Saturday, June 27, 2009 ; 12:06 PM {♥}
I AM BACK!
yay for me!
Wakaka. Just returned home at 3 in the morning. Then when I woke up at 9, decided to return Ms. Fang's call and guess what?
I am to be quarantined for 7 days :D Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Haha, I will kind of miss going to school with bin and gang but then... now I have time to finish my homework!
Dropping the quarantine subject, HONGKONG & MACAU was fab! I might be posting pictures but don't count on it. I still owe bins and mins some pictures after all. So anyway, shall relate to everybody my HONGKONG & MACAU experience :D
Day One 22/06/09
Woke up at around 8 in the morning and started on some last-minute packing. Haha, was searching for sufficient underclothes actually :D It was my first budget airlines experience and I thought it was okay. Except the budget terminal is so small and pathetic with only a Han's and a Macdonalds. It really looks the job. It is after all, a budget terminal. We were discussing lunch plans while having breakfast at Mac's. It appears that budget airlines have really expensive food, and I'm only talking about cup noodles. Mum wanted to sneak in some sandwiches but Daddy and I didn't really want to have to sneak around just to eat. Turns out our worries were unfounded. The people on the plane brought their own food and were all eating right under the stewardess' noses. Like seriously. They even brought an assortment of food ranging from fruits (e.g. grapes) to desserts (e.g. cakes, kueh lapis etc...). Nobody said anything about them so in the end we all ate Mum's sandwiches =.= After a four hour flight of sleeping with trombone concertos blasting throught my mp3, we finally arrived!
So, first stop... Ole London Hotel. It was actually pretty decent for a two-star hotel, being newly renovated and all. Everything was new and even though it was small, it was nice. I especially loved their television because it sports about 100+ channels. I was totally hooked on to their japanese tv shows with chinese subs. Really interesting and funny. And I even saw this... the anime Gokusen with... wtf?! Hokkien dubs?! It was really funny to watch because it sounded like ****. I can't really find words to describe, just really horrible. So anyway, we dropped our luggage and made our way to Tai Sam Pa - the ruins of Saint Paul's cathedral. On the way we shopped around through the streets and I found it amazing because they can have the same biscuit shop with like 5 branches and more on that one street. Tough competition >:D The church ruins were pretty awesome. Very grand and nice even though it's like old. We even visited a grave. After shopping around somemore we went back to the hotel and refreshed ourselves with a bath before heading out to find food. In the end dinner was settled at some roadside noodle store. The food was not bad and I didn't see any roaches or anything so I assumed it should be safe. Felt kinda cool eating there cause it feels like you were in a HongKong drama :D
Day Two 23/06/09
Today we were heading to HongKong! Left the hotel early in the morning to embark towards the macau jetty. Enjoyed my first Macau bus trip. It was okay, kind of like Singapore's transitlink buses. Anyway, passed by quite a number of Casinos O.O The boat that we sat on was pretty cool. The inside of the boat is like a plane and they have like stewardesses too. Except maybe they're not called air stewardesses anymore. Anyway, the fare is about 30 + SGD? It took one whole hour to reach but I was sleeping so it was okay. When we arrived we went straight to HongKong's MTR (Singapore calls it the MRT) and bought one day travel passes. With those equipped, it was straight to HONGKONG DISNEYLAND!
Disneyland has their own train station called the Disney Resort Station. It's on a seperate line and that line and is the only station on that line. At the interchange, I got a shock because the train that came was seriously a disney train. IT IS THE MOST AWESOMEST TRAIN I HAVE EVER SAT IN MY LIFE. They have like velvet cushioned seats and the windows are in the shape mickey's head. and they have many disney characters' bronze statues displayed in glass cases. Even the handle bars that hang from above and mickey-shaped. It feels totally magical inside and you feel like a kid all over again. Everyone, and I mean everyone, started camwhoring the minute they boarded the train. The Disney train station is also pretty cool. It looks like it jumped straight out of Kingdom Hearts. Anyway, you have to walk quite a long way to get disneyland from the station but it was kind of exciting walking there while listening to the disney songs blasting from those lamposts. It was freaking hot but it didn't put anyone down. The disney souveniers are really cute and fantastic I felt like buying the whole shop home. I totally regret not saving up more money to get myself something T.T
Disneyland is totally awesome even though it's really kiddish. There aren't any exciting rides but it is still fun because there are tons of shows to watch. We head straight to Sleeping Beauty's Castle fist because Mum complained that even though she went to 2 Disneylands already, she never made it to the castle. So well, we warmed-up first with that Dumbo kids ride. Saw many little caucasians sporting fancy dresses and cosplaying as the disney princesses :D They look so cute. It started raining soon after we got off Dumbo so we ran for shelter. We were just lucky to run into Mickey's Philharmagic performance just right on showtime. It was quite cool because I got to see french horns and trombones :D Haha, it's actually a 4D show like the one in movieworld except it's not shrek but it's with mickey and gang. I really liked it. It was really cute. Haha :D Then after we came out the rain stopped for awhile so we decided to move on to adventureland because we thought it would be more exciting there.
