KL TRIP (Last Day)

Time flies, it is the last day of our KL trip. We packed our stuff in the morning and checked out first as we had to vacate our rooms by 2 pm. After leaving our luggage at the lobby, we set off for our last round of shopping spree. We were split into 2 groups as some wanted to visit Petronas Twin Towers while some wanted to concentrate on shopping.

I wanted to visit Petronas Twin Towers since i had never been there before. The 5 of us took cabs there and the towers are indeed MAGNIFICENT! The twin towers are really gigantic and impeccably designed. We had to walk around 300 meters away from the front lobby in order to capture the whole building. Took quite a lot of photos there.



We were not able to buy the tickets to go up the Sky Bridge linking the two towers as they were sold out. We took a few pictures overlooking KL Tower as well.

After our photo taking session, we started shopping at KLCC where there were a lot of shops selling branded stuff. Spent some time in Isetan as there was a sale going on. After the guys and gals split to shop for our own stuff, Meibin informed us that she had lost contact with Shirley when she was trying out some clothes. Shirley's handphone was not autoroam enabled and we were unable to find her. We had our lunch at the food court hoping that she would call one of us using the public payphone. She did not call back and we continued our search in the huge shopping centre until we found her at Isetan. (Please activate autoroam or the free pay as you roam service when you go overseas to avoid such problems)

We went to Sungei Wang (KL's most economical shopping centre with lots of fashionable outlets) for some last minute shopping. Bought a few t-shirts attempting to spend off all my ringgit. We were rushing from shops to shops as time was catching up on us. Ran back to Royale Bintang Hotel as the coach was waiting for the few of us. It was definitely my most "gan cheong" shopping spree.

Back on the coach heading towards Singapore! Took a picture of a nice mosque along the way back.

Hope to go on such overseas trips more often! We enjoyed the trip immensely. :)

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KL TRIP (3rd Day)

Woke up at 8.30 am as and we were about to go Genting! I've never been to Genting before and it was my first time going there. We took cabs to the nearby bus interchange to buy bus tickets as the genting bus counter was closed when the 4 of them arrived there yesterday night. The 11 am bus ride was sold out and we were left with 12 noon bus ride. We decided to take cabs up to Genting instead. Took a picture of Petronas Twin Towers along the way there.

After around 1 and a half hour, we finally reached Genting Highlands.

Grand entrance, eh? The air is indeed very cooling and the winds are rather strong. Passed by the cable car station on the way to the theme park.

The indoor theme park is infused with a shopping centre.

We purchased the outdoor theme park tickets which is 34 RM per pax. Took several pictures outside.



The rides were not as many and as exciting as we expected though. There were too many people queuing for the rides and we had to wait a long time for each ride. The rollercoaster ride was also a disappointment as well. The theme park is visibly old just by looking at the dull and worn out gold carts and the seats for certain rides. We only tried 50% of the rides there as we were too impatient to wait around 50 minutes for the more popular rides like the vertical drop and gold cart.

The amazing thing about Genting is that we are actually in the clouds. See this picture for evidence.

The vertical drop was suspended for a short while coz the clouds had enveloped the whole structure.

We spent around 2 hours in the outdoor theme park before getting indoor for lunch at Kenny Rogers. There wasn't much shopping at Genting since the outlets were not a lot. Headed back via cablecar and minibus. Took some pictures in the cablecar.

Passed by Batu Caves along the way to KL.

We stopped at Megamall (biggest mall in KL) for another round of shopping. Split into several groups and prowled the shops for good bargains. Quite a lot of my friends bought Levis jeans as they said it is cheaper by at least $20 in KL.

Guess what? Penny Tai is holding a mini concert at Megamall at night! There was quite a long queue outside an exhibition hall waiting for Penny's concert. We had dinner at the food court and decided to take a peek outside the exhibition hall since the people have already entered the hall. The security guards gestured for all of us to go in and we were rather pleased that we are able to enter without tickets. There were quite a lot of people inside but the hall was very big and it was only half filled. It was my first time seeing one of my favourite female chinese singers live. Took some pictures of her as well.


