Well...

First off, updates on some upcoming movies on http://sqmdb.blogspot.com/. Check out trailers for Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix, Transformers, Spidey 3, The Simpsons Movie and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and more.

Well, I manage to buy some time left for blog before I go radio silence until I return to S'pore. So without further ado. I summarise the events from Shanghai till now.

05/01/07 update - Turns out I didn't have the energy to finish this on time. So i'm doing it now. No photos as yet. They take a longer time. For now a day to day recap. (recap based on my photos)

Recap Shanghai. (30/09/07-03/10/07)
Well, Shanghai the best trip for me. In short, the first day I landed in the evening, met up with friend for dinner. Next day whole day F1, the next 2 days, tour Shanghai city area. Then back to school.

06/10/2006 Mid Autumn in HK
Immediately when I got back, it was into the Mid Autumn Fest mood. The parks here was decorated with huge lanterns. Quite a huge thing over here. Lanterns and mooncakes were selling everywhere. However mooncake varieties don't go as crazy as tht in S'pore.

07/10/2006 Cosplay & Fire Dragon
Stumbled upon my Uni on this weekend and found it was full of Cosply ppl. For a moment I thought I was in manga land. Tht evening we went down to Tin Hau mtr station nearby to catch the fire dragon, a tradition HKers have been doing for mid autumn fest. If you've seen dragon dance b4, this one's better. The dragon's made up lighted joss sticks. Photo fest here. My camera tried its best.

14/10/2006 Lam Kwai Fong
Kinda like my 2nd time here. This time round they're having this samba fest thingy. Whole place was like a carnival. Seriously, I'm gonna say this a few times, but really, HKers know how to enjoy themselves.

15/10/2006 Peak Hike
Joined my hall to hike to the Peak, or Victoria Peak. I was like one of the 2 guys there. So much about being active in hall and the hall's participation in this. Anyway, hiking is one aspect many ppl don't notice about HK. In fact, HK is full of hiking trails which rewards you with breath taking scenary.

21/10/2006 - 22/10/2006 Astro Wild Camp
Joined the one and only astro activity in HK. It was a outdoor camp over night at a campsite. We had to set up our own tents, cook our food and caught the Orionids that night. Lovely, just lovely. Not much light pollution, and the campsite had no lights. Just had to share the campsite with some wild cows though.

26/10/2006 Dinner with Joe
Had dinner with one of the buddies in CityU. Brought me to a wonton noodle stall in Wan Chai. Come to think of it, it's actually not bad. Will mention more in my food blog.

27/10/2006 Ocean Park Halloween
They call it Halloween Bash. The park was packed with crowds, but the haunted houses were really good and so were the whole atmosphere and the ghosts and ghouls. Really had a good scare and a good time tht night. Worth a visit definitely.

28/10/2006 Dessert Durian
The fateful day I met my durian dessert. It was love at first sight. Tried to bring her back but it was fate that we must part. More in the food blog.

29/10/2006 Lam Kwai Fong Halloween
Went down to Lam Kwai Fong to check out how was halloween. Ppl really dress for the occassion and everyone enjoyed themselves. Don't really need to drink or smoke to enjoy Lam Kwai Fong it turns out.

01/11/2006 Temple Street
Took a stroll down temple street myself to check out wat's there or if anything's change since I came last year. Checked out some stuff I wanted to buy but in the end, I got no space to bring back. Another time I shall return.

03/11/2006 City U Banquet
It's like a Dinner and Dance, but a slightly less formal outdoor dinner for the entire Uni. Exchange students had it for free. 11 course (if i remember correctly) dinner with a few performances and games. It's that time where you just wanna take photos with everyone. Memorable night.

04/11/2006 Fanling & Tai Po Market
Explored the New Territories today. Went to the wishing tree. Quite easy to find. Then went to Tai Po and found a place with gd "Wo Tie" and "Tau Huey". A must go if you like those.