So we went to take the jungle river cruise :D It was kind of like some role-playing game. You go for a ride with the tour guide but you end up getting lost in some unknown part of the river kinf od storyline but seriously, our tour guide had lousy acting skills so it didn't feel the least bit exciting. Still, the river tour was kind of cool. There was a part at the back where we got stuck in some volcano place and real fire totally burst out from the rocks nearby. It was totally hot but cool at the same time. Then when we came out it started raining heavily again so we went to the restaurant opposite for lunch. Lunch was good and not as expensive as I thought it would be. The set meal was like 15 SGD person and it was extremely filling. I felt like I could die from overeating. It was still drizzling when we finished so we decided to go back to fantasyland (sleeping beauty's castle area) to watch more shows indoors. Was hoping to catch winnie the pooh adventures but they were undergoing some uppgrading so we went to "it's a small world" for a spin. Quite interesting to watch but also a little boring. Because it's just moving and singing puppets from different countries.
Next stop was Tomorrowland. Went to try out the only exciting ride they have there- Space Mountain. It's a high speed rollercoaster in the dark so you can't see where you are going. The only light around you are little dots of light that are supposed to be stars. I was so scared because it sounded scary but it's actually not as good as scoobydoo. I kept anticipating a really steep slope but it never came. It's just really fast that's all. So that ended in a blink of an eye. After that, we went to watch stitch's encounter. It's quite interesting and funny because it's an interactive show where you can talk to stitch and play games. The conversation between stitch and the little kids were funny. Then we went to sit the Buzz Lightyear astro blasters. It was quite fun because it a game where you sit on the car and you get a gun to shoot the monsters around you. I took turns with my mum to use the gun because my gun malfunctioned and didn't work. Dad got an imba high score that tripled ours =.=. I think it's because he had NS training. Also tried out the Autopia driving game which is actually quite lame because the car can move on it own even if you don't drive it. The only thing you can control is the speed of the car and when to stop and start.
Thereafter we watched a short water parade on the streets where the disney characters go around splashing water at you and making you wet. Thank goodness for umbrellas. Next was the Golden Mickeys Musical which is absolutely fantastic. It was really amusing and I like recorded the whole thing down. Haha, just for future reference though. The live singing and dancing was extremely fun to watch. Our last stop was supposed to be visiting the Tarzan tree house but when we came out of the tree house the festival of the lion king show opened its doors for us. That show was nice too except halfway through it got interrupted and that's kind of like =.= you know. It killed the excitement.
After we left disneyland, we went to Mongkok Ladies Market which is near our hotel. I didn't really see any nice shops which was quite a dissapointment but Cotton On was having this huge sale and I bought quite alot of things from there. We were all extemely exhausted from disneyland so we hurried to the hotel to get refreshed. By the end of the day, it felt like my legs could break.
Day Three 24/06/09
Had breakfast at this restaurant nearby. Hurray for Dim Sum! Today is Ocean Park day! I was quite excited about it. We had to take a bus there and it was quite a long journey. I was kind of tired but my dad was telling me that this will not be as tiring as disneyland because we will be watching alot of animal shows. Yeah right, not tiring my ass. The stupid ocean park is on a mountain and their pathways are like sloping this way and that. You constantly have to climb uphill. It is so exhausting. I only took one exciting ride because my mum died after that one ride and I didn't want to ride anything alone. We sat on this space ride that goes like around in circle then it lifts you up 180 degrees and swings you around. It almost killed me too. My arms hurt so much from that stupid ride. At first I was wondering why all the people scream as they go upwards and not downwards because I thought isn't the scary part when you go down and feel like you're flying? During the ride I finally understand. When you go upwards 180 degrees straight up, it feels like if you don't hold on, you will fall off the seat. especially when you are upside down. It feels like hanging on to dear life. No wonder my hands ached like crazy. Well, it was worse for mum cause she got so dizzy and only felt better after vomitting. Dad keep telling mum that she's not young anymore so she shouldn't sit such rides.
After that one ride, nobody wanted to sit anymore rides.
So, we focused on the animals. Went to visit the Sea Jelly exhibition and its totally cool. The jellyfish are really beautiful floating around. Also went to see their aquarium. They have extremely big fishes there. It was pretty cool. I totally loved the sea turtle :D I even saw a shark egg case. Looks quite gross. Then we went to catch a dolphin and sealion show. The show was a bit disjointed but the animals were so cute so it was okay. After eating some KFC-wannabe meal that tasted like sandpaper, we went to sit the cable car to get to the lower section of the park. I SAW A PANDA LIVE FOR THE FIRST TIME. They were totally cute!!!! :D I so wanted to climb over to hug them. They are really greedy too. After they ate their biscuit and dranks their water, they went back to their enclosure, found a comfortable spot and started munching on leaves. ALOT OF LEAVES. They just sat there and kept on munching. Like as if they are having a eating leaves competition. Haha, totally cute <3 After that there was nothing interesting to do so we decided to move on to our next destination.
Next stop! The Peak!
