Earth Hour

Its Earth Hour happening.

Whats earth hour? its an hour where the whole country turn off their lights for an hour. well, not whole country actually, just those who supports this thingy. Its action to show against global warming, electricity consumption, save the earth kinda thing and so on so on....

Im really not sure if earth hour is successful in Singapore, but as far as i know, i got quite a few of emails from various organization including NUS and PGP office supporting this thing and asked us to turn off our lights for an hour. 

I didnt turn off my lights. I guess earth hour failed to make me turn off the lights..but more important i think earth hour made its point, raised the awareness among people that the fight has to go on. if this large scale events manage to convince people to turn off their lights the next time they walk out of their room, the next time they leave their home, then i think its successful. If the event made so many people made so much effort, sending extra sms to friends about it, using extra power to plan and prepare for events during that hour, and consume more before and after that 1 hour, i dont get what is the point to have people turn off lights for an hour and ignore the whole issue after this 1 hour. 

Some say just to make people feel better to use up more energy in the future because i "played" my part in saving energy, I TURNED OFF MY LIGHTS FOR ONE HOUR!! 

I guess it did manage to change alot of people and tell people about the whole save energy thingy. 

Interesting World

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Transmongolian Train

The transmongolian train goes from moscow, russia to beijing, china through mongolia. 

Trains in Russia, or maybe most places are identified by a number. The smaller the number, the better quality is the train. Trains with 3 digit numbers are slower and older, of course, also cheaper compared to others. The common trains that people mention for the Trans Siberia trip are train number 4. Apparently some train comes with a name attached to it, it usually means the train is a better or a nicer one. 

And also, for trains which are nicer, there will be only class 2 or called kupe. 

But since i probably will be on budget. im actually looking at cheaper and slower trains, and if 3rd class is available, i might even consider it. 

Tentative Route : 

8th July Wednesday

Train number 340/350 (leave daily from Moscow - Ulan Ude)

Leave Moscow - daily at 13.35

Arrive Irkutsk - 6am of day 5 (12th July) 

Time spent on train - about 90 hours

Visit Lake Baikal or hang around Irkutsk 

14th July Tuesday 

Train number 264 (leave daily from Irkutsk - Ulan Bator) 

Leave Irkutsk - daily 19.35

Arrive Ulan Bator - 07.19 day 3 (16th July) 

Time spent on train - about 60 hours

Hang around Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia 

19th July Sunday 

Train number 4 (leave every tuesday from moscow - beijing) 

Leave Ulan Bator - 08.05

Arrive Beijing - 14.33 the next day (20th July) 

Time spent on train - about 30 hours

Moscow - Beijing means crossing 5 hours of time difference by land, crossing the borders 2 times. 

Total time expected on train - 180 hours 

Of course, a direct train would only take about 150 hours. but it would be more expensive, and of course u dont get to stop by and visit places. 

Anyway, im excited. 

Interesting me

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random

I am now in a class where the lecturer is talking about the critical radius for the nucleation of a bubble, simply means how much forces are needed for a bubble to be formed in a pool of boiling water. 

We need to know the critical radius comes when surface tension force = net pressure forece. 

Do i sound like i understand anything about this? Or do i even sound like i care? 

im bored. 

Interesting me. 

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Tickets booked

No return. 

Jetstar Airways   :  7  th May 2009, Singapore (1930) - Kuala Lumpur (2020) 

Malaysia Airlines :  8  th May 2009, Kuala Lumpur (1005) - London (1615) 

British Airways    : 10th May 2009, London (1405) - Budapest (1740) 

The best part? Its all one way ticket. 

Currently looking for. 

1. Accomodation and meet up with people in London. Anyone? 

Interesting me

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Another case

I am totally concerned over what i have been reading for the past week. All these news made me thinking what have we gotten ourselves into. 

The number of headlines i have read all about deaths. 

1. NTU student stabs prof and later kills himself 

2. NUS exchange student dies

3. NTU staff found hanged 

4. Gunman turns small Alabama town into slauggterhouse  

5. Many dead in German school shooting 

all these within 10 days. isnt it a little too much people ?? 

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Plan Revision 1

After much time spend on research and so on, i have decided to revise the plan. To visit less city and stay in 1 spot for slightly longer period of time. 

After cutting down, i think it should be listed down places that i decided to leave out and will visit again next time. 

The new route with estimated dates. 

