New Zealand Day 3

Packed our stuff and left off for Whangeri and Bay Of Islands.


Snells Beach Resort

On the way to Pakiri Beach, we passed by some horses and decided to stop and take some photos of them.


Horses

Following the signs on the road, we ended up in Pakiri Beach when we intended to go Pakiri Horse Rides. The beach is incredible though. There is only another couple at the beach with the 4 of us and the whole scenery seems cut out from a postcard.


Awesome scenery


On Pakiri Beach

After enjoying the wonderful view, we headed to Pakiri horse rides. There were only 2 slots left for the hourly horse ride and Jr and i went for it first. It was slightly uncomfortable sitting on the saddle but i feel much taller while sitting on the horse. The horse trainer was bringing us on the 1 hour horse ride and our horses followed the lead of the trainer at a leisurely speed.


All prep to go!


Bumpy ride

It is a bit of an adrenalin rush when the horses trot briskly and we jerk up, down, left and right. We don't really know how to control the horse fully and we cannot predict the horses' movements.

There was one part when the horses start to gallop and we held on to the saddle with our feet and hands. During which, my left foot slipped out from the feet holder and it was dangling freely. If the horse had gone any faster, i might have fallen off.

Anyway, it was an interesting experience and i enjoyed the ride as well as the beautiful scenery.


End of the horse ride

After the 1 hour ride, it was Jm and Jh's turn and we had a bit of chat with the locals. Having about half an hour to spare, we decided to explore the area on our own.

We crossed the road, walked across a thin plank above a river, walked along the faint walking trails, went past the sand dunes and finally saw the sea again. Took several photos along the way.


Pakiri Landscape


The magnificent blue ocean

Received a phone call from jm and jh that they have finished their rides and we ran all the way back. We were exhausted and panting but our sweat was nowhere to be found.

We continued our journey to Bay of Islands and grabbed a bite at the nearest town for lunch.


Passed by some cows which are rather abundant over this country

We headed to Whangeri Falls along the way to Bay of Islands.


Barely visible Whangarei Falls


Waterfall in its full glory

Abel Tasman Motel was our final stop of the day after we had our dinner at a restaurant in Bay of Islands. Another $30 gone!

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New Zealand Day 1 to 2 (Expanded)

My mum and sister were at the airport to send me off and i set off on a 13 day adventure to New Zealand.

Jingru and i in the 10 hour flight to Auckland

I watched Match Point again during the flight and caught bits of Big Momma's House, The Longest Yard, Nightwatch, etc. It was 10.45 pm by the time we reached Auckland International Airport and Junming and Junhui were there at the airport to fetch us back to her house. The both of them were already in Auckland 1 week before Jr and i arrived.


Auckland International Airport

We spent the rest of the night unpacking our stuff and flipping through brochures to check out the things we want to do and the places we want to visit.


Junming's house in Mission Bay Auckland

The next morning, we headed to Jm's friend house early in the morning to catch the soccer match between Arsenal and Barcelona but Jr got the date wrong and it should be scheduled for the next day. Anyway, we had some coffee and tea before leaving to tour the city.


Outside her friend's house

Breakfast was next...


In a cafe having breakfast

My breakfast costs $15. Expensive right? We headed to Mount Eden and the view was magnificent. There were quite a lot of tourists up here as well.


On top of Mount Eden

As you can see, most of the buildings are rather low lying other than the city centre. There is abundance of space in New Zealand and they do not need to maximise the usage of land.

Mount Eden is actually an extinct volcano and there is a crater on top. We walked down the crater just for the heck of it.

In a crater on top of Mount Eden


At the bottom of the crater


A group photo at the peak of Mount Eden

We drove to Auckland City Centre next and parked at Sky Tower carpark. 1 hour of parking costs $3 there and it was the supposed cheapest carpark in city centre. We headed up to the casino and Jm played jackpot machines, Jh played blackjack, Jr played Big Small while i watched them play. I so guai right? Haha... I'm just too conscious of being addicted to gambling.


Auckland's Sky Tower

Jm, Jr and i went Queens St to go to some souvenir shops while Jh continued to gamble for a little longer.


