Taiwan Expedition Day 2 - Guest-Blogged By 浪迹天涯小狗

Hihi its the Doggy again!

Without further ado, Day 2!

23rd April 2006

Heard firecrackers going off early in the morning. Very cool to hear such an occasion-related thing crackling abt in a morning like all others. The mistress was enjoying the "music" in the bathroom.


View from the bed


Sets the mistress wondering again why is there so many traffic lights on a short stretch of road when motorists doesnt seem to be obeying them.

After clearing our stuff from the double bunk bed, we packed some 豆浆油条 from the shop below and proceeded to Taipei Main Station. The 油条 is really 油 for something to be eaten early in the morning.


Stairs are harmless... NOT IF U'RE LOADED WITH LUGGAGES!


Taipei Main Station - exterior


Taipei Main Station - interior


There's our train. 自强号. 9.55am. Thats an hr later. No more tickets for the one we wanted to take.


Access to a 3 hrs railway experience


Here comes our train!


OHH!! Got doggy in front!! But it bo hiew me throughout the journey leh. Damn attitude brat.


Off we go!!~ 嘉义 in 3!


This is one of the things the mistress had been wanting to try for so long after always drooling to the bento sets shown on TV. 铁路铁路!! NT80.


Yummy!~ The 豆腐干 is very nice!!


Uh Oh! Train uncle 来 liao! I no ticket!! HOW!?!?!! *hides beneath the bag*


Green space!

We alighted at 嘉义站 to transfer to the 阿里山铁路. The obasan we arranged directed us to the 小火车 platform and keeps showing us where the toilet in the train is.


小火车!


Tickets to another few hours of rocking.


The inside. 厕所有人!


Map of 阿里山铁路. 嘉义 is out of the picture. Mistress too slow in snapping the full shot.


Mountains


More mountains


Mountains galore!


Somehow this picture looks eerie.


It started pouring!!

We reached 阿里山 in the late afternoon. The hotel personnel came looking for us in a minivan. Maybe we have a tourist look or something. People there jus know we're the one they're looking for.

The auntie said we sound like Hongkies. Hmm.. I dun remember Mistress and RR having any hint of Cantonese accent. Mistress cant even speak Cantonese for goodness's sake!


View from the hotel room window.

As night falls, we went to the market place in search of food. Loads of steamboats there. Very good for the hovering ard 10 degrees temperature up on the mountains. Its was so cold we're blowing smoke with every breath we took. Somehow we ended up with the instant noodles that the mistresses' 2 other animal frens were raving abt.

Actually hor. WHATS SO NICE ABT IT HAR? Its jus a few pieces of REAL MEAT, with gravy, coupled with instant noodles, being steamed in styrofoam/paper bowls lor.

Expectations too high I would presume.

Day 3 up next!

Taiwan Expedition Day 1 - Guest-Blogged By 浪迹天涯小狗

Hihi! 我是浪迹天涯小狗, guest-blogging for the lazy mistress sprawled on the bed studying (i hope). *peeps* NOOOO SHE'S NOT STUDYING!! SHE'S ZZZ-ING!!! Heck! Let's not care abt the pig already.



I got ang moh name oso, called Doggy. [-.-"] Bcos the lazy fella din bother to think of a more stylo name. DOGGY!??!?! I'll prefer to be called Jay lor.. Yoyoyo! Wats up man!

Dun see I ish small small, I can type on the lazy bum's lappy ok. See..



Ok enuff of self-intro. Jus tok to me if u see me hanging on the fella's bag ok? I ish not shy one!

Lets get on to the trip...

22nd April 2006


A bright and sunny day in Singapore. I ish excited to be on foreign land in a few hrs more. Here's the boarding gate. D36.


Woah!~ Took off already!! Ard 1pm.


Some dunno wat island at dunno where..


The menu for Jetstar Asia. No meals included in the flight tickets.


We ish seated near the wings. The sky jus looks pretty doesnt it?


The lady is finding weird with this instruction printed on the wings. It reads "Do Not Walk Outside This Area". Its printed facing both sides of the wings. So if the person is standing on the movable part of the wing which is not supposed to be stepped on, and the instruction is facing him, doesnt it mean that he shldnt be stepping onto the fixed part of the wing? Or if its correct, and the person is already on the movable part, aint it too late to say its not to be accessed??



So which is the area that shouldnt be accessed??


Cotton Wools!!~


Finally reached C.K.S. Airport after a grueling 4 hrs which the lady spent sleeping, reading the Geisha book, playing PSP, watching anime on PSP. Its already nearing evening time when we stepped foot on Taiwan.


We took bus transport to the city area, Taipei Main Station for this trip.


Bus tickets. NT125 each. Journey takes abt an hr. The lazy owner slept somemore.

Oh ya, the owner's cap the tag tore off when she boarded the bus clumsily. Cap drop oso nvr realise. So the cap went tagless/hookless from dat point on. Very mah fan, have to squeeze in the already filled bag. But at least its not blocking my view hanging on a hook near me anymore.

We reached Taiwanmex Backpackers at 8pm after walking past the area and admit getting lost. Surprisingly the owner found us. Apparently we looked lost enuff to let the owner get right on.

Its not a big place, with quite a few rooms occupied mainly by exchange students, mostly ang mohs. We're supposed to be sharing our room with an Indonesian girl. Seriously the mistress doesnt find it safe to share rooms with others but its for one night only so.. DONG!!

