"We are such stuff as Dreams are made on..."

8th and 9th of august

2005-08-09T23:58:00.000+03:00

we managed to catch a glimpse of the fireworks at the national day countdown! it's quite funny, chris and i left marina south slightly before 12 midnight, cos we didn't want to be caught in the jam. so we were waiting patiently at the busstop for the fireworks to begin... and of course we weren't the only smart alecs around. when the firworks began, everyone was rushing onto the road to get a better view/take better pictures, and the army people on duty were helplessly screaming: get off the road! move! move! well, nobody took heed until the SBS bus came charging towards us with the headlights turned on fullbeam... haha

well, we celebrated our nation's birthday with the rest of singapore at muddy marina south.. there were several boy/girl bands... not that i recognised any of their names... but the people down at the muddy grass field sure sounded like they had a good time! (we were sitting on the makeshift wooded benches... high above the muddy grass field...=)

9th of august - chris and i had a special celebration of our own! ;-) chris brought me to the Upper Club in chijmes for an evening of dinner and dance..=) it's a really nice restaurant, with good food and a dance floor! and the waiters were wearing gloves! we started our meal with a cocktail each.. and thankfully for the dim lighting, must have loked quite flushed! the amuse appetit was one shrimp, 1cm of kiwi and 2 shallots on a chinese soup spoon... i suppose in english it means small, only for your amusement...=) but it had a really nice flavour! then we had oysters, foi gras, steak, dessert - which was a delicious blend of creamy vanilla and small bits of fresh mint leaves served on a base of longans, and tea. and there was free flow of bread too..=) the food was really really good!

and the best part was the dancing! there were both a DJ and a live band, so they alternated with a mix of songs that you can dance to... chris and i did a bit of lindy, a few basic steps of salsa, and tred to imitate the waltz from the rest of the tai-tais and their young philipino dance instructors... haha, it was really funny, and so much fun as well! and how time flew by, without realising it, we had actually been there for more than 4 hours! i was real tired, by the time i got back, so i went to bed with a pair of aching feet and a wonderful memory to relive in my dreams...

us at marina south... trying to past time while waiting for the fireworks to start...

us at upper club

bento baby!

2005-08-08T10:48:00.000+03:00

bento is such a darling... just had to post some of his pictures...=) he's just learnt to 'give me a 5!' hmm, what shall i teach him next? was thinking of getting him to shake on command, but my cousin said that all these tricks are so useless... aiyah, if only i could train him to pick up the phone...

3 months - getting toilet trained in his cage, man wasn't he fierce when he was little...

3 months - picking up the bad habit of looking for food on the table

4 months

5 months

6 months - shedding time at christmas!

7 months - on my 22nd birthday, bento gave me a kiss!

8 months - bento's first chinese new year

1 year old!

1 year 6 months - at his most 'pong-ness' =)

1 year 8 months - summer cut!

1 year 11 months - 'my hair has grown! where's my dinner...'

1 year 11 months - 'big hug!'

well, bento got another hair cut on his 2nd birthday... haha, why do i torture him so...

international hammock day

2005-08-07T23:39:00.000+03:00

we went to east coast park today to try out the new hammocks my aunt bought from beach road. haha, yup, i'm not joking! (i also had the intention to try out my new digi cam!)

my dad just bought us a new camera, after my brother took our only one to melbourne. and of course i got to choose the model i liked! i was looking for a camera that was relatively small, but not extra-slim, had good natural-coloured photo prints, long battery life and fast shutter speed. and i found it all.. and more in the Panasonic Lumix fx8! it's such a cooool baby...=) i love my new toy! and it's got this optical image stabiliser function, whereby this smarty cam can actually correct any photo 'blurness' caused by shaky hands!

we had 3 different hammocks, the string/rope kind, the really thin string kind and the army kind. haha, in the end the army one was used as a mat, cos it was so pvc-like it didn't look very comfy at all...

i love the sea breeze! i found the rhythmic constancy of the waves running onto the shore a calming presence... i could have sworn i felt my heart rate slowing down... and just when everyone had quietened down amidst nature's tranquil lull, my mum said in the most serious of tones:" imagine if a tsunami were to come... wah...so scary..." (eh...hmm...)

i think i can safely say all of us (with the exception of bento) enjoyed the being near the sea... now my mum wants to buy a hammock to put in the car... haha

everyone loved the sea, except bento... he was petrified! i think he thought he was going to drown or something...

the 3 little p***(er, princesses...hehe)

aunty cleopatra =)

uncle dax and aunty pat

jie wenzsa and popo

trying to get bento onto the hammock...

hammock fun!

we're falling!!! even bento doesn't dare to look!

we ended the evening with a really unhealthy dinner of 30 chicken wings, 3 packets of prawn noodles, 2 packets of jiu(3) he(2) eng(4) cai(3), 1 packet of cha kway teow, 6 curry puffs, 8 cups of sugar cane and several more cups of tea and coffee... lovastatin here we come! but it was a great dinner nonetheless..=)

Early in the morning at 6 o'clock...

2005-08-05T09:17:00.000+03:00

it's 9 am and i've just brushed my teeth. i slept in today, and will only be heading for NUH at 10am; sure feels goood...=) i have been doing an orthopaedic posting at NUH the past 2 weeks, and here's how my average day goes...

