Meet the wanderlust

Perth Free n Easy 31/5 - 7/6 2008

2008-06-20T21:54:00.018-08:00

Finally I'm updating you guys about my trip to Perth...

31 May Sat

5.30am - morning call from Godma. Washed up and changed.
6 am - rushed to Grandma's house to do an errand after having quick bowl of cereal, packed last min items and waited for Godma to arrive.
6.15am - I went down to void deck with my haversack and sling bag, then loaded up to the cab my Godma came in.
6.40am - we both arrived @ Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 1 and went in search for Godma's tour. Saw some of them near the Quatas Check-in counter and saw our de facto leader Mr Wang at the Check-in Counter. Then we all joined Mr Wang at the check-in counter to do check-in. The first mishap was that I've juz renewed my passport and now its those new bio-data passport. Unknown to me, these new passports are totally different than the usual ones as those new ones have separate passport numbers from my IC no. Goodness! My passport cannot pass the check in procedure and the counter staff told us that i could get an express visa from the Quatas Customer Service. So Godma & I rushed to the counter and applied for a new visa with my new passport no at $70 in 10 mins!
7am- everyone arrived and finally i could do the check in for my haversack. It was only 7.7kg. Hahah
7.30am - We then proceeded for breakfast. Godma and I went for the Kopitiam while the rest went to the next door Imperial Congee Cuisine - well i wasn't in mood for congee. We shared Set C - soft boiled egg, peanut butter toast n i had horlicks. Well basically i paid S$700 on air tickets and $900 for my lodging + food+ transport expenses. The remaining expenses would be provided by my Godma.

8am - i used my bio data passport for the first time at the automated clearance. It was quite simple when there wasn't a queue. Godma and i slowly strolled around the departure area then i happened to see the computer terminal and decided to do some last min checking of emails. Well nothing significant emails.

8.40am - we then went to the gate and boarded Q72 and we got the middle row aisle seats. The menu for that day was already clipped to our foldable table and it was quite formal-looking. Well i decided on Fish in lemon sauce.

9.30am - the plane started off. I read my Virginia Henley's INFAMOUS 1st b4 i surfed the catalouge of movies available. Unfortunately most of the nice movies i already watched such as Golden Compass etc. I watched abit of KITE RUNNER (very draggy)...DEATH DEFYING ACTS (not bad but still draggy that i didn't watch the ending).

10.30am - we got our lunch. So early lor! After lunch, i surfed movies again. Watched abit of everything until i saw ALVIN & CHIPMUNKS -it was pretty cute and funny. Quatas service not bad - we got free water bottle, banana, ice cream, poker cards too.

2.16pm - we landed in Perth International AIrport & it was quite unstable landing. My poor godma was clutching to her armrest. Then we went to custom den got our luggage. We got 'special treatment' for some reason and was led to another area where they scanned our luggages with this big machine. Fortunately nothing else happened.

2.45pm - we searched for our group for a while then stuck with them to do some photo taking and chit chat while we waited for the leader and some men to rent the cars.

4pm - finally got 3 cars (2 SUV & 1 4-seater). Then Godma, Mr Wang, Mrs Wang, Mr & Mrs Koh & I sat in one of the SUV n led the way to Perth. 1st we searched for an available motel/hotel and we saw one at FORMULA 1 hotel. Actually Mrs Wang, Godma & I were going to share a room. The room was quite small actually - a queen bed, a upper deck single bed, a very cramped toilet with small sink and a tv. so we put our stuffs in the room and rested a while

5.30pm - set off for chinatown for dinner. The sun has set by then. All shops closed. We had dinner @ Han's Cafe that sells Asian cuisine. Godma & I shared seafood fried rice and stir fried pork with garlic. It was quite generous portion and we also tried abit of the others' dishes. ALl in all it was a satisfying dinner and marked the start of a week-long eating.
8pm - we walked to this Asian SUpermart and browsed the shop. I bought some sweets and chocolates. Then we waited outside and saw a few limousine driving by. lOL

9pm - we went back to F1 hotel. I let godma shower first then i showered. Then she went to sleep while i continued to read my novel & wrote in my travel diary.

10pm - i also slept while the next door Mr & Mrs wang they all were having karaoke session - they brought their own speakers, DVD portable player and Karoake CDs.

1 Jun, sun

8am - drove to subway for breakfast
9.45am - visited Burswood Casino for toilet break and to check it out. Noticed there's nightclub there.
10am - took grp pic before driving over to Fremantle SUnday Market
11am - shopped ard market. I bought some souvenirs, scarf and drinks and had hotdog shared with godma.
12pm - strolled down the street outside of sunday market and checked out their shops
12.30pm - decided to go for their famous fish n chips at Ciercello's Harbour. We got 2 tables and then Mrs Wang, Rosalyn and I went to make orders. We ordered 2 plates of seafood platters and 4 plates of fish n chips.
1pm - our orders arrived and to our delight, the portions were generous and the seafood platters were mouth-watering great! We finished all except the chips.
2pm -we drove to Maranapan Wildlife park
3.30pm - we reached the wildlife park, paid the entry fee and were given a bucket of feed each. We took pics with koala bear, fed kangaroos, peacocks, hens, ducks, gooses and some weird animals.
4pm - we left and headed for Bunbury instead of Mandurah as it was almost sunset.
6pm - we reached Bunburrys and it was very dark and quiet. We went to Comfort INn first but there was no vacancy so Mr Wang & his bro left to search for available motels while the rest of us stayed and waited.
7pm - they finally came back and told us that we had to drive on to next town for our stay. so we drove to Busselton
8pm - we were dropped off at this chinese restaurant in BUsselton to get dinner while Mr wang & 3 men went to look for motels. Godma and i ordered mushroom soup and some veggies. I decided to skip rice as i had too much good food le. LOL
9.30pm - we went to Amaroo MOtel after dinner and Godma & I had a room to ourselves. The room was quite spacious with 1 queen and 1 single beds. We were not supposed to use single bed for our discounted price. hee. I read novel and wrote in journal while waiting for godma to finish her shower. Then i showered.

2 June, Mon

6.30am - woke up
7am - changed and packed haversack
7.30am - brought our luggages and loaded them into our SUV car. Took group pic. Got a false alarm when my Godma thought she lost her room key and had a frantic search for it. Guess what? The key was with our leader Mr Wang - in his pocket!
8am - we drove off to BUsselton Jetty as Mr wang said that we should try their train that would bring us to the end of the Jetty. However when we reached the Jetty, the main centre only opened @ 9am so we all took pics while some of us strolled the Jetty. The Jetty is 1.8km long and well i was amazed to see that on one side of the jetty there is no railing at all! Its soo easy for anyone to fall into the sea should they lose their footing. Although no railing may make it easier for people to fish, still i think the jetty is soo narrow that without railing seems less safer.

9am - We checked with the staff at the centre and they told us that the train hasn't been working for 3 years as they still working on some technical parts. The Underwater observatory will only be opened at 11am provided if the weather is good enough for a tour. The observatory is 25 mins walk from the centre. I browsed the shop, exchanged a $2 coin for BUsselton Jetty Gold coin and went out to meet my tour. Some of them were feeding breads to seagulls and there were many seagulls.

9.30am - we drove to Mac's for breakfast *starving* I had bacon & egg roll & blueberry blend juice.
10.30am - We set off for Margaret River n reached Maiolo Winery. Saw the rows of harvested grape trees.
10.45am - We met the friendly hostess who let us try 2 white wines & 1 dry red wine. We bought Shiraz red wine from her for our chinese dinner.
11.15am - Next we headed to Annie Brooks, flower emporium.
11.30am - we entered the vintage house filled with flowers & decorative items. The flowers were very beautiful and fragrant. I happened to see this pretty little fairy figurine on the cashier desk and only tagged at A$3! Unbelievably cheap! So i checked with the cashier and she was kind enough to let me buy it at A$3 although it was a typo error.
11.45am - we headed to chocolate factory.

12pm - There were lotsa chocolates!! I tried alot of chocolates - white, dark, milk small pebbles kind. My godma bought 4 clumps of chocolates -almond, macadamia & walnut - to share with me. I watched this guy making rainbow waffle in chocolate!

1pm - we then drove on to Tauton Farm to check in. Mr Wang went with his wife to check in and booked 4 cabins for us. Godma, 2 aunties - Jessica & 6th Aunty shared our cabin 4 with me.
1.35pm - we brought in our luggages to our respective cabins after some discussion. I decided on the bed near the bathroom as I didn't fancy climbing up the double deck beds. Then i decided to explore the farm.
I passed by laundromat, the public toilet and walked by a group of middle aged Australians couples from NSW who were sitting outside their caravan. We chatted about their and my travel plans and they shared with me that there's a cheese factory within walking distance and a winery too. After chatting, i walked a round and stopped by the playground at the front of the farm to play swings. The whole place was very quiet and peaceful!

2pm - we then set off looking for petrol kiosk and the 1st one we came upon was closed. Maybe due to that day being Founder's Day. LOL Luckily for us we found one open petrol kiosk when we entered Margaret River. The petrol kiosk also has minimart so we browsed the minimart while they filled up petrol.
2.30pm - We then were dropped off at COLE'S supermarket and given time till 4.30pm to have lunch and do grocery shopping for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast. So we proceeded to walk down the street. Some of us went to have Choopy de fried chicken while the rest of us wen t to nearby eatery for Fish n Chips again! >.<

4 june, wednesday
6.44am - washed up and well i got a good night sleep! Then started to pack stuffs. 7am - we went to cabin 5 for brkfast. i had 2 sandwiches
7.30am - i also took some pics of animals at pastures and motels.

