Semester 5 Break

ohh its been a nice 4 week (or should i say 3 week excluding the hk trip) break from school. Went out with my class peeps over 3 occasions. haha.. Amidst all that, the IMF World Bank meetings took place during this period. Let me bore you guys with the bus happenings first :X

IMF World Bank Bus Redeployments
The IMF World Bank meetings have bus shuttle services from Suntec City Convention Centre to the various hotels around the city centre. As such, about 80-120 single deckers were taken out of the main SBS Transit fleet to provide this service. You may ask: if 120 buses are uprooted from the main fleet, is they any cover or will there be a fleet reduction during the IMF period?

Answer is: both. the Cover are the new Wheelchair Accessible Bus (or B9s) and yes fleet reduction happens for a number of services, applicable to the split shift blocks, not the buses that run full day.

In addition, because of the buses that were uprooted from the main fleet, certain redeployments occured between the depot. The bus fans here call it: IMF Deployment - deployment of buses as a result of the IMF WB meetings for just 10 days. Jack gets to miss every single bit of action as he started his BMT on 8th Sept. sian..

The first sign of redeployment started on Saturday 9th September - bbdep Merz (from slbp) and slbp Volvo Olympians (from bbdep). Every single service that plies the Marina Centre area has to have a CCTV camera onboard, hence this deployment. Earlier that week on 4th Sept, amdep had started to redeploy their CCTV buses onto 56, 70, 133. These buses came from 8, 28, 72, 88, 131. The 131 fleet literally got replaced completely by the incoming mercedes buses. lolz..

The second sign of redeployment came on Monday 11th Sept - hgdep Merz (from amdep) and bram striders (used for IMF from bndep).

Enough said. The deployments took place until 20th Sept and everything was back to pre-IMF days on the 21st Sept despite it being a weekday. How interesting.. Here are some Redeployment Pictures..


Service 11 Mercedes: Geylang Lor 1 Ter. Perm on Service 97


Service 27 Mercedes: Compassvale St/Punggol Rd junction. Perm on Service 130


Service 30e Scania: Pasir Panjang Rd. Perm on Service 9


Service 48 Mercedes: Parkway Parade. Perm on Service 502


Service 83 Mercedes: Farrer Rd. Perm on Service 86


Service 88 Strider: Pasir Ris Int. Perm on Service 15


Service 93 Mercedes: Farrer Rd. Perm on Service 502


Service 98 Volvo Olympian: Jurong East Int. Perm on Service 198


Service 101 Mercedes: Hougang Central. Perm on Service 55


Service 119 Mercedes: Sengkang Int. Perm on Service 410


Service 123 Mercedes: Bt Purmei Ave. Perm on Service 502


Service 132 Mercedes: Ang Mo Kio Ave 3. Perm on Service 97


Service 153 Mercedes: Toa Payoh Lor 2. Perm on Service 13


Service 156 Mercedes: Sengkang Int. Perm on Service 76


Service 179 Volvo Olympian: Boon Lay Int. Perm on Service 166


Service 198 Leyland: Boon Lay Int. Perm on Service 97


Service 198 Mercedes: Boon Lay Int. Perm on Service 502


Service 242 Volvo Olympian: Boon Lay Int. Perm on Service 198


Service 282 Mercedes: Clementi Int. Perm on Service 97


Service 284 Mercedes: Clementi Int. Perm on Service 502


Service 285 Mercedes: Clementi Int. Perm on Service 502


Service 506 Mercedes: Bedok Int. Perm on Service 502


Service C2 Volvo Olympian: Raffles Quay/Cross St Junction. Perm on Service 23


Pre-Results Outing
It was on Tuesday 12th September and was organised by Gek San. Attendance was Amber gs, wendy, liling, hj, me and carolyn. The first 3 went for Kbox earlier in the afternoon while carolyn joined us after dinner at a Korean Restaurant at the top floor of Heeren.

Its somehow my first time at a Korean restaurant and I hate Kimchi! But then again, its simply for the experience there. I arrived late at the restaurant, before Hanjie (wah big shot. lol). The dinner spread was somewhat ok yet edible.. just didnt take the vegetables la that's all.

Carolyn joined us with a surprise, of course with my co-ordination la.. We decided to chill at the Istana Pk again but this time its in a bigger group. Main topic was about the hong kong trip and what nots. Since its about the hk trip, refer to the earlier post.

The night was still quite young. We went over to PS for a toilet break, saw liling and gs off after that before heading to Rochor beancurd for supper. Apparently my car ganna 3 scratches while parking because the stupid pole was mounted on the road and not on the kerb! bloody hell...

