ANGKOR ADVENTURE

Began my last ever school holidays (hopefully)... with a 5-days trip to Cambodia with Tangy, Kx, Dr. Ruzica and Richard Ho(My Thesis Tutor). We had quite a fun trip during the 5 days and explored the ancient Khmer civilization's pride, Angkor, not forgetting the drinking and chatting sessions with the two tutors. The architecture and planning of Angkor was really impressive and amazing but it was sad to see that Cambodians today bear little traces of the way the ancient Khmers led their life.

Cambodians today, ruled by a corrupted government, are leading a life hardly close to their glorious ancestors. We were told that an average blue collar worker earns only about 20 US dollars a month, while on the other hand, the rich(corrupted of course..), can afford condominiums priced at 200,000 US dollars at one go... The streets in Siem Reap were full of children trying to sell dated tourist merchandise and 'tuk-tuk' drivers flocking towards any tourists walking towards them.

Even though there are more than 2 million tourists visiting Angkor every year, with a one day pass costing 20 US dollars (not to mention its almost impossible to see everything in one day..so most tourists would eventually purchase a 3-day pass), the people hardly reap any benefits from these revenues thanks to their ever corrupted 'government'... Its quite depressing as you start to realise that the more tourists visit Cambodia, the corrupts become even more powerful, while the poor could only watch and wonder why these tourists could spend their one month worth of salary just on one meal. I would really like to visit Angkor again but its pretty sad to see how their people live today. Lets hope someone assasinate those a*#holes corrupts one of these days... :P. Anyway, here are some pics taken... DIDN'T MANAGED TO GET THE MOST IMPORTANT VIEW OF ANGKOR...omg...bleah..

The architecture . . .

The carvings and ornaments . . .

The Angelina Jolin tree . . .

The people . . .

Around Siem Reap . . .

A couple of group pics taken during the trip

Quite a while since I've posted anything new. Was really tied down by the stupid dissertation and now..before any of us (poor aki students) could take a breath....the final hurdle of our 5 years of architecture education began to haunt us.... yes...THESIS. But for now, we will have to substantiate our project with a decent amount of Thesis Preparation in order to convince the tutors that our project is worth doing. And that's not exactly simple either...... anyway, just some pics of our sunny island I've taken lately to share.

Beneath all these glamours of architecture......truely lies our 'uniquely singapore'...heh

Having my interim crit next tueday...wish me luck...hoho

ANGEL LOVER

After stopping work, I've been doing my dissertation on and off. Met up with some friends in between and had a couple of retail therapies...big ones...haha... Life's been pretty mundane and hardly fruitful lately. Kind of bored and kind of aimless, even though I have a 10k words dissertation waiting for me to complete.

In the midst of trying to get myself to work, I was recently distracted for a few days by this Taiwanese drama which is currently being aired on Channel U. Its called 'Angel Lover' 天使情人. I hardly enjoyed any Taiwanese drama cause they are usually boring and exaggerating. But this one drew me into watching it because it was somewhat different from the usual stuff by Taiwanese directors. Probably because it was a co-production with mediacorp...but that doesn't mean mediacorp is any good...:P

Anyway, that 2 episode aired on every Friday night at 1130pm wasn't enough to suffice me and so, I started to search for subsequent episodes...haha..from where...oh well..:P Anyway, its already at its 20th episode and will end on the 40th. Initially, I was rather drawn into it by the innocent and funny acting by the main actor, Mingdao(明道). But as I checked out other episodes, I began to appreciate the story and lessons behind it.

The entire series' being made up of around 8-10 mini stories where the lead character(MD) was tasked to help certain characters to move on with life and break away from their current lifestyle and problem which are usually bad and these people are ALL pretty girls...haha but that's not the entire catch. What drawn me into the show was whenever MD starts to chant about lessons learnt from his grandma (ah-ma), which he attempts to pass on to those people he was tasked to help. They are hardly any big idealistic statements, just plain and direct yet makes so much sense to many situations of our daily life. Kind of reminded me that sometimes, things aren't as complicated or as troubled as we see, looking at things on a simpler and slightly naive side might sometimes yield unexpected resolution to the problem.

I always feel that many of us, especially architects and architects-to-be are so caught up with work that we kinda forget what exactly are we striving for. At times, when we face problems, we tend to exemplify the situation that we feel its beyond our ability to resolve it. While in actual fact, it may be just as simple as a situation of making a right choice. If you really can't make a choice, then toss a coin and let 'fate' decide it for you. I always make people do that when they cannot decide which design to take or what to eat...hahaha. Well, it sounds stupid and hardly helpful, but it certainly helps things to move on faster than wasting time. This is just an anology and does not apply to all. Just trying to say that sometimes, the best solution is the simpliest solution...haha..SO CLICHE!!!...but you can't deny it somehow :P

Anyway, each mini story kind of touches different aspects of the pretty much common situation some of us may or may not face at certain point of time. There's even one on architects..hahah. Anyway, the show mostly end up with pretty heart-warming happy ending. So those people who are bored and feeling life sux lately, try looking up this drama. It might cheer you up a little. Oh the soundtrack's not too bad either.

The TRANSFORMERS hype

You scored as Hotrod, You are Hotrod! Often too bold at approaching situations, tending to jump in head first, ask questions later. You always seem to manage to keep your cool even in the toughest of situations. Responsibility is not something you enjoy. One day you will reach your full potential but for now you are just happy to sit back and relax.

