1 more month before I return!

Hi Pple,

So how are all of you?

Let me tell U a very ti siao incident lately.

That night, I went to watch Portugal vs Germany in Dubai at a place called Irish Village.

When my colleagues and friends enter the place, I was stopped by the bouncer.

Bouncer: Hey, can you show me your ID?

I was so worried at that time, this is because I left my IC and passport in hotel.

The only ID I have left is my Ezlink.

So I just gave him my Ezlink.

Ter: Sorry, I am from Singapore. I did not bring my passport. This is the only ID I have left. But what is the problem?

He just said a word.

Bouncer: Age.

I almost laugh my brains out at the moment. This is because some of my friend who were younger than me has passed.

So after looking at my ezlink, he let me pass.

Then I went to ask my colleagues about the age limit here.

Ter: What is the age limit?

Colleague: Oh yah, they are quite strict here. Its only for 21 years and above.

I don’t know whether I should be happy or sad.

Another incident about my age also occur during my office celebration of my birthday. (YES, MY OFFICE GAVE ME A SURPRISE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION)

They prepared 2 cakes but the cakes only had 16 candles. Everyone started to ask about my age after looking at the cakes.

I said “16, shown on the cake.” But I also ask other to guess. And the result is 19,20. haha.. so funny.

Don’t know what they will guess about mendi’s age.

Okok… here are more photos.

Al Qasba. The only place in sharjah that shows EURO2008. But the commentary is in arabic. (Anyway, the longer you are here, the more you appraciate Arabic. I know how to look at numbers 0 to 9. haha... its important if we go shopping!)





Another picture on Burg Al Arab, with me and my other SMU interns.



And here is their livestock pasar malam. When pple buy the goats, sheeps or cow... seriously, I saw them just putting the animals in the car boot and left. Just imagine under a heat of 40 degree and in the car boot, bet the goat is cooked even before the car reach the destination.






That's all.

Anyway cannot wait to go back to singapore sooner. My body still cannot seem to adapt to the country after so long. Have been sick twice since i came here despite my healthy lifestyle here.

See ya soon.

Blackburn

As instructed...

Hi Guys,

As instructed, I am supposed to post pictures for you all to see.

Before I do that, as resquested, some Ti Siao incident by alonoso.

I went to the barber at the neigbourhood area instead of the City mall one. Furthermore I went to a Arabic Barber whom don't seem to know English.

The conversation goes like that.

T: Cut hair? How much?

BB: 25 Dirhams (less than 10 dollars)

T: ok.

I sat down and I thought I found a barber that speak English. So i started explaining to him the hair style i want.

T: Cut short, high slope.

BB just smile.

T: Cut short?

BB just smile again and said: You Japanese?

T: No. I am from Singapore.

BB: Pore?

T: Singapore.

BB: Oh you from Singapore.

After that to my horror, he just started cutting. At this moment, I just left it to fated.

Then to my surprise, I saw a list.

It states:

Children Hair cut: 25 Dirhams
Haircut/style: 30 Dirhams
.
.
.

As quickly as i can, I ask him: Can I get a haircut/style? 30 Dirhams?

BB just smile again.

At this moment, I was just hoping for the best.

In the end, I did get my haircut which was actually all right and HE DID STYLE MY HAIR only for 25 Dirhams. Haha.. so i save 5 dirhams.

But the way, he style my hair... a bit the anyhow...



This is how i style it the next morning.



Ok.. i dont think it is that Ti siao... But I have more... just lazy to type.

Anyway... more photos here...

Oh... FYI, The Malay CHicken RIce here cost only 8.5 Dirhams (Abt 4 dollars. But that is the cheapest here. The rest is more expansive. Furthermore, The chicken is like quite big piece.



Brug Al Arab... the 7 star hotel.



Oh... and here is speed racer and his racer.




and I went to the desert..




And the Pet Palsa Malam... (See what they sell.)





Ok.. that's all for now..

See ya soon.

Blackburn

My UAE...

Hi Guys,

At last, something better than the videos.

I think some “VIP of mine” saw MY CLIP… she was telling me about me having some Men’s Talk.

Then I realize. Haha..

Whatever, I guess this is a part of me that people in my school don’t know about.

Ok… this is not my topic.

After listening to Alonso talk abt his trip, maybe I should give some of you a glimpse of my UAE.

First and foremost, UAE is safe. I believe it is even safer than some South East Asia countries that we go to. But then I live in Sharjah, which tends to be more conservative. Initially when I was leaving Singapore, my family was like telling me not to travel alone, not to go out at night and etc etc… But after living here for a month or so, I seriously think it cannot be safer. And the important thing is you don’t see police car patrolling around.

Secondly, MOST OF the people living here are really friendly. Thanks to all the “terrorist” talks… I guess people create a stereotype of them even before they know them. But there is 1 thing you should taken note of; the friendly people are not the natives and you have to be friendly towards them too.

Thirdly, Cars here are really cheap. Oil is cheap. Electronics are cheap. The rest tend to be a bit more expansive.