5.30 am - alarm clock rings
5.31 am - press the snooze button
5.40 am - press the snooze button again
5.50 am - jump out of bed muttering, 15 min to get ready, crap, why did i over sleep?!
6.05 am - got to leave the house... but i'm still getting the knots out of hair and thinking: i need a hair cut!
6.20 am - 'vroom' (the sound of my car starting) =)
6.50 am - milo from NUH kopitiam and banana cake from NUH bengawan solo (not bad for hospital food eh...=)
7.00 am - go to meet my tutor... and wonder the same thing every morning: where does he get so much energy?
7.30 am - do rounds... round and round the merry-go-round...
1.00 pm - lunch = get to sit down
2.00 pm - clinic...
6.30 pm - clinic ends, hopefully can go home... but no...
7.55 pm - home.. home on the range... (at least i won't have to pay the ERP charges on the CTE)
8.25 pm - finally get to see my Bento after >12 hours at school

the days have been long and tiring, but i had a really good tutor who was willing to teach. that was the main reason why we ended so late, cos he could only teach after/before the usual working hours. well, in orthopaedics, basically we study bones and musle and ligaments... boy, have i ever smelt smellier feet! legs that have been cast us are so chou(4) chou(4). and as part of the examination for the knee, i had to sit on someone's smelly feet and even hug the foot under my armpit (around there , not where it'll outrage my modesty!). i had/still have one big concern... varicose veins!! with all the standing, that is such a huge occupational hazard! varicose veins are awful things to have... eeewh... they bulge out and they hurt and they're oh so ugly as well... ways to prevent it? well, not very much that i can do, considering that my family has a predisposition to it... unless i start moving around in a wheelchair... now isn't that a thought... hmm...

ok, gotto run, treated myself to an extra 3 hours of sleep today, but i'm on call tonight, so don;t begrudge me life's little pleasures...=)

the men don't get it

2005-08-04T23:43:00.000+03:00

i've finally watched the whole serial of Jewel in the Palace; the korean drama serial that's currently showing on channel 55 at 7 pm. its a whopping 70 episodes! but i liked it alot! the korean officer in the show was so gallant, so understanding, so heroic, sigh... imagine any guy telling his loved one - go, pursue your dreams of becoming korea's first lady doctor to the king, i'll support you, even if you have to stay in the palace for 10 years, i will be there watching out for you. and when she got exiled to jeju island (cos the heroine Chang Jin always seems to get into trouble) he resigned from his high position in court to find another position in jeju island, just so that he could protect her from villians who wanted her dead. i spent the night talking all about that officer-guy with my cousin... and my cousin-in-law was plugging his ears, pretending to be oblivioius. i think he only said one line the whole night :" that guy's a disgrace..=(" sulky**sulky**... haha... now my whole family from my grandma to my aunts and cousins are watching it, it's addictive, it's tear-jerking, it's heart-wrenching, it's really hilarious, and that officer guys is so perfect!

pocky

2005-08-01T01:48:00.000+03:00

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweetComforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyperYou always see both sides to everything

so what flavour pocky are you?

http://www.blogthings.com/pockyquiz.html

growing old together

2005-07-31T23:10:00.000+03:00

met up with cheryl, flora, rachel and carol at kum boat today..=) it's nice to catch up with old friends... i must say i'm grateful to have known such fantastic people! we started talking about hair cuts and highlighting, and slowly went on to convocation and work, and salaries, and of course working clothes and covered shoes.. i think there was a slight mention of 'briefcase' by cheryl as well... REVELATION... we're turning into working adults! we still had our fair share of giggles (hee hee) and guffawing (haha) like we used to, but some how i sense that today was a turning point: a coming of age for us secondary school friends. i'll bet my dollar that the next time we meet, we'll be bitching on work and bosses and maybe marriage.. haha..

some part of me always hopes that we'll never have to act our age, its only amongst a celebrated few where we can have such a previledge. it's been 10 years since we entered rgs, and so far for the past decade, i must say that it has been nice growing old together with such good friends.

2005-07-30T22:50:00.000+03:00

its been quite a while since i've blogged anything. i had a great time this afternoon watching the medicine faculty musical - A Good History. it was a touching story on the relationships between 8 CG mates in medical school. there was a really complicated love quadrangle where A liked B, but B liked C, and D like A... something like that... and much of the script was on how these people dealt with their emotions- both in medical school and the aftermath of it 10 years down the road.

there was a girl who gave up love, wanting to have more of this world than just that special someone. another one left to find solace away from all the problems, and yet another did everything against her nature in the hope of attracting the attention of the one who meant more to her than herself.

isnt it true that different people deal with emotional stresses differently? but the one thing in common is that matters of the heart have the power to influence even the most rational being amongst us. being in love, and out of it, can make us do the most silly things.

Love, love changes everything: days are longer, words mean more.
Love, love changes everything: pain is deeper than before.
Love will turn your world around, and that world will last forever.
Yes, love, love changes everything, brings you glory, brings you shame.
Nothing in the world will ever be the same.

Off into the world we go, planning futures, shaping years.
Love bursts in and suddenly all our wisdom disappears.
Love makes fools of everyone: all the rules we make are broken.
Yes, love, love changes everything: live or perish, in its flame.
Love will never ever let you be the same.

a life of love helps mould us into the person we become, and hopefully it makes us learn to love the life we have...

"We are such stuff as Dreams are made on..."

2005-06-17T11:16:00.000+03:00

"We are such stuff as Dreams are made on..."

greetings

this is chris..i have just hacked into shan's blogspot account! she doesn't know this..heh. felt like writing someting on the blog so i did some hacking! haha

since shan did come reflecting about the trip, i shouldn't lose out also right? must do some reflecting of my own! or not the viewers of the blog may think this chris got no 'black ink'!