First off, after alighting from the bus from Ocean Park, we had to walk a really long distance to get to the peak tram station. It was quite tiring walking there because you're walking uphill all the way -.- The peak tram was kinda cool. The hill or mountain or whatever you call it is like real steep and the tram just goes up like that. You kind of feel like you're riding on a rollercoaster except you never get to the part where it goes down. After a short ride, we arrived at the peak! It really is high up and you can see an amazing view of HongKong's cityscape :D Had dinner at Macdonalds and went up to the sky terrace to admire HongKong's night view. Super awesome view! It looks amazing from that high up. HongKong looks extremely pretty :D Everyone was squeezing around the edge trying to get nice photos. It felt a little scary though. I mean, I have this phobia of heights and I was that high up then. I could feel my legs turning jelly. Just so you know, jelly legs + tired legs = really wobbly legs. Couldn't stand being there for too long so we decided to head back to the hotel. On the way, shopped around the ladies market for one last time :D Didn't buy anything though. Tried their curry fishballs. HongKong people should really learn to eat more hot stuff. Their curry tastes like water :X
Day Four 25/06/09
Woke up later today because today is a slack day! Had Dim Sum breakfast at the same restaurant again :D We were going back to Macau today! Took the ferry back and had nice nap on the way... It was time to visit The Venetian Hotel. Took a shuttle bus from the jetty there. Decided not to have lunch at the hotel because it looked expensive. So we head on to the nearby TaiPa Village to have some authetic Portugese food at the Pinocchio restaurant. Another long walk to this village. Many shops were closed then and it look rather deserted. Even the restaurant only had like two other families eating there. The food was good though and really filling. Ate my first roasted pidgeon. Definitely tasted better than chicken :D We took a super long time to eat. By the time we finished eating, it was already... 4 pm? Oh well, made our way The Venetian Hotel after that. We walked for a really really really really long time before reaching. Haha, we were trying out a different route but ended up having to circle the whole hotel before finding the entrance. My dad was grumbling as we walked :D Took a few pictures cause the hotel was really nice. Then saw a family sitting a canoe or whatever you call it inside the hotel. This asian guy was rowing the boat and he really does sing quite well :D This group of China tourist saw him rowing while singing and they kept trying to catch his attention so they could take photos or something. They kept shouting "Hello!" to him while he was singing. I felt quite embarassed for them :X Entered a casino for the first time. Those gamblers were puffing away on their cigarettes in the air-conditioned room. Stinky! Was looking at them gamble but don't know how the games were played. Dad was like "Don't ask me this kind of things" when I asked him about the games. Was too full to have dinner so soon so we just went straight back to the hotel after that.
Day Five 26/06/09
Went to have breakfast at a nearby congee house before going to shop around Tai Sam Pa again. Bought two pairs of jeans from Giordano and a sesame street t-shirt from Bossini. Hehe, I love cookie monster! Their Giordano and Bossini have way cooler designs than in Singapore <3 Anyway, soo we were headed to the Macau tower for this expensive buffet lunch in the 360 rotating restaurant. Whoa, the restaurant is like on the 60th level! And it rotates 360 degrees too. So you're always having a different view outside while you eat. The buffet food was quite good. I loved the soba and this pork thingy which you can dip in 3 kinds of different mustards from different countries. French and England's mustard tasted like wasabi ._. Loved it still :D The cheese cake there is love! Haha, I loved their angel cake too, simple and nice. The view up there is also awesome. Somebody saw people bungee jumping halfway through their meal but we missed it cause it was too far away. But when we came out of the restaurant and was taking a breather outside, we witnessed people bungee jumping. Haha, we were just walking when we heard someone shouting "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Then we looked up and saw this guy falling from above. Quite interesting :D Went back to Tai Sam Pa to buy biscuit souveneirs and then grabbed our luggage from the hotel. The bus towards the airport from there took a freaking half an hour to come =.= Airport food there sucked. So expensive but not totally awesome. Hehe, wore a mask for the first time :D
And then it was back to Singapore!
How's that? Haha, I had fun :D
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
Saturday, June 14, 2008 ; 12:03 PM {♥}
Brisbane, mmm, lovely place.
I just can't believe that I'm back. Why don't you just shoot me for not staying back in Brisbane with the lovely winter and cool breezes?!
Whatever. Bloody, hot, sweaty, dung-hill-of-a-place Singapore. Argh.
I bring to you :Brisbane trip, the ultimate experience :D
Day One
Okay, so I was hovering around my house half afraid that I was going to leave something behind and half excited. Well, then a whole day passed finally and after a long and difficult struggle with my dog and my family, we were leaving for the airport. Well, never been to terminal three in my whole life until that day. I tell you, it looks lovely. I was in a bouncing mood, haha. I was bouncing to find everyone and after checking in the luggage, I bounced around to talk to everyone again. YAY! let's just skip all the boring airport parts and get on to the plane :D
So... I was sitting with Isabelle on one side and Sherwin on the other haha. Not to forget Kim Siang behind Sherwin and Kahmin in front of me and Joanna right at the window seat! The journey was fun. I didn't sleep much but I did finish watching the Horton movie! Yays for me! It was so darn funny I was laughing to myself. Guess, I must've looked weird laughing alone on the airplane. But whatever :D I caught a little bit of step up 2 and what else...? Powerpuff girls? Haha, just a little I guess. The food was not bad so I don't understand why Javier doesn't like it? Nevermind, shall not admit that my tastebuds are similar to Nicholas's who calls airplane food heavenly. After a few hours of tossing and turning, we reached Brisbane! CHEERS!
