JB Day 2

28/07/07

We woke up at about 1 pm on Saturday as we slept very late the night before.

Lazing around after we woke up

Ys's mum brought us to a famous ba kut teh stall and we ordered a total of 5 dishes. The food is 'yummilicious' indeed.

Tucking into our brunch

After our breakfast cum lunch, we headed to Jusco Shopping Centre or Tebrau City for some shopping. Ys bought several ktv discs to top up his collection while Aaron bought some anime discs and i got myself a movie dvd for just RM12.90.

Next, we went to G2000 and spent around 45 minutes inside the shop. There was a weekend sale of 50% for most of the items and we got ourselves quite a lot of shirts. The price isn't much cheaper compared to Singapore and they are about the same actually. Anyway, i bought two more long sleeve shirts and my current wardrobe of shirts should be sufficient to last me a few more months for my attachment.

We then headed to the go-kart circuit after our shopping.

Cute rabbits in a container outside the go-kart shop

Go-kart star!

The circuit

The price of the go-kart ride is RM35 per pax during weekends and RM30 during weekdays, i think. We wore the helmets and off we went. I was the first to set off and i throttled the engine slowly as the others were still at the starting point. When i saw them push ahead, i revved my engine but was too late. Aaron and Qy had overtaken me. Shucks! Shouldn't have waited for them to start together. Ha... The last time i drove a go-kart was in Batam and I learnt the technique of drifting. However, the technique i used to have seemed to have vanished into thin air.

I was getting used to the turns and bends for the first 2 rounds and started to push my limits. Thus i drove too fast at a sharp bend and skidded twice when i braked hard. That made me lose quite a bit of momentum as my go-kart had to start from very low speeds.

After 10 minutes of go-karting, i still couldn't catch up with Aaron and Qy and was in 3rd place. The rest had done the go-karting once before i arrived.

We then proceeded to the shophouses opposite Taman Sri Tebrau to buy the carrom striker and discs.

Sunset

Newly built houses with no occupants

In the car

After buying the things, we proceeded back to Ys's house as Ys's grandma had prepared dinner for us.

Having our dinner

After our meal, it was carrom time and Qy displayed his superior carrom skills. I was unpredictable as i could be good for one moment and terribly lousy the next.

Carroming

After playing several rounds of carrom, we played bluff with poker cards. While i was the bluff champion during my Vietnam trip when we had nothing to do, i realised that different players had different tactics and my tactics doesn't seem to work as well as i predicted.

We then had movie screenings throughout the night. First was The Prestige which all of us enjoyed thoroughly. The acting was superb and the storytelling was immensely engaging. The hatred between the two magicians acted by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman was so achingly real and we were discussing the movie fervently after it. The ending was rather controversial and we were discussing whose side we were on after the show.

Next up was The Covenant which i tried to persuade everyone NOT to watch it due to really sucky reviews but Aaron was adamant on watching it. Obviously, everyone disliked the show and we were all condemning it afterward. I shall not insult everyone's intelligence by even discussing the plot.

We slept at around 3.30 am after the 2 movie screenings.

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JB Day 1

It was a relax day at work on Friday as lunch breaks are 2 hours which is longer than the usual 45 minutes during other weekdays. Me and my colleagues went to IKEA Tampines for lunch and there were quite a lot of people dining there. Saw Alan Tern and Priscilia Chan (not too sure about her full name) there eating their lunch also. Got to chat with a few more colleagues whom i seldom talk to.

Anyway, I left Singapore for JB on friday night and Yuan Sheng's mum was so kind to fetch me from Kota Raya Bus Terminal to her place. I was kind of nervous going into JB alone and i forgot to bring filled in immigration card and pen as well. As there were no pens on the counters, i requested a pen from a custom staff but she does not have any extra pens. Well, i was wondering what to do and luckily a helpful Indian aunty offered to lend me her pen. Phew, if people around were unwilling to help, i would be stranded at the JB customs.

Anyway, i took a bus from the customs terminal and went to Kota Raya Bus Terminal. There are always several people looking at you after you crossed the Malaysian customs. Their faces don't depict those with nice characters. Perhaps they are targeting those people wearing lots of jewellery etc. Normally i would be traveling to JB with a bunch of people so this time i felt a little worried. Aaron and Qi Yao are already at Yuan Sheng's house since Wed evening and i cannot join them then due to my work.

