hey yo im BACK wooot... well today we didnt do much in the afternoon... we brought my bro's gf around to the hot shopping spots trying the snatch the lowest bargains possible...but sadly i didnt get to buy anything... still eyeing one shirt though hoping that they would lower the price...
well it got really fun towards the end of the day when we were walking down this little night market... i saw these two things haha that really shocked me... one in a gross out way the other in a shocked kinda way...
seen fear factor??? well i guess so... hehehe.... paulina i think you would apprechiate this...
it is really gross and pittyful... if you guys cant really make out what it is.. the little sign reads... ' half hatched eggs' i really pitty the little duckies in there... so poor thing... who can eat such little adorable creatures... chinese are really sick... o i should show you guys what their local wine looks like... it is HEDIOUS.... my goodness... they have all sorts of things in there.. cobras, geckos, crows, bears, etc.... i gotta show you guys one day....
ok now lets not deviate... here is the other thing i saw...
ok now look carefully... see it? great!! cosmetic surgery anyone? shocking isnt it... i mean hey yea that is where a cosmetic surgery should be held... i mean the whole ambience suits it... a little dark alley in the middle of no where... right next to a few small dingy shops in the dusty grey reaches of the street.... i mean who would go there... i was really shocked....
well tmrw we would be going to cuching... where the vietcong tunnels are and some other traps... o yea i almost forgot... again no vietnamese food... CYA...
friends always care
23:19
hey guys i know i know... i missed a day... well i wasnt feeling too well... we decided to go for lunch at this place called peaches yesterday to try out some singaporean food...haiz so sad... till now i still dont know why... but after that nice little bowl of laksa which i must say was quite good.... i felt nauseaus... all the way till 2am... so that kinda explained why i didnt blog... yesterday my practically almost everyone fell sick... all but dad and by bro's gf... bro has food poisoning... mom has flu... i have well i have something that i dont know what it is... so we basically spent our whole time at home buming around... so that was yesterday... as for today... haha... wait a few more hours kae... CYA...
friends always care
18:35
day 6
another day in this wonderful city of dreams... today once agian i have no idea why but i am just so caught up in being a pig i loose sense of everything.... my bro came down with diahoerriah so that meant that we couldnt really go anywhere with really heavy meat... see what you get for eating so much shell fish... hahaha... they start to attack you from the inside like little trojan horses.... revenge of the shells.... the shells strikes back... ok you get the point...
so today we went for a simple beef noodle soup at pho24 again...had some mango juice then went back to sleep... wooo i am so pig lor... haha... we didnt even go shopping today... hahhaha... o well...
anyhow my parents went to pick up my cousins from the bus station.. they are on a back packing trip around S.E.A and parts of africa for 6 MONTHS.... how cool is that... 6 months... that is a holiday...haha... well we went for dinner at this nice chinese restaurant... again skipping vietnamese food.... haha... well as you can see i did nothing much today once again... piggerism rulz.....
friends always care
22:27
day 5 eh.... wow time flies....well not really... haha... seems like i have been here forever.... and i am loving it.... ok ok... now time to get back to my epic adventure....
ok today i didnt do much.... piggerisim once again took the better of me... i woke up at about 12 today but i did go out after that.... but what i saw along the way to lunch....
on the way to lunch i saw these three boys all not more than the age of 5 smoking a cigerrette... it was really shocking... i was dumbfounded for a few minutes laughing away at the restrictions of cigerrettes infront of me... after having a simple lunch, we made our way for SHOPPING AGAIN.... yay....
however, today was different... i was being litterally pulled to the left and to the right... i had to cope with the cross fire of store vendors trying to budge in with their individual sales techniques... just like my cousin puts it... i feel like a walking dollar bill that everyone is literally trying to grab at... it came to the point where by we could not stop moving for to stop means immediate death.... well after making our way out of the lebarinth of shops... we made our way back home before coming out once more for dinner...
today we had a mega dinner... haha... we went out for a seafood feast... having crabs prawns shell fish etc... but i really pitty the prawns... bec they cooked them alive infront of us... so cruel...you could see them wriggling and jumping about inside the pot with the glass lid on trying to get out whilst half their body was all red...seeing little creatures infront of me suffering like that really pains my heart... so to make sure their death was not invain i ate them.... and i really enjoyed them... hehehe... well... after that i still wasnt too satisfied so we ended up eating wonton mee.... it wasnt too bad... it is really sad... it somehow seems as if vietnamese cuisine is not so prevailant here... my parents dont seem to have too good an impression abt it... o well but they said they are going to bring us for it anyway tmrw night...