Amber's Present Outing
Its actually 2 days after the above outing: Thursday 14th Sept. Since Amber (as well as Hanjie's) birthday is on the 19th and time seems to be running out. This outing was thus created. A discussion the night before gave clear signs as to what we wanted to get for her: A handbag (or rather a bag that can store alot of stuff)

We shopped like the whole place before all of us found a suitable bag for Amber. No pictures as to how it looked like though because I wasnt the one wrapping. I hope she would like it when we gave it to her the following week...

A supposedly budget dinner turned out to be a rather ok one at a restaurant at Tan Quee Lan street. The dinner spread was fantabulous man! Especially the curry fish head.. Didnt have the opportunity to snap them though.. Ordered Kangkong which i dont take. Had deer meat as well as omelette which i totally enjoyed. We should go there again next time.

We went down to The Cathay to catch Little Man later in the evening. The show was hilarious. The dirty jokes done by the jokers in the show were somewhat understandable since I more or less had heard these before. Felt kinda hungry after the movie.. Hanjie also.. so I drove them to Zion Rd Food Centre for supper.. its been 3-4 years since I last step foot there.. The Cha Kway Teow which i ordered still rocks.. shiok ah..

During supper the girls were like discussing which General Elective Module (GEMS) to take while hj and I were surping our noodles and kway teow away.... Seems like they were not very sure as to what GEMs to take as i believe all of us present there are able to take any GEM category.

HK Macau Study Tour Outing - Marina South Steamboat
Its on Sunday 17th Sept as its a suitable date for all of the Tourism students as they are currently on attachment. The meeting venue was at Marina Bay but some of us were like kinda late.

I was catching buses earlier in the day and found myself to be at Bedok area. Hence I decided to call upon Jiamin since I know she would be teaching piano in that area. We bought some 1.5l drinks as we expected that we would sit at the steamboat venue for almost the whole night. We then walked over to Marine Parade Central FC to eat something light before going to Parkway because she wanted to drink milkshake.

We caught up with the rest of the gang at Marina South eventually. We had a great time catching up with one another and hearing them complaining about their attachment and the like..

This is to sum everything from the evening.


HK-Macau Clique
(Top Row): Jiamin, Yuwei, Carolyn, Grace, Amber
(Bottom Row): Malcolm, Junda, Jeff, Alex

Hanjie & Amber's Birthday
The programme was to meet the gang at Plaza Singapura as we're going to Minds Cafe at Prinsep St for some board game fun. Attendance was carolyn gs hj amber jm wendy and me. Earlier before I met them I had to fetch my mom to the National Skin Centre at Novena. Lucky thing she was there to buy something and off we go. Not much time wasted. In addition I had to pick Carolyn up else she would be like showing the presents to HJ and Amber from the start. hahaha...

The time we enjoyed at the Cafe was somewhat fun and enriching. Played almost 5-6 games, with some lasting rather long. The last game we played was something on playing cards. It requires the understanding of 2 people in the team to know how to set up your 'stations' on the board. From a peaceful place of setting up your own station turned out to be 'war' as some of the opponents chips came into our area and the like.. nevertheless hanjie and I won. lolz...

We were like on our way to the dinner place at Din Tai Feng and this just have to come at the windscreen of my car - A $30 coupon! Its my first time.. and the coupon came at 1437hrs - just the time when we were entering the Cafe to start the fun. Dammit! Ah well... Guess I should be more ovservant of those white guys next time when I park. What's more sickening is that they are slacking underneath a building nearby when I leave! So guys out there... If u wanna park at the Prinsep St Roadside Carpark, USE a Parking Coupon!

For some reason the dinner at DTF at Paragon seemed rather short as well as quiet. I dont know why... Maybe we have ran out of topics to talk about I guess....?

Hanjie got his mahjong set from the 4 of us in Hong Kong, while gs wendy and liling got him some file which he finds it too small. Amber got herself a bag as mentioned earlier in this post.

Here's the highlights of the dinner...


Top Row: Gek San, Carolyn, Kelvin, Jiamin, Wendy
Bottom Row: Amber, Hanjie, Malcolm


The Birthday Cake




Amber & Hanjie opening up the presents


Amber & Hanjie with their presents unwrapped

We were like wondering aimlessly, thinking of what to do after dinner as the night was still young. We decided on Boat Quay and since its near Fullerton Hotel, jm caorlyn amber and me decided to drop by the place to find yuwei at the front desk. Oh my people really look different in formal wear! Too bad there's no pictures to show though...

