Friday, January 30, 2009 10:24 PM
Been chionging tutorials and lecture notes in school for the whole day. There was so much to catch up on despite missing only one day of school. You know, if I missed a week of school, I think I'll just commit suicide. (Which reminds me, I'm skipping lessons for the whole of next week due to orientation?) Lol. Didn't even get to sleep during Econs2 lecture because I was desperately trying to complete Biology(okay, I copied from Faustina, haha).
Mass dance was =X. I went at 4.45pm thinking it was about to start when actually, it started at 4pm. Lol. And I kinda forgot the dance steps. Shit. I think at this rate I'm going, I'll be learning the dance steps together with the OGMs.
Sis got posted to TJ. Not her first choice, but she doesn't want to appeal, because she finds it so troublesome to fill in the appeal form, photocopy her results and documents, and bring it down to VJ's general office. Plain laziness, I would say. Whatever, she'll just have to wear the uniform which she claims is ugly for 2 years. Lol.
OGL briefing tomorrow morning, then home to get changed, go visiting at Dad's friend's house, then off to house-visiting with the girls!!! Yay!!! ^^ |
Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:42 PM
Back from Thailand. But it wasn't really as fun as I expected it to be. Give me Taiwan anytime. Photos and details, another day. =)
Touched down at Changi Airport at 4pm yesterday. Rushed home to get changed and rushed out again to TSH for NJ friendly. As expected, I couldn't get there on time. By the time I reached, the girls had already finished their warmups and were about to start the first period.
I didn't play the first period. I need to thank Coach for letting me play in the subsequent periods. It would had been perfectly understandable if he didn't allow me to play for the whole game. After all, I didn't attend Saturday's training and couldn't make it on time for the friendly. I don't deserve to play after all that, the girls do.
Anyway, we drew! 9-9!!! Woohoo, we were so happy that any happier, I think we would all be crying tears of joy already. Okay, you must understand that we weren't very confident with ourselves before the start of the match. Well, try getting trashed and laughed at every time we play a match, and you'll get what I mean. Lol.
But that doesn't mean we can be contented either. We've got to work even harder to improve and show that it wasn't because of Lady Luck that we drew. Go, floorball girls!
And I scored twice! Yay, cos it meant that I achieved my personal goal, which is to score at least once in every game. (Never mind that I fail to achieve it many more times than I actually achieve it, lol.) But anyway, it was probably because I got beautiful assists from my teammates. I remembered the first one was from Michelle(Aw), I was calling out 'CENTER, CENTER!!!' while she was at the corner, and she passed the ball beautifully to the front of the goal post. I was thinking 'Oh my goodness, if I don't hit that in, I'll be letting Michelle down'.
And oh, the last goal that Pinn Xian scored was truly amazing! We were screaming 'PINN XIAN, SHOOT!!!', like madwomen from the bench because time was running out. Lol. Then she shot, the ball looked like an helpless insect flying right into a spiderweb infront of it with a loud 'piak'. A spectacular shot.
Anyway, I was very happy due to the fact that we drew. The team was happy. Coach was happy(I don't know if it's happiness or satisfaction). Basically, everyone was happy! ^^
Well, I was happy until today. You know what? I wished I went for floorball training instead of table tennis training. Felt like it was a waste of time to be there. Really. Don't wish to elaborate, but I definitely enjoy floorball training more than table tennis. |
Friday, January 23, 2009 10:02 PM
Off to the Land of a Thousand Smiles(Bangkok, to be exact) in 13 hours' time! More shopping, here I come!!!
Happy Chinese New Year in advanced too! I look forward to stuffing myself silly with pineapple tarts and prawn rolls when I'm back on Wednesday! Which means I'll miss a day of school, but shhh....lol.
恭喜发财 学业进步 身体健康...I can't think of anymore. Have loads of fun, eat alot & collect lots of angbaos! ^^ |
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:35 PM
Day 2 (Sunday, 21.12.2008)Hotel> Martyrs' Shrine(忠烈祠) > Yehliu (野柳) > Nan Tian Temple (南天宫) > TRA train from Suao(蘇澳) to Hualien (花莲) > Dinner at aboriginal restaurant > Night Market
 Messy!  My breakfast. Quite little because I refused to touch Taiwan porridge which is available at every hotel's buffet. I got sick of eating Taiwan porridge in Singapore. Never like it though, but I usually have no choice because my parents love it.
After breakfast, we left Taoyuan and headed towards Taipei where we visited the Martyrs' Shrine. It's kind-of like an ancestral hall except it's more for the people who had contributed alot to Taiwan.
It was pretty hot over there, probably because the cold air haven't blow over Taipei yet. I was only wearing 2 layers, but I was perspiring like crazy. Anyway, didn't find the shrine very interesting because it was my second time there. The only thing had still amaze me was the changing of guards. The guards there change shift every hour, and when they do, they will march towards the Shrine and do a series of cool stunts with their guns.
We headed to Yehliu next which was about a 45-minute drive away. Like Danshui, Yehliu is also on the northern tip of Taiwan. But Danshui is on the northern-west tip while Yehliu is more on the northern-east tip. We entered the Yehliu Geopark. Our second time there too, so it wasn't too exciting. But the scenery is still beautiful.
3.jpg) 4.jpg) Huge potholes 5.jpg)  Does this piece of rock look like a tortoise?  This piece of rock is called the Queen's Head because it looks like a lady with a crown. (Ignore the lady there, I just wanted to take a picture of that rock without having to queue up) 6.jpg) 7.jpg) Went to a 7-eleven beside the geopark to get a cup of coffee. I love going into Taiwan's convenience stores because there's always so much I want to buy even if I'm not hungry. Being hungry at night is unheard of in Taiwan. Their cup noodles, breads, cakes, milk, juices, all kinds of brands and flavours. You name it, they have it.
Had lunch at this seafood restaurant, also beside the geopark. Because Yehliu is near the sea, capturing seafood is another means of livelihood for the people there. That also explains why there were quite a few seafood restaurants there. I personally liked the meal alot but my dad thought otherwise.
8.jpg) See that bowl of rice over there? Super delicious. I love Taiwan's rice alot!!! Omg, it tastes like Japanese rice, big, round and sticky! I eat at least 2 bowls of rice for every meal(when there's rice available) when I was there in Taiwan. Which also explains why I gained so much weight after I got back from my trip. Haha. 9.jpg) After lunch, we went to this place nearby where they sold dried seafood like dried cuttlefish and small souvenirs. But there was nothing much to buy since the cuttlefish would stink up the tour bus if we brought it up.
Then we headed southwards to Nan Tian Temple in Suao which is in Yilan (宜蘭). Nan Tian Temple is home to 2 Ma Zu (妈祖) statues, a gold and a jade one. I'm not sure what a Ma Zu is, but if I'm not wrong, it's some kind of deity that people pray to.
The town is quite pretty. I don't know, it looks very cosy despite the buildings being rather low-rise. And yes, Suao's a port too. 10.jpg)
11.jpg) We bought peanut ice-cream, one of Suao's specialities. Costs about S$1.50. The ice-cream and peanut(which is grated from that block of compressed peanut you see above) is wrapped together in something like a popiah, and they put parsley together with the ice-cream and peanut too. I know most of you must be like, ewww...parsley! I dislike parsley too, but trust me, I couldn't taste the parsley when I ate the ice-cream. Weird, how did they discover that the taste of ice-cream and peanut will cover that of parsley?
Took the tour bus to Suaosin TRA Station (蘇澳新站). We waited about close to 2 hours before boarding the train to Sincheng (新城) because initially we were supposed to take the tour bus to Sincheng, but in order to get to Sincheng, the tour bus would have to travel on this part of the expressway where there is a series of sudden severe bends and turns which wouldn't be suitable for the old and young onboard the bus. According to the tour guide, even a normal person would feel car-sick and there were previous tours where more than half the people onboard had thrown up. So, they let us take the train instead. But as the train only takes an hour plus to reach Sincheng as compared to the 3 hours required by the bus, we had to wait 2 hours before taking the train while the bus sped off so that it can pick us up in time at Sincheng. 12.jpg) Suaosin Station 13.jpg) This cement factory outside the station. I've never seen anything like this before, definitely not in Singapore. But I saw a few more cement factories later when I was on the train. I'm very fascinated by the hugeness of them. But at the same time, they look scary, as if no one can leave after entering them, like as if the workers there have never seen daylight before. Like, if one of the cement pipes broke, workers inside would be drown and suffocate in cement. Okay, that's probably because they didn't have any windows, so pardon my vivid imagination. Lol. 14.jpg) On the train to Sincheng 16.jpg) Places we passed by while on the train We finally reached Sincheng(which is in Hualien) in the early evening, and the tour bus whizzed us away to this aboriginal restaurant for dinner. Food was great. They had this special dish, Bamboo Rice, the aboriginals' speciality. It's rice stuffed into a bamboo, and then tightly secured. In order to split open the bamboo to eat it, you have to hit it against a stone, the same way you would when you're hitting the hammer at the arcade to test your strength. 19.jpg) Bamboo rice. Mine split open the first time I hit it. See how strong I am! Haha. 20.jpg)  I don't know what I did to get this cool effect. I didn't know it was even in my camera until just now.