Day two
Oh, I have to mention this guy who helped me with the checking of luggage content. He was oh-so-very-nice :D He tried to converse with me in Mandarin and he even said that I was pretty (in mandarin, of course). How sweet, right? You don't see these kind of officers in Singapore very often :/ Anyway, we were in Bus B! Cheers for trombones! And maybe basses and clarinets... but not so many cheers as trombones! Well, first stop... MOVIE WORLD. Wow... It was grand, man. the first thing you see when you step inside is... The Superman Escape. Which is a super thrill rollercoaster ride that has these crazy bright red loops where you see people go round in. Being the scaredy-cat me, I, obviously didn't try it :D Anyway, guess what was the first thing we tried? Haha, it was the road runner rollercoaster (for kids). ROFL, yeah, we're nothing but a bunch of babies. But hey, it was fun :D Then we were totally excited as we queued up to watch the Shrek 4D Adventures. Oh that was lovely, nice effects, if you ever go there, you MUST try it out. Gingy was looking so adorable in the movie! Oh yes, next was batman's ride 2 =.= All I can see is... Batwoamn is one heck of a lousy driver. Hullo?! Go take lessons from the Batman! Oh yes, I bought Gingy, did I mention that? He is so cute. Haha, no photos this time but maybe later. After that, I can't really remember what other things happened other than Terence dropping his ice-cream on the floor and many people being late. Okay, so after that we were headed to our hotel which was nothing like what I imagined it to be but nonetheless, quite cosy I guess. Dinner was at some golden palace or something. Chinese food in Brisbane =.=
Day three
St Andrew's Anglican college exchange :/ Er, I was kind of unstable then and said loads of horrible things about our school. Like... Boring, Boring like hell, Small, Tiny, Lame, suck-ish =.=? What else? Well, it was quite true actually. I mean the education they receive there is like... really all-rounded. Singapore education, especially IP is more like... educating us to become useless nerds who can only 1) study 2) STUDY 3) STUDY SOMEMORE 4) KEEP STUDYING 5) STUDY TO YOUR GRAVE.
Yeah, I mean we don't have art lessons, or culinary classes, or woodcrafting classes. We aren't trained to have other skills other than the ability the acheive high results? What kind of outstanding student is that? We are just becoming spoilt, nerdy, incapable students who can't live without their mothers or maids :/ but whatever, shall not continue this gloomy topic.
Went shopping at Montville next. Great place, but I didn't get to buy the fudge which was the ultimate thing you should buy there =.= other than that, I even returned to the bus late. After that, not so much a great day anymore.
Day four
Woke up late! YAY! went to redlands. Met a very nice third trombone friend named Matt :D Both Benjamin and I liked him a lot. I daresay he was the most friendly and amiable trombonist there. How adorable! "I'm a die-hard x-box fan >:D" -quotes from Matt. Haha, he was so friendly and talkative thought he talked to Benjamin more probably because I'm a girl and it's harder for him to approach me. Either that or Benjamin's prettier than me. I dunno :D Jupiter Hymn, the new song, was easy for the bass line so, thank god. Someone got pissed at someone today, I think. Can't really remember =.= All I remember is... LOVELY AUSTRALIAN DESSERT. It was heaven!!! CHEESCAKES, CHOCOLATE CAKES, APPLE PIES, FRUIT CAKES, BUTTERED CREAM CAKES, BROWNIES! I just can't possibly list all of them out >:) Too bad you weren't there.
Day five
Concert night was awesome. We had pizza cakes but the bad thing... we were forced to finish our rice first. Ahem, here comes Mr Ng; "Ooh, what is this? Chocolate cake?! Yumyum, whoa, it's good!" >:( Mr Ng took a piece of cake to tempt us as we ate our rice in misery. But nevermind, I finished all my rice (left the veggies) and raced to the cakes, the fruits, the pizza! I got them in the end!
The concert was great. They said it was better than Rhythmn >:D
Day six
Fruit Farm! It was fun! We got to try fresh fruits. Mmmm, yumyum! Don't believe them when they say Lemonade isn't sour. It's only a little better than lemon. Oh yes, had lots of fun on the tram ride or whatever you call it. Amazing place. Poor Wenlin was too happy and fell down on her back. Get well soon! The food was great too. Nice view, nice food. haha!
Concert at the old museum building was awesome. Three trombones but they were loud as hell. I admire you, bass trombonist... my hero! haha... Si Hui was nodding off the whole time. And there wer refreshments during interval. Mmm...
Day seven
Dreamworld was kind of boring for me. Overall, I felt left out but then again... you don't want to hear me yapping about my sadness. I guess it could've been fun! Go check out the other banders' blogs and you will know.
Shopping was kind of a dissappointment because... it was a holiday and all the shops were closing =.= DAMN. Well, at least I got to buy my jacket and my hat from the store called...
THE JAYJAYS
Was so tired at the airport I fell asleep sitting on the floor. On the plane, I promised to talk to ChingYing but guess what? I was knocked out before I knew it. Haha, I was halfway through Definitely, Maybe even =.= Couldn't even wake when the attendant asked me what I would like for breakfast. ZZZ. So sorry, Chingying.
And that's all... might zoom by for photos but highly unlikely to be anytime soon.
Buh-bye!
Tag replies.
Rumeng// I know I did luh :D
Terence// Of course you love us luh. We are like so great. ROFL
Isabelle// Oops! Haha, don't tell anyone about the wire :/
Dilys// Yay, same to you!
JY// Haha, moron! jkjk, same to you, all time crapper :D
Roy// =.= Kagemane no jutsu? haha...
Weijie// why you all go play solo challenge? haha =.= cooking the dish more fun what.
XingQi// BOO. haha, so lousy =.= I got gold leh. haha, 100 points!
