SEP!

20 & 21/7/09 was my SEP recurrent training as guess who i had with me? Noraini and Jo! Sadly we were not in the same class tho... Noraini was alone and i was with Jo, there were a few funny incidents that happened. For the entire day1 the class mistaken me for the only "Malay Guy" in class and i only found out on the 2nd day when the class went eh wheres the "Malay Couple" (Jo and I) cause we were always late for class! and when the instructor was taking us for our evacuation test he read my name ADRIAN... GOH?! eh ur a chinese? not malay?! and when i said chinese the whole class went HUH! sure anot?! duz how can i even lie about my race, thats when the found out Jo was not a malay but an Indonesian. Man skin colour plays a major part in identification now a day huh? so much for "The always late malay couple"

Anyway i also found out that our batch is now 1guy less :( for some reason they terminated the contract of one of our boys. It sounded kinda unfair to me but i guess in times like this where the economy is struggling to regain balance and with "excess" crew, they axed him. My heart goes out to you bro, i hope u make it through your upcoming interview for TC. All in a nut shell, SEP was not too bad after all, we get to do alot of catching up with each other! Noraini why dont you go watch ur Transformers ASAP since you've got off tomorrow! and speaking of off days, everyones got an off day after today's course BUT Ive got a Jakarta turn tomorrow! so stoned right now... i wish i could just blink my eyes and somehow time travel to the final leg of my Manchester fight. Cant wait for the 27th...

Istambul + Desert tour

8-7-09

The sucky part bout this flight is the wait for our hotel rooms! gosh we had to wait 2hours before our rooms were ready, atleast the hotel provided us with breakfast so its not too bad... right after a quick shower we wasted no time! off we went on out sightseeing tour! We visited the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazaar (the Turkish man there are totally "chi ko pek" trying to hit on the female colleagues of mine, there was one that really cracked us up! he went up to Ann and pulled onto her original Longchamp bag "thats lousy, from China. Come i show you mine good come come" HAHA OMG ROFL that guys a real joker. After which i took a quick trip to the walking streets 10mins away from the hotel to get my hands on 1.5kg worth of Turkish Delight for my beloved Otter and family.

9-7-09

Pardon me for this brief post but iam really tired as ive just got back from the Desert Safari tour in Dubai, thank God i passed on the "night life" some of the fellas have planned. Sometimes i wonder whats the fun in getting oneself all drunk and high? an advantage to some and a form of escape for others just a mention a few reasons i can conjure. You can say its pot calling the kettle black, yes ive got myself dead drunk before and iam not proud of it and it ends with me falling dead in bed. Sometimes i wonder apart from socialising and letting your hair down, how would it reflect on oneself if he or she gets drunk infront of a bunch of people whom you have only known for a few days your speech your actions your image, how much truth is there in ones word, someone whom you hardly know. Well ofcourse there are kind souls out there who really care and give you honest comments and feedback, but ive seen enough from where iam from to set my foot down on this matter to say MOST of these "tryers" are out just for a free fuck (both genders included, pardon my language) 8/10 flights and even if you are innocent of such "crimes" its so common being a "GS" you are stereotyped PFFff how negatives that huh? Hmm i must have got carried away... my colleagues and i have been talking bout our experiences for these pass few days and hence i decided to air my views, i'd better stop... for now.

Since thats the case i shall carry on blogging bout my return trip in Dubai. Its start off with touchdown as always (its like once upon a time) anyways yea dinner @ this place called "Silver Eagle" slow service but good food. I managed to get back in time to catch my beloved otter waiting patiently, shees such a sweetheart! it was late and still she waited... 2Am considering she has a flight in a few hours time, how much more can i ask for? sometimes.. no, infact i consider myself lucky and blessed to have her in my life.