Ys's mum was already waiting at the bus terminal for about 10 minutes and she fetched me to her house. Along the 20 minutes journey, she told me about the security in JB and the number of times she had been chased by cars (3). She also said that she never follows a regular time when she goes out or goes back home as people might be watching their moves. Also, she never carry a handbag around as many of her relatives got their handbags snatched.

We reached the house at about 10.30 pm and Ys, Aaron and Qy were waiting for me to watch Ratatouille together. The land surrounding Ys's house is abundant and their garage is huge as well. Anyway, we settled down at the long cosy couch watching the movie on a projection screen. Actually I wanted to watch the movie in a theatre when it is released in Singapore but the rest wanted to watch it. The quality was not very good as it was recorded in a movie theatre as i had expected since the movie is very new.

Ratatouille is a heartwarming film which most people would enjoy. However, the lessons of family ties and friendship seemed a little too familiar having watched most of the other pixar films. After watching the show, we proceeded to sing karaoke at the attic room. There were mostly only classic songs available and we were able to sing those popular ones only. We had a good time singing and i was looking at Ys's old photo albums as well. Ys is incredibly cute when he was a small kid. Really smiley and a good looking kid when he was younger than 10 years old. Couldn't imagine that he was so cute when he was young. I should definitely trim his bushy beard someday.

We slept at around 3.45 am after several hours of ktv. Enjoyed singing Westlife songs most as i used to listen to their albums during secondary and jc days.

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Off to JB

I'll be in JB at Ys's house to stay over for the next 2 days. Should be back by Sunday.

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Vietnam Day 5: Sapa (Part 1)

We woke up at around 7 am and were packing our backpacks as we were having our last day in Sapa. While Terence and Gs were in their room packing their stuff, I headed over and took a photo of the eerie painting. (I sent the photo to Ks yesterday night and my internet connection was disconnected on its own for a short while, then after Ks saw and deleted the photo, his fish tank lamp flickered.) Thus, i decided not to post the close-up shot of the painting or portrait on my blog in case something bad happens. I had a total of 2 bad dreams involving the portrait of the beautiful woman already. Those who are curious can request the photo from me.

Anyway, the room was not so scary in the morning as the windows were very big and it was very bright.

The nice view of the mountains from my hotel room

We had our breakfast and headed to the lobby to wait for Sunny, our tour/trek guide.

Ethnic minority girls

At around 9.30 am, we set off to the mountainous region again. We headed in the other direction and trekked and trekked. I took an umbrella to shelter myself from the scorching sunlight as my arms and neck were sunburnt already. My scalp was also a little sunburnt as my spikey and short hair did not provide my scalp with too much protection from the sun. It was the first time my scalp hurts!

A resort or village houses for tourists to stay

Group photo

Undulating

After about 45 minutes of trekking, we stopped at a shop to take a toilet break as well as to rest for a short while. The weather was quite hot and we were sweating quite a lot even though we were in the highlands.

After the 15 minutes break, we were asked by Sunny if we want to take the easy route or the difficult route. My next question to her was which route is more picturesque. She replied the difficult route and we embarked on our arduous trek downhill.

Some of the slopes were slippery and rather steep. Some of the paths were rocky and it was difficult to find firm ground. We were all looking at the ground instead of the scenery as it was rather dangerous if we fall down and roll down the rocky slope!

Caution must be exercised

I had to keep my umbrella as it was safer to keep both my hands free in case i fall down. Poor Terence slipped about 2 or 3 times while on the slippery slope but he sat on the ground so luckily nothing bad happened.

The scenery was gorgeous indeed

Lovely river

After about 2 hours of the difficult trek, we had a rest stop by the riverside. There were people swimming in the river to cool themselves down from the hot weather.

Swimming in the river

We recharged our energy by drinking lots of water as we sweated buckets. After half an hour, we continued on our trek and we entered close terrain.

Tiny trails and steep slopes

Before we trekked uphill, the trek was a little dangerous and rather tiring. When we were trekking uphill, it was more exhausting but slightly less dangerous. We trekked uphill and upstream to a village house where we were going to have our lunch.