Along Queens St with Jm

Bought 2 t-shirts and checked out some souvenirs before heading back. We left the city centre and got a quick bite at Mac before heading back to the house. Fish fillet burger in singapore tastes better. We packed our luggage for 3 days as we were heading up north to Whangeri and Bay of Islands.

The sun had almost set by the time we reached Snells Beach Motel and it was only around 5.30 pm.



We unloaded our luggage and headed to the row of shops across the road to have fish and chips for dinner. Next was a mahjong session and i lost $7. It's been quite a long time since i played while the rest are mahjong fanatics.

End of Day 1 and 2

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Last Day in New Zealand

Got back to Singapore this morning. New Zealand is indeed a very nice country to go to. Highly recommended but wallets must be very full before going there. I am seriously troubled by how i am going to squeeze the entire 13 day NZ trip inside this blog.

Last Day in New Zealand

We woke up quite early to pack the stuff in Junming's apartment. There were a number of stuff that need to be arranged, tidied and packed in the basement and we were helping her with the chores. Next was washing the car she borrowed from her uncle and we cleaned the grime from the tyre plates and the car body. Headed to a Dim Sum restaurant for breakfast cum lunch with Jm's property agent next.

The ordering style was rather unique, there were people coming around each table bringing their dim sums around. The food was instantaneously served and we each ate to our stomach's full.

After our lunch, we headed back home as the property agent has to view the apartment before it gets rented out when all 4 of us heads back to Singapore. We all spotted a big rainbow outside the window and took some pictures of it.


Jingru, Junhui and i then headed to the Skycity Casino the 2nd time as both of them wanted to gamble a little before leaving. I was watching Junhui playing blackjack and Jingru play 'Big Small' or "Da Xiao" (not too sure about the name of the game). I didn't bet a single penny as i didn't have big bucks on hand and i would not take it easy on myself if i lost anything more than $20.

After 1 to 2 hours in the casino, we headed to Mission Bay Movenpick cafe to pick Junming up from her appointment with her NZ friends.


A picture before leaving the house with the packed luggage in the vehicle

We headed to Jm's aunty Loraine's house for a farewell dinner specially prepared for us. They were an incredible couple and just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Aunty Loraine prepared so much food for us. There were hawaiian and meat pizzas, bacon and egg pie, cold bacon, green peas, soup, baby potatoes, french fries, pan fried bacon, delicious sausages and salad. All these were served and we were full just by looking at the food.

After the 6 of us cleared around 50% of the food, we had a breather walking around the nicely decorated house and we chanced upon a bum washer in the toilet upstairs. I've never seen such a thing before and snapped a picture of it.

Bum washer!

After the tour, Aunty Loraine had cleared most of the main course dishes and she started to bring out the deserts. There was yoghurt ice cream, boiled apple bits, pineapple slices, whipped cream, sweet fluffy looking cake and lime tarts. After having parts of the deserts, many of us feel like our stomaches were going to explode.

That's not all. She brought out the apple strudel from the oven and we each had a small slice of it. Finally, there was new zealand ice cream slices as the last item. I swallowed each bite of food so slowly as i feel that i could vomit anytime.

The food is actually wonderful but she is such a nice person that we will feel bad if we reject any of the food she offered to us. There was so much food left as well. We took a photo together before leaving.

At Aunty Loraine's house

Drove to Jm's uncle's house next and he fetched us to the airport.

Auckland International Airport


At Auckland International Airport minutes before leaving at 11.45 pm.

Watched only 1 movie, Kung Fu Mahjong, during the 10 hour flight and slept most of the journey back.


Safely touched down in Singapore and bought DFS Chivas Regal and Absolut Peach vodka.

Spent a grand total of ~$3000 for this whole trip including air tickets. What a waste of money but totally worth the experience. Will recommend New Zealand to everyone and anyone.

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Bye Bye Singapore

I've been packing for half a day today. Going to New Zealand tomorrow and the trip is almost 12 hours long. Be back in 2 weeks time. Hoping to have internet connection over at my friend's gf's house in NZ. Gonna wake up very early later as my flight is at 8.50 am. Cya then!

