Friday, March 30, 2007

A Date!

meant to post this yesterday when thoughts were still fresh... but guessed my mind weren't very fresh.... was doing it half-way and i cleanly forgetten to finish it... and i closed my window!!

anyhows....
it's been a while we went out for a proper date... cant remember when was the last time.... hmm... watching a movie and dinner... is that consider a "proper" date? anyway... last time i was still a student that time and we were already going out, and since i wasn't working then, we can hardly indulge...

in recent weeks/months, lots of the weekends were spent attending appointments: wedding shows, ring fittings/designing... either that or running errands: sending her sister to piano lessons, checking out prices at Sim Lim, and slotting our "par-tor" in between...

weekdays... im working normal office timing... 9-ish to 5/6-ish.... she's working on shift work... ending either at 330pm or 12mn... though we've tried slotting in "together time"... say she come over my workpl for lunch if she's on afternoon... i go find her when she's in office late.... it's hardly a date.
this week was her 1st morning shift in 6 weeks!! and with a recently incurred mini bonus, i decided to go out for a proper date with her... our monthly anniversary was an excuse... i left work slightly early and we went vivocity!! i think it's either coz we're early or it's weekday.... it's not crowded like wad i expected it to be.... we snooped ard for quite some time dun really know wad to eat... little boss from co. suggested Food Republic... which we know got good food... but decided on Hog's Breathe instead... proper seats.. service... more personal space.... and ooh.... their Prime Steak were the bestest! juicy and tender and soft (fatty thou)... i dun even haf to "saw" it thru!! juz one slit with the knife! we shared one set of it... plus a finger food combo... juz nice!

TMNT wasn't that excellent... story wise... perhaps it was made more for children... no sophisicated plots and storyline... a major disappointment to lotsa fans will the absence of Shredder, Crank, Beebob and Rocksteady (i dunno how to spell...haha)... but the confrontation between Ralph and Leo was good though.. and there were some very funny points as well.... oh! there's some "foot" soldiers thou..... i suspect TMNT2 will commence in some future...

oh! the date...
yah! after movie we went for B&J icecream, very good! haha... very typical date schedule u see in japanese shows hor? i realised that i cant realli put it in words.... but it was good company and quality time....

Sunday, March 25, 2007

careful on my entries....

juz realise i've got some unexpected audience once in a while....so.... hehe... gotta be careful abt wad i blog..... hehehe......

oh! hi Christian!!

Thursday, March 08, 2007

unnatural environment

was walking home earlier and mind wandering... thinking abt the trek in bali.....
then this photo we took came into mind...
it was juz rocks and gravel and the skyline... nice one which im using as wallpaper in office now...

then i looked ard me.... other than the blue evening sky... nth else ard is natural... amazing... it nv crossed my mind b4... even the trees were planted... grass were grown elsewhere and transplanted there... road is tarred/concrete and hardly rocky.....

amazing huh....? wonder which is the big aquarium.... the open sea? or our home?

i shld look up into the sky more.... i missed the stars....

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Bali, Agung

The Plan:

Day 1: alight at Denpasar, transfer to Candidasa, slp....
Day 2: transfer to Daduh, start trek to the peak of Gunung Agung
Day 3: End trek in afternoon, proceeds to Sanur (to snore)
Day 4-6: ferry transfer to Nusa Lembongan and nuah....

Candidasa:
the huts we rested in!! juz by the ocean... din slp well coz of the wave slapping the coast... destructive waves...

crazy diwei went try his luck on surfing... din get to stand up even once... i wonder if he passed his module in SanDiego


breakfast below our huts!!

G.Agung, day1
stopping by to pray to the holy mountain b4 setting off is a muz for all the trails on G.Agung... it started raining even b4 we began our trek.... not a gd sign...

everyone still in high spirits huh!!

"ah poke!!"

"Ha Ha hA ha HA ha ha......"

ok enuff fooling ard.... let's carry on....

can u imagine that we only had dinner at 11pm...??? and it's icy cold rice!! but it's the best ice cold rice i ever had!! and yes... 3pm to 9pm... Day 1 of trek, 6 hours...

G.Agung, day2

we got up("out" actually coz i din slp a wink!!) at 2am to prepare to set of at 3am! fell aslp a few times during break on the trek... damn tired!!

the reason for getting up at freaking 2am!

of course haf to take a pretty picture lah!

push on push on!!

"wa ha ha ha ha...."

"lai come come... wa ha ha ha ha ha~...~~"

breakfast at 10am... our motivation to finish the climb... hence we din haf it till we arrived...
aiyer the 2 newbies nv follow the cue to post!! argh... spoilt the photo!

ok let's go down bah... wahkaoz it's damn steep can...and it'll be like tat all the way to the bottom... pray hard for our knees and toes...