haha... well we ended off the day the same way we ended off the last few days... COCONUT ICE CREAM... haha... the waiter has seemed to recognise us... but it is really good.... highly reccommended... till tmrw... CYA...
friends always care
00:20
wow day 4 has come and gone already all too fast.... today was a day to celebrate piggism... and to commorate the day of being a pig i started the day off by waking up at 1.... woooot.... sat on that nice comfy couch for a few hours watching some dvds... till 5.... after which i tried to excercise at the gym... however, due to this special day of piggism my body rebuked excercise and did not allow me to do much excercise at all... instead it took on a mind of its own and decided that it would just sit down and watch my bro and mom excercise... they call this visual excercise.... hey millions of people do it... why do you think those arobics casets are selling so well.... it all helps you imagine that you are actually getting fitter without moving a muscle... and like they say it all starts with your mind so why not...
well ok after the gym we went off to UNDERGROUND for a superb dinner... it was the first time i managed to get into the pub... hey no one bothers about age down here.... they even offer you drinks... we had really fabulous food here.... loved it...
we then made our way to....... guess guess come on.... fine ill say... we went back to eat the coconut ice cream again... ahhhh... the heart was willing but the body is weak... so eventhough we were tired from doing nothing the whole day we still made our way there....
then we ended off my going to this place called SEX N ART..... oooooo sounds sleazy eh.... sounds like some porno shop come brottel eh.... SICK PEOPLE!!!! it is sax n art.... it is another pub whereby this guy plays the saxaphone and he gets his friends to come play with him jazzy hits... it was really really cool... so inspired to pick up my instruments once again....
well thats all i did today... boring eh..... welll i had fun anyway.... wooooooot...
still missing my dear....
friends always care
00:39
wow... another day in vietnam... well today there was nothing much that abnormal from our daily routine of shopping.... for lunch we had these really seductive beef noodle soup.... it was really really good... o my.. i think i was salivating.... hahaha... sounds wrong doesnt it... being aroused by a bowl of noodles... WELL IT IS SUPPOSE TO.... it was so good.... and to wash it down i had a really nice cup of blended strawberries.... i wont call it strawberry juice because it is not... it was purely blended strawberries... it was so nice.....
well one rule of thumb when entering into vietnam for something to eat... beware of the chillies... they can be anything from feeling nothing to shortness of breath.... it can get that bad... and from what i hear it does not depend on size but mainly on how convincing the chillie looks... the whiter it is or the more pale it looks well... lets just say STAY FAR AWAY.... it can really get bad...
along the streets today i saw some really interesting sights... so sad... somehow i just cant seem to be able to put up the photos on to the blog.... well but i saw anything from the normal one person on a motorbike all the way to four grown men on one small 100cc motorbike... it is crazy... they are crazy... poor little bike... well perhaps ill put up the photos some other time...
but the main star tonight was tonight's dessert... it was a nice refreshing coconut ice cream.... they basically take a young coconut and stuff it with coconut ice cream made from coconut milk... then they seal off every opening with fruits and more fruits of all sorts.... it was really really interesting but nice.... well actually if i had the pics with me i could explain clearer.... haiz... so sad... i guess some other time...
friends always care
01:57
the glaring sun rays pierced through the thick drawn curtains forcing over a rude awakening... but as a little crack of light entered my eyes i was unpleasantly shocked to find out it was only 6 am and the sun shorne like the mid day...
wow day 2 already... fast eh.... time really flies here... today we didnt do anything much because it was raining quite a bit... but it was really refreshing... but never the less i still learnt a little something about the vietnamise... haha... i found out you can practically customise and tailor anything you can think of... and i am talking about things all the way down to your swiming trunks or costumes... haha... i got a shock when i heard about that... after the shock it soon followed with a good laugh... o and you know what... i found parkson in vietnam... ya you know the one that is all over malaysia.. parkson the shopping centre... well yea it is here in vietnam too... and my goodness it is really an extreme from the parkson we all know... it is worse than paragon... it is so expensive... lets just say ok... in singapore (i love timberland so i am just going to use it) a timberland shoe cost anything from 160 to 210... here it cost anything from 180 to 320... it is crazy... for the same pair of shoe here it cost 240 in contrast to the cheaper 175 in singapore... well yea... it is mad... o and i was walking along the street and i was amazed to find a raoul shop in the center of vietnam... and it is so cheap... it cost roughly 52 per shirt... normal price in singapore is like 130 or more... it is a real steal... but sadly it was slightly too baggy for my liking so ya... too bad...