05/11/2006 Tseun Wan
Today's Tseun Wan, almost the edge of the west of HK. Short trip. Had no time to go Yuen Long, turns out didn't go at all in the end. But went last yr lah, unless you're on a heritage trail, it's a place to drop by.

07/11/2006 Level flooding
Kinda funny when it happened. Won't talk much since I mentioned it liao. A few days later an apology note was put up.

12/11/2006 Castle Peak Hospital
It's their woodbridge. And they had an open house, so drop by since I had nothing better to do. The hospital was better and look better than my hall lah. Anyway, the open house was like to educate the public about issues concerning mental patients and to inform them of what available for them.

15/11/2006 HK Space Museum
It's free on Weds, so went down to see. It's a quick astro revision for me really. I mean, I had to memorise all that at one point, so seriously, nothing special for me. Oh went to see the Imax, but I think S'pore still better.

16/11/2006 Bio Lab Embryo
Had to dice up a 9 day old chicken embryo today. Must have been the most inhuman thing I did in the field of life science. But for the sake of science, do what you must.

17/11/2006 Snake Guts
Tried the snake meat soup today. You could see live snakes at the stall outside. Suppose to have erm benefits for you. Only thing I know is that it gives a nice warm feeling after eating it. Good when the weather gets cold.

Spent the next few days bumming around settling the Korea Trip, taking photos of the sch n ppl cos it was going to be the last lesson and all.

25/11/2006 Sai Kung
Went to Saikung to try the seafood. It's really what you see in those HK tourist ads. Pick you seafood and they'll cook it for you. Delicious but ex. Eat once will do. The whole town was quite laid back also. Nice place to relax. GC says it's a couple's place, esp the pier and jetty. Have to agree on that.

26/11/2006 Central and Sheung Wan
Went to Yung Kee to try the famous duck meat. Then walked to Sheung Wan and explore the sights there. Most attractions were for antiques & collectors, so we kinda skipped them. Then we took the tram bus. Super cheap lah, 2HKD only.

27/11/2006 Jap Sushi Buffet
Imagine all the salmon u can eat for a flat rate. This is it. Not really cheap, not ex either for a jap buffet. Just wack. Hiding somewhere in Kowloon City, only accessible by bus. Regular customers will know this place. Not found on maps.

28/11/2006 - 03/12/2006 Korea
5 day tour of Korea. Mainly in Seoul and the eastern coast. When to ski, which I didn't cos i was sick, then went spa n hot spring. Really nice place to go again. A gd time would be autumn, not late autumn which I went in. Seoul was 0 deg.

08/12/2006 Hike to Ham Tin
The hike was tiring, but just enough to reward you with a super nice beach. This is like the eastern edge of HK. By now, I've almost travelled all 4 corners of HK. The pace to explore HK also picks up from here on.

09/12/2006 Timsum at Maxim & Shek O
Had morning timsum with the old folks. Then off to another beach, Shek O. Another corner of HK. Quite a nice beach to go to. What more can u say about them, HK has it all.

10/12/2006 Wetland Park
Wetland Park is like our Sungei Buloh, but more artificial lah. And it packs the crowds as well. Guess HKers really care about their environment. Another place to educate the public on conservation and appreciate the wildlife that visits HK.

11/12/2006 Hotpot at UST
Had our own hotpot. Bought our own food and had our slow dinner. Wanted to do a BBQ a week later but found out we ran outta of time and had to scrap it.

12/12/2006 Flower Market
Met up with a friend for timsum and then went to the flower market. The whole street solds all types of flowers and plants. And they were super cheap lah. Chase gals here with flowers won't burn a hole in ur pocket as compared to S'pore.

13/12/2006 Celebrity at Mongkok
Got caught in the rain today at Mongkok. Kinda a first that it happened, to be in Mongkok when it rains, heavily. Everything stops. But after that we caught a celebrity doing a scene in the middle of the street. It gathered a huge crowd, had no idea who it was until a few days later.

