Langkawi (4)

When I returned from holiday, some ppl asked me whether I went snorkelling? Nope. Swimming? Nope. Sun-tanning? Ha, absolutely not. How come you didn't turn very dark? Er, cos I was kiasu and vain and applied a lot of SPF 50 sunblock? Ha everything cited above was just to illustrate ppl's expectations of an enjoyable 'beach holiday'.... But then this time round despite having not engaged in any of the 'typical beach activities' I still enjoyed my beach holiday... Doing v simple things like sitting at the beach, taking random photos, dipping your feet in the gentle waves by the beach & feeling the wind blow in your face while on a pretty rocky speedboat.

The "black beach" ycc recommended- The sand was pretty black (apparently due to mineral oxides) but there was still a sprinkling of normal sand. And when the waves came and receded pretty sand trails (like those above) were created. But aside from the black sand, this beach was rather dilapidated and somewhat disappointing...
Beras Basah Island -- The last destination on our Island Hopping tour. The beach was not too bad lah and waters pretty clear. But the weather was scorching.... Eventually we gave up walking abt and sat in the shade watching various human activities going on in the sea... including a circle of Chinese courting couples (presumably) creating quite a commotion in the sea... Actually we thought them really comical, with all the ladies piggybacking on the guys. Then weather so super hot... pity those guys... I also concluded after observing things going on in the sea (not just at this beach and certainly not intentionally) that it is a rather popular location for intimacy.
In comparison to the youths in the sea, thought this was a much wiser strategy! Chatting in the shade by the sea...

I really liked the shadows made by the leaves from this huge sap-dripping tree (so we thought)...

Just to end off my Langkawi posts with a picture of my good old chio (AND comfy) sandals :) I will keep dreaming about my next holiday from now till... dunno when. So 不争气 hor ;) I hope to be blogging about the autumn leaves in Japan next time.

Thrice more I broke my 7.30pm resolution this week. Very sad and tiring. And just now after a meeting at MND the 5 of us commiserated with one another (over fried fish meat soup at Maxwell Food Centre) on the sad state of affairs and impending no-life weeks ahead. And I listened to tales of sweetly patient husbands waiting hours for wives to knock off, of disappointed children who turn in without seeing their mummies. Let me get a windfall overnight...

Hai, the future seems bleak.

Langkawi (3) - Cable Car

The Langkawi Cable Car experience was somewhat scary ('cos you cruise right into the mountains and your continued existence depended 100% on the cable car system not failing you) but it was one of the highlights of my trip. You get really good view for 25 ringgit (15 if you're local), without having to really work for it (no sweat). Ok, maybe a bit of cold sweat :P Plus the chance to marvel at the enormity and beauty of the mountains around you. I thought this attraction was pretty underrated. Hehe, I've never heard of this before lah :P

We started out from the base station (the orangey buildings) and reached the middle station (that functioned as a lookout spot) about 5 min later. I was pretty overwhelmed by the view below me! We thought that was it, but no, there was another scary stretch bringing you across to the other tower cum suspended pedestrian bridge....

A cable car starting out from the middle station to the opposite peak... The station at the other tower reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki's Castle In the Sky. A more toned down, modern version :)

Taken from the 2nd tower while looking down at the middle station. I've never seen so many trees at any one time for a long, long while.

But of course, we had to return with some evidence of our 'conquest' :P

The suspended pedestrian bridge as seen from the tower. The engineers that built this are geniuses. You can literally walk through the fleeting clouds...

We slowly made our way down to the bridge... Picture taken from one end of the bridge.

You can look to your left....

Or look to your right... But you wun want to look down. I peeked a bit and my knees felt a little weak... Hee, but Ms Wong still complimented me for being somewhat brave haha.

Awesome view of surrounding mountain ranges awaiting at the end of the bridge. And you feel so insignificant in comparison. It's such a good spot to put things in perspective.

Though I just got back from a holiday (will resume my unfinished Langkawi posts in the next entry), I cannot wait to go on my next one... Gone case right. But forsee that the next one will be rather difficult to come by, despite having more than 20 days of leave for the rest of the year (Actually compared to most colleagues, that is already very little). What a sad state of affairs to have so much vacation leave and no luxury/ liberty to use them!! And dear J, I really really want to go to Japan late this year... Hai. But seems like I have prior 'engagements' that are likely to foil my travel plans. Nonetheless, I have made a resolution to go on more short getaways... And to try to get out of office by 7.30 pm everyday. Unfortunately on the first day of my resolution I overstayed by an hour. Aargh. I shall start again tmr.