We went out again after placing our luggage in the room. Walked along the stretch of 南京路 looking for food but there aint much interesting stuff there. There's a 新光三越 nearby and it looks jus like the Isetan or Tangs of Singapore so we din went in to explore.

We finally settled on origiri from 7-11. Not very nice as its not cold, and the packaging is playing a fool of the mistress. Considering it costs NT22, its so-so only.

Somehow the mistress got tempted by bread, yes BREAD, at the Taipei Main Station. Its damn cheap at closing hrs. NT23 for 1 big raisin bun and 2 small hotdog buns after a 70% discount. Normally the raisin bun would have cost NT25 on its own. Bread jus smells so nice over in TW.

We got back to Taiwanmex and took a bath b4 going to bed. The showerhead is attached to the wash basin in a cramped space with the clothes hanging very closeby. Needs a bit of skill to 1) adjust the temperature of the water and 2) avoid getting the clothes wet.

There's 2 internet connected PCs in the common hall but its always occupied.

The Indonesian girl whom we're supposed to share room with returned at 11.30 while the mistress was sprawled on the top bunk highlighting her notes. So hardworking hor. Dunno real anot siah.

Stunningly, the girl asked the mistress where we came from in CHINESE. After a few words, she changed and went out again. Din see her ever since. Damn havoc man.

The double decker bed was hard and the pillow too low, preventing the mistress from sleeping soundly. Whats more, there's this stupid idiot practising Jap at the balcony next to the bed very late into the night. Very the noisy arh.


This is the small room that we spent our 1st night in Taiwan in. It costs less than $10 per person per night.

End of Day 1

This is 浪迹天涯小狗 blogging. Day 2 coming right up!

Live from Xi Men Ting Taiwan!~

ARrrhh.. getting this up while RR is bathing. I cant seem to detached myself from internet from dat long man.

Been up Alisan n back. Been Janfusan n back.

Next up on the agenda....

SHOPPING!!!~~~

update the details n photos when i get back. not sure if my sd cards can last dat long. I've used up 1gb+++++. *faints*

hope no blurred shots.. no blur no blur....

*yup yvonne i bought ur book liao.*

PAnny~

I splurge on electronics again.



I've been eyeing this little rascal for a yr (or more). The $100 drop in price simply calls me out to bring it home. N I did. (So RR, its up to u to go borrow a camera anot. I might bring both of them there.)

Its a close battle btwn Canon Powershot S2 IS, Panasonic Lumix FZ5 and a certain Sony Cybershot. 12x optical. I've always wanted dat. At least after now, the concert pictures will turn out nicer.

I've always love the user-frenliness of Lumix, esp after the experience of my old Lumix DMC-LC50 but this one seems a wee-bit hard. Guess I jus need to play with it more often.

Some samples here,


Macro shot


My desktop wallpaper in office. The glare is seriously no good for the eyes.


My fishy at home (with flash/night portrait)


Isnt he yandao? (without flash/macro/in a dark corner)


He keeps showing me his butt!

Damn Tough to Read Scripture

I wonder if all eldest grandchildren/child faces the same fate as me. Make it "favorite" grandchild.

家家有本难念的经

But my this scripture seems uber hard to read.

To speak the truth, I only inform my ah ma & mum I'm going TW 2 weeks ago. Yeah, 1stly, I dun wan them to worry too long n start thinking of ridiculous suggestions. N then I wanna confirm everything so that I can face the firing squad (& they cant alter anything already oso).

But seriously speaking, I actually mentioned I had plans to go TW like 2 yrs ago. I repeated the statement again last yr, when they wanna make me go Genting to be ah sum. But who remembers? Who bothers? Who LISTENED?

NOBODY!

Now they're saying I nvr tell them earlier. 2 yrs ago? 1 yr ago? What was dat? How early u wan? A decade ago? U ppl nvr ever listen to me. TV on so loud for wat? All deaf? Then tok in loud pitches to overcome the tv. Thats 恶性循环. No end till everyone gets sore throat n no pt is put across.

I've been in this family long enuff to noe that I will get refuted for everything that requires me to be out of reach/out of singapore out of their CONTROL. Even thou my ah ma mentioned, if u say u wanna go, we'll let u go one.

NOW WHO'S STOPPING ME!!??!??!!

Ok ok, u're not stopping me. Bcos u cant. BUT U'RE SUBCONSCIOUSLY WILLING ME NOT TO GO! I feel the power overwhelming me. Every sentence u say, there's a hidden agenda. DUN GO TAIWAN.

Whats with take care of urself over there and enjoy when the hidden agenda is DUN GO? Freak lah. I feel damn terrible now can. Like I did some super hideous sin jump into yellow river oso cannot turn yellow.

I've had too much experience of asking them and get refused. Think St John's. Even in the company of all the teachers n caretakers, I was still forced to stay back in school n watch some stupid film while my kakis are out learning survival techniques.

How abt the time I wanna go shopping in JB with my mum? She jus wanna rush back home as soon as possible bcos she's tired of lugging all these luggage. And so, wat did I do?

Take a look at my passport. I sneaked to JB last yr.

Whats the use of saying it'll be allowed if u asked? I asked!! I got refused. So I 先斩后奏 lah. N who taught me dat?

U! The caregiver who thinks everything u all do is good. And everyone out there is BAD.

If I wanna be bad, I'll be bad 10 yrs ago. Or 5 yrs ago. I'm still the little tame pearl white that only runs ard in the cage.

Even my now became angel pearl white gets to run abt in my room.