By the riverside

We reached the house and had our lunch there. It was prepared by our tour guide which included eggs, bread, cucumbers and watermelons.

Showing off our sunburnt arms

Cat by the river

To be continued...

End of Part 1 (7 am to 2 pm)

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Department Dinner

After work today, my Engineering department went to Bliss Restaurant at Punggol Park to celebrate Ms's birthday and to bid farewell to Hl who is leaving our department. The attendance is very good and almost all of us from our department were there. We had a good time there and the food and ambience are quite good as the restaurant is just beside Punggol Lake. Fetched 2 of my colleagues home after the dinner.

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Vietnam Day 4: Sapa (Part 4)

27/06/07

Continuing the trek in Sapa mountainous areas, we were heading back uphill and we were a little exhausted. Many tourists took motorbikes uphill all the way up to Sapa town for just US$1, but we were not going to succumb to the temptation.

Captured tiredness

We trekked all the way from the valley and went up to the highlands where we came from.

Cute Vietnamese children playing on the grass

Corn plantations

A nostalgic B&W photo of Sapa mountains

What does the signboard mean?

We took a shortcut which cuts a meandering lower gradient road and we went into small trails with higher gradient.

I'm the leader of the pack! Yay... Ha...

The second shortcut that we took was disastrous. It was a forested trail and the gradient was almost 45 degrees uphill. We had exhausted much of our energy to get out of the forested trail and Terence was almost wasted. Oops... Ha...

Anyway, we were almost reaching Sapa town when i felt a sharp pain in my eye. My sweat from my forehead had dripped into my right eye and a tiny but sharp object entered my eye socket. It was painful to open my eyes and I tried blicking many times to allow the object to settle at the side of the eye. It was a futile attempt and i constantly felt that something was in my eye. Terence helped to pour some water to cleanse my eye and it felt better. I was really really worried that my eye might get infected or something.

Almost reaching Sapa town

A market that we passed by

We headed back to Sapa Summit Hotel to have our dinner at the restaurant and my eye pain was subsiding. As what Gs had said, the object had been expelled from my eye (as they checked my eye many times but cannot find anything) but the micro-wound in my eye made it feel as if the object is still in my eye. (For people who watch Wimbledon, Jankovic had the similar eye problem a few days later during her match with Bartoli)

After our dinner, we decided to tour Sapa town another time.

Sapa Market

Dusk

Clouds sitting on the mountains in sunset

Gs decided to try some roadside food and got himself a corn stick. Edwin bought another corn stick and they tried the bamboo rice and eggs as well.

Roadside Vendor

As we were walking back towards our hotel, we passed by a community centre. There were many children on stage and they seem to be rehearsing for a dance.

As we settled down on the chairs, they started their rehearsal and it was so nice to watch the dance. The music is so cute and the children reminded me of childhood days. We all loved the music they played.

Dancing children on stage

After watching part of the dance, we decided to leave and head to Baguette and Chocolat, a French cafe near our hotel but it was closing and we headed back to our hotel to play our favourite game, Bridge.

Playing bridge

After playing for about an hour or so, we decided to go to bed. While Edwin and I were preparing to go to sleep, Terence and Gs rushed over from the other room carrying their pillows and blankets.

Ok, i shall now begin the ghost story. People who are afraid can refrain from reading on.

Terence and Gs were about to sleep and they turned off the lights. Terence who was sleeping on the bigger bed, faced upwards and thought he saw something on the painting. The painting of a beautiful female woman was directly above his head but it was facing forward, not downwards. He blicked his eyes and saw the painting become 3D! The woman seem to be popping out from the painting. He couldn't believe his eyes and quickly turn on the lights. The painting had returned to normal and Gs was wondering why Terence had turn on the lights when they just turned off.

Terence told Gs to lie under his bed and he switched off the lights for a short while. Gs saw the same thing and the woman indeed seem to be popping out from the painting!

They rushed over immediately to Edwin and my room grabbing their pillows and blankets. We were all discussing frantically and checking my rooms paintings. Luckily, my room got only fruits painting and fat harmless looking roman empire woman painting.

