Thursday 29 September 2011

Moments, travel

Finally I'm blogging now, after a few days of telling myself I'll blog and ended up not blogging. I have to blog about my OCIP trip! I have ideas in mind of what I want to blog already. But before that let me start with what happened today and yesterday alright, I went out to meet some people on both days, and I'll be going back to Indo tomorrow for the rest of the holiday. Finally home :)

Anyway yesterday I met up with Jolene, Sharon, Melissa, Carmen, Weiqi and Yang Peng! We met at Vivo and had dinner together. Finally get to meet some of the 4E1 peeps. Been a long time since we all met and talk huh :) As for today, I had lunch with Candy, her sister, Nic and Kayheng! Following a walk walk session with Doreen, Alicia and Junhua. Shihui joined us later. Yay I finally meet some of my awesome Green Transformer team! :D

And yup I'll be going back tomorrow. Finally going back home. I kinda miss it haha, my comfy room, my family, my dogs and the fooood. I hope it'll be a great way to end off my September holiday :)

Alright now I shall blog about the OCIP trip! My plan is to blog about some parts of the OCIP itself. Not day per day, cause I think it'll take a long time and I'm lazy to transfer what I wrote in my journal to here. Sorry heh, laziness at its best.

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Inner Mongolia OCIP write up #1 - 8 hours bus ride, times two

In order to reach Duolun, we had to take an 8 hours (approximately) bus ride there from Huairou, Beijing. We headed off that day, 6th of September at about 9 AM and we reached Duolun at about 6 PM. That is inclusive of lunch at Feng Ning and the occasional toilet break we had. Some in proper toilets, some just... Road side. It's a pretty interesting experience I guess.

Armed with an iPod, I was either awake or asleep or talking during the journey. The first few hours of the journey I was kinda awake. I was writing my journal and listening to my iPod, as I enjoy the scenery. The scenery of the first few parts of the journey were really plain and normal to me. More of tall rocky mountains with small shrubs growing on them. Less of what I was looking for - grasslands.


After Feng ning, which I learnt from a local that it's near Inner Mongolia, the view start to change. Tall mountains are filled with grasses. And surrounding them are grasslands or empty plots of lands. The rows or maize plants turn into wheat. Green turn into yellow. It was really a gradually awesome change. And somehow, the sky turned nicer too. From cloudy to blue, with a slight drizzle in the middle.


Then somehow something tells me that we've reached Inner Mongolia - the grasslands. Somehow we just entered this area, and a stretch of grassland greeted us. We saw a small Mongolian ger as well. And straight away, I know we're in Inner Mongolia. It was really a beautiful sight. I felt really blessed and happy to have been chosen for this trip. To be able to see all these wonderful sights.



Right after that the journey didn't come to an end. I thought Duolun was nearby and I was really anticipating the bus to stop and for me to see how Duolun looks like. In my mind, Duolun is a small sleepy town with grassland surrounding them. Like a tiny village but with a touch of modernity. And the hotel we're staying will be some super simplistic hotel where the owner is this old lady who will cook us breakfast.

Alas I was wrong :P

I've never taken a bus ride so long before. I've taken a 7 hour train ride, where the seat is comfortable, toilet is there, food is there. That was in Norway 2 years ago. But never an 8 hour bus ride. Somehow, it was really a fun and enjoyable ride I've been on. The beautiful sights, the wonderful company of my friends, and wonderful music in my ear. I was listening to  Sacral Nirvana by Oliver Shanti and friends on the way.

I wrote in my journal: "With Sacral Nirvana in my ears, it feels like I'm in one now"

Which is really true, I feel really blissful and awesome to just listen to that song, and watch the grassland and everything else pass by. It's amazing how music can change everything, every mood and every feeling you have in one particular moment.

And on the last day we had in Inner Mongolia, that was the last day we had in Lanqi after we stayed one night in a Mongolian ger (16/09/2011), we had another 8 hour journey back to Beijing. This time round it was kind of faster, cause we had no lunch but we grabbed a street food pancake in Feng Ning instead of having a meal in a restaurant. So we headed off at 8 from Lanqi and we reached Beijing at 4 or so.

