring a bit more, finding the famous rockerfellar centre and the Empire state building and Chrysler building... that pretty much sums up the entire trip... but i was disappointed because i had so wanted to do more sightseeing to visit the brooklyn bridge, ground zero, world trade centre, financial centre, chinatown, little italy and of course the central park and the statue of liberty... but the weather is simply not permitting... i guess i can only wait till the next time i am back...

Taipei with Tiphany and Anthea

2008-11-22T14:18:00.001+08:00

Thams gave me this taipei flt cos he was going for reservist... good buddy... just nice my batchgirl is also in taipei for holiday so after touching down, i immediately got changed and went out to Ximending to meet her and her friend Tiphany, whom she has been trying to introduce to me since some time back. KTV was on the cards, so that was where i found them, to my shock, there were at least 10 people in the room. i had previously expected 5 or so cos Anthea told me that Tiff's girlfriends are coming, but in another corner of the room, another 5-6 guys were there, sitting like big bosses, I thou 26 already, felt like a small kid in their presence...

but soon the warmth of the taiwanese began to show, they began to talk cock, make jokes and were really friendly... tried to chat with us, drink with us, toast us, eat as well... and did i mention they actually dance in the ktv room? wow.. when we left for shihlin night market, tiphany told us that the guys in the rooms are all bosses and they all own their own businesses... okies... i am impressed...

In Shihlin, another of Tiff's friend joined us, its all the usual stuff of shopping and eating, Tiff's a very good host, she insisted in paying for most of the things, until we feel quite bad... by the time we left, the girls got their loot and i got my peanuts candy... so its back to hotel for the night's rest and meeting them for lunch again the next day before i leave for home... decided to meet at ximen and tiff brought us to some local chinese restaurant hidden in one corner of ximen for food and another rooftop open cafe for some drinks and chitchatting session...

it was fun... looking forward to meeting up with them again soon... tiphany's coming to singapore for xmas thou..

oh.. when i was checking out, i saw andy lau at the hotel lobby... he was mobbed!! think there was some music awards ceremony in taipei, cos on the flight back, i noticed some singapore song writers and other colleagues noticed a few radio djs on the flight too... cool..

Love is...

2008-11-19T23:32:00.002+08:00

according to Avenue Q, there is a thin thin line separating love and friendship... and there is something about spending time and wasting time... which i cannot remember also...

i was jogging just now... i think i saw what love is... it was just after a heavy downpour... was finishing my jog when i saw this grandmother with her granddaughter at a flooded playground playing catching... its all the more striking cos the girl was squealing and running everywhere, climbing up and down to escape from the grandmother. the grandmother was kinda struggling to keep up... and climbing up and down for her especially on a wet and slippery playground isnt an easy chore... i really admire her love for her granddaughter... these are things which one will only see people from the older generation doing, such is LOVE... In modern day context, what i can picture is the child being trapped at home esp after rain, if they ever said they wanted to go to the playground, they are sure to get scolded big time by their mother. they cant even smell the playground, not to say be there...

ruoyan suddenly msged me out of the blue yesterday, after 2 years of ignoring me. i thot she din wanna be friends with me. she suddenly said, i sorted out my thinking already, i am really sorry, do u still want me as a friend? im like kinda stunned, i thot she msged the wrong person when i saw her msg popping up.. well, i had a good time teasing her about it, but all is fine now... we are friends again.. we'll see... i wonder what took her so long...

a certain friend of mine, i thot i like her... but she cant seemed to let go of her previous r/s. deep down, she knows its over, but she just likes digging her own grave, finding out about the guy and set her mind crazy thinking about absurd things... finding trouble for herself... neither here nor there, troubled yet sober.. i think i was like that when i was out of love, always looking for things, digging a hole to bury myself deeper... vicious cycle, knowing that you have to get out of it but yet u like to wallow deeper.. but now i am really out of it, i look back and think that its silly, why dun they come to their senses... but i guess when i am in the same shit again... i will be the one wallowing and not coming to senses...

we have been spending a lot of time together recently, the few of us... going overseas, eating, shopping, movies all...really enjoy the company... just that sometimes i feel very left out of the conversation because of my job nature, sometimes, when they talk about what they are dealing with and office work, i can only listen because i never experienced it before... is it sour grapes? i dunno, maybe... could be also because i am yearning to work in a more fixed setting where i wun miss out so much... flying around does have its perks but it means u give up a lot too... like gatherings you cant attend, weddings of buddies, soccer games u keep missing.. working when people are sleeping... just to name a few... a short get away trip is planned, originally, its few of us going, but now they wanna go ahead and go earlier... actually its a good idea cos they wun waste the weekend... but i was sore i guess, jealous and feeling uneasy? i dunno why, it came over me when they suggested it, honestly, i wasnt keen on the idea of travelling alone, not if i am on a single person holiday trip where i plan for everything myself... but now its all eating up into their time, the wait can be irritating... i suggested to her that maybe they shud go ahead without me.. cos partly i feel bad if they have to miss the weekend of the trip because of me, then, what if i cant find them there.. its gonna be another waiting game and wasting time... just exclude me from the plans, i rather stay in singapore if thats the case.. makes things easier... they can enjoy themselves, no waiting... and no weird feelings from me if i am not there... why am i feeling this way?? there are times when i send her home, i feel like just spending time with her, but words wun come out, each time i see her so tired... i just couldnt bear to take up anymore of her rest time. dun think she is ready yet, she mentioned it before... i can only just silently wait and show concern secretly.. maybe i have fallen for her.. that seems the only logical reason so far... sigh..

of Missed soccer, last min KTV, Lunch at Gunther's, shopping and Avenue Q

2008-11-14T00:33:00.003+08:00

was suppose to go for futsal with patrick's gang on wed night, so the plan was to meet thams and patrick. watched "Choke"... er... its a movie with a messy plot... its about sex anyway, sex always sells... somehow...

the heavy rain cancelled the soccer session, super disappointed... but we ended up playing PS3 at tham's house until someone suggested KTV... everyone gian.. den ok... its decided den... jioed Ling and Kerson... so we had a fantastic time singing from 11 to 5am.. damn crazy shit, nonstop and good fun... tried to cheered a certain someone up cos she just broke up... sigh... we ended up playing dice and had lotsa forfeits drinking beer until the beer was finished den came the killer forfeits, each loser has to down half a giant glass of green tea... it was very daunting as we get damn bloated and toilet is always the top of our mind... luckily drinks are free flow, so we had a fun time trying to kill each other... Kerson had it worst, think he drank a minimum of 5 huge glasses in total, den patrick and Ling were close 2nd after him.. i was lucky to have only 2.. thams is thereabouts too... toilet had the best business that night after the KTV machine... hahaha...

so i had to rush home to catch some sleep cos i am meeting joanna for lunch at Gunther's... Candice pulled out as Tom got injured in Shanghai and she had to rush back, so its a romantic lunch for 2.. Gunther's is listed as the No. 4 restaurant in the Best Restaurants in Asia. So i had pretty high expectations for it... i was pleasantly surprised by their high level of hospitality, cos it was raining, so when we stepped in and got to out seats, they served us towels to dry ourselves den gave us hot towels to freshen up... super score points... den the waiters were very attentive... and the food is super yummy too... foie gras and mushroom cappuccino for appetizers and i had lamb for main course and joanna had seafood pasta... wihch was really good.. deserts were a little disappointing thou, Ember scored much better in terms of deserts cos their deserts is just so nice... the nice ambience and settings made up for it and the chef came out to talk to us and asked us how was the food and all... not often you get that... so yup... fantastic experience... Garibaldi and Egis next...

after that was suppose to be either ktv or shopping... in the end it was shopping...spent the entire afternoon shopping in town... before heading down to Esplanade for Avenue Q.... I must give it 2 thumbs up, more thumbs if i have... the settings is nice, jokes are funny and innovative.. slapstick and rude some times but its good... some of the issues mentioned inside actually came quite true and reflective of us... like whats our purpose in life? the things that get us down, haunt us FOR NOW, will come to pass... love issues, different people you meet in life, Schanfeude or something... which means gaining happiness out of seeing others in misery... gay issues, racism, sex, wishing to turn back time to schooling days, how people wallow in self pity, internet porn... all in one, composed and turned into a musical with real people and cartoon characters... music is really catchy and funny... my fave character is the tracky monster who is a porn addict who eventually donates 10 million dollars to help build a school for monsters and help fulfill Kate's dream... complex right? lotsa hidden subplots inside, u gotta watch to understand... huazai's fave is the ga rod and nicky... joanna likes tracky too.. haha... if i cud, i wudnt mind watching again... if its not so ex...