Then they keep saying they'll be less worried if I'm going with agency. Ya. How many agency fatality accidents did u see on the papers? A lot. Bus fell down cliff, overturned, blah blah. I think its more dangerous to go with them.

But at least got leader. LEADER? U MEAN LEADER?? They LEAD u to colluded shops and force u to spend there for them to earn their commission. If not, they'll turn black in the face and not carry on with the tour. It really happened to my colleague. Its worse with agencies, not to mention the extra $$ and forgone freedom and flexibility. Once u've signed in, u're under their beak and order.

Y only 2 ppl? Bcos the rest no $$. And who was the one who disapprove of me staying out to socialise? Dat = less frens = less ppl lah. Who disapprove of going out with guys? SO only 2 girls lah.

It all routes back to wat was done ages ago. CANT THEY SEE THE CAUSE AND EFFECTS!??!?!

And do they noe that I lead a stressful working life? (Even I DUN LOOK DAT STRESSED?) Do they noe that I wanna break from ALL MALAYSIAN COUNTRIES?? My mum commented that every yr I get to travel on business wat.

SO?? I DUN WANNA GO MALAYSIAN COUNTRIES WHERE CAB DRIVERS DUN ON METERS!!

Dun say its bcos I nvr share the day with my folks. They nvr listen. And no use telling if end of the day, I'm the one facing and solving the problem. I strongly believe in this pt. There's no use wasting ur breath if u're the one who's gonna solve it in the end.

And I think Sarawak and Melaka is 12412374697235 times more dangerous than TP lor. And do they noe that I kana BLUFFED to go climb some haunted mountain hole in Sarawak? If I tell them, they'll say its my fault again for not rejecting them. How to reject when some queen say something abt teamwork. I dun think its any teamwork when its all wat u WANT TO DO, and forcing others to go according to ur plans.

Its impossible to balance office politics with ur own thinking unless u're someone powerful. Like the queen.

At least in TP, u noe wat they're tokking. If u wanna say something abt them, jus speak in darn good english or rotten jap lah.

And to make things worse, my uncle came yest n start to scare my ah ma with stories from (NOTE!) CHINA. Hello! I is going TP. TP is NOT IN CHINA!! Dun make matters worse can?

I have no FREAKING say in the family. Nor in the office. NOR ANYWHERE! So I keep quiet. Dun blame me, since NO ONE's listening!! Everyone seems to be INSISTING on their own ideology. I pull no weights.

Jus dun care abt me. I'll be happy dat way. Serious.

My ah ma was suggesting that I bring my mum along. THEN?? I think I might as well bring my dad along, so dat my mum got company mah. Then where's the break?? If my mum n dad doesnt mind exploring on their own, I dun mind paying. But obviously my ah ma is sending them on a mission. Means I cant do a lot of things = no fun = more stress = no break.

I threw them my iternary (I can nvr freaking get it spelt correctly). They could have specifically asked for it long long ago if thats wat they wan. They keep asking repeatedly abt the hotel names (I cant rem) flight details and stuff. They dun understand english. I need my aunt to give them proper details of wat was written in the piece of paper.

I think we did the iternary BETTER than travel agencies lor. Wats the fuss abt dunno wat bus to take. Its all WRITTEN in the iternary.

But throwing them the iternary proves not much use, since my mum can still ask me why my flight back is so late. She insist its 9pm. It was 6.25pm, written CLEARLY on the iternary.

Even giving my ah ma they all the iternary, they can still spread the WRONG INFO. Very irritating arhhhhh.

How much more breath m I going to waste EXPLAINING wat was already self-explanatory?

But at least now she's not insisting my mum to go with me. (where to get the tix and stuff. Even can, she able to run so many places meh?) I dun wanna bring a burden but I dun mind planning a family trip there the next time round.

The whole extended family noes I going TP. News spread like wildfire, covering whole of SG. Then all these think-they're-doing-good-by-sharing-experience-but-is-only scaring-my-ah-ma-only relatives start to pollute my ah ma.

The funniest one was. They allow me to go Japan or 'ang moh' countries as they're more polite. Ahem. I beg to differ. There's a lot of fightings in ang moh countries lor. And Japan? Hmm.. I need to brush up my language b4 I venture there.

I live in a weird family. Its been weird since I was born. Sad to say, I grew used to it.

没有去过的地方不要去. 但就是因为没去过才要去第一次嘛. 不然就一生都旋转在同个位子上. 世界也只有那个位子一般大.

Who ask u all nvr bring me go ANYWHERE b4? I've only been on a plane for the 1st time on the Sarawak trip.

Now I earn my own keep. I use my own hard earned $$ and hard work to reward myself with a trip to TP oso such a big hoo-ha. Then I work for fark? I'm feeling alienated from my products. Its like a capitalist society. For now, I jus wanna re-enact and edit lost pieces of my childhood can?

Do all "favorites" get protected like this? I'm already.. 24. Not 12. Y my younger than me female cousin can go Japan for ITP???? Y i get nagged like no body biz for 8 days in TP??

I shld faster find someone n marry. BREAK THE INVISIBLE BOND~~~~~ Where's the prince?

Sat faster come. I dunno wat other stunners they gonna 出 again. At least dun let me go on holiday and still have to worry abt u worrying me can. Dat = no break already.

See, I'm supposed to be studying. I spent the last 1hr + on this. Wats with ALL the DISTURBANCES?? LEMME RELAC CAN!??!??! My $$ oso NOT EASY TO EARN ONE CAN?!??!??!