9 days has passed already since we came back to singapore on our pseudo-backpacking trip! but sometimes it only feels as though we came back yesterday!. i guess it's the holiday mood still rampaging in me, everyday seems like a holiday! why i say 'pseudo' is because we haven't really had the toughest of conditions to live in. we were very fortunate to meet so many nice people and received so much help which made our trip both enjoyable and relatively comfortable. there were days where i wanted to return to singapore, but there were also times when i wanted to extend my trip and visit more places. on the whole it's would have been a rewarding experience even if we had only stayed one week.

it is rewarding on many grounds.

firstly it was the first time i am travelling to such a faraway place for a considerable time with someone. shan has proven to be a worthy companion (like in the amazing race! haha) i could not have asked for anyone else on this trip. she adds a woman's touch to my occasional reckless MAN way of handling things. i'm glad i had her around to discuss things before making decisions. her meticulous ways also proved valuable on many occasions. but of course there were difficulties and disagreements, we even had a small silly fight over a sofa bed! i also had 'extra duties' to perform like standing guard outside the toilet when she bathes because she was scared of intruders! but looking back at it i just have a good laugh, never regretting it for a minute. i wouldn't go on to list all the good and bad stuff...it'll take me the whole day or maybe more! most of all i felt that i have gained a companion, a partner, a special friend.

secondly it rewarded me with the experience of travelling faraway from your country and family members. just boarding the plane bound for 10000 miles away took alot of courage knowing that in the next 30 days i am responsible for myself; that there will be no safety net of your family by your side...from then every decision is yours to make and to live with. from this trip i saw the difficulties, magnitude and responsibilities of being an adult. i also learnt that being courteous and respectful to other people actually goes a long way. even with communication problems sometimes, it was important not to be afraid of asking or embarrassing yourself, people will always acknowledge a sincere request. being on your own for a long time also taught me to be independent. in many western countries, it is in fact the norm for children to find jobs and live on their own from ages 16-18!

third and finally, it was interesting to see so many different people from all walks of life, cultures and lifestlyes. u listen and gasp at their varying experiences from all over the world. many people also were keen to find out more about little known singapore. i think both shan and i can give a good summary of singapore to any tourist in a few minutes! some of the interactions with people and different environments also made us appreciate what we have back home. despite her criticisms like boring and tiny, singapore has given us many things that we often take for granted.

i'd like to end off with a quote:" We are such stuff as dreams are made on..." go figure!

P.S last night was the first time i ate chem-pa-dak..this fruit which tastes like jackfruit and durian...2-in-1! shan introduced it to me....and she peeled grape skin for me! so romantic! haha

good day!
chris

We all need a fire starter...

2005-06-16T10:59:00.000+03:00

It's been a while since i blogged anything... actually it's been a while since i last logged onto msn, icq and all that tech-savvy stuff... come to think of it, i don't even check my email everyday anymore! (check it on an average of once in 2 to 3 days...) to sum it up, i'm basking in the luxuries of a glorious holiday season... ahhh... mmmm...

(no.. that doesn't equate to being lazy...)

After having such a long holiday, and especially a holiday where internet access was of remotest possibility; the lull of lazy days, spent at my own time, whim and fancy does linger on. my day starts with me leisurely eating a cereal breakfast, spending the next hour reading the news papers and the day goes on, with me doing whatever i want to do... which sometimes means nothing at all...

(such a lazy bum eh...)

This is a good break. After one year of charging through school like a machine powered on red bull, i must adimt i'm enjoying myself this very moment. This break was my power booster, my fire starter. For reasons aplenty, i was losing steam studying medicine last year. My initial ideals and passions for wanting to go to medical school seemed more of a child's amibitions that were as what they were meant to be - ambitions that did not fit well in the realities of life's puzzle. What i've realised during this period of rest is that when you're so caught up in the present, it is difficult to clear your mind to 1) reflect on your past and 2) re-focus on your goals for the future. Going off the track exploring other hospitals overseas, meeting new people, hearing new perspectives and learning new cultures was both an inspiring and humbling experience. I have met individuals who have inspired me and made me realise my inadequacies both as an all-rounded person and as a future doctor. We have much to learn, especially with regards to the art of doctoring. (isn't it good i realised it before i actually graduated?)

Like many young people my age, I wanted an opportunity to experience the world at large and not the world as i knew it to be. I had a real good time, there was simply so much out there to see and do. As a tourist and foreign student i had a great time! I'm thankful to my parents who have made this trip possible; but as a daughter my one biggest conclusion is that there's no place like home.

New York - wrapping up...

2005-06-08T11:04:00.000+03:00

just got home from the airport... zonked, tired, dazed... but still a fervent blogger... haha...

my summary list...

1. watched "The Lion King" at the New Amsterdam Theatre
2. ate yoshinoya on 42nd (how we missed asian food!)
3. walked down 42nd street and broadway
4. walked up fifth avenue looking for the professional dog-walkers... didn't see any though...
5. wondered why people loved to lie on the grass on the lawn in central park even though there were duck droppings everywhere...

central park in summer

5. went to soho... and jalan jalan

soho

6. visited the United Nations

th UN

7. walked the Brooklyn bridge in the evening and marvelled at the beauty of the manhattan skyline...

The Brooklyn Bridge

NY skyline

8. found this quiet little park at the edge of Brooklyn which gave us a magnificent view of both the brooklyn and manhattan bridges!
9. took a 101% full flight home...ate breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper and breakfast again, on the plane...
10. things i liked about new york: the architecture, 42nd street, the musicals, the shopping and the wide variety of people you see on the streets

the chrysler building

the empire state building

11. things i didn't like about new york: the public phones, public transport, the air, the litter in the streets, and almost everything else.
12. things i still do not understand about new york: why is it called 'the big apple'? why do shops give you a paper bag that is 10X the size of your item? why is it so difficult to make a collect call from a pay phone?

