Christchurch

28/9/08 - My 1st solo trip: Christchurch, New Zealand. So i got onto a noon flight @ bout 1930hrs, there was a slight 20mins delay and soon the plane took off. The time required to hit my destination was bout 10Hrs. With the GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) of +13 hence they are 5hrs ahead of the local time. Getting kinda lost now huh.. you do the Math! anyway by the time i reached CHC its was bout 11.30AM their time. If anyone is to head there soon i would recommend you take peek out of the plane's windows cause ull get to see snow! ok not snow as in flake form but snow covered mountains haha!

snow covered mountains, a view from E plane.

Our stay was @ Millennium Hotel. Its located on 14, Cathedral Square. Thats my room...kinda small yea? strangely they got me a really huge wardrobe and theres a interesting thing bout their TV channels... once i flick the TV on it goes...

TV :"Welcome to Blablabla... we've got blabla movies and great Adult Movies! (the best part is the fella on the other side of the TV even says - Do not worry it would not show on your bill so NO ONE KNOWS!) ha! give me a break... like the lady @ the counter would no raise her brows when she see the difference in price one is paying for "the extra channel" PFFff... they cost more than the normal movies.

the peaceful streets of Cathedral Square

The cathedral to the rear

Anyway i took a quick shower and soon i was out on the streets of Cathedral Square with a few colleagues. The 1st thing we do was to snap a few pictures of the area before we head out for lunch. Strangely even tho we were overseas we still had the craving for local Asian food haha... Jap and Thai food was what we got in the end. We went round the corner to look for stuff that we could buy... Samantha was hunting for Manuka Honey for her mom and boyfriend while Meivi and I were just waiting for something to call out to us...BUY ME...

its really cold out there...

we had to get a cup of hot choco... once the breeze hits ya... BRRrrr...

As you walk along you would actually notice the many sights and sounds of CHC eg. ull have a few fellas preaching out LOUD! in bread daylight right in front of the cathedral, then you will also see roadside performers (i saw a lady playing the guitar and blowing away on the harmonica @ the same time, shees good!) and ull also see people playing XL size chest!

XL size chess game!

we practically finished the streets by mid noon and so we decided to hop onto the free shuttle bus that brings us further out so we could visit the mart to grab some rations and stuff. The mart is huge, it looks really simple from he outside but once you head in its like a factory lotsa open spare and food stacking up really high. The cool thing bout that place is that there are no cashiers to help you with you stuff everything you buy is paid for @ a kios thats DIY. Not bad huh saving cost on human labour.

Pak'n Save

Meivi tryin to destroy my picture! Sam got caught off guard haha!

this cool panda artwork was found on the floor @ the busstop.

After some grocery shopping we were on our way back to the hotel. Got like an hour or twos rest and we met up with the rest of our colleagues for dinner! 400g Beef Flinstone yummy! its a pity i didnt bring my camera along for dinner! BOOooo... oh the best part was everything was -50% for us WooHoo! i love my job!

The rest of the say was spent chit chatting till midnight. Woke up really early the next day to catch a flight back home from CHC International Airport. Not much time there to shop and all... but no worries for my Aukland trip would be coming up soon! then ill be more than prepared to shop for stuff and all! So till then fellas! short and sweet... need sleep... Gd night

Final 2days of training & Fay's Bday

Its was graduation day on the 24th, we pulled off a display of dances and a jumpy version of the schools song, it was a bitter-sweet graduation... everyone was glad that its finally over! we are now gonna be flying full time BUT the sad part is we are not gonna see each other ever again (probably if luck permits we might be on the same flight) apart from that the chances of us meeting are gonna be really slim judging from our hectic work schedule...

The last 2 days we spent in school was not too bad we had fun in class, grp work, giving out sweet little thank you cards and gifts (Thanks for all the stuff guys i love em especially the sweet notes written behind those photos we took) ...

haha surprise!

Then on the final day AKA Fay's 21th Birthday we decided to head out for Dinner / Celebration / Break-fast its like an all in one thing. Fay got all emotional

poor fay got all emoed after chipik's lill message

even when we were in class so you can imagine how it was like when we were all gonna head home after dinner haha... Fay you should be glad! 21Yrs old = Adulthood = mAny MAny Many more stuff you can do w/o parents consent er... haha UMBRELLA in Chinatown! i shall leave yao with this whole lot of pictures.

dinners bout to start

CRABS! YUMMY!

Jo and Ath aww so loving

Fay and Michelle

Zann hiding! thats the amount she ate haha! fat careful!

While i was out getting some fresh air i bumped into a grp of gangsters! =( 2 x Mud & Ah Lian+Mina haha! just joking its Michelle,Noraini and 2 x Aths trying to pull off that gangster look cant help but snap a few pictures of them, come to think about it "those days" back in secondary school was fun.

