I decided to do a photoblog this time round, so that the 750+ photos from each of the 5 cameras will not go to waste. This is my first trip to Phuket and it is indeed a eye opener. I shall let the photos do the talking for me now. Anyway, pardon me for all the mis-alignments, I just can't seem to get them right.

Left S'pore 1305, reach Phuket 1345 Thai time

hello to Seeka (quality for reasonable price)

our room 303

wow, what big sausages they have here!

their quality of artworks never fail to impress me

our first dinner in Phuket

what a big... (bread, pizza, pie??)

Cam on Cam

There was a huge queue waiting to take a photo with Mr Thai MacDonald

one of the most important road signs in Phuket

me & ZQ were totally obsessed with their boxing gloves

this Hello Kitty store is striking in contrast with the rest of the street

our first tuk-tuk experience

played card games and YL's 30s of "forfeit"

Our second day in Phuket is spent in Karon Beach, just located beside Patong. Karon beach is less crowded than Patong, the water is cleaner and supposedly more tranquil (which is still not what I expected) because there is this huge number of angmohs sunbathing. Anyway, the jet skiing was a good experience to remember (but expensive too).

3 kinds of eggy breakfast to choose from : scrambled, fried, omelette

this Buddha was watching us having our breakfast all the time

some exercise after breakfast to loosen up our muscles (of course we suffered from indigestion after that. lol)

all stunts are performed by professionals, pls do not try this at home

the first of our Mr Mocca series

mixed rice @ Karon Beach

foreign lands, common friends

do check out our post on rice of all kinds

a election poster in the middle of nowhere

dinner @ Patong Seafood

like I said, everything is so big in Phuket

the BIG shopping centre, Jungceylon

the leaning Xmas tree of Phuket

the mesmerizing lady-boys of Bangla Road

This is probably the highlight of the entire trip. We visited 4 islands around Phuket during this island hopping event (Monkey beach, Maya bay, Phi Phi island and Khai island), which lasted for the entire day. This is also the first snorkling experience we had, and the sea is gorgeous. Bobby the guide is totally entertaining with his authentic "British accent" (he has never been overseas but he still managed to learnt it.)

It's time to enjoy the bright sun, the bedazzling beach and the beauty of the sea.

onboard the speedboat

the place to be at during the rainy season of Singapore

i'm still wondering which leg is mine

we left our mark on Maya Bay

these fishes must have been super hungry, they were fighting over every piece of bread in the water

we all love Mr Mocca

see how happy I am in the company of babes. lol

these waves remind me of jet-ski

snorkling in Khai island aka Ji Dan Dao

so freaking unglam but hilarious

with the entertaining Bobby (the one in orange shorts)

no island hopping trip is ever complete without these personalised souvenirs ( I didn't get one, so my trip isn't over. hehe)

seafood dinner @ Maeubol market (3 times cheaper than Patong Seafood)

"Our favourite word of the trip - SPAM! lol, spam money at Maeubol, ordered prawns ah, crabs ah, fish ah super lots of dishes, somemore can order seafood but cooked in different styles one. Got the whole long table flooded with seafood, damn shiok. Returned back to the lobby for chit chats. ZQ started sitting at the computer at the lobby, played with the mouse and the recep asked for 20baht 'cause she thought he accessed the internet. Poor him had to pay money for nothing, lol. If I'm not wrong, we played the number game at the girl's room today, where losers had to do a 30 sec of fame video. Damn hilarious, I think I laughed till I got fits. Thank god I didn't lose the game, if not I might have to do a dance on a chair top and be recorded in the video which prob will last for 70 yrs until we die." -xia

Basically says it all after our island hopping trip. For more underwater photos do check out our mixed rice blog here.

Today is supposedly OTOT day cum shopping trip (since OTOT means shopping in this case). Today is also the day we ought to SPAM all our money so that we wouldn't leave any regrets when we are back in Singapore. But we did really regret it when we are stuck in Phuket for another day. Lol.

There isn't any photos for today, since I don't own any digicams (still waiting for someone to buy me one for my birthday, hopefully next year?) Anyway, we spilt into groups to explore Patong once again. You can see what the others did here.