HK tmr.. tiring... looking forward to saturday actually.. can play tennis... and soccer on sunday.. thou i had pretty much wished to be called up for long flt... cash is king now...

Dinner @ Manutama Ramen, Central and Lunch with Dionne after 2 years...

2008-11-12T15:52:00.002+08:00

It was rather random and impromptu...

Joanna just msg me and asked if i am free for dinner... which i said i am since i had nothing on... so me, her, candice and huazai decided to meet up for impromptu dinner, Manutama Ramen was suggested and all i had to do was to agree and follow them since i am hardly in singapore, i'm more like a tourist than anything else to my home country if u ask me...

So Central it is... i met Candice first and the first thing was we stared at each other in disbelief cos we were both wearing grey and white striped polo tees... its the korean style "qing lu zhuang" damn funny!!! luckily she had a jacket to cover up... but since we were the earliest, we decided to walk around a bit to find the restaurant. Our clothings certainly put us in certain limelight... quite paiseh actually... just hoping the other 2 wudnt spot it... but Ramen there was really good, tasty and not too ex for very good food standard...

impromptu was it when joanna suggested watching Avenue Q on thurs when i am around. funny thing is that i din watch it when i had the chance to in London so many times... on the contrary, i am going to watch it back in singapore. and 1-3 dec was decided for a short getaway to bangkok... coming saturday is reserved for tennis and hairy crabs... and thurs is lunch at Gunther's and Avenue Q.. and next sat is going to be go kart at jb and seafood too... super eventful... but super hole in the pocket too... considering the shitty roster that i got... sigh... but i love their company...

Next day was lunch with Dionne, last saw her 2 years ago... so we were just catching up... its good to meet up with old friends, friends whom u really miss and haven seen for a long time... think she is doing well... but maybe its the rigours of the working life, that seemed to have took some shine off her as well... pleasantly surprised that she ended up with Sixian... good for them, they always look good together and seemed to complement each other since the first day i met them, i guess fate has played a trick on them, coming together only after so long... but at least they are at the final destination now... a happy ending i guess :)

Europe's Largest Waterfall - Rheinfalls (Zurich)

2008-11-12T15:07:00.002+08:00

I was always gonna go for sightseeing in zurich, because there is just too much to see... My mind was set on Rheingfalls this time round after seeing so much from thams and carina's photos... den the hotel staff threw up Jungfraouch and that made me stop to think for a moment cos abby dont mind going too... sigh.. couldnt decide at first but in the end, settled for Rheinfalls partly because it hasnt really snowed yet so, the view might not be as nice... i will visit the next time.

the trip was made early in the morning, not too far off, just a tram ride to the train station to take a 40 mins train to Schaffhausen and from there its a 10 mins bus ride... all too easy... the view is really beautiful with all the leaves of the trees turning yellow and red... its those picturesque views that you will see only in postcards, but we are there now!!

Yes, we hear you before we see you. Rheinfalls is also the largest waterfall in Europe. actually it wasnt really that big and wide, but i guess the ability to allow one to get up really close to it and almsot being part of it more than makes up for it. not many people can say that they are in the middle or at the foot of a waterfall afterall. took many pictures anyway, from different angles, different views and there is this little castle at the top of the hilltop, called Laufen. weather was really freezing early in the morning, we were ill-equipped cos the day before wasnt that bad.. but gradually as the sun rises, it became better...

Chief was telling me that i shud visit Interlaken next time cos its a series of 3 lakes each separated by waterfalls... sounds pretty cool to me... i shall put that down in my priority list together with jungfraouch and grindelwald.. more of zurich please.. i dun mind :)

Do I have what it takes??

2008-11-06T17:53:00.002+08:00

was having lunch with Joanna, Candice and Huazai at TCC in Raffles place area... was just a simple lunch but several topics came up, like were they very bitchy when dealing with their subordinates... Joanna mentioned that she often scold her clerks and even the very mild Candice ever scolded someone till she cried...

den we were talking about the trip, tennis session and the taiwan trip next month. on the way back after lunch, Joanna was saying that she is wishing that she wished she isnt working in the CBD area. I had always thought its everyone's wish to work in the CBD area, a place to see and be seen. Some sort of status issue, like a high flyer, earning big bucks... I always thought so and secretly, i also want to be working there... but now after working at my current place for a year plus, i felt like i degenerated, become stupider, less intelligent, less drive. Do i still have what it takes to work in such a competitive society and arena?

I dun want to be consigned to a small little place called the skies, travelling around the world earning that measly few thousand dollars which everyone calls it a dream job. Maybe they are right... i wouldnt know... but i am just not contented with such. I want my own business, i cant wait to get it started and rolling... next year is coming, bond is ending and i am going to be free to move soon. I wanna start thinking and planning for the future... Thams suggested trying to be a pilot, but i dont think thats really my cup of tea unless i am driven to no choice... I want to break free from this current mundane-ness... Its time to wake up... really...

fun week on leave

2008-11-02T22:04:00.002+08:00

had a good time on leave this week.. originally wanted to go HK and look for Yibo and take a break, but the financial crisis meant belt-tightening... the trip was cancelled last min and probably cos i feel like staying in singapore to rest and catch up.

met huazai, joanna and junzhi to go JB last sat, ended up coming back like 2 am, tired but lotsa fun... seafood, supper, shopping, nonsensing... next 2 days was mainly at home lazing, except being out for meals and catching up with different friends...

the impromptu plan was to go bangkok or hk with joanna cos she felt like taking a breather out of singapore, alas when everything was more or less settled, she couldnt get leave on thurs, that has to be scrapped too... too bad...

went for a job on wed, did some statics too.. was seeing stars after that, gone was my fitness and stamina, it was a far cry from what i used to be... and i was aching all over... the side effects of working and being lazy... something must be done, especially urgent when IPPT is coming up... i gotta start exercising to get back to what i was... now i'm just fat and fair.. disgusting.. i miss diving too...

thurs was soccer at tampiness with patrick and gang... super fun, ages since i played soccer, so all the more its enjoyable... scored a wonder goal, took the ball on the turn, flicked the ball up and volleyed the ball at the same time into the bottom corner at halfcourt, everyone's jaw dropped.. haha... damn amazing..

friday, joanna took leave, we went out for catchup with candice, had a fantastic lunch at Ember restaurant, good rich food.. den headed to town for movies, watch max payne... it sucks.. den met huazai for dinner den we watched saw 5, gruesome... but definitely better than max payne... after that we headed for drinks at Blooie, hanged out there till 3plus, sent everyone home and got home myself at 4plus... next day was gathering at candice house... watched a movie, 10 promises to you... about an owner's 10 promises to her dog called socks... very touching, i teared... after that was dinner at chinatown, wanted to eat hairy crab but couldnt get a table cos we din make prior reservations, ended up having hawker food before heading back to candice's place for Mj till 3plus and got home and slept at 5plus... before waking up for soccer at 7plus... that pretty up sums up the week of leave.. fun fun fun...

planning to go taipei with with in dec... hopefully i get a good roster which i can tag along, but in any case.. me and joanna are going over to shanghai to find candice in april next year... cant wait...

One night in JB...