8am - we loaded our luggages onto our cars and i had the backseat to myself again. This time it was more comfy as the seats were tilted back. And i managed to nap while listening to mp3 songs

9.30am - we stopped at Donny Brook Apple Farm and paid $2 entry fee. We went to see the apple trees and plucked some apples to feed the horses just next to the nursery. Then i also plucked one for myself to eat. As i went back to the main house, i saw there was a pretty lake further down so i walked down and took some pics. Then went back to main house and tried the cider vinegar with ginger. it was pretty good.

Peaceful lake no?

10am - Next we headed for Dolphin Discovery Centre @ Bunburry. Again i slept on the car 11am - However the waves were too choppy to go for dolphin cruise but we still paid the admission fee to watch the video on dolphins and we could come back again the next day to see dolphins. I browsed the gift shop and saw that they got coffee & muffin meal @ A$5. My godma wanted the coffee so i got the blueberry muffin. The muffin was heavens! Soft, big, warm and sweet! =x Yup i love muffins. Miss the muffins i had in Alaska too! =x

12pm - We left the centre for motel. We checked in at BUnbury Motel and amazingly they have those cool service apartments on the ground floor. Each unit has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with jacuzzi, a small kitchen & big spacious living room! I fell in love with this man! LOL So we also had same arrangement as the farm stay.

12.35pm - some of us went to nearby bunsbury shopping centre with COLE to buy some groceries for lunch -all ready made. so while they got their stuffs, i browsed magazines. 1.30pm - we went back and started preparing lunch. It was as hearty as the previous day. got 4 honey grilled chickens, canned curry, baked beans, lettuces, breads, carrots, hard boiled eggs and orange juice. After lunch, Mr wang gave some of us a tour of the main downtown and a peek at the beach.

2.30pm - we were dropped off at shopping centre and told that he'd be back at 4.30pm to pick us up. so we entered the shopping centre and shopped at 1st clothing store. I browsed most of the clothing stores there esp those with sales but their season was winter so not many suitable ones. At Just Jeans, i tried on a pair of shorts (A$9.9) and a purple knit top (A$9.9). After some consideration, i decided to get the top only. Then i couldn't find my godma so i juz continued shopping outside of centre. I crossed the road and browsed some of the standalone shops. I was in this recycled bontique when i saw MRS Wang. We then shopped together for a while before returning to the shopping centre. She treated me to a drink and we rested. Then i saw my godma and the rest sitting in front of Target. She let me buy an ice cream.

4.30pm - we waited for Mr Wang to pick us up. Then some of us wanted to go jogging along the beach.

5pm - Mr Wang drove those of us down to the Lookout tower near the beach. I ran up to the top of the tower and gazed at the sun setting. It was beautiful but quick. And i was pretty cold due to the strong cold winds and i didn't wear jacket cuz i wanted to jog and jogging'd make me warm. LOL

5.15pm - after the sunset, godma, mr wang and i jogged towards the beach while the rest walked. It was a short distance and we also went down to the sandy beach and listened to the loud thundering of waves smashing on the shores. I felt quite warm as i jogged along the sandy beach and i also shouted at the sea. LOL

5.35pm - we went back to the car and then drove back to motel. I did some stretching and then some of them went to get char siew for dinner while godma cooked instant noodles. I even got out my skipping ropes and skipped for a while before washing my feet off the sand.

6.30pm - we gathered again at Rm 45 for dinner. As i was still full so i had the remaining strudel and abit of the noodles +char siew and baked beans.

7pm - once again they were all engaged in karaoke session and even got mahjong card game going on in Rm 46. However i went back to Rm 47 and rested. I watched TV and wrote in my diary. I watched 'HOME AWAY', 'UGLY BETTY' & caught preview of Britney spears' 'HOW I MET MY MOTHER' in Golden Western.

8.30pm - i skipped while watching CRIMINAL MINDS and then showered. Blew my hair dry and went to bed. I really loved this place. The wool blanket was really soft and warm!

5 June, thurs
7am - woke up after a very good sleep! didn't want to wake up. Washed up and changed. 7.30am - went to rm 46 for brkfast -tuna baguette rolls, tomato soup and a slice of bread with curry and baked beans (at rm 45) + apple juice.

7.45am - packed everything

8.15am - loaded our stuffs on car and took group pics.

8.30am - we drove to the Lookout tower again and took pics. Then went to the Lighthouse Beach for photo taking session. Next we went to Dolphin Discovery centre

9am - we reached the centre and went to the shore. the volunteer there told us that there was a sighting of dolphin just before we came so we had to wait for a while. I stood at the beach for sometime before going back to the centre. I browsed the gift shop and bought a dolphin bracelet for SH. Then my godma also was in the cafe. again we bought cappucino and i had banana nut muffin. Yummy. While they chatted, i also had muesli yoghurt.

9.30am - they wanted to play mahjong card games to pass time so i went to get the keys from Mr wang. Then while they were playing, i wrote in diary and also read the past issue magazines. 10.30am - we were actually intending to leave the place when the volunteer notified us that a dolphin was swimming to shore. So all of us rushed to the lookout and well it was kinda far to take pics of the dolphin so i didn't. 11am - we left for Perth n i napped on the way. 11.30am - we stopped at this cheese and bakery. I tried some of cheese with biscuits. Then we proceeded again. 12pm - we stopped at Pinjara bakery for lunch. I had this filling beef potato pie with strawberry milk. i couldn't finish the pie. Then we headed on to Perth. Initially i was admiring the countryside scenes when i was gradually lulled into slumber.

1.30pm - we arrived at Perth city and drove on to our hotel in the downtown. We had to drive past this narrow alley to get to our hotel and then there was no car park so we had to unload our big luggages first and brought those over to the hotel by ourselves. The hotel we checked in was CRITERION HOTEL. We got 8 rooms so 2 share one. While waiting for the drivers to be back, i noticed they got computer terminals and asked to use the internet. i chcked emails then when they were back, godma and i went to our room and put our stuffs down. Then i quickly came back down to use the internet and chatted with friends.

5pm - we met with the group and then while MR wang and his bro went to return one of the cars, the rest of us went to have dinner at this foodcourt in one of the shopping centres nearby. Godma and i shared seafood hor fan, char siew and roasted pork.

6pm - we went back to hotel and met with Mr wang and his bro then mr wang drove us to the BUrswood casino. When we were there, i saw the poster of Vanessa AMorosi that she'd be performing on that same night at 8pm. So i went to the concierge and checked out the details. I had to buy the tickets at the door for A$35, the nightclub opened at 8pm but the singer'd be coming at 9-10pm.

7pm - we all went to casino and played. I walked around the place - alot of machines. My godma gave me A$10 to play jackpot but i couldn't find the machine. Later i told her that i wanted to attend the performance and she gave me money as she'd be playing till 10pm too. LOL So i also changed A$5 to play some chicken game, play computerised roulette but lost. Hehe.

7.30pm - i stopped playing and decided to walk around. I passed by the Nightclub and saw there was a queue there. so i decided to join in the queue. Luckily for me that i queued up early if not i'd to wait for a long while.

8pm - i bought the ticket and got the stamp on my hand before taking the stairs to their nightclub RUBY ROOM. It was quite spacious as it takes up the whole level. There were comfy sofa to sit, 2 bars but only one was opened, 1 big Dj station, a stage and a big dance floor. The dance floor took up half the club. LOL There was no one smoking too. I walked around the club and saw at the end there was a table with Vanessa Amorosi's CDs and a salegirl attending it. I went over to take a look and chatted with salegirl. Then i found a seat and waited for 1/2 hr before walking over to dance floor and waiting for Vanessa to come on stage. I took the time to observe the goings around me. There were girlfriends, guy friends, couples and even a guy on wheelchair waiting at the dance floor. The music was mixed - country, retro etc. Although while i was queuing, i heard R n B music. Basically the feeling was different when i was at that nightclub than in local nightclub such as MOS or ZOUK with my friends. Most people there were like my build or bigger even the girls. Yet i didn't feel smothered or cramped sharing the dance floor with them. in fact there was alot of space. LOL Some of the girls were really tall cuz of their heels and they all dressed in varying manners - formal, office wear, casual wear, dresses. And me in jeans and top. Hee. Not many of them were wearing jeans but wellz i didn't exactly plan on going clubbing.

I waited a long long time even 30 mins past 9pm and the singer wasn't on stage. None of the crowd was making any fuss or noise so maybe they were quite laidback and contented to let her come on stage anytime she wanted. Yet for me, i got time limit at 10pm, i supposed to meet my group. So i was quite antsy but i still waited.

Until 9.45pm, finally the band was testing their equipment but then 10pm, i had to go and find my group. Luckily for me, they were still playing so i went back to watch the performance.
10pm - Vanessa Amorosi finally took the stage with her band. Singing and rocking the whole club. The dance club was now crowded with people. It wasn't rowdy and many people were taking photos of her. Me too. Haha Her songs were all rock, her voice is strong and she pretty much used her voice as the highlight instead of showy costumes, dancing and stunts. Not bad that i managed to experience a small town concert at nightclub in Perth. It was kinda mild. =) 10.30pm - i met with the group and we drove back to hotel.

11pm - decided to park along the street to save on parking fee. Showered den slept.

6 June Fri

7.30am - washed up and changed then had breakfast - cup noodles.

8.30am - met with the group and walked to the place where we parked our cars. Unexpected incident- ONe of our rental SUVs de back windshield was smashed and the only luggage left in it (karaoke VCDs, speakers and DVD portable player) was stolen. The backseat was littered with pieces of glass so the car couldn't be used and had to be returned. so Mr wang and another guy went to return the car while his bro led e rest of us to Swan Bell Tower/Swan River

9.10am - we waited for Mr Teo to get his handphone so that they could contact us. Then we slowly walked over from our hotel to Swan River with photo-taking in between.