New York - day 2

2005-06-06T22:56:00.000+03:00

we're at wilson and serene's home now... serene has kindly let me use the internet, and chris is drinking beer and playing poker... haha, no lah, he's just playing poker, with real casino chips... and he's winning HUGE! oh i forgot to introduce, wilson and serene are rhys and elaine's (my cousin) friends here in new york, and they kindly invited us to their place for a bbq dinner... the food was real yummy!! considering how much we've spent on shopping, it's a real blessing to be invited to a bbq, that has meat... not that difficult to choose between cup noodles and cold sandwiches eh...

earlier in the day, we went downtown and walked around the financial district -yup wall street, new york stock exchange and the whole works of donald trump... and we also went to ground zero, battery park, and this place called south street seaport. it's like a carnival there! and the shopping was good too! victoria's secret, abercrombie... bath and bodyworks.... time just wasn't on our side....

wall street

down at battery park

south street sea port

ground zero

chris just won with a flush! they're actually playing a variation of poker called texas OM, i think, and the loser has to wash dishes.... i can make lychee martini now! and this really nice mushroom thing...

chris winning our air fare back home..=)

talking about cooking, 2 days ago, when we stayed at uncle ding's home, i also learnt how to do this caramel thing and lemon pie! uncle ding and his family were nice, they put us up for a night, gave us a home-cooked chinese dinner, and sent us to the airport at the unearthly hour of 545am.. ok, the poker game is getting exciting, going to cheer chris on to win more shopping money! haha, no lah, not playing real money, just chips for fun..=) we may not be able to get internet access anymore... so this may be our last entry for this trip! we've learnt alot, and seen alot!

did i mention all the strange people here in new york?? there was one lady who was shouting "i'm a patient on methadone! away in a manger, no crib for a bed...." and when we asked her for directions, she actually could give us a sane, correct answer... and there was this other lady who was making announcements in the middle of the subway on how her life is messed up and was asking for donations with a paper bag...

ok, i've said alot! see everyone soon!

love,
chris
shan

New York - day 1

2005-06-04T23:35:00.000+03:00

our first night in new york... rain rain rain...brrr...

chris and i are in new york! exciting as it may sound, ny first impressions aren't exactly very good ones... it was a cloudy and rainy day, the morning we arrived... you could barely make out the sun... visually the place was congested with loads of cars, all horning away, and the smell! gosh, it smelt like a mixture of industrial estate, chinatown, fish market and toilet... gross... my first contact with the movie-made-famous-new york city was totally filling all my possible senses with disgust... and just when you think things couldn't get worse, well as they say, it never rains but it pours! i had some problems with my credit card, and was trying to make a collect call from a public phone back home to singapore... not only did the operator say "i'm so sorry, i can't seem to help you..." ( i had no problems doing a collect call from the remotest ends of canada, and here in new york city, i couldn't even make a call home?!?!) did i mention that there was a toilet smell everywhere in the streets??? you'd think that peoplpe pee-ed in public... haha... walking down those streets gave me the revelation of the PUBLIC toilet... oh yup, the phone booth and the phone receiver also smelt funny... like stale pee.. gross.. i thought my only use for wet wipes were for cleaning mud off my hands during our hikes in canada... guess they're good for cleaning your ears after making a call in new york as well...

we went to woodburry common in new jersey thgis afternoon... it's thgis super huge shopping outlet, like a mini town actually! each brand has a little house as it's store... and the discounts were impossible!!! 70% off!!! we had a super great time! we could only spare 5 hours there, cos we had to catch the last bus at 9.26pm. so we kinda shelved dinner plans... at about 9pm, our stomachs were growling! so we rushed to the only food outlet that was still open-starbucks.. how new york is that...

i was hungrily eyeing the chicken chedder sandwich, but it was a whopping US$7 without tax! just as i was about to wrap my fingers tightly on it to claim it for my tummy... chris said in his oh-so-logical tone," we can buy 4 pastries with 7 dollars instead of 1 sandwich." so we bought 4 pastries... just as we were paying for our make-shift dinner, the starbucks people asked" is that your dinner??" and in our feeble attempt to not sound pathetic, we mumbled a pai-seh "yes". and guess what?? they actually went" oh come on, take these, go on, you can;t just have sweet stuff for dinner?" as they shoved not 1, but 2 chicken chedder sandwiches into our bags!! boy, aren't we blessed! now we've got more than US$20 worth of starbucks for US$6! come to think of it, chris and i have been given lots of help from strangers on this trip, it's a real blessing that these people crossed our paths... will tell you guys of the other "amazing blessings" that fell onto our lap this past month when we reach home...=) we're off to explore a "world-class" city tomorrow!

WWR

2005-06-03T05:15:00.000+03:00

greetings

we've left the french speaking quebec and went back to the english speaking ontario. after ottawa we went to this place called fort coulage to do white water rafting(WWF). at first we were a little worried about what to expect , but the guide was very pofessional and explained to us very carefully the safety procedures. it turned out to be less scary than we thought! none of us were thrown out of the raft even though the guides purposely tried a few times to! i was sitting at the front of the raft together with an aussie guy and we felt the brunt of most of the waves..we got thoroughly drenched. although the water was cold, it wasn't freezing and it helped that the weather was nice and warm, so we weren't shivering.

the next day we went to another place called madawaska. the main thing about that place was a hike at the Algonquin provincial park, one of canada's large national parks. it was huge, spanning thousands of acres. the hike was super tiring...and the bugs were getting on our nerves! especially the black flies. their bites is like a knife piercing your skin and u continue bleeding after they eaten their fill. the hike reminded me of army days where we had to trudge thru jungle too. shan wanted to give up many times because she was so tired! in the end she had to use a tree branch as a walking stick to help her walk! unfortunately, we did not get to see any animals in their natural habitat. although we saw a moose by the road side, it can;t beat seeing one in the wild. the thing was, i was unknowingly acting as bait for bears as i was hiking cos i was carrying a can of half eaten tuna with me! when the guide saw it he made me throw it away immediately!

hiking in algonquin park... man was it tough...=)

one of the view points: yes we CLIMBED our way up...

then finally today we left madawaska for toronto. on the way we went to the visitor centre to see some exhibits about the park. had picnic lunch (whilst swarmd by flies) then scaled a tower to see the view of the park.

arrived at toronto at 6pm, uncle ding was to take us in tonight before we fly to new york tomorrow. we're starting to miss home already..looking forward to returning on 8th june

sincerely
chris

the ottawa river which we rafted

me in the wet suit next to the raft we rafted in

stopping for our picnic lunch halfway through our rafting expedition

a beaver we saw in the park..chewing away happily!

