Goodbye 2006, Hello 2007!

And it was a great way to celebrate the start of a new year with a bang (literally) with Rovers overseas! And we were blessed by good weather and a great place to have jolly good fun!

Prior to the trip, we were contemplating whether or not to go on with the trip, with the bad weather and flooding being reported, it kinda dampened the spirits of us party-goers. After some discussion, we went ahead with the initial plan and I'm sure glad we did! (Well, I'm wondering what we would be doing in SG, maybe watch the fantastic fireworks on display at Marina Bay area?)

And the first thing which we had planned was to meet at Clementi at 6am on Saturday. Having arranged to meet Jason at 5.30am, I set my alarm to wake me up at 4.45am, since I was a little sick with a blocked nose already, and I had barely 5 hours of rest.

Guess what? I was late in meeting him! Argh. Mum woke me up at 5.30am, and I jumped out of bed, rushed to brush my teeth whilst letting him know that I was going to be late, and I prepared to leave...in 15 minutes! Well I guess I've to thank the army experience for allowing me to do things with such efficiency, but in the end I was still kinda tired and shacked...was half-awake when the 2 of us arrived at Clementi MacDonalds'. By then, CK, Luiyee, Mufeng, Pei Geok, Shuying, Stephanie, Weiguang, Weihuang and Zhihui had arrived. Geraldine and Nicholas arrived shortly after, both coming from their hall...and Hwi Bee was the last! (This was confirmed 'cos she just woke up when Shuying called her, and she met us at the checkpoint in time).

But anyway, we managed to proceed onward to Malaysia via chartered minivans, which swiftly brought us to our destination - Tanjung Lehman - the jetty whereby we take a ferry over to the kelong.

The long road ahead...


Arrow marks the spot.


Boarding the ferry to the Kelong


Me, Guang, Geoks, Zhai


Ah Mu and Guang on the boat


Leaving the breakwater


Geri & Luiyee - Geri's frightened? o_O


Nearing the Kelong!


Climbing up to the Kelong at low tide

After arrival at our Hotboys Kelong, we proceeded to explore the area...it was really a step back to an easy-going lifestyle, away from the hectic life and hustle and bustle of Singapore. Everything there seemed to be pass by us slowly.

Fishing and mahjong in the middle of the Sibu Sea, what a great way to spend our time away! Away from books, away from the Internet, away from many other things which define our fast-paced school life. It's like a getaway from Singapore, and I certainly enjoyed the fishing which we started on after lunch! Although the fishes were not particularly big, it was certainly amazing on how 'easy' the fish took the bait. The fishing rods on rent were interestingly cheap at RM31 for our entire trip! So we had like 4 rods rented, and including Mufeng's, it was a total of 5 rods for all of us!


Our bunk for the 3d2n sleepover!


Interesting.


The black tank there holds our water for the day


BBQ pits available too!


Fishing is the standard activity here


Our beautiful kelong


Guang and his MLE text on the Kelong?!?! No!!!!


The first to be caught


Cages for fishes...Used by the owners I believe.


Mu & I preparing to kelong-jump.


(back to front) Steph, Luiyee, Guang, Geoks, Huang

So it was just catching, and reaping in the rewards, as well as learning new techniques in 'enticing' the fish to take our 'bait' and learning how to cast our hooks...another thing which I had to do so often was to undo tangled lines, which was super mafan and a total waste of time! Like Jason and I having to spend almost an hour solving a complex tangle, it was even worse than having to do our maths questions!!!


Me trying out fishing!


A struggling fish


I'd think this is a zebra fish?


Hwibee, Me, Jason


Geoks fishing


Slicing a dead fish for bait


Hwibee & her catch!


Our catch on the first day!


Geoks and her catch!


Guang pulling the line up

And the wind was really strong! All around the kelong, I could feel the sea breeze - strong yet calm, powerful initially and gradually fading away...it was really a great life to just relax there! And not to forget, things flew when the gusts of wind blew by - Shuying's slippers went into the waters during one of the windy periods.