Light-headed

For being unable to tahan my block-head hair, I went to the salon again. Another one that is. 2nd salon visit in a span of 5 days.

I thinned my hair. It kinda spoilt the texture of my hair but at least its not one stiff hairstyle. It actually felt like I had short short hair when I washed it. Very light~ (See Clara, told u to THIN THIN THIN u cut until so thick.. My head feels like the soil of a burning forest lor..)

I need another treatment. I wan Kimage!!~~

When I was thinning my hair, the hairdresser commented that my face shape quite good, can suit a lot of hairstyles. I look in the mirror. My face looks so rectangular. hehhehe. But I tried from short to long b4. Maybe shld try perming. No no no. Dat doesnt look me.

Costs $10 to fix a $30+ hairstyle. -.-"

Yeah, I got my pay increment already. 14%. Not bad. I expected 10% only. Pessimistic me.

Wah raoz. Another eg that Singapore is not creative, watch The Undisclosed. Wats with the scene where Huang Biren and Li Nanxing point guns at each other on top of a building?? Its so Wu Jian Dao (Too bad the scene was made popular by them, not that they're the 1st to come up with it. -.-"

*Forced to eat papaya* Argh! Back to doing work stuff. At home.

Old Acquaintance

Its 9+. I'm at home, watching tv with hands busy sending food to satisfy my hungry gastronomy system. PDA calendar reads a Sociology lecture today.

YES I PONTEN-DED. Well, halfway thru. All thanks to Sunny who's making me blur-er than blur. He's not going thru powerpoint slides, he doesnt even have ANY. His handouts consist of pages of notes. And he's not following the sequence. I only remembered drawing watever he drew on the whiteboard and listening to the stories but dunno where the link to the topic is.

Anyway, 2nd half is more on the answers to the mock exam. I din bring the paper. Stay oso a bit waste of time.

So I exited the lecture hall with my bag during break time. While I was walking, n smsing Birdy dat I ponten-ded (she have not replied YET), I heard someone call my cheena name. I turned, looked at the few guys sitting near the flower bed. Hmm.. Have I met u b4?? I was wondering in my head. I stared for a while.

OHHH!!!!~~~ It was my primary school classmate (minus the specs). Kaoz it really took me A WHILE. I almost wanted to ask. U r?? Blur koks koks me.

Gosh! n he managed to recognise me in a mere few seconds. Which means, I LOOK THE SAME!?!??!?!?!??!?!

EVEN AFTER 12 yrs!??!??!?!

Or issit my kuku hair dat makes me return to my pri sch day looks?? WAH RAOZ!~

Ok lah.. I still remember who he is (only after a while). He's surprised I remembered him oso (kaoz n m i not surprised u can recognise me faster than I do..).

Did a few min of catching up. He din ask me to exchange number as I thot most long lost frens will. Hehehhe. Cant remember if he's in my frenster list anot (oso nvr bother there already). Not bad. Working in big computer MNC.

Lets see if fate will happen a 2nd time.....

Nerdy Me

How did I get a nerdy hairstyle when my intention was to cut the Huang Biren's cool cool hairstyle!?!?!??!

I wanted my hair to be shoulder-length. Its still as long as ever. N my fringe is ultra thick and nerdy.

Its so nerdy that I 三步拼成两步 walked to Watsons and grabbed a bottle of Lucido wax.

Much as I like to complain abt my nerdy hairstyle (Hey! Do I look DAT NERDY that my hairdresser had to cut a nerdy hairstyle to suit my nerdy look??), I love their service.

Actually, I looked more jap now than ever (even thou the fringe is so kuku).

Enuff abt the nerdiness. I did treatment while I was at Gorgeous.



Check out the packaging of the treatment. Ambulance! N its called Hair Rescue! Confirms the fact that my hair is uberly damaged that it needs a rescue team. And the fact that the packaging is not as professional as Loreal or Wella, and I dunno wat brand it is, it does not mean it costs peanuts. Its a freaking $80+ (I paid $113 total, after discount)! N I actually FORGOT to bring the tube in the picture home. Its supposed to be a home care thing. -.-"

I think I shld try the Kimage treatment someday.

N I still wan my cool cool hairstyle...

Anyway, I dropped by Cineleisure and got this Tsubasa set. (OOPS!!~~)



They're in a Tiffany crystal bowl (company reward for a fruitful 2005), filled with crystal stones, on my table. My display cupboard is unable to take anymore addition, wats more, its a totally Gundam Seed/Destiny collection. Putting this in will be a bit out.

Needing sleep.

Study Regime?

Study?? Study 是什么来的? 可以吃吗??

Wah raoz. I really mean WAH RAOZ.. Somebody actually asked me how I study and wanna follow my regime.

Yes. The slacker + procrastinator ME!!

Not wanting to destroy the potential future school teacher, I told him I read (take note: READ!!) one chapter every night (insert: whenever the mood comes). I couldnt tell him I burn my notes and drink them right. I'm not gonna take responsibility for any note poisoning situations.

With the exam in a mth's time, I only READ 4 Sociology chapters. Its not a healthy schedule. Maybe its only suitable for me.

As to how I memorize the Durkheim/Marx/Weber/Parsons,etc etc theories, I write. I write and rewrite notes. Scribbled and neatly. Dats the way to delaying the sleeping effect or I'll jus fall flat when I open my notes.

