mmmm...pizza

nom nom nom

Settling back in..

I heart my maid again.

For a while I thought that she didn't do much for how long I paid her for...but now i really appreciate how clean and shiny the floors and sinks are. I have no idea what she does and I don't really care to learn but it's awesome. I think I'll never go back to not having a maid... it's not just that I'm lazy...I did try to clean last weekend but obv unsuccessfully...there was a lizard in my apartment. ew.

Excited for Make-A-Wish and PIZZA tonight! they promised it was real pizza! nothing like john's or arturo's... but still real (!)

I miss Arturo's. SO MUCH.

Chili's is coming!

Catching Up

Bangkok:
Was there for 2 days...during the most violent of the protests. Funny thing is, the majority of the city was out celebrating and throwing buckets of water on us and a few people were out wearing red shirts...and well, mainly standing around.

First night: Went to the night bazaar...which had everything from new age decorative stores...but at maybe 1/10th the price. I once again, failed at negotiating... but got 2 awesome candle holders for US$ 1.50 each and a "tiffany's" bracelet for US$15. There was some food...but mainly deep fried and kinda spicy... but alcoholic drinks were about $1 ;)

From SG, Bangkok + Rawa

Second day: we saw temples, or Wats. Words and even pictures can't describe how incredibly shiny and closely positioned these Wats were. We really wanted to add the sparklies on all the temples to emphasize the shinyness and take away from the overexposure on our cameras...but only found out later that that was a mode available on Darris's camera. Here's an attempt at showing the shiny:

From SG, Bangkok + Rawa

more available here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/lele.yu/SGBangkokRawa#

The water fights seemed like they were starting but we only got a water gun sprayed at us a couple times. Our attempt to get a good meal in AC failed a little bit... as we headed to an expensive stuffy hotel with pretty bad food... but... it got us a free ride across the river to where we'd take a boat ride to our next wat

Third day:
We were supposed to go shopping...but here was where the protests actually affected our travels. the malls we were supposed to go to were closed so we ended up going to jim thompson's house instead. Shopped a little, then hopped onto a tuk tuk onto Khao San where the water fight was mainly going on. This was CRAZY. Water guns everywhere. People chasing you around with white stuff to smear on your face, people taking water bottles and dumping ice cold water down your shirt. The best part was that the merchants selling water along the sides would use a bowl to throw water at you as you passed. The key was not to make eye contact with ANYONE or else you'll be locked in combat... my strategy was to spray those smearing others with white stuff...this didn't work out too well... Afterwards, we found that all the paper in my bag had completely disintegrated...good thing we got plastic bags for our cameras, but this of course means...no photos :(

Our method of transportation from now on was tuk tuks as we were soaking wet and had white rice powder smeared all over us. Danger here: if you're sitting waiting for a red light in a tuk tuk, people will come over and pour an entire bucket of water all over you... and this will inevitably happen when you're just about to get dry. of course :)

Went to China town, but it was mostly dead, then went to get a massage, then went to dinner and tried for the sky bar...unfortunately, we weren't properly dressed...i think this is the first time anyone's given me a hard time about dress code!

Then we were back in SG for 2 days..went to satay... went out... darris was dressed in a t-shirt and board shorts, which caused some issues getting in anywhere...

...and onto Rawa. White sand complete with clear water beautiful mountains and a sky filled with more stars than I've ever seen... add to that some shooting stars :) We kayaked around the island, snorkeled, but were generally pretty lazy...

Question: should I get a waterproof camera case? It costs more than the camera...but I'd have such better pictures right now if i'd gotten one...

Busy Busy..

Sorry, no updates for now... have been very busy with the following:

Tioman
Stomache flu
Bangkok

leaving for Rawa tomorrow!!

will post stories/pics galore. Well, actually, tioman pics are already up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/lele.yu/ChinaTioman#

you even get some china pics as an added bonus :)

looong trip back

due to snow, ice, bad flight bookings and what not, my trip back consisted of:

train from Da Qing to Beijing
Hang out in Beijing for 4 hrs with aunt, uncle and cousin who wanted to practice english
flight from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur
sleep for 4 hrs in KL
head to airport and fly back to Singapore and take a cab to work

during all of this travel, I thought of the following:

CREATE TABLE MISSING
AS
SELECT
home
where
home.location = 'CA';

yea..i actually just wrote that...