After dinner, we headed to the hotel. My family put our luggages in the rooms and headed out again, to this night market nearby which sells only food, no clothes or any other things. 21.jpg) 22.jpg) Night market  Bubble tea for only S$1.50. Although it may seem like it's the same size as Singapore's, but it's actually bigger.
Hualien is home to many aboriginals of this particular tribe whose name I forgot. When I say aboriginals, I know you all must be thinking, topless, only an underwear-looking bottom, white-chalk markings all over face and body, nose rings...lol. But no, the aboriginals here look like you and me. The tour guide told us that we can tell aboriginals and Taiwanese apart is by looking at their skin colour and listening to the language spoken. They're supposedly of a slightly darker skin colour than the Taiwanese, but seriously, while I was walking at the night market, I couldn't differentiate because they all look the same colour as the Taiwanese! And their language, they speak a language that may sound alittle like Malay or Tagalog(it is said that their ancestors are from South-East Asia region), but really, they all learnt Chinese in schools and most of them speak Chinese to their friends(especially to their Taiwanese friends) on the streets. So it was quite impossible to tell them apart. Well, I did notice that there were a few people who looked slightly darker than the others, but it was quite difficult to tell if they were aboriginals. Who knows, they might be Taiwanese who think that a tan looks more healthy on them and decided to go ahead with it? Lol.
And here's some of the cultures and traditions of that particular aboriginal tribe. When the sons of each household turn 18, they are sent by tribe chief to the mountains(there was this whole mountain range which belongs to the tribe) undergo a test where they are to try to find their way out of it. There are some wild animals(like wild boars, wild deers...) in the mountains, if they survive to pass the test, they would successful in become an adult. But if they don't survive, well, that's it. Cruel and scary.
Then there was another one: when a couple is about to get married, the guy has to carry the girl on his back and walk like this across the whole mountain range without putting the girl down. Only when they've reached the other side of the mountain, then he can put the girl down, and after that, they live happily ever after. Romantic, but I think the guy will be hunchback-ed before they even cross half the mountain range. Lol. The mountain range isn't like our Bukit Timah Hill where you can walk one round the foot of the hill in less than an hour, it still super huge(the next day, we went to the other side of the mountain by bus, it took us about 2-3 hours). I think a normal girl, after they're are out of the sight of the elders, would tell the guy to put her down and then they will run hand-in-hand to the other side of the mountain. See, more romantic right? And she won't have Hunchback of Notre Dame as her husband(because girls aren't Tinkerbell you know). HAHAHA.
Day 4, to be continued~
|
Sunday, January 18, 2009 5:03 PM
First week of the school term had been crazily hectic. On Monday, school ended at 10am, but I was stuck with math remedial with Mr Ang for 3 hours, going through the diagnostic test which I got 28/100. =( I missed the ambassadors' briefing because of that. Then went to KLP(Kallang Leisure Park) with some of the floorball girls(Teresa, ChengNee, Naomi, Melissa) and had 'afternoon tea' at Nihon Mura. Trust me , it wasn't afternoon tea, more of a late-lunch-combined-with-dinner. I ate like 4 plates of sushis and a big piece of black forest cake. We lost track of time and thought we had alot of time to digest our food before training starts. We were so wrong, by the time we finished eating, it was like, 5pm? Training at Valhall starts at 5.30pm. Sure enough, we felt like puking after training started. Serve us right. Lol.
Training was pretty tiring because Coach refused to let us have a break until we hit the target of 10 goals in that one drill. And I got a bruise under my eye for crashing into Teresa's head. Until now, the bruise hasn't fully disappeared. For the past week, I went to school looking like a disfigured panda with only one eye black.
*** Tuesday was TJC Open House 2009. Classes ended at 10am and earlier for the ambassadors but I went for Econs lecture anyway since there weren't much to do. I was pretty slack, mostly at the floorball booth and mini rink playing away instead of showing visitors around. =X Sis came for the Open House too. Well, I had to persuade her to because she doesn't really like TJ. She says it's the uniform. Lol. Whatever, but I'm glad she did put TJ as her 2nd choice after all. I'm so proud of her because she did very well.
*** Wednesday timetable was switched back to Tuesday's which I happily welcomed. Because my classes end at 11.40am on Tuesdays. Lol. But the thing is, the gate only opens at 12.30pm, so I decided to crash H2 Econs lecture and ended up falling asleep in the LT. Then head to Parkway with Ah Cat to get Wenhui's present. I was laughing like crazy when Ah Cat told me how she describe to the staff at Sembawang Century Sq the album she was trying to find. It's super hilarious, but I won't post it here in case she gets embarrassed. =X
So, after buying the DBSK album, we went for lunch at Pasta Mania and had our favourite Beef Bolognaise. Seriously, Pasta Mania has the best Beef Bolognaise. Then, we went to get Scoopz ice-cream. Don't mind us, we're gluttons. Then we went opposite for Koi Cafe's bubble tea which Michelle recommended before. Met Bernard there which is no wonder. Haha. Anyway, the bubble tea is super duper nice. Alittle pricier but it's definitely worth it. It belongs to the same company which owns the famous bubble tea chain stores, 50 Lan, in Taiwan. So, technically, you're getting the same ingredients as you would get if you're in Taiwan. And they have seats outside the shop for you to sit down and enjoy your bubble tea. So, Ah Cat and I just sat there for over an hour chatting and gossiping.
Yay to myself for finally finding a bubble tea shop which sells bubble teas as good as Taiwan's. I foresee myself buying a cup(and getting fatter) each time I visit Parkway.
Left at around 4.45pm to go Valhall. Was the first to arrived and nearly fell asleep sitting on the bench, leaning my back against the wall. Training was tiring again, I didn't feel like running because my legs were still sore from playing floorball the day before. Serve me right for not doing proper warm-ups. But this should stop, I can't be lazing around for all the trainings.
*** Thursday was a rather long day. I can't really remember much about Thursday except that I had table tennis training after all that classes. Then I reached home pretty late, and had to rush to do the math online quizzes which, thank goodness, wasn't difficult and I was able to score full marks for both.
*** Friday, only the 5th day of the school term and I was already late for school and had my EZ-link card confiscated.
Had alot breaks in between my classes. If all the breaks were taken away and all my classes were shifted forward, I would have ended school at 11.40am. Early in the morning, was a 2-hour break which was well-spent doing Math and Chemistry tutorials. Then there was the Econs H2 lecture which was another well-spent period, catching up on my sleep. LOL. I just crashed the lecture to enjoy the air-conditioning and fell asleep on the chair for the whole 50 minutes. You know, after I woke up, Mrs Beetsma had not even started on the first page of the lecture notes? I wonder how she can talk for 50 minutes without going into the main topic. Must have needed alot of skills to do that.
Lunch was crapping with Ah Cat at the Marquee. Then GP. School ended after that. Friday's the only day on which I finally don't have any trainings, but I still had to wait till 5pm to get my EZ-link card. =( So we were back at the Marquee with Huixian, Faustina, Siying, Jollene, Charmaine. They're seriously funny, I just kept laughing non-stop when I'm with them. Then I went to crash their Leo General Meeting. Not very interesting la, haha. But I got to know that Kendra's a super nice girl! She's so nice that she didn't look like a PD because all the other PDs(especially the one in my class) were so arrogant and talk to their members like they are very big, just because they hold a position in the exco. PD from my class, learn from Kendra la!
*** Saturday was Go Green Day. My class was allocated Blks 519-522 in Bedok North area. We were pretty fast. By 11am, we were done with loading all the old clothes and newspapers collected onto the truck. Then Ah Cat and I walked across the road to this place to have lunch. I ate alot again - chicken rice, beancurd tang yuan and a cup of grass jelly.