ZQ and I went exploring to the less known parts of Patong, where we visited a school (Ban Sai Namyen School), we didn't managed to get in because there was this fierce looking security guard at the gates.

Went down to this empty stadium at Hat Patong Road and ate from the roadside store there. Basically walked all the routes in the upper part of Patong for the whole morning before meeting up with YL, mil and mel for lunch at BK. Before that we had already tried the BK Pork Burger (S$7 plus). Fast food in Phuket are way too expensive.

SPAM our money on souvenirs and such. I was trying to re-design my home, so I bought some decorative items back to present a different feel. Next time if I were to go Thailand again, I'll definitely get one of those oil paintings back.

Met up with everyone in the evening for a thai massage at Let's Relax. The ambience was fantastic and we really enjoyed our time there. Fell asleep during their smoothing foot massage though. Our remaining cash is spent in Family Mart (their localised version of 7-11).

Our last day in Phuket. This is where we experienced the real Amazing Race challenge. And that is so because we MISSED our flight back. Goodness us. We were stuck in the airport for almost 2 hours, totally lost before our more worldly-wise mildred and YL managed to book us tickets back the next day. You guys are our saviours.

the longest 2 hrs of the trip

like xia said, the Super Super budget Naiyang Garden Bungalows

Same flight, Same time, but different date back

this is all the money we had for the entire day. we are sorry, we shouldn't have spam too much the day before.

the best fried rice we had in Phuket (when we are most hungry)

Dear sir, have some pity on us and give us some money, please?

no one could understand a single phrase i said, so sad

I need a translation. Does it says "Koreans only"?

the kitchen's over there!

the thousand hands mixed rice

the game of our lives: Asshole Daidee

I decided to do the last day (Day 6) together since there is not much happening. We managed to get back to Singapore safely .

once bitten, twice shy. we checked in super early this time round

Victory sign for successfully boarding the plane

Lord of the Thais ?

Exhausted but happy faces

And that's all folks. See ya again soon.

credits: from xia's blog.

I was finding a place to change my currency into Thai Baht in Woodlands Central for the upcoming Phuket trip, but there isn't a single money changer that has any stock for it (there is almost like 10 + money changers in the area).

I wonder why?

These people must be aiming for some currency difference to earn foreign exchange.

I'm glad I still remembered some of the econs stuff from jc. the times in army hasn't really made me suffer from complete amnesia. phew...

Genes and Society final exam is another killer. I couldn't finish the 100 mcqs and most probably going to flop this. arghhh...

On the other hand, a tough semester is over. I shouldn't be thinking too much over things that isn't fixed yet for now. It's time to relax and prepare for some "thai massage" in Phuket. Hurray.

kboxing at clementi.

Shocking News! I have been posted out of FDS-CAB.

Just Received this letter saying "Dear CPL (NS) Heng, you have been posted to SNSR, CAB IHL from FDS-CAB effect rom 19 Nov 2007."

So where is this SNSR, CAB IHL ??

arghhh...

just 3 more papers to go.

Haiz. What should I say?

Overwhelmed by too many problems. Even though it has been discussed for some time, it still struck me by surprise.

Now is not the time to be having mixed feelings about nostalgia. I need some practical solution to solve this economic crisis. Hmm... how should I go about doing this?

(p.s. just wanted to reiterate one point, i'm not really that affluent as everyone thinks, everything I have done is for this day, it's time to start saving all over again. Cycle 3)

"I shall rather find strength in what remains behind"

I'm so bored. Went around surfing youtube and suddenly felt inspired to look for some nostalgic memories of the songs I used to play in the Symphonic Band.

One of my favourites is still Kiroro -Best Friend.



Undoubtedly, my favourite Jap singer. To all my friends.

(p.s i took this because there is a translation for the song lyrics. lol. not trying to act cute or something)

What makes you a Singaporean?

Am I one because I hold a Singapore passport?
Or is it I have a pink IC?
Because I have to serve NS?
Or is it because I live in a territory that is politically divided as Singapore?
Maybe its the local food here?
Could it be because of the people I know that makes me feel at home?
Perhaps it's the HDB & the ownership of home?
The education teaches me that I'm Singaporean?
It can't be on my physical features then?
My almost perfect Singlish?
The local culture?

