Today was cable-ski day.
I went to Batam and back to Singapore within a short span of 10 hours. It's not for holiday or vacation but for a super cool activity- cable-ski. I've always wanted to do activities such as wakeboarding, cable-ski, windsurfing, etc but didn't have the chance to do so, either due to the lack of activity partners or due to the price of the activity. So when Jimmy introduced this great lobang to me, I didn't hesitate to say yes.
We started off on the kneeboard a few times to get a feel of the cable and the speed at which we will be travelling at. I'm proud to say that I succeeded at the first time of the kneeboard, while my friends on did it at the 2nd time. But when we proceeded on to the wakeboard. things became a disaster.
I thought it couldn't be that difficult, considering that were lots of girls and even an old lady doing it quite well. When the cable came, I was confident that I could at least stand and ski at least 50metres. In the end, I fell face first into the water within 0.5 seconds. After at least 10 tries, I managed to stand up on the ski for at least 50 metres and that was my best record for the entire day. Jimmy was slightly better than me by maybe 10 metres, while Ming Tai was the only one who managed to ski almost 1 full round. We had the choice to return to Singapore on the 4.30 ferry or 7.30 ferry. We initially chose the 4.30 one because we thought we'll get bored after managing to ski a few times. In the end, we regretted the choice because we haven't even managed to ski 1/4 of a round, but it was too late to change our choice.
I can see myself heading back there in a few months time, either with the same group of friends or maybe some other group. I believe the next time will be much better. Maybe can impress girls when I manage to do a few jumps and simple stunts, probably in a few years time.
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S U R P R I S E
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M U S I C B O X
songs to share
P R O F I L E
me myself and i :)
Alan Yeo
18/5/1988
Dunman High
VJC
Pulau Tekong Service Support Unit/Ammo
NUS Business Administration (Awaiting University Admission)
dumber88@hotmail.com
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M Y B L O G
everything needs a user manual :)
I've changed my blog template to this really cool navigation type which may be confusing to people who were following my old blogs. But the fact that you are able to reach this page means that you understand how this works and that your iq is not so low after all.
Everything I type on my blog are my own personal comments purely for memory (or in certain cases, stress relieving) purposes and not targetted on inflicting irreversible mental trauma on whoever's name that is mentioned. I also do not like to discuss things mentioned in the blog outside of my blog. What's in the blog, remains in the blog.
Please tag on the tagboard to give me constructive comments or just to say hi. I love to say hi because greetings are free.
Remember to check out the songs I'm listening to in the music box segment located at the lower orange rectangle.
W I S H L I S T
the things that'll shrink my wallet
notebook
digital camera
new track shoes
new sneakers
new wallet
guitar
ray-ban aviators
learn singing
learn wakeboarding / cable skiing
chelsea fc jersey
that's all for now...
T A G B O A R D
talk, talk somemore
1:14 PM - Monday, June 23, 2008
11:50 PM - Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Day 3's main activity was actually to visit the erawan shrine where the famous brahma's is. I made it a point to include it specially in the itinerary because everyone who goes to bangkok must make it a point to visit this place and offer their prayers.
I didn't know there wasn't going to be a long queue and we ende up spending barely 30 minutes at that place. Decided to explore centralworld mall next which was even bigger than MBK but the stuff sold there were at market rate so not much goodies can be found.
Had lunch at pizza company which can be found easily everywhere in bangkok. It's a cheaper version of pizza hut and yet the food is equally delicious. One of the better meals we had there.
Walked around pantip plaza and platinum fashion mall for more shopping primarily because it was pouring heavily outside. Platinum fashion mall was another chopping centre where cheap stuff can be found, but mostly catered to ladies. had teabreak at A&W in pantip plaza. Haven't had their waffles in years.
Headed back to MBK for some last minute shopping before heading back to the hotel to pack. Headed over to suam lum night market again for our last night in bangkok. Ordered some sausages and 2 towers of chang beer to entertain us through the night. Most of us drank till our heads were heavy and I was rumoured to voluntarily ask the girl selling sausage to take a picture with me. Actually nothing wrong with that.