The biggest problem with working and studying part-time, is that u cant concentrate fully on ur studies. There's jus too many distractions to divert ur attention away. E.g. The Wicked (Stuck at 36 with everyone else n I aint gonna crack my brains till better hints r released) and Wicked Junior (CLEARED in 2 days during office hrs!). There's still this chinese drama that's taking 1 hr of my time every nite and also like now, blogging instead of hitting the books.

Ok its time to play a bit of game while waiting for the show~

My Teeth Chews $$

Wahhh.. I nvr knew dentists earn good $$.

My 1st bill came to $120 for polishing, scaling and filling. I went to visit the auntie again for my nerves are reacting with the crazy weather. I dun wanna do another root canal.

The bill today came to $76 for filling one major hole and disturbing the one next to it. I HAD TO MAKE CROWNS FOR THOSE! Crowns cost... $380 EACH! x 2 = $760 Not today. It can afford to wait. Luckily. I dun wan my Progress Package fill the gaps in my tooth. 2 units only. And my set of teeth is like the beach after a heavy rain. Full of holes (As wat the dentist auntie says). -.-" How many more '00 m I gonna spend..

I still feel the tingling feeling now. wrong tooth treatment??

*boss~~ pls increase my pay more so dat i can go n fill more holes..*

N I think I swallowed a lot of dugged-out teeth chips bcos the saliva sucking thing is not sucking the right place. The water + watever stuff dugged-out is flooding my throat. Will they become stones in my digestive system?? 0.0 *horrified*

Work wise, its my crazy reporting 10 days again, spiced up with BA stuff to be completed b4 13th. I think he's planning to zao already. I have training with him every week!!! *faints*

To tell the truth, I was hunted oso. But the work at the other side requires a different area of expertise so I din follow up. Maybe I'll. IF the mgmt becomes too biased (Its going in that direction it seems). I wan COMPETITION!!~~ I NO WAN WALK OVER!! heheheh

Jus like the elections. Pls come contest Jurong. We want the chance to utilise our rights! I'm eligible to vote already! Lai Lai!!!

Studies. Erm.. Accomplished my 9 days intensive foreign lectures dat I brought upon myself. 6 10-5 lectures, 4 7-10 lectures. Covered all my foreign lectures. Left a few more local lectures to go b4 the exams. FREAK!!! N it seems like everyone other than myself is worried. EVERYONE!! Everyone at work seems to be asking if I took leave for exams already. (No I din) Sees the highlighted part on my calendar. (Study? No. Go holiday) Mwahahhahaha. I seem either 1) too confident; 2) too bochup.

Up till now, I only read thru 3 lectures for Socius. Nothing else. Exam is in 1 mths time. Siao liao......

But still, I'm not motivated to read my notes.

I mus finish reading Socius by 22nd..

*Anticipating Taiwan......*

Lecture Day

*blogged from the servers of SIM*

Its wet out. Terrible weather considering its super glaring in the morning. Had been stuck in aircon lecture hall for 6 hrs since 10, shivering in my 3 quarts & not-so-warm Nike jacket. Socius was darn heavy. Taylor was wearing a skin tight WHITE tee. OMG that looks gross esp with his belly. Some fella fell off the chair while he was dozing off. Embarassment to the max.

Battery reads 51%. Thats 1 hr 36 min IF I DUN DO ANY INTENSIVE STUFF. 2 hrs break b4 my next lecture from 7-10. POA. Drop dead boring subject with a Honkie lecturer. Someone from tables away is speaking in a foreign accent LOUDLY. SHUDDUP!!

49% now. 1 hr 40 min to next lecture. Gonna do some intensive stuff on my lappy.

3 more days to go for my 9 days intensive lecture... Super tired..

PSP-ed

Yes I bought it.

A beautifully white (I insisted on white) V2.5 (Ya cannot play downloaded games.. haiz..) PSP gigapack. 2 adopted days old.

Finally?? HMmmm.. I'm not really a hand-held game person. I'm horrid with the joystick. Nvr wanted to buy it if not for the have-so-many-functions-in-a-small-console factor.

Y do I wanna get it?? ErRmm.. Who was the one who said 3hrs on budget airline will bore till the max. I can watch animes (yay!) on the go. (No need to lug lappy) No worries for long distance travellings. Can surf net somemore!! (No need to replace my lost Wifi pda card.)

The graphics are great, DVD quality, sound so-so, processing speed not-very-fast, and I'm still not used to the controls! Playing NBA on psp is superly hard. Got trashed 30 pts on superstar mode while I keep pressing the wrong buttons/wrong joystick direction. Very hard for a PC game person. NFS Most Wanted is quite cool jus that I keep getting busted.

I've been wanting to apply for a VISA (jus for use overseas). Researched the brochures and I'm now undecided. UOB? DBS? Womens? Ladies? (Both oso Masters) UOB-Singtel? If only I'm earning 50k per annum, I wun be pondering so much. Black card for me! For now, I still dunno wat I wanna apply for. UOB Masters, Sistic got discounts. DBS Ladies Masters, a lot of shop discounts. UOB-Singtel, hp bill discount. ARGHHH...

Suggestions anyone?? I only barely hit the minimum salary requirement.

Had done my E-filing yest at Revenue House since I was there for meeting. I got stuck at the donations & course fees part & gave up trying to do it myself. Since I also had my IR8A form with me (had wanted to apply for credit card lah), might as well get the pros to do the filing for me. Its done, I can now forget abt it until next yr.

Bought Memoirs of Geisha to read. Only finished 1 chapter.

So with so many distractions. Up till now, I only extracted notes for Sociology lecture 7. -.-"

Munich Black

慕尼黑

Yes I know its MUNICH. But whats with the 黑??

