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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Recovered.

I was half sick and officially recovered. 

I was having headache and a little feverish and i got better after
1. Sleeping with fan off and 1 Tshirt + long sleeve tshirt
2. drinking alot alot alot of water
3. drinking 1 litre of orange juice 
4. wearing a sweater around the school, even under the sun

But im totally perfectly fine now :D 

Its 3 more days to friday. Which is the day i get my 10 days break for CNY. 

Ipoh, im coming ! 



Interesting me.

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

End of week 1

End of week 1 in NUS. 

So what happened? 

Im back in Singaporeland for the 7th day now, or 8th, i forgot. Ok, lets count. 

Day 1. 
Saturday, i reached Singapore at around 9, and the night wasnt so good. 

Day 2. 
Sunday, I think i spent almost whole day packing stuff and nothing much else.

Day 3. 
Monday, i skipped my 1st ever class in this semester. also went for class and some AIESEC SE week thingy and MTP in NUS. 

Day 4. 
Tuesday, ran from class to class, cant imagine every tuesday i need to spend lunch in lecture. i went out for a korean BBQ buffet thingy. Wanling's bday celebration. It was a good catch up with friends. walked around china town a little for the new year spirit. it was a nice one. 

Day 5. 
Wednesday, Its bazaar whole day and class whenever there is a class. Im amazed by how well the bazaar is organized. SE project team are amazing people. 

Day 6. 
Thursday, bazaar whole day again. The turnout for interactive workshop was a little discouraging, but overall, the bazaar is still good. went out to stick up the posters from 12-3am. Celebrated elroy's bday with some donut and pokki sticks. it was a fun thing to do even tho its tiring. :D 

Day 7. 
Friday, class, meeting with project mates. Hasnt been following up with the projects while other group mates are working hard. Hmm...need to put in more effort for the project d. didnt really sleep preparing stuff for election day. 

Day 8. 
Saturday, Election whole day. tiring amazing day. LCP candidates were amazing. I have gotten a successor. Her name is Wenny. Gotta wish her all the best. MCP election was a very very close one. I admire both candidates...alot alot. MC candidates, 7 were voted in out of 9. both voted out were from NUS. i was kinda sad when the results were announced. 

I hope all the candidates will be able to stand up. I have no idea why alot of people quoted this in their speech, Success is not final, Failure is not fatal. 

Day 9. 
Sunday, i woke up at 8+ amazingly. Probably because i slept since 11+ yesterday. Sushi buffet later. Totally like it :D
Afternoon? who knows whats gonna happen. 

Week ahead. 
EPRD on Monday and Tuesday. 
Expecting some work on the project. 
Home for CNY. 


Interesting me. 


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Monday, January 12, 2009

Skipped my 1st class of the semester, accidentally

I just skipped my class today. Accidentally.

I got up around 10.30 am, switched on my computer. Went to CORS, the website where we bid for our modules and classes. Supposed to bid for my modules, and i realize i didnt update my timetable. So i updated my timetable and i realize i supposed to have a class at 10 - 12.

So i accidentally skipped my 1st class of the semester.

oops....


So whats gonna happen for this semester?
6 modules.
Engineering Professionalism
Mechanical System Design
Industrial Heat Transfer
Physics II
Operations Management
Understanding Uncertainty and Stats Thinking

That translates to 5 days of classes + tutorials + labs + project + AIESEC work.






Interesting me.

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Sunday, January 11, 2009

Missing Vietnam

Back in Singapore.

I had a weird feeling about Singapore today when i landed. Everything is so familiar yet so foreign.

Singapore. Warm country. Cold people.

Everyone on the way is doing their own stuffs. PSP, newspaper, sms. Its so different from what it is in VN. Am missing VN already.


My first few hours back in Singapore is sad.

I reached my room at 9 something, sms a few people, no reply. Call some people, some were sleeping, some did not pick up.

wanted to get some food for dinner but super snack is not open. So i waited for the bus to Sheares Hall, waited for almost 15 minutes, took an A1 bus went round NUS and reached Sheares to realize its not open as well. Swt. So i wanted to talk to Fong Seng, but i saw a McD bike on the way, so i stopped and turned around. THinking that if i order now, and walk back, i will get the order when i reach pgp. But the call somehow didnt get through. Ended up going to 7-11. got a cup noodles and used the hot water there. I realize i was really missing VN when i saw the price tag of the cup noodles - 2SGD and i actually converted it to VND which is 22000 VND, and thought. "Hey, i could get a nice hu tiu for this price, why am i getting cup noodles"

I added water into the cup noodles and went to eat at one of the bus stop nearby. No lights, no other people. Suddenly had a feeling of loneliness. Shit. This is bad...