BinBin// Okay, see you so nice, I go tag you... :D
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
Sunday, May 13, 2007 ; 12:17 PM {♥}
And now, here's a detailed report on the level camp. I've been waiting to write this all along...
Day One:
Well, I must say my body has very bad timing... Anyway, I head off towards school in an uneasy mood. Well, it was kind of troublesome getting to school. I had to drag such a huge bag and I realised that it looked exactly the same as the one they recorded in the "terrorists acts" video. The one that the suspicious guy was holding looked exactly like mine. Hope I didn't arouse any suspicion though. When I reached school I met Charmaine and Moch so we waited for Jt together at the foyer and were discussing about whose bag is bigger when Jt showed up with like a super bulky bag. Anyway, we went on to the gym after that and soon, we were off! My group consisted of sixteen people, it was supposed to be seventeen but one guy from 2B didn't come... anyway, the members of group fifteen were me, Eunice, Monica, Theresa, Ting Yun, Vivyan, Vanessa, Pearlyn, Jessica, Shu Jun, Daphne, Su Qin, Zi Xuan, Edric, Keith and last but not least, Stephen. ANd so, group fifteen set off with their instructor, the great Meng Siong! Haha, well, actually it was more like MengMeng :D Well, we were supposed to play the so-called ice breakers but actually, I don't think we played at all. MengMeng was just crapping throughout. Before we went on the boat MengMeng even wanted to start some gang fight with Stephen and he was like "What? Want to fight is it? Come lah!" But when both of them stood up and the height difference became clear... "okayokay, sorry, nevermind..." was what he ended up saying. Anyway, the boat journey was kind of tiring and Vanessa fell asleep together with me(:
After a long time, we finally reached Pulau Ubin. Before lunch, we still had time to sit down and crap. Then, we had lunch and it wasn't as bad as I thought. After lunch was boring tent-pitching which was a piece of cake. Eunice wanted to exchange our blue tent for a pink one but I guess it wouldn't make a difference anyway, after all, we wouldn't be sleeping in the same tent as the one we set up. I just hope that the tent we set up didn't collapse in the end (: After tent-pitching was team dynamics. We were taught that the flag we would be creating would be our responsibility and that we had to carry it all around and to protect it from being stolen. Well, we sat down and took a long time to think of our group name while instructor Wyna messed with our MengMeng. It was quite a comical scene. I'd say that C.F goes along well with F.C (: In the end, our name was...
P. O. C. K. Y
POCKYpockyPOCKYpocky :D strawberry flavour too!
So our beautiful flag was created! I'd say it was the finest flag there ever was and credit goes to all of us and not only to Zi Xuan as he claimed. He was seriously being really naggy and kept saying that here must be coloured, there must be coloured with what. So in the end, he wanted the claim all the credit. Oh well, we all did an extremely good job :D So after that was dinner and then we could finally bathe! But sadly, we were the second last group to go... And bath time was a real mess, everyone was freaking out in that one pathetic toilet with only a few cubicles. And I had my own troubles to sort. In the end, I had to share the cubicle with someone who had the same troubles as I, I didn't really mind though... As long as I could bathe (: But personally, bathing didn't really make a difference cause we were sweating immediately after that too. We went to the conference after that to have a song session. That stupid Meng asked us to take off our socks when we weren't suipposed to and in the end, we were the only group who was sockless. After teaching us cheers, we started on our camp preparation. Which is of course... my favourite "boxes dance"! After a rather humiliating experience for MengMeng, we had to go to sleep.
Sleeping didn't go well. Six people in one pathetic tent couldn't really work out, you see... Well, I could only catch a few winks of the sleep I was longing for. But it didn't really matter, the next day came quickly...
Day two:
Tadaa! Rise and shine! Day two came real quickly and I was awakened by the noisy chatter of the various females walking near our tent at around six or so... So anyway, we got a shock when we arrived at the toilet entrance as there was this amazingly long queue. Seemed like some girls wanted an early bath ;) So anyway, we took a long time just to brush our teeth and wash up. Breakfast followed after that and our activities started!
First things! Great Team Olympics!
I felt like this was where we started to bond and I really loved the whole thing... that is... Pocky won unexpectedly! The great team olympics was actually a rally of three games. The first game was called the shoe pile. Everyone was supposed to remember how the shoe of the person behind you looked like, then everyone had to take off their shoes and pile them in a messy bunch and we had to find the shoes for the person behind. Things went rather smoothly, and we would have been first if not for MengMeng's dirty tricks. He started tying our shoelaces together because we were going too fast and I guess he was afraid that the other groups might say that he was biased for not messing up our shoes properly. Anyway, we came out second because group fourteen made it just a little earlier. The next game was balloon caterpillar. Everyone rushed to grab our balloons and started blowing them. Then we head off. THis game wasn't very successful as we kept dropping and had to restart... So in the end, we were last! But no fret, we scored well during the next game, the holy barrel. For this game, we had to fill a barrel up with water from the lagoon to a certain level. The problem here is that the barrel was full with holes and the only tool we had to collect water with was a small mug. So what could we do? We could only use our shoes and our hands to block the holes. We used a little bit of sand too anyway but we were careful to not let them get into the barrel. The covering of the barrel was directed by Stephen if my memory didn't fail me. Anyway, I was in charge of filling the barrel with water together with some other people, Eunice, Vanessa, Keith... To this, I have to say sorry to poor Edric because I spilled to0ns of water on him as he was always directly in front of me. Anyway, we were the first to fill it to the required level. Then the instructor shot us with an unexpected task. We had to cheer a unique cheer. So we came up with one rather hastily.