2008-10-26T02:25:00.004+08:00

just came back from taipei, hardly got any rest before i jetted out of the house to meet my jc classmates for a trip to JB. counting on my fingers, the last time i went to JB was... close to 4 years ago... can you believe it?

anyway, wanna thank them for organizing cos we wanted to meet up and go in for seafood dinner. 4pm at marsiling was the venue and meeting time. Junzhi came along to pick us up - Joanna, kwanhua and me. the usual laugher and dissing of each other was meted out throughout the trip and can never be missed whenever joanna and junzhi is ard or when junzhi and kwanhua is around. we had a good time laughing all the way till we reach home. a little bit of shopping was done before, we went off in search of a nice place for dinner based on the recommendations of Junzhi's pharmacist. its call 3 "lou", just off the beaten track and apparently according to him the seafood is damn nice, and fresh. we ordered quite a lot, coconut, chilli crabs, lala, bee hoon, rice, buns, some veg, prawns.. actually to our disappointment. the food was only so-so and they are all not that fresh. feeling disgusted and cheated, we decided to go to taman sentosa for 2nd round. its from the usual stall that i used to frequent, we ordered buttered shellfish and stingray... yums.. the difference in the level of cooking is obvious... joanna was claiming we were carrotheads to believe that pharmacist. wasted money on not so nice food...

we soon became harold and kuma of JB as we went in search of this nice chill out place that joanna recommend cos she used to go there very often with her friends. we went round and round in circles for countless times searching taman sentosa and taman perlinghi to find that place, after a few phonecalls den we finally found the place. Well, not to disappoint although the signboard suggested something not very good and to a certain extent, pathetic. the interior of the place was nicely done and kinda unique where u gotta remove your footwear before u can enter a "room" to order and chill... and thats what we did, sharing many stories, many photos and of course ghosts stories that freaked everyone out...

they went for the usual stuff before proceeding to the wanton mee noodles to end off the supper... the trip was really fun and i had very good company in joanna, kwanhua and junzhi who is so kind to drive us ard... we are meeting up soon... fri to go out, saturday mj and tennis soon i guess... thoroughly enjoyed myself today thou very tired...

Happy in Taipei...

2008-10-25T19:18:00.001+08:00

always excited to go back to taipei, especially after the super fun trip in may with my batchies...

ximending was on the agenda and first stop as we were thinking of things to do first before dinner... Ah Zhong Mian Xian immediately came to mind as we sought something light to eat first. as usual the girls couldnt resist shopping in the ximen area before we headed over to Kampai for barbecued japanese food, based on recommendations from Angel. It turned out to be a very nice place, warm and crowded. there wasnt any seats or table for us in the first place as we tried to make reservations from the hotel but upon knowing that we are tourists from singapore, the owner of Kampai tried to squeeze the 5 of us in, so that we can enjoy the atmosphere and experience what its all about. I must say that the beef at that place is really really good and tasty, super succulent, soft and sweet, the difference in the quality is all blatantly obvious. One of the main reason why this place is so popular is because of its program at 8pm. the waiter and waitresses will be hosts of the program as they introduced each and every table and ours was kinda in the spotlight because we are tourists from singapore and was very warmly welcomed by the rest of the locals when we were introduced. after each and every table was introduced. there was this challenge of french kissing for 10 seconds and for every couple that manage to complete the task, a plate of ox's tongue is on the house. of course there are a few couples which did it. After which was the toasting where everyone raised their mugs and kampai, the next drink was on the house from the owner... no wonder this place popular... Angel and me loved the place, think Bin, Eileen and Tisha enjoyed themselves very much too... thanks for the recommendations Angel, there was photowhoring for memories sake, and we made friends with the waiter who was serving us, his name is Ah Ji... gave us his namecard so that we can contact him the next time we come... such a nice chap... talk about the warmth of the taiwanese people...

after that was going to the famous shilin market, more shopping and food followed... needless to say... before we retired for the night. the next day, woke up at noon time to visit Jay Chou's restaurant along Zhong Xiao Dong Lu... being Jay's fans, we naturally go a little crazy and hope that we can catch him there... but well, who can be so lucky all the time.. we merely had photos to show for our trip there.. but the food is real tasty thou.. and of all people who walk in.. i met shaosheng there... so surprised to see friends overseas, esp when u dunno that they are there, and they happen to walk into the same restaurant and at the same time... something which amazes me till now... after lunch we went our separate ways, as i wanted to go to taipei 101, angel is going for haircut and eileen and tisha went shopping. took lotsa photos at taipei 101, before i headed over to meet angel to go find the girls together. at the hair saloon, we saw Heidi there and according to Angel, Jenny was there before her.. hehehz.. waited for quite a while before i grew a bit irritated by my own hair that i asked for a haircut too... it was a simple nothing special haircut but i must say that the service is really good... i had the longest hairwash and massage ever at a salon and i really like my hair now.. though the hairstylist merely layered my hair all the way, something which is very normal but its kinda refreshing.. maybe its a psychological effect... but least i know how to tell the hairdresser next time i go for a haircut.. just layer it all the way...

it started drizzling after we are done.. cos of that eileen and tisha went back to the hotel first... me and angel craving for local food, wandered around before deciding to go to ximen again for some lu lou fan and local fried oysters and smelly beancurd..that pretty much summarizes the trip this time round... one more coming up next month... i hope its fun too... and i hope i get to see the pretty hotel staff... this time i must make sure i take photo with her and get her name... she works in the afternoon shift 2pm onwards till late evening i think.. slim and spots a pony tail..

so far away...

2008-10-16T17:33:00.003+08:00

since meeting you that day.. i have been thinking of you... not head over heels but you were there in my mind... so good to see u again.. strangers at the start... warmed up, close and pushy at the end... a bit flirty and playful maybe...

i know you are not ready... but i cannot fathom you... i cannot read you, dunno what you are thinking... i mustn't appear too eager, besides i dunno what you think of me... exchange Jay Chou's songs is blissful... especially 周杰倫 - 06.失落非主流
was renamed from 说好的幸福呢... thats your favourite song for now...

说好的幸福呢 9:00 AM

一堆绘画凌乱着
在这个时刻
我想起斑鹃般的白鸽
甜蜜散落了
情绪摸名地拉扯
我还爱你呢
但你断断续续唱着歌
假装没事了
时间过了走了
爱情面临选择
你冷了倦了我哭了
你开始的不快乐
你用卡片信写着
有谁爱只给到这真的痛了
怎么了你累了
说好的幸福呢
我懂了不说了
爱断了梦怨了
开始你不该信疑一心述着你再不舍
那些爱过的感觉都太深刻我都还记得
你不等了说好的幸福呢
我错了泪干了放手了后悔了
只是回忆那音乐盒还旋转着
要怎么停呢

Random People @ a dinner... A Reunion at Timbre...

2008-10-11T20:33:00.003+08:00

Just touch down from london, ling asked me for ktv... i am really tempted.. but fatigue got the better of me... in the end... suppose to meet for dinner... arranged to meet at cineleisure for japanese pasta... and meet yoyo for drinks after that... reaching cineleisure, i got a nasty shock cos out of the group of people, ling was the only one i know, the rest are just random...

a bit sian lah.. thought can catch up with friends, in the end turn out gotta entertain others oso... not exactly in the mood cos of the tiring flight i guess. and not especially i haven seen yoyo for so long...

dinner was good.. the japanese pasta is real yummy... which probably explains the queue... after that we were suppose to head to timbre for some drinks... Ling says her friends is playing there.. upon reaching there... ling was talking to someone who looked damn familiar... i couldnt believe my eyes when i took a 2nd look.. it was Yang Xi... he still pretty much look the same except bigger in size... i was surprised how small this world is... and ling couldnt believe that i knew him and haven seen him for 10 years.

and yeah.. he is doing performance full time now, performing at different nightspots with his bandmate Nug, i must say they really can sing... i enjoy their singing... i shall patronize more often... sitting down by singapore river... nice singing.. and a beer.. good for relaxing... i was very happy last night... firstly i saw yoyo outside... den i met a pally who was missed for 10 years... and he was damn shock to know that yibo got married... den it was kaiying's brithday, so coincidental that she was there celebrating with her colleagues... and she is yongqi's exgf... den after we were leaving, i saw huazai in his friend's car and he called out to me... wat a coincidental night.. and i saw someone from hall too.. just cant remember his name..

after that was supper at macs cos yoyo got sudden craving for macs and after that weiling sent her home... i will post the pics soon.. and send yang xi a copy of them... wat a wonderful night... and i actually miss yoyo, and i told her about it this morning, she din believe me.. and i had to play along that i was joking...