We were discussing whether they should leave their valuables in the scary room or leave it until the morning. We decided not to as Terence said that he will wake up early the next day to wash up and take his valuables. Anyway, we checked whether their door is locked and we spent the night with the four of us squeezing on the queen size bed and a normal sized bed.

A rather terrifying night.

PS: The painting with the woman was captured in my last photo of this post. See it for yourself.

End of Part 4 (3.40 pm to 12 midnight)

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1st Day of Work

As the news of my Industrial Attachment came just last thursday, i guess i'm still a little mentally unprepared for work.

Anyway, i woke up at 6.30 am today and reached the company at 7.45 am. Luckily, there wasn't much of a jam along PIE towards Changi Airport. There seem to be much more vehicles heading towards PIE (Jurong). There is a multistorey carpark in the company and the charge per day is just $1.

The people in the company are very friendly and i am attached to the Engineering Department. Can't say too much in details about my job scope, etc as some of the info might be confidential.

Anyhow, it was a very relax first day at work and i feel lucky to have friendly and nice colleagues.

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Shop and Movie

Went out with Stephen today for some shopping at Bugis and got myself 4 G2000 shirts. Got sufficient clothes now for my industrial attachment which starts tomorrow.

We watched Vacancy after our dinner at Ps. Vacancy is about a squabbling couple who ran into engine trouble while driving along a deserted road. They decide to spend the night at a motel nearby and checked themselves into a room. Gradually, they discover horrifying details about the motel and the videotapes in their room are real life snuff films. They also discover numerous video cameras hidden all over the room and the killers begin to scare the hell out of them.

The circumstances are against them and they try to find a way to escape from the masked killers. Intense and chilling, this thriller doesn't fail to scare the audiences. The leads, Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson, portrayed the victims in a realistic light and we empathise them and their predicament. The tension remains tight until the end of the thriller and it is certainly gripping.

However, the ending is rather disappointing and somewhat unrealistic. The background of the characters should also be more developed to elevate the movie from B-grade horror genre.

***

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Outings before my IA

Went to Aaron's house on friday for a mini gathering with Qy and Dz and we played ps2 games. Had dinner at Changi Village next and went to check out the location of S A E S L since we were in the vicinity.

Went out with my sec sch friends today. Weiming, David, Bernard and i were there to support Fuli who was performing one of the songs at Music Dreamers Cafe at Marina Square. Some of the singers had really good voices and i was mesmerised by their songs.

At Music Dreamers Cafe

Had dinner with them after the performance and window shopped for some time before heading back.

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Chek Jawa (Part 2)

Continuing the Chek Jawa tour...

Coral Rubble/Sand Bar

Rocks near the mangrove

The lonesome tree

Mangrove trees

When we were almost reaching the area where Ks had to retake some of the photos, he stepped on a sharp root which penetrated through his booties. He had to rest after that as the wound was fresh and it might get infected with the swampy water.

So the task of taking the photos at the GPS coordinates lies on Yk and me. We navigated eastwards and took the photos that Ks wanted.

The vast intertidal zone

We completed the task within half an hour and got back to land. While we were heading back to the shed at the entrance, we passed by the observation tower and climbed up to see the view.

Observation Tower

The boardwalk from the top of the observation tower

The three of us then got back to the shed near the entrance where the rest of the pack were waiting for us.

We washed our footwear beside House No. 1 and had a short tour of the newly renovated House No. 1 which used to be the haunted Pulau Ubin house.

Inside House No. 1

The idyllic house by the sea

We then took the van back to the jetty and dark clouds were looming.

Pulau Ubin Jetty

We got onto the bumboat promptly and it soon started to rain. We were really lucky that it did not rain earlier or else we would have been caught in the rain.

Halfway along the boat journey, someone spotted a water sprout and everyone was excited to see a real life water sprout!

Water sprout!

Another shot of the sprout

Check out the water mist that it created below the sprout

It was my first time seeing a water sprout and it was a rare experience indeed.

The stormy Changi Beach

The three of us headed to Changi Village hawker centre to have our breakfast next. One of the chicken rice stall really sucks and i had the worst chicken rice ever. Bought a duck rice back and it was equally sucky as well. Next time, i won't try any other stalls there other than the ipoh hor fun stall and the nasi lemak stalls.

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