Pocky Pocky is the best
Pocky Pocky all the way
Pocky Pocky Pock together
Pocky Pocky Pock Pock Pock!
We had to keep repeating this cheer and I felt like I was going to die from all the yelling as the instructors kept saying that we weren't loud enough or something. Man was I pissed, but oh well, it's over anyway... The outcome... We won of course! Then, it turned out that we ended the game a little too early and so we had loads of free time before lunch! Anyway, group sixteen wanted to add some skid into our "boxes dance" for campfire so we agreed and we rehearsed. Then we had lunch and the next thing on the list was... low ropes. HOWEVER! The rain came quickly... So we only managed to do a little of the low ropes and none of the rock wall climbing which was kind of disappointing for everyone. But the best was yet to come... We had an awesome disco party instead. It started out with the mass dance which made us all get high! And then they started playing various hip songs and we ended us dancing like mad people. The instructors described it as some Ang Mor College dance party :D So after some more crapping, we went for dinner... This time, bath time wasn't after dinner. It was after the freaking night out! Night out was really crappy and lame. It was kind of scary at first because Meng forbid us to switch on our torches at all. And we got confused by Meng. In the end, we reached the pathetic destination which was actually some empty space by the sea. We found seats on the shore while waiting for the other groups to arrive and got really tired and bored. The scariest part was here though... There were dogs strutting around and as we sat about lazily, the one nearest to me Eunice and Zi Xuan suddenly gave a low growl and loud bark and we got so freaked out we ran for our lives. It was really scary, I swear. Shortly after calming our nerves, we head back towards camp. The walk back was really tiring and I was dozing off while walking, a first time experience for me. I was walking criss-cross and Zi Xuan said I was crazy, walking "left and right". We finally managed to reach camp and after a short bath we went to sleep.
That night's sleep was even worse than the first. The person beside me didn't give me any space at all and I was too shy to ask her to move a little. So... I slept sitting most of the time.
Day Three:
The last day of activities was here at last. First up after breakfast was Operation "Project Teamtanics"! We had to construct a stable raft and successfully navigate it to and fro the lagoon. I couldn't board the raft and was pretty disappointed but the seeing our members siink again and again into the lagoon was kind of amusing too! After that, we sat down to chat while those who got wet went to wash up. Then it was a quick lunch which was followed by... the terrifying High Ropes! The saddest thing was that I was first. It was really freaky okay! The whole thing was shaky and I didn't know where to step as I climbed up. Well, I managed to finish the stupid thing but I took up too much time and caused the rest to be forced to end early. To that, I must really apologise. I'm really sorry guys! After that, none of us wanted to do any other High Ropes so we set off for Ubin Explorer early. Ubin Explorer was amusing. We had to walk towards the town area and the first thing we did when we got there was to... Slack! Yes, that's right. MengMeng treated us to ice-cream generously and we sat down in front of the temple and bought drinks. Edric boldly went to buy a box of Hor Fun to eat. In the end he couldn't finish in time and had to eat while walking. It was kind of hilarious. We quickly set out to write the answers required and were soon heading back. Not before the guys had their red bulls though. "Red Bull gives you wings" says Edric as he bounced on the road towards camp. The return journey was crazy because Zi Xuan kept on singing with Eunice and Vivyan. Everyone was entertained by his high pitch singing. Especially when he suddenly went "Cha Cham Boh!" It was so funny that Monica and I couldn't stop laughing. Edric was hopping around as I marvelled about what red bull can do to one perfectly normal guy. In the end, we ended up singing zhi1 zu2 together and it was fun.
Finally, it was dinner time and after the yummy food in the dark... It was the long awaited Campfire! We received our keys to our chalet for the night. A gift from our precious teachers! I love our teachers! It must have burned a huge hole in the pocket as it was $80 per night in one chalet and there were so many of us. Anyway, we had to ruch back to our chalet to change into our camp t-shirt and then realising that we didn't bring out our flag after returning to the white tentage, Daphne and Vanessa had to rush back to retrieve it for us. I sincerely thank them for that! Anyway, campfire was a bang although the fire was wilting away throughout. I think our "boxes dance" hyped up everyone a little. Stephen was really giving it his all and everyone thought he was mad when he did the "boxes dance" so aggressively. All of us really went sot during the dance. But I think it was only group fifteen because they said that the sixteens weren't that hyper. Oh well... The last part of the campfire was touching, we watched the videos that they created and did our mass dance and sung our level song.
I felt like crying but then I realised. No, it's not the end yet, right? Life in Dunman High still has a long way and with all these new friends I will continue my journey in this school. That is the reason why I will not leave this school even after my secondary years. For I will spend yet another two years in this beautiful campus with my precious friends. And even if Pocky was to break up now, I'm sure in our hearts, we will never forget these memories. And on monday, I'm certain, we will be able to say "Hi!" with all the happiness that swell in our hearts when we meet each other in the corridor. With hope, we misht even be classmates by next year. Let the Pocky spirit stay with all of us for the rest of our lives and I wish and pray that none of us will ever forget the Pocky days we've spent we've each other by our sides.
Level camp has ended. But Pocky will never disband and our friendship will stay ever so solid and firm and that our journey together still goes on.