Finally found a spot to sit at the open area opposite High St Centre. Talked mainly school stuff and some hong kong happenings.. And then we were like talking about the elective modules we take. Earlier that morning was our GEMs registration where we're required to choose one elective. The whole lot of Carolyn, Gek San, Jiamin, Hanjie and Amber took Securing Your PC, as highly recommended by me. haha... Carolyn couldnt find a Friday slot as with the rest and hence took the Wednesday one instead. wendy and I were set on taking the same GEMs module together which is the Mathematics Games & Puzzles but much as we want to take that module, we ended up with Genes & You electve because the Maths got no more slot. sian... Bio module.. I hope I can survive that.

Fireworks broke out in the midst of the conversation at Marina Bay as there was an event for the IMF delegates ar Esplanade. We should have gone to Merlion Park instead -_- As well, having a bad view is better than nothing at all... right?

Carolyn met up with Yuwei on the way back to the car. They left at Raffles Place MRT while Jiamin walked to the Boat Quay bus stop to go home. Thus I fetched Kelvin, Hanjie & dy to City Hall MRT for them to take train/bus back. I alighted Amber at Whitley Rd to catch her bus back to Bt Panjang.

School starts like tomorrow and people are like not going for Andrew's lecture at 10am tml as it would mean a 2 hour break after that. I'm going anyway.. dont know why am i so well-behaved.

With all these happenings during the holidays, I guess we should head to a peaceful start to the last semester in my poly life.

Till then,

ciao!~

Hong Kong Macau Study Tour 2006

Day 1 – Macau: They call it the town of Love

For some reason I was rather punctual for the 7.30am meet-up at the Budget Terminal. I was anticipating a morning jam in addition to the route that I wanted to take to the airport. I used the new Kallang Way Flyover followed by Mountbatten Rd & ECP en-route to the airport instead of the usual PIE.

I reached the airport at 0730hrs sharp. Jiamin was early while Amber and Carolyn had not arrived yet. Both of them arrived eventually though, at like 7.40am. Check-in at the counters soon followed. I thought we would form the bulk of the group. Little did I know that there are many other travellers as well. My parents stayed around for breakfast at Han’s while I was doing the check-in. Imagine this: 14.3kg weighs my luggage BEFORE the tour! Oh my.. I’d have to make do with what I need to do in HK and Macau ba..



0850hrs was the time to get in. The whole group of 48 of us took a group picture before embarking on our flight TR802 to Macau. As the seat allocation was free seating, I was initially confident that there would be an area that is empty for us, or at least we would be one of the first ones to get in. Little did I underestimate the other kiasu travellers, thus leaving my roommate Chun Wee to sit with Michelle & Huimin, while I sat with Sisi and Peiying.


Carolyn Amber and Jiamin on Tiger Aiways TR802

The flight somehow felt rather long. Maybe the French pilot took a longer route there? Fortunately for us the flight arrived early at the Macau International Airport just after 1300hrs. It is really small.. Like a larger version of our Budget Terminal. We were greeted by a tour guide before embarking on a city tour around Macau. Here’s a picture of the bus that greeted us:



Seems like it’s a china bus as its left hand drive (Macau is right hand drive, same as Hong Kong). We travelled from the Airport to Macau Tower. Along the way we had our lunch in the bus – Raisin Bun and a Croissant. How to fill our stomach man…? Special thanks to the sandwich that I ate on the plane from Han’s. haha..

The view of Macau Tower is simply spectacular! It gives us an overview of how the entire city looked like. There were 2 levels of observation, an open one and a closed one – 58th and 61st stories. Lol.. The 4 of us took a group picture, special thanks to Audrey Lai.



Next stop was this place called Ah Ma Temple. It is said that the Portuguese first landed here when they were travelling. Since there was a breakdown in communication in Cantonese and Portuguese, the Portuguese somehow derived the name Macau upon this visit. In addition, we popped by a Portuguese food shop and started buying some almond cookies back home. Goodness that it would be able to last till the time I get home that is.




Macau Sands Resort is next! We were greeted by a welcome reception as well as a presentation of Macau Sands by those guys there. In addition we also got to get a glimpse of the casino grounds… but could not play there. Idiotic. The cute presenter there Melissa took us for a tour in our bus to the Cotai Strip, an investment by Las Vegas Sands to make Macau the Las Vegas of the east!




By then it was already evening time. We headed off from Cotai Strip to our dinner place somewhere else in Macau. The bus ride took very long because it’s like going from one end to the other. Dinner was rather ok. Jiamin and walloped the fish dish because the rest of the people on the table didn’t want to eat it. As with overseas trips the food there seems saltier than Singapore. Haha… We checked into the hotel in a bloody fashion – unloading luggage at the main road, cross it and walk 2 alleys down to… Hotel East Asia. Some lok cock place.