9.45am - we reached Swan River and met with Mr wang they all. Then we had a short discussion abt whether to take the cruise but in the end, we decided against it. So Mr wang then used the other SUV to shuttle us to King's Park. I was among the last group so i had raisin toast and milk while waiting and enjoying the river. Even though its Swan River, i did not see any swans. LOL

10.35am - Mr wang came to fetch us to King's Park and gave us a short tour of the King's Park. It was very huge and beautiful. So different from our Botanical Gardens. Their park is much more natural, with many uncommon plants and flowers, and since the park is built on high grounds, the view was superb. The view is encompassing of Perth City and even Fremantle. Unfortunately my digicam has succumbed to the cold temperature and i could not use it to take photos so had to borrow my godma's digicam. Therefore i cannot upload the pics yet. Well after he dropped us off at the visitor centre, i met with Godma and she let me buy an apple muffin and it was melt-in-the-mouth kind. LOL I just love soft yummy muffins! =x SInce she was part of 1st group, she went off for their tour.

11am - I finished my sweet muffin then proceeded to explore the park on my own. There was this magnificent monument nearby, beautiful scenes along the fringes of park and well i experimented with some different modes. Haha

11.35am - Of course i could not explore all of it within such short period. so then i went back to visitor's ctr to wait for Mr wang. well i did manage to take this pretty sundial at the ctr. LOL Pretty no? 12pm - Mr wang came and drove us to Subiaco Centre, a town out of Perth. Then we met with 1st group where my godma was. Then we went to have lunch at SUbiaco market. I had this turkish wrap with chicken mushrooms and shared it with godma as well as chicken rice. Then we shopped around the market. Saw alot of fruits and they even had small pieces of the fruits for sampling. LOL I bet they won't do this if they know singaporeans - who loveeee freebies. LOL

2.30pm - anyway most of us went to the Train station and bought tickets to Perth City. We then took lift to the platform and waited for the train. It was only 3 stops and we experienced the Perth Train and it was like MRT except smaller and the sceneries all differed. It was pretty fast when we reached Perth then i asked some passers-by about our hotel and den walked through 3 streets to reach our hotel

3pm - we went back to hotel and rested for a while. My godma wanted to rest in hotel while i joined Rosalyn, her husband and Mrs wang for shopping around. I bought several souvenirs and some stuffs for myself. We also took the free CAT blue bus for a while. 6pm - we went back to hotel.

6.30pm - Mr wang brought us back to Chinatown and we went to this chinese restaurant for dinner. It was 8 course dinner. We had alot of food as shown in the pic. It was our 'reunion' dinner before we left for home.

7.30pm - Once again Mr wang made 2 trips to drive us back. Godma and some of them wanted to go casino again but i opted out as i was tired. It wasn't fun playing anyway if i didn't have money to. LOL Hence i ended up in my hotel room alone and actually the hotel room we had got entitled us to free welcome drink. However i just didn't feel like going down to the bar alone liao. Haha SO i just showered, wrote in diary and watched TV (but nothing much to watch) and slept early.

7 June, sat

8am - washed up and packed my stuffs for final time 8.30am - we went to Criterion Cafe for breakfast buffet. It was western style so i had pancakes, sausages, egg, mushrooms, milk with cereals, orange juice.

9.30am - we went shopping around and bought some chocolates and i saw this pair of black boots for only A$10!! So Godma bought it for me. hehehe

10.30am - we walked back to Hotel and took our stuffs down to lobby and checked out. SO while waiting for our turn to go airport, i went online again

12pm - Mr wang drove us to airport and den we queued to do check-in for our luggages.

12.30pm - then they waited at the nearby chairs while i went to browse the shops. Not many shops as usual but i browsed the magazines in the bookstore.

1.30pm - we then met with the whole group to have group photo taking. Then we took our hand carry and entered the departure hall. While waiting for boarding our plane, godma they all started playing mahjong card games again! Haha

3.30pm - we boarded the plane Quatas 71 and this time we got window seats. The dinner menu was chicken or lamb and i chose lamb shanks hahah. However there was a technical delay so the plane only took off at 4.30pm and predicted to reach singapore at 10pm. So i messaged Jackie before the plane took off to let him know.
5pm - I once again browsed the flight entertainment channels. 1st i browsed the music channels but nothing struck my fancy so i went back to movies. Hee this time i watched this reality show called 'REAL DIRTY DANCING GIRLS' - really cool. These girls joined the Art of Exotic Dancing by this experienced exotic dancer. Its a class that aims to increase these girls' self confidence as women and those women who came to join all looking to be more sexy and confident. However the course wasn't as easy as it seemed especially dancing naked (almost naked) in front of audience.

Many girls were very uncomfortable with being naked alone, much less than in front of audience! A few of them even cried when they couldn't do some of the moves suggested by the teacher. At the end of the course, they also had to put on a real performance in front of a real audience. They really had to strip their clothes off and danced topless in front of strangers. Haha not just danced - but danced topless leh! >.<
After this show, (my godma saw their dancing and remarked that it was tasteless and tack! But i admired their bravery and confidence), i watched another dancing movie 'STRICTLY BALLROOM'. This movie was about how this guy, a wonderful ballroom dancer, decided to dance his own steps much to the dismay of the ballroom dance judges and his parents and how he found his perfect dancing partner who not only shared his passion for such dances and encouraged him to greater heights. Sweet music, dancing and romance!

well dinner was served at 6pm but i was quite full and only started eating at 6.30pm. And they did only touch down at Changi Airport at 10pm. After getting our luggages and clearing the customs, godma bought several beers before going out and meeting cousin jackie and his wife to drive me home and her home.

Taiwan trip 18 - 25 Dec 2007

2007-12-26T03:35:00.000-09:00

"There's nothing like travel to make you realize the things you take for granted and those you wish you can have."

My taiwan trip began on 18 December 2007 and ended on 25 December 2007 - The Christmas Day. I'll recount the experiences we had there...

18 December, Tues

After 4 hours of flight (we had our dinner & watched BOURNE ULTIMATUM), we arrived @ Taoyuan International Airport at 8pm. We searched the crowd for our tour guide (MR Li) and finally found him with the paper sign - the "噌兄弟新加坡“ handwritten. I made a call to my schoolmate Elvin who was also in Taiwan but well he was in Tainan when i called. When all 19 of us were gathered, Mr Li led us to the coach which would be our transport for the whole 8 days trip.

Mei Hui, Yian Pin, Mark & I occupied the last row of seats on the coach and were teasingly named "四大门神“ by Mr Li, and unsurprisingly we were the only group of young adults, whereas all the others were families and one woman who traveled alone. (hence the no. 19)

Mr Li introduced himself as we were en route to Shi Lin Night Market (instead of Taoyuan cuz of convenience) in Taipei. The journey was abt 1 hr long and well Mr Li complimented on my looks as 典型的中国美女. I was so embarrassed la and Yian Pin just teased me more. -.-

We had 45 mins to shop around SHi Lin Night Market. One word to describe the market is ENDLESS. Really, the shops in that market are sooo many that it seem endless and the crowd was crazy even on a tues night! We had to rush our shopping and didn't buy anything in the end cause of the limited time. It was the start of the many 'mini-shopping races"

After that, we were transported to our 1st Hotel - Cosmos Hotel in Taipei. I shared the room with Mei hui while Yian Pin shared with Mark. It was a twin room so they slept on separate beds. Well it was probably 4 star hotel and the bedroom was pretty alright. Only single bed but got adequate facilities. We went out for supper after checking in and the night was pretty cold about 19 deg. Unfortunately there was not much choices to choose so we had supper @ Macdonald's. I shared nuggets and salad with Mei Hui. Then we went back to hotel to shower and watch TV. Meihui and i chatted for some time after we were in bed.

19 Dec wed

6.30am - washed up & packed
7.15am - had breakfast buffet @ hotel
8.30am - stowed our luggages in the coach & boarded e coach.

9am - reached 中正纪念堂 & explored the place alittle"Yian Pin & I knockin on the grand heavy doors"

9.35am - ran to the entrance & met with tour guide, then we were on e way to 野柳风景区.

10.30am - we explored the 野柳风景区, saw stone formations of ginger, candle holder, mushroom head, Queen's head & Fairy shoe (clog). Took many pics. At e end, we walked through street of stalls & tried grilled cuttlefish.

"Mark, Mei Hui, me & Yian Pin with Queen's Head"

11.30am - the coach transported us to 九份 - a town on mountains. It was pretty cold and rainy. 12.30pm - we had lunch there - some meatball noodles, NT45. I bought a mini clog keychain for NT25, a box of pineapple tarts @ NT160 and a box of black sugared biscuits for NT100. I also tried some fish stick, sausage stick & japanese sweet roll for NT90.
1.30pm - we took the public bus (with very few seats & alot of standing space) to ReiFang railway station.
2.15pm - took the scenic train ride to Hualien. I sat next to Mei Hui and we chatted more than watching the scenery cuz there wasn't much to see. LOL Scenic my ass. We then took a short nap on the train

5.40pm - we arrived @ Hualien, with the skies very dark. i was very surprised but MR Li said the sun set very early over there. So our coach brought us to the "xua xua wo" restaurant for dinner - a steamboat buffet. Each of us has our own steamboat and we ate till very full. Got icecream somemore! Haha
7.30pm - we then went to check in our 2nd hotel ASTAR HOTEL. I shared the room with Mei Hui again and this time the room was even bigger! Got balcony, double beds, and chalet-style toilet.
8pm - Yian Pin, Mark & I had another pillow fight but the room was too spacious, he got alot of room to maneuver! More challengin for us. Haha
8.30pm - i went back to watch TV with Mei Hui some reality show.
9pm - shower and then read finish "CRAZY LOVE" novel.
12am - sleeping time

20 Dec, thurs

6.30am - wahsed up & packed
8am - had breakfast buffet @ hotel
8.30am - checked out and on the way to Taroko Gorge太鲁阁峡谷
9.30am - walked down the NINe Turn Gorge

"Me with Yian Pin @ Nine Turn Gorge"

10.30am - coach brought us down the mountain to 长春听涛. Yian pin realized she lost her necklace and we searched for it. After 'some investigation' using photos and my acute observation skills, i managed to recover the necklace from her clothes. -.- It was under her sweater. Haha
11.10am - we were brought to this shop where we tried some snacks and Alishan tea. I bought a packet of mochi and box of pineapple tarts.
11.30am - we had lunch @ another restaurant. Another 10 course. With the specialty Bamboo rice (nothing much abt it).

