I'm flying!

Ok, I'm not that into flying actually, I hate the engine noise and my butt gets itchy sitting still there for hours. But I'll put up with the pain of it for the sake of a visit to a whole new world. Yup, India is totally foreign to me. I have absolutely no idea what I'm gonna see there, but as usually, I'm more into exploring the wilderness as soon as I can get there rather than doing urban sightseeing. Really hope that this trip leaves me with as much good memories and pictures in my mind as my last trip to Nepal gave me.

Sikkim here I come! Bye guys!

Running around

Today was absolutely crazy. I had this long list of to-do list to complete and tick off at the end of the day, and then I went around the entire island to finish it off. Yes that's right, from the north to the south, then to east then to west before going home again. Now, that's sounds more like a normal day for me, doesn't it?

1. Went to Mustafa center to exchange currencies for my trip - blew $950 on $500USD, $1000 Thai baht and $3000 Indian rupees. Hahah...I'm rich! Had chicken briyani and a cup of tea at the nearby restaurant there, never expected it to cost $8, but it was good la. Bought loads of other necessary knick-knacks too.
2. Took the train to Harbourfront to collect a free 512MB SD card that comes along with the Canon G3 camera that Karen bought. Trip there and business settled in half an hour, walked back to train station to go Bugis.
3. Went to NLB to drop a library book there, saw Tiong Ann (formerly one of my climbing kaki) there helping to set up the bouldering wall for pumpfest this sat. Went to 'Mountain Designs' outdoor shop to look for a backpack cover, which I discovered was an exorbitant $50, and I decided I go make do without it.
4. Went Si Ma Lu to the big temple there to pray for a safe journey. Haven't been to a temple for a long while already; I have to say that this gesture really made me feel the immediacy of our trip happening tomorrow...exciting!
5. Speed walk back to the MRT, took the train to Simei. Met Bingying there for my trek pants I lent him for titiwangsa, then collected my repaired handphone at East Point. It drank a bit of water when it was locked in my aquapac AFTER my entire paddling expedition when I tried out the 2006 vamp at PC, how sueh can I get. Anyway, it's resurrected now, and I'm glad I can use it as a MP3 player on the trip. That's what my extra batteries are for actually ha.
6. Went to Paya Lebar, took bus to PC. Yongjie of my class drove his lorry down there to help me shift my polo boat down to NTU, really glad for his help. At NTU, I left the boat there before their training started, met a few of them when I left though. Exchanged a few frosty words with the girls but am so glad to see the guys, reminding me of the reason why I can't make myself leave the team.
7. Went to Karen's place and finally washed up my tent from my paddling trip at her lawn, hope the carpet grass don't die from drinking the soap water. Girls really take a long time to pack for trips, and consequently (and rightfully) are more kan cheong about leaving full days aside for that.

Me? I'm just chilling out here now charging all my batteries. The packing can wait till tomorrow ha.

Trip: Paddling from P.Tioman to Tg. Pengelih

Came back 2 days ago from my paddling trip that lasted 8 days, starting at Tanjong Penyabong just above Mersing, on to the marine park islands on the east coast like Tioman, Besar, Sibu, then back to coastal paddling back down to the Tanjong Pengelih customs.

We paddled in nice blue or green waters for half of the trip, then in murky ones thereafter. We were attacked by sandflies and mosquitoes on some days but stayed in airconditioned resorts on others. The packing rituals everyday is very time-consuming, and the very frequent portage of boats when landing and launching at low tide is exhausting. It was occasionally exciting, a few moments were scary, and mainly very very boring. We had more than enough time reviewing the major events of your life and plan for the others in the future in the long paddling days we undertook daily.

More details to come eventually maybe, probably after my Sikkim trek!

Never bargained and got too much...

This noon I was at this canteen in Tuas having a meal with my brother and my uncle (who delivered some sea charts there to some colleagues). Ordered a bowl of pig's kidney and liver herbal soup, and it turns out to be probably the biggest bowl of such soup that I'll ever have in my lifetime. Can you believe that much stuff inside the soup only costed me $3.50?


This was what's left after I gave up trying to finish it up.

Paddling Singapore river

For the first time on last Sunday, Gerald and I paddled along Marina South Park after the Kallang river construction area. That took us into the Singapore river on the side opposite of Marina Promenade and the Esplanade, as seen here


That was possible now that all the commercial small crafts have moved out of Clifford Pier. We cut across the former mooring area outside the pier to reach the viewing gallery of the Merlion, where a perpetual crowd of tourists snapped pictures and enjoyed the breeze.