Fortune Telling

I'm in China for the week visiting relatives and one of my cousins has recently gotten into fortune telling.  I asked him to take me to his shi fu and with only knowledge of my name and time of birth he said the following:

[note that under ying yang fortune telling, only 80% of your fortune is predetermined, the rest of determined by free will]

- I like to move around alot.  This basically continues until I'm 35 at which point I move less but I only settle down when I'm 45

- There is fortune in my future.  I make decent money from when i'm 25 to 35 as part of a company and after 35 I can start my own company and be successful.  After 45, I make good money until I'm 55 as well.  I should beware of starting a company before I'm 35 but after 35 it should be a success.

- I can go into the machinery business but not the raw materials business.  Fire businesses don't suit me but earth and water ones do.  Opening a restaurant is fine because food is under earth and water.  I shouldn't wear too much read and instead stick to water and earth colors.

- I'm really good at spending money.  I can earn lots of money and save lots of money but "girl, you can spend it too!"

- I have peach flower luck?  There are always people interested in me.  2010, 2011 are okay years to get married, but if I do, I'll probably get divorced and remarried, because of another guy.  2012 and 2013 are bad years for marriage.  In 2013, someone will set their sights on me and if I don't escape them gracefully, they will do great harm towards me.  2014 and 2015 are good years for marriage and won't result in divorce.  

- The guy I should be with is either much younger than me or at >2 and <6

- 2009 and 2010 are years for learning.  In 2010, I will not have too much money

Rawa

is pretty... Come visit!  

Some pics here... more pics (from me) to come.  http://www.malaysia-islands.com/html/rawa/beach/main.shtml

I spent the day getting up at 5am, getting a bus from Singapore to Mersing at 6:30am...40 mins after getting on the bus, we got off the bus and walked to customs to exit singapore.  We got back on the bus and 10 mins later, we walked to customs to enter Malaysia.  Why do you have walk across the border??

We got to Mersing at 9:30 and found out that all the hotels for rawa (there are 2 owned by rival siblings in a sultanate?) were fully booked.   The next ferry to Tioman was at 3:30pm and this became 5:00pm and eventually 8:00pm by the time I went to the ATM and had Ringgits.  Luckily, we checked back with Rawa and some people had not shown up so we were on our way on our little speedboat to Rawa..

The way to get to the boat was...get on a jetty, walk an unsecured plank to a boat carrying 2x4s, cross that boat, go to the next boat, then cross that boat again and walk onto the actual speedboat.  All in the pouring rain.  Awesome.  No seriously.  The scene was something I'd only really recognized from movies abt the war in Vietnam.  

Then, we realized that it was low tide so actually, our motors were trudging up mud.  Our boat went very very slowly for the next 20 mins which was a little disconcerting bc we were really low to the water and it was pouring outside...but eventually we found some deep water.  

We arrived in Rawa and the story gets more typical: lunch, suntanning on a pristine beach, wading in water (with corals), looking at little fishies (I think I saw Dory!), taking a looong nap in a hammock secured by 2 palm trees, looking at peacocks fighting chickens, "hiking" to the top of the island and around the island, dinner, cards, ping pong. 

There are a LOT of Americans here.  I think about 80% of the people here are american and the other 20% is taken up by one huge japanese family and us.  Surprising considering this is such a small island and is supposed to be a resort island for people in singapore?  Most of the people I meet in Singapore are British or Australian.  

Tomorrow: breakfast, kayaking, lunch then leaving for singapore again. 

I think a one day trip was actually perfect for Rawa... the only thing we didn't do was diving.. and I don't think my mom would really have been up for that.

Oh, other interesting fact.  Rawa is a private island owned by a sultanate or founded by one and that sultanate also started Bintan, the main Singaporean getaway resort island!  I wish I were part of a sultanate and could find and own these islands...though then I'd have to fight the Portuguese...

New Gphone app idea: image recognition for fish and bird matching?