Labels: travels
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
Sunday, January 28, 2007 ; 4:22 PM {♥}
I'm home, sweethearts (:
I know you guys missed me, so I came back (: Let's first start on the whole korea trip explanation :D
*day one was spent on the flight to korea.
Day Two:
Uncle came at around eight o'clock to give us a ride to the airport. When we reached, it was kind of like way too early and we had to wait for god-knows-how-long. Well, after a very very very long wait, we were finally able to board my first Singapore Airlines plane. And then off we went... The plane was kind of cool because you could actually watch movies like "Step up", "You me and Dupree" and some of the latest. But one thing was, the seats were super squeezy and all of us were like squashed up. Thus, you can guess that I didn't really get much sleep ): Day two: We arrived at Seoul Incheon Airport at about six to seven plus korea time. Well, we hurriedly changed into our winter outfits and went to go through the custom. After that, we went to meet up with our tour guide of the week, Charlie. He spoke fluent chinese and claimed that he was a mixed blood. Meaning to say that his mother was a korean and his father was a chinese. Anyway, he also introduced to us this handsome guy known as Mr Zhang. He was a korean and understood little chinese, hence there was a language barrier but anyway, he was sent by Korea's Tourism Boards. Well, we got onto the bus and realised that outside was a little cold but at least we could still take it.
Our first stop was one of Korea's theme park : Everland. It was a great outdoor theme park with cool rides and you could even sled down their snow hill. We arrived at about ten or so and had to gsather back at the bus at two in the afternoon if we wanted to enter The Caribean which was just beside Everland. The Caribean was a water theme park which consisted of some swimming pools and lovely hot springs. Okay, so firstly, we went to take this cable car which went over to the lower side of the Everland (the whole theme park was like on a hill or something). We walked a little distance to get to the Safari of the park. We had to board the bus of the safari to see the animals. Anyway, the first stop was at the den of the lions and tigers. The interesting thing was that they put the lions and tigers together at the same place and what do you get in the end? It's a new species called Ligers. This is not a joke, it's true. Anyway, when we went in I suddenly heard Charlie saying "Oh my, the kids on the bus should not see this ar..." And I spun around to see this lion squatted over the lioness and they seemed to be having an intimate affair or whatever you call it. Everyone went "Oh my god" and we burst out laughing cause the Lion quickly walked away as if it were embarassed. Anyway, the Ligers were quarantined because they were far too ferocious for the other Tigers and Lions own good. I have to say, the Ligers certainly look quite the thing (: Anyway, the next stop was for the bears. Everytime the driver passes a bear, it would stop and ask the bear to perform a trick by feeding it a cookie. It was really quite a scene cause the bears were just too cute. The driver would go "xiong2, zhan4 qi3 lai2" in chinese and the bear would perform the trick that he was told to do. It was too adorable. And then there was a King of the bears. And the bear was called "Bei Yong Joon" A ridiculous name if you asked me. But the bear seemed to like it and he went crazy when the driver called him that. Were bears a fan of Winter Sonata too? After the safari, we went to sled down the snow hill and took some other rides and then, we headed for the hot springs.
The hot springs were wonderful. It was super hot when you're going in at first but after that it was amazing. My family also tried out the steam suana. It was kind of choking but it really does make you sweat alot. Anyway, hot springs are just my kind of thing. I want to take another dip in it again :D The day ended with us traveling to the Mount Sorak region and going for my first authentic Korean meal (lunch wasn't counted because the theme park's food wasn't that nice). It was a mushroom steamboat and some lovely side dishes of grilled fish, seaweed, kimchi, veggies, fish cakes. And the side dishes were refillable. The meal was wonderful :D Then we headed for our hotel of the night, Kensington Hotel. It was famous for being in the heart of Mout Sorak and also because many artistes stayed in it before. For me, it was a not so good experience because the room was so hot and stuffy. You could not open the windows or you would catch a cold and the room was like an oven. I didn't sleep too well.
Day three:
The day starts with breakfast. It was a buffet and I ate porridge, with seaweed and mushrooms. Also, there were sausages and salads and my favourite milk. They all went down my stomach. The weather was really cold that day, around -10 degree celcius. We went for a hike around Mount Sorak's bottom because the cable car was temporary closed due to strong winds. There were temples around and a place where people piled stones up and made wishes. Charlie said that whenever Koreans reach a place where they think is sacred, they would pick a stone and pile it up another, making a wish. I picked one and made a wish too, you have to be careful when doing so because you don't want to make other people's wishes fall. Grandma didn't feel well so she stayed in the cable car shelter. After the walk, we went to pick her up and we head for our next destination, a fish market. Charlie reccomended us to eat a seafood feast for lunch which costed us $50 per person. Lunch was supposed to be provided but he moved it to dinner and we had to pay for this feast for ourselves. While waiting for the store to prepare our feast, we explored the fish market. There wasn't much to see so we just bought some cup noodles at the grocery store and went back up the bus. Soon, we were headed for our feast.