Food onboard the kelong was great too! Mostly fish, but we also had crabs, prawns and even duck for our meals! The best thing was that they were really tasty and filled the stomach!


Mu's name on the table...they actually write down who is sitting on which table for meals!


The sunset of Day 1 @ Kelong

The rest of the time was spent on taking photographs or playing mahjong - the ultimate past-time for any group of 4 people! At least 2 tables of mahjong kakis gathered, and one of the tables was into playing with money (RM, not SGD since we are in Msia)...and it was a whole night of mahjong with LIVE EPL saturday night soccer! Nicholas and I were partially focused on the table in front of us whilst watching the soccer match, with Hwi Bee and CK being the other 2 on the table.


Me, Geoks, Nic doing the 'SMU-jump'

Managed to stay up from 5.30am till 8am on the last day of 2006...31st December 2006! And although the sunrise wasn't that pretty, the changing colours around us were wonderful! From black, till blue-black, then slowly the far off mountains can be seen, then the clouds seemed to have appeared, and the surroundings lit up! Anglers (or fishermen?) were awake at that time, trying their luck in catching big fishes and casting their lines far out.


Early morning...a fishing line cast out at sea throughout the nite.


Early morning, and the fishing lines are out at sea...


The early morning plate of noodles.


A sotong (is it?) caught!

Tried my luck fishing for a while, had breakfast by the sea, and then back to sleep, a wonderful early morning nap. In the afternoon, it was off to the nearby Sibu Island (apparently there's a resort there...wow!) for some beach fun and games! The scenery was picturesque and idyllic! The weather, which threatened to rain ever so often, cleared up! The beach was untainted (possibly because there were not many people on the island) and the waves were amazing! Taking pictures, dunking each other in the water (landing on the butt at times and having a huge wave come crashing down on u) and 'riding' the waves...too bad we did not have a surfboard, else we can do smth like Baywatch. Muhahaha. Coconut juice was also served, and it was refreshing!


The lonely boat


Us @ the jetty!


Swaying with the wind...


WH in ad for beach boys


Us having fun!


It should read: 27 ROVERS


Too much fun!


Ouch!


Nic & me

Back at the kelong, it was more mahjong, followed by watching of TV (Liang Jing Ru singing on TVBS and the Taipei countdown show)...as the hours ticked by, and we played Action Heart Attack, the end of 2006 was near and 2007 beckoned.




Yings, Zhai, Geoks, CK, LY


LY, HB, Nic, Me!


Last sunset of 2006!


The box of fireworks! (yea they come from boxes o_O)


On top of that, we've sparklers...


The best thing was...the kelong had fireworks! And to see the fireworks all being set off right in front of one's eyes...simply fantastic! (Well I'd wish to set off my own fireworks too..haha) Then there were the sparklers that we played, and the happy new year greetings to all...it was wonderful!

The start of the new year was spent drinking vodka and engaging in fruitful (and interesting o_O) talks, chit chat and interesting tidbits of each other...hopefully we'll get more of such chances in future!


R O V E R S


The guys (full strength!)


Yings, Me, Geoks

The last day of the kelong trip passed with the morning spent on catching up on lost sleep, and after lunch, we took pictures, talked and finally bade farewell to the wonderful kelong trip...a memorable one indeed. The ferry ride back was full of people, but it was okay...the adrenaline rush has passed and we're on our way back to where we belong...

En route home, we had to deal with the jams at the Malaysian side (the Johor-Kuantan road as well as the Causeway) and listened to the 93.3FM countdown on radio! Shiok! But the best thing was that we wrapped up our trip with the sighting of a new year rainbow! Too bad the vehicle was moving, else I'd wished I could get to some big field and take the picture of the rainbow, in all its grandeur.

What a way to close 2006 and to receive 2007 with open arms! Hopefully 2007's better for us all! :D


The New Year Rainbow :)

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Elva Xiao Ya Xuan - Biao Bai

Movies Galore!

Movies movies movies...'tis the season to be jolly...falalalala~~~~

Anyway, for the uninitiated, there are some really great movies this December! (or what is left of December...)

Recently caught The Holiday with Xingfang, and I must say it's a great movie despite what the reviews say...the only grouch I have was that we had to watch at the front row at PS 'cos it was nearly sold out!

And the screen was just less than 10 metres from the seat. Owww...how my neck ached.

Anyway, The Holiday is definitely a nice holiday movie with a theme of love running through it. Judging it side by side with Love Actually, I prefer the latter more...it's more sentimental, it's more powerful in the themes, and the actors were really great.

But I'll still settle for this movie this holiday season. Furthermore, Cameron Diaz's a bonus ;)

Another movie which I've watched was Confession of Pain, with Weili. The funny thing is, we managed to get into the cinema WITHOUT having our ticket stubs retained at all! There wasn't any front crew and being late for the show we decided to just go in first, talk later.

It was quite a nice movie, but somehow the plot is revealed to the audience barely a third into the show, meaning we already knew who was the murderer. Gosh...so much for capturing our undivided attention. The cast's acting holds the movie together, which is the plus point for this movie.

Anyway, there are much more nice shows coming next year! Harry Potter, Spiderman 3, Transformers...wow!

Today, sent off my brother at the airport...he's going off to Taiwan for his NS and will be gone for 11 months. Hoping to travel over there to meet him, maybe? But it's good that he managed to have the opportunity to work overseas...it's definitely going to be a good stint for him. Somehow, the home feels different without him around, just like how it felt when dad was away for months for work.

Okay time to pack my bag for the Kelong Trip tomorrow, and won't be back till the 1st of Jan! Thus, to all, have a wonderful 2007!

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Xu Ruo Xuan - Ying Wei Ni

Earthquake hits Taiwan!

And that rendered the Internet down for most of Asia, at least for those sites which require trans-Pacific connections. And while the fixing of the trans-Pacific undersea cables will take approximately 3 weeks, we still have to deal with the continuation of life, the sluggish feel of the Internet, and the irritating CORS system which went kaput itself, totally unconnected to the entire trans-Pacific cable problem.

How interesting that we lay undersea cables which bypass the tectonic plates. But it's kinda inevitable, unless other means of communication are being used (i.e. satellite?)

Whilst most of the people dwell on the slowing of the Internet and how it will affect them and their surfing of overseas sites, we students have to deal with a conked-up CORS system which seemingly got flooded by too much traffic on the opening day of round 1A. I was pretty surprised that even a local site could be hit by the earthquake problem, but thankfully, it wasn't the case.

Seems like the good 'ol problem of too many people who rushed into the CORS system on Wednesday jammed up the server. Haha. This happens all so often, and the previous time was probably 2 semesters ago?

Just some ranting, on a good rainy day. It's kinda windy and cold here, Christmas had arrived in the form of rain instead of snow.

Decisions, decisions. Some things have to be done ASAP.

Current Mood: Cold

Berkelah cancelled

So...in the end, my Berkelah trip has to be cancelled, and I'm still mulling over the loss in fun...But then again, it was for the better of everyone, as it was still flooding in parts of Malaysia after watching yesterday's news. Bad decision? I won't know unless I look back in hindsight.

Anyway, instead of slacking at home, went over to Yihui's house (as per planned even with a trip) for mahjong session, and Jason came along also. Was late for the session, but it was okay 'cos Yihui and Jianlong were watching The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift. Nice looking cars! And they remind me of Initial D!

Hwi Bee was late, as usual, and we started a warm-up round without her. Also missing were those supposed to go for the Berkelah trip: Celina, Haiping, Sharon, Shuying, Vee Vien. Had dinner at Westmall's MOS Burger (and Jason got his bread from BreadTalk) and we returned to Yihui's house for the official mahjong session!

Managed to win 20cents (which is equivalent to 1 small win) after the end of 3 rounds, but it was still a good game...left after Yihui's friend arrived to take over my space.

So Jason and I took a long but fast journey home on 157, and it was raining as I walked home. It's such a nice weather...to sleep! And well, that explains why I woke up at 1pm today. Haha!

Rinjani in May/June, anyone?

Current Mood: Sleepy

Current Music: Wu Yin Liang Ping - Shen Bian

Merry Merry Xmas!

I really dun have the feel of Xmas, and I've not really celebrated Xmas in a big way too...so it was a breakaway from 'tradition' that I managed to get my butt out of the comforts of home and mingle in the crowd.

The gathering was forewarned only 3 days ago, but the turn-out was pretty good, I must admit. 7 people for lunch at Chinatown, followed by a movie at The Cathay despite the drizzle, and then off to Marina Square for some chicken and the good 'ol irresistible mudpie!!!

Was late for the lunch meeting at noon with the 26th at Chinatown, 'cos I was preparing some stuff and helping mum (yes that's true ok!) with house chores, but managed to get there ASAP. Being a festive season, it is quite common to see Orchard Road packed with people, and Chinatown was similarly full of people as they thronged the streets and shopping centres there, despite the drizzle. I made my way to the People's Park Food Centre (after trying to find the correct Yong Tau Foo stall out of 5 there), and met Candice, Kheng Hui, Lai Yee, Lianguo, Shuang Hui and Wanling. And I was quite paisei to be late, being the organiser and all. So please dun kill me k?! But I was really surprised and happy at the turnout! 7 out of 13 possible! (Peiyu and Danny are on overseas duty).

Had my quick 'authentic' Hakka lunch and we all moved on to find a desert stall in Chinatown...after appearing on the opposite side of the street via the NEL station, 1 right turn, 1 left turn, 3 right turns, 1 left turn, 2 right turns later, we managed to find the stall! And dear SH had actually 'bashed' to find the stall (my guess is she roughly knew where the place was from LY's description). The deserts there were deliciously nice! Wow! Must try more in future!

Ling's favourite leeches...and MORE!


My bowl of desert - Mango with pomelo and sago!


All 6 of us (less KH, he left earlier)


After that, we parted ways, with Candice and LG going to Sim Lim/Bugis, Shuang going to her niece's house (play with baby!!! So cute!), KH having to go tuition (and he left before having a sniff at the desert...next time k?). So LY, WL and I decided to go downtown and see what movies there were, while we waited for Jorin. Besides, I had a discount on Cathay movie tickets, so it was much cheaper than usual la.

And when we reached The Cathay...



I know I've posted this pic before, but I decided to post again 'cos it's really nice! (ok the colour's alright to me, but it really looks like a gigantic candy floss!)

Despite a variety of timings, we could only find one movie - Deathnote2!!! - which suited our timings, and the movie had (apparently) started for about 5 minutes already, which meant...we had to hurry.

Looking at the long queue at the ground level, we decided to move to the 5th floor in the hope of 'jumping' the queue and getting the tickets ASAP. Luckily for us, there wasn't any queues (w00t!) and I managed to purchase the 3 tickets quickly! However, the downside was that it was situated at the extreme left side of the cinema, which meant that they're not the best seats in the house.

And right I was, with me just above the exit and barely able to see the whole screen (luckily I'm taller and seated at that seat!) and the movie was still starting, so we did not miss much of it.

I shall not talk much of the movie as of now, 'cos I'll bet there's like so many people out there who've yet to catch it, so I'll keep the suspense for now, but to tip u off, it's gonna end NOT the way the manga wrote la, so expect a movie-type ending.

After the movie, Ling and I bade farewell to LY (who's late for her meeting with her frens at AMK!) and we made our way down to meet Jorin at Raffles City...and in the drizzle, we saw...