14/12/2006 The View from Hall 7
The rain cleared the pollution somewhat and I had a nice shot of the view from my hall rooftop. Rarely you get to see HK so clear.

15/12/2006 Overnight @ Library, Dinner @ Causeway Bay
The exams are upon me, but ok lah. Study enough to S/U. Tried overnight at the library, which was opened 24hours. Quite productive lah. Even I don't do this in S'pore. Maybe I'll do so when I'm back mugging for the next exams. Exams were ok, at least I know I can pass. Then it's off for dinner at Causeway Bay. Tried like 9 types of tea.

16/12/2006 Sunrise at Peak, Saikung
We tried to grab late night supper but to no avail. Then we headed to the Peak to watch sunrise but also that didn't work out. It was too cloudy. Well, just one of those bad days. All of us took time out to catch on sleep.

17/12/2006 Gundam Exhibition
It was kinda my free day today, as in the others had stuff and so we didn't meet up. So I took the time to go to the gundam exhibition. Really cool. These ppl are hardcore man. Wished I had that type of passion, but my hands are already full.

18/12/2006 Dinner @ Causeway Bay
Finally went to the restaurant @ Causeway Bay we've been eyeing for a while. It's so crowded that this was our 3rd try going. 1st time we didn't book and went, and had to wait for like an hour, so we left. 2nd time round we called too late and the time they had for us was like almost 9pm. So finally 3rd time round, we stepped into the restaurant for the first time. The food spoke for itself. After dinner, we walked to Times Square, just in time to catch some celebrities. And they were the big ones. Guess my checklist in HK is almost complete.

19/12/2006 Viet Restaurant
Met up with my Dad's friends who had come over for business. Asked my Dad to bring some warm clothing n money through them. They're quite friendly, and we went to this Viet restaurant in Jordan. The food was actually not bad, and reminded me of S'pore food, and how close I am to tasting it in a few weeks time. Met up with Chingman later after that, walked a bit of Mongkok and met another celebrity. This time I think it was a Korean celeb, but dunno who it was. Tried to take a shot, but really no mood to shoot today.

20/12/2006 Happy Valley
Went to watch horse racing today. It was a weekday night race. Really fun and exciting. Now I know why so many ppl can get addicted to the game. But we played small for the fun of it only lah.

21/12/2006 Macau
Spent the day in Macau. It's like a suburban compared to HK. The sides of the road are all landscaped and the casinos were glittering with gold glass panels. Really can see it's richer than HK. Went to the usual places, it's a really small place. Grabbed the boat back, but had to settle with the more ex one.

22/12/2006 Serenade Tim Sum
The next few days was bring my friends around HK. Today, went to Serenade Restaurant. The best tim sum with a splendid view. Standard has maintained since I came here last year. At night, we went to the Jap rest buffet for one last time.

24/12/2006 Diamond Hill Tim Sum, Countdown @ Central LKF
Went Diamond Hill for Tim Sum around noon. As we had like 9 ppl, we ordered like crazy. The dishes and trays could mimic the HK skyline. For dinner, went to IFC to grab a bite b4 heading to LKF. It was packed like hell. In fact, it was like the whole HK had squeezed into Tsim Sha Shui and Central. In chinese they called it 'people mountain people sea'. I realise now where this phrase came from. And so we counted down in LKF, in the heart of it all. The crowd was nice and added to the whole atmosphere, but it was a tad too many ppl.

25/12/2006 Shenzhen
I couldn't have imagined this, but I spent Christmas Day in Shenzhen. Oh well, the place is really messy, and it sums it up. If S'pore has a JB next door, HK has a Shenzhen. And so begins my China trip. I'll write more on that in another entry.

26/12/2006 - 30/12/2006 Eastern China
Started off from Shenzhen, to Hangzhou, then went to Wuzhen, a 'water village', then 2 days in Shanghai, took a sleeper train to Nanjing, then it's back to Shenzhen for a nice massage.