Then took bus 225 to Bedok Inter to meet Teresa before we cabbed to ITE Macpherson for Agape training. 2km warm-up run was alittle tiring but still okay because I had done similar stuffs for PE a few days ago. Training was alright, not very intensive, which was good for me. Agape had very good players(think RJ, VJ, Singapore Schools), which was pretty intimidating at first. Lol. But I guess I got used to it after awhile. Martha Quek was there and went through the basics with us. Coach Marcus's similar to Coach Kenneth in some ways, like how both of them always explain the rationale of practising a drill.
Training ended around 4pm+, then was heading home when Dad called halfway and pick me up from Simpang. Went Parkway for dinner at Chaozhou Inn and had my favourite Scoopz ice-cream. I 'gei kiang' and decided to change flavour to green tea from my usual durian one. Their green tea flavour is not nice, still can taste the green tea powder inside! Yucks. In future, I'll just stick to durian flavour. Haha.
*** Woke up quite early today. Actually wanted to go watch the Div 3 guys matches at 12noon but decided to give it a miss because by the time I finished my Econs 11 short-answer questions and an essay(blame it on that crazy teacher), it was already 11.30am. So I just slacked in front of the TV, watching Power Sunday because there was Ruan Jing Tian in today's episode. Lol. Alright, I need to go finish up Bio Genetics II tutorial or else I'll get thrown out of class tomorrow. |
Monday, January 12, 2009 11:11 PM
Come down to Temasek Junior College Open House 2009 from 10am to 4pm tomorrow (13 Jan 2009)!
Free goodies bags will be given out to every visitor, enjoy a tour around the campus, free performances, loads of yummy food, opportunities to clear your doubts about the JC syllabus and subject combinations, and the chance to try out all the different CCAs, ranging from performing arts groups to clubs and societies to sports.
And and and, must visit the Floorball booth in the school hall!!! There's 2-vs-2 mini floorball game! Guaranteed fun and exciting! Also, visit the Table Tennis booth too and get free lollipops for trying out!
Hope to see you there! ^^ |
Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:11 PM
Had 3 friendlies today with 3 secondary schools(Springfield, Teck Wai and Serangoon Gardens). Was so disappointed with the scores. Not trying to be a wet blanket or anything, even though Coach may be satisfied with us being more aggressive now, I dare say we got badly trashed and whipped. I think Teck Wai was really good, but I won't make that as an excuse. Darn, really demoralising when it's only about 4 more months to A div.
Was even more disappointed with my own performance. Couldn't even keep the ball in my possession. I estimated the total number of times the ball was in my possession for all 3 games was about 5 or 6? I just kept banging into opponents when the ball's in my possession and I couldn't even get the ball into the opponent's court, much less to say, near the goalpost. I need keep my eyes up more often and look out for anyone who's trying to make me crash into them.
And I made a super stupid mistake during the 2nd game. I accidentally let a goal in because I thought it was line-change and walked away from where I was supposed to guard. Stupid me, shouldn't have done that unless Coach asked me back.
Just talked to Lenny on MSN about the things that happened today. And thanks, Lenny, for the advices and encouragements! ^^
*** OGL camp yesterday was quite fun. The games were rather good. And believe this or not, I learnt the dance steps to The Sign, Heartsdale, That Thing You Do, all in one day! Congrats to me, because I didn't attend any mass dance practices before. So it's a wonder that I got the dance steps within a day, even more so, that this feat was (incredibly) done by a dance-idiot, yours truly.
Paired up with Jason for That Thing You Do. He too, was learning it for the first time. And I think we both look comical dancing it because halfway through dancing, you would hear me saying 'oh my god, what do I do next?', 'what the hell do I do now?' and he would be like 'ehhh, what now?' And there are lots of twirlings and spinnings(all of which I seriously suck at) in this dance. Everytime I twirl or spin, our hands become tangled and he'll be like 'turn wrong way already, turn back turn back!' I spin like twice as much as other girls. Lol. I think I spin so much that I look like a merry-go-round or something. I was happily skipping hand-in-hand that I forget have we had to change direction, then he was like 'eh eh eh! Change direction already!'. Super funny!
The funniest was when it was the 3rd spinning in, we were supposed to spin in from the guy's left-hand side and spin out from his right-hand side. It looked so complicated, I spunned in, then my hands got stuck. Seriously, I didn't know how they did it. By the time I said 'Heck la', we were like 2 steps slower than others already.
But I think we manage to dance decently in the end, after 1 or 2 more practices. Lol.
*** And yay, I'm going Bangkok for 5 days for CNY!!! ^^ |
Thursday, January 08, 2009 2:49 PM
Sunday was table tennis chalet/JTS. It was pretty okay except it was an 1-day chalet due to the lack of funds. Lol. The seniors from the older batch came too but we all know each other since they were once my seniors in AHS too. And Hoi Shek, I met him at a few competitions where he was one of the umpires. Grace, Ying Qi and Valerie taught me how to play bridge! Haha, one of them was like, 'What? 4 years in AHS and 2 years in JC, and you still don't know how to play bridge?' Hahaha, but now I do. =P
Food was great. Then the seniors went out to buy one huge bottle of vodka and started mixing it with the soft drinks. Hoi Shek started offering everyone a cup. The juniors too, even though we are underaged. Told him that I don't drink. When he heard I was having a test the next day, he was like, 'Treat it as a good luck drink!' Lol. That was quite funny.
*** Math test the next day was bad. I don't know which was worse, me not know how to do most of the questions or the freezing cold LT4. I finished the paper like an hour before time, and I didn't bother to try the questions which I left blank. It was super cold and I think I spent that one hour hibernating or meditating or something. I don't know, I just tried to stop moving, closed my eyes and deceiving myself that I'm feeling warm, not cold. I'm looking at like less than 20 marks this time which is even worse than promos. Lol.
After the test, went home to bathe and get changed before heading to the floorball chalet at Aloha Loyang. Our chalet was a super big bungalow with 4 rooms, a court-yard, a backyard for barbeque-ing, a living room, dining room, kitchen and a car porch.
Floorball chalet was really fun. I think the planners did a very good job. Food was great too, there were alot to eat. ^^
Here's something which I found quite funny during chalet. We were watching the final episode of Little Nyonya on the first night. So we were guessing if Yuzhu's child belonged to Robert Zhang or the angmoh. (the following conversation may not be the exact one which took place, but it's something along those lines)
Jimmy: Yuzhu's child is whose one? Vivien: Don't know leh, you want the child to be whose one? Jimmy: The angmoh one...mixed, prettier... Glen: BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!
Omg, I just kept laughing non-stop. Seriously, Jimmy.
Anyway, let the photos do the talking:
 Bungalow 11 Kingfisher
 Mahjong and cards  Blowing(and bursting) balloons to give to seniors  Putting up deco before the seniors arrive  Starting the fire, with the help of ex-uniform groups members  Naomi????  In the girls room. Luowei the alien must be super hungry, she's roaring already.
 Erm, Michelle, you don't have to do that, the camera can take portrait photos.  2008 Floorball Girls Team (with some members missing from the photo)  We're all waiting for more food! Roar like Luowei!!!!  Balloon-sculpting! And Luowei's tired already. *Roars again*  Award Ceremony!  Mat's giving out flower balloons! |
Saturday, January 03, 2009 5:48 PM
Day 2 (Saturday, 20.12.2008)
Hotel > Hu Tou Shan Park (虎头山公园) > High Speed Rail to Taipei > Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂) > Ximending (西门町) > Danshui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人码头) > Danshui Old Street (淡水老街) > Taoyuan Night Market (桃園夜市)
I think we woke up at like 7am despite me falling asleep at only 2am the previous night. Then we walked out of the hotel to have breakfast at this shop nearby. No, correction, it wasn't near at all. I think we walked for like 20 minutes or so before settling for the shop.
 See, the TV's so nice to watch that they're watching in the bright early morning
.jpg) The streets of Taoyuan in the early morning. Most of the shops aren't open for business yet. If you're wondering why the sun is so bright when it's only 7am+, that's how it is in Taiwan. The sun rises early and sets early too. It's almost pitch dark when it's nearing 6pm. 1.jpg) Breakfast. I ate the Mee Sua, it's damn nice. And it's only S$1.80! The pao you see at the bottom right-hand corner costs less than S$0.30. Seriously, everything's cheap like hell.
