Monday, November 30, 2009
Hello! Am in Taiwan now. Can't log into Facebook, which sucks.
Will be back on the 4th.
On a lighter note, my birthday is coming!
Wondering what to get for me?
I know it is a pain to go out and choose a present (at least it is, for me. Because I always have no idea what to choose, I'm always afraid that the recipient wouldn't like it). Hence, you may select something from a wide range of presents here:
*Note: They are purposefully vague so you may still add a unique/personal touch to your present.
1. Food! I love to eat. Nothing disgusting, please.
2. Bangles - my current obsession. Something simple would be good.
3. Shoes. I am a size 5 or 6.
In the event where you do not have enough money and/or can't decide what to get, don't worry. The next best alternative? Money. Money presented in the form of cash or cheque would be highly appreciated, no matter what amount you give. This money would go to the following causes:
1. Settling my phone bills
2. New school shoes for the next year (unless I manage to find a pair in Taiwan or Penang)
3. Or it will simply be kept in my bank account until I find a use for it.
Should you wish to, you may ask me what I prefer to receive. Please do not be shy, I am not very particular about the element of surprise. (Actually I am but clearly it does not seem that I'll be pleasantly surprised this year.)
Lastly, in the unfortunate case that you are really broke or is simply too lazy/busy to get a gift (this I completely understand), a simple "Happy Birthday" would suffice. It is accepted in any form. (However, I'll be away on the 18th so I cannot guarantee that I will receive you message should you send it out too late in the day.)
Goodbye! I need to go. Some irritating China tourist is hovering behind me now complaining about how long I've been at the computer.
P/S:There is a Sec 4 guy in this tour who's from Maris Stella. His name is Royce, which is so cool! Just like the brand of chocolate.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Hi I'm here to post about the Hong Kong trip.
Day 1
There was nothing much for this day because it was just the plane ride.
Sat next to Zhixian and Jiaying on the plane. Yongxiang and Lizheng were behind us. It was so funny cos Jiaying was so excited when the plane took off ("要飞了!!! 我可以看到那个翅膀!!"). Zhixian said Yongxiang kept kicking her chair. Zhixian was mad squealing and she grasped my arm when the plane took off. LOL
Watched (500) Days of Summer with Zhixian during the plane ride.
Day 2
We had dim sum breakfast in the morning!
After that we went to some museum. There was an exhibition on Lydia Sum aka Fei Fei, amongst other things. I DIDN'T KNOW SHE DIED UNTIL I WENT TO THE MUSEUM. Walked around with Lizheng, Yongxiang and Sally.
There was this machine that allowed you to take a picture of your face and then they'd edit it digitally to make you look like you have make up. We tried it but the results weren't obvious!
I look super retarded.
We left the museum and went to this place called.. Zhang's Village. LOL. Or Zhang's House. I can't remember actually.
The guy in red pants is our "escort", Tim. He sucks cos he's rather guailan and he's vair vair childish.
After visiting Zhang's Village we went to this temple. There was a spinning wheel in the temple, they said that if you spinned it you would have good luck. The people there demonstrated to us how to spin it - you have to spin it in a clockwise direction and then put your hands together and bow to the statue. I told Jiaying to spin it anti-clockwise LOL. (But she didn't)
This is apparently some important monument in Hong Kong - I can't remember what it is because I wasn't listening to Uncle Chris (our tour guide) on the bus.
Here are the teachers that went with us. The guy on the left is Uncle Chris, our tour guide. Then it's Ms Lee, Ms Wani (roll eyes), Mr Koh and Mr Tan!
After that we went to Repulse Bay. On the way there, we drove past Jackie Chan's house!!! And I think Bruce Lee's old house too.
There was another temple there too, but it was much smaller.
Photographer Tan!
We tried taking jump shots at the beach after that. There were many failed attempts - the successful ones are in Sally's camera.
There was a Starbucks outlet at Repulse Bay - I bought a blueberry muffin and shared it with Sally. It was heated up and it tasted heavenlyawesomegood. Especially because it was (sort of) freezing there in Hong Kong. The kind where you know you won't die but it was still annoyingly cold.
We drove up to Victoria Peak to visit Madame Tussand's - in other words, the Wax Museum! I've been to the Shanghai one before back in 2007, with Ziyi, Grace and Gabbie.
Us with Michelle Yeoh (who, even as a wax figurine, has a very sophisticated aura).
I also zilian-ed with Jay Chou!!!
Zhixian with Nicole Kidman.. with the paparazzo behind them!
Zhixian clinging onto Angelina Jolie. She said she was jealous that I got to hug Brad Pitt's arm!!