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Travelling soon

Went Lot 1 to get my spectacles fixed and they exchanged my spectacles with the same model for free. They transferred my lens onto a new frame and it was done in minutes. The colour of the new frame is now navy blue compared to my previous shade of matt grey as it was sold out in the store. Very nice of them to replace my broken spectacles for free.

I headed to Bugis next to get a tripod and a multi plug adaptor for my trip to New Zealand in 2 days time. Went to Alan Photo (great prices and good service) in sim lim square as usual and bought a compact extendable tripod for $15. It's original price is $25 but the saleperson gave me a discount as the only stock left was the display item.

Next was discussion for the Taiwan trip in july at KAP. Gs, Edwin, Terence and i discussed from 9 pm to 12 midnight and most of the details have been finalised. What's left is the booking of the train tickets and hotel rooms.

I haven't packed anything for New Zealand yet. Gonna start tomorrow.

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Muscle Ache Day

When i woke up today, my muscles were kind of sore from the badminton session yesterday. Woke up rather early to go to the temple with my mum. We headed to Bugis (again!) to the famous Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple. We had our breakfast/lunch at a nearby hawker centre and i spent some time shopping with my mum after that. There is a storewide discount of 10% at OG and many people were inside looking for cheap offers.

Next, i headed to Maju Camp as i had booked my ippt at 4 pm. I didn't really care too much about it and the only exercises i did prior to the ippt was only swimming and badminton. The last time i ran was several weeks before the exams which is around 2 months ago. Can't remember when was the last time i did a chin up. Maybe 1 year ago? My laziness paid off as i failed my 1st ippt after i ORDed.

The first 2 items was a breeze as i got 5 points for the shuttle run and sit-up stations each. I even had 25 seconds to rest within the 1 min after i completed 40 sit-ups. It was all downhill after that as i only got 230 cm for my standing broad jump. I was even boosting to Ks minutes before that standing broad jump is no kick at all. 3 points added. My most feared station was next and it's chin-up. I had expected that this station is my achilles heel and i was proven right. Only managed to do 4 chin-ups (6 to pass). IPPT failed!

I wasn't disappointed or anything coz i didn't put in any effort in training for it at all. Ran for the 2.4 km run although i can skip it since i've failed 1 station already. Got a lousy timing though. Haha....

Ks and i headed to Queensway next as we wanted to buy chin-up bar to improve our chin-ups. Bought a Kettler chinning bar for $27 there. Had dinner at Alexandra Food Centre before heading back.



My naughty cousins snatching my laptop away from me.

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Slackers

Met up with my jc friends to play badminton on friday at Safra Toa Payoh. We were playing enthusiastically until i bent to pick up the shuttlecock. My spectacles flew forward and snapped into 2. My second time this year! My barely 4 month old spectacles was broken into 2 pieces and i was extremely furious with myself that it has happened again. I was "black-faced" for around 20 minutes before i was back to normal again. After spending almost $600 yesterday, i am now going to waste more money on a pair of spectacles.

We spent 2 hours playing badminton from 1 to 3 pm. Rested for some time before getting a shower.


We then proceeded to the main lobby to discuss where to go next.



We decided on Toa Payoh Central for lunch. There was more discussion on where to go after our lunch and we considered options like Sentosa, East Coast, Orchard and Bugis since most of us drove there. We finally decided on Changi Airport to see the new Budget Terminal. We all squeezed into Clarence's car and embarked on our aimless travel.

When we reached the Budget Terminal, it was like being in another country. The landscape around it was only grass, low-lying buildings and roads. It was like we were in Australia. We took a few shots together using Edwin's tripod.


6 people with lots of time to spare.



It seems very bright in the photo but it is actually evening time.



Inside the Budget Terminal, there is nothing much to see or do. There were very few people in the arrival hall and there is only a restaurant (Hans) and no shops within the public limits. We spent approximately 15 minutes inside the new but rather empty terminal. Looks promising on the outside but kind of disappointing in the inside. It's a budget terminal anyway.

We left promptly and there was no place in mind for us to go. Bugis was our next destination as most of us were sick of Orchard. After walking around in Parco, we walked along Liang Seah Street for food and had our dinner at Subway Shaw Centre. We had our second serving at Causeway Bay Cafe.