Same thing, we had our occasional stops for our toilet break. This time round, I got to experience peeing in a super beautiful gorge. I mean it's seriously beautiful. I think it deserved a best toilet award! :P And from Lanqi we passed by Duolun. It was a great way for me to relive the moments I had in that beautiful town. I thought we wouldn't pass by it, but we did eventually.


The thing is, I somehow feel that the ride back to Beijing was faster than the ride to Duolun. Even though by right, the time taken was almost the same. Maybe shorter by a bit but doesn't differ by a lot. The views we passed by were not exactly the same, maybe ji shi fu, our driver, took another route. Or maybe it was the same, just that I couldn't remember.

I guess it's right that they say - the journey back always feels shorter. I guess perhaps because on the way to Duolun, my heart was filled with excitement and anticipation. The wait thus felt longer. And on the way back, my heart was filled with memories and stories. The journey felt shorter, because instead of being excited, I was feeling sentimental and my thought was filled with stories instead.

A distraction that steals me away from time, that steals time away from my obvious mind.

The 8 hour journey, will be something I'll never forget :)




Tuesday 27 September 2011

SPSB Korea Trip :D

Hello all! I just got back from SPSB Korea trip :D I had a great time there! Kudos to all the committee who have planned this trip, especially to Zachary who is the tour co-ordinator :D I really enjoyed the trip there and wow! I couldn't believe I just performed overseas in front of a public crowd! It's like a dream come true for me :) So yup I feel really happy about that.

Anyway the trip was about 6 days long, I won't talk in complete about the trip. Maybe just a rough idea of the places etc. Anyway I'm blogging while waiting for my photos to be uploaded :P



Anyway the first day was spent out, we reached Seoul at about 7 AM and we head for breakfast first! It was udon with some fried fritter thingy. Finally I had kimchi! Yayness haha. Then we visitted DMZ AKA de-militerised zone, where we could see North Korea from there. Kind of cool actually, we saw the tall tall flag pole there. And North Korea itself! Pretty amazing, especially for a history student like me.

Clarinets! :D

The 2nd and 3rd day was our "exchange" days. The first exchange was at Yonsei university. We performed in their auditorium! They looked like they enjoyed our performance, even though it could be better I feel. I would like to apologise myself as I didn't touch my lovely clarinet for like a month already, and I performed. But I gave my best shot, and I truly enjoyed performing there :) We had a campus tour as well, and we watched their orchestra performance! They played Bach symphony no 1, pirates and star wars :D

Kind of funny that they called us SPOB - Orchestra Band. I guess it's some miss communication,

Performance at Insadong street!

Hanyang University Amateur Orchestra. Go Woodwinds! :D

The 2nd exchange was with Hanyang university. We didn't have an exchange but we went to watch their concert called Hanaklang! Really awesome concert, even though we missed the first half. On the 3rd day we also performed and Insadong street where we attracted quite a few crowds! I felt really happy to have performed there. At first I didn't know we are performing at public place. When I knew, I was both happy and nervous haha. But seriously, it's a dream come true for me to perform overseas. So I really enjoyed it there!

Nothing beats the joy of playing John Barnes Chance's Variations On A Korean Folk Song in Korea itself. Just so amazing, arirang~

The next few days was spent either shopping, sightseeing, and LOTTE WORLD!


Lotte World is a theme park, it's freaking awesome there. So proud of myself to have tried their "hardcore" rides where it's really... Hardcore heh. Like the Gyro Swing where we are seated in a circle, then we are turning and swinging quite high! Kinda scary but fun! And Gyro Jump, Atlantis (best coaster ever) and Comet ride. Woohoo :D


There was sightseeing at the palace. It reminds me of Da Chang Jin haha. The architectural design there is really nice, kind of like the Chinese (like the one in Gu Gong) but simpler and less colourful. Pretty interesting designs as well, like why sand is used around the king's sleeping room, to prevent assassins from entering the gate, cause there would be noise when they walk on the sand.

