:: JaO JaO PeeO PeeO ::

JaO JaO PeeO PeeO.
JIBBERISH! These were what I've picked up from my irritating-yet-adorable team boy. Damn. So easily influenced! DArn you Louis.
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Came back from Hong Kong and Sans Francisco. And i must say...I'd WHALE of a GOOD TIME!! Woohooo!!! Eat and shop eat and shop! And Snap Snap Snap!! Oh..I learnt some techniques of photography from Louis...the pro pro photographer.
Flights were tough. But i kept myself going by looking forward to the places i wanna to go once i reached there. It's worth it. It's worth it!!!Totally!

Hong Kong. My First time. Though didn't really been to much sight-seeing places, kinda enjoy myself at the peak, taking the ferry to hong kong island... eating at the small joints....eating Dim Sum and SHOPPING!!!! Louis and I spent one whole freaking day at Causeway Bay shopping!! OMG! Oh ya..something worth mentioning:

Louis is always in dark colours...mainly brown and black...and still is i guess. I didn't figure out what was wrong with that until I forced him to wear a PINK tee-shirt which i so god-damn-love. And he looked entirely different!!! So refreshing and vibrant!!!!!! And guess what he did?? HIDE behind the door of the fitting room!! coz he was so SHY about wearing a bright or rather a pinkie shirt!? And kept saying its gayish no MATTER HOW MANY TIMES i assured him! Tried to pull him outta fitting room but he freaked out once he saw people outside. NOW that's what i called Girlie! Let me show u the pic!! Doesn't he looks so much nicer, without that expression of course!?!

Pictures taken in Hong Kong:Streets of Hong Kong

MTR Ride, Cable Car ride and Ferry Ride

Kowloon Park & The Peak

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Sans Francisco. Though i have been there several years ago, it felt entirely different this time. The weather was perfect. Birds flying around..clear blue sky...People are nice.... Summer. Nice.
We rented a car and travelled to Napa Valley, a small town where there are many vineyards. Before heading to a particular vineyard, we drop by Muir Woods, a national park.

Then we went to Robert Mondavi vineyard/winery. Had a small tour there..and it was an eye opener. I learnt how to differentiate the different variety of grapes...how the grapes were slowly processed into wine....Of coz, we had some wine tasting. Splendid. Oh...and bought a bottle of cabernet savignon, the specialty of Robert Mondavi, for Daniel.

After a day of travelling, we went back hotel and continue to shop! Almost went berserk in Abercrombie. Felt like buying the whole shop. Hahaha...Damn..why is it so expensive!!! In the end, i had to really think hard to choose the ones i wanna buy. And louis wasn't there to STOP ME!!! (oh well, we lost control when we went back Hong Kong...)
Anyway, the next day we went sight-seeing..He brought along his "Tua Leng Gong" aka his big long SLR camera. Went to Lompard street and fisherman's wharf. Had a cruise ride around Alcatrax island. And he taught me several techniques on the camera. Wow..really an enriching trip indeed! The weather was lovely lovely lovely.

I'M LOVING IT!!!

:: abu abu abu dhabiiii ::

I had a super looong stay in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE last week.
I tried searching online the places to sightsee...but to my dismay, not much info was found. WHAT A SHAME!! Instead, what pops out most were those places in Dubai...which is a good 2hr taxi ride from Abu Dhabi..and cost about 70SGD (one way). Wanted to go over Dubai as Jenn was there at the same time. But the taxi fare was too steep for us... So we stayed put.

Roy, my leading, called me up early in the morning. We had buffet breakfast downstairs and had a suuuuper long chat...from 9am all the way till 2pm! It was nice...and ya..i think i know his family and his life pretty well now. He's such a jovial person..not only he made me laughed, he made the waitresses there laughed as well. Basically, he just makes everyone at ease. He just couldn't stop talking. Over at dinner one night with other colleagues and pilots, the captain challenged him to try stop talking for a minute. Ha..He just couldn't do it. Hahahaa...
So anyway, Roy accompanied to do some sight-seeing after i found out from the conceirge what's interesting here. They do have some desert tours... And so we took up one of them.

We went to the sand dunes by Toyota LandCruiser....and we literally crrruuuuisssse on the sand!! We went up and down the dunes in the Jeep! It was like a roller coaster ride and I'M LOVING IT!!! Now I'm even MORE SURE i will get a Jeep next time!!!Woohooo...

After that adventure in the sand, we were taken to a "base camp" where we have several activities there. I tried on the arabian women costumes... tried to do the sand boarding but end up stucking there and ate lotsa sand!!! Rode a camel as well..but not for very long... And lastly we had our dinner there. The typical arabian food...It was excellent!!! What a tiring night!

For the next 2 days, i just went out shopping at the mall. (yes....again??) Coz they are having sale there! (dun bullshit lah Val..that's just excuses). But but.....oh well... There's nothing to do over there anyway...

(yah yah..you brought your swimming costumes u could have swam...brought your laptop n could at least update your blog?)

Oooops!!!

:: anyone? ::

Let's see if this works...

