Weeks gone by

These few weeks lately had been some highlighting weeks for me.
Personal stuffs I guess..
I'm learning to look more positively like what they told me so =)
Look more at the brighter side, and put less emphasize on myself. After all, we should not take ourselves seriously.. well well, how true is this?

Still learning..

One of my friends was diagnosed with kidney stone today, which gave me another blow. I hope he'll be fine and recover soon. And so people, pleaseee, drink more water!

I have stuffs to blog on and pictures but lagging
So excuse me and let me end this with this song

Busy week

Boss just gave me another 20 papers to read =.="

We have a very, very important audit next Monday and Tuesday, which we had files and procedures to read. Furthermore, we have mock audit almost every week because of this.

Just came back from another meeting.

My experiments have not been going that well also..though I've spent almost 12 hours in lab everyday
I wonder how long do I need to learn and perform better..

Been so blur with all these..wish I could have a more efficient speed in everything somehow
Really feel like a snail at times..

Labrador Nature Reserve

When they've decided to leave at 1.30 pm to Labrador Reserve Park, a small natural forest reserve near Pasir Panjang, I was a bit shocked.

I mean, going to a park when the sun is scorching hot is like a ....... to me.

But out of curiosity, I decided to tag along.
To my surprise, it was not hot at all! It was very cooling and relaxing. So peaceful and nice. What's more, I get to observe some squirrels and biawaks.

The pictures will describe more..

When on the beach..

Two stranded caterpillars on the beach
So clean and nice

And when on the bridge overlooking the blue ocean

When fishing is not allowed

And these two uncles, initially from the other side of the bridge thought they had caught up a huge mermaid (Mei len yu) but realised later that their baits got entangled..

One stranded crab holding on in the middle of the sea

Daydreaming..

Remember these?? The barnacles?

Looking forward for more nature reserves later on=)

SIngapore Arts Festival- Marina Barrage

I managed to watch part of Hélios II, in the opening ceremony for Singapore Arts Festival held from 15 May to 14 June 2009.

We reached Marina Bay MRT entrance at 8.05pm and the notice on the information board says that the last bus to Marina Barrage is at 8pm. The opening ceremony of Singapore Arts Festival is scheduled to start at 8pm too! I was slightly disappointed for wasted more time in shopping earlier.

But then, we were still determined to go and did not mind boarding public bus no. 400 (which means further of walking to the bus station) and so, we walked to the bus station. Then we saw the organiser's team and they told us there are still shuttle bus to Marina Barrade until 8.30pm. =) I was so glad!

The organiser is also smart for arranging more shuttle bus (though the grand event had already started) as they know that people like us would go late..it's better to be late than never- right?

The quick snap near the entrance before heading to the dance event

The giant Grasshopper covering it's ears? I dunno..

The rhythm of the music was unique and nice. The dancers were very tall!

We went to the upper tier (2 floors up) and this was the front view, as were were told by the organisers that there will be fireworks at 9pm! *excited*

No fireworks pics, paiseh..

The arena roof at the lush green field, where you can have picnics

And we lepak here for some time from the rooftop, overlooking the eight pavilions that you can sit in and enjoy the water view too. This is the Singapore's 11th water reservoir (and the newest) of 1200 sqm powered up by 405 solar panels. More info here

Nice~!

KL LCCT back home journey

Did many, many things before I return here (though plenty of unattended things that I couldn't do). Overall, I was satisfied.

But one thing, if one of my friends did not ffk me on 29.4.09, I would have stayed longer and played this with them for many more rounds >.<

Jurassic Jumble, a cards-game that requires you to exchange cards with other opponents until you get a complete set of same colored cards or same digits. The moment you've got the desired cards, you would have to immediately snatch a bone aligned on the table. And all the remaining players will strive to snatch it. The last person that snatched it is the loser. There were 8 bones for 9 players.

We had real great fun and I guess most of us had adrenaline pumped heavily into our blood but the fun had to be stopped because I had to leave earlier *very guilty*

That was why I wanted to strangle that person that night if I could..

Now, the story back home..

Because of the HINI virus and because practically everyone says it's safer as it's less likely to get coughs and flu viruses in the plane when it's only a 50-minutes journey while bus- ~5 hours.; I was strongly advised to get a plane ticket to come back here. It doesn't really make any sense to me but to ease their worries (particularly my mom's), reluctantly I took the flight- which means have to go through the hassles of checking in earlier in LCCT and wait there until the departure time. Waiting has always been a torturing event for me. I just hate waiting!

I took the Air Asia SkyBus from KL Sentral. The schedule can be found here with a 30-minutes interval. In fact, going earlier is good because the seats in the bus are full within 15 minutes. I was supposed to board the bus at 11.00 am (to be safe) or 11.30am (latest) and so, I was forced to reach earlier by my parents (sobs) at 10.35am. However, by that time, the 11am bus is already full and there were about 15 people waiting for the next bus!

Most of them had bought the tickets via online reservation, which is during the airplane ticket reservation. Buying the bus ticket during the online airplane reservation is recommended because it's cheaper (RM 6.50) compared to the real price that you have to pay when you buy at KL Sentral on-the-spot (RM 9- which I wasn't aware of until I checked for the schedule the night before I came back here..hmmm). So the lesson is, plan your journey as precise as possible. If you need to buy the bus ticket to LCCT, buy during online air ticket reservation. Otherwise, you'll have to fork out another small extra fees.