We dumped our stuff there only to meet up at the hotel lobby a while later to go down the streets for shopping. Free and easy time started here. Went around with the 3 of them (as I’m not very close with the rest) and we practically covered almost the entire area. I’ve never seen any other of our people covering as much as we did. So much so that we found this shop at the back alley and had a great time shopping for door gifts as well as other presents.



2230hrs was the meeting time. We were the last to arrive but still on time so we weren’t fined because of that. That’s a wrap of Day 1.

Day 2 – Macau -> Hong Kong (Feel it!)

Morning call was hell early - 7am! Maybe its because of the lack of sleep I had. Breakfast was at the restaurant downstairs. Apparently the standard is seriously not there. Since most of the people at my table didn’t want the porridge, I gladly took most of it. I also ate chee cheong fun, dumpling pao, and some yam pastry. Its then back to the hotel room for some final packing before we checked out of Hotel East Asia.




The same tour bus brought us to the Ferry Terminal where we boarded the 1030hrs ferry to Hong Kong. We were there like 0945hrs? Apparently my luggage seems to be overweight and hence it went for some checks. I was kinda worried at that time that my bag would disappear. This was when that Ben Cho started to piss me off. Not the bags of course but during immigration. Here’s the original queue order: Ben, Old Man, Me. It later became Me, Ben Cho. The old man went to another queue line. He was like grumbling to Ben when he allowed me to cut queue in front of him when I refused and he insisted.

The 1h 10min ride to Hong Kong on TurboJet Hovercraft was used on catching up on sleep in addition to analysing the Hong Kong Map and getting to know its surroundings. Its like a recap of my 2004 trip there. Haha..



Hello Hong Kong! We landed at Shun Tak Centre at Hong Kong Island. Problems started just as the coach bus came. Why? There were enough seats for the whole tour group but not our baggage. Haha.. Eventually the baggage went to the rear seats of the bus and some of us had to share the 3 peeps in 2 seats. That lasted from the Shun Tak Centre at Shueng Wan, Hong Kong Island, to the Anne Black Guesthouse at Mongkok, Kowloon. Audrey Lai wanted the driver to go to the Hostel instead of our lunch venue that’s on Hong Kong Island itself. Oh well… Its not our diesel that the driver is using. Lolz..

As the rooms were not ready at that time, our baggages were stored at the sheltered hall next to the main reception desk. Lunch time followed after that at this Chinese Restaurant at 322, Lockhart Road, in between Wan Chai & Causeway Bay MTR Stations. Apparently the lunch is as good, if not worse, if not better, than the Macau Dinner we had. What crap man… The SMIT Hong Kong Study Tour Group were there as well. Saw that joker lecturer Arthur Poh and goodness knows who the lady lecturer is. Haha.. Those guys also stayed at the same hostel as us but they are leaving on Friday. Sources from him said that they went to Disneyland before that day and 2 people are down: 1 because of dehydration and 1 because of being sick. I guess we have to drink more water when we’re there on Saturday.



A visit to the AFCD Western Wholesale Market at Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong Island followed. It just happened to be opposite the HK Tram Depot. Haha… Apparently the coach that I was on went past faster than I thought and so…



This is what I get la. The tram depot entrance.

Since it was after hours at the wholesale market, we practically didn’t really get to see the operations during its peak hours (2am – 8am). Nevertheless we simply walked around the place on a guided tour and here’s some of the foodstuff that we found.




Apparently goodness knows what happened in the bus ride after that. It seemed hell long even though its on the same island. We proceeded to Repulse Bay following the wet market visit.



Stanley Market was next. Carolyn and Jiamin were one of the few to alight from the bus, followed by me and a few others, while the rest took their own sweet time to stroll down. They seemed reluctant I guess? Lolz..



The bus alighted us at Jordan, Kowloon so that we can start our Free and Easy evening time at Tsim Sha Tsui area. Initially we were supposed to have dinner together with Grace’s clique. However, since we have our stuff to do we split off even before dinner time. We took quite a while before we settled down at our dinner place at Jordan area. Here are some of the food we had:


My Wanton Mee (Dry)


Amber & Jiamin's Wanton Mee (Soup)


Carolyn's Beef Noodle Soup


The soup that all 4 of us shared


and last but not least... Free Flow Tea!

Shopping along Jordan and Nathan Rd followed. I didn’t buy a single thing as nothing interests me. The girls, on the other hand, did the opposite. Nevertheless amidst the shopping trip we found a shop that sells mahjong and bought one set as Hanjie's birthday present. I bet he would love it.