We were looking for a place to go after breakfast, but we weren't familiar with the place, so we asked the shop-owner auntie, she told us that it's only a 25-minute walk to Hu Tou Shan Park. So my Dad was like, 'Okay, let's stop cabbing and walk this time round since you all just ate breakfast, must exercise abit!' But the 25-minute walk turned out to be more like a 45-minute walk?!?! Under the hot sun somemore! We should have just taken a cab.  This pet shop we passed by during our 45-minute walk. The puppies are so cute!!! 2.jpg) Places we passed by while walking to Hu Tou Shan Park 3.jpg) Hu Tou Shan Park
Then we went to this flower market just beside Hu Tou Shan Park. It's located under the expressway?!?! The development authority sure knows how to maximise land use. Lol. Anyway, the flowers were beautiful, and cheap. Okay, you'll be seeing the word 'cheap' alot in my day-by-day trip accounts. But the flowers were only 'see, no buy' since we can't bring any agricultural products to Hong Kong or back to Singapore. 4.jpg) Flower Market
Then we took a cab back to our hotel. No more walking the dreaded 45-minute walk! 5.jpg) Watching 我猜 at the hotel, waiting for lunch time to come
Around 1pm, we walked out of the hotel again. This time, to this dumplings and noodles shop about 500m away. Again, food was delicious. We ordered 3 different types of dumplings as side dishes. The Guo Ties (锅贴) are especially nice. 10 of them for like S$3 only. The noodles were like S$2. Cheap cheap cheap.
6.jpg) Nearing the end of lunch, Dad received a call from the tour guide saying that we were supposed to wait at the hotel at 2pm because the tour was starting that afternoon, instead of the next day as stated in our itinerary. So we rushed back to the hotel within 5 minutes. Mind you, it wasn't easy running with a stomach full of dumplings, noodles and starch. I nearly puked when I got on the tour bus.
The tour bus took us to Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station where we would be taking the High Speed Rail to Taipei. At the front of the High Speed Rail(HSR) train, there was quite a big red-brown stain. The tour guide told us it's the blood of the birds that had splattered onto the train while is was moving at great speed. Gross, but it proves how fast the HSR is. 7.jpg) HSR Taoyuan Station 8.jpg) On the HSR train
Upon reaching Taipei HSR station, we switched to taking the MRT to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station which was only 2 stops away. As the name of the station suggests, it leads to Chiang Kai Shek(CKS) Memorial Hall. There's another name for it, some people call it the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. 9.jpg) On the MRT to CKS Memorial Hall 10.jpg)
23.jpg) The first picture was taken in 2005 when I was holidaying there too. Compare that with the 2008 picture. There's a difference in the words, the 2005 one says '大中至正' while the 2008 one says '自由广场'. '大中至正' had been taken down by their ex-president Chen Shui Bien and his party in early 2008 and replaced with '自由广场'. The tour guide told us that we must take a photo of the '自由广场' words because it may no longer be there anymore (replaced with '大中至正') the next time we go back to Taiwan. Lol. Taiwan's politics.
11.jpg) The red buildings(there are only 2, but I took multiple shots) are the national theatre hall and concert hall. The white building is the actual memorial hall but I think it's now out of bounds to visitors. It was still open to public 3 years ago, but I'm not sure why they closed it.
Next, we went to Ximending, something like our Bugis but much more bigger(yes, it's really BIG), crowded and more happening. Haha. Alot of youngsters there. Shopping there would be slightly more expensive than other similar areas, but still cheaper than shopping in Singapore.
12.jpg) Huge billboard advertisments with celebrities and models. Funny-looking buildings like the red one you're seeing in the top picture. It's actually a restaurant selling curry dishes. 13.jpg) 14.jpg) Top left-hand pic: Smelly toufu (臭豆腐) (S$1.80). No, it does not taste like urine at all. It's just the smell. Lol. Bottom right-hand pic: White bitter-gourd juice (about S$4). Made from those white bitter-gourds you see on the left. And no again, it's not bitter at all, in fact, it's very sweet and nice because I think they added quite a large amount of honey. Good for summer or hot weather, I would say. Never mind it was winter, we still bought 3 cups of it because my mom thinks it is good for us.
15.jpg) This is damn nice. Just look at the queue and you'll know that I'm not kidding. Everyone who goes to Ximending definitely have to try this. It's Taiwan's 卤味 which you can easily get everywhere, at night markets, at small restaurants, but I think this shop at Ximending sells the best 卤味, and hence the queue. It's about S$2 for the duck wing(top pic) and S$1 for the duck tongue,鸭舌头(bottom pic). It was so nice that my Dad went back to queue and bought 5 wings and 10 tongues back to hotel for supper. Okay, don't eew me, the tongues are nice, even Andy Lau likes to eat them. But if you want something more filling, go for the wings instead because I think you have to eat like 20 tongues to feel alittle full. Yeah, the tongue is rather skinny and not filling at all.
Then the tour bus drove off to Danshui Fisherman's Wharf where part of the filming of Meteor Garden took place? I don't know, call me noob but I didn't watch Meteor Garden at all. Haha. Yep, it's beautiful, but not exactly as breath-taking as I thought it would be. Perfect for couples to visit, I think. There were alot of couples there probably because they said that if a couple walk the full length of the bridge together, they would last forever, or something along those lines. Lol. It's up to you to believe it, but honestly, I don't. 16.jpg) After that, we went to Danshui Old Street(it's sort-of a night market) which was just a 10-minute drive away. Danshui Old Street is pretty accessible from Taipei despite being all the way at the northern tip of Taiwan. Just take Taipei's MRT to Danshui MRT Station which is quite near Danshui Old Street.
Anyway, we ate at this small shop. Ordered the only 3 things they were selling, just to try them. First one is 阿给, it's vermicelli wrapped with toufu skin, but I've no idea why they give it such a funny English name, Arcade. Then there was fishball soup(鱼丸汤) and rice cake (筒仔米糕). They cost only S$1.60 each. I like the arcade and fishball soup. The soup was really boiling hot, totally perfect for the cold weather. 17.jpg) Top right-hand pic: Rice cake Bottom left-hand pic: Fishball soup Bottom right-hand pic: Arcade
 Yep, that's a real dog hanging like a bag. At first I was walking quite close to this guy, and I thought he was carrying a bag and didn't think much of it. Then, the 'bag' moved, I got so frightened. After looking closely, I realised it was a dog. The dog was so obedient, he didn't even move much, just hung there and looking at whoever's walking behind his owner. Cute, but poor thing... 19.jpg) We got the Crispy Fried Squid again, because it's so yummy. And my bro and I got this LONG ice-cream which cost only S$0.45 each?!?! And there were quite a number of flavours to choose from. They even have split-flavours, the ice-cream is split all the way from the tip, and one side's chocolate, the other side's vanilla (there's also green tea-honeydew).
We went back to the hotel after that. The bus-ride took about 45 minutes which is a rather fast journey considering Danshui and Taoyuan are like two different states in Taiwan. Went back to the hotel to put the stuffs we bought, and came out again, this time as a family, not as the whole tour group. We were going to the Taoyuan Night Market which was pretty nearby, about a 10-minute walk from our hotel.  Managed to snap a picture of the Jacky Wu advertisement for the condo beside our hotel. It's so luxurious that they even dare call it 天王的家. Hahaha.
While walking to the night market, I went to this shop on the way and bought 6 pairs of ear-studs for only S$4.60. Super cheap! Where in Singapore would you get ear-studs for that kind of price?
20.jpg) Taoyuan Night Market 21.jpg) Mom was feeling hungry and decided to have Oyster Mee Sua (蚵仔面线) as supper. Only S$1.80! 22.jpg) We walked around the night market and we saw Takopachi and bought it!!! Guess how much it was? S$1.80 for 6 balls! Oh my goodness la, the one I get from Bugis is S$2.30 for 3?!?! Somemore the ones in Taiwan have more fillings and less of the flour thingy. And they have fillings like sotongs, wasabi(my favourite), etc. I think Taiwan has the culture of selling Takopachis in a boat-like container. Because that was what I saw when I went to a few more night markets and bought Takopachis for the subsequent nights (and, grew rounder and rounder like a takopachi).
We headed back to the hotel at like 1am+. Lol. Yep, the shops at the night markets are opened to even later than 1am. From what I've heard, they are opened till about 5am. That's why Taiwan may also be called as the 不夜城. If you live there, you probably won't want to sleep at like 11 or 12midnight.
Day 3, to be continued~ |
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Friday, January 30, 2009 10:24 PM
Been chionging tutorials and lecture notes in school for the whole day. There was so much to catch up on despite missing only one day of school. You know, if I missed a week of school, I think I'll just commit suicide. (Which reminds me, I'm skipping lessons for the whole of next week due to orientation?) Lol. Didn't even get to sleep during Econs2 lecture because I was desperately trying to complete Biology(okay, I copied from Faustina, haha).