Penny on the projection screen

We stayed for only 20 mins as most of my classmates did not listen to her songs. They were playing some games with the audience and i only listened to Penny's live rendition of "Jie Jiao De Xing Fu".

We headed to Chinatown next for more shopping! Bought a few tees and a sweater there. Starting to feel the end of KL trip drawing near.

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KL TRIP (2nd Day)

Woke up at 8.30 am and a new day in KL awaits! After having our breakfast buffet in the dining area, we set off for Sunway Lagoon on a minibus. Took a picture of an unconventionally shaped building along the way.

After around 45 minutes, we arrived at Sunway Lagoon and paid the admission fee of RM 33.90 for wet and dry parks. After changing into appropriate attire, we decided to go for dry park first. There were not a lot of rides and some of the rides made us quite wet actually. The good thing is that there were not a lot of people and we did not spend much time queuing for the rides. The wet rides are almost similar to Wild Wild Wet but in addition, there is a roller coaster ride, a limestone exhibition, two tigers in captivity, a long suspension bridge, more space and water area comparatively. Too bad all of us kept our cameras in our lockers. We had a rather fun time at Sunway Lagoon and were competing who could go the fastest for some of the rides. Took some pictures before we left the amusement park.

We headed to Sunway Lagoon Shopping Centre next and took some photos before having our chicken buffet.

The ground level is an ice-skating rink in fact. We had our chicken buffet for only RM 15.70 and took some pictures after our extremely full meal.

Shopped for 45 minutes before our minibus picked us up outside Sunway Lagoon. Snapped some shots before we left the place.

We went back to the hotel to wash up and put our stuff before going out again. We separated as some of us have to buy bus tickets to Genting tomorrow while the rest are going for a massage. I have never been to a massage palour before and it was my first time having a professional massage. After some bargaining and negotiations with a palour boss, we got extra 15 minutes of massage for each of us. We started with foot reflexology and they applied some cream on our feet while they kneaded our feet at most areas. It was not as painful as i expected and the feeling is kind of hard to describe. Next up was the body massage and they started off massaging the back, then the head, and the limbs. They also twisted our backs and head with several cracking sounds but it was not painful at all. The whole process took 1 hour 15 mins and cost us RM 60 each.

Went to Jalan Alor for our late dinner again before heading back to our hotel to rest. End of hectic 2nd day!

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KL TRIP (1st Day)

After waking up at 5.15 am on thursday, i was all set for the KL trip although i had only slept around 2 hours the night before. Had breakfast at a Rochor Centre coffee shop before setting off. On the coach, the excitement lingered on for some time and most of us were unable to fall asleep until after around 1 hour. Took some photos on the coach.

After 2 hours plus, we arrived at a hawker centre stop for food cum toilet break. Took a pic in front of the coach.

After a total of 6 hours in the coach, we finally arrived at Royale Bintang Hotel. Found out that they have not prepared most of our rooms yet. We left our bags at a room and headed to a nearby chicken rice shop for lunch. Started our shopping spree at Lot 10 Shopping Centre. There wasn't much to shop there and we proceeded to Sungei Wang. There were much more shops and we spent quite some time there. Proceeded to Berjaya Time Square for some more shopping and took some pictures there as well.

Had dinner at Jalan Alor with a whole stretch of outdoor food stalls. Decided to go chinatown after that and asked a passerby for directions and he told us to be careful when we are in chinatown. His warning made some of us rather worried for our safety but we headed there anyway. There were quite a lot of people there and the squeezy environment made me wary of pickpockets. Bought a pair of fake reebok shoes and quite a lot of my friends bought adidas and nike sneakers as well. Went back to the hotel close to midnight and had some late night gathering.

End of busy 1st day of KL trip!