I can't find an answer to this. I need some definition that can tell me what indeed constitutes being a Singaporean. arghhh... Identity is such a difficult concept, I cannot seem to catch hold of it no matter how hard I try.

Eureka! I have a new inspiration for another story. I shall work on the draft piece for now. Wish me luck.

Ok. I still can't concentrate fully on my studies for now. Everytime I see the amount of readings on the table, I become distressed and discouraged.

Been spending these days listening to Jay's new album, which I personally find to be much better than his previous album. Maybe it is because there is a lot of songs from the his movie, Secret.

Instead of his number 1,2 hits, I find his relatively low-profiled songs to be quite soothing for me. I strongly recommend - 蒲公英的约定, 我不配, 阳光宅男.

4 hours have passed and I'm still scratching my head, trying to finish up this philo paper that is to be hand up on Monday.

After pondering for so many days, reading the Russell's passage umpteen times and almost tearing apart the Descartes textbook, I'm still unclear how do I express my arguments in words.

The consultation with my tutor does help a little, but there isn't any practical tips on writing a good paper. The argument is done, but somehow I cannot write it coherently in sentences.

maybe I should just ressurrect Descartes and ask him to explain everything again. Hmm... since my tutor came up with the tutorial that "anything I can conceive of is logically possible", then maybe some miracle might happen.

For now, I shall just take a nap and dream of myself in Descartes' shoes.

Finally I'm going overseas this Dec.

This calls for a celebration. Yay!

Despite soaking myself in the murky waters, getting sunburnt, gulping down seawater through the nose,having muscle aches, I still enjoyed my first windsurfing experience.

Today's course is superb, having lots of time practical in the open sea trying to windsurf. Most of the time, I ended up falling into the water than on the surf board. But by afternoon, this problem is somewhat solved with more experience.

Tried out some other stunts like 180 degree turn, jibing,tacking etc. The only thing I could get it right is the 180 degree after so much effort.

I will need more practice.

a photo with the course mates

Today's talk on Trading Psychology was super disappointing. I thought this seminar would give me a deeper understanding on how the human psychology affects the trends in the market, but this was not the case. Instead, it talked about the causes of failures/successes that are based on what was termed "cognitive bias". Somehow I don't find this very practical for use.

In this case, I know nuts about it. So in the end, I ended up leaving the seminar learning nothing at all. What a waste of time. Should have gone for the SN lecture instead.

Another NUS Investment Society activity coming up. At least something different this week. Yea.

I just came to realise I have totally forgotten to update my blog for almost a week. pardon me for that, since there isn't any fixed schedule to blog.

Life pretty busy trying to catch up on studies that had fallen behind since the mid-terms was over. Too much readings to do till I barely had time for myself. But I shall not let these studies take control over my entire life. I must find some entertainment.

For now, I shall listen to some Jay's new song - Niu Zai Hen Mang for some "out-of-the world" entertainment.

p.s yesterday South Asian lect was super funny, the lecturer spent almost 10mins trying to teach guys tips on how to woo girls (he said girls like guys who are vulnerable, is that true?). Iwonder what his definition of vulnerability was.

And half the time watching Indian commercials.

(courtesy from boonkian's blog)

After watching her splendid performance in Jay's movie- Secret, I was totally mesmerized by her unique, one & only character (this is probably the 1st time I can sense the X-factor so strongly).

Seems that there is another movie of hers coming up soon. I wonder when will it be released?

Usually people will say that they got 26/40. This time round I got 26/40 wrong instead for my Genes & Society module. I'm just utterly disappointed by my own results.

But I'm fuming because this test seems so illogical.There are just so many trick questions inside this paper that I gave up completely trying to listen for the correct answer. My morale was like damn low, especially when the lecturer gave the answer with this underlying tone "this answer so simple, how come you all just don't understand?" It's so fustrating.

Can you believe there are some questions that have 2 correct answers, some answers come from elimination instead of it being the accurate one, and the most funny, the answer comes from assumptions. Arghhh... Makes my blood boil trying to blog about it.

GEK1527 is hopeless.

And I thought I got very low marks when I overhead someone in front saying he only got 10/40. I ought to find some consolation that I'm actually not at the bottom of the chart.