our last day with our tour group and we took a group photo...got a little out of hand...notice the 'moose antlers' on our heads

Ottawa

2005-05-29T12:01:00.000+03:00

the good weather's here to stay! we actually went out in tees! (ok it rained a bit-chris just corrected me) we spent most of the morning at Omega Park, something like a safari... the animals would come right to the bus window! got loads and loads of pics to show you guys... even have pics of a racoon!!! haha...

ottawa itself is the capital of canada, typical city, not as bustling as toronto which is canada's largest city... but it's got lots of canadian history rooted in it's architecture... we were supposed to stay at a hostel that used to be the jail house of ottawa... but i read that they used to do public hangings there... erm, so chris and i decided to change hostels... and boy, wasn't that a wise decision! now we get a more comfy bed and room, FREE milk, FREE bicycles to use and a nice homely environment! (with no scary toilets or ghost stories...) woo hoo!~ we're going to wake up real early tomorrow to cycle along the rideau canal. (it's a hand-dug canal dug in 1860 something, that runs through ottawa, it's 220 km long... no we're not going to cycle the whole length... we'll end up back in kingston... )

both of us are good... we're superb grocery shoppers now, takes a trained eye to pick out a lunch that is nutritious, cheap, doesn't require a can opener, doesn't require refridgeration la da da.. ok not time.. bye

tulip season

Mount Tremblant

2005-05-28T23:59:00.000+03:00

we spent a night on mt tremblant, the highest ski slope east of the Rockies... we stayed in a quaint youth hostel by a lake... and we had free canoes and paddle boats! today's the first day we actually had decent weather... finally!!!

our hostel.. the brown one behind the trees...

Tadoussac

2005-05-26T23:42:00.000+03:00

the town of tadoussac...

our quaint little hostel tucked away in a quaint little town...
bonjour everybody!

today is our second day in Tadoussac, the whale town of canada. so this morning we set out to see whales! it cost us 60 bucks each man! so we had better see some whales!

after breakfast, we set off at 9.30 am for the bay. there were 2 choices, 1 was to sit in a speedboat and the other one was to take a comfortable cruise. our guide recommended the speedboat one as it would be more fun. so we were dressed like spacemen with our big waterproof jackets and pants that they provided. and we drove off in the boat with 6 passengers and a driver.

introducing... team Ba Zang!

it was super cold! and the wind was brutal...kept blowing at us til we got headache. shan almost got seasick (at the end part) and my fingers almost frostbite! after the jerky bumpy ride out to the middle of the st. lawrence river we waited patiently for whales....soon the guide suddenly honked his horn and pointed out in the distance, saying there was a whale...there before our eyes was a huge finback! soon after we saw a few minke whales...

we ended the ride after 3 hours. unfortunately we did not see blue whale ciz they haven;t arrived back north from mexico now yet. later in the afternoon we went on a hike round the coast of the town. when i stopped to pee in the bushes( there was no nearby loo), shan shouted that she saw a beluga! it is a special whale here coz it`s not supposed to be in canada but in the arctic! when i finished peeing the whaled already disappeared..sigh. but shan got some pictures to show u all

then we went to grocery shop to buy dinner. din want to eat out coz too ex and we`re running low on cash. we bought 2 thick slices of salmon, asparagus and instant rice! (something like maggi mee, but this is maggi fan!) in total the meal only caused us 10 bucks! it turned out edible too! althought the maggi rice alittle weird tasting but overall our meal was delicious!

shan adds:
the whales were really awesome! aristotle said that whales have more in common with humans than fish... haha, not that we felt any kind of affinity with THEM... but it was amazing, seeing such huge mammals that live in such unreachable environments so close to us! just imagine, the finback is 20 m long, (the 2nd largest after the blue whale), and it was barely 100m from our really puny boat! and you guys can`t imagine how frozen we were out there in the water... my shoe had a whole and it got flooded, so my toes were like wet and numb.. totally gross...

tadoussac is a really small town, in fact there are only 500 perm residents here. its located towards the end of the st lawrence river as it wodens and enters the atlantic ocean... its also the oldest township in old canada... the people speak french (its part of quebec) but they`re kind to pp who are un-french... and the weather is coooolllldddd..... esp when the wind blows... well, one last thing before we sign off.... we folded bed sheets in exchange for free laundry today... haha... real backpacking eh... no lah, we`re not really that broke... just looking for the right atm machine... haha...

minke whale

the beluga whale

the finback...

Montreal

2005-05-25T23:04:00.000+03:00

overlooking Montreal...
we arrived in montreal at about 4 pm today... and the first place we went to was a pub... the manager of the youth hostel was real nice and gave us an introduction to the frence city of montreal! but she wanted to go to a pub and we all had to order a beer... chris and i shared a raspberry beer... it`s not bad! really! and i used to think beer tasted like vomit... but we still couldn`t finish one glass between the both of us..

montreal is french... road names in french, signs in french, menus in french... the only thing we could recognise on the menu was pizza... haha...

most of montreal is like any other city... but there`s an old montreal part that still retains a quaint 19th century charm. the buildings are the old kind, the roads there are the cobble-stone kind... and yes, the people still speak french... oui..

we also went to the hip part of town called the plateau, loads of night-life and apparently loads of stripper bars too... (note the word apparently... means we didn`t get a chance to actually go into one...=) ) we spent the whole evening and night walking the streets of montreal... it`s a shame we couldn`t spend more time there...

on leaving montreal, we made our way to quebec city where we visited the montmorency falls... its a waterfall that`s 30m higher than the niagara. it`s a pretty sight, just like every other natural thing....=) the photo should speak for itself!!

lunch has been half a torture so far... the bus driver stops us at grocery shops at about 11am and we buy stuff for lunch... and plus the cold weather... know what that means.... we buy the cold stuff for lunch... cheese, ham, cold sandwiches... and today strawberries with nutella... haha... but it was delicious!!! the berries here are sweet! they`re so sweet that they rot in 2 days if you dun eat them...

aiming to have hot food soon.... love to everyone at home!=)

lunch...

montmorency falls

kingston!