Anyway its kinda hard to recollect my overwhelming thoughts that were swimming in my brain juices when I walked outta cinema yest night. Came home, bro screwed up the internet connection, received signal only at 1am. This whole working day was spent rushing my statements for submission, super tired.

Try lah hor.. (Munich spoilers and long-winded post alert!)

1stly, Munich is a SUPER-HARD-TO-UNDERSTAND-AND-COMPLEX 160min movie. My knowledge of Munich b4 the hype on the movie was only limited to that its a place on earth, got football team, no more. N Olympics is an event that takes place every 4 yearly with bidding countries aiming to host it for the tourism income it generates.

Since its a NC-18 film, although I personally think it should be RA-ed, there's a lot of blood spewing, and nude scenes. A bit too much. Even Saving Private Ryan aint so bad. The blood were literally SHOOTING out of the puncture points like fountain! Shit! And the 1st thing that comes into my mind is chocolate fondue. Mwehehhehee.. Dunno y.

The movie depicts the kidnapping and massacre of the Israeli athletes by Black September, a Palestinian group. Later on, Israeli Avner (Eric Bana) was requested by Prime Minister Golda Meir to go undercover and sets out to eliminate those involved in Munich 1972. In between Avner's targets, there were news reports of bombings and terrorist attacks carried out in Israel. Avner's hit squad then joined forces with men provided by Louie to delete targets in Beirut, which turned out to be a messy gun-fight, involving fatality of several civilians. Avner's squad became the targets of other mercenaries. One-by-one, his team was reduced. Avner tracked the location of one of the murderers of his team mate and proceeded to exterminate her. Even so, his team continued to be targetted.

With all the Mossad, CIA, FBI flying around, I feel like playing Covert Action once again! But sadly, it was a 3 1/2 inch floppy game and already mouldy after existing for more than 10 yrs.

From fumbling with their guns at the 1st target, to devising bombs in telephones, TV sets and under the mattress. From hunting to being the hunted. From going thru the list one-by-one, to eliminating little figures or replacements not targetted in the mission. Slowly they begin to question their beliefs. Are they killing to revenge the athletes? To prove that the terrorists are wrong? To prove that Israelis are capable of fighting back? Or to satisfy Mossad's hunger for power? To accomplish Mossad's ulterior motive of eliminating their targets under the shield of revenging the athletes' massacre?

I love the guns disguised as bicyle pumps that they used to shoot the female mercenary. So cool! But disadvantage is that the user has to unscrew the knob and takes a bit of time to reload. But still.. DAMN COOL!~

In the telephone bombing assassination, Avner barely managed to stop the detonation of the hidden bomb in the face of the innocent daughter of the target. Although they succeeded in severely injuring the target without injuring the innocent, it wasnt a clean kill as they had planned. The target only succumbed to his multiple injuries hrs later in the hospital.

The next bomb killing was so powerful it almost killed Avner and the couple on both sides of the target's room. At least they're sure they got the target completely.

From then on, it became an alert siren going off in the major agencies. CIA, FBI were beginning to hunt down Avner & gang while increasing the security of their undercover informants, who in turn, are the targets on the list. Avner can now trust no one, not even the source of his leads.

The psychological fear of knowing that u've been targetted is very much represented by Avner and Robert. Both were so paranoid that they dismantled every place that they had previously used to hide bombs for their targets and every single object that could be used to stuff a bomb. Avner was so fearful that he slept on the closet floor, and turns up looking like a zombie. Its like seeing the sniper laser aiming your body but u cant identify the source.

As the movie progresses, Avner's squad derailed from their main mission. They eradicate a replacement, which was not on their list, for one of the targets they killed earlier and a Dutch mercenary, who murdered one of his team mates. Now, they're not sure if their mission will really benefit the country they believe they're risking their lives for, since replacements will appear to take over the tasks of the eliminated.

In their last assassination plot, Avner is left with only one team mate to kill the mastermind of the Munich massacre, knowing that the extermination of this man would mean freedom for his team. It was foiled by a watcher patrolling the grounds and stumbling onto their hiding place after which they ran frantically, chased by raining bullets.

Even after he got back with his family, Avner was still haunted by scenes of the massacre and the terror of being hunted. He feared for his family but angered and burdened by the massacre playback in his mind.

For the helicopter bullet war, let me, this naive psychologist, do a bit of analyzing. (I did a Yahoo search on the actual event.)

The terrorists initially demanded a release of imprisoned Palestinian criminals, which the Prime Minister refused, then changing their ransom to a getaway chopper. In the event, the military placed snipers around the chopper, which was unmanned after the crew decided to vote out of the mission, citing under-equipped and under-prepared as reasons. The terrorists packed the athletes in the chopper, the leader got out to locate the missing crew or negotiate. The snipers opened fire, the terrorists shot their machine guns blindly, sweeping the whole area.

As to why they bomb the hostaged athletes, maybe they already know they'll die no matter what. They're isolated and surrounded, 2 choppers in an open landing pad, makes them sitting ducks for easy targets. If they were killed and the Israeli athletes were released unharmed, it would be a win for Germany/Israel. In the movie, they actually hesitated a min to kill the athletes (the part where the terrorists looked at the athletes' horrified faces in the chopper). So since they're going to die, they might as well take some accompaniment and also make their voices heard, that Palestine is capable of doing what they said they'll do.