The following day aka today, a few of my colleagues and i (Isac, Ann, Jeanie and Latha-Tyra ) booked a tour to the Desert Safari! It was a blast, we went on a 4x4 Dune Bashing trip, a camel ride, Sand Boarding (its like wake boarding but on sand), a wonderful spread of food and dancing under the stars with the belly dancers! in total we spent like 150Dhs/person which is like er.. / 2.5 = S$60. Not too bad for 1/2 a days tour. Ill elaborate and explain more along the way once iam able to post the pictures onto the blog. As iam listening the "The Piano Duet" from Corpse Bride i cant help but think about Edda playing away on the piano... its time to switch off the light now. Gd night folks

10-7-09

Got up early @ 4.30AM to accompany my little otter for a lill as she gets ready for work, she is one of the few whom i know can pull off a perfect and flawless "French Twist", Sending her off to work through the webcam sucks... i wonder how much longer can i take all of THIS (sometimes i wonder to myself if flying is really what i want once i settle down with a family of my own, i pray that God guides me along as i grow in life. ) After a few hours of sleep i got up and make my way down to this outlet called "Choc & Nuts". Sadly when i got there it was closed! reason being in Dubai, Friday is like an off day hence departmental stores and such only open late in the day! my call-times at 5pm and Choc and Nuts will only be opened @ 4pm... iam so disappointed, now i cant get the goodies i was planning to buy for family and friends :( SAD! iam gonna try rush down at 4 and get back by 5Pm before call time.

10-7-09, 1530Hrs

After checking and asking around i found out the Choc & Nuts opens only at 4.30Pm instead of 4. Call times at 5 which means RUSH! and i don't have that kinda time to spare, making another trip down would mean a waste of time waiting for the store to open and money on another cab ride! Somehow i don't believe that Choc & Nuts is the only store that sells Choco-Dates with almond and good pistachio nuts, armed with my determination and the fact that ive wasted so much time and money getting there earlier today, i hit the streets and asked around! and it all paid off! i found the exact Choco-Dates w/ Almond! and this ones packed in a more attractively then again its a little more expensive. Who care? i got what i wanted and thats what matters! Time to get ready for my flight back to Singapore :)

Dubai so far

Touched down and got to Angsana Hotel @ about 2AM GMT+4. All i could think about then was to get a hot shower and to surf the net for a lill but somehow the LAN lines dont seem to work well on my Acer, everytime i connect to the net my computer is automatically rebooted with this "Blue screen" error. I tried to fix it but to no avail... final resort i got someone up to look at my computer at about 4Am, he had no idea whats going on too! and hence i was given free access to the wireless network. So now the good thing is everyone has to use the net in the living room where else i get to laze in my warm and cosy bed haha~

Heres what my room looks like, its a little different from the previous room ive got while i was here. Instead of a combined living room and bed room, its now seperated. By 5 i was all tucked into bed within my "fortress" with the laptop by my side... everything went dark.

Top to Bottom: Living room, Bed room, Kitchen and Toilet

The trip to the Desert was delayed to our return leg from Istambul as the rates in the hotel here is kinda high compared to Traders Hotel. Hence we went to the Dubai Mall for a walk and to buy some food. Snapped a few interesting shots while i was there.

cool huh?

Lunch Fries with Beef, Bacon bits, onions, tomatoes, chives etc

The HUGE tank thats in the Mall has even got sharks and rays in em!

Time to head out for dinner with the crew, our Chief is cooking Nasi Lemak! such nice chaps are hard to come by indeed. They bring people from all walks of life together!

A taste of home made bread with <3

A baker within our mist? Iam sure almost every single one of you guys must have atleast once in your entire life seen how the bakers, be it in bread talk or some neighbourhood bakery makes bread but have you ever tried it first hand? yes making bread in you own very kitchen! and thats what Edda and I did yesterday over @ her place. BAKE BREAD! the fun part is we got to choose what goes into our own home made bread! Raisins and lots of Wholemeal :) a quick trip to NTUC and with a budget of + - $10.00Sgd and everything done within 2 hours.