Due to time constraint of spending too much time at Jordan, we zoomed past Yau Ma Tei area to Mongkok MTR station where we’re supposed to meet the lecturers at 2145hrs. Special thanks to that tour guide Eddy, he got the exit wrong and apparently this is where some adventure kick in. With the help of George Teo, I had to run helter-skelter to check if everyone is present. Lucky thing Chun Wee’s gang were alright. They took another exit and yet arrive promptly. All 48 of us as well as the tour guide walked back to the hotel from there. I think this walk is to let us familiarise ourselves on the way back from Mongkok shopping district.

Day 3 – Hong Kong City University (Rock it!)

Breakfast was held at the café downstairs. Menu was just spaggetti, with 2 sausages and a sunny side-up with it. Pathetic breakfast. I’d rather eat Tim Sum instead. Oh well.. The lecturers gathered with the SMIT group and headed off to Hong Kong City University to spend a whole bloody day there.

Morning programme was simply a tour of the campus in addition to a lecture talk by some SVP of ExxonMobil. The girls in Chun Wee’s gang got fascinated by this fella called Kyo and they started taking pictures with him. So much so that they slowed down on his guided tour of the campus at the main library.




Lunch followed after that lecture talk. The HKCU canteen uses the coupon system and thankfully they allowed Octopus card there. Technically speaking my lunch is free. Lolz.. Carolyn got her cha siew rice, I got my duck rice, both of which from the same stall while Jiamin got some pasta dish and Amber, curry baked rice. It tastes like heaven man.. or maybe I’m hungry?

Arthur Poh lecture on copyright issues followed the lunch break as well as HKCU lecturer (and host) KK Lam’s lecture on Global Business module. Apparently the modules that they will be taking are somewhat similar to what we have learnt in year 1 and year 2.

Bonding session was next. It’s a very sad thing that its restricted to the groups that the lecturers assigned. This is real shit la.. haha.. I foresee a very long and idling afternoon for me. True enough, I did just that. The girls practically went shopping at Mongkok and its surroundings while Chun Wee and I simply tagged along. Oh well…

I heaved some relief when we were back at the lecture theatre after the bonding session. The girls in my gang bought Wendy’s birthday present already. Its some accessory la althought I felt that it was somewhat inappropriate because of the colour, or is it maybe because I don’t like the colour? Haha..

A BBQ evening prepared by the HKCU Students followed. There seems to be a vast difference as to how HK and Singapore people set up their BBQ. HK people get food to poke into their skewers before letting them to cook over a luminous flame. The food is consumed from the skewer itself. Singaporean use wire gauge and sometimes aluminium foil to cover the flame before putting the food on the wire gauge to cook it. The food is served on a plate. Chun Wee was trying to set up a fire that keeps the heat, while the HK side have their fire already on luminous flame. Apparently Chun Wee’s heat was short-lived as the HK side subsequently open it up and convert it into flame. Haha..


Overview of the BBQ Area

The bus came very late to fetch us that the SMIT students went back first. 2210hrs was the arrival time of the bus. We were given until 2330hrs to do our stuff outside of the hotel as that’s the curfew time. Astrid was part of the group that was doing duty that night. As the BBQ wasn’t full, I went to a nearby restaurant and bought back cha siew rice. That's a wrap for Day 3.

Day 4 – Hong Kong Post Office & Olympian City 2 (Taste it!)

Halfway through the trip and finally we are getting to know people outside our clique and to know them well. Maybe say special thanks to Amber because she started to mingle with Grace? Not really though. Grace’s buddy, Yuwei is actually Carolyn’s secondary school friend so.. get the idea? Haha… Throw in the guys that they came with Jeff and Junda and viola we have an extended group. More details on this later.

Breakfast Menu was just toasted bread (its only half toasted), 2 sausages and 1 sunny side-up. Oh boy what crap man.. Can’t they serve something filling like scrambled eggs? Haha… The day’s programme was the HK Post Office at Hung Hum in the morning, followed by the Jade Market near Jordan, and then the Olympic City 2 Shopping Centre for lunch and the afternoon portion. Apparently I find the trip to the International Mail Centre a crap one. Its like.. what’s the difference between that and the Singapore Post Centre at Paya Lebar? Nothing much lor.. A total waste of time.. I shall not go into detail of our trip there as it seems rather uneventful.


Carolyn at Hongkong Post


Malcolm at Hongkong Post


The 2 Hosts

Nevertheless the 2 hosts there were very receptive and warm towards us that they even send us off to our coach in the picture shown above.

Thanks to Audrey Lai herself we went to the Jade Market first before proceeding to Olympic City 2 Shopping Centre. My clique got bored and apparently explored the area and found out there’s actually a wet market in the vicinity. Here’s some of the pictures.