31/12/2006 The Mad Rush Home
Took a train back to HK. Took about 2 hours to pack my stuff n check out my hostel. Then it's off to Central to check in my stuff. The crowds were starting to come in for the New Year's Eve party but I took a gamble to grab my durian pancake n donuts. Only one went through customs in the end. The flight back was nice, especially having Haagan Daz ice cream for dessert. Landed some where around midnight and then it was the slow ride back home.

That's about a quick summary of the last days in HK. Pics will come soon.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

A few mintues to kill, 5 to be exact.

In the CSC in school. The com labs basically. Gosh, the blogger interface is in chinese. But still ok lah. Anyway, no headway in the mystery eh? Will let u guys in soon. Busy with the whole china trip thing.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

I was trying to backup this old blog of mine. Realised I started this just before I went into NUS. I was clearing my blogger account cos they're asking me to switch over their new thing which has a google account. So after backing up here n there and battling a bad connection in hall, here I am.

Well, found a few interesting things...
1. When the blog page loads, there actually a 1mb limit, or a 999 post limit. I've only a like 300+ posts, so I'm still safe within the zone. So in theory, if I set my page settings in Blogger to show the last 999 posts, you'll be able to see my very first post. And tht 1st post was on 7 Jul, 2004. Wow, it's been 2 years++!

2. In fact, I've been blogging way before that. Just that I started this blog on that date. I had backup my older blog before and there was once I tried to access it I thought the website had shut down. But today, I realised it was still lingering around. Here's the link. Will link it up in my side panel. Those were the days in the army, and boy I sure had lots to talk about. For those who knew me then, I might have talked about u. For those who don't, it's a good read to find out more about me.

(Damn the connection died again.)
3. If you're still around and have yet to wander away to the other blog, there's another mystery starting. Or rather a prophecy is unvealing itself. To put it bluntly so everyone doesn't sractch their heads..... I made a promise back then which everyone shrugged off. I was confident it wouldn't happen, which was why I posted it up. Fast forward to present day.... The prophecy is unvealing itself.
The whole point is to figure out what promise I had made. It'll benefit both you and me at the end of the day. The prophecy will only come full circle when I return to S'pore. So dun worry, this will last for 3 weeks max. If you can find this promise in my entries, tag it up for the world to see!!

You'll need to help each other out. As in you the reader, will need each other's knowledge to unlock the clues. So use the tag to discuss. I'll tag to keep you guys on track.

Here's a round up of the clues to start. (To facilitate you guys) They will bring you to the next step.
1. "At last we'll reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge."
2. The Hunt Begins

Wondering where clue 2 came from? It's in the blog. It can see you but u can't see it. Those who's been on my website or lab should know what I'm talking about. So help the rest, cos when you find where the clue 2 is, you should be on your way to the next step.

Ok, I think I said enough and clearly enough. Let's see how it goes....

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

This is kinda weird and interesting.
Your karma ran over my dogma.

Saw this at one of my regular blogs I visit. And it's just in time to talk about this topic. This article should start things off. It talks about which astrological sign has the most traffic accidents.

Which brings me back to the first link. I agree to what he says. U can read more about it in another entry of his here.

So my point is..... Always believe in this stuff with a pinch of salt. Sometimes the salt comes in a tablespoon full. In this case, I can always put 2 irrelevant stuff together and say they're related.

On another note, I'd like to add that I study astronomy, not astrology. I alway get asked this question, and some people think I can tell ur future by looking at the stars. I can tell you what stars you are looking at, not someone's future. What I see in the sky is the same thing that you see, just that with a bit of imagination, you'll realise how fascinating the stars add up to be like.

I know someone who kinda believes in this. Not really in telling the future, but in terms of personality. In this case, I dun really believe in it, although most of the time it's really true. But if you think about it, I think it's just generalisation. And usually when someone says something about it, it's natural for ppl to try to find instances that agrees to what is said. It's a psychological thing i guess.