Since the cars are cheap, the traffic is shit. The only thing that I don’t think I will do is to drive here. I suck at it. Furthermore, sometimes will you feel that like the taxi driver is some F1 racer, traveling at 120km/h and cutting into people’s lane without signaling.

I feel I have also made a lot of friends here. The office boys in my office, the laundry man at the shop, the Indian waiter making the shewama, the hotel bellboy, the hotel receptionist, the hotel security guard, my colleagues, the hotel driver and the list goes on… (Note: None of them are natives yet.)

Fourthly, I also had a nice birthday surprise here. It was quite funny and it was really nice. THE BEST THING WAS I GOT A BIG BOX OF CHOCOLATES by the brand Patchi. It’s some Godiva kind of chocolates.

I have also learned how to read the Arabic numbers from 0 to 9. Haha… and also I have been watching Dragonball in Arabic. After living here for a month, you learn to appreciate Arabic. (As if….)

Another thing was that you know people get woken up by chicken in the morning. You get woken up by prayers at 4am every morning here. Haha…

Lastly, I am so gonna try the neighborhood barber here. Apparently, people here recognize me by the hair. Hopefully I get a good haircut here. I heard some of them dun understand English. Good luck to me!

Mendi, I think you should come here to work. Office boy earn like AEZ4k (About S$1.5k) after a year. Haha… Just imagine what the rest earns. I heard reception earns AEZ20k, recent grad earn AEZ18K.

That’s all.

Anyway GMH, I absolutely have no idea what to get here. If you all want anything, tell me.

AND I am thinking of is to buy the EURO2008 soccer ball (the replica 1). What u think of it?

Blackburn
Still having fun here and trying to save more money!

We are but merely Lego sets....

Hi guys,

In order to deflect the spotlight on the 2 controversial videos below, I've decided to create a new post so visitors dun juz see the videos.

Its been a darn long while since I posted, so I figured this is the best time to do so coz of my holidays.

First and foremost allow me to share my experience in the Himalayas as promised. Below are the pictures I took. It wasn't the most comfortable holiday I've ever been to, but as with all things, for every sacrifice there is an invaluable lesson to be learnt.

I was blessed to be heavily subsidised for the trip so I paid only $450 for a trip that on hindsight easily cost more than 3K. The school only selected a few ppl for the trip so thank God that they shortlisted me. I guess he put me on that plane for a reason.

To be honest, the only reason I went in the beginning was to jump on the chance to visit a country that I will probably never ever visit later in my life as it is not the most ideal holiday destination. Let's face it, who in the world would want to go to Nepal when it cost more than a trip to Europe? Coupled with the subsidy and a bunch of great frens, it helped me make my mind up.

So fast forward to the trip itself. I was again blessed to be able to have a window seat after the Thailand transit. It was the afternoon and it was the best landscape I have ever seen in my life. The view from above the cloud, looking down on the snow capped mountains, winding rivers and vast greenary was majestic. The sight of houses looking no bigger than my Lego sets made my faith stronger. I thought to myself, 'this was the view God has of us'. We are so damn puny it was almost amusing. We are nothing more than a speck to him, like the movie Horton.

Oh ya btw I had 2 helpings of the airplane lunch, it was mutton that tasted so good.

When we finally touched down, it was the first time I had ever got off a plane on the runway itself! The tarmac greeted us as the stairs lowered straight down to the ground.

We spent one night in the Capital of Kathmandu and the van ride was as usual, my way of soaking in the country's culture. I've always cherished this time and never waste it on sleeping. Every face, building, shop, children, street, activity made up the country and to waste the time to take a nap is a grave mistake.

It felt like India, but in my opinion this was worse because the weather was so cold, yet homeless people were without clothes on their backs, children sleeping on cardboards while I shivered with my multiple layers of wool. An unexplainable overwhelming sense of guilt overwhelmed me, as though I was responsible for their plight.

The next day we travelled to the city of Pokhara before our 5 day trek up the mountains. It was the rural mountainous areas, away from the hustle of the city and definately more peaceful. The scene from my hotel window was unreal. Imagine waking up in the morning and sitting in the balcony, watching the sun rise up from behind the snow capped mountains.

The cold was really getting to me at the start of the trek, but after we started, it got better. The first thing that caught our attention were the porters (there is a term which I can't remember) attached to us. They were our so called guardians throughout the 5 day trek and they were assigned to carry our big bags ahead of us while we carried our small bags. When I say big bags, I really mean big bags!

Those in the army will know the weight and size of the duffel bags. A single bag of mine was super heavy and each one of them carried 3!!!! What they did was to string all 3 bags together, put them in a basket, and attach a rope to their heads for balance and off they went! The best part was, they were always 2 hours earlier in arriving! And all of them were smaller sized than me! All of us felt useless upon seeing them.

Every stop we made, they were in charge of serving drinks to us, cooking our food and ensuring our well-being. As in turned out, they became my personal life savers as well! More on that later.

The trek itself was more daunting than I expected, the steep steps were enough to kill. I began to retract my statements of the mundane training we had in Bukit Timah hill. At times it was precarious, room for only a single file. Each day we trekked for about 5-6 hours, and spent the night in 5 different tea houses, one for each night.