Mass dance was =X. I went at 4.45pm thinking it was about to start when actually, it started at 4pm. Lol. And I kinda forgot the dance steps. Shit. I think at this rate I'm going, I'll be learning the dance steps together with the OGMs.
Sis got posted to TJ. Not her first choice, but she doesn't want to appeal, because she finds it so troublesome to fill in the appeal form, photocopy her results and documents, and bring it down to VJ's general office. Plain laziness, I would say. Whatever, she'll just have to wear the uniform which she claims is ugly for 2 years. Lol.
OGL briefing tomorrow morning, then home to get changed, go visiting at Dad's friend's house, then off to house-visiting with the girls!!! Yay!!! ^^ |
Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:42 PM
Back from Thailand. But it wasn't really as fun as I expected it to be. Give me Taiwan anytime. Photos and details, another day. =)
Touched down at Changi Airport at 4pm yesterday. Rushed home to get changed and rushed out again to TSH for NJ friendly. As expected, I couldn't get there on time. By the time I reached, the girls had already finished their warmups and were about to start the first period.
I didn't play the first period. I need to thank Coach for letting me play in the subsequent periods. It would had been perfectly understandable if he didn't allow me to play for the whole game. After all, I didn't attend Saturday's training and couldn't make it on time for the friendly. I don't deserve to play after all that, the girls do.
Anyway, we drew! 9-9!!! Woohoo, we were so happy that any happier, I think we would all be crying tears of joy already. Okay, you must understand that we weren't very confident with ourselves before the start of the match. Well, try getting trashed and laughed at every time we play a match, and you'll get what I mean. Lol.
But that doesn't mean we can be contented either. We've got to work even harder to improve and show that it wasn't because of Lady Luck that we drew. Go, floorball girls!
And I scored twice! Yay, cos it meant that I achieved my personal goal, which is to score at least once in every game. (Never mind that I fail to achieve it many more times than I actually achieve it, lol.) But anyway, it was probably because I got beautiful assists from my teammates. I remembered the first one was from Michelle(Aw), I was calling out 'CENTER, CENTER!!!' while she was at the corner, and she passed the ball beautifully to the front of the goal post. I was thinking 'Oh my goodness, if I don't hit that in, I'll be letting Michelle down'.
And oh, the last goal that Pinn Xian scored was truly amazing! We were screaming 'PINN XIAN, SHOOT!!!', like madwomen from the bench because time was running out. Lol. Then she shot, the ball looked like an helpless insect flying right into a spiderweb infront of it with a loud 'piak'. A spectacular shot.
Anyway, I was very happy due to the fact that we drew. The team was happy. Coach was happy(I don't know if it's happiness or satisfaction). Basically, everyone was happy! ^^
Well, I was happy until today. You know what? I wished I went for floorball training instead of table tennis training. Felt like it was a waste of time to be there. Really. Don't wish to elaborate, but I definitely enjoy floorball training more than table tennis. |
Friday, January 23, 2009 10:02 PM
Off to the Land of a Thousand Smiles(Bangkok, to be exact) in 13 hours' time! More shopping, here I come!!!
Happy Chinese New Year in advanced too! I look forward to stuffing myself silly with pineapple tarts and prawn rolls when I'm back on Wednesday! Which means I'll miss a day of school, but shhh....lol.
恭喜发财 学业进步 身体健康...I can't think of anymore. Have loads of fun, eat alot & collect lots of angbaos! ^^ |
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 5:35 PM
Day 2 (Sunday, 21.12.2008)Hotel> Martyrs' Shrine(忠烈祠) > Yehliu (野柳) > Nan Tian Temple (南天宫) > TRA train from Suao(蘇澳) to Hualien (花莲) > Dinner at aboriginal restaurant > Night Market
Messy! My breakfast. Quite little because I refused to touch Taiwan porridge which is available at every hotel's buffet. I got sick of eating Taiwan porridge in Singapore. Never like it though, but I usually have no choice because my parents love it.
After breakfast, we left Taoyuan and headed towards Taipei where we visited the Martyrs' Shrine. It's kind-of like an ancestral hall except it's more for the people who had contributed alot to Taiwan.
It was pretty hot over there, probably because the cold air haven't blow over Taipei yet. I was only wearing 2 layers, but I was perspiring like crazy. Anyway, didn't find the shrine very interesting because it was my second time there. The only thing had still amaze me was the changing of guards. The guards there change shift every hour, and when they do, they will march towards the Shrine and do a series of cool stunts with their guns.
We headed to Yehliu next which was about a 45-minute drive away. Like Danshui, Yehliu is also on the northern tip of Taiwan. But Danshui is on the northern-west tip while Yehliu is more on the northern-east tip. We entered the Yehliu Geopark. Our second time there too, so it wasn't too exciting. But the scenery is still beautiful.
Huge potholes Does this piece of rock look like a tortoise? This piece of rock is called the Queen's Head because it looks like a lady with a crown. (Ignore the lady there, I just wanted to take a picture of that rock without having to queue up) Went to a 7-eleven beside the geopark to get a cup of coffee. I love going into Taiwan's convenience stores because there's always so much I want to buy even if I'm not hungry. Being hungry at night is unheard of in Taiwan. Their cup noodles, breads, cakes, milk, juices, all kinds of brands and flavours. You name it, they have it.
Had lunch at this seafood restaurant, also beside the geopark. Because Yehliu is near the sea, capturing seafood is another means of livelihood for the people there. That also explains why there were quite a few seafood restaurants there. I personally liked the meal alot but my dad thought otherwise.
See that bowl of rice over there? Super delicious. I love Taiwan's rice alot!!! Omg, it tastes like Japanese rice, big, round and sticky! I eat at least 2 bowls of rice for every meal(when there's rice available) when I was there in Taiwan. Which also explains why I gained so much weight after I got back from my trip. Haha. After lunch, we went to this place nearby where they sold dried seafood like dried cuttlefish and small souvenirs. But there was nothing much to buy since the cuttlefish would stink up the tour bus if we brought it up.
Then we headed southwards to Nan Tian Temple in Suao which is in Yilan (宜蘭). Nan Tian Temple is home to 2 Ma Zu (妈祖) statues, a gold and a jade one. I'm not sure what a Ma Zu is, but if I'm not wrong, it's some kind of deity that people pray to.
The town is quite pretty. I don't know, it looks very cosy despite the buildings being rather low-rise. And yes, Suao's a port too.
We bought peanut ice-cream, one of Suao's specialities. Costs about S$1.50. The ice-cream and peanut(which is grated from that block of compressed peanut you see above) is wrapped together in something like a popiah, and they put parsley together with the ice-cream and peanut too. I know most of you must be like, ewww...parsley! I dislike parsley too, but trust me, I couldn't taste the parsley when I ate the ice-cream. Weird, how did they discover that the taste of ice-cream and peanut will cover that of parsley?
Took the tour bus to Suaosin TRA Station (蘇澳新站). We waited about close to 2 hours before boarding the train to Sincheng (新城) because initially we were supposed to take the tour bus to Sincheng, but in order to get to Sincheng, the tour bus would have to travel on this part of the expressway where there is a series of sudden severe bends and turns which wouldn't be suitable for the old and young onboard the bus. According to the tour guide, even a normal person would feel car-sick and there were previous tours where more than half the people onboard had thrown up. So, they let us take the train instead. But as the train only takes an hour plus to reach Sincheng as compared to the 3 hours required by the bus, we had to wait 2 hours before taking the train while the bus sped off so that it can pick us up in time at Sincheng. Suaosin Station This cement factory outside the station. I've never seen anything like this before, definitely not in Singapore. But I saw a few more cement factories later when I was on the train. I'm very fascinated by the hugeness of them. But at the same time, they look scary, as if no one can leave after entering them, like as if the workers there have never seen daylight before. Like, if one of the cement pipes broke, workers inside would be drown and suffocate in cement. Okay, that's probably because they didn't have any windows, so pardon my vivid imagination. Lol. On the train to Sincheng Places we passed by while on the train We finally reached Sincheng(which is in Hualien) in the early evening, and the tour bus whizzed us away to this aboriginal restaurant for dinner. Food was great. They had this special dish, Bamboo Rice, the aboriginals' speciality. It's rice stuffed into a bamboo, and then tightly secured. In order to split open the bamboo to eat it, you have to hit it against a stone, the same way you would when you're hitting the hammer at the arcade to test your strength. Bamboo rice. Mine split open the first time I hit it. See how strong I am! Haha. I don't know what I did to get this cool effect. I didn't know it was even in my camera until just now.