Moscow(by 4th July) - Irkutsk - Ulan-Bataar - Beijing(by 18th July) - Xian - Chengdu - Nanning - Hanoi(by 30th July) - Hue - Nha Trang - Dalat - HCM - Singapore (by 10th Aug)

Places to be left out and visit next time - St. Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Wuhan, Lhasa, Li Jiang, Hoi An, MuiNe

I guess there might be up to revision plan number 20 before the final plan is out.

Interesting me

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Im afraid

Back at home far far away.....

Lets call for an emergency meeting.

Details will be announced soon. Lets meet under the tree and discuss.

What?! Official meeting cannot be under the tree ar ?? its legal ok!! 
http://merdekareview.com/news/n/8982.html

On this, someone said : As Malaysians, we need to be afraid; we need to be very afraid.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/99591

Interesting Malaysians. 

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Whats up with Siew Yik - A somehow post.

So, this is something brief of what I have been eyeing for the past few weeks.

Warning : you are supposed to give a shocking reaction if you havent heard anything about this before.


I got matched recently. To a TN in Hungary.(TN-In-HU-SC-2009-1259 Vocational Accademy Alapítvány)

Ok, if you dont understand the line above, no worries, its some AIESEC lingo. It just means I will be in Hungary from May onwards for 2 months. Doing some internship work in this organization called Vocational Accademy Alapitvany.

Obviously when im planning to go so far, im planning something big. So below is briefly what i have been looking at.



A one way flight from Singapore to London which costs 640sgd.




For your information, MAS = Malaysia Airlines. Rated 5 star airline according to some organization called Skytrax. (if you dont understand, it means good stuff)

Compared to the latest airasia fares i checked out, it costs about RM900(about 400SGD) from KL-London. I guess the extra 250sgd for the 10+ hours of in flight services and entertainment, more comfortable seat and better food. it is worth it?



A one way flight from London to Hungary which costs less than 76 GBP.




Again, for your information, British Airways is rated 4 star in the same ranking thingy mentioned above.

The cheapest i got so far for budget airline is about 50GBP, not sure if the extra 25GBP for the short few hours flight is worth it tho. Anyway, this can be decided later.


And a master plan of how I am coming back after the 2 months internship.



Picture edited and taken from http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm#How to book

The plan is somehow at the end of my internship, supposedly early July, somehow i will find a way to end up in Moscow from Hungary. Somehow or someway i will travel around Moscow and St Petersberg for 1 day or 2.

Somehow again, i will end up taking a train from Russia - Beijing. The whole train ride will take 7 days if taken non-stop. Im still working on whether to stop by different city or take a non stop one.

Somehow after i reach Beijing, i will be able to take a train or bus from Beijing - Nanning. On the way of this train ride, somehow i will stop by a few cities, likely to be Xian, Chengdu, ChongQing, Nanning.

From Nanning, somehow i will be able to reach Hanoi. And i will somehow find my way down to HCMC and on the way stop by a few cities, likely to be Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, HCMC.

And after staying a few days in HCMC, somehow i will take a budget flight back to Singapore.


Alot of somehow mentioned above. But the rough plan is that.

The somehow likely to stop-by cities are very likely to change, depending on budget and which city i have friends and free accomodation in. (So, if you are from any city on the way and would like to offer me a place with a roof, leave me a msg and i will see how i can add it into the list.)

The somehow plan should be within my 13weeks of vacation, which breaks down to roughly : 7 weeks in Hungary, 1.5 weeks in Russia, 2 weeks in China, 2 weeks in VN


But due to alot of somehow along the way, i need some information and help. Please do let me know if there are any of the following information :

1. How do i somehow get visa to china and russia.
2. Somehow you want to offer me a roof in the cities i mentioned or along the way that i can add in.
3. If there are somehow any better way of doing this whole thing.
4. If there are somehow people you know have done this before.
5. If there are somehow $ will drop into my account to sponsor me this.



The plan is somehow a little more expensive than directly just fly back. But i think its once a lifetime chance to something i never imagine i would do. So i am still looking for more information on how to do this.

Worse case scenario? i will just grab a flight ticket fly back after 2 months if things cant be worked out (visa issue or budget issue or accomodation issue or transportation tickets issue)

Interesting?


Some of the websites i refer to.
http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm
http://wikitravel.org/en/Hungary
http://www.sinhcafevn.com/AboutUs.asp
http://www.china-holiday.com/english/chinamap/classification/chinarailway.jpg



Interesting me.

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