We only experienced snow when we reached the 4th day, when we were at the peak of the mountains. That was the first time I saw real snow, not the hail stones we find at Toa Payoh. It was as pure as Yui. And the first thing my frens did were to jump into the snow, then realised it was a stupid thing to do because we didn't know how thick it was and what was beneath it. But we couldn't care less.

It was fun at first, but then it got more than we asked for. The snow made our trek very slippery and dangerous. I had to use a hiking pole and stick it inside to keep my balance. And we fell many times. The porters, knowing we will have trouble, came back and literally gave us a hand. They did not use any poles, but walked on frictionless japalang worn out shoes with soles as thick as tissue.

Then came a part where I felt like my life was literally hanging by a thread. We were at the side of the mountain with the path only enough for one foot. Any slip will see a plummet to certain death. I did not dare to look down but every step was a uncontrollable slide on snow. Then came my Heroes. Laughing and smiling, 2 of them grabbed my underarm, one on each side and lifted me up the ground to the other side. They were laughing in their language and it didnt take a scientist to figure out their object of amusement was me. Of course I laughed along and kept thanking them, but deep down I felt utterly useless! Here I was wearing so many damn layers of clothing, with a hat, gloves and my army boots, being 'rescued' by people wearing a T-shirt and shoes older than my grandmother! They were almost like playing in a park. while cold sweat covered my forehead!

In the nightly debrief, we all agreed to give more towards their tips because without them, I was 90% sure u guys will have one less member of the clique now.

So to show my appreciation, I attached the pictures of them below. The guy in the Bandana was my favourite. We kept trying to communicate to no avail, but I guessed we understood wat each other meant.

So to him and his Band of Heroes, thank you and God bless! U guys were my unsung heroes. I will never ever forget u guys. It was my honour to be served by you. If you ever stumble across this blog, drop me a msg.

There are so much more stuff that I wan to share with u guys but I gtg now, tune in to my next part where I talk about the heart-wrenching tales of the children I saw there.

Till then, NAMASTE!

God Bless,
alvin

Men's Talk =)

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TALEN!!

-Psycho

Must Have Been Loveee...

Was clearing pics and vids on my lappy when i chanced upon this vid we took in batam a few years ago. just for laughs!

alvin dun kill me! keke!

D7 for 3 years... Its proven why!

Hi Pple,

I guess I cannot say I am a nice guy anymore.

On 4th of June, my company in celebrated my birthday.

So U see… I have to write a “nice email to thank them. This is what I wrote…

“Dear Party Planners,

First and foremost, especially Lina, Jessie, Maria, thank you for all the time and effort you put in to plan this birthday party.

I was not expecting it and it was really a pleasant surprise for me. I never thought I will be celebrating my birthday overseas, especially in UAE. Furthermore, this seems to be the first time I spend my birthday away from my family. So this means a lot to me.

Thank you for getting me 2 cakes as well. 1 is never enough.

Also thanks for the “photos” and Captions printout. It is very creative. I intend to bring them back to Singapore and keep them for good.

Finally, I really appreciate your actions and hope everything will turn out well for you as well.

FIY, I am not 16 but 24. Haha.

Thank you.

Regards,
Birthday Boy
Terence”

Luckily, I ask my friend to edit before I send out.

And she said it was funny. She edited it to…

“Dearest colleagues,

It was such a pleasant surprise and I was extremely touched by all the efforts and preparations you all took to throw me a wonderful birthday celebration.

In particular, I would like to extend my greatest gratitude to Lina, Maria, Leslie, Marjorie, Jency, Arslaan and all who was involved in the surprise party.

I was speechless as I was not expecting any celebration since this is the first time I’m away from my family on my birthday. Therefore, this surprise truly meant a lot to me.

Thank you for the fantastic decorations and the lovely birthday cakes and most importantly the wonderful memories that I will truly treasure once I’m back in Singapore.

From the bottom of my heart, I again thank all of you and wishing you the very best in your future endeavours.

Thank you.”

Haha..

So as this show… my level of English.

Now I understand why my GP is D7 for consecutive 3 years.

Haha..

Blackburn
(Hopefully MARK HUGHES DOESN’T GO TO MAN CITY… I see Blackburn downfall if he is not around… I don’t mind Maninci though. Haha..)

Tour de Ubin

Hey guys!

In view of a soccer-less Sunday this week, let's embrace the rustic charms of Pulau Ubin and maybe check out Chek Jawa=)

DATE: 8 June 2008, Sunday
TIME: 10am at Tampines Interchange
EVENT: Cycling at PULAU UBIN

Bring along insect repellent, clothes to change, sunblock and swimming attire if you intend to jump into the quarry for a swim.

We'll rent our bikes there (yes bingtai they actually have bikes there!!)
Bingtai suggested potluck (he volunteered to bring ice) and I've got Lao Whiskey for you guys. Feel free to comment and give ideas.

Leave a comment to confirm your attendance by Thurs 2359, and we'll see how's the response=)

cheers!
amanda