London Revisited...

2008-10-10T17:32:00.000+08:00

been ages since i last go London, didnt realise how much i miss the place till i am there.. COusins who were there studying are now working... friends who weren't there, are now there working oso... and as usual there isnt enough time to meet up with everyone else. Elisa, an exchange student during my uni years, i din get to see her this time round. not Yunshan or Stephen, not Christina who is in Reading, neither is Lawrence and company... Kelvin in Cambridge and lots others... sorry guys, not that i dun want to but i am suppose to run an errand for my aunt, thats why i couldnt find time.

interestingly, i found my namesake on flight. first that i met someone who has the same name as me.. well not exactly but at least its the same spelling. so we are damn fascinated and couldn't stop calling each other Jingpei... oh... by the way.. Jingpei is a She.. and surprisingly, she stay damn near me!!! Another surprise in store is that my FIN, Laura, was on the flight too.. super senior, super nice and though she hardly remembers me, she still recognises me...

met Jillian almost immediately after touchdown for dinner... had to pass her the stuff that auntie asked me to bring over. After dinner, we strolled around River Thames, updating each other of our lives and visited Tower Bridge, which probably is the last thing in London city itself which i have yet to visit. The next day i met the guys for breakfast, typical English breakfast with muffins. Undecided where to go, the original plan was to go to Windsor Castle, but i guess we all woke up too late to make the trip there. The alternative was to go to Greenwich, but none of the rest seemed too keen. Irwin went alone to Wimbledon, to visit the tennis courts. According to Jill, Hampstead is a very nice and beautiful place. Bath is also very beautiful. all those are added to my places to visit for my next London trip. I cant wait to go back actually. In the end, the rest of the day was spent wandering around London City and revisiting the sights and of course the St Paul's Cathedral. Lotsa photo taking cos i cant wait to test my new camera. later in the evening, its down to Oxford Circus for some last minute shopping and we wanted to visit this restaurant called Cha Cha Moon which according to Jill has very nice food.
But upon reaching there, the queue itself is almost as much as the people dining in there, we had to give up and settle for something else before heading back. That briefly summed up this eventful London trip and with the promise of more to come the next time i go...

Places to visit at the next London trip: Cambridge, Wimbledon, Greenwich, Bath, Windsor Castle and things to do... watch a play and open my bank account. not forgetting walking through Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square.

Maldives and Hong Kong

2008-10-04T12:50:00.000+08:00

this took a while...
but its gonna be short and sweet...
after growing so cliquish with Viviane on the Houston flight, she asked me to change to her Maldives flight to go Maldives together... and so i did, surprisingly besides her that was on the flight, my batchgirl serene was on the flight too and another super nice girl, Shan Shan, whom i worked with before and last but not least, Samuel whom i went Shinjuku and Los Angeles with. thought its gonna be a super fun flight with so many people i know around.. but the other colleague didnt wanna change flight with me, cos its his first time there, so Samuel changed with me cos he wasnt keen in the first place. All in all it was a fun relaxed trip, a beer for chill out after touching down... waking up early in the morning for sunrise... breakfast with my batchgirl at the beach and catching up... spent the afternoon at the beach with the rest of the colleagues, fun fun fun... except that i realised how much weight i actually put on in Paul's photos, its time for exercise and healthy lifestyle... I wish i had more time in Maldives though, i can go to other islands to visit and do diving, i haven dived for so long....

Called up for Hong Kong night stop, its absolutely sinful when you just made a resolution to lose weight on the previous flight and there they send you to the land of yummy food. Supposed to meet Serene (another friend) there for supper and Yibo who went back to HK after wedding, but time not permitting, i only managed to go to Espirit Outlet and splurged the entire allowance there.. sigh... then it was supper, had wanton mee and who could resist Hui Lok Shan mango desserts.. went with Celest and Jaz for desserts after wanton mee... okies.. there goes my resolution... after that Jaz brought us to "his" pub at Miramar Hotel to chill out. the variety of drinks there is certainly very different from those in Singapore. I had a Sake Pomelo cocktail...totally refreshing and different. that calls for the night before we went back to hotel for the much needed rest.

A buddy's wedding... 27/09/2008

2008-09-28T00:33:00.003+08:00

The wedding of the first of my growing up buddies... Yibo...
feeling guilty that i had felt them out of my life largely for the past few years... cos of school... hall... and now work... i dun join them for the usual sunday soccer anymore... its sinful.. especially when we are there for each other since sec1.. been thru so much together.. skip class together to play soccer even right till jc... that now i hardly see them anymore.. hardly talk to them anymore... even though they had continued to meet regularly every sunday to play soccer... these are the people that i grow up with... how could i???

if not for Yibo's wedding today, i dunno when i will be able to see all of them together again... how trustworthy these group of friends has been when Yibo has been away and he left morst of the wedding preparations to their hands and everything went off without a glitch... not everyone will do that for you.. only your true friends.. only your friends whom u grow up with.. whom u can really call brothers... i guess that is what that has been missing in my life recently...

but it just feels so weird that someone who is so close to me is getting married... its kinda different from one who is your classmate for that few years... different from your cousin cos they are your relatives and there is a natural bond.. but its someone whom you grown up with and whoever they are, has shaped you to be who you are today... i dunno if the rest has come to think of it that way, but i did... maybe to some of them, they might think that i have drifted from the group, but they are all very dear to me... like how i made the effort to go to the church wedding early morning, though certain parts of me has been lacking in my efforts in friendship with them... nonetheless, they hold an unwaivering position in my heart, something which nobody can replace...

Besides, Yibo being the first of us to get married... i am glad that he hasnt changed over the years.. not like anyone of us do... we are all pretty much the same as far as we remember... maybe drifted apart cos of work or other reasons... It touches my heart deeply when Yibo took the drink we concocted for him and he said " Jingpei!! I trust you ah... dont sabo me!!" its just so him, over all these years... he never changed... it touches somewhere deep in me... thanks for the trust buddy... and he drank it... with no complains... that is wat brothers are for.. that is how much trust we have in each other.. no questions asked...

i must make more efforts to meet them... i really really must, i know i cannot afford to lose them, i know i simply cant... Thanks for the gathering buddies... thanks for not forgetting me buddies... thanks for inviting me Yibo... i really miss you guys.. i really do... i can considering giving up Eusoffianos just to get back our friendship... just to get back our 14 years of friendships... friendships that lasted more than half my lifetime... somethings never change... thanks yogi, zhiwei, yangfeng, zhenfu, zhiyuan, yizhou, KK, seng, Kapo, shangyang, gum, yibo..

Congratulations Yibo and Loretta....!!!

A proper outing

2008-09-27T02:06:00.002+08:00

it was a night that was long overdue...
finally met Charlotte for dinner after a long while... couple that with the deafening sounds of high speed F1 racers flying by and crowds trying to catch a glimpse of the cars.. we had dinner at bugis... before she suggested chilling out at clarke quay... i was thinking of taking a cab down cos my poor dainty girl was in high heels.. but she insisted on walking...
and walk she did.. all the way to clarke quay with no complains... kudos to her.. we walked around a bit... clarke quay is indeed a very lively place... i haven been there much.. but much has changed... finally we settled on chilling out at Atticam talking cock and people watch for a while before i send her home... I am happy to be her sugar daddy for the night, cos it was her birthday anyway...
hope more of such outings are to come in the near future...