"Ah lian Michelle and Mina Noraini"

"Ath x 2"

Ath984, Ath984.5, Benny and I

After dinner it was time to bring out the CAKE! it totally chocolate man... sugar rush! no to forget the amount of weight we would gain from just dinner alone *BURP* the birthday song rang out loud... the crowd didnt seem to mind in fact the feeling of joy filled the restaurant bringing a smile to everyone's face - sweet memories

Happybirthday!

AAww..


Sinful i tell ya...


Fay looking all stoned after Benny landed some cake onto her face

It ended off with a mini food fight it was all fun. We had a feast till 2130hrs and it was time to head our separate ways... some of the fellas had to go home early as they would have to fly the following day. SO.. thats the end of training phase for our batch, in a blink of an eye its over. Ill remember how we introduced ourselves to each other 2 1/2 months back, our 1st batch outing to St James on the 1st weekend, The KTV sessions... theres so many good memories that would always be anchored in my mind. Dont forget our next batch gathering =) i hope to see every single one of you there!

Its 0340Hrs now time to get some sleep... CHC awaits Gd night!

Dinner @ Marina Square

Late entry... been busy with lotsa stuff recently sry dudes. Now here's a lill update on what has happened ever since my return from Nagoya. A date - Yes a date with Edda Christine Sim. We have been talking bout going out for oysters since i don't know when and so on the 21Sep we did.

Cheese!

she awaits good food =)

The destination? Paris Buffet Restaurant in Marina Square. They offer quite a selection of food ranging from Seafood to Japanese to Oriental Chinese food and Western food etc... upon arrival we did know where to start hmm... so it was walk walk round to see see here's what we got for "round 1"

Round 1

Edda started with fruits (dragon fruit lover), I just could not wait to sink my teeth into "real food" - hungry, so i got myself some cold dishes, Chix, JiaoZhi, Prawns... lobster soup w/o lobster in it BOOoo sad. Anyway Edda was not feeling very well on that day and i was worried if it was a right choice to bring her out for seafood... esp the raw oysters.

Round 2

Soon it was time for round 2! That's when she could not control her craving for Oysters haha... sick still wanna eat oysters oh well when it come to food theres no stopping her. I blame it on the fella that refilled the fresh oysters! I settled for Jap food as i was still missing the food back in Nagoya... i have gotta head back to Japan sometime soon and hopefully this time its to Osaka!

Watching her eat the oysters got me in a mood for some too... and so round 3 was... 1 x Oyster and a mix of some seafood. (was totally not planning on taking oysters as i was afraid ill get a bad tummy after)

I BLAME THE OYSTER REFILLING GUY! it taste so good la... squeeze in a lill bit of lemon juice then when you chew it burst and awww... so good

Round 3

Haha see how excited she gets when we get MORE oysters... Edda sometimes looking @ you reminds me of a lill kid excited @ the sight of candy, the kinda smile on you face cracks me up la

think this plate was her number 5 oyster or something and still going strong...round 5, cause it really taste so good. We decided to stop on that for a lill while cause theres still steam and black pepper crabs laying low somewhere round the restaurant... its time to strike out @ em!

The black pepper crab is kind of spicy... was enjoying my crabs when i notice Edda's crabs all gone! wah crab eating grandmaster la! SO FAST... yes yes i know i am lousy when it comes to competing "who eats more crabs @ fast speed" Its Round 6 and i could feel the food level rising... no no theres still so much good food!

We went back for more Oysters after the crabs in fact a few more rounds it was like "Round 8" by then Edda has got 11Oysters and i was only still @ 5... darn i lost once again. It was like close to 2200Hrs and we had to take our last serving of food before the fellas start packing up the food and all... so round 9!

Round 9 - i still wanted more oysters!

Its all the sweet stuff! Ice cream, cakes, durian puffs (she hates Durian! and if you are her boyfriend you are not gonna get any kisses for at least 1 week if you do consume durians haha), chocolate fondue, Jelly more fruits blablabla yummy! Edda made me a unique cup of coffee too! she told me the story on how she discovered how to make it while she was on a cruise with her dad... it taste good =) wonder whats te ingredients inside it.

After dinner...

an awesome view of our night lights

Beautiful...

We went for a slow walk after a filling dinner... some small chat, and a little sightseeing with the constant breeze in our hair as we walked down the freeway towards the Merlion it was a beautiful night...

Nagoya - Part 2

On our way to Sakae we bumped into the school kids! think they are bout @ secondary school level but boy the dress code is nowhere near what we've got at home. Big Hair / Long hair for guys. Girls got socks pulled all the way up to knee level and some have even got skirt that short as short can be! /cough

So when we were changing trains... we got into a cabin FILLED with girls ladies grannies all FEMALE! OK now somethings really really REALLY WRONG! we got onto a cabin only for Women!