well we ended the day off with some really really good and value for money hor fun and soursop juice... the hor fun o my... it was filled with prawns squid and CRABS the squid was so fresh that it was crunchy and not chewy... and the crabs were all over... and the best part it only cost 3 dollars... was really nice... and o my... haha... since i stepped into vietnam i have been drinking fruit juices non stop... in singapore it is 70% water 10% ice and 20% juice... well over here it is 70% juice and 30% pulp 0% water and 100% cheap...the full glass of soursop juice cost me 1.50... a glass of passion fruit ice blended cost me the same as well... really value for money...
tomorrow we are going to the south to see more of vietnam... so ya... stay tuned to the epics of joel... CYA... miss ya guys in singapore... :_(
friends always care
19:34
oh yeah baby... day one in ho chi min city and it has been a blast... we got awoken to the reality of a third world nation... seeing the wierdest of all kinds and the SUPERBLY GREAT offerings this lovely nation has to offer...
i must say the traffic for one is a total chaos here... bikes filter the roads by the millions and cars just barge their way through horning out for those little two wheelers to make way... the bikes just come form all directions and i mean literally... there is no sense of traffic laws in this country... they say the safest way to cross the road is to close your eyes... i totally agree the traffic is so scary here... you get on coming traffic and traffic from all direction... one second of hesitation could mean you ending up in a hospital... but i must say they travel quite slow so it aint too bad... hey i mean the only law they follow is the speed limit... they all travel not much faster than 30km/h so ya... the traffic is really a tourist attraction in itself...
ok now i was saying that i saw some wierd things here in vietnam... well lets just let the pictures speak for themselves... take a look...
see guys here you see a normal house under demolition or renovation right...
now you see this... yea same block... and guess what normal construction site has turned into an abnormal live in home... this just goes to show the poverty level down here... according to people the basic annual salary of a normal family in vietnam is only a mere 400 us dollars... on a 'big' outting a family of three in one whole day spends about 6 us dollars.. amazing isnt it... a real eye opener...
then we have the extreme upper class... in vietnam there are only two classes... really down right low class or the upper of the upper class... and my goodness are they rich... even the houses here are bigger and nicer than those back home... hey take a look at this... a little minor detail in the house speaks for itself... the TOILET BOWL...
ladies and gentleman this new aged toilet encompasses the luxuries of outter terrestial proportions... buy this now and this new aged toilet bowl comes with a control panel to the right to only essentuate heavenly comfort... together with built in heater to warm up those little bottoms and a calm yet cooling spray to wash every little dirty crack in your body... if that is not enough this nifty remote cathers for both women and men both available at the tap of a button...
well away from all that... i am enjoying life here in this little cosy house my dad has got... we went to siagon square today and we got some really good deals for timberland shoes... purchasing them at 90 sing ( usual price 180 sing)... bought some cool korean dramas to relax at home...
want to know what the food is like eh??? knew it... everything is about food isnt it... well.. lets just say there is no such thing of live seafood restraunts in vietnam... because the only time a fish or prawn is dead is when it is about to be merinated... so ya... and for dinner we had ribs where the meat just seems to melt off the bone and angus beef which just seemed to have this red band that ran through the middle with it only calling out a pleasant treat to any taste bud... and guess how much 320gms of angus beef plus one whole rack of pork ribs plus juices and 4 bottles of beer cost... what would normally be 150 bucks cost only 40 wooot... this place rox... highly recommended... dun worry ill try and post everyday... see ya...