1pm - After lunch, i played 'catch a toy' machine and caught a green hammer soft tyo that made sound when you shake it. The little boy in our tour wanted to exchange his little chick with the hammer so i let him.
1.10pm - then we went to this gemstone shop K.L. 石隆. And i bought a sapphire pendant necklace @ NT 3850 after 80% discount. Still expensive but well its hard to find such in singapore @ such affordable price i'd think. I also bought a purple crystal bracelet for my godma.

2pm - on the way to Taitung. It was a long trip so Mr Li let us sing karaoke on the bus since they got the system. As the 4 of us had been late for a few times, so as our forfeit we were supposed to sing 3 songs each. LOL so we sang lor..but mark didn't sing.
4pm - Visited the 8 IMMORTALS' cave
4.25pm - drove to Cave of 3 immortals (3 big boulders)
5pm - Sun was setting in 15 mins time. took alot of pics. Collected some pebbles from beach and walked the 8 Arches Bridge with Mei Hui.
5.30pm - the sky was dark and coach took us to see "water flowing up" sight
6.30pm - reached the place to look at it for a while before going for dinner
7.30pm - had seafood dinner again

7.45pm - checked into Formosan Naruwan Hotel, a grand hotel with hot spring and live entertainment.
8pm - it was my turn to share the twin room with Mark. Our room was 1017 and very pretty with 2 separate double beds, spacious bathroom and bedroom. There was even kimono-styled bathrobes. We wanted to try the hot spring so we changed into our swimsuit and only us girls wore the robes over our suits.
8.30pm - went to the hot springs , so disappointing that it wasn't natural but swimming pool-like.
There were the very cold long pool, the 38 deg hot tub and the 37.5 warm tub.
We went from the hot tub to the cold pool, then to the hot tub and to the cold pool, then to the warm tub, to the hot tub and back to cold pool. The cold pool got some massaging equipment such as the water fountains etc.
9.45pm - we went back to our hotel rooms and Mark showered 1st.
10.15pm - i showered and changed into PJs.
10.30pm - we watched the old chinese movie "wo shi yi ge zhei" on TV
12.45pm - we turned off all the lights and slept on our separate beds.

21 Dec, fri

6.30am - washed up and packed
7am - had breakfast
7.45am - packed
8am - on the bus to Kaohsiung, watched french movie TAXI (till i fell aslp)
10.30am - had rest stop & tried some fruits
11.30am - went to Fokuangsan & took pics

"Me & Yian Pin, before the O Great Buddha"

1pm - had vegetarian lunch (also 8 course)
2.45pm - went to 春秋宫.

"Us being swallowed by the vicious dragon!"

4.30pm - went to 海宝珍珠 & listened to their talk & bought a box of terrapin pills for grandma
5pm - on the bus to New Jyueyjiang shopping area.
5.45pm - it was similar to Night market with many shops and food stalls too. We shopped around and i bought a black/white checkered shawl, a fairy pendant gold necklace, 2 stockings and 12 pantyhoses.
6.45pm - we then went for dinner @ some oriental restaurant with good food. also 10 course chinese food with prawns, fish, veggies, rice and we could even order any food we wanted.
9pm - we then were brought to this Love River and there were shops along the river bank. I bought a few custom made hp straps.

9.30pm - we then on the way to LiuHe night market
10pm - we then shopped around but didn't buy much stuffs. We saw this machine game with 9 basketball loops. lol
10.30pm - we went to Kaohsiung C U Hotel and checked in
11pm - again i shared the room with Mark and it was 3-star hotel cuz the room was much smaller. showered, then watched THE TUXEDO on TV

22 Dec, sat

6.39am - washedup and packed
7.15am - had breakfast
7.45am - checked out
8am - we were on the way to Alishan Mountains. It was a long trip so Mr Li let us sing karaoke again. And this time, Mark sang "tong hua".
11.30am - reached Alishan, took shuttle bus to summit
12pm - had lunch @ Alishan Hotel -another 10 course lunch

1pm - went for walk in Alishan forestry, took pics, listened to Mr Li telling the stories, tried on ALishan costumes.
2.30pm - went back to coach
3pm - went to fengqihu which is halfway down the mountain and tried the peanut ice cream wrapped in popiah skin and 爱玉 and honey vinegar drink.
5pm - we set off for Taichung
6.30pm - rest stop

7.30pm - we had 10 course dinner @ 伍角船板, a cavernous cave-like restaurant with the bowls made from clay. The food was superb and we even had 'tang yuan" courtesy of our tour guide.
9pm - we went to fengjia night market
9.35pm - we shopped around and i bought a black sports watch
10.30pm - we then checked into Fulwon Hotel, another 2/3-star hotel. This time, Mei Hui shared room with Mark while i shared with Yian Pin. Showered and chatted

23 dec, sun

6.45am - washed up & packed
7.30am - had breakfast
8.30am - checked out and had 1 hr ride to sun moon lake in Nantou.
9.30am - took a cruise to the other bank and took pics, and tried salted egg.
10.30am - went to Miao House nearby and listened to talk about Lingzi
11am - took coach to wenwu temple
11.30am - visited wenwu temple which house confucius, Yue feng and Kuang Gong.
12.30pm - had lunch @ nearby restaurant with another 10 course chinese lunch.

1.30pm - on the way to Formosan Aborginial Village with amusement park
2.30pm - we were each given a map and told to be back at meeting point @ 5pm. Then we went to try out the SPACE SHIP ride in the Castle. it was a very short ride.
2.45pm - we tried out the Waikiki Wave which went up over, down, sideways, diagonal. Pretty speedy.
2.50pm - break as yian pin felt abit nauseous
2.55pm - we took a slow Jurassic cruise
3pm - took the Carousel. Meihui n i on the swing while YP on the horse. After the carousel, YP was very nauseous and vomitted in toilet.
3.10pm - we took the monorail around the part of park
3.15pm - we went to try the Gold Mine Mountain where we sat in a log boat and it brought us up and down 2 mountains, splashing water. Especially the higher one which got camera shot and then splashed alot of water. haha We enjoyed this so much that we went for it 3 times in total. We even bought the photo @ NT100.
4pm - next we walked to the nearby park and took pics of us on the hammocks
4.15pm - we went to try Mayan Adventure - a suspended looping rollercoaster. To be honest, it was my very 1st roller coaster with loops. Hence i was kinda scared initially esp since Mei Hui n i were both sitting in the first row. How EXCITING! And the height! GOSH. Its suicidal. Haha

I saw us inching up the very tall tracks and we paused at the top for a very short while. ANd i could feel my heart in my mouth, as i prepared to scream. Wahhaa. =x When the coaster let go and sped along the tracks, up, down, sideway, over the loop, i also let go and screamed! Muahah. I even closed my eyes. Kekex.

It was quite fast too as we reached the end. Luckily i did not puke or faint. Haha We went for another time, but this time it wasn';t that scary anymore and i didn't even close my eyes or scream. Since it was close to our meeting time, we ran to the UFO Gyro Drop, 85 feet. And basically it carried us up slowly to the top, revolved for a while (mark N i were admiring the view), then it just dropped without warning till halfway the length before it slowed. Truly it was one of a kind experience! I was breathless...

It was super close to 5pm and we ran to the front pavilion and used the restroom before meeting with the tour. We also took pic with the tribal people. On the bus to Taoyuan (3 hrs), I felt slightly discomforted - too much excitement but when i closed my eyes, i was OK. I never like to vomit and i don't get motion sickness often but sometimes i do get headaches. Haha Luckily for me, neither symptoms manifested.

8.30pm - we had dinner on our own @ Xin zu Night market, which mainly sell foods. We had more meatballs and i had chocolate milkshake. My sweet tooth was acting up. =x

9.15pm - we checked into Taoyuan Yaward Resort which was very isolated. Once again I shared with Yianpin. We unpacked and showered.

24 Dec, Mon

6.30am - washed up and packed
7.15am - had breakfast
7.30am - checked out and took coach to National Museum in taipei
9.30am - we had a tour around the Museum. Since it was so early and maybe i din sleep well, anyway i felt like a zombie walking around. However it was quite educational and interesting to look at the different exhibits and learnt the stories behind those.
11.30am - we went to watch the arms exchange ceremony @ Martyr's Shrine in the rain.
12.30pm - then we went to a chinese restaurant for lunch,

2pm - it was steamboat & teppanyaki. Mr Li also ate with us as we slowly enjoyed the food and chat.
3pm - as we had this xmas gift exchange tonight, so we shopped @ nearby shop after lunch. I got a pair of bedroom slippers.
3.10pm - had 2 hrs ride to Tamshui Fisherman's Wharf.
5pm - as usual, it was still raining. And i got my waterproof hooded jacket on since i din bring umbrella. We walked over the bridge and i walked beside Mr Li as he sheltered me with his umbrella (though it was really unnecessary =x). took pics.
5.40pm - we went to Tamshui Old Street

5.50pm - we shopped along the street and i bought 2 packets of candies, 2 packets of cuttlefish, 1 pair of sunglasses (for Mr Li cuz he was so nice, YP & MH got him a scarf & hat), 2 caps & 1 death note book & a pair of earrings.
7.10pm - we then took coach back to taipei for dinner @ some hotel.
8pm - another 10 course dinner
9pm - i had a surprise birthday celebration on the coach. Mr Li whipped out a birthday cake, lit the 21 number candles, played birthday song, and everyone sang along. I was so speechless..den tried to blow the candles. Haha Mr Li even got me a stuffed Mickey Mouse. Oh dear yian pin, how considerate of her to let him know my birthday.