This can go on forever... So i'll leave it up to you to think about it.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
THE HUNT BEGINS

Not much time now. This phrase rings true in many aspects. Just 2 hrs away to my next paper actually, so I'll make this short.

The Champions League draw. Yupz, as I write this, we'll know who Liverpool draws with in the next round CL in a few hours time. It's that waiting for something to happen feeling that I have, not only for this but for a few other things bugging my mind.

The round up of the rest of the past few days. About 2 days back, I had a sudden feeling my luck has left me. Seriously, things weren't going that well for me. And the most unlucky things happened. They were like signs to me.
This like not getting the tour package, getting paint on my jacket, basically getting 'no' answers everywhere.
But at the same time, I had that feeling that I had not done something that might have triggered this. So I came to a conclusion that I had to call home, which I haven't done so for a while. So I did, and things turned.
Everything's fine back home, and got news that reinforcements are coming. Pray it does come. Remember the google ads thing. There's been improvements, more on that when I return s'pore. Then I really went into study mode. Stayed overnight at the library to study finish my mechanics. It's a first for me, and a cool experience, but once is enough. Screws your bio clock upside down. Then it was also right timing that my BK burger came, and I kept it for breakfast. Went to microwave it in my canteen and I was in cloud 9. It's like the Organics ad. It was like a drug you thought u quit but one taste of it again you're hooked.
So things are turning around, well it was just that things took a detour to put it better. More to come.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
*Google*<----What was promised shall be realised.---->*Google*

Since we're in the line of the matrix theme, here's another clip from the animatrix. For fans, another classic. For the confused souls, this was how the matrix came about. Enjoy...

The Second Renaissance Part 1


The Second Renaissance Part 2


'THERE IS NO SPOON'

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

For those who don't know what my nick is talking about. This is the show. A classic among matrix fans.

It's been a long time, but one which I have never talked about in here till now. Because I wanted to put it as a standalone entry and to relieve the emotions tht went thru me tht fateful day.

How It All Started
Well, I was quite reluctant to join rag at first, cos after swoc i was quite tired of spending my hols in hall again. But i had mentioned before that i wanted to do rag after i'm done with swoc. The other reason was tht i knew what was going to happen, and one man's effort alone wasn't enough to change anything. But in my friends, I saw tht i wasn't alone, and together there might be a chance to change things. It was them that I had joined rag, not for hall. I had consulted a lot of ppl b4 making this decision, which to many wasn't a big deal, but I felt it was. So i took the dive.

I knew what I was in for, what i had to do and what needs to be done. Not the technical details from rag but the side of things that a committee needs. This was the least i could do for someone who has the same amount of experience as my juniors.



Like what someone said before, in rag it's where u experience all the emotions in tht period of time. It's quite true actually. The feelings u get in rag are something u can never feel anywhere else. The same applies to swoc actually, but in swoc, you come out a wiser person.

All in all, I felt my hall life came full circle after rag, and that i could leave hall without any regrets about the things i didn't do.

It's been almost a sem since rag, but i can still feel how it was like back then. But what bugged me the most when i was thinking about how to write this was the thanks I had to give to ppl, which I didn't have the chance to tell them b4 i left for HK. And it stuck in the back of my head for quite a while. Until now, when the time is right to put it into words.

I might (I said I might) not be blogging for a while. For one good reason came along and I'm gonna use it, although I would love to blog to tie up loose ends.

My internet connection in my rooms seems to be cocking up every night recently, connecting then disconnecting often. They must have found out the illegal stuff I've been doing. It's only working in the afternoons, which today is a rare thing I'm in my room in the afternoon. I should be out and about HK by this time. And also, as always, I'm rushing for time for all sorts of stuff. So I'll try to squeeze some time for this old blog of mine if can afford. Oh and of course 67 Potato Chips should be on hold too, so hang on guys. Dun think exchange all play hor, S/U must also work for it. I know I had to wreck my brains for a period. More on tht soon.