Knocked out the moment I reached the hotel and only got up to bathe in the middle of the night.
Day 4 was checking out day and a whole day of shopping at chatuchak weekend market. Got some souveniers and more clothes and accessories at super cheap prices. The place was simply too huge we mainly walked the clothes and souveniers section only.
Went back to the hotel for transport to the airport. Had a super expensive meal in the airport before heading back to home!
I didn't know there wasn't going to be a long queue and we ende up spending barely 30 minutes at that place. Decided to explore centralworld mall next which was even bigger than MBK but the stuff sold there were at market rate so not much goodies can be found.
Had lunch at pizza company which can be found easily everywhere in bangkok. It's a cheaper version of pizza hut and yet the food is equally delicious. One of the better meals we had there.
Walked around pantip plaza and platinum fashion mall for more shopping primarily because it was pouring heavily outside. Platinum fashion mall was another chopping centre where cheap stuff can be found, but mostly catered to ladies. had teabreak at A&W in pantip plaza. Haven't had their waffles in years.
Headed back to MBK for some last minute shopping before heading back to the hotel to pack. Headed over to suam lum night market again for our last night in bangkok. Ordered some sausages and 2 towers of chang beer to entertain us through the night. Most of us drank till our heads were heavy and I was rumoured to voluntarily ask the girl selling sausage to take a picture with me. Actually nothing wrong with that.
Knocked out the moment I reached the hotel and only got up to bathe in the middle of the night.
Day 4 was checking out day and a whole day of shopping at chatuchak weekend market. Got some souveniers and more clothes and accessories at super cheap prices. The place was simply too huge we mainly walked the clothes and souveniers section only.
Went back to the hotel for transport to the airport. Had a super expensive meal in the airport before heading back to home!
10:51 PM - Monday, June 02, 2008
Day 2 of the bangkok trip was the official temple visitng day. We woke up rather late due to the aftermath of watching the champion's league finals the night before. So we chionged breakfast and hailed a cab to go to the first destination- grand palace.
The grand palace is a really big place but mainly filled with tourists. We seem to be the only few not with a tour group which is slighty disadvantageous because we didn't know what building we were looking at and the history behind them. So there were times when we hid behind a tour group to try and catch what the guide was talking about.
It was quite an experience considering there's no such place in singapore to compare with.
Next we wanted to go to wat pho, which was the temple of the reclining buddha but this was where we had a really bad experience. I won't go to the details but we were scammed by a very professional group of thai into wasting some time and some money. We ended up visitng wat pho at around 2pm.
Wat pho was breathtaking. The statue was so huge and magnificent that I was so proud I saw it with my own eyes after seeing it in street fighter when I was young. We donated 100 baht in exchange for a bowl of coins to place into many bowls by the side of the buddha to show our respect.
Next is when I started to get a little annoyed with my friends. A few of them wanted to go back to the hotel to rest and play cards. In my opinion, having paid so much to go overseas, minimal time should be spent in the hotel doing things that can be done back in singapore. I was there to see as many things as I can, even if I didn't know how to get to the place. I guess in the end I made my stand clear and we went on to visit wat arun, the temple of dawn across the chao phraya river.
We had to take a ferry-taxi across which cost only 3.50 baht per person. The taxi was super rocky and unsteady and thus we were lucky the ride took barely 5 minutes. Wat Arun actually looks better from a distance but the challenge of going there was to climb up the super steep flight of stairs to reach it's mid point, and we did it.
After that strenuous activity, we decided to head back to the hotel to wash up before going to suam lum night market. Had dinner at santa's at MBK on the way.
Suam Lum was just shopping and shopping non stop and it's actually like bugis street magnified 10 times? The stuff sold gets quite repetitive after a while but each shop had a different threshold for their goods so it's interesting to try honing your bargaining skills. Completed 3/4 of the market at around 10pm when it started to drizzle. We headed back to the hotel just before it poured and watched a 2nd dvd as our late night activity. That day it was "the hottie and the nottie".
The grand palace is a really big place but mainly filled with tourists. We seem to be the only few not with a tour group which is slighty disadvantageous because we didn't know what building we were looking at and the history behind them. So there were times when we hid behind a tour group to try and catch what the guide was talking about.