It was an interesting feeling, to be the object of tourists' stares, and be greeted by the ang-moh restaurant goers dining al fresco along Boat Quay, and even more so to be able to stare back at them and return the gaze. Though I have paddled into the river several times already, it was a novel experience to paddle real close along the busy side of the river, weave in and out of the pillars under Nicoll highway and Cavenaugh bridge, and interact with tourists in this silent way. It made me felt like a tourist in my own watery backyard, how refreshing!

Busy busy

Ok, got loads of stuff to do in these few days leading up to the camp/tioman paddling trip, and I haven't been really productive every night cos of tiredness from running around all day; don't expect to see the blog updated until maybe thursday night...

Short notes...

• The GE is really showing how amateurish Singapore politics is, what a shame. All that bitching, personal attacks and argument about trivial issues is making the whole election farcical. A WP quintet of in my estate (with 2 guys doing e-Biz, 2 arts grad, and a ITE cert holder) wanna contest PM Lee, how amusing.
• Peace is restored to Nepal again. But too late, looks like the earliest I'll get to breakfast at pumpernickel bakery again will be this time next year...
• Practiced ball throwing with Bings this noon, resolved to bring my polo ball to Sikkim and throw/play/sleep with it and hope to come back a better player.
• Anyone want anything that I can bring back from India or Bangkok? Don't be shy just tell me what you'll like to get la...else I'll just be cracking my brains thinking of what to get for you...so just say la...

Joke of the day:
Qn: What do wayang king James Gomez and box-office king Tom Cruise have in common?
Ans: Both have made the same movies - Mission Impossible, Risky Business, and Minority Report.

Hahaha...

Movie Review - M:I 3

...Caught M:I 3 at Suntec at noon sharp today in a half-filled cinema. With these movies, you know the story's gonna be formulaic - superhuman agent saves the world and his girl, lots of insider hidden agendas and betrayals, incredulous stunts at different places around the globe, exciting near-misses etc etc. But this is way better than M:I 2, cos the attention's now back to the mission rather than saving the girl (who logically should be last in priority anyway). Lots of explosive action, exciting moments, and the villian is really evil-looking.

Was so riveted by the action that I have to stop popcorn-chewing 15 minutes into the movie, ok maybe it's just me who's unable to multitask, but yah, worth your dollars if you like non-stop action.

Catching up

Yup, it was nice to see you after quite a while Alex...thanks for pushing back your lunch appointment just to walk around with me at Sim Lim. I'm sure it was fun and informative for you too right? Haha...guys are all gadget freaks...

From now till Sunday, going to see Lianda to watch Mi:3, Bing Ying to play polo, Yinghuei to pass him some shoes he ordered, Emily for the tent she bought, my insurance agent, and the usual PC clique too. And Roland and Charles of course, for the expedition. Something tells me I'll be sick of their faces pretty soon. Haha...just joking guys!

Yah, good to have some small reasons to meet up with people once in a while. Whatever it is, you guys out there should know that I'll always be glad to catch up yah; only thing is you have to make early appointments!

Business

Lots of things to do for my sucessive trips coming up, particularly when the paddling trip needs so much preparation beforehand but my PE outdoor camp ends the day before. Accumulated a long list of to-do tasks as time goes by today, it's calls and smses coming in all day long reminding me to do this and that. I'm almost packed for the rest of the week already preparing for stuff.

Here's my schedule then, for those who are interested -

8th - 11th May PESS outdoor camp
12th - 21st May Paddling trip up Tioman
24th - 16th June Trip to Sikkim, Bangkok

Will start my silly 5-week Teaching Practicum on 26th June after that, along with 4-5 nights of canoe polo training every week from then on till National Champs in August. My holidays are almost always much busier than my schooling days...

Wanna hear a story?

More than one person have been telling me that I sounded pretty irritable or pissed these days, judging from my blog entries. I thank you for your concern and sympathy for my angsty moments , but I'm pretty 'normal' actually, and the days are passing well. It's just that I tend to recall and write things I feel more strongly about (like my paddling session today) rather than mention the mundane trivial matters of daily life (like I only got 2 bites on my Sausage McMuffin with Egg this morning before the wrapper tore and the whole thing dropped on the floor). That wouldn't make for a very interesting read right?

This shows again that one should never trust the online persona to be the real person, not totally at least, barring the fact that no one actually has a coherent and singular personality (read Borges's essay 'The Nothingness of Personality' about that). Yup, I am actually a very nice person who wishes for world peace...