"wo~~"
"Wo~~~ wo yay yay~~... i love u more than i can say~~"

everyone was realli very tired already... catching on rest and light nap along the way... still a loooong way down.... we're not even at our campsite yet...
Sanur
ok str8 to Sanur... wad u missed out in the photos were juz gallons and gallons of rain, thunder and lightning, we were soaked to the skin... and hours and hours of walking without food, water rationing and sleep-deprived minds.... glad to be out though...with everyone alright... blisters and sore thighs and painful toenails.... but we're alright!!
oh i wanted to add that the guide mentioned that the river valleys in the mountain are usually dry when it's not raining, i gathered that it shld be because of the porous volcanic material that doesn't retain much moisture like soil do... so the water juz runs off... juz sub-hour after it started to pour, we noticed continuous thundering noise on our right side... then we realised that it's actually water running off in the natural channels down the slopes of the mountain!! gallons and gallons of water!! i was like imagining if we were washed away by the rushing water... i dun think we'll survive all the crashing into the rocks... there's a part of the channel where the water is supposed to steer round.... they juz went right up and over land... washing the trees on that land area.... it's all these thoughts that made me understand why they call this a holy mountain... u cant help but to awe at such phenomenon...
at one point xun asked me "u think we offended the mountain?"

ok now to plan for the proper holiday... we're only left with 3 days.... haha.... sianz...
exploring the streets (with our sore legs... it's funny how we tried to jump to find that we hardly gain any lift) while the rest were catching up on their much needed rest! we had tahu-tek, jugung, macdonald's, icecream, steak pie... ahaha.... indulgence!
the stay at Sanur was a short one... we checked in in the morning.. rested and washed up.. had our lunch... then went explore the streets a little... then rested again... then Dunkin' Donuts... then dinner was at a pasar malam... they've got some nice food.... mie goreng, ayam goreng, nasi goreng (all the goreng's), sayur campur, watermelon juice, teh botol, freshtea, cola..... ooh... food's a bit oily... but it's like that when u wanna have streetfares in countries like that... which i like... =)
oh and it's good to know a bit of the local languages!!
"Cik', itu telur, masuk...then cepat cepat take out!!"
and voala! we got runny egg!! haha.....
sorry no photos... they're with xun and chelsea...
after dinner i could hardly stand and walk str8 already.... seriously lacking of slp.... after a shower i knocked out the moment i touched the bed... reminded me of that mattress advert....


Nusa Lembongan
we took the morning ferry to Lembongan after a quik breakfast near the jetty... had noodle soup and coffee... din take out my camera coz i was in quite a foul mood that morning leh... perhaps from the rush and still lack of slp... xun took quite a bit of photos though! of kittens and "si-kuit" (squid) and food stall.... will post once i get them from him!

checked into a nice laid-back accm managed by a family... friendly and good service...
"one of the best places to stay at Nusa Lembongan" - the Lonely Planet

nice resort-style accm.. completed with beach chairs and all... the beach is right at the doorstep!

sunset by the beach...
dinner was done at Ware-Ware (pronouced "wa-rey")... quite a posh restaurant considering that we were "backpacking"... but the price is reasonable though... singapore foodcourt pricing... we were seated in a nice cosy shelter facing the sea with everyone sitting on the floor having some kid's drinks after that and juz chatting the night away... till they're closing.... it was a nice walk back to our accm....
Kuta
last stop! kuta beach.... it was decided last min to stop by kuta since we've got the whole afternoon of empty slot... so we took the morning ferry at 1030am!! (it's the only ferry anyway)
the ferry was damn overloaded lor... there were worries that it's not safe to take such a loaded boat... we've got passengers on the top deck even! which were not meant for passengers... and to complete the picture, i saw a dog, heard a rooster crowing along the way... it was quite a rough ride.. i witnessed quite a lot of pukings (one was a pregnant lady, sitting right next to us... we tried not to look... the girls were getting affected by the sight and sound...) it's funny how come the locals seemed to be more vulnerable to puking....
after we picked up some laundry from Watering Hole @ Sanur, off we go to kuta! (sorry no pics!)

looked very tired huh... haha.... flying back home le...tmr working!! urgh!!!

juz for the record,
day 1: trek started at 3pm, ended at 9pm (projected 6pm)
day 2: trek started 3am, reached peak at 9am (projected 6am)
reached campsite at 6pm (projected 12pm)

exited trail at 6am (projected 4pm)

did u realise how freaking behind time were we?????
we skipped lunch and dinner coz not provided for... and continuous walking for almost 30 hrs! and making it all the worse... we din slp for 2 nights.... so all in all it was quite a terrible trek experience... nevertheless, i learnt quite a bit of lessons there...

the extended trek forced us to push back all our plans... instead of staying 2 nights over at Lembongan, we left after only 1 night there... but ok la, considering that the island doesn't haf a lot to offer if we din dive... so... *shrugz*