Cecelia Cheung, with a brilliant smile despite the sex scandal. LOL
We also took photographs with Janice Vidal!!!!! (Aren't you jealous, Kwan Boon? LOL) But I have to admit that her wax figurine looks VERY spastic.
I also took a photo of Ayumi Hamasaki's wax figurine, but it didn't look like her so I deleted it.
I can't remember who they are.
Princess Diana! My favourite member of the royal family, even though she's dead. She's an INFP too. :)
Lee Kuan Yew, looking stoic as usual.
We also got to pose with Barack Obama!
Can you imagine how long we had to queue to take just one measly photo with him? And we couldn't have any retakes cos the other people would just complain loudly. AND part of the reason why we took a long time to queue up was because those people (e.g. China people) kept cutting queue. Some people just have no sense of being civilly considerate.
Hitler!
The opera guy! I've no idea who he is.
Zhixian and Sally with William Shakespeare.
Me with Mozart! (The painter. LOLOLOL)
Pablo Picasso.
I am Albert Einstein's personal hairstylist.
Astro Boy!
Random dude we don't know. He's an architect, if I recall correctly.
Marilyn Monroe! (And Sally, who looks like she's in a maternity dress.)
There was this haunted house in the wax musuem. We had to go in groups of 8, and go in single file. Lizheng was the last, with Sally in front of him. I was in front of Sally, and Jiaying was in front of me. I don't know who was in front of Jiaying. Anyway, I kept my eyes closed throughout the whole thing. Sally was grabbing onto my shoulders tightly, haha.
Look at how traumatised we are.
Presenting... Sally's boyfriend (according to Mr Tan)!!!
LOL.
Lizheng, disrupting Elvis Presley's performance.
Hard core fans. LOL.
MJ.
Beatles. LOL. I want their hair! (Not)
They love Teresa Tseng (Deng Lijun).
So after the Wax Museum, we took the tram downhill.
Day 3
This was the day we did our CIP! The old folks' there were very hospitable and welcoming. They're a million times better than Singapore's old folks in general. (Having us there just brightened up their day. Not bragging or whatever - it's true.) It's pretty amazing how our presence can have such a major effect, I think they would have enjoyed our stay even if we didn't perform and just kept them company.
He was so cute, he talked to us in broken Chinese mixed with Cantonese.
We had to blow up balloons for our game with them later on!
And they were slacking. LOL.
They had fun with the game, even though it was extremely simple. I cannot fathom how people like things like that - all they did was hit balloons back and forth but they were laughing and having so much fun. Maybe when we get older we would enjoy simplicity, and we'd be more easily content, :/ I wish I could learn to be like that.
I tried to teach the old granny I was assigned to how to take a photo using a digital camera, because she didn't want to be in the picture.
But yeah, as you can see her finger is at the side. Anyway I look extremely retarded that day cos I wasn't wearing contact lenses. One of the lenses fell out while I was wearing it and it disappeared somewhere.
:)
After that, we went to ANOTHER museum. Didn't take much photos there because there was nothing much that was of interest.
After the museum, we went to Ladies Street (女人街) to do some shopping. We had around 2 hours. Didn't buy much, but I bought contact lenses to replace the one I dropped. It was cheap, only S$28. Bought 2 sets of bangles, pretty pretty :)
We reported at the gathering point around 10 minutes late. I heard Tim tell Mr Koh, "They are always late one what." I wanted to kick his face. Then when we got on the bus, Ms Wani said, "My dear, ask you to meet at 6 PM, not 6.30 PM." Then I retorted, "It's not even 6.30 PM yet!" and walked away. After that when we were going off the bus for dinner, she took the opportunity to whine once again: "Delay delay, later I cannot see my Symphony of Lights!"
After dinner, we strolled around the Avenue of Stars.
This is the only one I took because I didn't know any of the other stars. The whole Avenue of Stars was a copy of Hollywood's Walk of Fame, seriously. Hollywood's one looks much more classier.
Anyway, we then strolled to the end of the walk to view to Symphony of Lights. It was nothing amazing actually, more like a disappointment. Instead of ogling at the lights show, Lizheng and I were saying that it must cost a lot to display the light show.
While the show was still ongoing, we stopped looking at the sky and walked around instead. We then saw this:
After the show, Mr Tan took this photo for us. I was rather infuriated while we had to take this photo, shan't talk about it here.
Drove back to the hotel to put our stuff, the teachers then brought us out for dessert!
(From L to R)
Tan Lizheng, Tan Kai Wen, Tan Boon Hwee! HAHA.