After dinner, we headed to the hotel. My family put our luggages in the rooms and headed out again, to this night market nearby which sells only food, no clothes or any other things. Night market Bubble tea for only S$1.50. Although it may seem like it's the same size as Singapore's, but it's actually bigger.
Hualien is home to many aboriginals of this particular tribe whose name I forgot. When I say aboriginals, I know you all must be thinking, topless, only an underwear-looking bottom, white-chalk markings all over face and body, nose rings...lol. But no, the aboriginals here look like you and me. The tour guide told us that we can tell aboriginals and Taiwanese apart is by looking at their skin colour and listening to the language spoken. They're supposedly of a slightly darker skin colour than the Taiwanese, but seriously, while I was walking at the night market, I couldn't differentiate because they all look the same colour as the Taiwanese! And their language, they speak a language that may sound alittle like Malay or Tagalog(it is said that their ancestors are from South-East Asia region), but really, they all learnt Chinese in schools and most of them speak Chinese to their friends(especially to their Taiwanese friends) on the streets. So it was quite impossible to tell them apart. Well, I did notice that there were a few people who looked slightly darker than the others, but it was quite difficult to tell if they were aboriginals. Who knows, they might be Taiwanese who think that a tan looks more healthy on them and decided to go ahead with it? Lol.
And here's some of the cultures and traditions of that particular aboriginal tribe. When the sons of each household turn 18, they are sent by tribe chief to the mountains(there was this whole mountain range which belongs to the tribe) undergo a test where they are to try to find their way out of it. There are some wild animals(like wild boars, wild deers...) in the mountains, if they survive to pass the test, they would successful in become an adult. But if they don't survive, well, that's it. Cruel and scary.
Then there was another one: when a couple is about to get married, the guy has to carry the girl on his back and walk like this across the whole mountain range without putting the girl down. Only when they've reached the other side of the mountain, then he can put the girl down, and after that, they live happily ever after. Romantic, but I think the guy will be hunchback-ed before they even cross half the mountain range. Lol. The mountain range isn't like our Bukit Timah Hill where you can walk one round the foot of the hill in less than an hour, it still super huge(the next day, we went to the other side of the mountain by bus, it took us about 2-3 hours). I think a normal girl, after they're are out of the sight of the elders, would tell the guy to put her down and then they will run hand-in-hand to the other side of the mountain. See, more romantic right? And she won't have Hunchback of Notre Dame as her husband(because girls aren't Tinkerbell you know). HAHAHA.
Day 4, to be continued~
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Sunday, January 18, 2009 5:03 PM
First week of the school term had been crazily hectic. On Monday, school ended at 10am, but I was stuck with math remedial with Mr Ang for 3 hours, going through the diagnostic test which I got 28/100. =( I missed the ambassadors' briefing because of that. Then went to KLP(Kallang Leisure Park) with some of the floorball girls(Teresa, ChengNee, Naomi, Melissa) and had 'afternoon tea' at Nihon Mura. Trust me , it wasn't afternoon tea, more of a late-lunch-combined-with-dinner. I ate like 4 plates of sushis and a big piece of black forest cake. We lost track of time and thought we had alot of time to digest our food before training starts. We were so wrong, by the time we finished eating, it was like, 5pm? Training at Valhall starts at 5.30pm. Sure enough, we felt like puking after training started. Serve us right. Lol.
Training was pretty tiring because Coach refused to let us have a break until we hit the target of 10 goals in that one drill. And I got a bruise under my eye for crashing into Teresa's head. Until now, the bruise hasn't fully disappeared. For the past week, I went to school looking like a disfigured panda with only one eye black.
*** Tuesday was TJC Open House 2009. Classes ended at 10am and earlier for the ambassadors but I went for Econs lecture anyway since there weren't much to do. I was pretty slack, mostly at the floorball booth and mini rink playing away instead of showing visitors around. =X Sis came for the Open House too. Well, I had to persuade her to because she doesn't really like TJ. She says it's the uniform. Lol. Whatever, but I'm glad she did put TJ as her 2nd choice after all. I'm so proud of her because she did very well.
*** Wednesday timetable was switched back to Tuesday's which I happily welcomed. Because my classes end at 11.40am on Tuesdays. Lol. But the thing is, the gate only opens at 12.30pm, so I decided to crash H2 Econs lecture and ended up falling asleep in the LT. Then head to Parkway with Ah Cat to get Wenhui's present. I was laughing like crazy when Ah Cat told me how she describe to the staff at Sembawang Century Sq the album she was trying to find. It's super hilarious, but I won't post it here in case she gets embarrassed. =X
So, after buying the DBSK album, we went for lunch at Pasta Mania and had our favourite Beef Bolognaise. Seriously, Pasta Mania has the best Beef Bolognaise. Then, we went to get Scoopz ice-cream. Don't mind us, we're gluttons. Then we went opposite for Koi Cafe's bubble tea which Michelle recommended before. Met Bernard there which is no wonder. Haha. Anyway, the bubble tea is super duper nice. Alittle pricier but it's definitely worth it. It belongs to the same company which owns the famous bubble tea chain stores, 50 Lan, in Taiwan. So, technically, you're getting the same ingredients as you would get if you're in Taiwan. And they have seats outside the shop for you to sit down and enjoy your bubble tea. So, Ah Cat and I just sat there for over an hour chatting and gossiping.
Yay to myself for finally finding a bubble tea shop which sells bubble teas as good as Taiwan's. I foresee myself buying a cup(and getting fatter) each time I visit Parkway.
Left at around 4.45pm to go Valhall. Was the first to arrived and nearly fell asleep sitting on the bench, leaning my back against the wall. Training was tiring again, I didn't feel like running because my legs were still sore from playing floorball the day before. Serve me right for not doing proper warm-ups. But this should stop, I can't be lazing around for all the trainings.
*** Thursday was a rather long day. I can't really remember much about Thursday except that I had table tennis training after all that classes. Then I reached home pretty late, and had to rush to do the math online quizzes which, thank goodness, wasn't difficult and I was able to score full marks for both.
*** Friday, only the 5th day of the school term and I was already late for school and had my EZ-link card confiscated.
Had alot breaks in between my classes. If all the breaks were taken away and all my classes were shifted forward, I would have ended school at 11.40am. Early in the morning, was a 2-hour break which was well-spent doing Math and Chemistry tutorials. Then there was the Econs H2 lecture which was another well-spent period, catching up on my sleep. LOL. I just crashed the lecture to enjoy the air-conditioning and fell asleep on the chair for the whole 50 minutes. You know, after I woke up, Mrs Beetsma had not even started on the first page of the lecture notes? I wonder how she can talk for 50 minutes without going into the main topic. Must have needed alot of skills to do that.
Lunch was crapping with Ah Cat at the Marquee. Then GP. School ended after that. Friday's the only day on which I finally don't have any trainings, but I still had to wait till 5pm to get my EZ-link card. =( So we were back at the Marquee with Huixian, Faustina, Siying, Jollene, Charmaine. They're seriously funny, I just kept laughing non-stop when I'm with them. Then I went to crash their Leo General Meeting. Not very interesting la, haha. But I got to know that Kendra's a super nice girl! She's so nice that she didn't look like a PD because all the other PDs(especially the one in my class) were so arrogant and talk to their members like they are very big, just because they hold a position in the exco. PD from my class, learn from Kendra la!
*** Saturday was Go Green Day. My class was allocated Blks 519-522 in Bedok North area. We were pretty fast. By 11am, we were done with loading all the old clothes and newspapers collected onto the truck. Then Ah Cat and I walked across the road to this place to have lunch. I ate alot again - chicken rice, beancurd tang yuan and a cup of grass jelly.
Then took bus 225 to Bedok Inter to meet Teresa before we cabbed to ITE Macpherson for Agape training. 2km warm-up run was alittle tiring but still okay because I had done similar stuffs for PE a few days ago. Training was alright, not very intensive, which was good for me. Agape had very good players(think RJ, VJ, Singapore Schools), which was pretty intimidating at first. Lol. But I guess I got used to it after awhile. Martha Quek was there and went through the basics with us. Coach Marcus's similar to Coach Kenneth in some ways, like how both of them always explain the rationale of practising a drill.
Training ended around 4pm+, then was heading home when Dad called halfway and pick me up from Simpang. Went Parkway for dinner at Chaozhou Inn and had my favourite Scoopz ice-cream. I 'gei kiang' and decided to change flavour to green tea from my usual durian one. Their green tea flavour is not nice, still can taste the green tea powder inside! Yucks. In future, I'll just stick to durian flavour. Haha.