Moscow – Houston – Dubai

2008-09-25T14:49:00.000+08:00

I was not the least excited to come for this trip actually, though each and every station at this trip is my first time. Partly was probably because I am suffering from the post syndrome of missing her and I feel like staying in Singapore. Surprisingly, I didn't really miss her much for the entire trip until I was reminded by Viviane when she asked if I am attached, even that was pretty much ok until I saw her adding me in Friendster. I thought it was a glimmer of hope when she had a change of heart. But I guess my actions was misinterpreted, she had no lack of suitors, what am I to her afterall.

Thankfully, this set of colleagues are super nice people, cocksters and friends whom you can joke to and tell nonsense to. I found my confidant in Viviane, who is like a buddy who knows me for years and we can spend hours talking on the phone nonstop. Verlin and Johan were super funny and nonsensical, so is Sebastian, they are the Wu Jian Dao buddies. Mike is serious faced but super easy-going as well. The rest of the girls are just as nice, esp Jolene and Michelle whom I worked with before, and Esther who is freaking cute and funny like a little girl. There is Emily and Senly too. Practically almost everyone went out for sightseeing in Moscow at the Red Square, the most disappointing thing was that my camera cranked up on me and I didn't manage to take any photos, I had to rely on the girls and my Hp to dish out some photos. I hate going on long flight without a camera, not when I dunno when is the last time I can get to come back again. I got some photo collection job to do after this and I had to spend a bomb to get a new camera. Seriously, I think I have to come back again and redo sightseeing all over again. Moving on to Houston, there wasn't anything much to see except the mega shopping mall which was directly opposite the hotel and we spent the 2 days there hanging out and eating and shopping together. I was on the verge of buying my beloved Juliet shades until Viviane stopped me and said that I don't really need it, which is quite true as well considering I got Yibo’s wedding to attend and a new camera to buy. There is no need to add to my expenses, I gotta try to send my camera in for repair too, in that case I will have 2 cameras which one can be a spare. Coming back to Moscow, I thought I had a chance to visit the Kremlin at night and catch the night view of St Basil’s Catheral, but no one was game enough to go out with me and the weather is too cold, plus I was without my camera, everything just seemed bad. I guess I have to wait till the next time I am here before I get to see everything again. Today was spent at the gym and talking to Viviane on the phone for the whole day, its Dubai tomorrow, I will be meeting Charles. Actually I was glad that finally I am going home, but its kinda sad too cos this set of colleagues is really nice and I know I am going to miss them when I go to the next flight, esp Viviane and the rest of the girls and Johan, Verlin and Sebastian. Hopefully I will get to meet them soon. Viviane asked me to change to her Male flight, I just checked, Sam is on the flight, so is Serene and Shan Shan, hopefully I get to change to that. It will be fun with all of them around. I will miss talking to Viviane, she is same age and same month of birthday as me, but she seemed to have gone through a lot more than me, its just enjoyable to talk to her and she made me feel like quitting… dunno if that's a good thing or not but she invited me to visit her at Pittsburgh when I go New York next time. I will miss her when she leave…

In Dubai, we went out with the senior colleagues for dinner, actually we were the only junior ones and of course we were the butt of all jokes. But it was ok, they are just being funny and all but I was really looking forward to meeting Charles. I haven’t seen him for so long and partly I was looking forward to sitting in the Boxster but since Viviane wanted to come along, he had to drive the other car so that it can seat all of us. Surprise and surprise, there was someone else in the car, Carrie was the name and soon as I entered the car, I could sense that they were something more than just normal friends. But Carrie is a nice girl, easy going and crappy just like Viviane, and they hit off real fast and soon exchanged numbers. Amazing huh, because of the presence of the two girls, catching up with Charles is kept to the minimal cos we hardly had private moments to ourselves except when we were walking in front while the girls are doing shopping. Still we manage to get in a few words and from the horse’s mouth I knew that life got better for him since her arrival though they weren’t officially together yet. For me, I just told him what happened in Moscow, seems like I gotten over Cheryl, she is passé just as I am to her and I seriously don't think that we will remain as friends even though we said we will be. That until maybe something happens and she starts talking to me on her own accord or me doing vice versa. Kinda sad how things work out but I guess I have to move on. He told me to go after Viviane cos she seems not bad, but she is attached I told him. But these few days we were hanging out like we were together, talking on the phone nonstop for hours and hours in the day and before we sleep. She calls to ask if we are going out, joins me to take a look around the city, crap and makes fun of each other. I know that she doesn't really have me in her heart, cos she misses her bf and she is going away with him to Pittsburgh. I don't think she wants to give that up. So I am enjoying her company, honestly, it feels like she is my gf for these few days and I am grateful for that, and that has probably helped me tide over my sadness because she is always around. Not to forget that I had to climb into a dark hole in between the rocks cos she dropped her camera pouch in. think these are things which makes the friendship memorable… I think we are going to hang out for a while, meet up during the off days. And she asked me to change flight to do Male with her of which I am trying. Hopefully I get to cos Shan Shan, Serene and Samuel is on the flight too. I bet it will be fun. I have to thank Charles and Carrie for showing us around, the famous places in Dubai and the atas places for chilling out though seriously I cannot remember their names but I gotta ask them again. The bad thing is that I din have my camera with me and I had to use Viviane’s so all the trouble of getting my photos from her. We visited the Birch the “sail” hotel in Dubai and the other top 2 hotels besides it, which one I cannot remember the name and the other is Jumeirah. Visited a beautiful mosque and the shopping streets, the biggest shopping mall in Dubai called M.O.E, Mall of Emirates and some chill out places which is ranked number 1 in the world but it wasn't open cos its Ramadan period. Actually seeing how well he is doing, I am wishing that I can work in Dubai for a while, not exactly a dream place to work in but it pays well and I would love the experience of working in one of the booming cities in the world, it will certainly look good on my resume and maybe its time that I start looking around for jobs. And to my utter dismay, the units that we planned to buy raised by 3.5 times, I think by being hesitant, we missed a wonderful opportunity and for each of us, we just missed out on making 200k on resale, such a heartbreak and disappointment.

Wo gei ni, zhui hou de teng ai shi shou fang kai

2008-09-22T14:48:00.000+08:00

She finally replied today, she said she wasn't at the comp when I msg her… I think I really have to give her up, she didn't feel like talking to me, I can feel it, though she didn't say so… she din even feel like sending me her roster, she din feel like seeing me. She thought I was sticky, cos I have been leaving her msges on msn and smses. Cos I offered to pick her up from work. It was a short conversation but extremely hurtful, maybe like what the others say, she is too playful and she doesn't appreciate what I am doing for her. To her, it seems like I am very sticky. She said she is clear of what she wants so she will see me around next time. Its upsetting to hear that cos its so un-reciprocated for so much feelings that I put it, so much for liking her. She merely told me that she don't want to start anything with me and she don't want to be anything more than just friends. I guess my showing of love and concern for her simply rub off the wrong way. There is really nothing more I can do now cos she is simply rebellious and what I can only do is to be a nonchalant friend, someone who scoffs at her and keeps my distance until one day maybe she really wakes up that is if I still likes her till then. I dunno what to feel now, be resistant to her, or to feel hurt… it's a confusion inside me all over again… but I finally gotten over her.. I think…

upside down...

2008-09-20T19:04:00.002+08:00

in houston now...
will blog about the trip later..
i thought i had managed to cast my emotions aside...
not forget you... not stop liking you... definitely no no..
but having learnt not to be affected by you, for the first time in close to 2 months, i finally manage to stop missing you. Yes, you were always there in my mind... but i manage to stop missing you... but why did u suddenly add me in friendster and still ignore me? because of the little card and magnet that i sent you?
you turned my life upside down again... created another upheaval again...
sometimes i wish i can say i hate myself for loving you... but i cant bear to hate, at least not with anything to do with you...

you took my breath away, when my whole world was grey, you gave me everything and a little bit more.. and when its cold at night, you stayed right by my side... you became the meaning of my life... you became the meaning of my life..

i really wish u will respond soon...