We then wrecked our brains on where to go next and we ended up near Kallang River. We wanted to use the night scenery mode on my new camera to capture the night scene.



The building in the background is a waterfront restaurant.



Starry Sky mode. Exposure 15 seconds. The length of the exposure made the dark sky bright and the lights exceptionally bright. Quite a cool scene mode to use.

We then headed back to Toa Payoh to collect our vehicles before heading back home.

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New Camera!

Went out with Stephen today for lunch and we headed to Coffee Club Express at Taka. It has been quite some time since the both of us met up. I accompanied him to look for a pair of shoes around orchard and we then headed to Sim Lim Square (should be my last visit there) as i had made up my mind to buy a digicam. Fickle-minded me right? Bought Panasonic FX01 for $598 inclusive of a leather case and a 512mb sd card.



The rest of the time i spent when i came back home was taking macro photos, taking high sensitivity photos, taking slow shutter photos, taking flash/non-flash photos, taking long exposure photos, taking videos, taking portrait photos, taking low light photos, etc. Noise is a slight problem when it comes to taking high sensitivity photos and it is a bit grainy on the areas with low ambient light and where the flash cannot reach. The flash pictures are impressively clear and vivid though. White balance is excellent and the colors are well saturated. The main difference between my new digicam and the others is mainly the 28 mm lens. Most digicams start from 35 mm of focal length and the area of capture is around 15% smaller.

Some of my jc friends and i went to Bukit Timah for supper and it was a very last minute decision (we decided to go at 11.45 pm). Paiseh to those who were not informed. Took a few pics also.

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Tiring Day!

Went to Tampines Swimming Complex with ks, zy and jy this morning as zhangyi is going to Germany on fri for a month. We spent most of the time talking instead of swimming and only completed around 16 laps. It was rather tiring as i haven't exercised for more than a month.

After having our lunch, we spent some time chatting with Kr who is working at Tampines Metro selling expensive pillows.

Zy then had to leave and the 3 of us headed to National Library as Jy wanted to borrow some books to read during the long holiday. I continued browsing through the digicam/pc magazines and we sat on the couch reading the books we had brought there. The environment was so quiet and the setting was so cosy that i dozed off for a while. Got a slight neckache after my bad posture during the short nap.

After having dinner at Rocher Hawker Centre, we proceeded to Sim Lim Square as i wanted to purchase audio connectors for my 3 way surround sound speakers. Walked around in Parco Bugis junction after that before heading back. A tiring day indeed!

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Ktv

Went for ktv with ks just now and it was another voice straining session as we scrambled to reach the high notes with the likes of A-Mei, Gary, JJ, etc. Next, we went National Library as Ks wanted to read some magazines. Passed through 2 ERP gantries (1 willingly and the other unwillingly) along the way there. Driving around town and CBD area is dangerous! An ERP gantry might just pop up anywhere. Bleah.....

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Movie Day

Watched The Art Of Seduction with Mb, Derrick and Clarence at cineleisure in the afternoon. It is quite a funny korean comedy and there are some scenes which are totally hilarous. Son Ye-Jin is perfectly cast as the innocent looking seductress who tries to get hitched by rich males yet playing hard-to-get at the same time. Her scheme is foiled by a male seducer who plays along and both of them develop a chemistry that is laughably offbeat and kooky. A nice show for couples to watch.



Next, Gs, Edwin and Terence joined us for MI3. The action-packed thriller is bursting with testosterone and there are gunfights, bombs, missiles, high octane chases, rescue mission, kidnap mission, parachuting, jumping off buildings, etc. It is immensely entertaining although the director has clearly sidelined the story for impressive special effects. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is extremely menacing as the psychopathic villian while the rest of the cast gets overshadowed by the action/effects. The pace is fast and we hardly get any chance for a breather. However, it is done in typical Hollywood tradition and does not break any new ground for a blockbuster. I appreciate the huge effort to coordinate all these impressive stunts though.

One thing to note is that Hollywood seems to be intent on breaking into the lucrative China market. Almost a third of the movie is shot in Shanghai and the cast includes Maggie Q as well.




At The (new) Cathay Cineplex

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JC Class Outing!