*** Woke up quite early today. Actually wanted to go watch the Div 3 guys matches at 12noon but decided to give it a miss because by the time I finished my Econs 11 short-answer questions and an essay(blame it on that crazy teacher), it was already 11.30am. So I just slacked in front of the TV, watching Power Sunday because there was Ruan Jing Tian in today's episode. Lol. Alright, I need to go finish up Bio Genetics II tutorial or else I'll get thrown out of class tomorrow. |
Monday, January 12, 2009 11:11 PM
Come down to Temasek Junior College Open House 2009 from 10am to 4pm tomorrow (13 Jan 2009)!
Free goodies bags will be given out to every visitor, enjoy a tour around the campus, free performances, loads of yummy food, opportunities to clear your doubts about the JC syllabus and subject combinations, and the chance to try out all the different CCAs, ranging from performing arts groups to clubs and societies to sports.
And and and, must visit the Floorball booth in the school hall!!! There's 2-vs-2 mini floorball game! Guaranteed fun and exciting! Also, visit the Table Tennis booth too and get free lollipops for trying out!
Hope to see you there! ^^ |
Saturday, January 10, 2009 10:11 PM
Had 3 friendlies today with 3 secondary schools(Springfield, Teck Wai and Serangoon Gardens). Was so disappointed with the scores. Not trying to be a wet blanket or anything, even though Coach may be satisfied with us being more aggressive now, I dare say we got badly trashed and whipped. I think Teck Wai was really good, but I won't make that as an excuse. Darn, really demoralising when it's only about 4 more months to A div.
Was even more disappointed with my own performance. Couldn't even keep the ball in my possession. I estimated the total number of times the ball was in my possession for all 3 games was about 5 or 6? I just kept banging into opponents when the ball's in my possession and I couldn't even get the ball into the opponent's court, much less to say, near the goalpost. I need keep my eyes up more often and look out for anyone who's trying to make me crash into them.
And I made a super stupid mistake during the 2nd game. I accidentally let a goal in because I thought it was line-change and walked away from where I was supposed to guard. Stupid me, shouldn't have done that unless Coach asked me back.
Just talked to Lenny on MSN about the things that happened today. And thanks, Lenny, for the advices and encouragements! ^^
*** OGL camp yesterday was quite fun. The games were rather good. And believe this or not, I learnt the dance steps to The Sign, Heartsdale, That Thing You Do, all in one day! Congrats to me, because I didn't attend any mass dance practices before. So it's a wonder that I got the dance steps within a day, even more so, that this feat was (incredibly) done by a dance-idiot, yours truly.
Paired up with Jason for That Thing You Do. He too, was learning it for the first time. And I think we both look comical dancing it because halfway through dancing, you would hear me saying 'oh my god, what do I do next?', 'what the hell do I do now?' and he would be like 'ehhh, what now?' And there are lots of twirlings and spinnings(all of which I seriously suck at) in this dance. Everytime I twirl or spin, our hands become tangled and he'll be like 'turn wrong way already, turn back turn back!' I spin like twice as much as other girls. Lol. I think I spin so much that I look like a merry-go-round or something. I was happily skipping hand-in-hand that I forget have we had to change direction, then he was like 'eh eh eh! Change direction already!'. Super funny!
The funniest was when it was the 3rd spinning in, we were supposed to spin in from the guy's left-hand side and spin out from his right-hand side. It looked so complicated, I spunned in, then my hands got stuck. Seriously, I didn't know how they did it. By the time I said 'Heck la', we were like 2 steps slower than others already.
But I think we manage to dance decently in the end, after 1 or 2 more practices. Lol.
*** And yay, I'm going Bangkok for 5 days for CNY!!! ^^ |
Thursday, January 08, 2009 2:49 PM
Sunday was table tennis chalet/JTS. It was pretty okay except it was an 1-day chalet due to the lack of funds. Lol. The seniors from the older batch came too but we all know each other since they were once my seniors in AHS too. And Hoi Shek, I met him at a few competitions where he was one of the umpires. Grace, Ying Qi and Valerie taught me how to play bridge! Haha, one of them was like, 'What? 4 years in AHS and 2 years in JC, and you still don't know how to play bridge?' Hahaha, but now I do. =P
Food was great. Then the seniors went out to buy one huge bottle of vodka and started mixing it with the soft drinks. Hoi Shek started offering everyone a cup. The juniors too, even though we are underaged. Told him that I don't drink. When he heard I was having a test the next day, he was like, 'Treat it as a good luck drink!' Lol. That was quite funny.
*** Math test the next day was bad. I don't know which was worse, me not know how to do most of the questions or the freezing cold LT4. I finished the paper like an hour before time, and I didn't bother to try the questions which I left blank. It was super cold and I think I spent that one hour hibernating or meditating or something. I don't know, I just tried to stop moving, closed my eyes and deceiving myself that I'm feeling warm, not cold. I'm looking at like less than 20 marks this time which is even worse than promos. Lol.
After the test, went home to bathe and get changed before heading to the floorball chalet at Aloha Loyang. Our chalet was a super big bungalow with 4 rooms, a court-yard, a backyard for barbeque-ing, a living room, dining room, kitchen and a car porch.
Floorball chalet was really fun. I think the planners did a very good job. Food was great too, there were alot to eat. ^^
Here's something which I found quite funny during chalet. We were watching the final episode of Little Nyonya on the first night. So we were guessing if Yuzhu's child belonged to Robert Zhang or the angmoh. (the following conversation may not be the exact one which took place, but it's something along those lines)
Jimmy: Yuzhu's child is whose one? Vivien: Don't know leh, you want the child to be whose one? Jimmy: The angmoh one...mixed, prettier... Glen: BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT!!!!
Omg, I just kept laughing non-stop. Seriously, Jimmy.
Anyway, let the photos do the talking:
Bungalow 11 Kingfisher
Mahjong and cards Blowing(and bursting) balloons to give to seniors Putting up deco before the seniors arrive Starting the fire, with the help of ex-uniform groups members Naomi???? In the girls room. Luowei the alien must be super hungry, she's roaring already.
Erm, Michelle, you don't have to do that, the camera can take portrait photos. 2008 Floorball Girls Team (with some members missing from the photo) We're all waiting for more food! Roar like Luowei!!!! Balloon-sculpting! And Luowei's tired already. *Roars again* Award Ceremony! Mat's giving out flower balloons! |
Saturday, January 03, 2009 5:48 PM
Day 2 (Saturday, 20.12.2008)
Hotel > Hu Tou Shan Park (虎头山公园) > High Speed Rail to Taipei > Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall (中正纪念堂) > Ximending (西门町) > Danshui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人码头) > Danshui Old Street (淡水老街) > Taoyuan Night Market (桃園夜市)
I think we woke up at like 7am despite me falling asleep at only 2am the previous night. Then we walked out of the hotel to have breakfast at this shop nearby. No, correction, it wasn't near at all. I think we walked for like 20 minutes or so before settling for the shop.
See, the TV's so nice to watch that they're watching in the bright early morning
The streets of Taoyuan in the early morning. Most of the shops aren't open for business yet. If you're wondering why the sun is so bright when it's only 7am+, that's how it is in Taiwan. The sun rises early and sets early too. It's almost pitch dark when it's nearing 6pm. Breakfast. I ate the Mee Sua, it's damn nice. And it's only S$1.80! The pao you see at the bottom right-hand corner costs less than S$0.30. Seriously, everything's cheap like hell.
We were looking for a place to go after breakfast, but we weren't familiar with the place, so we asked the shop-owner auntie, she told us that it's only a 25-minute walk to Hu Tou Shan Park. So my Dad was like, 'Okay, let's stop cabbing and walk this time round since you all just ate breakfast, must exercise abit!' But the 25-minute walk turned out to be more like a 45-minute walk?!?! Under the hot sun somemore! We should have just taken a cab. This pet shop we passed by during our 45-minute walk. The puppies are so cute!!! Places we passed by while walking to Hu Tou Shan Park Hu Tou Shan Park
Then we went to this flower market just beside Hu Tou Shan Park. It's located under the expressway?!?! The development authority sure knows how to maximise land use. Lol. Anyway, the flowers were beautiful, and cheap. Okay, you'll be seeing the word 'cheap' alot in my day-by-day trip accounts. But the flowers were only 'see, no buy' since we can't bring any agricultural products to Hong Kong or back to Singapore. Flower Market
Then we took a cab back to our hotel. No more walking the dreaded 45-minute walk! Watching 我猜 at the hotel, waiting for lunch time to come
Around 1pm, we walked out of the hotel again. This time, to this dumplings and noodles shop about 500m away. Again, food was delicious. We ordered 3 different types of dumplings as side dishes. The Guo Ties (锅贴) are especially nice. 10 of them for like S$3 only. The noodles were like S$2. Cheap cheap cheap.