friends always care
22:14
hey wats up people... yesterday was my last day at work... so sad... ironical eh... just a few days ago i was really hating my job... well i started to love it as i realised it was more of a blessing than a curse... yesterday was havoc day... there was close to no rules... when we walked into the offices we walked and talked as a big group... after clearing plates and food we would bring it down to the lower level and guess wat... EAT EAT EAT!!!! hey who can resist really really good food and it is all FREE.... wooooooooooooooot so we had sandwitches doughnuts biscuits cookies drinks juices fruits cakes yep... a really big feast... ahhhh i felt so pregnant after that.... but man was it good... and o yea not forgetting the fact of trying not to get caught by our captain who is always on the prowl to make sure we are at our best... wahahaha... o well... not long after that any way, the service team was treated by suntec to a buffet.... and man was it good... fried rice fried noodles dim sum pastries sandwitches cheese basically everything that the delegates were offered... i love my job... 2 full buffets in one day back to back.... sorry bird you should have came it was really good... after that, it was a mass raid... everything which was anything was up for grabs... tea bags, food, drinks.... people were just grabbing them and throwing them into their bags... i personally brought back 20 sachets of really really good tea... ooooooooooooo was that nice... o my i have been talking so much about the food that i forgot the photos... haha... well we basically went into the plannery and took photos at the more prominent locations... so yea we took at the flags speaker stand chairman seat.. yea bla bla bla... OK NOW BACK TO THE FOOD.... o and did i mention? the chocolates and eclairs... o my... the chocolates are just fabulous.... it just melts into your mouth and leaves you in heaven for a while... well yea i bet i put on some weight BUT WHO CARES!!! FOOD=GOOD see it rhymes too... but seriously this is a real contrast from what we were given just 7 floors below at B1 *THUNDER & LIGHTNING* my goodness the food down there is not even ment for the dogs... it is really bad.... have you ever tried fish so hard that it cant be cut... well if you really want to try.. please proceed to suntec staff canteen... try out all the wierd food down there... extremely suitable for those who seek adventure and death defying stunts... MY GOOODNESSSSS IT IS HORRIBLE.... well after those 2 buffets we didnt have to go there.... but i did anyway... haha... not to eat though... but to take a final look and laugh at it... hahaha.... so bad.... o well.... basically my heart goes out to all that did not come for the last day's last shift... it was a blast.... o i would upload some pics soon.... still waiting for my friend to send it across....
here are some pics of my precious items i am going to miss.... so sad... bye bye... sob sob sob....
friends always care
10:20
hmmmmm...argh... remember the photography competition i signed up for some time ago??? well some how i think none of my photos got through... so sad... they said that if any of mine got through i would recieve an email by september... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh..... sob sob sob... i am just hoping that there was an over flow of entries and they have not seen mine yet... sigh...
well here are some of the 28 pictures that uploaded...
';">
friends always care
18:42
bright and vibrant pink
the heart shorne forth a comforting radiant glow
it started to pound
it pounded harder and harder
the heart could hold the pulpitation no longer
then there it was
a faint but clear hair line crack appeared
then it started to widen
each joining tissue slowly being stretched apart
then it appeared
a searing light pierced through the air
the immense energy penetrated all the other surrounding hearts
as one by one each one were dommed for their similar fate
tearing to pieces these hearts slowly floated down
with every gentle rock
the closer the hearts came to the ground
the hearts lay flat among their fellow commrades in a mozaic of patterns they formed
and that was it that was the end...
friends always care
21:47
hey you know what haha this is really ironical but i am starting to love my job... WOOOT.... my job is really taking a turn for the better... all of a sudden, we are pounded by a never ending list of things to do... many of my friends think it is sai gang... haha but i beg to defer....wooot it is so fun... haha.... wierd eh a few days i was saying that all i did was sit in that condemned room and zuo bo... but now wooot...
haha... now i am basically in the ice team, water team, room service team, set up banquets, set up meetings.... it is like a 5 in 1.... it is really cool... since that day a few orders have come in for ice... today i delivered to 26 rooms so it aint too bad...although at times those deligates can be quite irritating and mess up the entire proceedure.... once we are done with that we would help out the water team to deliver water to the water points in the convention center.... and since the room service is short on staff, well guess who has to help out... BINGO... yours truely..... after all that, the best part is that we get to do OT to do up a cocktail party which is tmrw night... then the day after, i would be helping out to set up the plannery... btw that is the most important meeting in the whole IMF... well that one we would be setting up at 4am... woooot that means no sleep for me... haha...
i know i may sound mad haha... but really i want to understand this entire industry as wide as possible... well actually i would have been a bar man if not for the plannery... but hey either one is still beneficial to me... i am really glad... i guess everything that happened prior to this was a blessing in disguise... *smiles all the way*
friends always care
18:04
Haha well my exams had finished... After that i panicked because i thought that the macroeconomics paer was pretty hard. i realised that almost all the answer i wrote down will the same as the previous, as if i was copy and pasting it to every question i encounter. Lucky worse the last section which was a whole 30 marks about foreign investment was a big shock for me. i totally don't know how to answer them, hence resulted to "spying" hehe... i managed to ans every question logically, thank God! Now i am having my holidays, working at least 4 days a week to earn money to pay for my braces [* Hint : Waiting for someone to sponser or donate some $].