For now, this blog should experience it's first official downtime.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

Heyz,
I just got back from Korea as most of you know. Will update on that soon. For now this week, I swamped with tests, projects, make-up tests and whatever-bullshit-i-got-myself-into stuff. So like i said, really gotta pull thru this period. After this, it's 2 courses down.

For now here's something to keep u all occupied for the whole week. Typed this in my other blog, so sharing it with you guys too since it's a common topic which I have been wanting to talk about. People I meet in HK. I should be doing one on the food soon, which hopefully will be more comprehensive than this.

As they say, pictures do the talking easily. Here's some of ppl I meet in HK. My mum would complain that I don't take photos of myself enough and always just take scenary. Well, she's right in a way cos it took me almost half a sem to start taking photos of ppl.
So here goes.

The 7th day in HK, I had to go Shenzhen to re-enter as a student using my student visa. So I went with my roommate, seen here on the right with most of his face outta the pic. The rest are his China friends, all from diff parts of China. My roommate's from Xi An, and he always claims there's nothing there. (but there's Qin Shi Huang huge huge grave)

This photo was at a restaurant near my Uni a few weeks later. I went out for dinner with the SMU exchange students, some locals and Korean exchange students. Tried to mix with them, but just couldn't click. Turned out that this was the one and only meeting I had with them. Now we just go on a 'Hi' basis. But it reinforced why I wanted to learn Korean over here. Go guess.

A few weeks later, went to visit the giant Buddha. One of the spots I missed in my previous trips here. The gal on next to me is also from NUS life science, but she's studing in HKUST. Knew her before this cos we had a common friend. So we took this photo to send to her, and we tried to make her initials, YY.

A few weeks later again, I went for one of the rare hall organised activities. We hike to the Peak. Turned out that only the selected few were interested. The ang moh is also an exchange student from US. The rest were all from China, some undergrads, some postgrads. It was an easy hike, at the same time, got to go to the Peak. Found Burger King there, was like going heaven. Will make the pilgrimage again. So BK deprived over here. (good for rehab, hehe)

So, I had to join the Astro Society here. And they had monthly events. For the month of Oct, they had what they call Wild Camp. It was just an overnight camp literally. This was our gruops. So we bought and cooked our food (everything covered by the society), pitched our own tent and all of us slept in the same tent. Yah, you heard me right. Anyway, that night was the peak of the Orionids meteor shower, so we caught shooting stars and I shared my knowledge of astro while they teach me in Cantonese n Chinese.

The festivities weren't over. Days before the actual day, I went to Lam Kwai Fong with these gals and a few guys who came later to soak in the atmosphere of Halloween. The streets had deco and lights, the bars n pubs all decorated with ghostly stuff and ppl dressed up and paraded the streets. Even the kids were doing it. The gal on the left is the buddy for the other NUS student in CityU. She had jio-ed me to go for this, so I went to check it out. The one on the right is her friend.

So, back to school. This is my Korean class. That day, we had the chance to dress up in the traditional costume and took photos. Even our teacher had her own costume. She second to the left of me in the pic. Ah...language courses are always so fun.

At the City U banquet (it's kinda like a DnD, but a more relaxed open air atmosphere), met my classmates who also went. It's their final year, so going for it was kinda special. I went for free, courtesy of the student exchange office. I must say, between me are two extremes. The one on the right attends almost all classes while the one on the left doesn't, even for labs sometimes. Heard she's a heavy sleeper. Will confront her with that one day.

That's all for now. I know that everyone always asks me how are the gals like over here. Well, you can judge it for yourself.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE

If you think hell was gonna be hot and crazy, going through hell here adds the element of frost. Kinda ironic to say the heat is on here. Anyway, won't be around for a while. Remember the shit i was in? I just added 9 inch nails to my coffin, now gotta take each one out one by one. So pray i get outta of the hell hole in one piece.


THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE