Mika rolls into town!

Anticipation


The familiar sight


Backstreet Boys



More Pics to come...

Current Music: Taylor Swift - Teardrops on My Guitar

Loving Trengganu...

Spent my Good Friday holidays with 3 other friends, Andreas, Stephan and his gf Evelyn, up north in the state of Trengganu. The main objective was the wonderful and thrilling Cemerong Waterfalls, which kinda reminds one of the Stong waterfalls (Stong's in Kelantan btw).

On top of that, we were (or rather, Stephan was) looking forward to seeing the leatherback turtles along the beach at Dungun. And the long sandy beaches...the sunrise, etc...

Well, it was kinda hard to organise, given that all 4 of us were working people, and had little lead time to meet and prepare, so most of the information and communication went via email and phone calls and SMSes. Not an efficient way to get information across, IMO. This made me wonder if sitting down and discussing with the possible trek/travel group is more easy and efficient than using other non-contact forms of communications...

(Frankly, since I did trips before, I feel that it's more easy to deal with ppt one-on-one and in a contact setting rather than emailing. Cos u dun DECIDE who reads your email...or whether they open it or not! )

Besides, I wanted to see if Cemerong Waterfalls was as beautiful as described by SAC forumers. And indeed, the waterfall was amazing! Although we were late to move off from Tanah Merah (who the HELL meets at Tanah Merah?!?! It's god-damned FAR and ISOLATED and ULU!) and held up for another 2.5 hours at the customs, we managed to make our way into Malaysia, and it was another 8 hours on the van before we finally reached our stop for breakfast, near Paka River Camp.

On the way to PRC


Breakfast!


Cat and Duck living together?


Not really otah...forgot the name =X


The kampung lifestyle - Hammocks


U even find donuts in kampungs!!! Wow!


Misty day.


An old van


Small cat :P


Meeting bulldozers on the road is normal...


Bridge collapse -_-" Luckily, we're not on it.


Cemerong Waterfalls from afar...kinda reminds me of Stong


The 'resort-like' area!


Me, Andreas, Evelyn, Stephan


Chalet-like facilities - Maybe that's the reason why it swung over to BN and stayed there for another term. haha.


Reminiscent of Ophir?


The waterfall after a short trek!



Clear...nice...


Stephan: "Wha-ta!!!!"


Close-up of the waterfall


Me and A-Bang at the waterfall

And of course, after the breakfast, we took our barang, sat on e van for an hour plus to this secluded national park, where it holds one of Malaysia's tallest waterfalls - Cemerong Waterfalls.

And it's really AMAZING (as you can see from the pics above).

Well, the trek reminded me of several places - Ophir (in the beginning), Stong (waterfalls), Datuk (the ever ascending slope), Taman Negara (leeches) and Berkelah (wonderful clear rivers and small falls above the main waterfall!)

All in all, it was a good trek (save for the leeches), and it was really a refreshing trek. The trail was easy to follow, but it would be better to have a guide bring you up to the campsite (there are 2 above the waterfall after a looonnnnggg climb), and if you have more time to spare, try to ascend Berembun mountain too! Heard it's another adventure by itself.



Andreas climbing over the fallen tree trunk


Moving across the river as fast as possible...


The rapids


Dinner time!

After the trek, we had (of course) some RnR at the nearby town! A great weekend, good food, and sunrise on a tranquil Sunday morning!!!

Presenting once again...the team:

Stephan the 'Survivor' camper


Evelyn the 'I-wanna-sit-in-tent' camper


Andreas the 'all-prepared-to-trek-with-my-books' camper

After the camping part of the Good Friday weekend, we decided to stay for a night in a resort along the beach, to be able to catch the sunrise (hopefully!)


The peace...


Ok...fallen branch LOG


Cat and...cat game?


Satay 'factory' at a pasar malam


Super cheap satay!


Sunrise


Sunrise


Picking seashells along the seashore


Shiyao and Co.


The resort we stayed in


Simply...beautiful.


The old steps lead up...

All in all, it was a wonderful journey up north. Really enjoyed the company of friends and the state of Trengganu left a great impression on me...maybe I should just return there another day for a trip? Anyone?? :)

Current Music: Westlife - Us Against The World

Dear Blog...

Sometimes, I feel that my IA is really meaningless. The company does not seem to value the presence of the interns, at least that's how I see the upper management. I have yet to tell my superior about the lack of things I get to learn or do in my current capacity.

Perhaps, one should be a half-year working student instead of an intern.

Intern is such a sacred word in Singapore companies. With an educated workforce which demand (but they actually command a whole lot lesser) a higher salary from their bosses on their first/second/third jobs, the presence of the intern helps the companies' HR personnel in more ways than one.

For one, they get to hire a student on a lower payscale, but making him/her perform the same work as a temp, who is obviously paid higher. And all the HR managers have to do is to tell the school the supposed jobscope, and they get their man for the whole 6 month period. Depending on company, the intern would be doing anything from 'saikang' to improving a plant process to being accountable for something, something which they can come to call as their own.

Well, unluckily (or lucky to some others) for me, I fall into the first category of interns. My colleagues are nice, but I find the company too obsessed with the end result and that certain people just do not mix.

To tell you the truth, I've already explained these in my HR reflection paper. It was from what I observe and feel, and I really wish that I could do something about it...even if it's just a small step to making the next day seem much better and more meaningful to look forward to.




Guess maybe I still do not know what I intend to become. Sighs.

Current Mood: Sad

Sex and NUS

Did u guys read the recent s3x survey done in NUS? Shocking? Or was it more of "oh wells, it's all known..." and "u mean, now it's OFFICIAL??" *cue innocent+shocked face*

Well, I guess we guys know about the hkpk happening behind the scenes in the quiet (or not-so-quiet) hall life in NUS, right? Maybe not everyone who stays in hall engage in such activities, but definitely, if there is word about it circling round the campus, it cant be based on untruths or half-truths, right? 正所谓：无风不起浪.

And maybe, incoming freshies will be more interested in hall-life...com'on dudes...taste the wonderful life in school...and see for yourself if the report is true (or false?).

And on the other hand, we all know the 'fact' that CJC has one of the highest abortion rates in the 2000 period, and now (apparently) HCI (HCJC as it is formerly known) has taken over the dubious 'honour'.

Wait a minute...who came up with such honours in the first place?? Probably someone who wanted to spice up the entire "this JC vs that JC" thing. Like the question on how many xJC students does it take to change a light bulb (where x is the prefix, say...R, or C, or AC, etc...). Stereotypes, as we learn in HR2002.

Oh and HR2002...the module which IA students take after a long day at work in school from 6.15pm onwards. The module which apparently teaches you how to understand human relations in the new economy. Which, in fact, I am rushing a reflection essay now based on my personal experiences, all of which come from my internship so far. I'm more than happy at my internship, but maybe I should leave that to a later time.

So during last week's class, the topic was on framing (of people). As class participation, we were supposed to relate a word with the first thought on our minds (obviously, most of us did not do that, if you take 1 minute to blurt out an answer, it just means the word went through the brain, down your throat, into the stomach, got digested, and went back up to your vocal chords to be blurted out. hurhurhur)

Well, I decided to have a little fun for that, so when I was given the word "Psychologist", I said...

Sharon Stone


Why? 'Cos of Basic Instinct la...where she acted as a psychologist-cum-killer.
I mean, if Jennifer Garner or Jessica Alba were to have such a role, their names would be up there in my mind, and the first to be blurted out. This is because...

Alba >>> Garner >>>> Stone

Guess my life revolves around movies. I've caught a lot of movies (and on dvds if I did not get to watch on TV or on the big screen). If I actually gave a little more thought on the word psychologists, I would probably blurt words such as "psychotic", "lab coated guys in high armchairs" or "shrinks".

Guess that's my urban lifestyle now...movies. I need some escapades out of this little red dot. Toilet break, anyone??

Current Mood: Pensive

Current Music: 沈建宏 - 遇上 Ice Cream