When i found out that results were coming out on 13 Sep, i begin to dread as the days pass by. Fear was running through me as i am afraid of failing the paper and getting laughed by my friends and my sister, who was the top student in sports and wellness management in NYP the previous year. When it finally came to 12 Sep 11.30pm, i on my com and played games to "Destress" myself haha. i chatted with my fellow classmates who was too anxious and nervous on msn. Just then my friend gave me a call and i started chatting, leaving the com in the living room and going into my room for privacy haha. i got carried away and by the time i realised it was already 12.30am. i gave out a soft "Eeek" and hushly said bye to my fren and dashed to my com. by then my classmates were already discussing about wat grade they got and how well they did ( haha M. , Mo Mo and Kimchi u watch out when we get back in school lol! ). By then one of my gal frens called me and asked how i did. i told her i did not cheat yet and she hurried me and prompt me to faster check ( haha she was like more nervous than me la ) The loading time of the results seemed like an eternity but at last everything revealed. I PASSED MY ECONS!!! I GOT AN "C"!!! while i got an A for my POA, B+ for my oral com, and the rest was B... haha i gues i did alright although like they always say : "There is till room for improvement" . The only problem is how do i spent my remaining holidays.. Oi when will the calss chalet or BBQ be held? And please ask me out.... i am bored..zzzz
friends always care
19:52
what is love??? is love something that we really feel or is it something more... infatuation is not love... liking aint love... happiness aint love... when there is love there is happiness and at times sadness... when there is love there is liking and at times dislikes... but the one thing special about love is that we are able to accept her as a whole and realise that without her you cant go on...
people say that love is never having to say you are sorry.... i totally disagree with that... if you really love her, you would say sorry when you are wrong... you cannot always aspect her to know how you feel... it is in doing these little things that would make a difference...
i have also realised that love is around us... everywhere we go and every corner... love stalks us all... the questions is whether you want to notice it... when you see love, your eyes would water... your mind is at peace... time would stand still... your heart would feel a strong sensation... and you would want to stay there with her forever...
friends always care
15:42
hey guys sorry i have not posted for some time... well i just started work not too long ago... well it is kinda cool... the entire suntec is like a fortress... but a bit scarry... but interesting... well i think most of you know that i am the kind of guy that does not complain about the job when i get into one... sigh but really i cannot take this one...
it is really really bad.... first of all, i was transfered to the ice team from the banquet service team without my knowing, on the day itself... so that was quite a shocker... but after some self councelling, i got over it and was quite happy... then guess what... just as i was about to get comfortable they decided to wreck the whole thing...
we had to serve 500 offices before... however, now they say that most likely there are only 10 offices left... so that means.... they would cut down our working days and working hours by half... and most of us would be redeployed to other sectors... so with my working hours and pay cut by half, that basically means that my entire salary has been cut by 3/4... which really really sux big time... then to make things worse, we are asked to sit in this little indgy dark room on stupid trolleys for four hours, doing nothing at all... so basically i have no pay and no experience... i have to wake up very very early just to go there for four hours doing nothing every alternate day... o and thats not all... we basically cant do anything when we are in that damn room.... our captains wont even let us sleep... i mean damn it show some sympathy... we are not working you cut everything of ours you dont let us do anything and yet you make us come early and now you dont at least let us sleep whilst we are at one stupid back room where not even other staff frequent... they are mad...
so ya that is basically what i am pissed off about... i gain no experience no money and my time is wasted... the only darn reason that i am there is so that i can get my IMF participation cartificate then leave... it really really sux....
and those damn groomers that go around catching us for bad attire dont make it any better... seriously i mean they are so petty.... but now since i am in this darn room doing nothing i dont really care if they flatten donw my hair any way no one would see me...
so ya i think it really sux and thats my life... sigh... people say go for the experience... what experience this is a stupid job that really waste my time.... this is the first time i complain about something that i volunteered to do.... because it really really sux....
friends always care
20:18