We finally got to this place and had lunch just after we arrived there. Technically speaking this is my clique first interaction with Grace Yuwei Junda and Jeff, with the girls a separate table from the guys due to insufficient space. Ate century egg porridge there and its practically heaven, seriously! I don’t think I would eat Singapore porridge again? Haha…

A tour of the shopping centre soon followed. I still don’t understand what is the point of this but its wasting my time. Fortunately free and easy occupies the rest of the afternoon. And so we went to Central at Hong Kong Island so that Jiamin could buy her facial products in addition to introducing the peeps to Lan Kwai Fong (Hong Kong’s Mohd Sultan) for a sneak preview of the area. As its not sundown, most of the businesses there had not opened for the evening. We still took some photos there…




By then it was already time to get back to Olympian City 2 after a short drop by at IFC Mall next to the Hong Kong MTR Station. There was also this Crystal Jade restaurant there as well. Bet Hanjie would love it if he sees that.




We were late by 6min eventually. This is special thanks to the bloody train leaving without us that we need to wait for the next train. Got fined HK$48 by Audrey Lai because of that (HK$1 per min per person). Oh well.. Singapore currency wise its only $1.25 lolz.. Nevertheless this picture came about while waiting for the train…



Free and Easy time started off that evening. I made arrangements with Daniel and Sarah to meet up for dinner. This is in addition to the hope that maybe both of them could bring us around after dinner or something. We met up at Mongkok MTR station first. Daniel suggested to go Tsim Sha Tsui for dinner as well as to enjoy the fireworks that will be up at 9pm. After much thought and suggestions by him, we decided to stay in Mongkok area. I asked Daniel what’s nice for dinner around Mongkok. He introduced us to Café de Coral at The Grand Tower next to Langham Place. The pork chop rice he introduced was fabulously good! Oh boy how I wish I had more man. Haha.. Took a group picture after the meal…



I went to my bus shop at Langham Place following the dinner while the rest went wondering around the area. They cant seem to find the Espirt Outlet that I went past the previous day and hence I was like flying from Langham Place to where they were for fear that they would get lost. Fortunately it was Carolyn and Junda who contacted me through and through for directions. Its either I didn’t really give good directions to them or they somehow misunderstood what I said that led them to somewhere else. Nevertheless, we found the Outlet and its shopping time! By then Daniel and Sarah had to go back because they are setting off to China the next day.

We popped by Ladies Market next and more shopping la… but not as crazy as at the Espirt shop. Yuwei forecasted that she would be bringing back a bomb and subsequently looked for a luggage shop along that street. We somehow bargained with the shopkeeper for a lower price that she finally sold that bag for like HK$160. hahaha… Just for information Carolyn Yuwei and me were around at that time. Jeff and Junda were still at the Espirt shop while Grace and Amber were shopping outside along Ladies Market. Where’s Jiamin? She was somehow sick and George Teo brought her back while we were at Langham Place.

The time was 2315hrs. We needed to scramble back to the hotel. I pulled Yuwei’s luggage with all our stuff inside and made a huge exodus out of ladies market, to Argyle St and towards the hotel. George Teo was waiting for us patiently as we checked in 6min late (again) but luckily no fines were imposed as I believed someone else was later than us. Haha..

Day 5 – Hong Kong Disneyland & Victoria Peak (Ride it!)

So much for Disneyland, imagining spending more money because it’s a Saturday and end up queuing up for the better rides for almost half the time that we didn’t really get to the other rides in addition that we didn’t have enough time shopping. I felt that time was wasting queuing up. Oh well…. Amongst all that, my clique spent all day with Yuwei Grace Jeff Junda and another year 2 chap called Alex (he preferred Lex instead).

Breakfast was Cereal. Tim Sum please. Then again I don’t think we would get to eat unless it’s on the last day. As we have an appointment with the HR manager Susan at Disneyland at 1000hrs, it is essential for us to leave the hotel by 0915hrs.



Yah that’s her. We arrived at the ticket booth of HK Disneyland only to be taken back to the staff entrance which was near the MTR Station. She briefly explained to us about the place and its operations. Got a souvenir for myself when asked when was the grand opening of HK Disneyland (12th Sept 05). At the end of the whole thing, I decided to snap some Snow Whites and the 7 Dwarfs that were found in the area…



Its Disneyland time! Well but before that you can see all of the following while entering from the MTR Station itself…


HK Disneyland Entrance

Disney Characters at the Lamposts leading to the fountain


Donald & Daisy Duck


Winnie The Pooh


Woody


Lilo & Stitch


101 Dalmatians


Alice


Disney Entrance Tickets (4 Types)

The 9 of us started off with Tomorrowland, but before that. We caught Tigger at Main Street and took a group photo with him. He’s such a clown. I knocked at his head and he fiddled with my hair. What crap man… haha…




It just happened that Mickey was nearby but due to the long queue, they decided not to queue up and I went over to get a couple of shots of him.