You know you are missing Vietnam

when you start converting price of cup noodles to VND
when you see cup noodles and think how nice hu tiu is
when you look at the vending machine and wanted to press for sinh to
when you look get into a taxi and expecting to see 12 but saw 2.8
when you see the number of cars and comparing it to number of motorbikes
when you think its no challenge crossing a street
when you look at the pics you took in VN
and when you watch the videos taken in VN.


The best Birthday so far.
Thanks to people who spent a day thinking, a day waiting and lots of effort preparing for everything.











And Hieu did a really good job making this. Many many thanks.








Interesting Vietnam

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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Siew Yik's Birthday

Hey, if you dont already know. Siew Yik is going to have his birthday on 8th January. Thats a few hours from now. Please wish him happi birthday.

Shuuuuu.....dont let him know i write this post.




-Secretly written by Siew Yik


Interesting me.

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Cambodia Through my Eyes

Cambodia, an interesting country. I left HCMC on Thursday morning and reached Siem Reap on Thursday night, got a guesthouse to stay in and went to angkor wat the next day. walked around the night market in Siem Reap at night as well before going to Phnom Penh on Saturday morning. Visited Killing Fields, S-21 Prison, Russian Market and Central Market. and took the afternoon bus on Sunday back to HCMC. I wished i had more time to explore the country.

I didnt have much impression of the country before the visit, probably just heard people saying angkor wat is nice, things are cheap and stuff like that. So sometimes, i tagged along with other tourguides. I had no $ to hire tourguide by myself. I just walked around angkor wat and when i meet a group of people listening to the tourguide, i slow down, pretend taking some scenery pictures and listen to the stories. The same thing i did in S-21 prison.

To me, Cambodia is.......


A country that call themselves Kingdom.
It was written on the arrival card, Kingdom of Cambodia.

A country where the custom takes 2.5 hours to cross.
Perhaps its only for that day due to new year's day and long weekend, but the custom took us 2.5 hours, rediculously long. And the weird thing about the system is, you just have to trust the bus company, because u pass them ur passport and they will settle for you. You have no idea where he took the passport to and so on. Whats more, the australian in the same bus with me used 1USD in "replacement" of a so called health card.
"apparently, if you have a dollar, it means you are healthy"

A country where i didnt do enough preparation.
I didnt really prepare enough for the country before i leave. Only asked around for brief information about Cambodia and Angkor Wat. So what happened was i didnt buy the lonely planet and i borrowed from the lady sitting in front of me during the 6 hours journey. I looked up for the hotel places and i snapped a picture of the map so i can find the hostel.

A country where almost everything cost 1 dollar.
I had the fried rice with chicken at 1 dollar. In cambodia, USD is very common and basically you can survive with just USD. But of course, changing some rial helps u to save a bit(1USD = 4100Rial). Some of them are targeting at tourist and they just shout 1 dollar for watever u ask them for. I heard a mango for a dollar when u can get it for 1500 Rial. I heard of a bottle of small mineral water cost 1 dollar when u can get it for 500 Rial. And of course, i had my fried rice for a dollar.

A country where tuk tuk is more common than taxi.
To travel around siem reap basically tuk tuk is what you need. Of course you gotta be good at bargaining, because they try very hard to rip off any potential target that they can find.






A country where crickets and spiders are considered delicacies. People selling deep fried spiders and insects along the streets. I didnt dare to try any of them. Not sure why, but i didnt. Too scared perhaps. I even saw some people trading live spiders. They carry a pail around, there are some vege leaves like thingy in the pail and underneath it is whole bunch of spiders crawling around. People order and they use their bare hand, grab the spider and stuck them through a bottle thingy, They prob cant use plastic bags because the spiders are good at crawling around.




A country where the scenery is as nice as pictures.
Simply amazed by how beautiful angkor wat is. And who actually believe that it was build few hundred years ago without engineers and great machines. It deserves to be in one of the 7 wonders of the world.






A country where pictures are as nice as actual view.
The painters there are simply talented. They can paint such nice pictures at that place. I have no idea where they learn their art from, but i know for sure, the paintings are better than pictures in my camera.





A country where people dance in front of the royal palace.
I was walking around in phnom penh at about 5pm and saw this bunch of people dancing in front of the nice building. Later i found out it was the royal palace. For a moment i thought they were @ers because they played songs and someone was leading the dance and everyone was trying to follow the moves.

A country where Chili Sauce is kept in a weird container.
I cant really read korean but i understood the english word saying "LOVEHAIR". I didnt really take the chili sauce, not because it was kept in a potentially hair gel container, but i dont really like chili anyway. Still, its something i find interesting.

A country where turtle are treated as delicacies.
They had this place where they serve turtles, the whole thing, with some herbs. I think it cost like 15USD, alot for the country's standard. Didnt really try it. Just snapped a picture and ran away.