I finally splurged on a new DSLR over the weekend... And I am now the proud owner of a powderful Canon 40D.... (while trying to ignore the fact that I also grew quite a bit poorer overnight) I dunno how to use it... YET. But hopefully by the end of the year I would be able to blog about having mastered some cool functions!

Langkawi (2) - Flora and Fauna

When you're not a botanist/zoologist/ornithologist, you are surrounded by other generic living things termed 'trees', 'monkeys' or 'birds' (just to name a few). But thanks to our nature walk tour guide (the resort offered a free nature walk within the resort premises, home to many diff species of plants & creatures) I was reminded of the rich variety of trees/plants & animals in our midst. And I witnessed the cool 'flight' of flying lemurs for the first time! And observed that they had flaps of skin sticking out from their butts... But yeah, felt rather ashamed of my ignorance and oblivion to the natural environment. Perhaps it's also a consequence of years of living in a concrete jungle, but yeah... will KIV such close-to-nature trips in the near future :)

The following are some "creatures" I encountered on this trip...

It took me a while to realise that this hideous red thing belonged to the banana plant. Ok, Ms Wong and I both guessed that it had to be a banana flower, but yeah, it seems to me a strange alien outgrowth from the plant leh. And for some strange reason, I have this impression that banana flowers are white (though I've never seen one...)

This was another plant that caught my eye during my afternoon walk... In contrast, I thought it really pretty. Esp the leaf in the middle-- the leaves were all quite equally spaced out! Have no idea what this is, but I have named it the wheel plant, for its pretty radial leaf spokes... :)

Catch me if you can -- one of many miniature transparent/sand-colored crabs I met along the beach. Before I left office my neighbour ycc had shared with me abt these; and how he used to catch them in bottles to play with them. He must have been a very agile kid; cos whenever I tried to go near these crabs, they just scuttled away really quickly. It also helps to have eight limbs when you need to dig a hole. It was quite fun though to chase after them, despite never managing to really keep up.

A family of... macaques (feels proud for being able to name them properly, instead of just 'monkeys' :P) loitering along the road. The tiny one right in front is nibbling on a piece of bread our taxi-driver threw out of the window. Miss Wong commented that their behavior was so similar to that of humans.... Indeed, with the hand-holding and hugging.... and the ever clingy babies. Notice how the third monkey from the left is holding on to the arm of another monkey? Another strategy to keep track of your fidgety offspring is to grab hold of their long tails. Thank goodness I have no tail :P

Ah, time to sit down to scratch my itchy toe...

These are supposed to be langurs... and according to our guide, one key difference between these and macaques is that the latter are capable of walking well on all fours...

A black bird walking on this floating deck by the beach. The floating deck is actually a 'launching point' for ppl interested in doing water sports, eg. skiing, banana boat etc etc. But the coast was free and Mr black bird cleverly used it as a platform for scooping fish from the waters. From time to time, it also took its evening stroll....

Langkawi Apr 08 (1)

Took many many pictures on this trip... Hope you'll enjoy them as much as I did taking them :) As usual, I am cheating and only showing the ones that turned out well. But hey, who ever said that photography was unbiased :P

Our "hotel"-- Berjaya Langkawi Beach & Spa Resort, a sprawling resort nestled in the midst of a lush tropical rainforest. You can get a chalet on stilts by the sea, if you're willing and able to fork out a huge premium. Of course we didn't splurge to that extent :P

Deck chairs for lazing by the beach...

A chalet with a sea view...

Bigger chalets in the 'forest' overlooking the sea...

Though we only had a humble chalet with a 'garden and partial sea view', it was still sufficiently comfy/cosy to satisfy me...

Path leading up to the Thai restaurant

I loved how there was absolutely nothing between the sea and the sky. Just so simple and beautiful. Snapped most of these pictures while taking a leisurely afternoon walk in the sprawling resort (ok I cheated and took the buggy to the Thai restaurant at the end, but walked back :P)

Imagine listening to the lovely sound of waves while taking your stroll...

And dining right by the sea....

This place felt even more peaceful at night, as the surroundings were totally dark. Except for stars in the sky... :) We eventually dined there the 2nd night... and though we didn't get to dine outdoors (since it was potentially drizzly) it was still quite nice.