I bet wendy would love it when she sees this



We didn’t know what to do. So we tried Space Mountain first. The queue was long, but it moved quite fast. Throughout the queuing time we were like getting to know more about each other. For example, Grace is Wendy’s classmate, Yuwei’s band instructor had some relations with Jiamin’s band instructor (or something like that). Its quite interesting to see how small the world is. Maybe Singapore is just small.



Space Mountain reminds me of a similar ride at Escape Theme park. Its just up down and more turns. Nothing much exciting though I liked the speed of the ride. Haha… We proceeded on to getting the Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear so that we need not queue for goodness how long. Lunch followed that as it was somehow lunchtime by then. (1300hrs). We were debating on our lunch choices as it seems very expensive (its like theme park prices if you know what I mean). The set comprises of a burger (which is very dry), fries (at least its rather salty), and a drink. Hmm apparently none of the camera took a photo at the lunch venue.

What’s next? We went to take the Winnie the Pooh Fast Pass only to know that all the Passes had been given out. Oh well.. Just stand and queue later bah… We went for Buzz Lightyear ride instead. It was like a shooting game, testing very much on your aiming skills. For some reason how Carolyn (whom I sat with on the car) got more points than me?

Our butt went itchy again. We kinda had some time to kill before the parade. What was next? Space Mountain again! Oh boy! That ride is worth another take man! Then again, it’s the only trilling ride in the whole theme park. For some reason our ride ended in good time and its time for the Disney Parade! I shall let the pictures do all the talking…


Starting Carriage


Fortune Mickey


Chip & Dale Carriage


Another Carriage


Seven Dwarfs


Sleeping Beauty & Cinderella


Snow White


Little Mermaid Carriage


Woody's Carriage


Mickey & Minnie's Carriage

You may get a copy of the Video from me personally if you want it. Its 17minutes long. Autopia was after the Parade. Spent slightly more than 1 hour queuing up and apparently the Chinese family behind us attempted to cut queue but thankfully we were alert enough. Took some pictures at the ride as well…




We moved on to Winnie the Pooh ride while Jeff Grace Yuwei and Amber went over to Dumbo before joining us in the queue. As per usual, it’s another 1 hour waiting time in queue where the few of us get to know more about one another. The ride was simply no kick. Its just a ride around the 100 acre wood, no scary stuff or whatever, except that Tigger hops around here and there and gives his giggle.




The picture of the guys was taken from the souvenir shop where a shot were taken for us. Since we were rather stingy on buying that picture, we snapped it just like that.

The Pooh Souvenir shop hosts a lot of stuff that we guys would want to get so with that, our rides for the day was technically over as we spent a lot of time at the shop thinking of what to get for our friends and family back home. I bought myself 2 shirts, a cup and 2 magnets for the house fridge, as well as other stuff for my friends. Amber disappeared in the middle of it in her search for her magical coins. She asked me for the map and poof she disappeared alone in darkness.



By the time we were done it was time for dinner at a nearby café. We took this group picture as shown above before we ate. Initially the place was very full until it became a problem for us to find seats. The crowd got lesser as the time nears to 2000hrs. I had no time to waste after dinner as I need to make my way from Fantasyland to Main Street to get a good view of the fireworks. My running efforts were not wasted fortunately. As per the Parade you may obtain a copy of the fireworks video from me personally

I met up with the rest and walked towards the Main Street Souvenir shop, to meet up with Amber as well as the whole study tour group there.

It was a fun filled day at Disneyland. After all that crap, its time wind down by soaking in the sights and sounds of Victoria Peak at Hong Kong Island. Here are some of the moments captured there. (I let the pictures do all the work)




Yuwei & Me on the bus

After a very long day of walking, it’s time to head back to the hostel to rest. We stopped by the convenience store so that everyone can buy whatever stuff that they want before heading back to the hotel.

Day 6 – Causeway Bay & Mongkok (Live it! Love it! Hong Kong!)

Even the last day’s breakfast was spent at the Hostel’s café. And its still not tim sum. Its the usual eggs, sausage and what not’s. All of us made an agreement to set off straight after our breakfast in addition to the movement of our luggage to the sports hall again. However, before we set off, we filled up the Study Tour survey form in addition we took pictures with George Teo


George Teo & Carolyn


George Teo & me

The 9 of us set off to Times Square at Causeway Bay after we left the hostel grounds. We shopped around a little before we moved on to another side of Causeway Bay. I bought a shirt for my father from Marks and Spencer, some nail polish for my dearest Mom at Sasa, while the girls shopped at Giordano, Bossini and lex shopped at G2000 for his striped shirts. I went to another Giordano shop to buy a long sleeved sweater for my mom. I hoped she liked it.