There was actually only 8 terrorists, but there's more than 8 in the film, perhaps to align with the number of athletes. 5 terrorists were dead at the gunfire battle in the helipad, 3 got away. The mastermind aka Salameh, was killed by a car bomb in 1979.

The role of the assassins brings about different interpretation for the different people the value of the mission is for. Back in Palestine, the assassins were worshipped as heroes. In Israeli, they're terrorists. But they're still the same people, even though there's actually tamer ways to make ur voices heard.

There's another controversy. In the actual event, the 1972 Olympics was told to proceed with only one day suspension for the massacre on September 5. Avery Brundage, the then IOC president, had ordered the continuation of the games, in midst of the grief event. This led to the angst of many, who were unsatisfied that Avery had decided to continue the games, in full glory and cheers, even after 17 deaths.

The moral of the movie is the same as what Gundam Seed (or maybe all Gundam series) is trying to portray: There's no end to revenge. It only increases the loss.

Its true. 冤冤相报何时了

Personal DNA

Reserved Architect

You are a Reserved Architect

Architect

Your preference for concrete, visually pleasing things, combined with your confidence and your respect for order make you an ARCHITECT.
???

You are logical and detail-oriented, which allows you to get things done efficiently.
I dun think I'm efficient.. I procrastinate a lot a lot..

You are quite sure of yourself, so that you tend to know the best ways of doing things.
I read a lot = knowledge..

Your eye for aesthetic beauty and style indicates that you know a lot about design.
I became an art student by failing maths..

Having a routine and sticking to it is important to you; you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.
Agree..

Self-reliance is something in which you take great pride. you are confident and down to earth.
Y rely on others for things u can do urself??

You have a basic faith in yourself in many areas of your life, allowing you to be self-assured when facing challenges.
船到桥头自然直...

You are balanced in your approach to problem-solving, not letting your emotions hold you up.
Maybe..

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.
I HATE changes in schedules at the last min..

You have a strong sense of style and value your personal presentation - friends may even seek your style advice from time to time.
I dun think they do.. They jus pray for me to be more gu niang..

You tend to believe that things happen for a reason, and that not everything is under our control.
Cause and Effect..

If you want to be different:

Try moving beyond the things that you find comfortable. open yourself up to a broader range of experiences.
I'm enclosed~

Question how much you know about things by imagining different possibilities.
Lazy lahh.. Think too much unneccessary stuff later hair go white..


Reserved

You are RESERVED. you aren't someone who always needs to have others around, and you find you can handle most situations on your own.
People complicate things & ends up with me clearing the shit

You can be very happy spending time alone, and enjoy your own thoughts and ideas.
I'm actually planning to travel alone end of this yr.. Hmm..

You find it difficult to understand why some people get so emotional and tell everyone else their problems.
Ok lah. I believe in getting the problem out of ur mind but dun expect me to do a good reply. I'm horrid at doing that kinda stuff.

You believe that if you want to get something done, it is best to do it yourself.
Sounds familiar..

In your experience, other people are not always completely dependable, so you generally rely on yourself and only a few close others.
*nod nod nod*

Despite your independence, you are not a closed-minded person who makes hasty judgments about others. You know that it isn't always easy to walk in other people's shoes.
Their shoes are too small for my big feet.

At times other people's feelings are puzzling to you, and you wish that people were more rational.
*nod nod nod nod nod*

Your vision of the world is complex. your values are not set in stone. Instead, you are able to change your beliefs as you learn new information.
Possible..

If you want to be different:

Even though it is tiring, making an extra effort to spend time with others even when you feel like being alone can have powerful positive effects on your relationships.
Orr...

Practice talking about yourself to people you haven't previously trusted. You will forge friendships where you wouldn't have thought possible, and with practice, sharing your thoughts and feelings will get easier and easier.
Its already hard for me to talk abt myself to ppl I trusted.. How bad is that?

Assess me here!

Sarawak

I'm finally back.

Yesterday that is..

Was so tired after touchdown at 5+pm and the panic over my baggy that got stuck in KL transit. Apparently my underwears attempted to go on a tour without me but they were caught by the airline people b4 they could board any other flights out.

But WHY m I on MH flight when my underwears came back in SQ!?!

Not fair not fair.

I made a call to the Lost & Found at 7pm, waited until 8 which they said they'll check the SQ flight arriving. Fell asleep at 9 after 3ep of Naruto. Concussed till 12am when my mum was practically dragging me out of dreamland. The airline people had delivered my baggy back and knocked the door at 12.07am!!

Hello.. Its kinda scary to have people knocking at ur door at 12 midnight. And the panicky mum that I had was still thinking what happened, maybe police or something. Ahahhaha.

Anyway, they din asked me to verify the contents of the bag. Maybe I'm the only one with misplaced bag. I noe.. its kinda inconspicuous. I'll paste my name big big next time. Its only a convertible bag/pouch. Not my Mambo backpack.

Slipped back into coma again, nvr wanting to wake up for work, but still have to drag my butt from my bed and crawled to start working on my statements. 4 days for that. Hopefully its not that complicated for last mth.

Abt the trip, hmm.. kinda fun but VERY TIRING. 4 nights away from my cosy bed. 5 days away from internet/communication (Not really, jus that gotta pay overseas charge).

Its my 1st time taking plane. Was OK. Jus that the plane is damn cramped. A 737 or something. Flight food was only edible standard. 2 times I forgot to take the camera outta the bag for pictures. Nvm, shall do it when I'm off to TW next mth.