Ok it's nothing mystifying and I'll bet a hundred bucks that most of you had passed by it along that stretch of road, but I still like this tree! (The one over at the Inter-Continental Hotel rocks more la! - Pun intended)

After going about at the new basement in Raffles City, we moved over to Marina Square via Citylink to find a dining area, and it was really crowded below! This was probably due to the drizzle on the street level, forcing people to go indoors...What's Xmas without some outdoor fun? It sorta ruins the mood, so I was hoping the weather would change for the better...

Was at Marina Square and we explored the area. The central area was decked in shades of violet and purple, and it was really a great colour! Walking around, we decided to spend less on the dinner, and reserve more money for the deserts! So we happily had our chicky meal at Cavana.


Interesting lights of Marina Square


Terrorist spotted? Even has laser scope! Wow...

Walked around and chatted a bit, the 3 of us having not met up together for some time already. Passed by a cafe with "live" band and the songs sang by the singer was amazing...which remind me of KTV and K-boxing. Always wondered whether I can even sing at that level, but I guess we all have to try and practice, right?

As we went over to the Coffee Club at Millenia Walk, we realised that it had just opened for business! The deco was amazing! There was a portion which was decked in grey/green and seemed more casual, and then there was this portion which was totally orange! I love orange! Furthermore, it seemed like a part for large groups to gather and chat, with the space allocated to it and the design. Lastly, there was also this part of the cafe which made one seem as though they are watching TV, with the comfortable round seats and all!


The orangey place for large groups!


The nice TV-like seats


Whilst waiting for Xingfang to appear after her caroling, Jorin ordered her mudpie and I ordered a drink 'cos I'm like totally thirsty. Tried the Passion Fruit Tea with vanilla ice-cream, and it was really shiok! Just love the taste of passion fruit! The sweet taste...refreshing!

Talked about random stuff...piano, music, the past...if I could turn back time, maybe I would have taken a different path? Now's the time for us to look back and reflect, but can I do anything now? Maybe not...


Me, Jorin, Wanling


Mudpie!!!!


Xingfang, Me, Jorin, Wanling


On our special guest's arrival, she promptly ordered her mudpie, and I ordered mine too 'cos I saw hers being a bigger portion than that served to Jorin. Mudpie was as delicious as ever, though I've eaten bigger portions at the Holland Village and Marina Square outlets. For those, it was rather difficult *ahem* to finish it by yourself!

After the food's down into the stomach, we just chatted...it's so nice, I really wished I had more time to chat with friends, to chill out, no work to do, no studies to care, and no worries...yet they are beckoning me with each day as we step closer to the start of a new term. We were reminiscing on the first birthdays which we celebrated for Wanling and Jorin, and how we managed to trick the unknowing ger into going for a 'meeting' when one wasn't present; how Jorin rejected my 'request' for help on my bio module (yea she offered to help during the sem!) but could not do so and was wondering why I did not understand, and when she knew the truth she was kinda shocked la; how we did the KTV surprise for Jorin... They're all nice memories we share, and I really cherish them!

Went our separate ways on leaving the Coffee Club, XF going to Bishan for her Deathnote2 movie with her friend, Jorin off to meet her friends...Ling and I took 190 and tried to see the lights for Xmas, but it's a pity that we were on the wrong road. However, we saw the huge crowd moving en masse towards Ngee Ann City (XF said it's super crowded as she did her caroling there, and thus we did not go on foot), with police deployed, some of them strutting batons and bullet-proof vests.

Thanks for spending the day with me, 26th...really miss all of you! Here's me wishing you all a Merry Merry Xmas!

Back home, managed to hear from Ling that she reached home on time (yea the 灰姑娘) and I showered and snuggled on the nice couch to watch TV...Channel 5 was showing Love Actually and The Family Man. Nice movies, and I really enjoyed them (with all the festive and family themes in it)!

Nice weather to sleep...zzz... But it's been a wonderful day!

Current Mood: Festive

Current Music: 2moro - Peng You Chu Qu Zou Zou

Weatherman says...