Myeon Dong

Insadong

Shopping was done in Insadong, Dong Dae Mun and Myeon Dong! The shirts there are not as CHEAP as I thought, it's slightly cheaper, but good! I mean it's like Made in Korea so I guess worth the price. I love the designs as well. There's this shop called art box in MD and their notebooks are soooo gorgeous. I bought some, cause they are cheap as well! How awesome right :D

Ginseng Chicken! Samgetang

Yup I guess that's all for the trip itself. I had a great time there, but I wished I could have more time exploring the city and interacting with the locals/students there. The weather there is really nice, and the people there really know how to dress well. The food there is heavenly, with the ginseng chicken as my most favourite! Not forgetting the BBQ stuff too.

I'll return to Korea one day, that's a promise :)

Alright that's all for the Korea trip! Photos are on FB so you can go check it out. See you all soon! :) I need to blog more about my OCIP trip as well, the last post was just like... 1/3? 1/4? Of it. More to come, more photos! :D

Sorry if I was a loner there. Sorry if I feel like I'm a precipitate

Tuesday 20 September 2011

Back from Inner Mongolia!


















Hello all! I'm back from Inner Mongolia! Actually it was two days ago but last night I fell asleep and hence I didn't blog. Believe it or not I'm leaving for Korea tonight for an exchange trip with my band! Yup one day of rest and then off I go again. I wanna blog a few things about my Inner Mongolia trip so here I am! :)

Anyway to sum everything up, the trip is just one super duper freaking awesome trip. It was the best two weeks of my life so far. Inner Mongolia itself is such a beautiful place! Seriously loving it there. I'm also surrounded by awesome friends, friendly locals. The food there is awesome as well. I can't help but to have severe withdrawal syndrome after the trip. That's another reason I didn't blog last night. Cause I was feeling sad and horrible, all I wanna do is just to watch TV :/

I spent 14 days there. The first week was alright, lots of digging and marking. I'm a marker by the way, with Yong An and Jeff. We marked out the plots for the diggers to dig the holes. It may seem like a simple job. Actually it's not really. It's quite stressful! Haha

The second week was like the finilisation on the whole planting process. We plant the saplings and we water most of the holes. Don't forget the R&R days as well. We spent some days going for sightseeing tours in the second week.

The thing I like about the trip is that we're not "bounded" by tours. We're free to buy our own things, daily necessities and food. We're free to roam the city and engage with the locals. Do our laundry, get things to eat. So in a sense we have more freedom and "adventure" during the trip, which I really love! In the second week we're given the chance to buy our own dinner and lunch. That's awesome eh.

The working days are fabulous as well. We would work from 9 to about 12.30, then have lunch either outside or on the field (most of the time on the field) from 12.30 to about 2. Then we start working again till 5.30. We would carry our shovels into the field, wearing gloves and straw hats, working together. In the afternoon it could get quite warm when the sun is whining. In the evening, the temperature drops rather quickly.

There are times where we would have to wait for the rain to subside, or to stop working when the rain gets heavier. I would also miss those times where we would use the natural toilets! Just look for a tree and pee woots. Sometimes after we work, the sunset would be so beautiful. It felt really awesome to see the sunset after a day of hard work. It's like a gift from the sky to us.

At night we would go back to our hotel, eating dinner together in the same place. The food is nice. I love their shou ba rou, or like stewed lamb meat and then chopped then dipped in sauce. Breakfast would get a bit boring as we're having the same thing for like about 10 days heh. There are different food in Duolun itself. I like the beef noodle and the dumplings. So yummy!

The town itself is rather small. But there are still cars and people walking etc, quite bustling. But the pace of life there is so slow, so relaxing, so nice. Unlike here in Singapore, or Beijing where life feels so fast. When we returned to Beijing, we could feel how much faster life went by in Beijing rather than in Duolun. I really miss Duolun. The people there, the food, the weather. Everything.

Inner Mongolia is a beautiful place. It was my first time seeing grasslands stretching wild and free under the blue sky. Herds of cows or donkeys can be seen in the distance. Some lonely trees would be there to dance and sway in the wind. Plus since it's autumn now, some of the grasses turn yellow or even red. Some of the tree leaves as well. It's such a beautiful scene.

Yesterday was really horrible. I was having severe withdrawal syndrome. My heart didn't feel right, I felt really empty and sad that the trip is over. I guess I was really having such a good time there. I told myself, you know you had a wonderful trip when you feel emotionally attached to the people around you, to the places you visited and to the locals.