Hotrod
75%
Soundwave
69%
Starscream
69%
Galvatron
63%
Bumblebee
63%
Kup
56%
Optimus Prime
50%
Omega Supreme
31%

Which Transformers character Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

And I am HotRod...hahaha...not too bad..one of my favourite characters. Anyway, Transformers is a must watch regardless if you are a fan or not. Great CG, great actions, hot babe, hot cars. What more can you ask for in an action packed movie???

the reason that I haven been blogging for so many MONTHS is because I was..

HEELIMINATED!

well...almost..

ONE MORE WEEK.. ONE MORE WEEK .. ONE MORE WEEK TO GO!!!

JOURNEY'S END

On the 9th of August 2006, the day Singapore celebrated its 42nd birthday, I dragged myself with luggages more than half of my weight and headed for the airport. Awaiting me was more than 4 months of life alone(ok..not exactly alone) far away in the Scandinavian region. But before all that began, I started my journey at the world's most visited place, Paris. For a first timer in Europe, it was sure a memorable experience. To top on to that, I was there with another girl whom I barely know. NOTHING HAPPENED ...in case any of you wondered.

And so on the 16th August, I set foot on the Swedish soil for the 1st time, totally excited by what the new environment has installed for me. Unfortunately, the place was not really that exciting. Things got worse when I realized that I have no proper internet connection. Life was tough..haha. But I was lucky enough to find out that there were 14 other Singaporeans sharing the same sentiments in the land of Sverige(pronounced as Sveria, dun ask me why but by now you shud understand that their pronouciation simply dun make sense.. my Swedish Language teacher said that too..:P).

With them, I traveled to many countries within Europe, took the most number of flights and trains in my life(not to mention LONGEST TRAIN RIDE), and experienced many 'first time' of my life. We went to Copenhagen(we started from there actually), Stockholm(been there twice and its still boring), Munich(salty sausages was all I remembered), Berlin(the concentration camp still left a deep impression), Venice(great gelatos), Florence(attic experience), Pisa(ya...the tower of course), Rome(the NUMBER OF STAIRS TO CLIMB...plus gelatos...plus..the metro crash..), London(Lilywhites and jerseys galore!), Goteborg(gay encounter...), Kiruna(experience of a life time), Barcelona(totally gaudified), Madrid(...REAL Madrid..and the slithering pair of hands lurking around..), and last but definitely not the least, Sjobo(back to nature).

Well well...I've really traveled quite a bit. Still I missed Amsterdam, Norway, Poland, Greece and Turkey. But I'm glad that I'm lucky enough to visit so many places. So many places, so little time...and of course...so little money. Not to mention that the daily expenses in Sweden are like a little bit way on the high side. A simple comparison...

A plate of Fried Rice from Beijing, SGD$0.80
A plate of Fried Rice from Lund, SGD$14.00.
A plate of Fried Rice from Singapore....PRICELESS......k..a bit corny but then again...I bet Singapore's Fried Rice will taste the best among the 3. Nevermind, I'm less than 48 hrs away from that priceless plate of fried rice.

So tonight will be my last night in Sweden. Tomorrow morning, it will be a 1hr train ride to Copenhagen Kastrup Airport and a 10hrs flight to Bangkok from there. Another 2 hrs flight from Bangkok on Sunday morning will bring me back to the ever sunshine(though now its raining like xiao..still...beats Sweden ANYTIME) Singapore.

For those new friendship forged and people who've been with me for the past 4 odd months, its great getting to know you guys. Sweden couldn't have been better without you guys.

For those who are still waiting to go home from their SEP, enjoy your time away from work as much as you can. (HORROR STRIKES THE MOMENT U LAND ON SUNNY LAND...hoho)

And for those back home waiting...I know you are waiting for me to get back to WORK...haiz...still, it feels good to be going home, really.

A final gathering, a final meal, to bid a final farewell to this place.

BACK TO NATURE - SJÖBO

Finally, the last trip of this close to 5 months long journey. It's 'nature's call' this time round as 3 guys(initially there was supposed to be another person who's apparently on my solvil titus ad..:P) set forth to the country side of Sjöbo around an hour bus ride from Lund. I must say that I've kind of regretted not doing the farm stay earlier as I guess I could have gotten alot more photos than the pathetic amount I'm going to show you as there was not much daylight now. Still, it was a trip with a lot of 1st time for the 3 of us.

Firstly, it was of course our first ever farm stay. Then we had our first 'non-ICA'(Swedish Supermarket), authentic Swedish Meatballs. We were also lucky enough to have our 1st ever horse ride, plus a ride on the horse wagon. I guess we also dug our first ever carrots fresh from the ground, and we walked the dogs (I ran with the dog apparently.... :S), traveled into the forest and experience mother nature Sweden has to offer. We also made some figures from the sweet doughs the family prepared for us. It was also so nice of the family to perform some christmas songs on clarinets and bassoon for us and they were probably one of the nicest people we've met in the entire Sweden.

I must say I've pretty much enjoyed the overnight stay and if only I've started exploring Sweden from this point, my impression of this Scandinavian ice land might be somewhat different. Anyway, the last of the last, photos from Sjöbo.

The Nature

The Farm














The Accomodation






The Horse Jockeys








The Everotts Family

By the way, this farm, owned by the Everotts' Family is apparently more of a dog breeding farm. They specialize in Rottweilers and have won many international acclaims for the dogs they breed. Just check out the number of tags at the back of the group photos. No pics of the Rottweilers cos they were so hyper active and friendly that they would always play with you and lick your hands. I was worried that they start to lick my cameras. :P Its a pity that I've not been able to capture enough decent photos as well. Still, hope you've enjoyed the pics and that should be about all that I have for my entire Europe trip. Next Stop, SINGAPORE.