I finally did it! I finally completed my resi profile in 2 days after 6 mths of procrastination! And I'm amazed at the last min worker I am :P

Though have been pretty much working half the weekend, still managed to squeeze some time for my new 偶像 Lin Yutang. Have started reading TIOL and though some bits are a little too philosophical for me, some other insightful/witty bits just kept me glued to this book. Let me share one part I really enjoyed:

On Passion

... Somewhere in our adult life, our sentimental nature is killed, strangled, chilled or atrophied by an unkind surrounding, largely through our own fault in neglecting to keep it alive, or our failure to keep clear of such surroundings. In the process of learning "world experience,", there is many a violence done to our original nature, when we learn to harden ourselves, to be artificial, and often to be cold-hearted and cruel, so thatas one prides oneself upon gaining more and more worldly experience, his nerves become more and more insensitive and benumbed - especially in a world of politics and commerce. As a result, we get the great "go-getter" pushing himself forward to the top and brushing everybody aside; we get the man of iron will and strong determination, with the last embers of sentiment, which he calls foolish idealism or sentimentality, gradually dying out in his breast. It is that sort of person who is beneath my contempt. The world has too many cold-hearted people. If sterilization of the unfit should be carried out as a state policy, it should begin with sterilizing the morally insensible, the artistically stale, the heavy of heart, the ruthlessly successful, the cold-heartedly determined and all those people who have lost the sense of fun in life- rather than the insane and the victims of tuberculosis. For it seems to me that while a man with passion and sentiment may do many foolish and precipitate things, a man without passion or sentiment is a joke and a caricature......

This section is too lengthy for me to continue typing, but I loved the bit in bold... Think he's cool :P

3 more days to my beach holiday! But unfortunately I have to work even on the very morning of my flight, since everyone's so caught up with work that it's simply impossible and paiseh to get ppl to do briefings on my behalf. So I shall have to leave for the airport on Tues from office. Nonetheless, am looking forward to having a few leisurely days for pampering myself/ relaxing/ leisure reading. A spa treat sounds like a good idea :) The past week has been pretty bad, with every workday ending no earlier than 8pm... and poor tph and I were back in office on a fine Sat morning. and poor tsm is likely to have to return tmr to turn in to boss the labour-intensive resi profile I owe for my briefing materials.

I've laid my hands on a copy of 'The Importance of Living' -- "The Classic Bestseller That Introduced Millions of the Noble Art of Leaving Things Undone". I like the italicised part of the title description, though having not read the book I am not entirely sure what this is all abt. But feels like something I need to master...

Today was quite a crap day at work. Aside from the fact that I wore my new pinafore work outfit and got complimented for being cute/retro. And aside from the fact that we returned the lunch treat our pjt team resource person gave us, in the form of an elegant Chomel brooch and travel shampoo/bath set from Crabtree & Evelyn... which made her very pleasantly surprised. The packaging at Crabtree & Evelyn is usually irresistably pretty so I love to buy things for others from there (esp when you have other ppls' money to spend too :P)

I think i'm beginning to learn how not to let other ppl get you down.

The Importance of Living

It's been weeks since I really stepped into a bookstore to browse books. And this afternoon, a copy of Lin Yutang's "The Importance of Living"(apparently a 1937 classic) in Kino caught my eye. Didn't have time to really look at contents in details; but did eyeball some interesting chapters such as the imptance of loafing etc. I didn't buy it 'cos was stingy and wanted to see if there were any discounts online... but then again, I might just go back and get it one of these days; cos sometimes certain titles just jump out at me and I'll feel an urge to get/own it. It's also an uncanny but timely reminder for myself... the importance of living and embracing all the other wonderful things I can possibly do with my life (and not slogging, not working most of the time :P) before I sink further into the routine, monotonous working life...

Hong Kong Apr 08 (2)

Though schedule was pretty tight, we still managed to squeeze out some time for shopping. To the extent that the two 'girls' opted shopping over an informal dinner with the rest one night hehe. I suspect that contributed to our 'bad reputation' cos the next day in the bus when my CEO asked for a map and I said I only had a not-so-gd one dunno who joked, "only showing the shopping areas ah"... *bleah* Is it such a crime to go shopping when official duties are over? Not really what. Sigh must learn to be more discreet next time.

Oh well, in any case, here are some of my shopping finds!

Clockwise from top left: Jasmine tea leaves that came prettily packaged in white tin box; lovely green and grey striped scarf that I found at the Esprit outlet (that I really have no use for but cannot resist buying); Lesportsac pouch with geometric print (this is the real thing, for once...); strawberry choc from Japanese snack chain Okashi Land; Green tea powder from Genki Sushi.

Hong Kong street snack called 鸡蛋仔. It's really just some kind of waffle shaped like a tray of eggs, then vendor folds up the whole sheet and tucks it into a brown bag... Not very yummy actually despite the long line, but fun to nibble on.