It was quite an experience considering there's no such place in singapore to compare with.
Next we wanted to go to wat pho, which was the temple of the reclining buddha but this was where we had a really bad experience. I won't go to the details but we were scammed by a very professional group of thai into wasting some time and some money. We ended up visitng wat pho at around 2pm.
Wat pho was breathtaking. The statue was so huge and magnificent that I was so proud I saw it with my own eyes after seeing it in street fighter when I was young. We donated 100 baht in exchange for a bowl of coins to place into many bowls by the side of the buddha to show our respect.
Next is when I started to get a little annoyed with my friends. A few of them wanted to go back to the hotel to rest and play cards. In my opinion, having paid so much to go overseas, minimal time should be spent in the hotel doing things that can be done back in singapore. I was there to see as many things as I can, even if I didn't know how to get to the place. I guess in the end I made my stand clear and we went on to visit wat arun, the temple of dawn across the chao phraya river.
We had to take a ferry-taxi across which cost only 3.50 baht per person. The taxi was super rocky and unsteady and thus we were lucky the ride took barely 5 minutes. Wat Arun actually looks better from a distance but the challenge of going there was to climb up the super steep flight of stairs to reach it's mid point, and we did it.
After that strenuous activity, we decided to head back to the hotel to wash up before going to suam lum night market. Had dinner at santa's at MBK on the way.
Suam Lum was just shopping and shopping non stop and it's actually like bugis street magnified 10 times? The stuff sold gets quite repetitive after a while but each shop had a different threshold for their goods so it's interesting to try honing your bargaining skills. Completed 3/4 of the market at around 10pm when it started to drizzle. We headed back to the hotel just before it poured and watched a 2nd dvd as our late night activity. That day it was "the hottie and the nottie".
9:13 PM - Sunday, June 01, 2008
Finally have time to update about my trip to bangkok from 21st May to 24th May.
Day 1:
Had to reach the airport by 5.30am because our flight was at 7.10am so I had to take a cab there. After check in, we went on to have breakfast because it was really early. After breakfast, we proceeded to board the plane and they have to put the gates for jetstar at the very end because we were a budget airline. But it was ok considering how far people have to walk if they flew from the budget terminal. Jetstar was ok except the seats were super cramp and I doubt I can take it if the trip was longer than 2 hours.
Upon touchdown, we were met by the hotel driver to fetch us to the hotel. The hotel was in the middle of an alley and I think we only decided on it because it was cheap and we were ignorant. After unloading our bags and checkin in procedures, we walked to MBK to begin the shopping day.
MBK is huge. Had lunch at the 5th food avenue which had a system like marche and village, where u tap cards and pay at the end of the meal. The food there was nice but a bit steep compared to other options we had. During the first 30 minutes of shopping, I've already gotten used to the art of bargaining, as you'll definitely get cheated if you don't bargain. The dealers are willing to settle for prices that are about 60% of the price they quote you, even more so if you buy in bulk. We got some clothes and bags and decided to go back to the hotel for a rest.
Upon my suggestion, we went for a full body massage at 200 baht for an hour. That's not even $10. The massage was defnitely rejuvenating, considering we sat like a rock on the plane for 2 hours and walked around MBK for 4 hours before that.
At night, we took a cab to chinatown at yaowarat road for dinner at nam xing restaurant, reccomended by jeremy and my sister. The food was just slightly cheaper than singapore's "zi cha" but it was good to try thai chainese food. Bought lots of goodies to bring back to singapore for my family and my office mates. Ended the day with a dvd in the hotel room.