Thats the Sign we missed -->

OH man Benny and I were lost for words, stares giggles pointing fingers... glad none of them called out for security! haha i can imagine what would have happened or even throngs of ladies hitting us with their handbags and highheel shoes! STONED

So we found it this rules set in place to put a stop to the frequent molest cases on the trains during the rush hours.

Dinner: we randomly found this back alley store, its owned by this family and they ve got really good food! the total price of the stuff you see on the tray, Ramen, Spicy Beancurb and Fried potatoes cost less than $10Sing. Yummy!

After dinner we went to Daiso aka 100Yen store and i got loads of food for the family haha - Love me! theres onw thing iam still curious bout tho... how come i cant seem to find Mizuno or any Gundam / bandai stores around?! sad... the camera went dead from here on. Left with pics taken with the phone and the rest are with Benny or Jessica ( dont think iam ever gonna get em back ) NOOooo....

we roamed the streets, heres a mall that looks unique =)

we went to the game arcade too!

Gundam game! for you fellas who watch play or just enjoy fixing the models! this arcade game is based on the 0083 series.

This game to the left is the BEST! its called JuBeat! ive never seen this game anywhere in Singapore yet - the small boxes wil light up and you are suppose to hit em accordingly oh btw its a music game and you get to select lots of really nice Jap songs from different artist like Do-As-Infinity and some from jap OSTs and all. I wish they bring this over to SG!

Went back after that... back to Hilton Nagoya... the end...

*No more net glitches from now on!*

WTF!

i just completed my post on nagoya... something glitches and its all GONE! ba iam lazy to re do this gonna head out for supper PFFFfff! /curses

Nagoya - Part 1

The flight to Nagoya is bout 7hours, we got there @ really early as my flight was a 0100hrs flight. The rest of the fellas went straight to the rooms for a nap once we hit Hilton Nagoya but NOOOOoo thats not what Benny and i had in mind. After dropping off out stuff in the hotel out we went!

shot of the rooms.

obvious what this is...

This comes with Shampoo, Bodysoap and Hairshower cool 3 in 1 stuff.

After a quick shower and getting into a fresh set of clothes we roamed the street round the hotel just to get a feel of what the Japanese crowd is like @ noon time. 99.9% of the male there are either in formal wear or a suit! the heat must be killing them inside! the ladies hmm no diff from Singapore. Just right it was lunch time when we head out, whats interesting is the working crowd would all queue @ the roadside stall from "boxed" lunch or some would head to the nearby mini supermarket for packed food!

*some expensive makan place* its called "siang sou" which means ENJOY =)

Thats the supermarket --------------->

that sells lotsa packed lunch etc for the locals that work around that area. Spoilt for choice

We got ourselves some finger food and went back to the hotel to give one of the crew a wakeup call. It was so hot that i could not resist another trip to the shower, Benny took like a powernap. So 1330Hrs we were out in the streets again! this time our destination was to - Nagoya Castle. After chatting up the sales assistant @ HardRock we managed to get a lill direction on how to get there. It requires us to take a train ride (its like our MRT but lots more "Chim" aka Complicated). Heres a few pics on what the train station in Nagoya looks like!

Thank God Benny was there if not.. iam screwed! all in Jap and Chinese

Theres something interesting bout the train stations in Japan which ill touch on a lill later. So back to where i last was.. yea its 3 stop to Nagoya Castle, cant really remember the Jap names of the stations ill try look em up.

So heres me in the train. It looks quite similar to what we hae back in Singapore only thing is its a lill bit smaller.

one feature that they have got is this door seperator between cabins. It serves a higher purpose....

So the entrance to Nagoya Castle is right at the exit of the train station. All you need to do is to get a ticket @ 500Yen - another interesting thing here is that all ticket sales goes into rebuilding Nagoya Castle which was actually burned down in the past... what a noble cause!

got my ticket!

view after the ticketing counter. The structure to the left is the guard house and to the right is the palace. Its quite a distance walk all the way in.

Theres this statue of a saurai guy. Spear, Katana and a FAN?! whats he up to lol... probably a hero from their time hmmm

so ull have to get pass the gates @ the guard house to get into the inner part of the fort and cover more road before you reach the main structure in the Nagoya Castle. Lotsa walking HOT!

Alas @ the foot of the Palace! its beautiful!

If iam not wrong its about 8 stories high! Time to get up

there, we passed on the lift cause @ every level they got historical exibitz going on from how to castle was built to what kind of weapons were used for warfare during their time and even the life style the people went through.

A set of ancient armor --->

The view at the top.