She was my cake cutter and i was e distributor then we all proceeded to Ximenting.

9.45pm - we shopped ard ximenting, couldn't find Lust caution DVD that my cousin in law wanted. I bought a gold sparkling headband, hair clip & a pair of brown boots! Soo rare to find my size! Haha

10.30pm - we went to our last hotel - Santos Hotel (another 2 star de) but it has double beds.
We presented our gifts to Mr Li when he came to our room to pass me the Mickey mouse i left on bus. =x We even got him to try on the gifts and took pics with him.

Ok lar, i shall admit that Mr Li did show interest in me over the days (and he every day also mentioned me in the coach until i super paiseh, YP was no help at all! besides he got girlfriend liao & he lives in taiwan). Seriously I'm not supermodel kind of pretty la & i dun go for long distance r/s.

Since it was our last night, we girls wanted to sleep together and Mark was surprisingly accomodating. Hahaz The Tv channels very limited in this hotel so we slept early especially since we had to get up even earlier like 6am!

25 Dec, tues

6am - washed up and packed
6.45am - checked out of hotel and boarded the coach for 1 last time
7.10pm - Mr Li distributed the packed breakfast and we paid him the tips.
7.30pm - we checked in with China Airlines and got our tickets.
8pm - we bid farewell with Mr Li and shopped abit before entering the departure hall and searched for our boarding gate.
9.10am - we boarded our plane - MH, YP & i sat together. We chatted as we waited for the plane to take off.
10am - the plane was airborne and we listened to music as we napped.
12pm - i woke up to lunchtime. And had some chicken spagetti, the potato salad was lousy so i skipped it.

12.30pm - i watched abit of Daddy Day camp and the Christmas documentary.
1pm - I rested again
2.05pm - we touched down on Singapore airport and took our luggages.
2.30pm - YP left with her bf, while i went to BUs terminal and took bus home. Luckily for me, i
only had 3 bags unlike YP who had 4 bags.

The things i got for myself:

Well frankly, I totally enjoyed this trip despite the hurried atmosphere of the tour. I had a very memorable 21st birthday experience with my dear friends. Everyone on this tour were nice and friendly. Our tour guide has been very fun and friendly. His stories and sense of humour contributed much to the general attitude.

Taiwan is a beautiful country with more nature than singapore can offer. Although the products there are nicer and their fashion is much better than ours, since most of us just follow the western or taiwanese styles blindly, the prices aren't really that much cheaper. I do not understand why taiwanese like meatballs noodles or rice sooo much! I expected that they ate like we do in singapore which goes to show how much i really know about taiwan. Though their snacks include chicken cutlets, sausage sticks etc, but their main meals are quite different from what i expected. The meals provided on this trip were seriously over the board! 10 course meals every day leh! I'm tired of fish, prawns, and eating so full! Luckily we walked as much too.

I think its great to travel with friends once in a while. And you can really know a person even more through the experiences. Some friends you can travel with for certain kinds of tours, and some you can travel on other kinds, and others you just cannot travel with for long periods.

Someday I'd love to travel solo. Spontaneous. Just go a place where i want to go without much of a plan and just live a day as it goes.

I do not have all the photos taken of this trip with me now. So i will only upload some pics here.

Taiwan Trip from 18 -25 Dec

2007-12-16T23:38:00.000-09:00

Hi guys!

I know this blog has not been updated for some months. Well now i'm back to announce this good new that I'll be going to taiwan with Mei Hui, Yian Pin & Mark tomorrow till christmas day! I'm very excited with this trip we are embarking on. Although it is not a free n easy, it still thrills me to be traveling again! I do miss the feeling of experiencing new things, food and culture

We have already changed our money, packed our bags and going to meet earlier tomorrow for lunch. We are so excited - this is like our 1st trip to Taiwan together with Mei Hui! Hehe

I'll update more with pictures about our trip when i come back. So Stay tuned!

Love,
chrissy

Hiatus 2007 sept

2007-09-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

To my readers...

I'm back in my homeland, singapore now. Having my 2nd yr 1st sem hence I won't be doing any travel possibly till my next holiday in December. Though i'm going to KL for a field research during my wk brk in Oct, but I not sure if i get any chance for shopping.

This coming dec will be my 21st birthday! The chalet is out ($600+ 2 nights r juz too expensive) but travelling with friends is definitely IN! Hahaz I have plans to go Taipei with my close frenz on 3rd wk of dec (5 days) & maybe to HK with my WAT frenz on 2nd wk.

Yes...I'm looking forward to that!

2 days in Anchorage

2007-08-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

19 august 2006, sun

At 3pm, the ALASKA BUS DIRECT van finally set off towards ANchorage. There were 6 stops along the way and we got to see the beautiful breathtaking sceneries of alaska - the mountains, lakes, green pastures and glaciers. The kind driver offered to drop us off for free at our hostel 26TH INTERNATIONAL HOSTEL as it was near his house too.

1st impression of the house from the outside was it was quite small compared to the Hostel we stayed in SF. When we entered the hostel, felt kinda disoriented cuz it is someone's house and i don't see any reception table etc. Haha Sebastien, the owner saw us and told us what to do, showed us the house and answered the questions we got.

We shared a private dorm with 2 other girls. The bunk beds were considerably lower than the ones we had in our trailer. Otherwise, it was big and cosy. After shower, we both used the internet for awhile. We got to know one of the girls - a Swiss girl there for travel after the shower then before we went to sleep, we chatted with the other girl Katie (alaskan).

20 aug 2006, mon

The night was very cold that the thin rough blanket we were given wasn't enough to keep us warm. The mattress was alittle harder than wat we used to. haha we did sleep later than we intended. The breakfast that greeted us when we entered the kitchen was wonderful. There was a variety of fruits, waffles, cakes, breads, cereals etc for us to choose. Majority of the guests are from other countries.

After brkfast, we walked to the bus stop to take bus 7 to downtown. There is a fixed schedule for the bus but the bus wasn't very punctual. hahaha. It took only 10 mins to reach downtown transfer ctr and we walked 5 streets to the Railroad depot for another 15 mins. So even though we left at 8.30am and bus arrived at 9.15am. we still managed to reach the depot and check in before 10am.

The logo of Alaska railroad

The alaska railroad glacier explorer train was like those antique train except it was air con and there was a dome-glass windows car at the end. It didn't make too much noise when it travels either. The weather that whole day was dreary - cloudy, dark and foggy. Not a best time to see glacier.

The train trip to Portage took 4 hrs with a 45mins stop at Whitter where those involved in Glacier explorer tour would fill out the paperwork and be given the briefing. Our guide, Heather was a college student,working this tour as summer job. She was knowledgeable about the rafting, the glaciology and quite fit. We were the youngest people on this tour besides the guides. haha It was amazing how people in their late 50 and 60s still mustered up the courage to do such adventurous stuffs. Like the couple we chatted up next to us, this wasn't their 1st time rafting (unlike us - how 'embarrassing') and certainly not their last.

I hope that when I'm as old as them, i'd still have the energy and guts to travel and do exciting stuffs like they do. Heex Damn..life is too short to spend even the last few decades in bed or at home!

so at POrtage, Heather drove us in a 'magic bus' to the Spencer Lake where we took our 1st glance at spencer glacier and got blown away. The glacier was HUGE to us. Hahaha After taking some pics, we were presented with a deli-style lunch. I love the breads - thick and fluffy with ham, roast beef, cheese, veggies. got soup too but too sour for our tastes and the little brownie was tasty.

after which we spent 1 and 1/2 hr rafting along the lake and river. it was quite mellow except for one exciting bump. hahax very beautiful even in the dreary weather. Then we went back to e train, alighted at dunno where again to board the motorcoach to anchorage. The motorcoach seats were damn comfy cuz i fell aslp on bus. hahaha

Reaching the depot, we went to chk out the ULU FACTORY located near depot - not much of stuffs and priced quite high. then we walked along the downtown, browsed a gift shop and bought a mug for my grandma before proceeding to 5th ave mall to have dinner - subway. at 9pm, the mall was closing and we left the mall to browse some gift shops where they stay open till 11pm. There was this POLAR BEAR GIFT shop opposite CLUB PARIS, where they sell souvenirs comparatively cheaper than the rest. so we decided to go there again the next day.

so we went to catch our last bus back and reached hostel by 11pm. showered n used internet.

21st aug 2006, tues

again we woke up later. hahax Had the same brkfast as before. 1st place on our list was the Lake Hood near airport but we din take the bus, believing that the lake was as close to our hostel as it was on the map. HA big mistake! On the way we remb our desire to visit walmart and sebastien mentioned one along the place but i couldn't remb his directions. so we blindly headed off in the rough direction only to come up with no walmart. haha so then we walked our way to Lake Hood. It was a long long hike...one that MY actually complaint abt. lolx Nevertheless we persevered and finally arrived at our destination an hr after we left hostel.

The lake has floatplanes parked around it and we were waiting to see if any floatplanes take off. Luckily for us juz when we were leaving we saw a floatplane leaving. It wasfor a tour and after i taped down the take-off, we noticed that the tour only cost US$50 per person of cuz the duration is unknown. ha

After this, we went to take bus 7 to Dimond Center and once again we misjudged the distance and time. Muahaha it was close to an hr before we arrived there. Did i mention that the seats on US public buses are juz too hard to sleep on?? Despite that our dear MY managed to slp on the bus - that does tell u how tired she was huh?