2005-05-23T22:49:00.000+03:00

hello everybody

glad that we`ve received some responses to our blog. we put in a lot of effort ok! especially jingshan! today is my turn to add an entry

the pictures shown are that of kingston, an old city in canada that is famous for being an old port. there`s not much to do here except for seeing some old fort and an old ship called the alexander henry. we stayed for one night. wa it`s nothing like i`ve seen before man. the ship is 50 yrs old! the weather was freezing and yet there was no proper heating in the ship. i slept with 2 pants on! kept waking up at night to pull the blanket over myself!

the toilet was also terrible..can`t even flush properly! think i clogged up the toilet bowl when i left! haha luckily nobody saw me leave the toilet.

on our way to kingston we stopped by Sandbanks provincial park. it`s something like a ECP but canadian style. it`s characterised by huge sand dunes that were remeains of dried up lakes and shaped by the strong winds. our tour guide made us hike for over an hour up and down the hills that were 60 degrees steep and we circled trees and swamps and shrubs because he lost his bearing for a moment! shan was really suffering...every 5 minutes she had to tell me to wait up for her. so paiseh, the 2 of us were always at the back of the pack! luckily for me i brought army boots so the walking was not too bad.

ok gotta end here..i`m paying for the internet that i`m using now and it`s not cheap! ok will elaborate more once i have the chance

cheers
chris

ps. yilin i`m happy to see your reponse, i also miss home and want to see roxy too. all the dogs here are so ugly! all have shaven hair! i`ll leave the presents to new york then buy when i go to Abercrombie.

alexander henry- we slept in this! frozen people...

"...i hate to go and leave this pretty sight..."

2005-05-22T23:59:00.000+03:00

our last dinner here in toronto... we ate at Swiss Chalet, a family restaurant that specialises in chicken... and yup, you guessed it, it was really goooooood! the desserts were also smashing! we had pecan pie, double chocolate, a cheese cake and an apple pie with ice cream... really really gooood... mo dak deng ah!

time really flies when you're having fun, it's been 2 weeks already! i developed a bout of contact dermatitis which appeared as rashes all over my arms, legs, back and even my ankles! looks bad and feels bad... nothing good about it... and i think i've finally figured out the cause... chris and i have been using 5X the amount of detergent we should be using to wash our clothes! and now that i've re-washed all my clothes with just water, the rash has finally stopped itching! ah... this means 2 things... 1) we've both never washed clothes before...and 2) chris' skin must be pretty thick... =) (dun be mad moshi... you know there was no pun intended...=) )

well, we've had lots of help here in toronto, and we're grateful to everyone who has made our stay in a foreign land seem so much like home... there were my juniors who found such a nice home for us to crash in and who were such great chefs! and ann who was so hospitable and generous with all her food and bare neccessities...=) and ningyin and steven who brought us all over ontario on the weekends! and uncle ding who drove in from missisauga to meet us one our first day when we were totally fatigued after our tumultous journey here!

i'm not sure if we'll be able to upload more photos over the next 2 weeks, but we'll definitely write! it's the last episode of desperate housewives here!!! mummy... dun worry, i'll get the rest of the episodes for you soon! so hang in there! hugz! =)

back to Square One!

2005-05-22T23:30:00.000+03:00

breakfast at mel's diner

we started our morning with a hearty american breakfast at Mel's diner... christ and i shared "the big mel" which came with 2 eggs, 4 sausages and 3 slices of french toast... ningyin and steven each ate 3 eggs! I THINK MY APPETITE HAS INCREASED TREMENDOUSLY SINCE WE'VE ARRIVED... but its cold... as chris always say" you need the carbo to keep warm..." =)

after breakfast, we went to the St jacobs market in kitchener this morning... it's a miniature farmers' market, 1/5th the size of the usual saturday farmers' market that we missed. it's the canadian version of pasa malam... except that there's raw meet and veg as well... chris bought me a bracelet called an italian charm, where you can choose links with different patterns pictures/ words and form it into a bracelet... it's really pretty...=) i chose one link that had a white doggy with its tongue hanging out... looks like shaved bento... i also saw a black lama... not the tibetian one, the four legged one... looked quite docile, but it had 4 teeth sticking out, so was a little afraid it'll chew up my fingers if i attempted to touch it...

St Jacobs Sunday Market

anyway, after all the shopping around, we were back to square one...eh, i meant that we went to ontario's biggest shopping mall- SQUARE ONE! haha, ok supposed to be funny... it was huge!! like several takashimayas put together... i bought a harley davidson cap for bento...it's black... quite cooool...=) and chris bought a tee from american eagles outfitters... then we went to Dollar-rama to buy snacks for our road trip... everything there is like $1 each or 2 for $1... =) =) =)

i ate my 2nd Harvey's burger today for lunch! have i mentioned THE harvey's burger before?? first time i've ever craved for a burger! what else can i say....

shortly after our late lunch, steven was real nice and drove us back to toronto. we had a great weekend with ningyin and steven, they took real good care of us and our stomachs! food... the nuorishment for the soul... hehz..

kitchener...waterloo...midland...georgian bay!