I also tried the Angkor Beer. And it actually taste quite good. I liked it at least.
Dont think it can be found anywhere else tho.





Some people asked me, dont you feel bored travelling alone?
What do you do when you are bored?
I would say sometimes. But i still like the feeling of travelling alone. Altho at some point of time i wished i was travelling with someone in Angkor Wat.
Travelling alone is a feeling of freedom, freedom to adventure and do anything you want. I bought a book at angkor wat and i sat down at random spots to read out about the place im visiting. and it is really a nice feeling.
Sometimes, i ask others to take a picture of me. Other random travellers that i can catch along the way. or any random passer by. When i got sick of trying to find someone to help me take pic, i take pic of myself. My shadow. I think its quite nice and quite fun. Tho cant really do alot of different pose.





And when im really bored, i take pictures of other travellers. People who are so focused on taking pictures. or even people who are posing for pictures, even tho they are not posing for your camera. Who cares. its nice and fun.





And last but not least, its a country where cappucino cost 1.5 USD, coke cost 1USD, and Angkor Beer cost 0.80USD.

And i didnt want to put on pictures of the killing fields and S-21 prison. I think its more impactful for others who have not been there to see it by yourself, listen to the stories by yourself. and feel the war by yourself.



I think i will be back. Be back with someone, not alone.

Cambodia. I like.

Interesting Cambodia.



******************************************************
Cant believe i have spent more 20 days away from Singapore already.
Its almost time for counting down the days in VN.
Today is Wednesday. Tomorrow is Thursday. Day after tomorrow is Friday. The day after that is Saturday, the day i leave this lovely country.


Miss the food here? Kind of.
Miss the traffic here? Kind of.
Sinh To? Kind of.
Cheap noodles? Kind of.
Freedom? Kind of.
AIESEC Vietnam? Kind of.

Sad? I think so.
Miss the people here? Sure thing.


Interesting Vietnam.

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Sunday, January 4, 2009

Short update from Phnom Penh

3 more hours to my next bus ride.

It will be a 6 hours ride back to vietnam, HCMC.

Just came back from the killing fields and the prison museum. Its really an interesting, eye opener, scary experience looking at the human skulls and bones left over because of the so called revolution. So many people were killed and tortured.

And the pictures of the soldiers + prisoners staring at you are quite scary.

I havent been reading much about Cambodia's history but from the pictures in those places, cambodia was hell 30 years back.

More pictures when im back to regular internet access. Going out to Central market in phnom penh for a short walk.

Interesting Cambodia

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Friday, January 2, 2009

Live reporting from Siem Reap, Cambodia

Currently in Siem Reap.

So wassup about cambodia?

I took a bus from HCMC - phnom penh, the custom was so damn f***ing crowded that we spent almost 2.5 hours there. Just to clarify, the "we" used refer to all stupid asses who chose to travel and take the same bus with me on new year's day.

Ended up at phnom penh about 2 and the bus phom penh-siem reap only started at 3 when its supposed to be 2.30. and due to watever shit reasons, we ended up at siem reap 9pm instead of the supposedly p7pm.

Stayed in a cheapo guesthouse for 6 dollars a nite. That means 3 dollars per person. I shared the room with some random chinese guy who sat next to me on the bus. A guy from hunan working in HCMC. exactly 20years older than me. but who cares. i need someone to share the cost.

And i took a tuk tuk around Angkor wat, visited lots lots lots of temples aka rubbles aka stack of stones. I decided to buy a guide book @ 5 USD because i had no idea what all those stones are and the guide book at least helped me made some sense out of the stones.

Angkor wat is too nice to finish it in a day. i cant really finish anything and i dont think i really seen and enjoyed angkor wat enough. So i decided that i will be back. Some time some day with some one. I shall take a whole week to visit different temples and just take my own time and enjoy the scenery around the temples. the 1 day ticket cost 20USD and 1 week ticket only cost like 60USD. based on how cheap things are in cambodia i think it would make sense to spend 1 week in siem reap or at least 5days to really enjoy the life here. (dinner cost 1USD for fried rice. 0.75 USD for fruit shake. 3 dollars for the cheapest bed. So if you wanna live budget, u can basically survive on 3 for bed, 1 per meal, 1 for water, 2 for bicycle means 7 dollars a day not including the ticket to angkor. )


generally things are cheap. next time i come to cambodia i wont bring any t shirts, because i bought a shirt for 1.5 dollars, mayb if u buy more u can get it at 1 dollar each, buy 3-5 shirts here and u dont need to carry any shirts over.


Tomorrow, i will be heading to phnom penh at 6am. hopefully reach there around lunch time and be able to go to the killing fields and prison in the afternoon. stay over for a night and go to the market place on sunday and head back to HCMC in the afternoon.

Well, thats a very basic summary of whats happening. more pics coming soon.

Interesting Siem Reap.

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