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Muscle Aches, Work Pressure and Sleep Deprivation

Played badminton for the past 2 days. Today with my sec sch mates and yesterday with my jc mates. Went for work after playing badminton as i have to clear my cases preferably before my KL trip. I worked until 11 pm on monday and 10.40 pm today. No choice lor, want to relax must work first. Got a complaint today for visiting a household too late. They think i want to visit so late meh? I work until so late leh, want to go home eat supper one. Ha... Actually it's my fault lar, shouldn't blame them. It has been 2 hectic days, almost without time to rest.

Going KL tomorrow morning and will be back on sunday night. And i still haven't packed my bag yet. Will be waking up at 5.15 am tomorrow. :( Hope that KL will be FUN!

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Batman Begins!

Cool poster eh? Just watched Batman Begins with Liyuan at West Mall and this movie is simply awesome. The cast is superb, the sets are dark and mysterious, and the story is constantly engaging. It is not just an entertaining flick but a thought provoking one as well. Batman has never been so real and cool before. Christopher Nolan has once again proven his status as a great director.

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East Coast

Met up with my sec school mates at Parkway Parade as we were planning to cycle or kayak at East Coast. We waited a long time for David who was 2 hours late! Had lunch at Marine Parade Hawker Centre before heading over to East Coast.

Actually i wanted to kayak since i just cycled at Pulau Ubin on 2 days ago but some of them did not bring extra clothes to change so we decided on cycling. Each of us rented a bike at the rate of $6 per hour with the 2nd hour free. Cycled all the way until the end of the cycling track at Safra Resort and cycled all the way until the other end of the cycling track after Big Splash. Quite tiring but it's definitely less challenging compared to Ubin. My butt really hurts after 2 hours of continuous cycling. There are lots of people in east coast rollerblading, cycling, walking their dogs, strolling, etc, and i had some near collisions at some areas with many people.

After our 2 hour intensive cycling session, we took some photos on top of a breakwater.


Headed to town for dinner afterward and had a stroll along Orchard Road before heading back home.

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Swim

Went swimming with Chris this afternoon at Safra Mt Faber since he got an extra safra membership card from his brother. The weather was very good for tanning and we swam a total of 22 laps. There were quite a lot of people swimming as well since it is a weekend. Went to Tiong Bahru Market to have our lunch before heading to orchard.

Took a free shuttle bus from tiong bahru to PS and we went shopping since we did not have any other things in mind. A lot of timeslots for movies like Batman Begins have been sold out. Didn't do much except chatting and window shopping in the human-packed Orchard area. Went for our late dinner at a chinese restaurant at Lucky Plaza which has good food and a cheap price tag. Will definitely recommend it to my other friends in the future.

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Ubin Once Again

Edwin organised another trip to ubin as he missed the earlier one due to ops bacinet. We met up at pasir ris and ed drove us to changi jetty. The weather is really good and cooling as the rain had just stopped.

After getting our bikes, we planned to go Chek Jawa as we did not go there the previous time. We chanced upon a nice brick house which is fenced up with a sign saying "Structure is unstable". After confirmation with ks, the house is called English Cottage. Normally houses with paranormal activity are fenced up so as to safeguard people from trespassing and we thought that might be a haunted house.

Walked over to the mangrove beach overlooking Chek Jawa as it is high tide now and we cannot get over there.


Gs and zewen tested the depth of the water.

Took pictures of a mangrove tree and a crab as well.


Went back to English Cottage and 4 of us climbed over the gate to further inspect the building.

All of us did not go up to the dark room in level 2 which looks quite creepy. I wanted to go up but when Zewen mentioned about spirits following you back home, i decided not to.

Cycled back to the jetty as we did not know where to go next. We wanted to go to the quarry at the other side of the island but took the wrong turn and headed up to Noordin Beach near the NPCC campsite. Headed back to the jetty as Edwin's parking coupons are until 5.15 pm. Had dinner at Changi Village before heading back.

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Shopping Spree!