Tonight...

2008-09-13T02:46:00.000+08:00

Tonight…
I thot something good might have happened since my girl came online… thought that she will talk to me… but I didn't get any response from her… I really wonder what the hell happened… why am I getting this kind of response? That I couldn't even talk to her as a friend anymore? Its so heart wrenching…

Tonight,
I witnessed how a moment of folly and a mistake made in an earlier part of one’s life could have such serious repercussions, destroying a family, driving people crazy beyond the point of redemption… breaking hearts and causing mayhem… How a person’s emotions without letting it out could cause one to turn against his family…

Tonight… is one of the worst nights of my life… comparable to what happened 14 years ago, the night before my PSLE…

2008-09-09T22:14:00.002+08:00

i miss you... the times we had together... i wonder why its so hard...
i regretted the taking the step back...
i wish to see you again...
it has been awhile since i last met you... i miss you... even the smallest thing reminds me of you...
have been trying to keep myself busy... but i still cant forget you...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know how you got under my skin, now i don't know how to stop thinking about you. I guess you've got me.

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Darkness around me, cold rain on the grass soaking through to my feet, and so few stars out. I imagine you, and let my feelings for you well up inside me. Love, the purest of affection, collects and words of joy tremble upon my lips. Now wholly alive with thoughts of you, I let reality sink in. This damnable situation sets in my mind, and mingle with my feelings for you. I hesitate for only a moment and in the moment that follows, I unleash a howl of heart-wrenching agony. Never have I heard my voice this way, so loud and strong, yet tinged with frightening weakness and the tears that fell from my eyes, it is more an indulgence than it is a means of freedom. I wish you back in my arms again... I am at a loss... a walking zombie...

Won't go home without you

2008-09-08T13:32:00.002+08:00

Won't go home without you by Maroon 5..

Maroon 5 - Won't go home without you

I asked her to stay but she wouldn't listen
she left before I had the chance to say
the words that would mend the things that were broken
but now it's far too late she's gone away

every night you cry yourself to sleep
thinking why does this happen to me
why does every moment have to be so hard to believe that

it's not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you

the taste of your breath I'll never get over
the noises that you made kept me awake
the weight of the things that remained unspoken
built up so much it crushed us everyday

every night you cry yourself to sleep
thinking why does this happen to me
why does every moment have to be so hard to believe that

it's not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
it's not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you

Of all the things I've felt but never really shown
perhaps the worst is that I ever let you go
I should not ever let you go

it's not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
it's not over tonight
just give me one more chance to make it right
I may not make it through the night
I won't go home without you
and I won't go home without you and I won't go home without you and I won't go home without you

i think thats my fave song for this period of time... truly reflecting what i am feeling and depicting me almost fully, minus the crying in the night... amidst all the heartaches... trying to go out meet up with my friends... catching up and partly to take my mind off things... there has been progress, i think i am less indulging in it... but i still cant help but miss her... at times its so bad that i felt like seeing her there and then... or i get so emo suddenly that my emotions just plummeted to a low... i hate this feeling... but ames told me to enjoy this lovesickness cos i will miss it when its gone... i dunno man.. its a sucky feeling, she does make sense but i am wishing that things will get better... people say she is playing hard to get... a buddy says i have to work very hard to prove myself... another says i need to give her space to think... of which i am trying very hard to accomplish them all... but i dun think she knows or understands... she seemed to be living her own life, thats in my opinion..

i am deeply troubled inside, ames feels like slapping me, she cannot believe i let myself into this state... i cannot believe it oso, but i am just attracted to her.. i fell for her and got ran over by a truck... maybe i can only wait and see how things go...

I was at breeze bar last night after a friend's bday... met Kirsten, Glenn, Tim and Darren Lim Minglun, chilled out, talk cock... chitchatting... no airs, easy going.. casual clothing. nice beach chill out bar.. i like it there.. i might go back again soon... think i need it.. i have been mind fucked... sadly...

Agony

2008-09-02T06:50:00.000+08:00

Every moment is you… every breath is you… I think I am engulfed by you… I miss you so much, I know I promised to start everything off as friends from now onwards… you were on my mind all these while even though I am 100,000 miles away in Rome… I am wondering how you are getting along in Singapore, what is your standby call up gonna be… I miss you so much, but I had to restrain myself from smsing you and contacting you too much, to avoid putting pressure on you, simply for the fear that you might avoid me, just as what I did to others. Now I know what torture it is to miss someone but you cant tell them about it… though I am exploring Rome, I am wishing that you are here with me so that we can walk this historic city, the beautiful architecture, this romantic little city…

The set of colleagues are super nice, fun to hang out with, but throughout the whole journey of 12 hours to getting here, you were running through my mind as I was working… The excitement of getting to Rome pales to the point of stale in comparison in my pining for you. I still remember the sweetness of seeing you on flight during Johannesburg, its just such comfort to know that you are somewhere nearby, even though not working together, its good enough for me to know that I can run to your side to protect you if anything is to happen. So different to be able to see your smile at an instant, I guess you don't know how much it lights me up just to see you smile… I miss your smile, I miss your presence, I miss your candidness and your callousness, I miss your nonsense and I miss hugging you…

Halfway around the world, I am wishing that you miss me too, even though its just that little bit… I would be so glad to be somewhere in that little corner of your mind… being missed, being thought about…

Rome - Florence (Roma - Firenze)

2008-09-02T06:49:00.000+08:00

Rome

Touching down in Rome with a heavy heart… matters of the heart is something which I always have problem managing well. I think I must say I suck at it. First time at Rome, there is no choice but to explore the beautiful city. A little rest and off we go. Armed with map and marking out the major landmarks to visit, I must say that days here is not enough. Piazza Navona was our first stop, it's a little square with 2 fountains and an obelisk. We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in the area, with a reputation of 108 years old, the restaurant was set up in 1900. it served very tasty pasta.. one of the better ones that I tasted. After that was passing by the Pantheon enroute to Spanish Steps, otherwise known as Trinita dei Monti. It's a famous shopping district with all the branded goods congregated in a single long stretch of road. Pretty much like in Milan. On the way there. We past by a few more prominent landmarks like Palazzo Chigi, Palazzo Montecitorio and Piazza Colonna. Nobody should miss out on Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain). The place is packed with people, tourists and street baskers and wedding couple. It's a beautiful sight and seriously in Rome, the buildings make you wonder how people in the past manage to sculpt and build these architectures. Trevi Fountain is also a very famous wishing fountain which makes people’s wishes come true if they flick a coin into the fountain while back facing the fountain. But as to why back facing, I have no idea to the traditions or reasons behind it, but I myself has got a few wishes to make, of course I couldn't miss out on the chance to make my wishes at this famous Trevi Fountain. I think I shall keep my wishes secret for now until they are fulfilled. That's how it works most of the time isn’t it?