At the dessert shop. My face looks fat.
This was pretty nice, when you eat the mango it has this fizzy taste, like when you drink a fizzy drink. I liked it.
Day 4
Irony: On Day 3 Ms Wani complained that we were late and she would miss her Symphony of Lights. However, on this morning, she, together with Ms Lee, were late for 20 minutes because apparently, their morning call didn't come. It's still a lousy excuse.
Went on a cable car ride! We went up to Ngong Ping Village. The ride was around 15 minutes I think? The view was, in a word, picturesque.
I look fat in this photo!!
Zhixian blinked. LOL
This is our tour guide, Uncle Chris (in orange)!!! Everytime we're supposed to gather at a point, I'd always look for him in his orange jacket. He's very nice and understanding. He's a smoker, and I only knew about it the last day he was with us (which is Day 5). Nonetheless, he's a very good tour guide :)
Us with Uncle Chris! Yongxiang and Lizheng didn't want to be in the picture.
At the village, there was this tourist site. Um, or at least that's what I think it is. Anyway, it was this humongous Buddha statue. You have to climb up 268 steps to reach the top.
It was freezing up there! The wind was swirling around in a rage.
To keep ourselves warm, we bought Vitasoy! Because the Vitasoy they sell there was heated up and it just felt good to hold the packet/can of Vitasoy in your hands.
Speaking of which, when we were walking to where the Buddha statue was, I was raving to Lizheng about how warm the Vitasoy was and how it warms your hands when you hold it. Tim came over and said, "Wa, very warm ah, can let me hold?" I said, "No, don't want," and snubbed him. HAHAHA. He then said, "Don't want then don't want la! Hmpfff," and walked away. CHILDISH.
Before we took the pictues, I walked around with Lizheng and we gossiped. It was pretty fun!
After lunch (which was entirely vegetarian), we waited for our bus to come.
We're all wearing purple!
(Now that I'm looking closely at this photo, I recall that I was wearing Lizheng's gloves on that day! He loaned them to me.)
The next stop was a fishing village, which was relatively boring. Bought gloves and plasters there.
Saw this dog there, it's so cute!!!
We were late meeting up. Tim GL-ed again, and as again I felt like kicking him in the face. Tskkkk. They brought us to this shopping centre which was in an urban area. Didn't buy anything cos everything was too expensive!!!! But the shoes from K-Swiss were damn chio >: But I'd be S$71 poorer if I bought them so...
Had dinner at Food Republic - Yongxiang was emo-ing the whole time. He barely ate and just sprawled all over the table and slept.
Day 5
One word: DisneyLand!
We had to attend the workshop on animation. It was pretty fun - saw Aaron Chew in the café, super coincidental. He was stunned when I called his name.
We were asked to write our names and stick the stickers onto ourselves. Look at Mr Tan's!!
Cute chair!
This was an original/initial sketch of The Little Mermaid, I think. The Little Mermaid is one of my favourite Disney movies.
We also watched a 3D show, it was great! But a little bit dizzying.
Lizheng, LOL
(Look at Jiaying and Mr Tan in the background LOL)
Our gloves are of the same colours of the 3D glasses we were given. (We switched gloves today - the black ones are mine.)
This is the guy that brought us around for the tour, his name is Ed, short for Edward. (I look ugly in this photo)
LOL
I like this photo!
This photo too :)
Eat eat eat, no wonder you're a fei ju (肥猪 in Cantonese LOL)!
We went to do more shopping after that.
This is cute! But I've got no one to use it with la -_-" Lizheng kept asking us to buy things. He kept saying, "This is DisneyLand, just buy la!!!!!!" but he barely bought anything himself. He was there to hold the basket for us. He kept telling us to throw the things we were considering to buy into the basket LOL. And that once we put it in the basket, we can't take it out anymore.
The stupid shop(s) that we spent so much in.
Before our dinner, we went on a ride, I can't remember the ride's name. After that ride we headed over to Space Mountain. We rode it again and again. We had dinner first, and then went back to it.
So after dinner when we went back to it, we went on it about twice because we had to gather to watch the fireworks and then leave the place. The last time we were supposed to go on the ride, Lizheng suggested something super funny. Which we did. Not gonna mention it here! :)
The fireworks shot up into the sky right above Sleeping Beauty's castle. It was chioprettybeautiful HAHAHA. BUT the other tourists kept squeezing and pushing, TSK
The huge Christmas tree.
We went back to the hotel. Took a picture with Uncle Chris because it's his last day with us:
To be continued. (I'm almost done)