I do not have my hands on the pictures of the entire process but Ive got this! The end product coated with crunchy peanut butter! (as iam blogging bout this experience iam actually devouring the bread! its so tasty!) Edda took some of the Wholemeal raisin bread over to Rome, Left some home for Kong and the rest, i took home to my family. Its been so long since we actually baked or cooked and its enjoyable indeed.

Time to get another slice!

Backpacker hotels and filled with surprises!

Today marks the end of my 10days worth of A/L. In fact iam so awakened by the sudden streak of "carefreeness" and fun by the flight that ive got tonight! Its like "THE DREADED FLIGHT" of all - make a guess fellas ANS: _______.

Anyway i was in Auckland from the 20th-27th, the best thing bout that trip was? Edda was there with me! The flight up on the 20th was great! i had an awesome set of crew and they were all so friendly towards me :) i really enjoyed my flight up. The time spent there was well worth especially the trip to the Auckland Zoo! the weather was good, shady and chilly and the zoo is huge! not many visitors that day plus there are loads of chickens running around!

I kinda wanna blog bout the "interesting" things that happened instead. Ive never stayed @ a backpackers hotel before and this trip marks my first. Why? you might ask. Well cause its cheap and its an experience! and boy was it an experience indeed! I checked into a room with 4 x double Decker beds! my room mates Daniel and Megan (couple from London) they have been backpacking for the past 5months all the way from the south of Asia, how cools that?! and theres Clair (shees from Ireland and she has been looking for a job for the pass few weeks) Sam (how he hitched a ride on the south islands of NZ and stayed in a farm with this family cause their daughter liked him, he left only after she showed him how to castrate a cow, which really freaked him out when she hold him she was good with a knife) we were all laughing so badly when he told us that! We spent alot of our time trading stories and watching movies in the movie room.

mines to bed by the window

Heres where it gets annoying! on the final night there @ 1am this pair of fellas from the Netherlands came in, they have only got to know each other a few hours ago on flight and decided to bunk in for the night before heading their separate ways the following morning. They kinda hit it off instantly, got changed and went for drinks at the Globe bar that was below the hotel. It was a Wednesday and RnB music was seeping through the walls, i could hardly sleep. 3-4am they came back changed out and looks as if they were ready to retire for the night... NOT! This girl had to step on my foot before getting up onto the bed above mine which woke me up and the next thing i knew the guy came jumping up onto the bed with her! Ok the bed is really flimsy and the base it supported bu springs.

Jason: Hey lets cuddle
Girl: *giggles*
Jason & Girl after 10mins: kissing and sound of removing of clothes
Jason & Girl after 15mins: weird moans and heavy breathing

Jason & Girl after 20mins: WAKES ME UP AS MY BED WAS MOVING! plus the sound of the spring going kweek... kweek... kweek... and it got faster like KwWWEeKKWwwweeKKWwweK!

OMG they were so inconsiderate, look i know it too much to ask for in a hotel where u pay 27NZ/Night but HEY! please be considerate and keep the noise down cause everyones sleeping and Iam right below you. Obviously they didn't give a damn bout it cause i was not the only one awake and @ 5+ another fella came into the room and that didn't stop the piston. It was the worst night ever! and this experience might just mark the first and last time iam ever gonna stay in a backpackers hotel!

Apart from that miserable incident, the rest of the trip was good. Oh and that includes a business class seat back to Singapore :)

Time to get ready for flight! can wait to finish this overnight turn and spend some time with my lill princess before she heads off to Rome.

Amsterdam *will post pics soon* tired...

Behold!

Once again, Amsterdam! if the 1st question that comes to your mind is DRUGS! then hey iam sorry i have still yet to try any and i dont plan to so dont ask me why and how does it feel like getting HIGH on "spacecakes" etc pfff... alright, anyway a few of my colleagues and i decided to pull off a quick one right after touchdown, a quick one as in wash up that is and off we went to this place that holds miniature landmarks of the Netherlands - Madurodam.