Dimond Center is gigantic man..haha longer than Vivocity and probably wider too. lolx 1st we went to A&W, opp dimond ctr for lunch. To my surprise again, the burger was smaller than singapore's burger size. haha. Then we shopped at BEST electronic store - as big as the convention hall insuntec bahz. I bought THE SIMS 1 COMPLETE COLLECTION for only uS$39.99!! hahaha Next we went to explore the rest of ctr, played in arcade and redeemed our tickets with rings & a bracelet for me. haha Oh and we saw the big ice skating rink at the basement.

After that, we took the bus back to downtown and continued our gift shopping. we were quite tired so we did our shopping as fast as we could and took bus back to hostel. we showered, changed, packed stuffs again before heading for airport at 10.30pm. And it was transition and travel time again!!!

Farewell dinner at Fast Eddy's

2007-08-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

18th July was our last day of work for MY and I.

After work, Adel, Yuxuan, eunice, shiwen, MY and i showered and set off for FAST EDDY'S restaurant, a mile away from our trailer.

On the way we stopped by RV TOK village gift shop. By the time we reached restuarant it was 8+pm. *I was famished* YX. Eunice and I decided to share STEAK & PRAWNS combo (including all-u-can-eat salad bar) while the rest shared Alaska King crab combo. All of us shared the chicken wings. WE were soo happy to see that fruits were included in the salad bar and made several servings of the fruit salads - watermelon, rock melon, strawberries, pineapples! The poor deprived us were over the moon and indulged in fruity luxury!

The chicken wings were quite small-sized and we were disappointed with the prawns cuz it was only 3 small breaded prawns. lolx Then at e end, YX,E & i shared the White chocolate raspberry cheesecake! Very yummy! The best of all e courses. hahaha

By the time we finish with the dinner, it was 10+pm and the sun was juz setting. On the way back to our trailer, (the place was quite quiet and peaceful), we saw some Dall sheeps coming out along the highway to chew grasses. Hahax

Xmas in July, TOK

2007-07-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

HOHOHO!!

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOK!

OOOOONNNNNN......25TH JULY!

Can u believe?? Its christmas here in the middle of summer, in the middle of nowhere called TOK! And my clique of singaporean girls 'hosted' a xmas celebration-cum-exchange on 25th! 25th was actually my off day and i spent it on checking my smu bidding and online shopping. My most extravagant shopping ever -> Victoria's Secrets on bikini, tankini, ballet flats & 6-in-1 dress; Oldnavy.com on cap-sleeve hoodie; Metrostyle.com on laced up boots and skorts - amounting to US$178!!!

Then Adel and i went to enquire abt the apthotspot account before i embarked on korean drama marathon. By the time the rest of girls came back from work, i left with 2 n 1/2 episodes. Then we had a whirlwind discussion of the events for xmas. A very last-min name drawing for the gift exchange. I drew Eunice's card and i had no idea what to get for her at all.

In the end, Meiyin and i went shopping together for the gifts. 1st went to get money from bank then went to Snowshoe gift shop. After a long while, i finally decided on buying a pink haematite bracelet for eunice ($5). Then we went back to trailer to decorate and wrap our present and card.

By the time we finished with it, it was 7+pm and we all had grilled turkey ham sandwiches. Then we had our dessert - Chocolate fondue with raspberries that Selle, shiwen and eunice picked, plus the sweet cocktail! next we went to take pics with Santa Claus in Hotel. Then we finally went back to trailer to exchange gift. I got a mini husky with igloo from Selle! hahaha

2nd trip to Fairbanks

2007-07-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

Woke up for the breakfast - pancakes. It was the american chef Ian and when i was waiting to collect my pancakes, he asked me again if i wanted sausages or bacons. i told him i wanted sausages so i had 3 sausages added to my pancakes. This was e 2nd time he gave me that options when i collected for pancakes. Hence i had a very full pancakes which was wonderful!

At 8am, Yuxuan and i went to the main hotel lobby to meet Ditty. He would drive us and Jeremy and Ben to Fairbanks in the company van. YX sat in the front passenger seat while i had the 2nd bench all to myself, and the guys got the last bench. We all slept on the 4-5 hrs drive, and reached fairbanks abt 11.30am. Then he went to get some supplies before letting us off at Bentley Mall to shop while he did his stuffs. The mall is only one storey but has a few stores such as PAYLESS SHOES, AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS, CLAIRE'S ACCESORIES, GAMESTOP etc. I browsed the accessories while YX browsed the Gamespot. In the end, i bought SPIDERMAN 3 shirt and tights from a Gothic movie-inspired store.

Then we bought Mac's Fillet O fish and i got 3 cookies for only $1. Next we went to regal stadium to watch HARRY POTTER & THE ORDER OF PHOENIX @1.30pm. Oh yah forgot to mention that the cinema here has free seating so when u bought the tickets, it only has the theatre no and u could choose ur seats. Moreover the screen is much bigger and got more seats than usual no in singapore cinemas. At least there's no hassle in trying to find ur seats in the dark if u come in late.

The movie was alrite...but i feel its too short, not enough of the development. After this, we sneaked into another movie TRANSFORMERS, 3.50pm. This movie is much better! Cool cars, and actions! Lolx I munched on my snack mix until i very full cuz i also had 2 breads during movie.

After movies, Ditty brought us to this Thai restaurant SWEET BASIL and i had some Po Phai J - fried tofu with peppers, corn, mushrooms and shared Tom Yum seafood soup with yuxuan. It was delicous but i was too full to devour all. =P After dinner, we hang around for a while before gg to WALMART & Fredmeyers for groceries. I bought my novel THE HARLEQUIN by LAURELL HAMILTON from walmart for only US$17.94!!! Its a hardcover edition! Man I'm seriously considering movin into US man!! The novels here are so freaking cheap!

Of course, we bought ALOT of groceries on the behalf of our absent 4 members. lolx then we went back to trailer. I slept on the way back too.

1st wk of July

2007-07-06T21:02:00.000-08:00

The independence day

Though it was a public holiday, but we ALL had half day of work, 8-12 doing rooms. Adel and i worked togehter in the 20 units. we helped eunice and shi wen to strip 5 rooms as most of our rooms are off roaders and they left later. so we slowly stripped our own rooms and it was 9am before we started making up the rooms. so when it was Adel's rooms, i made the beds while she cleaned the toilets and vice versa for my rooms. We couldn't finished the rooms by 12pm even though we did finish 6 rooms by 10am. One of the rooms only checked out at 12pm and we couldn't strip it. Eunice and Shiwen helped us to do one room as we helped them to strip. so we had our lunch first - chili cheeseburger with fries and watched abit of the parade before going back to finish the rooms.

After work, we all showered. and while i was waiting for others to shower, i rested by watching the historical program of US fight for independence. Actually there was a BBQ party at some one's house but we needed to take a cab there. At 3pm, we wanted to find the cab to the place but we couldn't find it. so we decided to walk to the Tok Mushers Hall to see the fair and watch the mud bogging. On the way, we passed by Roxy's mom tacos shed so we said hi to them before continuging on. At the Musher Hall, there was no more fair but people were still watching mud bogging. Mud bogging is juz the four-wheelers and some other vehicles competing to see who could drive further in the mud. The weather was hot and sunny and my sunglasses was broken on the trip to fairbanks so i had no protection from sun! after a while, we headed back to the makeshift stage and took some random pics.

Then we walked back to roxy mom's taco shed and bought food from them. Meiyin and i shared sliced beef burritos and chatted with Roxy about her plan to come to our trailer and cook honey mustard chicken, and chocolate cake and cream of fruit cake. As the day she coming was thurs, both eunice and i had off and we offered to shop for the ingredients and roxy gave us a list of ingredients to buy.

so we then went back to trailer, had dinner and spent the rest of the night playing card games that roxy has taught us such as Rummy, ERS, (our own games) Bridge and Daidee. Adel also got off day as Jean scheduled too many people to work tomorrow.

Baking day on 5th July

Morning i went to collect breakfast for all of us. I had pancakes as usual and then after brkfast, i continued to read the 3rd book WHEN DARKNESS FALL until 10am. Then i napped from 10-11.30am. I washed up and went to post office to collect my parcel of books. The novels i ordered at Harlequin and inquired about the money order. The post office pays $1 for $1-500 money order. Then we collected and had our lunch. Next we went to 3 bears grocery store to buy the ingredients and we still had $1 change for each. Then at 2pm, we went to ALL ALASKA GIFT- Adel and i used the free wi fi to shop online at VS etc. By the time we finished and going back, it was 3.30pm and it was raining heavily. so we quickly ran back. Reaching trailer, we put away our stuffs and started to tidy the kitchen area.

At 4.30pm, Roxy came with some ingredients but she had to go back for her equipment. so we waited for a while and i arranged the stuffs neatly. So we started off with making the rice with garlic. I helped to cook the rice while roxy showed the others how to make the honey mustard sauce for the chicken and then cut the slit in the chicken breasts to put the sauce. Then she put the chicken into the oven to thaw somemore. Then i helped to pour the sauce into the chicken pockets. so while the chicken were baking, she taught us how to make the chocolate cake. Then when the chicken was ready and rice, we put in the chocolate cake to bake. then after eating the chicken and rice, we made the cream cheesecake and then we put out the ready chocolate cake. Roxy put the andez chocolate mints on the surface of the chocolate cake and all melted!! YUM YUM! Roxy also taught us to make the whip cream topping with vanilla, cinnamon then we used the syringe to make decorations on the cake. We drew our names on each slice of cake!

After all the baking and cooking, we spent the rest of night, playing card games. The new game she taught us was SPEED and it was kinda liek SNAP. We played till 10pm and she left and we continued our daily routine of playing and brushing.