2005-05-21T23:33:00.000+03:00

me at georgian bay

we're in waterloo now... chris and i took a train from toronto to kitchener (which is right next to waterloo) and met up with ningyin (chris's cousin) and steven (ningyin's fiance). the via Rail was pretty comfy, almost like an airplane... 100X better than our bus ride from NY... =) watching the endless scenary whizz by kinda makes you go into a fugue state... and then you start falling asleep...

we stayed over at ningyin and steven's place yesterday night.. it's a quaint little town house that comes complete with a yorkshire terrier named Tissle and a marine aquarium! Tissle the missile is as her namesake is, super duper active... =)

early this morning, we drove 3 over hours to midland, a town further up north. midland's quite "touristy" with loads of food outlets and souvenir shops. our main purpose was to catch the "Miss Midland 30,000 islands Cruise" from the harbour at midland. this was a 2.5 hour cruise that sails round georgian bay. georgian bay consists of 30,000 islands and 5 bays (i think) and is the largest collection of islands in the world.. (apparently there are more islands than indonesia...)

steven, ningyin, chris and shan on board the "Miss Midland"

there's a indian (huron) legend that kinda explains the origins of this place...

Kitchikewana was a god that was big enough to protect all of Georgian Bay. He was taller than the C.N. Tower and wore a headdress made of thousands of bird feathers. His robe was made of six-hundred beaver pelts and he also wore a tree-stump necklace. (eh, quite a fashion statement huh...)

One day, the other Huron gods noticed how angry Kitchikewana was all the time. They thought that if he had a girlfriend, she may be able to settle him down, so they gathered all of the most interesting and beautiful girls of the tribes. There was one specific girl Kitchikewana really liked a lot, and her name was Wanakita. Kitchikewana asked Wanakita if she wanted to be with him, but Wanakita did not want to be with him, much to his surprise. What Kitchikewana didn't know was that she already had a boyfriend! Wanakita was in love with one of the warriors from her own tribe. This made Kitchikewana really angry. He was so upset that he dug his fingers deep into the ground and threw the dirt in a fit of rage. The handfuls of dirt were scattered and the 30,000 Islands were created, and the five finger marks in the ground became the five bays: Midland Bay, Penetang Bay, Hog Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and Matchedash Bay. Kitchikewana, heartbroken and tired lay down at the base of the islands and fell asleep forever.

To this day, Kitchikewana still lays asleep, and you can see his gigantic form make up what people know as Giant's Tomb.

the weather was really nice today, about 21 degrees ( a blessed relief from the 3 degrees, 9 degrees, 10 degrees we've been having). barely needed a sweater! it's amazing, how such a large body of water as all part of a fresh water lake system! it's a long weekend here in canada, victoria day... hence there were lots of people who came up to camp and stay in the cottages by the lakes.. we go to chalets, canadians go to cottages... many of these cottages are situated on one of the many islands that dot the georgian bay... and having a boat is an essential mode of transport... there were several yachts and powerboats all over the bay... you can really see how much the canadians like the outdoors...

we also made a trip to Martyrs' Shrine, a mini cathedral that was built in 1925 in memory of the saints that died in martyrdom... we also went to this castle village which looked really impressive... in the brochure...=( we all felt big-time cheated when we saw the actual thing... puny little fake castle...

Martyrs' Shrine

on our way back to waterloo, ningyin recommended that we try 'krispy kream' doughnuts.... man, those were the best doughnuts i've ever eaten! and they were hot doughnuts that were crispy on the outside but soft on the inside! they've got this mass production factory right in the store itself, and you can actually see the doughnuts getting fried, glazed and packed! and you get a free hot doughnut as long as you step into the store! it was so good we bought a dozen more to bring back home... =)

krispy kream production line... yum!!

ok, off to bed now, another long day ahead!

The world's my Oyster!

2005-05-20T14:45:00.000+03:00

chris and i went to this place called 'Big Daddys' yesterday for lunch... it's an oyster bar cum restaurant. sigh... "the world's my oyster and i with sword will open".... for now its the oyster is my world, and shan with butter knife will open! haha...

there were so many types for us to choose from! we tried 3 types of oysters: malpegue, pickle point and raspberry. yup, those are oyster names..=) it's amazing! the oysters here are actually sweet and they didn't have that 'raw fishy' after taste. apparently oysters have a range, from fishy to sweet... of course, the more expensive the oyster, the less fishy it was... the malpegues were C$1.60 each, pickle points were C$2.40 each and the raspberry ones were a whopping C$2.95 each! (and there's still tax...) so, between the both of us, we only ate half a dozen... ($$$)and price aside, the raspberry ones were superkalefregelisticespielodocious! (dunno how to spell..) and might i say, CHRIS was actually tempted to get another 6! this coming from someone who would NEVER touch oysters back home... bottomline, they were super good!!! daddy, if only i could freight some back to you! i bet you'll lurve it!

yesterday was really feast day for us... we also had a scrumptous meal for dinner! it was one big get-together, with us 7 medicine people, the twins huijun and huimei (my rgs juniors who are studying here), ann, darryl and kenneth. the evening kicked off.. GARDEN SALAD, TURKEY, SALT BAKED TENDERLOIN (these 2 cooked by the twins), MUSHROOM, SPINACH, CHICKEN, POTATOES, BREAD, and for dessert: APPLE AND BLUEBERRY PIE WITH ICE CREAM AND TOPPINGS! i was hanging around the kitchen.. hoping that their cooking skills would somehow infuse into my brain.. no lah, i was actually actively helping out and learning! eh, so technically, i should be able to cook a turkey that is not dry, a beef tenderloin and the spinach mushroom dish... hmm... anyone keen to try my cooking when i get home?=)

after dinner, the fun began! we played a round of Cranium and several rounds of Taboo which turned out to be simply hilarious! we ended the night with a singing session; ann, the twins, lambert, kenneth and i were singing songs from phantom, les miz, marry poppins, sound of music, man jiang hong, and of course amigos sempres...=) i kinda missed the singing days of past last night, and i'm glad that i got to meet all of them here! we sang till like 3 am... shiok! and poor chris sleepily took out his army ear-plugs and went to the room to be a kun bear-bear...

chris ping chris pong....