Nearing the end of lunch, Dad received a call from the tour guide saying that we were supposed to wait at the hotel at 2pm because the tour was starting that afternoon, instead of the next day as stated in our itinerary. So we rushed back to the hotel within 5 minutes. Mind you, it wasn't easy running with a stomach full of dumplings, noodles and starch. I nearly puked when I got on the tour bus.
The tour bus took us to Taoyuan High Speed Rail Station where we would be taking the High Speed Rail to Taipei. At the front of the High Speed Rail(HSR) train, there was quite a big red-brown stain. The tour guide told us it's the blood of the birds that had splattered onto the train while is was moving at great speed. Gross, but it proves how fast the HSR is. HSR Taoyuan Station On the HSR train
Upon reaching Taipei HSR station, we switched to taking the MRT to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall Station which was only 2 stops away. As the name of the station suggests, it leads to Chiang Kai Shek(CKS) Memorial Hall. There's another name for it, some people call it the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall. On the MRT to CKS Memorial Hall
The first picture was taken in 2005 when I was holidaying there too. Compare that with the 2008 picture. There's a difference in the words, the 2005 one says '大中至正' while the 2008 one says '自由广场'. '大中至正' had been taken down by their ex-president Chen Shui Bien and his party in early 2008 and replaced with '自由广场'. The tour guide told us that we must take a photo of the '自由广场' words because it may no longer be there anymore (replaced with '大中至正') the next time we go back to Taiwan. Lol. Taiwan's politics.
The red buildings(there are only 2, but I took multiple shots) are the national theatre hall and concert hall. The white building is the actual memorial hall but I think it's now out of bounds to visitors. It was still open to public 3 years ago, but I'm not sure why they closed it.
Next, we went to Ximending, something like our Bugis but much more bigger(yes, it's really BIG), crowded and more happening. Haha. Alot of youngsters there. Shopping there would be slightly more expensive than other similar areas, but still cheaper than shopping in Singapore.
Huge billboard advertisments with celebrities and models. Funny-looking buildings like the red one you're seeing in the top picture. It's actually a restaurant selling curry dishes. Top left-hand pic: Smelly toufu (臭豆腐) (S$1.80). No, it does not taste like urine at all. It's just the smell. Lol. Bottom right-hand pic: White bitter-gourd juice (about S$4). Made from those white bitter-gourds you see on the left. And no again, it's not bitter at all, in fact, it's very sweet and nice because I think they added quite a large amount of honey. Good for summer or hot weather, I would say. Never mind it was winter, we still bought 3 cups of it because my mom thinks it is good for us.
This is damn nice. Just look at the queue and you'll know that I'm not kidding. Everyone who goes to Ximending definitely have to try this. It's Taiwan's 卤味 which you can easily get everywhere, at night markets, at small restaurants, but I think this shop at Ximending sells the best 卤味, and hence the queue. It's about S$2 for the duck wing(top pic) and S$1 for the duck tongue,鸭舌头(bottom pic). It was so nice that my Dad went back to queue and bought 5 wings and 10 tongues back to hotel for supper. Okay, don't eew me, the tongues are nice, even Andy Lau likes to eat them. But if you want something more filling, go for the wings instead because I think you have to eat like 20 tongues to feel alittle full. Yeah, the tongue is rather skinny and not filling at all.
Then the tour bus drove off to Danshui Fisherman's Wharf where part of the filming of Meteor Garden took place? I don't know, call me noob but I didn't watch Meteor Garden at all. Haha. Yep, it's beautiful, but not exactly as breath-taking as I thought it would be. Perfect for couples to visit, I think. There were alot of couples there probably because they said that if a couple walk the full length of the bridge together, they would last forever, or something along those lines. Lol. It's up to you to believe it, but honestly, I don't. After that, we went to Danshui Old Street(it's sort-of a night market) which was just a 10-minute drive away. Danshui Old Street is pretty accessible from Taipei despite being all the way at the northern tip of Taiwan. Just take Taipei's MRT to Danshui MRT Station which is quite near Danshui Old Street.
Anyway, we ate at this small shop. Ordered the only 3 things they were selling, just to try them. First one is 阿给, it's vermicelli wrapped with toufu skin, but I've no idea why they give it such a funny English name, Arcade. Then there was fishball soup(鱼丸汤) and rice cake (筒仔米糕). They cost only S$1.60 each. I like the arcade and fishball soup. The soup was really boiling hot, totally perfect for the cold weather. Top right-hand pic: Rice cake Bottom left-hand pic: Fishball soup Bottom right-hand pic: Arcade
Yep, that's a real dog hanging like a bag. At first I was walking quite close to this guy, and I thought he was carrying a bag and didn't think much of it. Then, the 'bag' moved, I got so frightened. After looking closely, I realised it was a dog. The dog was so obedient, he didn't even move much, just hung there and looking at whoever's walking behind his owner. Cute, but poor thing... We got the Crispy Fried Squid again, because it's so yummy. And my bro and I got this LONG ice-cream which cost only S$0.45 each?!?! And there were quite a number of flavours to choose from. They even have split-flavours, the ice-cream is split all the way from the tip, and one side's chocolate, the other side's vanilla (there's also green tea-honeydew).
We went back to the hotel after that. The bus-ride took about 45 minutes which is a rather fast journey considering Danshui and Taoyuan are like two different states in Taiwan. Went back to the hotel to put the stuffs we bought, and came out again, this time as a family, not as the whole tour group. We were going to the Taoyuan Night Market which was pretty nearby, about a 10-minute walk from our hotel. Managed to snap a picture of the Jacky Wu advertisement for the condo beside our hotel. It's so luxurious that they even dare call it 天王的家. Hahaha.
While walking to the night market, I went to this shop on the way and bought 6 pairs of ear-studs for only S$4.60. Super cheap! Where in Singapore would you get ear-studs for that kind of price?
Taoyuan Night Market Mom was feeling hungry and decided to have Oyster Mee Sua (蚵仔面线) as supper. Only S$1.80! We walked around the night market and we saw Takopachi and bought it!!! Guess how much it was? S$1.80 for 6 balls! Oh my goodness la, the one I get from Bugis is S$2.30 for 3?!?! Somemore the ones in Taiwan have more fillings and less of the flour thingy. And they have fillings like sotongs, wasabi(my favourite), etc. I think Taiwan has the culture of selling Takopachis in a boat-like container. Because that was what I saw when I went to a few more night markets and bought Takopachis for the subsequent nights (and, grew rounder and rounder like a takopachi).
We headed back to the hotel at like 1am+. Lol. Yep, the shops at the night markets are opened to even later than 1am. From what I've heard, they are opened till about 5am. That's why Taiwan may also be called as the 不夜城. If you live there, you probably won't want to sleep at like 11 or 12midnight.
Day 3, to be continued~ |
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First of all, I'm a Kpop fan, especially of 2PM, MBLAQ, 2NE1 and FT Island. Actually, I like Kpop, Korean entertainment, Korean dramas, Korean language, Korean culture, Korean food, basically anything Korean. So I guess you can call me a fan of Korea.
Second, eating is one of my favourite pastimes. I think my size says it all. =P I'm not picky about food but there's only one thing that I don't like eating, that is, sweet potato.
Third, I love sports. Been playing table tennis for about 6 years now, and floorball, 2 years. But I would have to say that I like floorball more. I don't know, but putting the ball into the goal, making an accurate pass, chasing after the ball, even sweating like a pig, gives me the sense of satisfaction that nothing else can.
Fourth, I can't live without the Internet. You can take away my phone, TV, mp3, bed, but please don't take away my Internet because...I just can't live without the internet.
Lastly, if there's anything I dislike, it would have to be making decisions. Where to go, what to eat, what to do next, which is nicer/better...I just don't like deciding. I always leave it to others because honestly, it doesn't matter where we're going, what we're eating or what we're doing to do. What matters most is the company and whether we're having a great time together.
Email: connii@hotmail.com
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Connie Tan
Nineteen
Singaporean
23 March 1991
National University of Singapore
FASS
Year 1
Floorball
Table Tennis
♥ Eusoff Hall
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Just The Way You Are (Acoustic Cover) - Boyce Avenue
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