Met up with Weiming, Fuli and David at Sim Lim Square today as David is interested in buying a new pc and needs our advice. After browsing through the shops and looking for various offers, his choices have been narrowed down to a few worthy ones. I was asking for the price of 512 mb and 1 gb memory stick pro duo as they are the memory card type for Sony Ericsson K750i. Found out that the prices are quite expensive at $130 for 512 mb and $240 for 1 gb. Would be spending a bomb if i bought the 1 gb card plus the handphone.

Had lunch at Burlington Square and headed to a shop in The Bencoolen selling cheap handphones. The shop is selling K750i for $670 without contract whereas Singtel and M1 are selling it at $698 with 2 years contract. Too bad the shop does not offer handphones with contract.

Bugis Street was our next stop and there are many new shops selling hip, cheap and fashionable stuff. Weiming bought a pair of jeans for $20 while i got a black bag with a unique clip for $34. Bought a $8 tee as well. Spent some time there looking for clothes before going over to Bugis Junction. Browsed through a number of watch shops as Weiming is interested in buying a watch since his watch spoiled recently. Marc Ecko watches are quite unique and cool!

The Edge burnt another hole in my wallet as i bought a white sling bag which costs $30. Weiming bought another 2 pairs of jeans for $65 in one of the shops as well. Walked over to Suntec for dinner after our shopping spree and had some coffee at Starbucks before heading back.

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Troublesome

Was reading the ntu stuff sent to me and there were a lot to go through. Accepted my course online and ntu students have to matriculate online from 20 - 22 july. I think it is the first year they are implementing this online matriculation but it's good since it would save all prospective students a trip to NTU.

Applying for hostel is really quite expensive, there is a one time first payment of $300 if we are offered the hostel. I hope that the experience will be worth more than the $$$ paid. There are also many other things to take note of, eg. myNTU account, change of password within 7 days from activation of account, edusave form, online matriculation, tuition grant, etc.

Didn't know that going into university is so troublesome :(

Worked until 10.30 pm today and my new batch of households are at balestier and whampoa areas which is rather far from my house. Did not enumerate a lot of cases as well.

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Johor!

Met up with my jc classmates at kranji mrt in the afternoon to go johor for shopping and eating seafood. Took 170 to the woodlands checkpoint where we have to clear the singapore customs and write the declaration/entry form to malaysia. After crossing the causeway, we had to clear the malaysia customs again. Wasted quite some time during the transition and we headed to City Square immediately after that. The shopping centre looks a bit like Raffles City but it is a lot bigger and there is a cinema at the 5th level.

We split into 3 teams, namely the guys team, the gals team and zewen and his super duper good friend (gf) team when we started our shopping spree. Some of OP t-shirts are selling at a low price of RM 15! Terence bought 1 tee but the rest of us did not buy since only XL and S sizes are left. Browsed through many of the retail shops and i saw a nice Diesel t-shirt. The price is rather expensive compared to other clothes but it is still cheap compared to the price in Singapore (RM 56.90). Bought it anyway since i like the design.

Level 4 is something like a bigger Annex @ Heeren. There are many shops selling accessories and fashionable clothes. Edwin bought a pair of orange shoelaces at RM 6. The handphones are more expensive as well. K700i is selling at one of the shops for around RM 900 whereas we can get it for $340 at chinatown here. The memory cards are more expensive as well. Checked out the price of a movie ticket by asking one of the locals. Mega Pavilion (GV) ticket price is RM 10, which is equivalent to around S$4.50. That's really cheap compared to weekend prices of $9.50 here. A MacDonalds value meal costs RM 6.50 in johor while you all should know how much it costs here. The main item that is more expensive in malaysia are the electronics.

Derrick and Clarence joined us later as they got something on in the afternoon. Arrived here at 6 pm and did some last minute shopping before going to eat seafood. Derrick had to buy some clothes and a cap for his friend while doing some shopping for himself as well. He gave us some advice on the places with good and cheap clothes since he had been to johor many times. Spent RM 29.90 on a white shirt as well.

Took taxi in 3 groups to Da Ma Hua Yuan to have our seafood feast. Derrick ordered the dishes for us as he knows the famous delicacies like chicken essence frog legs, crayfish, etc available there. Took some pics while waiting for our food to come.