Completed my South Asian mid test today, and that leaves only the Genes & Society test on Sat before I can completely take a short break from studies.

Done with my philosophy, history paper after much brain-damaging sessions, and the last essay to be done is Genes & Society again.

Life should be pretty slack after this week. I'm so looking forward to kbox with the crew tomorrow. And the test on sat?

S/U it. lol.

I was walking around at jurong east with my mum after visiting the library when I heard a familiar tune playing over the audio system in popular.

The tune was so melodious that I ended up buying the cd without any hesitation. This was the OST for Jay's movie - Secret. I almost thought this was the another of those sentimental piano cd.

and my heart melted with Lu xiaoyu.

Something funny happened in the stock market today.

I earned a virtual $2 million from poems stock challenge just by buying 20k units of GLD US.

I simply cannot imagine how this stock can fall from $73 to $0.73 in an hour. What I cannot imagine more was how I managed to buy 20k units from this.

This must be a technical glitch in the system.

Now I have a big problem, I'm already out of the competition, since it is impossible for me to realise the 20% STI profit for $2million. (which is like 400k)

It doesn't pay to be too greedy at times.

I need faith and confidence.

Where will I be able to find it?

My "special" spec, Sgt Chris Choo in FDC did another heroic stunt again. I'm just totally lost for words this time round.

Trainee pilot a celebrity after making forced landing

I thought I was going crazy yesterday morning, when I woke up early in the morning and started telling everyone that I felt my bed shaking uncontrollably.

After watching the news the same night, it was reported that there was indeed tremors from the earthquake near Indonesia. So I was not hallucinating after all.

NUS Investment Group's first activity for the semester.

Those who attended this Secrets of a Hedge Fund Manager seminar will probably agree that it is pretty interesting, not like any of the usual investment course that we have went before.

Really enjoyed it (much to the expense of returning back home late).

After lagging behind for almost a month, I finally watched Secret.

I must say, it was good, in fact very good for a maiden movie. Now I'm impressed with Jay's talent even more...

I've been making extra efforts in looking for activities that can enrich my university life.

And after much sourcing, I settled for the NUS investment society and windsurfing recreational club,as well as participation in this year's POEMS stock challenge.

It's high time for me to join a cca (before I over-exhaust myself from the tons of readings left)

Thanks for everyone's concern when I was sick. I'm well now.

I supposed there isn't anything worth blogging for now, since there is really nothing special except for school and sleep. If I start to blog about the things I did in school, everyone will probably fall asleep at the snap of my fingers. So I better not spoil the bright day ahead.

Still down with fever.

It so appears that my body cells cannot adapt very well into a new living environment, especially those related to schools. I tend to get extremely sick everytime I go for my first day of school, right from primary school till now.

This must be another psychological rejection of studies/books/school again.

I'm so fortunate enough to secure at least some modules for this semester, even though these are not really to my liking.

But I must thank those who provided me with advice, strategies so that I can at least fulfil some of the less important general modules required for graduation.

Though I don't really have particular interest in any of these, I'll still try my best to do well in it.

This is going to be a tough semester in uni.

Something tells me that the registration for modules for the semester is already over.

If that is so, good luck to me then, because I haven't even registered for anything yet. I'll probably slack and die for this entire sem. Oh my...

Can anyone please tell me that the registration is still open for nus?

Haiz... I'm a freaking blur shit.

My time in the working society is finally over. It's been a tough 5 months, but I managed to pull thorugh and learnt a lot from this experience.

Now, it's time for me to start preparing for university life. But before that, I shall take a well-deserved break with the za cai fan crew with the "touring uniquely singapore" chalet.

Our indecisiveness failed us once again.

I guess it's really hard for us to plan for a overseas trip together. But that shall be put aside now.

What we really need to do is to find a way to make people come for this chalet that we so last minute planned as a substitute for the overseas trip.

But deep down, I'm not the least disappointed.

It's as though I already know things will come to this point.

I'll just treat this as retreat from daily life.

I haven't been blogging for almost a week because there is just so much work to do, birthday parties to attend, class outings to meet up with old friends. Pretty much well-packed, which is rare for someone who does nothing but work and sleep all day.