The feast was by far the worst meal. Maybe I just didn't like all the raw seafoods wriggling in my mouth. There were live squids, sea urchins, prawns, octopus, oysters, scallop. So many raw seafoods. The tastiest one was the super big plate of sashimi. It tasted supreme. The scariest thing was the live octopus. It was proof that you ate the buffet. The lady would bring about the live octopus in her hand. She would lift up one of it's legs and you had to bite it until they take your picture. It was a scary experience and it sent me squirming in my seat. Here's my picture: Yeah, so the next thing on was to rent ski suits and move to the ski resort. The ski resort was the filming scene of "Autumn in my heart". Taixi, one of the leading males, was the owner of the resort and he stayed in one of the Euro Villas. We were supposed to be skiing for a whole day today but since there was lack of time, we changed the schedule. Before changes, we were supposed to ski today and tomorrow, we have a free daay whole to ourselves and could do anything we want in the ski resort. Of course, if you wanted to ski again, you'd have to pay because it wasn't included for the next day. After changing, we had free time from the moment we reached the resort to the next day. Tomorrow would be the day when we could ski for the whole day. We left our things in the room and went to buy some dinner because today's dinner wasn't included. Dinner for the day was Shin ramen noodles with Aloe Vera drink. On the way back from the supermart we bought ice cream and I had my frist experiece of eating ice cream outside in winter. You should try it too :D
After watching TV together with family, we split up and went back to our rooms. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was sharing a room with my big sister? This time, the rooms were better. The temperature was much colder and the blanket was finally put to good use. The thing is, the air was too dry and it made my sister sleepless cause her nose started to hurt. I on the other hand, wasn't affected too much. Just that the blanket sometimes got a little too hot.
Day four:
Awoken to another similar buffet breakfast. We put on our ski suits and were ready for battle. Suprise! The temperature outside was: -15 degree celcius. My teeth were chattering badly and my wind blown face hardened to ice. Luckily, after some skiing I felt hot. Sweating a little even. Skiing was kind of fun but still a terrible experience. My whole body ached after that.And I refused to ski anymore after a mere few hours. The skiing part was fun but the climbing back up the hill with your skis on is hard work. You had to use the ski rods (or whatever you call it) to support yourself because if not, you would slide down. And you had to move side ways like a crab because your skis are long and all that. Anyway, I should have mentioned that the skis are really really heavy. It was like hanging a trombone on both your legs and walking with it. Up the hill with that kind of weight really puts you down. Anyway, lunch wasn't provided again and after a bath, it was back to cup noodles. It was the only thing I wanted to eat. The Shin Ramen in Korea was way hotter than those sold in Singapore. Believe me, it's true. I kind of regretted not importing some back home. Dinner was barbecued squid with similar side dishes again. Quite delicious ya'know? Anyway, sleeping tonight was another crazy experience. My arm hurt like mad and I felt like ripping it off. It was a kind of pain that I never felt. both me and my mum experienced it and we had to take panadol in order to overcome the pain. Skiing is just not my kind of thing.
Day five:
Chun Cheon was the next stop. Find this name familiar? It is the filming location of the hit Korean Drama "Winter Sonata". Yeah, basically, it was a long shopping street where the two leading characters used to spend their dates at. And, there were these metal handprints of theirs. Charlie told us something interesting and the story told me that japanese obasans are aggressive. He said that winter sonata was a really BIG hit in Japan and some obasans stole Bae Yong Joon's handprint a few years ago. Thus that concludes the lesson, never let an obasan go gaga over you. My grandmother purchased this sweet little bag for me in this cute shop and we moved on to lunch. Lunch was hotplate chicken with rice cakes. And there were vegetables for you to wrap the meat in and eat it in the Korean way. It was superb (: So after that, we head on to Nami Island. Nami Island, again, another filming location of Winter Sonata. We took quite a number of pictures here. Mostly of us trying to pose as the chracters in the show :D I know, we are cheeky at times. After all the funky, wacky poses and the lovely baked corn... to Seoul we go! Tonight was the night to stay in the super high class hotel: Marriott Hotel. It was the best night of sleep I ever had. I only woke up to drink water and fell asleep again quickly. Woohoo (:
Day six:
Today was a boring day. Boo. We had to go visit all the places that the Korea Tourism Board made a compulsory. We had to browse through shops that sell Korea trademarks. For example: the Government Ginseng shop, some amethyst shop etc. It was overall boring because firstly, the stuff are too expensive. Secondly, we were all rushing to go to DongDaemun, the shopping haven. So after many boring moments, we were at DongDaeMun. We only had time to shop in one of the buildings though, it was the Migliore. Boy did I buy loads of stuff from this place. After busying ourselves with bargaining and buying, we were off for a treat. Ginseng Chicken Soup was what you called this famous dish :D Really really yummy. Inside the chicken were these glutinous rice with all the chicken essence. Yumyum, mamamia. And tonight we wanted to test our luck and tried to rush to buy some bunkin doughnuts before they closed up but to no avail. Nevermind, there's still tomorrow.
Day seven:
Woke up early to pack our stuff so that we could do some last minute shopping. Went to eat breakfast at this Traditional Korean restaurant. The food was cheap yet good and the serving was humongous. Even my bottomless pit couldn't handle it alone. Bought this bearbear earrings that looked absolutely adorable and head back to the hotel. The rest of the tour went to explore the borders of South Korea and North Korea on an extra trip with Charlie that was not compulsory. After meeting up with them, we were in for another barbeques chicken with bibimpap. And then we were off to the airport. After saying goodbyes to the handsome Mr Zhang and the not so handsome Charlie. We returned to Singapore :D
The end. It took me 20 days to write this. Whew.
Labels: travels
Yours sincerely, MS. JINGS {♥}