Day 1 should have ended there, but that night was the champion's league finals and chelsea was involved, and since the lobby had the telecast, we woke up at 2am to catch the match and I can only say chelsea lost to lady luck, with terry slipping at the last spot kick. Chelsea also hit the post twice before that. On the whole, I thought it was a nice match between 2 evenly matched sides. However, I get very irritated when people mock chelsea as a rich club that cannot win trophies. When chelsea don't win, they say that chelsea has money yet cannot win. When chelsea won the league in 2005 and 2006, people say chelsea is rich that's why they win. To me, people can say that chelsea's skills and teamwork is not good, but that totally has nothing to do with money and buying good players. If chelsea doesn't spend, people start talking about how chelsea can buy good players and they don't buy. If you are rich and can have tuition for all your subjects, does that guarantee good results? Yup, so people should let the feet do the talking. If chelsea don't play well or play well, it has nothing to do with the money. And I do agree that man utd has a better season this year but the champion's league finals was definitely evenly matched. Real Madrid is also rich, and they only showed their class this season amd they didn't buy many good players. It takes time for a team to gel together. Anyways, this totally should be in a separate post.
Shall update about days 2-4 in the next post.
Day 1:
Had to reach the airport by 5.30am because our flight was at 7.10am so I had to take a cab there. After check in, we went on to have breakfast because it was really early. After breakfast, we proceeded to board the plane and they have to put the gates for jetstar at the very end because we were a budget airline. But it was ok considering how far people have to walk if they flew from the budget terminal. Jetstar was ok except the seats were super cramp and I doubt I can take it if the trip was longer than 2 hours.
Upon touchdown, we were met by the hotel driver to fetch us to the hotel. The hotel was in the middle of an alley and I think we only decided on it because it was cheap and we were ignorant. After unloading our bags and checkin in procedures, we walked to MBK to begin the shopping day.
MBK is huge. Had lunch at the 5th food avenue which had a system like marche and village, where u tap cards and pay at the end of the meal. The food there was nice but a bit steep compared to other options we had. During the first 30 minutes of shopping, I've already gotten used to the art of bargaining, as you'll definitely get cheated if you don't bargain. The dealers are willing to settle for prices that are about 60% of the price they quote you, even more so if you buy in bulk. We got some clothes and bags and decided to go back to the hotel for a rest.
Upon my suggestion, we went for a full body massage at 200 baht for an hour. That's not even $10. The massage was defnitely rejuvenating, considering we sat like a rock on the plane for 2 hours and walked around MBK for 4 hours before that.
At night, we took a cab to chinatown at yaowarat road for dinner at nam xing restaurant, reccomended by jeremy and my sister. The food was just slightly cheaper than singapore's "zi cha" but it was good to try thai chainese food. Bought lots of goodies to bring back to singapore for my family and my office mates. Ended the day with a dvd in the hotel room.
Day 1 should have ended there, but that night was the champion's league finals and chelsea was involved, and since the lobby had the telecast, we woke up at 2am to catch the match and I can only say chelsea lost to lady luck, with terry slipping at the last spot kick. Chelsea also hit the post twice before that. On the whole, I thought it was a nice match between 2 evenly matched sides. However, I get very irritated when people mock chelsea as a rich club that cannot win trophies. When chelsea don't win, they say that chelsea has money yet cannot win. When chelsea won the league in 2005 and 2006, people say chelsea is rich that's why they win. To me, people can say that chelsea's skills and teamwork is not good, but that totally has nothing to do with money and buying good players. If chelsea doesn't spend, people start talking about how chelsea can buy good players and they don't buy. If you are rich and can have tuition for all your subjects, does that guarantee good results? Yup, so people should let the feet do the talking. If chelsea don't play well or play well, it has nothing to do with the money. And I do agree that man utd has a better season this year but the champion's league finals was definitely evenly matched. Real Madrid is also rich, and they only showed their class this season amd they didn't buy many good players. It takes time for a team to gel together. Anyways, this totally should be in a separate post.
Shall update about days 2-4 in the next post.
A R C H I V E S
why bother 'bout the past?
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
May 2005
June 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
April 2009
L I N K S
i am such a friendly person. yeah
andrea
bryan chng
charis
chen yan
cheryl
chunhan
clarissa
cruz teng
debbie
evan
felicia chin
francis
jacq
jared
jason hoon
jeannie
john
joy
michelle
mr brown
nat ho
peifen
roxanne
sam lee
sze ling
tina
tomato
valery
weibiao
weii
wenjian
yehlin
yongbin
zeya