One of many life-sized Olympic mascot lanterns found at the promenade area near ferry terminal at Kowloon...

The rare occasion I decided to try strike a fun pose... :)

No time for a full post -- but I realised yest night when trying to produce some notes of meeting (I took notes, but not with intention of reproducing as NOM. Unfortunately was told to help with minutes for that session a day later) the importance of namecards at external meetings with unfamiliar faces....! Usually I hate to give out namecards (inferiority complex haha) and so sometimes due to reciprocity I dun collect them... but I am now suffering the consequences. Cos have to put together attendance list to go with minutes, am trying v hard to name two faces captured in a photo taken during one discussion session. Errr though I can console myself that I got the NUMBER of Hong Kong officials correct, I have NO IDEA who two of them are. Aaargh. I shall resort to circulating pic to colleague to seek help.... :( This is so embarrassing...

Hong Kong Apr 08 (1)- Work

The work trip to Hong Kong was a very educational one. Though the main purpose was to attend a housing conference for which our Minister was one of four keynote speakers, the delegation also toured various housing projects/ offices/ parks (respective stat board reps attended things relevant to our fields) Our various hosts from Hong Kong Housing Authority, Hong Kong Housing Society were all very hospitable and friendly; and were very willing to share what they have done, esp on the issues of rental and elderly housing. Particularly for elderly housing, Hong Kong seems to be quite a few steps ahead of sg, esp in terms of facilities and range of support services for this growing group of individuals.

Since work work is confidential and sometimes boring to other ppl, I shall instead talk a little bit about other work-related but not subject-specific things I discovered:

1) Work trip for big shots and medium shots basically means you work throughout the day; even after day's outings are over and everyone can technically retire to their rooms. And so perhaps only with the exception of a tiny fry like me with no working laptop (phew...), rest of the laptop-equipped ppl on trip were probably clearing mails, typing notes of minutes blah blah way into wee hours of the night. And so while colleague was clearing emails on laptop, I was amusing myself with reports of Olympic torch snatchers on BBC/NHK..... (experiencing 50% guilt 50% relief)

2) Punctuality is a golden rule for work trips. Though I must say that I am a pretty punctual person, I've learnt that small fries always ought to appear like 15 min b4 stipulated meeting time; else you will most certainly end up being last persons to arrive even if you're on the dot. Hai... This aspect me and hy dun have much 形象 left, since for some unfortunate reasons we both arrived last twice... And the 2nd time our CEO even suaned us for being like 3 min late... OOPS.

3) Logistics sucks... Though I was a free-rider on this trip, I quite empathised with the logistic guy from MND who had to take care of every single detail from group check-in to helping with last min flight changes etc... It's a skill I dun think I can ever really master... :(

4) Networking lunches/dinners are not really my cup of tea. Well, actually I had the good luck of sitting beside some really cool individuals (like the quite high ranking kind who maybe deep down wonder why got such tiny fry at same table but yet tries to engage you and dun make you feel uncomfortable); there were also some eeky ones who just bochap you and concentrate on the impt ppl at table (ok lah, it's understandable). The socialising part aside, two good things that came out of these though were i) reminder and renewed motivation to be updated on current affairs & ii) Lotsa delicious Chinese food!

Lastly, some random work-related shots:

Unlike in Singapore, public rental housing blocks in Hong Kong typically have names instead of block numbers. Apparently, these huge characters plastered to the side of the blocks also serve as a resting point for little sparrow guests :)

The magnifiying reader machine that allows elderly to magnify tiny text in books. Quite cool right. Apparently, you can also change the text cum background to different colors too; cos according to demonstrator some elderly cannot detect certain colors too well...

Cameramen awaiting arrival of Chief Executive Donald Tsang at a cocktail reception to celebrate HKHS's 60th anniversary.

Cute choir kids performing at the above ceremony. The lil boy on the top right looks so demure but shuai4 hor... :P

Am typing this from colleague's laptop... just taxied home from Kowloon after shopping till we conveniently forgot time and missed the last ferry departing for Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island (where hotel is situated)... :P Though I now have shoulder/arm/feet-aches from bia-ing shopping this evening/tonight, am nonetheless quite satisfied with my shopping finds hehe. It's back to sg tmr :)

The week continues to be lucky -- cos I won something at the AD Lucky Draw! 6th prize-- a WMF cutlery set that retailed at some $99. I've never really had any luck in lucky draws. Though while sorting out prizes in the storage room I had set my eyes on the Nintendo Wii (2nd prize) and thinking I most certainly would not want to win the cutlery set... during the Grand Lucky Draw announcement I had this uneasy premonition that I might just get the very thing I didn't need nor want... And true enough I did :P Aiyah but I shouldn't be complaining... since I can just keep it in the event that I'd have some use for it one day. Hope my good luck continues for the rest of the month.... (or the year! hehe. greedy)