1st trip to Fairbanks

2007-06-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

1st trip to Fairbanks on 28 june

I woke early and was using the loo when the phone rang and my friends said that Jean wanted me back to work. I was like, OH disappointed and continued to wash up. Then Shiwen was talking with the rest that maybe she wanted me back cuz she requested for an early day so she'll talk to Jean about it and let me go Fairbanks cuz i habern been there yet and she went alrdy. In the end, shiwen talked with Jean and she agreed to let me have my trip to fairbanks while Shiwen had a full day.

so we had breakfast - for me, pancakes. then at 8am, Ditty, our trailer supervisor, drove us to Fairbanks using HUgh's car. Yuxuan slept on the way to fairbanks while Ditty and i listened to the Ipod on Hugh's car. I took a few pics of the sceneries and it was a beautiful day, sunny and with clear skies. We reached North Pole abt 11+am and took a look around Santa Clauz House. We also took a pic with the MR & Mrs Santa Clauz. After which, we went to the Regal Stadium cinema and checked out the movietiming. There was 12.25pm LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD movie that we all wanted to watch so we decided to catch the movie 1st before going to lunch and buying supplies. Yuxuan and i shared a hotdog combo US$8.50 and took toilet brk before gg to see the movie.

The screen is much larger and the theatre quite big too. However the seats are not very comfy like cathay ones. The movie was quite good - great actions and special effects! lolx after movie, it was abt 3pm, we went to get the supplies needed by the hotel and then when Ditty said he needed to go bank, i suggested that he let us off at Fredmeyer to shop for groceries. He gave us 45 mins to shop and went to his bank. We spent quitabt 1 hr in the supermart, buying alot of stuffs. Cookies, eggs, yoghurts etc. I also bought sushi and snacks for lunch, costing me US$10.40.
Then we met up with Ditty and rushed to Regal Stadium again to catch another movie. We caught PIRATES OF CARRIBEAN 3 while he watched SPIDERMAN 3 cuz he had watched Pirates alrdy. Our show was juz startin - 5.20pm while Ditty's show started at 6.30pm. so when our show ended at 8pm, we decided to crash another movie. We went to the restroom 1st before entering the Nancy Drew show at 7.45pm de. we watched from midway to end it wasn't very occupied so it wasn't hard for us to find a seat. Besides this show is shorter and i estimated that it'd end ard the same time as Spiderman 3. I was right and we met up with Ditty in the carpark.

We then went in search of dinner. He wanted to have Thai dinner at Sweet Basil but it was closed. so was the few other restaurants we tried. We finally came to a restuarant that was still opened at 10pm - THE AVIATOR STEAKHOUSE. I had prawns main course with salad, bread and veggies. The food was very tasty and delicious! However both of us didn't have enough money to pay for our shares but wellz Ditty was very kind to not ask from us.

By the time, we finished dinner and was on the way home, it was 11+pm. And we reached our trailer abt 3am. I slept on the way back but it wasn't the most comfortable sleep i had. I quickly kept the perishables in the fridge and took a quick bath before going to bed. It was a fun but tiring day! And the enxt day, i still had 8-3pm work.

The Alaskan Tok experience

2007-06-21T18:59:00.000-08:00

I have spent most of my off days exploring the town i'm in - TOK.

The grocery store 3 BEARS is one and the most patroized place by us.

I went to ALL ALASKA GIFT SHOP, SNOW SHOE GIFT SHOP, GOLDEN BEAR MOTEL, TOK GENERAL STORE (selling organic and health food).

We went to Sourdough Campground where they had pancake toss and the winner of pancake toss receive free buffet brkfast the next morning.

We also went to Fast Eddy's restaurant to try their desserts - Peanut butter pie, fruits of forest pie and curly fries. some of the bulgarians are working there too, taking 2nd jobs such as dishwasher, bussers.

I also went to the Tok library twice. 1st time was on our 2nd day here and we met Denali and her mother, the library volunteer. We conversed with her, she was a delightful girl who tell good stories.

We also attended April (colleague)'s graduation party at her house, just some distance away from westmark. We met her dog, cats, friends and had bbq hotdogs and marshmallows.

On my off days, i also explored the remaining shops around here. Here's a list of shops ard here->

A & j VARIETY
WESTMARK
ALL ALASKA GIFT SHOP
TOK VISITOR CENTER
TOK COMMUNITY LIBRARY
YOUNG'S CHEVRON
3 BEARS GROCERY
SNOWSHOE GIFT
AUTO PARTS
TOK STATE TROOPERS
TOK GENERAL STORE
TOK GOLD SOUVENIR SHOP
TOK RV VILLAGE
FAST EDDY'S
SALMON BAKE
FOOD MART
cARIBOU BOOKSTORE
TOK LIQUOR STORE
TOK LODGE BAR
GOLDEN BEAR MOTEL
SOURDOUGH CAMPGROUND
TOK SCHOOL

Not many shops available hor. MOstly gift shops. Our trailer supervisor also bought some bikes for us and i go cycling whenever i free or feel like. I even cycled the 4 miles to TOK river n back. I also cycled to MUKLUKLand 3 miles but i didn't go in. The sad thing is there's no public transport here except for the taxi and coaches. However it is not cheap to even go to fairbanks via coach - $70

On 26 May, we had a tequila party at our trailer where every live-in employees, inclding bulgarians chatted, drank and interacted.

There are many wild bunnies around here too esp the land behind 3 BEARS. MY and i were following the bunnies when we met this repair shop guy Brian. We had an hr chat with him.

We also spent our free time, watching the DVDs lent to us from Ditty, trailer supervisor. We watched 13TH WARRIOR, V FOR VENDETTA, OVER THE HEDGE, DA VINCI CODE. Eunice brought her dvd player too so we could watch on TV intd of only on PC/laptop. On TV, i also watched Charmed, Dark Angel, Shark Attack 2, Ice princess, KYLE XY. NOw on every mon, its showing KYLE XY season 2 but i signed up for 2 wks free trial with NETFLIX and rented the 1st season of KYLE XY - 3 discs ONLY. lol JUst finished watching all of it last night. Very nice and intriguing!

I also bought 5 books from Caribou Bookstore for only US$15.50. The 5 books are HORSE WHISPERER (NICHOLAS EVANS), CRAZY WILD (TARA JANZEN), THE OBSIDIAN TRILOGY (THE OUTSTRETCHED SHADOW, TO LIGHT A CANDLE & WHEN DARKNESS FALLS) by MERCEDES LACKEY.

I have completed reading HORSE WHISPERER, THE OUTSTRETCHED SHADOW, TO LIGHT A CANDLE. All these novels are great stories!! Fantasy but still captivated me. I even ordered 5 books online from eharlequin.com for abt US$26 and with order over $25 got free shipping. I can't wait to get those books! I'm trying to stamp down my desire to purchase as many books as i can as i will exceed my luggage allowance.

We also went horseriding at Roxy's house where we walked to her place and met her cousin, Alani who loves horses and riding them. Her dad, Todd helped us to get on to the horses Blue & Frosty. I rode saddle on Frosty alone 1st while MY & Shiwen rode Blue. We trotted around the fields and 'forests'. Then we went to talk with roxy and her family and they invited us to stay for cake and food. We agreed to stay for food den went off for another ride. This time, MY rode behind me on frosty and Todd even let me have the reins as i learnt to guide the horse where i want to go. However she became fiesty later on and suddenly started to turn round and round till MY & I lost our balance and slid from her back. Luckily it wasn't a hard fall. Nevertheless it was a fun ride.

On 21 jun, Ditty drove us to Tok River and Moon Lake. Moon Lake is beautiful with the sun setting over the lake waters. Some people were jet-skiiing on the water as we watched.

Now my desire is to find someone to get me into Fairbanks to watch my long-awaited movies as well as shopping! Hopefully my next off days i can do! Wish me luck!

A Day in the life of Housekeeper

2007-06-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

Housekeeper is the title given to the person whom clean and tidy the hotel guestrooms. In Westmark Tok, this is a day in the life of Housekeeper...

7.10am - Wash up
7.20am - changed into uniform (grey tshirt and black long pants)
7.30am - breakfast with 2 bowls of cereals with milk
7.45am - wear apron, nametag and shoes/socks
8am - clock in for work and start stripping the assigned rooms' beds
9am - start making rooms
10am - 15 min break
12pm - lunch break
12.30pm - back to work, making rooms
2pm - 15 min break
4pm - clock out of work

5pm - dinner time
6pm - rest/tv/game
7pm - shower
7.30pm - rest
11pm - sleep

sometimes we do different stuffs such as playing basketball or cycling or do something else. but most of the time we are in the trailer. lolx. In every week, i got 2 off days but this week only got 1 off day.

Some pics

2007-06-07T13:45:00.001-08:00

Above pics are about the trailer i share with Mei Yin, Eunice, Shiwen, Adel, Yuxuan, Martin, Radostin, Ditty and Shannon. Love our kitchen with its stove,oven and microwave as well as the bathtub~ llol

This is the pic of meiyin, me, shi wen, yuxuan and adel roasting the hotdogs over the bon fire at April's graduation party on 18th May, sat.

These are the pics of the Westmark Tok Inn I'm working at. Its not a big hotel but quite rustic. Still the food is usually good with western and mexican food. Hahaz

Tequila Party

2007-05-28T20:54:00.000-08:00

Tequila Party @ Trailer 3

During our dinner time, as usual we went to the kitchen to order our food when our head chef Salvador suggested that we had tequila party at our trailer 3. He said that he'd bring the tequila. we didn't know if he was kidding or not but before we went back to trailer, he said he'd be there at 8pm.

After dinner, Genadi asked Mei yin and i to play bball with him. I agreed though MY was quite hesitant as she was quite full. still in the end, we still went to play- Martin and Radostin also went with us. When we went to the bball court, there were some youngsters playing bball too. so we went to join them too. we played till ard 7pm when we went back to trailer 3. Then we showered and waited fr 8pm to come.

Sal brought his 2 bottles of tequile over then disappeared awhile. The bulgarian girls, Gegana and Elena came over 1st and chatted with us. Later ard 9pm, the other bulgarians Deyana, desislava, simona, teodora, martin and radostin and genadi came to join in. We drank tequila with salt and lime. We listened to music and talked. Simona even danced bellydancing for Ditty lolx. It was midnight before they left.