Anyway, I have a lot of people to thank for making my 21st such a memorable one. This is definitely one of the significant milestone in my life.

To the zha cai fan crew, you guys are probably the best friends I ever had. Thanks for all the creative things you all have done for me, especially the ET card. I'll probably never forget this day, the most shocking surprise I had. You guys make my dull existence colorful again.

To the supper kakis/ primary school pals, 10 years of friendship is hard to come by, and I hope this legacy continues on. Penghui especially, thanks for being the inspiration for me to become who I am now. I know this heavy weight present is thought by you, since you're the only one I told about getting this 10kg dumbbell. My training starts today. lol.

To the haven study group, it's a pity we didn't meet up for any celebrations but I know you all will make me feel at home once more. Our haven spirit will live on even after we graduated. Do meet up again soon at jessie's house again?

To my family, without all your support, I can never be able to become someone who is independent and live out my dreams. It is everyone's dream to have a good and strong family, I'm glad my wish is fulfilled.

And to all the people who came into my life, be it the army, the course mates, online friends, all of you did make a difference. Thanks for everything.

This is the first time I really wished time could stand still and let this moment last. Life is so much better with all of you.

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY to me!

07.07.07.

I would like to present my birthday wish on this very special day of mine.

Support Live Earth - The Concerts for a climate in Crisis.

We have to preserve whatever we can, the damage we have already done is irreversible. What we can do now is to play our part, however little, to save the dying Earth once more.

Support the Green Movements -3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

If each of us contribute a little effort, we can definitely prevent our climate from deteriorating even more.


Answer the Call - Wear Green, Go Green.

In case anyone doesn't know why 07.07.07 holds such a personal significance to me, it's actually my 21st birthday. I was actually so fortunate enough to be born that day, and to make things even better, 07 + 07+ 07 = 21.

So I'm intending to buy my first 4D on this day, so do wish me luck.


Oh my, it's 4 more days...

17 more days to 07.07.07.

And still I don't even have any plans for any celebrations.

Life is so much tougher when the operations is gone slacking overseas, have to multi-task so many things at a time. I'm totally drained.

There is one thing I don't really understand though, I have asked around the office, asking of their opinions of the operation-in-charge. The kind of feedback I got was totally negative, not a single good thing was said about him. But somehow, he doesn't get scolded despite his mistakes, reason being he is a newbie at work (after 1 month).

The boss always says he is still on training, so one day I asked back, "When will his training end?". My boss was stumped. He couldn't give me a satisfactory answer. So what constitutes a satisfactory answer? A proper date that explains when he may be a full-fledged operations in charge.

It's funny, because its the same boss that we all agreed to be the cause of all the problems in the company. Maybe this is what we meant by birds of the same feathers flock together.

After working for 3 months, I finally have my own namecards.

Having a namecard is actually nothing, but somehow I'm extremely elated to have my own set of namecards. I wonder why?

Perhaps having your own cards symbolize that you are now part of the real world (a term I always used to suggest the working society). It means that you hold some sort of importance in the world, no longer are you a student awaiting to enter work, a child waiting to grow up, a unknown individual waiting to be recognised in this vast world out there.

It is just a piece of printed paper with your own name, your handphone number, your designation. But it means so much more in real terms. It's a identification of your presence/existence.

Am I'm getting too overboard with this namecard thingy?? Hmm...

2 down, 1 more to go.

For once, the work at Bugis can finally be completed after much tribulations. Let's pray nothing crops up again next week.

Then I can finally have a peace of mind when I go down to Bugis to shop the next time round. No more "nightmares at Bugis" again. Hurray.

Help !! I'm hit by the GSS-bug.

Was at IMM doing some window shopping (typical of me), and I saw how much has changed from the old IMM that I knew. Other than the impressive Giant, there was so many more newly opened retail shops. Just like a suburban vivocity.

Was almost tempted to buy and stock up more clothes for the coming university days, but pay is always delayed. So I'll have to wait for now... Anymore outings can organise at IMM. There's freaking lots of things to see over there...

Saw yilin too (for once she looked so much healthier now), guess it's really her suffocating work that is almost killing her. Congrats for getting rid of such a burden. Do meet up again soon.

I'm gearing up for studenthood once more.