News says - Flooding in Johor Bahru
People think - Flooding in Malaysia
Actual fact - Kuantan is having good weather

Weird right? But I guess reporting news in Malaysia is definitely different from Singapore. Surely different parts of a state will have different weather conditions right? Malaysia is so much bigger than Singapore anyway.

But I hope the rain stops, allowing all to have a nice and wonderful Xmas! Have all of you been good boys and girls this year? :)

Okies...enjoy the weekend!

Current Music: 2moro - Bei Pian Le

Impromptu

Oh wells, how much of impromptu activities can one take?

I was almost heading to a very sian run-up to the weekend, but I sure was lucky for the activities which I wanted to carry out...With an unexpected early return home on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday turned out to be free days instead.

On Wednesday, washed tents under perfect conditions - sunny weather and with sufficient manpower! Much of the repairs of the stores could also be done ASAP, and after that went swimming, with my newly bought TYR goggles. Just need to swim more, need to practice more on my strokes too. It sure feels good to swim under the sun, with new goggles too!

So that was Wednesday, and after settling some more Rovers stuff, proceeded to meet LG and then back home...Thursday was even more impromptu, with a last-minute K-session organised successfully! Only 4 of us Skadians went - Joyce, Minghui, Yi Si, and we really sang to our hearts' content from 2.30 till 8.30! Wow! Non-stop KTV with no-one to rush us outta our rooms! Really worth it!

Watched Curse of The Golden Flower today at Cineleisure with Xingfang, a place which I've yet to go for quite some time already. The cinemas have the same good 'ol feeling which made me love Cathay cinemas over GV, EW or Shaw's.

It was a good choice of movie, after we had initially wanted to watch Battle of Wits, but it had already ended its run by then. The set was simply amazing and beautiful! I guess words cannot describe how wonderful the entire set, costumes and detail that were put into the movie.

It's basically a movie of the royal family, with sin, betrayal, deceit and suspense all rolled into one. Well, I loved the stunning visuals there, although maybe the acting could be much better...and do Tang Dynasty women all dress like the maidens and Gong Li? It's a little too...*ahem*...exposed...I wonder too...

Had lunch over at Hobayashi and it was pretty good, the scrambled noodles. But I guess the one over at Taka is better? At least value for money, I'd believe.

Made my way to school for the Berekelah briefing, which is on active monitoring status due to the flooding in Johor and rains in Peninsula Malaysia. Not an ideal time to go trekking, but I'm just hoping that the rain stops and roads are good for passage of vehicles, especially since the bus has to pass through Kota Tinggi.

Met up with Mufeng and Hwibee for the briefing, which was done quickly and settling of stores was relatively smooth, since the people I am briefing are all those I know - Celina, Chin Khiong, Kellie, Lih Sheng, Margaret, Yi Hui and Zhanwei. Super fast, super quick, and after clearing our own stuff and deciding on what to eat, we and Geraldine got onto Mufeng's van and he gave us a lift over to IMM!

There, we met up with CK, Luiyee, Weiguang, Zhihui. WG had a new hairstyle, similar to mine! Had dinner over at Streets, some new 'cafe' at IMM, but I can tell you the service is darned pathetic. Food is not dished out quick enough, and I bet that I can get equal or better food at a cheaper cost outside. Paying the service charge is really a bother, as the service there really did not justify it.

So all in all, avoid the cafe Streets at IMM. Shun it. It's simply pathetic and if you really have to try, just go once, yea?

Took a long bus ride home, and I'm watching Black Hawk Down on AXN on our new plasma TV! Haha...parents decided to get a new one since the old one had a spoilt controller, and the TV was on sale...really different effects seen compared to that on the old TV.

I still love war movies...Flags of Our Fathers, anyone?

Nothing planned for the run-up to Xmas...doubt I'll do much, don't really have the 'feel' of Xmas as of yet...and I wonder why...

Current Mood: Happy

Current Music: Lin Jun Jie & Jin Sha - Bei Feng Chui Guo De Xia Tian