On the way back, we visited Colonna Traiano, Mercati Traianei and the beautiful beautiful Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele. Too bad that my camera ran out of battery, I only managed a few photos of the super beautiful building. There was the beautiful Quirinale that we passed by while we took a wrong turn, but didn't have a chance to take any photos. We shall visit that place again. We had to rush back to catch our bus so there wasn't enough time to visit other beautiful landmarks but it shall be done on the next trip here. We passed by the beautiful Ara Coeli, Campidoglio, which reminded me that I must get the photo from Jolene. And who can miss out on the Colosseum in Rome. Though we were late and missed out on entering the Colosseum, we still manage to take some photos of the place… Beautiful!!! More places to visit on the next trip here… Vatican City is definitely top priority as we are going to travel out to Florence tomorrow and today is Friday, the Vatican City is closed for Pope’s prayers. There is also the unique Isola, the castle on a little island in the middle of the river and Piazzadei Popolo according to one of the Captains… basically there is still a lot of places to visit for the next trip… but its Florence tomorrow with the help of an Italian tour guide, Marco, who is Sheila’s friend. Hope its fun…

Monte Varchi is the first stop of the day, if anyone is wondering what is that place, well… it is the factory outlet for Prada and Miu Miu.. I must say it's a girl’s shopping paradise… the stuff were really cheap there… for the same Miu Miu bag that Claris bought in Milan, its about a third of the price if you get it there, different colour though… But who cares?? Jolene got herself 2 more Prada wallets on top of her Gucci yesterday. Ling got the same exact Miu Miu bag as Claris, brown in colour though. Sheila got a few Prada bags and wallets, though some were on other people’s request. Marco and me stayed well clear, except that I almost fell prey to a pair of Prada shades which was really really nice. After that, we headed to Firenze (the old Italian name for Florence). Being told that Florence is one of the most beautiful city in Italy together with Rome and Venice, I was really excited to get there and see for myself. Actually reaching there… It was slightly disappointing, maybe because we were only in the city centre, there wasn't really that much to see except the typical statues that can be found in different parts of Italy. Until we see the Duomo (or rather Domini), the largest Duomo in Italy, even bigger than that of the famous one in Milan. It is really beautiful, the dome and the colour combination made it stood out like a sore thumb amidst the rest of the dull coloured European buildings. Went in to pray, before taking a walk around, saw a flea market which was not often seen in the rest of Europe, and yes its just like the typical pasar malam that you get in Singapore. After that, we moved on to the famous shopping area on the bridge. It's a really broad bridge and the view and scenery of the river that passes through it is really magnificent. As usual, we took photos of it, non-stop. Then we saw a parade procession where people were decked in olden days costume and swinging the flag of Florence. After that, it was desserts at a cafe which serve fantastic tiramisu (meaning “up your day”). It was hitting the road back to Rome after that… the girls were so tired that they fell asleep on my shoulders… it was that time that I wished you where there together with me, going through the day, seeing the beautiful places and taking photos together… I wish that day will come soon… sitting in the car for 3 hours, how I was wishing that it was you resting your head on my shoulders, just like before… how I miss you…

Must remember to get Marco’s contacts from Sheila and the photos from Jolene, Ling and Sheila… my camera is going, I think its almost time to get a new one soon… sigh…I love my camera…

She said...

2008-08-28T10:23:00.001+08:00

She said…

Haven been here in while.. my flights have been jammed packed… and I been to a few nice places like Johannesburg and Manchester which I haven’t blogged yet… not that I am not intending to… but I feel that this post takes precedent above the rest…

Waking up this morning at 5am without having to work is pretty torturous… considering that I just came back from Manchester yesterday and I am flying off to Rome tonight. But the fact that I am meeting her makes it all the more sweeter and more bearable… I haven’t seen her in almost a week since we got together in Johannesburg on 19th Aug. I don’t know I am a fool or I am being just silly, how could I indulge myself in believing that two can end up together after doing just 1 flight together and hardly friends to begin with… but it did happen… I like her… and according to her, she likes me as well…

Her life seems complicated… with all the past relationships and the controversies surrounding her, am I being silly to fall in love with her. In Manchester, my own mind was about her, wondering how she is and things like that… the normal stuff that a bf would wonder about a gf… even more so when she practically disappeared on me without replying smses or picking up calls. Gloominess clouds my mind, I being to wander if she is regretting our decision to begin, afterall everything happened in a whirlwind and I mean everything…being friends, dating to getting attached all happened in that few days… super condensed, super summary…

Somehow my worst fears came true… my sixth sense for this kinda jeopardy in bgr is always damn accurate… just like in the past with Maria… she told me that she felt everything happened too fast, she like me but she doesn’t want us to end up like her past relationships where there wasn’t any solid foundation to fall back on… she doesn’t wanna lose me as a friend, not like she want to treat me as a friend but she doesn’t want everything to end there if the relationship doesn’t work out… she said she is apprehensive because she is very playful now, she is not ready for a relationship. Lingering in her, are the post effects of the last relationship, she thought she had gotten over it while we were together in JNB, but after she came back to Singapore, when she is all alone again, she felt it coming back and partly cos of that she doesn’t want to be a gf who cannot totally commit to me. Holding her back is also the fact that she is going to Melbourne to study. She is going to leave on the first week of oct, 4th or 5th Oct, gonna be there for a year. I guess she doesn’t trust long distance relationship. She said that she doesn’t want to be a gf who doesn’t tell anything to me cos we don’t have a friendship to begin with, she wants to be someone who can talk everything to me, from the most crap topics to anything serious. She wants to be fair to me, doesn’t want to hurt me and wants to be fair to herself as well. It will be better if we start off as friends again, and see how things progress from there… I can see where she is coming from and I fully understand that, I think I like her enough to say that I don’t wanna lose her after being together with her.. albeit such a short time.

She asked: “what do you like about me?” at that point of time, I could only tell her… “feeling lor” but now, I can tell her that her cheerful disposition, bubbly nature, candidness and her sweet smile brightens me up, though I dunno much about her, I am observing and learning about her. Originally, today my intention was to ask her to maintain our r/s and we try to develop from there, but she told me that she might run away and hide from me if I press her too much. That brought a smile on my face, cos I see myself in her… I saw what I would do or what I did in what she said… she said she is not ready… and from that moment, I relented… I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her in the long term, I would rather take the risk to be her friend for now, to woo her all over again, just like brand new… give her the confidence to tide over what happened and to believe in me…to trust in me that I will love her and protect her, I can come to terms with her past, simply because I think I really fallen for her…

I am sure that she has no lack of suitors, I guess all I can do is to go after her like a boy who found a girl he likes and tries to win her heart…. If it has to be like in the movies 50 first dates, so be it… I think I have set my heart on it… Yes, it is a heartbreak now… but there is something more important that I have to do now, that is to win her heart and give her the confidence and reassurance that things will be able to work out…

At the very least, she wants to talk to me and before leaving, she ask me to sms her when I reach home… is that a sign of care and concern? I really hope so… cos she forgo meeting her mum who is leaving this morning to LA to have breakfast with me… I certainly hope things are picking up…

Manchester - Liverpool

2008-08-27T06:49:00.000+08:00

Second time to Manchester, originally, I had planned to go to Lake district on this trip but the long journey and the prospect of travelling alone is a major turnoff… in the end, had to settle for a trip to a nearer place – the beautiful city of Liverpool. It was an on and off affair, cos I was undecided about going to Liverpool or staying to explore Manchester itself… in the end, on the very same day on touching down, I headed out to Liverpool with another colleague. Armed with nothing but a heart of exploration and visiting new places, we set off for the train station to catch a train to Liverpool which is 50 mins away. Reaching the place, we bought ourselves a map and begin planning where to visit. Anfield wasn't on the agenda not because that I am a Man U fan, but simply because this was an impromptu trip and we were more keen to explore the city and see the prominent features of the city. Seeing the various important historical buildings, nobody can come to Liverpool and miss out on the famous Albert Dock. Basically, we trekked around the city for the whole afternoon, grabbing street food along the way. We were lucky to arrive on the day where Liverpool is holding the largest music festival in Europe. Liverpool has just been crowned the most cultural city in Europe. Giants stages were set up everywhere in the city and roads were closed and most shops were closed for the event as well. But everyone was out in the streets, listening, dancing to the live concert bands and celebrities singing on the different stages set up in all different parts of the city.