In my case, yes, I am really emotionally bonded with the places there :)

Alright I guess that's all for now. When I got back from Korea I will do more posting about the trip, and about the Korean trip as well. See you in one week time! Hope I'll have an awesome time in Korea, which I know I will! :)

Feels weird not counting down to my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip. But I had such a good time there. It's one experience I'll never forget. An experience that will remain in my heart.

Sunday 4 September 2011

Tomorrow it is, tomorrow.

Hello guys! This is my 650th post! :D

And to dedicate this 650th post... I am dedicating this to my trip to Inner Mongolia which is tomorrow! Finally! :D

It's finally one day... Or should I say 9 and a half ours more to go to my trip! Pretty fast huh. I checked back and I've started counting down since 6th June, that was 89 more days to my trip! 88 days ago! And it feels like it was... 3 weeks ago? I guess it's finally here, the day I've been waiting for. I am very excited about the trip :) It feels great and surreal that the trip is TOMORROW or in a few hours time!

Well even though I'll only reach Inner Mongolia on Tuesday :P

But well... I still feel excited and happy! I'm not sure how I'm going to sleep tonight, hopefully I can. Cause my flight is at 9.30 and I gotta reach the airport by like 7. So I have to leave my house by about 6.30 and have to wake up at 5.30! And with the fact that I've been sleeping at four everyday for the past week... I really really hope I can sleep heh. But I think I can, kinda sleepy now!

I've done my packing so far, just need to put some stuff into my backpack and my duffel bag. After that I'm good to go! Took some time off first just now to blog and tumblr. Just wanna write how I feel cause I'm pretty excited about the trip haha.

Well there are lots of reasons why I am so excited about the trip. One of them is cause to travel to Mongolia, Inner and/or outer is a dream for me. I want to travel there. When I looked at the trip's banner, I quickly signed up and... I'm leaving tomorrow! My life-long dream is coming true! How can I not feel happy and excited?

Next, as you all know, I really love travelling. I love discovering places, learning new cultures, and exposing myself to the beauty of a place I've never visited before. So yes again, I'm pretty excited about this trip! I get to learn more about the culture, the people and not to forget, the environment! That's the main objective of this project right?

I guess it's always good to give back to mother nature. We take so much from her, when she's angry, we blame and curse the condition. Only to know the cause of her anger - is us. So to plant trees in Inner Mongolia, it's a way for me to give back to her, and to prevent desertification to occur. Inner Mongolia is a beautiful place as I've seen from the net. I don't want it to turn into a desert.

Last but not least, trips like these are ways which I can escape from the troubles and reality of life. It's a way I can digress and just have a time to myself and my surrounding, to enjoy what I do, and to just lose myself to find myself. I will make sure that the 2 weeks spent there will be one of the best two weeks of my life. It will be great. I know it will :)

Right! I guess that's all for now. I'll be back on the 18th! Be prepared to be bombed with photos and stories and more from Inner Mongolia and Beijing! Looking forward for this awesome trip! I hope that the trip will go as smooth as possible, and that we'll have one of the greatest times of our lives there. I know it will!

See you on the 18th :)

Finally :)

9.5 hours more to fly to Beijing! :D :D

Saturday 3 September 2011

Awesome Saturday




















I can't wait to fly

Whew, today was a really long long day, but it was really wonderful and awesome! Despite the fact that I only had 5 hours of sleep last night -.- Thanks to my body clock seriously. But well I had fun and that's an awesome thing right? :D So many great things happened today, such an awesome Saturday really! :)

Anyway right, first yes I slept for only 5 hours -.- From 4.30 to 9.30 and alas I was late for my OCIP meeting. It was at 10 and I reached at 10.15. Thankfully I live near school so I guess it's really fine and I can make it on time quickly. It was our last meeting before the trip, and so it was seriously making me super duper excited for the trip! Heh. And well some things were sorted out and stuff, so I think we're good now.

After all, we've to be ready no matter what lies ahead. Be ready and spontaneous. That's the only way we can accept challenges and took it!

After the meeting some of the GDP mates went to Somerset to get some Uniqlo long sleeve shirt called the Heatech! While being there, there was a sale for this long sleeve shirt from 14.90 --> 9.90! I went to grab one heh, I need sweater anyway :) After the shopping we get some snacks to eat and we headed to Syafiqah's house for her Raya open house! Oh my gosh the food is so good!