We headed back to Mongkok at around 1300hrs to buy Wife’s Biscuits from Hang Heng. I bought 3 boxes from that shop while the rest bought their share as well. It’s the only shop that you see ALL 9 of us buying stuff man. Lunch was at a restaurant at Langham Place where I had my last bowl of century egg porridge in Hong Kong there. The girls sat at one table while the guys sat at another table. Here’s to sum up our lunch at this place.


The Restaurant at Langham Place


The Girls


The Guys

I had to leave the gang to buy my own bus stuff from the bus shop upstairs while the rest started to make their way back. It had come to my knowledge that Amber wanted to buy some facial products and hence Jiamin went with her. Carolyn went along with Lex Jeff Junda Yuwei and Grace back to the hotel. Apparently they took a taxi back because they were running late.

I met up with Jiamin and Amber thereafter and took the cab back to the hostel as we were also running late. While on the cab, the meter strucked at HK$15 for very long till it jumped to HK$16.40. Fortunately the meter didn’t jump when stationary. Hahaha… Eventually, we landed up 5min after Carolyn’s taxi, arriving at 1625hrs, 25 min behind schedule and got a dressing down by George Teo. No fines were imposed since it’s the last day. Haha… I packed my Wife’s Biscuits into the luggage, in addition to the bus stuff I bought. Apparently the girls advised me not to put those inside but I refused to listen. You will know why shortly.

We boarded the coach and loaded our baggage at 1635hrs. They even got a spare van that ferries the remaining baggage. Seems like they knew that not all our baggage can be fit into the bus. Feeling very weary and tired, my eyes started to close as we landed on the West Kowloon Highway enroute to the airport, only to wake up at the airport itself.

Everyone of us except Amber got our baggage. Her baggage was in the van so she need to wait a while for her baggage to arrive. She started to panic, and somehow panicked even more than that time when my baggage was called in at the Macau Ferry Terminal because it looked (and it is) overweight. Haha… She eventually got her baggage following instructions to collect her baggage a few floors down. We were held at the holding area until we went to check in…



George Teo starts to piss me off again after he called for the group leaders. Chun Wee went for my group la but I also went to kay poh.. in my trolley. Seeing that, he railed at me to queue up properly. Feeling damn pissed, I dumped the trolley and move my baggage by hand!

All 9 of us checked in together. There’s no free seating onboard this flight but since we checked in together, the guy at the counter assigned combined seats for us (26A-F, 27A-C), sounds like bra size? Haha… Its free and easy for us after the check in until we board the plane. It seems apparent that the lecturers didn’t really care about us from this point on. We went to Wing Wah at the airport to buy Wife’s Biscuits and some Moon Cakes, following that we took a group picture at the Hong Kong airport before we go through immigration.




Dinner was settled at the transit area. Jiamin and I settled for Café de Coral again, this time with a different menu, some others settled for Burger King while the rest settled for muffins. Although it may seemed we were running late for Gate 14, it seems like we are early, earlier than the lecturers at the boarding gates! So much for calling us to be punctual. They were one of the last few to board a bus that would take us to the plane. They did not even do a headcount. We should have created trouble for them then see what they would do when they get back to Singapore.

The JetStar seats were simply better than Tiger Airways that’s for sure. The flight overall was rather comforting and enjoyable. Maybe because its at night and there’s not much turbulence. We took some pictures onboard…


Amber & me


Lex & me


Yuwei, Grace & me

There seems to be a slight difference in this return trip. One of which is that there isn’t many people heading to the loo. Another of which is that the lecturers didn’t stroll up and down like guardian mamas waiting to serve us. Guess they were tired after 6 days of babysitting us. This is to give the benefit of the doubt la.

Cya Hong Kong. I will be back again! Soon!

We landed safely at Singapore Changi Airport. Instead of taking my baggage I went over to duty free to get a litre of wine because my father wanted it. Got out of the baggage claim area, with our lecturers nowhere to be seen! Nevertheless its home sweet home! Seeing our family makes us feel at home again. To top it off, here’s a final group picture at Changi Airport



Sadly Jiamin went off first. We made an agreement that we would meet again during the holidays. So did or didn’t we? Stay tuned for my next blog update.

Here are some of my reflections. Frankly speaking it is my first trip overseas with my friends and I cant wait to have a second one with another group of my friends, hopefully after graduation. It has been a fruitful and fun 6 days with these pals (except the lecturers and their programmes for us, I prefer Free and Easy). It was also a good learning experience as well.

Till the next time I update, which is likely before term starts on 25th September,

Ciao!