Change of job description

From the 1st wk of work, i started off as laundry person and doing the stocking of the housekeeping carts, but after the hotel opened officially, the room attendants stock their own carts. Working morning to afternoon in the laundry, putting dirty linens and towels to washers, drying them in the dryers, folding the sheets and towels. On the days that Francis is off (Fri & sat), I had to do the lAUNDRY WORK all alone. It was demanding as i couldn't keep up with the sheets and towels to wash and fold. Hence one day while i was off, Jean had a talk with me and asked if i happy in laundry and if i wanna do another job. I asked if there's other job i can do. She said that she could put me in rooms so i'd be cleaning and making rooms too. so i told her that i'd try that.

so since then, i have been doing rooms from 8-12pm, then night laundry from 12.30pm - 4 or 5pm. At first, it was difficult for mt to keep to the timing as i was still not used to the routine. Stripping the rooms and making them up require alot of things to be done. Like u have to make the bed (all the fitted sheet, flat sheet, the blanket, the bedspread), clean the bathtub, sink and toilet bowl, and still put in the supplies such as coffee, sugars, glasses and cups etc. The first time i did the cleaning, i felt how tiring it could be.

And of course i much prefered laundry but its ok since i doing night laundry too. For night laundry, i usually do the folding of pillowcases, and the towels. sometimes i help with the folding of fitted sheets. Intially when i was in laundry, i didn't have any chance to get tips, but when i started doing rooms, now i got the chance. Sometimes i made mistakes such as overlooking the floors of the bathrooms and there were hairs and got lectures from Jean. But i tried to make sure i don't do it again. However sometimes i didn't have enough time to do all.

Adventure in San Francisco

2007-05-10T22:13:00.000-08:00

May 5, sat

My good friends ‑ MH, BQ, BC, YP, PRIS, SH, SW & his bro ‑ as well as my relatives (grandma, godma, uncles and aunts) went to send me off at the Changi Airport T1. I had lunch at Ajisen with my friends, then talked with relatives awhile then met with MY to chk in and waited for boarding.

Mei yin & I on the plane

We had 6 hrs of flight from singapore ‑ taipei on china airlines. Lucky for us we got the window seats and we got to watch I SAID SO, NORBIT on the plane too and had lunch too.

At Taipei, we had overnight stayover at Taoyuan Holiday hotel which is located 45 mins away from the airport and my luggages weighed 23kg. so heavy to lug around man. The hotel room we were given was pretty cool. got 2 queen‑sized beds, tv, seats and got bathroom even though the toilet flushing system kinda lousy.

Us in our hotel room

It was 8pm when we arrived at the hotel and it was raining. we wanted to go to shilin nite market but it was too far away and we din have enough time. so we ended up exploring the neighbourhood in Taoyuan. We went to 7‑11, tried the stallside food such as smelly tofu, fried chicken cutlet etc. We were out till 11pm before we went back to hotel to shower and sleep.

May 6, sun

woke up early, had brkfast at the hotel. It was buffet‑styled but with not many types of food. My stomach didn't feel well so i only had bread and porridge. Then we went to explore the other end of the neighbourhood, saw the pet shop with the cute cute malteses, cats etc. then we went to shop at supermarket for cheap snacks etc. At 12pm, we went back to hotel to rest before gg for lunch n take the coach back to airport cuz our next flight to SEATTLE was 3.35pm.

However we almost spent too much time at lunch, started from 12.45pm. we had alot of food for lunch ‑ beef noodles, some meat, fried fish, cakes, fruits and we couldn't have ice cream cuz we were running out of time. We only had like 5 mins to run up to our room and grab our bags and checked out. Fortunately we managed to make it on time for the coach. There was a long queue at the airport counters so we queued from 2pm ‑ 3pm then we wrote and sent postcards, and browsed the shops in airport before boarding the CA to seattle.

It was abt 10 hrs plus flight from taiwan to seattle. We didn't get window seats and the system was lousy that day, so for that long stupid flight we didn't get to watch any movies but we got play some games and slept for a few hrs. Later on, finally we could watch movie ‑ i watched CATCH & RELEASE and some parts of MUSIC & LYRICS. We had dinner & brkfast on plane.

Seattle Airport

We arrived at Seattle at 11.30am, had to go thru the US custom n waited to find our luggages. so it was 12pm when we finally could go chk in for ALASKA AIRLINEs to Oakland airport and the bad thing was we din know where the counter was but finally found it ard 12.30pm, then queued and chk in till 1pm. our flight was 2.15pm and we sat outside for a while and saw the Gray Line of Seattle was quite unique got automated level to load the luggages. Then we queued to go thru the US custom again & it was very troublesome cuz we had to remove all outer coats, shoes, laptops, and liquid stuffs to show. My bag was checked cuz i forgot to take out my laptop. >.<

The Oakland Airport Us taking the AirBart

By the time we were thru, it was almost 2pm and we rushed to the boarding gate. we were sooo lucky that we managed to catch e final boarding ‑ 2.08pm. Then we flew for abt 2 hrs and we reached Oakland abt 4.30pm. One of my luggages was on the other flight so i got them to deliver it to my hostel that night. then we took airbart to bart coliseum, then took bart to bart st powell. then went looking for the bus stop with muni 30. stopped at the bus stop near Rite Aid and i went in search to buy MUni Passport for 3 days and finally found the booth to buy after making 3 stops. >.<>

This is the Cable Car Turnaround I saw when i was buying the Muni Passport

It was 9pm by the time we chk in, unpacked some stuffs and we were soo hungry that we juz had dinner at the cafe in hostel.

7 May 07, mon

I overslept and luckily din miss the free brkfast ‑ bagel with jam and orange juice.

Our activities:

1. Walk along US Maritime beach

2. Browse Ghiradelli Square & shared the popular hot fudge ice cream

3. Walk along fisherman's wharf

4. Watch sea lions

5. browse pier 39

The carousel at Pier 39

6. Rode cable car to Lombard st (crookest st)

The chef @ BOUDIN making bear-shaped sourdough

The crookedest street

7. Rode cable car to Downtown union square

The Macy's shopping mall

8. Shopped at VIRGIN, RITE AID, WALGREENS

9. Went to Yuerba Buena esplanade

10. Got dinner from subway ‑ turkey breast special @ $2.95

11. went to Golden Gate Bridge ‑ walked all the way to the other end, climbed over gate, and
walked all the way back

Sunset at Golden Gate Bridge

8 May 07, tues

1. Free brkfast at 9am ‑ 2 waffles with jam & orange juice

Activities:

1. shopped @ SAFEWAY ‑ bought a strawberry donut

2. went to golden gate bridge, took pics & bought souvenirs

The Golden Gate Bridge Gift shop

3. walked ard golden gate park

The Stow Lake with Strawberry Hill in the middle

(Not that it looks like a hill to me)

4. walked ard chestnut st and lombard st, looking for clam chowder for lunch

5. went to Fisherman's wharf & had clam chowder in bread bowl at BOUDIN

Clam chowder in sourdough with lemon teA

6. went to Union square to browse chocolate shops

7. went to Coit Tower

8. went back to Fisherman's wharf hostel

9 may 07, wed

8am ‑ reached Oakland Airport to chk in for Oak‑sea & sea‑fai, and slowly browsed the airport

9.25am ‑ flew to Seattle, i started reading my chi novel

11.30am ‑ arrived in seattle, searched for lunch ‑ BK whopper jr, browsed shops

3.15pm ‑ flew from seattle to fairbanks, read another chi novel

6.30pm ‑ reached fairbanks, got our luggages, search for a place to stay

7pm ‑ no more buses, most hostels were closed, or out of beds. In the end, we decided to camp out at the airport. we found a spot near restrm, water cooler and not in obvious view. First night in alaska, we discovered that the sun here sets very very late, ard 12am.

8pm ‑ i read finish chi novel, stone abit, napped and chatted with MY

10 may 07, thurs

7am ‑ took bus to transit ctr, walked to westmark fairbank to put our luggages there

8am ‑ searched for us social security office to apply for social security.

8.30am ‑ found it but it only opens at 9am. so we walked ard and found a playground with swings so we sat on it, play the ball. Then saw the FORGET‑ME‑NOT epresso and we were hungry so went to chk it out

8.50am ‑ we had english muffin with sausageand egg and hot chocolate. very tasty!

9.30am ‑ applied fr social security

10am ‑ explored fairbanks, had ice cream cone, talked to people, relaxed along the Chena River

1.30pm ‑ went back to hotel to wait for our pick‑up and get our luggages.

2pm ‑ Hue, F&B manager, picked us up along with 3 other bulgarian girls. On the way we stopped for lunch ‑ subway he paid. den we stopped for snow (snow hardened into ice), for moose, carabou.

6.30pm ‑ reached TOK, and we were assigned to a new trailer #3 and the further end bedroom. we exclaimed and admired the facilities offered by the trailer ‑ furnished kitchen, bathroom and bedroom! Then we unpacked stuffs

9pm ‑ went ins earch for food n had hotdog bun. Go back to trailer and use laptop and talk with the bulgarian guy, Martin. (also living in the same trailer but different bedroom)

The adventurer

2007-05-05T22:29:00.000-08:00

Where are you content? (stunning pics)

You are content in your IMAGINATION. You are a dreamer, an optimist and like to be alone with your thoughts, often thinking about what could be and what couldn't be. Remember, the imaginative mind is a powerful thing.Quote: The power of imagination makes us infinite.
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What is your secret life goal?

You just want a bit of happiness in your life - and why shouldn't you? Your character is generally cheerful and although sometimes you may struggle you are always optimistic. You couldn't care if you were living in a cardboard box, working as a streetcleaner aslong as youre friends are around you - who cares!
Take this quiz!