After walking through the major attractions in the city, we missed out on the mini replicas of the famous icons in Liverpool. Homework wasn't well doned enough, so that calls for a revisit in the future. We decided to head to Anfield only to find that it is too far to walk and time is running out for us… so no Liverpool FC for us… and we travelled back to Manchester soon after. The next day, the girls visited my favourite club at Sir Matt Busby Way… I was torn between going again and exploring the rest of the city. Exploration got the better of me and I decided against going to Old Trafford and went out on my own to walk the city… tried to way through the city centre, did some shopping and tried very hard to find my Manchester fridge magnet to no avail. Which later in the day, I was told that they could be selling it at the town hall and I saw a souvenir show at Deansgate. I meet my colleagues for dinner at night, before retiring for the night and working back the following day… this marks an end of a rather uneventful Manchester trip, but fulfilling all the same cos I manage to visit Liverpool, so its another pin on the places that I explored. I think proper homework has to be done next time if I want to go to Lake District. Edinburgh and Blackpool was recommended to me and added to the agenda list for the future visits. First and foremost, getting my Manchester fridge magnet is important as well…

Johannesburg

2008-08-21T06:43:00.000+08:00

Johannesburg

Being rostered for this flight is something which excites me, simply because its gonna be my first step on to the soil of wild Africa. I don't mind the early reporting, though it's a dread but still its somewhere new for me… I can’t wait to see the wild animals.

Seeing the colleagues so easy going certainly makes things seem a little easier, though there are a few funny characters around. But never did I expect that I am going to meet someone that is going to change my life. Before starting work, you seem like just another colleague on another work session. Talking to you made me look at you in different light, this girl got that little bit of x-factor that I like… indescribable but certainly very sweet and attractive. I don't know how it started, but the dinner at ocean’s platter made me took note of your easy going nature, your candidness and bubbly character. I miss the time when you ask me if I want a beer and both us ordered Heineken. You secretly going to the counter to foot the bill, I treasure the time where you sit beside me at the slot machines trying our luck at the jackpot… I strike jackpot twice that night, I don't know if its because of you around and you are my lucky star or its just plain lucky for first timer. I like the time where u reach into my coin box to grab coins to play, though maybe I am sensitive, it's a blissful feeling to be sitting beside you, not saying anything but just enjoying your presence. I like accompanying you to protect you and make sure that you are safe when everyone left… walking with you to find a place to smoke, chancing on a cafe, sipping coffee and sharing a chocolate cake. Watching dvd together, chatting on msn and calling each other even though we are just a few rooms away. Silly smsing each other after the phonecalls… I almost dreaded going for the sightseeing trip just so that I can spend more time with you. The lion’s park is an eye opener, seeing the lions, cheetahs, jaguars, wilderbeast, giraffes, ostrich and zebras up close and personal. I just cant wait to get back to see you and spend time with you… this trip has made me realized something… I found the person I like and would love to care for and protect for the rest of my life, I am so glad that you were called up to the flight, otherwise I wouldn't have known you existed and I had passed you by…

Lure of the Olympic Gold

2008-08-17T16:38:00.003+08:00

Its pretty amazing how Olympics affects the lives of people... People all over the world are tuning in and staying glued to their television sets watching the sports telecasts nonstop, day and night.

Everywhere you hear people talking about Olympics, how Guo Jing Jing and Wu Minxia are going to win the diving golds, Is Micheal Phelps going to break Mark Spitz's record of 7 Golds in one Olympic? Who is going to beat the Chinese at the Olympics at Badminton? How the Australians underperformed at the pools... The insane run of Bolt in the 100m men's finals... the list goes endless... Probably the one that raises one of the most topics would be Singapore's final meeting with China in Tonight's table tennis Women's team Gold. Theoretically speaking, most of the racket sports, you can say that its all dorminated by the Chinese, be it they are from China or they migrated and represent other countries now. Such is the lure of the Olympics that they are willing to migrate for that chance to represent their fostered countries simply because China has simply too much talents in these fields that they do not get their chance...

Well, I just got home from visiting my grandmother, my uncles and aunties are all talking about Olympics, all of them would definitely be watching the finals tonight, none will be watching the National Day Rally that is telecast live. Simply because its Singapore's chance of getting an Olympic medal after 48 years, quite simply a rare chance for this shot at the Olympic Gold that even the National Day Rally telecast has been postponed just because of it...

Such is the lure of the Olympic games that everyone is talking about it, I am sure that Singapore will come to a standstill as everyone will be glued to their television set awaiting the outcome of the finals against the almighty Chinese team..
It is amazing how that little glimmer of hope can create such an sensation, even though it is unlikely that Singapore will beat China at the finals, but its just simply indescribable that how that tiny glimmer of hope can create such a stir...

For me? I will be shuttling between the table tennis game and the diving 3m finals, hoping that Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia will strike Gold. Simply because Guo Jingjing is my favourite athlete of this games, followed by Phelps and Kitajima of Japan...

At the very least, i am glad that i am at home watching the games, at least for today....

Ajax Amsterdam and The Dam(n) thing

2008-08-05T10:37:00.003+08:00

Finally back to Amsterdam again..
funnily, i wasnt as excited as the first time even though i was longing to come back again... perhaps fatigue has been an important factor, but what i have is a more punishing roster to come in the coming weeks... which i believe i will be updating soon in the following posts. Basically, i didnt even blog about the previous long flight to Tokyo and Los Angeles simply because i was too tired to do anything and basically whiled away the whole trip.

Once in Amsterdam, i jumped into the super cosy hotel bed to sleep for a few hours, i had difficulty getting up to meet Serene and Lewis to go sightseeing... We were on the hunt for this Dam, which can open and close to regulate the water level. But apparently, seems like the wrong info has been conveyed somewhere along the line, We headed out to Haarlem and IJmuiden, and we found nothing there but a damn wall which stretches damn long but its not even keeping out water... so we named that our DAMN thing.. with the real Dam still missing. Since we were here, we decided to go over to the beach to see what's going on there. Surprisingly, there wasnt that many people at the beach, but there were a lot of kite surfers thou. Taking advantage of the constant strong winds, many were enjoying themselves launching their kite surfs and surfing at high speed near the beaches. Some even manage to launch themselves into the air, carried by the wind... such a nice sport to pick up it seems... All in all it didnt end up too bad even though we didnt see our Dam.

We decided to call it a day and make for the hotel to rest, Serene and Lewis went home to meet the parents and for me, its sleeping time. The next day was a visit to Amsterdam ArenA, home of Ajax Amsterdam. One of my fave teams in Europe cos of their ability to develop youth players and of course partly their history as well. We paid 9 euros for the tour, relatively cheap compared to the Old Trafford, its pretty much the usual stuff they show you for stadium tours, bring you to the stadium to sit down, experience the stadium, take your photos and answer your questions, bring you to the meeting areas, the museum and lastly the megastore hoping that you will buy something from there. But the English seem to be able to do it better, make u feel more at home, more part of the club and definitely the better marketing skills. I still like Old Trafford tour better... Perhaps its because its my fave club afterall...

After that was shopping for Lewis' clothes cos someone is starting work on monday... den dinner was to follow before retiring for the night... on the way back to hotel, there was the Gay Pride Day!! Gay Festival where everyone seemed to be hanging out and drinking and partying in the streets. Which gay does it really mean, i think its up to your own interpretation. This trip is pretty much a laid back trip as compared to the previous one where we were all travelling out and rushing to catch this and that.. and all thanks to Lewis to decide to take time off to bring us around, but next time we are gonna see the real Dam, cos he knows which one we were referring to already. and i havent gotten my I AMsterdam shirt... haha.. will be back soon again..!!!!

Totally 922!!!

2008-07-31T14:53:00.000+08:00

Thanks for the Impromptu Batch Outing last nite guys!!!!
totally uncalled... totally unplanned... totally crazy... totally reunionic (if there is such a word)... totally fun and happening... totally 922!!!
Love you guys deep deep!!!

No less than half the batch turn up...

Names??
Casey, Joy, Joanna, Charles, Julian, Thams, JP, Cara, Carina....

Let's do it again... SOON!!!!