Went out with my family in the early afternoon as it was polling day and all 4 of us need to vote. We headed to Ramen Ramen at The Rail Mall for our breakfast/lunch before going to Qihua Primary School. The food there was a bit too salty for my liking. A bit too expensive as well.

We then went to the primary school for the voting and there wasn't a lot of people there. The process took only about 4 mins and we were done much faster than i expected. The contestants in Sembawang GRC were PAP and SDP. It's really quite a no-brainer vote for me.

I then met up with Gs, Edwin, Terence at Sim Lim Square before the jc gathering as a few of us wanted to buy some computer stuff. I bought a set of Creative speakers for $66 after considering for some time. I wasn't intending to spend more than $50 on the speakers but my friends "psychoed" me into buying the 6 speakers system instead of the $39 3 speakers system. I had just assembled the speakers and bass system together and playing music using the speakers sounded like i'm in a club with booming, clear and crisp audio. Never owned such an impressive audio system before.



We then headed to China Square Central for our dinner at The Vil'age. There were very few people in the restaurant and it was good as we can stay there for very long without depriving other people of seats. I had invited Mr Wong, our pd tutor in our jc days to join us since we haven't seen him for many years. It was very funny before our teacher arrived as many of us don't want to sit near to him as some of us commented that they don't know what to say to him.

Mr Wong arrived with his 2 kids and it was a bit awkward at the beginning when we were just warming up to him after not seeing him since our jc days. It became more natural when time goes on and we became not so paiseh talking him. Nevertheless, it was good to see our teacher after so many years.

We took quite a lot of photos at the restaurant and had quite a bit of food as well. Fyi, the rosti or pan-fried potato is of much lower standard than Marche's.

It was one of the gatherings with the highest attendance and we had a great time chatting and dining.






We were in the restaurant for more than 3 hours and it was 10 pm when we left. Mr Wong, his children and a few of us left for home while the rest of us discussed where to go next. There were 4 vehicles in total and we decided to head to a club in East Coast recommended by Derrick as it was a club where we can ktv, watch soccer, play pool and have drinks.

When we first entered the club, Zola, i was immediately put off by the smoke inside. Although there wasn't a lot of people smoking, the enclosed place traps the smoke and makes the whole place a bit smoky. There were 2 section in the club and the first section which is the ktv section was quite crowded and couldn't accommodate all 13 of us. We moved to the 2nd section which houses the projection screen showing sports and a pool table. It was more cosy with less people and of course, less smoke.

The sofa was very cosy and the dimly lit environment made me feel a bit sleepy. However, the music is very loud and we had to raise our voices each time we spoke to each other. Those driving, including me, can only consume a bit of alcohol and Terence and i shared a mug of Carlsberg. The rest had some liquor/beer and we just had 1 round of drinks. It was a good place to chill out if they had reduced the smoke.

There was one instance when a bargirl wearing scantily clad clothes acted very friendly and chatted with our group. Her friendly approach/tactic worked and she managed to sell 6 shots of liquor to some of us. I wouldn't part my $8 for a 10 - 15 ml of cocktail alcohol of course, i would much rather spend $7 on a movie ticket. Some of my friends are more gentlemanly than me and they obliged after some of her persuasive tactics as they did not want her to lose face after her understatedly aggressive tactic. (Disclaimer: We did not buy the shots because she is scantily clad.) She told us she was a university graduate and some of us were a bit stunned. Some of the bargirls can indeed earn a lot of money but why don't they want a decent job if they receive a good education? If they were understandably poor and uneducated, it would provide a good enough reason for them to be in the profession. Well, each of us has different mindsets of course and i shouldn't be judging them.


A picture taken inside the club

After spending some time in the sports & pool section, we decided to migrate to the ktv section and it was still as crowded. Sianz.... We decided to leave since there wasn't enough seats and we would have to wait a long time for the songs (each table is given 2 songs to sing).

When we were leaving the club, i heard a guy's singing that is so pitchy and the quality of singing is only slightly better than William Hung. At least i don't have to tolerate bad singing from bad singers.

We headed to Bedok hawker centre for the famous "Ba Cho Mee" meat minced noodles before going back home.

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