As the 11am bus was already fully occupied, we waited for the next bus scheduled at 11.30 am. The big red bus came at 11.00 am and within 10 minutes, almost all the seats are occupied already. It's not that Skybus is the only one providing shuttle bus services to LCCT but amzingly, the amount of people that board the bus is numerous! We left at about 11.15 am when the bus was fully occupied. In fact, I'm quite happy because I was expecting the bus driver to leave at 11.30 am. It's better to reach earlier (since this is my first time to LCCT KL) and to expect the unexpected. Oh yeah, the bus was very comfortable and the journey took approximately 1 hour (though expected duration is 1 hour and 15 mins).

Air Asia provided few self check-in kiosks but it's not available for international flights (because when I keyed in my flight referral number, it said "Please proceed to counter to check for visa requirements.") I was like - Visa?? Since when we need visas?? Then I asked around for the international flights check-in counters, which I then realised that it is located in another entrance. Domestic check-in counters are in fact, separated from international flights check-in counters. By that time, I've wasted around 20 minutes blurring around because of the queue.

Then only I proceeded for customs clearing and went into the terminal to wait.

Snapped this while waiting to board the plane. Notice that the flight attendant (right) is throwing transferring the bag luggage into the plane compartment.

And, because of the flight, I didn't get to meet my friend [who burned for me many House drama series and 2 Anime dvds (not my favorite at all but got it complimentary so no comments:P)] again for lunch. I was supposed to get these one year ago but now only managed to collect it. The next time we'll meet is probably next year =.="

But I am glad that I managed to seludup and carry it into here!

So long~

Love story- Taylor Swift

When you are not in the mood to blog, songs can substitute..

Changi LCCT Tiger Airways

Journey back home..

First, to Changi Airport, I have to get to Terminal 2 from Green line MRT Changi Airport station. From there, I went to the Basement level and there's a free shuttle bus service to LCCT.
There should not be any mistakes on that because the bus clearly states that it's heading to LCCT. It took approximately 20 minutes to reach the LCCT.

Then, I headed to check-in. The counter is opened 2 hours prior to flight and closes 45 mins prior to departure.

Now I know why it's called LCCT. Even the boarding pass is different..

The airport is different too..(looks better after going through the customs)

And before we board the plane..this is how they make us line up

I was lucky to get the window seat without asking! My first domestic flight back during my fieldtrip also I was given the window seat :D The excitement was there..

When seated in the plane..

And when on air..

Niceee!!

Really nice :) The services were good. And most importantly, the touchdown was very smooth! No 'bang' landings (ie the ones I had experienced with MAS for few times and got one was very bad that one of the kids cried). In fact, I love the heading-off part but I don't really anticipate the touchdown part. Sometimes it's just too harsh.

Even the auntie behind me was telling her companion " I think ah..this pilot is an ang-moh la, not local la. Sure impossible locals can do this good".

Wah, so discriminating and biased.

Oh yeah..
Because I'm a very law-abiding citizen (ahem..) especially in a foreign land and I am supposed to bring back a souvenir for my brother which costs slightly more than my Tiger Airways plane ticket to KL (SGD 35), I went through many articles to know if I can put it in my hand-carry luggage. So diligently enough, I read this.
Have to get a transparent 1 L resealable bag (like Ziploc bags) to fill in the not-more-than 100 ml liquid items. The Ziploc bag looks like the one in the second picture.

Back in domestic flights that I've taken before in KLIA, they provide free plastic bags but not here in Changi airport. Environmental friendly, I supposed.

However, during baggage security checks, they didn't really check on this. I wonder why.
Somehow my efforts seemed wasted because they didn't bother checking on it.

Reached LCCT KL sharp as expected.
Okay, now I know that LCCTs are those without shades.
Hmm..

The moment we went into the terminal, we have to go through baggage-check and then walk out. There were few counters selling bus tickets for Rm8, Rm9 and RM10 for bus to KL Sentral.
I chose the one with the longer line. The tickets were selling like hot cakes!

They told me "bus kat luar sahaja"
From my experiences, when people say it's near, it's not near actually. Not at all..

So, I had to poke a policeman to ask where's the bus terminal because..err.. because it was too noisy and he can't hear me.
And that made me walked another 10 minutes to the bus terminal which was located at far end there..

Hmmmm..

I took Aerobus and it costs Rm8.
The seats were full within 15 minutes. Journey from LCCT to Kl Sentral was about 1 hour.
Comfortable:) Recommended..

Back

I'm back

This was one long week that I've learned much..in terms of life lessons

Managed to meet some people but again, couldn't meet few more. Haih..
Worst is that I can't even meet my brother, and he'll be back in 2 days' time..!
But will be meeting him again soon, I hope.
It's always like that- you can't get all that you've wished for, right?

And am glad to have spent much of my time talking to my grandma.
My heart aches deeply whenever I see her..in fact, it makes me kind of phobia to enter her room whenever she's eating. She wouldn't want to eat but we'll try to pester her to eat. And this goes on every now and then..
I wonder why she has turned to this.
If only she had stronger wills..
If only she's happier now and then..
But I do salute her strength. I wonder if I would be that strong..

And when she held my hands tightly when I said I'm leaving back here..
It had never been so weird and saddening before..

I will blog on my LCCT trips to both Changi and KL's soon..