The food is really really good! All the lontong, curries and chicken! And I like the... Okay I'm not sure what they called it here, but back in my hometown it taste exactly like bala-bala. It's like fried dough fritters with carrots, onion and more. So yummy! Thanks the food, they are comfort food that reminds me of my hometown and it's a great meal before I leave for Inner Mongolia :)

The curry complements everything. So once again thank you Syafiqah for having us there! And her mum is seriously one fabulous chef :D

Went to Orchard to meet Neal and Jeslyn after that. Neal was late heh so Jeslyn and I spent some time shopping and returning my setup box. Thanks for accompanying me to do all those! Haha. Got a good deal at Lucky Plaza  to get the postcards for my OCIP trip, for the villagers. 50c each! Haha. We met up and had dinner, and spent some time wandering and found our way at Pomo (first time there) to go for TCC's drinks :D

And then we headed back home, and yup that's all for my long day!

Oh man somehow I still can't believe that my OCIP trip will finally begin this Monday! I guess it's due to the fact that I've been couting it down since like 60 days ago heh. Pretty amazing how much time could fly no? I really can't wait to go to Inner Mongolia! The beautiful scenery there will be a perfect escape for me after this super long and tiring semester. Hmm :)

Alright I guess that's all for now, gonna get busy tonight with lots of packing and stuff to do! Printing this and that, preparing that and this. Time to get busy! :P See you again!

We all want some attention. We all do.

2 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!

Thursday 1 September 2011

Happy (belated) Teachers' Day!




Hello everyone! Oh gosh blogger has decided to change its interface... Me no like! Not really actually, I think it looks neater. Just that... I'm not used to it! But I think it's cool (oh wow so ironic of me). But yup it looks much neater and cleaner. I'll just have to get used to it.

First of all wishing all teachers...

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY 2011! (belated :P)

Thank you to all teachers who have taught me for all my 19 years of life. Thank you for both your academic and aesthetic teachings. They are all wonderful and really shaped me for who I am today. Without you, I'm not who I am today! :)

It was a last minute decision for me to go back to Tanglin. I talked with my brother whether I can go back and he told me it's fine, so I've decided to go back with Neal! Weiqi, Federick and Chong Tuck went too. Whew, thankfully we were able to meet Mrs Lee as she had to rush off just now. I wrote her a letter! Hope she loves it hehe. And met Mr Sia too, sadly the rest of the teachers either went off already or... We just couldn't meet.

Well what can I say? Tanglin has changed, of course. It is somehow no longer the Tanglin I used to have, see and feel. No more familiar faces, familiar sounds, familiar sights. Just saying like it's not the Tanglin we all have. Afterall it's been two long years that seem short since I graduated from that beloved school of mine! But I guess... Once a Tanglinian, always a Tanglinian.

Oh well even though there were only 5 people from 4E1'09 who returned, I still feel glad to have met Mrs Lee and some other teachers again! :)

After that we hang out in the canteen for a while, and we went back home. I cabbed to Orchard to meet my brother, and we went to shop for stuff! Hehe. Thankfully I had the chance to buy two sweater toom Uniqlo one! The one Amanda said about the heattech technology, supposed to keep me warmer while the sweater itself is rather thin. Super cool!

After dinner, my brother, his friends and I went to walk around Singapore haha. Not literally, just around town. First we went to Marina Bay Sands, to the skypark! Oh gosh it is sooooo gorgeous out there. Sucks that we couldn't venture to all the skypark. Some places are off-limit to hotel guests only. After that we went to Clarke Quay! And then went back to our hotel.

I'm sure we have walked more than about 2 KM plus. Of course we took busses from places to places but we spent our majority time walking too! Even though it was a tiring night, I feel glad to have explored some places in Singapore which I haven't explored before :D

Alright I guess that's all for today! I seriously can't wait for my OCIP trip as Jesslyn has been sending us more info about the trip like where to gather etc. Argh! 3 more DAYS! WEEEE!

Tired but accomplished :)

3 more days to Inner Mongolia OCIP!