AD's up tomorrow and unfortunately I didn't have the time to hunt for the perfect skirt. I had also intended to hunt for a black-and-white checked scarf belt or something to go with the theme... but sadly, no time! Nonetheless, this week has been a pretty lucky one for me and I just discovered that sis has a short white pleated skirt that I can pull off as those cheerleading skirts (And it's not THAT short, so still appropriate to wear for official purposes :P) When I excitedly pranced around in my fakeo Formula One outfit to mum, she once again commented I look like a ginah... aiyah ok lah; look young beats looking MATURE :) And so this ginah is also supposed to be primary hotel liaison person for tmr and though I am a little nervous (having NEVER done anything like that before) I will constantly remind myself to behave as if I am damn experienced... Hai, actually ECAs are rather fun. Unlike work. If I get the hang of this I can consider offering services as floor manager for friends' weddings...

Also wanted to hunt for more formal dinnerish dresses to bring for Hong Kong trip; but unfortunately this has been a hectic week. And tmr shall be burnt; so no opportunity to shop :(

No more pjt team + 1 work trip + 1 holiday!

Alas. The dreaded pjt team briefing is over! :) And I had some stroke of good luck and it actually went OK... Things that could have been picked on were surprisingly not picked on; and even when a director questioned certain findings senior management were really kind/lenient and somewhat supported our team. Hmm. Maybe they were just in a very good mood today but hey, I am not complaining....

Next two weeks will be somewhat happening. Our Formula One-themed Appreciation Dinner is coming up this Sat; and the guai1 Shi Min will be clad in a red/black Formula One shirt with huge Malboro iron-on behind... ahem, a bit not me and I wish I weren't "endorsing" cigarettes; but it was the nicest looking out of the designs available for me to choose from. And feels fun to be a rebel for one day :) Just need to find a matching short skirt to complete the look hehe... :P

Come next Tues, would be zipping off to Hong Kong for a few days with some 'delegates' to attend a housing conference. If I'm lucky, should be able to squeeze out half a day on the 12th to go shopping b4 flying home. And come 29th, I shall finally be able to indulge in a tiny nuah3-and-do-nothing 4D3N beach holiday in Langkawi. I love April.

I am usually not so open... :P but somehow I just felt like writing this down... somewhere. And because when ppl make me melt a bit, I want to remb it. Shi Min hardly gets such moments these days (esp with guys...)

This is really no big deal, but I was just very awww over a very tiny thing during photography class this Thursday. So I was just having class, and in the middle of class, I made a 'clear your nose' noise (you know, those a bit gross clear your blocked nose actions you do when you can't and dun really need to blow your nose). I suppose my instructor heard it; cos he instinctively asked the class (and maybe I very imaginative also lah, assume he was asking me) whether the air-con was too cold. OK, maybe after reading this you're like this Shi Min is CRAZY, this little insignificant thing also can feel melty... but I dunno; I just felt very aww that some stranger could be so sensitive... And then later in class our instructor showed us some of his works/ pictures and got quite excited when narrating to us why he took certain pictures... And though he's really a bit cannot-make-it at expressing himself, one could feel his passion and at times child-like excitement over this art of 'seeing things'... and me the silent student observer, just thought it was very cute.

Honestly I dun think I've learnt very much abt photography techniques in this class; but somehow the instructor feels so sincere and unfake that I dun have the heart to feedback any of that.

The early morning sky felt like a huge comforter today.
I wanted to jump in to lie among the fluffy clouds...

Having to climb out of bed when you just want to SLEEP is so hard.... :( Hai, and am down with sore-throat so shall aim to sleep early today.

While drearily preparing briefing materials in office today, received excited call from J who told me she got into Chicago... I felt really happy too, 'cos really good things are happening to my dear friends. The other J in my life is super happ in Japan too, despite having been there for less than 2 weeks :P I also want to learn how to make red bean and strawberry paste daifuku.... (though I have to admit this mixture of flavors, erm, does sound a little strange)

And my dreaded pjt team briefing is still not over. But at least we submitted a (mediocre) report... hehe. Now I just need to cross the final hurdle! One really good thing that came out of the pjt team though was getting to know one or two really decent folks better. Some of my pjt team members are just great and reliable workers... and they work real fast! It's really through 'going through thick and thin' that one really gets to know ppl better :) And you feel thankful that there are some really good people around.