In order to get there ull firstly have to take a tram all the way to the central station, grab a ticket to Amsterdam Den Hagg (€19.40 2nd class tickets) and make haste cause if you miss the train, ull have to wait for another 30-45mins for the next one to arrive. The train ride would take you a little out of an hour to get there, after which u can grab a 2way tram ticket (€2.50) which is much cheaper compared to the 1way (€1.60). A few stops and walla! Madurodam! the entrance fee is €14.50 and remember to take your guide book! if not ull never know whats what in there. So welcome to the smallest town in the Netherlands! everything is 25times smaller than reality and its all in the exact replica of the original structures. Here's some of the pictures we took.

Who would have expected to see this here!

MuahahahHAHHahah!

Some kinda "Arty-Farty" feeling got into me when i saw this bumblebee! shees such a sport, minding her own busy bumble bee routine and still being friendly enough to allow me some close up shots of her. So cute esp when it burrows itself into the flower! on a side note, strangely these day iam attracted to taking pictures of things that are non-human.

After a few hours we had to rush back to the hotel to meet up with the fellas for a very special occasion! everyone turned up cabin and tech crew alike! We got a cake and champagne too! sounds like a party? well YES! cause it was our captains birthday! Dinner was fantastic... Ribs, Booze, Cake etc we had a blast, i was so dead beat by the end of it all i skipped the "red light district" tour that we planned, fell dead half way through "Jumper" within the warmth of my fortress.

Day2 was surprisingly chilly, there was this constant breeze in the air. Breakfast was out in the open @ the Sports bar. I rained soon after as we took a stroll toward our next destination: the Van Gohg Museum. Boy i had to queue for like 30mins in the rain just to get to the entrance! thank God Alice and Jes managed to get tickets (€12.50) from the advance counter in the hotel! it could have been a longer wait. Sadly pictures are not allow to be taken in the museum, wish i could show u guys some of the amazing artworks. Its interesting how Vincent Van Gohg's life was lived from dreams of being a pastor to a artist whom committed suicide, dark times indeed.

Next off it was to the Diamond museum, we were in luck cause it was not only free entry but we had a most gracious host to bring us around the museum and to enlighten and delight us with the beauty of those sparkling little stones in a private vault. After asking and hearing what she had to say i was thinking to myself "phew iam glad i picked the right one". Was so close on a wrong pick which could have been disastrous!

a 2 hours journey through Westcoast park.

Mp3: Check, Camera: Check, Running Attire: Check. The plan was to get away from home, away from the urban jungle that surrounds us every single day of our lives. I cant remember the last time i went to Westcoast Park for a run, somehow everytime i decide to work out its gonna be at the Sports Complex. So this time round i decided to visit the park instead, plus i wanted to be alone, and i know going to the Sports Complex ill be no where near that.

I plugged in and off i went, the random though of bringing a camera paid off. Infact i was glad i had my camera with me. Take a moment to think, on how many occasion have you ever seen something interesting from time to time and so wanted to take a picture, BUT you didn't have a camera with you OR you were only armed with a 3mega pixel camera phone, Oh bummer! Yea thats how it feels.

Here are some pictures Ive taken, not while on the run ofcourse! The place has changed quite significantly.

Towards the end of the park theres this open field where dog owners can bring their pets for some doggy interaction. I was fun to be around so many dogs!

3 on 1 ganging the poor black dog for the "squeaky ball"

The winner!

the black dog here tried to irritate the white one haha it was funny to see the both of them wrestle it out!

i was a little too late in getting pictures of the sun set, totally forgotten about it and when i dashed back to the seaside this was whats left :( sad

The condo that was once labeled "my dream home" now its somewhere in the east

My neighbourhood friendly "manja" cat. Love her cause she seems to talk to you when you interact with it! Sadly i cant keep pets at home if not i would bring this sweety home.