If you comment on this post:

1. i’ll respond with something random about you
2. i’ll challenge you to try something
3. i’ll pick a color that i associate with you
4. i’ll tell you something i like about you
5. i’ll tell you my first/clearest memory of you
6. i’ll tell you what animal you remind me of
7. i’ll ask you something i’ve always wanted to ask you
8. if i do this for you, you must post this on yours

:: Nanjing ::

Aarrgh!!! My Argentina lost!!! The referee is really such a jackass!! But it's a no wonder anyway coz the Germans are in their own country. Its so unfair!! My blood almost boiled when the referee made several unfair judgement. Aargh!! To make things worse, BRASIL is OUT!!!!! Oh my god! What's there to watch now??? However, what made me feel a little better is that ENGLAND is out!! HAhahahhahaa!!!

Anyway, been back from Nanjing..2 weeks ago.. It was really a nice and fruitful trip. Even though i have been to most of the places before, it's always different when you re-visit it again after a few years. This time round, i learnt more of the china's history than before. It's really interesting to know what happened in the past and how certain beliefs or culture came about. I guess that's what travelling is all about! Isn't it?

Highlights of the trip:

Dr Sun Yat Sen's Mausoleum


There are about 392 steps all together up to where he is buried. Why the number? Coz at the time he passed away, there were about these millions of citizens in China. Who is Dr Sun Yat Sen? He's the one who over threw the dynasty...and build the republic of China....until the communist took over. He then fled to Taiwan and build the empire there. According to the tour guide, he told me that Dr Sun had came to this mountain before and in terms of the chinese Feng Shui beliefs, this is an excellent place. Hence, it had been said that he wanted to bury here when he passed away.

Ming's Tomb

Now, what many people know is that there are many tombs from the Ming dynasty found in Beijing. What you may not know is that the very FIRST emperor of the Ming dynasty "Zhu Yuan Zhang" is buried here in Nanjing. Yes..just a stone throw away from Dr Sun's Mausoleum.
Now this pic shows a creature made up of a dragon's head, tortise's body, snake's tail and phoneix's claw. According to the guide, he said that this is a very bad creature, son of a King of Sea (Hai Long Wang), who had done many bad deeds. With the emperor's tablet on top of this bad creature, it symbolises that no matter how bad the creature is, the emperor is still more powerful.

Nanjing Massarcre


You wouldn't believe how many chinese were killed during this massacre. 20million!! That's 5 times that of Singaporeans now!!! These 3 sculptures represented how some of them were tortured..Buried alive.... small children were killed....women being raped....

This museum actually displayed the actual victim's bones. This place, in fact, was one of the buried location. Victims were buried layers by layers, one on top of another, separated by sand. Excavation was done during the early 80's.... It is believed that there were much more buried beneath where we walked...

QingHuai River

I love walking along this street beside the river. It is also here where you can find the Confusious's temple. Most of the buildings here were actually brothels in the past.... where many scholars or the upper class of the society like to visit..They weren't exactly prostitudes...more like the "Geisha" in Japan.

I'm LOVING it!!

:: Dead man walking ::

I just came back from perth.
I got a SHOCK as i sat on the bus...on the way to the hotel.
I......I......I......feel like I'm a ghost....coz its a dead town!!!
Shops are all closed....NO ONE walking on the street...and we're talking about the CITY area!
This was my first time to Perth and i've heard about how relax, slow and nice this part of Aussie is... But i never really think it would be THIS empty. Looks a little scary...Then it reminded me of the Playstation game we used to play... "Resident Evil"! I started to imagine all the creatures pop out from nowhere and come after me.....YEEKS!!!

I msged Jenn, Louis and Jacob...crying for help in this dead city. These are their replies:

LOUIS: "You should be with me...I'm blackjacking!!"
(BLOODYHELL..he's in the casino in melbourne. Screw u.)

Jenn: "You should go to UWA...there's a market nearby..."
(okie folks, it was like 5.30pm...sun gonna set and its a freaking sunday. NOTHING is open!)

Jacob's reply: "Perth is nice what...you should go here.....there....."
(ya ya...again, its a SUNDAY!!!)

So anyway, i didn't waste no time. I met Jude, my secondary school mate for dinner. At last, i saw some signs of life!!! He drove me to a supermarket to get my breakfast for the next morning...only to realise there's nothing much to buy. So in the end, we decided to pop by his house later and made some sandwiches for my breakie. Before that, we head to....ermm....can't remember the name of the place... but its somewhere at the yatch marina... He reccommended the Fish & Chips. I decided to try..although i'm not a very fish person. The serving for the chips was damn huge..I'm full just by eating the chips. Heh.

He drove me around town ya..Been up to the King's park for an overview of the city...been to the Bell tower... I didn't get out of the car coz the chill is freezing my ass off! God! The weather was just nice in the afternoon but when darkness came, it was REALLY COLD!!!! And i only have one pathetic not-so-thick sweater. Then Mr. Jude said that was because Perth is a desert area. Temperature drops drastically when night falls. TELL ME EARLIER!!!! wahhahaaa...

That's about the trip in Perth. Thanks Jude...for showing me around!
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Yay! Last night met deaREST Jenn, Louis and Jacob for supper at Holland Village. I miss Jenn so much! Haven't seen her for erm....2 weeks? kekekkee...I miss flying with her...and its so glad to hear that she's enjoying her team flight. I wish i can fly with her soooooooooon...and stay in the same room...bitch, chat, or whatever!
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Here are some london pics while still waiting for that Louis to give me the rest...

At Kensington Park...


Silly Pics at Marks & Spencer and The Tube.