After 10 mins.....

Our stomaches were all satisfied with dishes like crabs, fish, venison, etc...
Took cabbies back to the malaysian checkpoint and took photos on a bridge linking two buildings.


Walked all the way across the causeway since there were thousands of people at larkin bus terminal waiting for coaches and public buses. There was a massive traffic jam as well since it is a weekend night. Took some pictures on the causeway overlooking the buildings of johor.

Had a really fun time shopping and eating today, hope to have such trips more frequently. :)

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Shop

Went swimming at jalan besar swimming pool with ks and jy this morning. Only swam for 1 hour as i arrived late and jianyu had to go for tuition in the afternoon. The 3 of us had lunch at a nearby hawker centre before going to suntec as jy had to collect his glasses. Went carrefour to check out some bargains before walking to chinatown to browse the cds and look for handphone offers. Suprisingly, sony ericsson K750i is selling at $498 in a few of the handphone shops there which is cheaper than the retail price of $698 at those major dealer shops. It is really a good bargain as the specifications are one of the best to date (other than not being 3G compliant). Would consider buying a 512 mb memory stick pro duo if i have the handphone. That adds around $130 more to the total price i am going to spend on my handphone. Expensive but i think it is worth the price.

Worked for a few hours at night. Got scolded and questioned by one of the households who wasted quite a lot of my time. Really wanted to scold them back but cannot. Hai..... Going johor tomorrow with my jc friends.

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Exercise Week = Muscle Ache

Went swimming with gs on tuesday, played volleyball and kayaked on wednesday, played badminton with my sec sch friends today. My muscles are really quite sore from all the vigorous activities.

The four of us went yio chu kang indoor court to play badminton as we had booked the court from 12 to 2 pm. It has been quite some time since we last played badminton and some of us including me were rather rusty with the skills. The sole of my shoe was ripped off partially in the midst of a game. At around 2 pm, a fit old man requested us to join him to play some rounds of badminton until 3 pm as he had booked the court from 2 to 3 pm. Turns out that he is a pro in badminton. We learnt quite a lot from him as he explained the accurate rules which we did not know in the past. We were rather tired after many games and went for lunch.

Headed back to weiming's place to rest for some time before going to ang mo kio central. Spent quite some time at the numerous handphone shops as fuli and i are interested in getting new handphones. Had dinner after that and spent some time at sportslink as i wanted to get new shoes since they are having a sale. Bought a pair of nike running shoes at the price of $75.90.

Now i have decided to get either Sony Ericsson K750i or W800i. They have 2 megapixels for the camera, stereo mp3 player and fm radio as well. However, W800i is not available yet, so i might get K750i if the price is right.

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Sentosa Outing & Jiali's Bday Celebration

Met my supervisor in the morning at habourfront as i was unable to meet him in the afternoon and had to pass my forms to him by today. Jim and edwin drove all 9 of us into sentosa next and we alighted at siloso beach. Headed to sunset bay where there are volleyball nets and found out that we need to book the court at the rate of $30 per hour if we decide to use. Didn't think the price is worth it and we played without a net for a short while before switching to playing frisbee. Did not play for long as the frisbee was too small for such a big group of people like us.

Had an enjoyable game of monkey by passing or throwing the volleyball around. Walked all the way to Burger King near the ferry terminal for lunch after that. Took some pictures along the way.


Went for kayaking and swimming after lunch. The area that we can kayak is very limited compared to east coast and the rental price for kayaks are steeper as well. Single kayak is $8 per hour and double-seater kayak is at $12 per hour. Rented 2 double-seater kayaks and rotated amongst each other to kayak. Took some pictures as well.

We were mostly lazing around in the shallow waters of the beach after kayaking for 1 hour. Took some pictures as we were about to leave the island.

Headed to Taka crystal jade for jiali's 21st birthday celebration next. The food was good and we had a sumptuous meal.


We were mostly quite tired after our dinner and left for home since we did not have any other programmes in mind.

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