Saw this ManU plane when I touched down at Kuching

Transport from airport to Crowne Plaza hotel takes roughly 20min. Hotel room was quite big, definitely bigger than my room. King size bed which I only utilized the right side. Lighting was a bit dim, even after switching all the lights on.

I still like my own room at home.


View from my hotel room 907

Went jalan-ing at the bazaar/wet market/sunday market, watever they call it. Its like the wet markets in SG. Floors were wet, stalls mostly selling veggies, all over.


The bazaar


The horrendous parking lot traffic


And of cos, the "Free" shop. (100% discount IS free what..)

Sunday was spent adventurously. The advance party, us, went cave climbing while our chairman stayed back at the hotel to get a nice in-room massage and welcome the folks.


Outside of Fairy Cave


Entrance


Inside the cave


Look at the minute stairs

Had a ranger to bring us ard, but half the time, he's speaking in Malay, which only the Malay folks understand and din bother to translate, or translate incorrectly. 3/4 of the time, they went so fast I got fed up, bcos I've got night blindness, its pitch dark in the cave, there's only one light behind for 4 person, the 2 ppl + ranger was already 5-10m away with 2 lights. Many a times I'll jus stand still, when I cant see the floor in front of me, bcos I dun wanna step on wat I'm not supposed to step on, or take a wrong step and fall/slide all the way to darkness. Irritating! Should have gotten my own torchlight but the ranger says dun need. *Growl*

*Note: We took the unbeaten route in Fairy Cave. Mostly no stairs and in pitch darkness. We spent nearly 3 and a half hrs inside the cave. 700++ feet above sea level we climbed.

Luckily the scenery makes up for all the unpleasantness inside the cave.


Wind Cave


River outside Wind Cave

Wind Cave was not as tough, but its even darker than Fairy Cave. Even though there's pathed route for visitors, we have to look out for snakes as warned by the ranger. Nothing much to see inside, only bats and bird's nest. Pitch darkness, cant take pics.

Got to this beautiful, breath-taking, now on my lappy wallpaper lake. Took tonnes of photos of its serenity and calmness. All these on Lumix DMC-LC50. Not bad for a 3.2mp camera. Jus some problems with the exposure parts on the forest.


Looks kinda like China


Can I have a house with this kinda view?


How peaceful it looks under the clouds..

Monday was the start of the agenda that we went Sarawak for. Full day meeting, I was responsible for clicking the powerpoints. "Thankfully" for that responsibility, I din nod off that much, only during one presentation where the presenter went off-track and I din have to click that much.


View from meeting room suite


Area ard Crowne Plaza

The whole bunch of us went Cultural Village after our morning meeting on Tuesday for teambuilding. Its a cool place. Dun ever miss it if u're in Sarawak!

Its a bit outta place though. An hour's journey from the hotel. I was so tired I slept in the bus. A very educational tour, not to mention the breath-taking sights yet again. The serenity lake, the long houses, the mountain background.


Cultural Village


Green, Green, Loads of Greens


Got that bamboo-like plant in the pic to create the China/Japan feel

Went ard the village in teams for "Treasure Hunt", trying to get answers for the questions. As the village is not very big, we're literally moving in one BIG group instead. Nevertheless, loads of fun, colluding with other teams, split and merge with members of other teams, climbing the steep stairs, trying out blowpipes, etc etc. We finished our questions with time to spare and proceeded to finish looking through the whole village and the different tribes. Din really get to visit the Chinese and Malay community thou as its time for the games.

Played basketball, coconut bowling, bottle fishing, blow pipe shooting and darts. The basket for the basketball is lower than the normal height. And being out of touch for like 2 yrs, I only managed 1 outta 5 tries, penalty-styled. The rest of my group oso got 1 each except for my big boss, who had none in, for a national bball player. Heehee. So 3 pts for that. And only after the games I found out, my boss, who aint any bball player, scored 4 outta 5. WAH KAOOOOOO He one person win my whole team.

Had a spare of abt 7 pins for the coconut bowling, and no hits for the next attempt. The nail flew outta the bottle in bottle fishing TWICE (its already hard enuff to get the nail in the bottle with the wind blowing). Out of range for blowpipe and darts. Ahhaahaha. Conclusion, the last team that arrived at the games station won the whole telematch.

Proceeded for cultural show. They had a blowpipe performance and were looking for victims. I think I was victimized cos the fella was shining his mirror at me. I continued shooting him with my camera while he went to attack another poor lady. Maybe he thought a weaker lady would be more entertaining than choosing this bochup girl. Ahahahha.

Went shopping after that, I bought quite a few bracelets. Crystals lah, Tiger Eyes lah. I haven demagnetized them yet thou. Total shopped items: Extendable Back Scratcher, keychains for souvenirs, loads of pepper, one box of bird's nest, bracelets, earrings blah blah blah.

Yest was the last day at Sarawak. Finally got to pray at Dua Peh Gong (forgot the name of the temple) after planning to do it on Sunday. Its a simple affair, 8 joss-sticks (the one near my house had 24 joss-sticks and 9 deities lor). Made a bit of contribution and prayed for my safety. Aint a good yr for me (Note: my touring underwear is one of the eg.).

Took the flight at 1+, transit at KL for abt an hr, then back SG. At least the KL-SG plane is bigger, smoother taking off and landing.

That's abt it. And I definitely dun like answering questions like How's ur trip? I got that question more than 3 times today. How m I supposed to describe the scary cave with natural stone sculptures that look human-like?? Hmm..

Yeah. Off to concussion again. Nvr enuff sleep for me.