2005-05-19T23:30:00.000+03:00

hello everybody! this is chris...

first of all, can someone please tell me what on earth "we are such stuff as Dreams are made on..." mean? it's like super cheem man...

anyway i just found out that shan has created a web blog and i've been ORDERED to write in an entry or else i'll have to sleep on the floor tonight!! poor me...

the purpose of this blog is to share our experiences with you all.

ok i'll get straight to my experience...shan is nagging at my ear to carry on with it and not be so lor sor! she's even twisting my ear!

i fianally exercised in like 2 weeks! it turns out that my landlord ann was a school team pingpong player so at long last i have someone of a better standard than shan to spar with...( shan herself admits it) it was a good workout, i almost broke into a sweat! unfortunately, even i was no match for her, losing 3 games to 1 in an intensely close fought best of 5 match. later that night we met uncle ding for diiner at this seafood restaurant. we initially arranged for 6.30pm but they actually arrived 1 hour earlier and god knows why both parties could not contact each other so we arrived 1 hour late to see them already started eating. it was pretty embarrassing, we felt bad for letting them wait so long either.

but all the tension was gone when the lobster arrived..wow i must say that it the best lobster i've had in months! the other dishes were also good and we ate til we almost exploded!

the rest of the night we just watched tv at home and slept early cos next day got sch.

oki got to end now. shan is asking me if i've finished..that means i MUST finish rightway...

cheers
chris

2005-05-19T23:27:00.000+03:00

ping

2005-05-19T23:26:00.000+03:00

argh

Niagara Falls

2005-05-19T17:13:00.000+03:00

me after the "maid of the mist" boat ride... totally brain freezed, but happy!

i went to the Niagara Falls over the weekend with chris and his cousin. it was beautiful! and really wide... funny isn't it, water falls create the impression of water falling from a great height... the niagara falls isn't exactly majestically tall... but it was big... and beautiful! there's actually 2 parts to it... the niagara falls proper and the canadian horseshoe falls... personally i prefer the horseshoe one... we took the "maid of the mist" boat ride, that literally went towards the falls... it was freezing! and the water was pelting down on us like rain... brr... it was fun... seeing us all looking like wet ducks... shivering in the cold... =0

there were other attractions in that area as well, kinda like a mini disney land... lots of rides, museums of ripley's believe it or not, guiness world record museum... etc... of course like every other developed area, there was also a casino.the weather was good on that day as well... not too cold and the sun was out! it's spring here now, and tulip season! there were flowers everywhere; such a colourful and vibrant sight! can't blame me for being trigger happy, or to put it more crudely, for behaving like a flower-obsessed-tourist...

i tried a Harvey's burger for lunch... man it was good! the beef patties here are more juicy, tasty, delicious... more everything(!) than those in singapore! and it's pretty cool, they grill your bread and beef patty, and you can add any amount/type of topping you want; lettuce, tomatoes, radish, onions, bacan, mayo, ketchup, mustard... la daa dee...we went to a factory outlet store as well... it's amazing! Body Shop stuff was going at 1/10th the price! $10 for 10 bottles (?!) and there was also a nike factory outlet there... ming... aren't i a good sister.... hahah...

we ended the day with a trip to inniskillin, (haha, sounds like a place out of Lord of the Rings). it's a vineyard at the naigara-on-the-lake area. they're suppossedly one of the best and they specialise in making ice wine.

by the time we drove back to toronto, it was late into the night... and boy, we were cold and tired... AND I'VE GOT A BLISTER... hurts like mad when i walk (which is my main form of transport here- i walk an average of 3 hours everyday!!! cos the weather is cold, you don't sweat, and you don't realise how much your feet has gone through until it actually peng sans) and now, i'm left with loads of happy memories, tonnes of flower photographs, and a question: to burst it or not...

2005-05-19T17:12:00.000+03:00

horse shoe falls - see the tiny boat in the misty area? that's the boat ride we took!

2005-05-19T15:45:00.001+03:00

niagara falls.. woo hoo!

Chris & the matching Streetcar...

2005-05-17T15:05:00.000+03:00

Chris has to take the TTC subway and the streetcar to get to St Joseph's health centre, and he has to get to school by 7.30am every morning! (so early... so cold... )

Massive Change

2005-05-17T15:04:00.000+03:00

talking about evolution.. there's this pretty interesting exhibition going on at the art gallery of ontario its titled MASSIVE CHANGE and showcases the recent technologies being developed around the world... singapore's NEWater was also featured. but what sticks in my mind is the advertisement they used to promote this exhibition... a live chicken bred without feathers... that poor thing looked so funny and naked... albeit it did remind me of the day i shaved off bento's crowning glory... i really miss bento!! does he still miss me?? its been almost 2 weeks!

"massive change" exhibition at the art gallery of ontario

mapo tofu, spinach with mushroom ribs in black bean sauce and dong gua tang...

2005-05-13T15:01:00.000+03:00

we had a fantastic home-cooked meal yesterday! ma-po tofu, spinach with mushrooms (YUM!), baby ribs in black bean sauce, pork ribs with winter melon soup, and steaming white fragrant rice! it was really really good... i personally think the spinach with mushrooms were of restaurant standard! ann's friend, darryl (also another singaporean) came over to cook! he likes to cook... which apparently seems to be a common trait of the singaporean guys here.. hmm ming ah, are you going to evolve into that too? haha=)

Princess Margaret Hospital

2005-05-13T14:59:00.000+03:00

princess margaret hospital along university avenue

princess margaret hospital's about 5 min walk away... but it's been so cold recently i'm practically running to school! and my daily dose of Druxy's hot chocolate is a must before commencing my freezing walk home at the end of the day...=) the hot chocolate here is simply heaven! expecially on a cold day... it's a life saver!

University of Toronto

2005-05-13T14:48:00.000+03:00

university of toronto

the week is finally over! can't wait to sleep in over the weekend...been going to school at 8 am everyday, and with this kind of chilly weather, you simply DO NOT want to get up… we're staying at a really nice apartment right in downtown toronto.

our 'landlady's called ann; she’s a friend of a friends’ and is also Singaporean. she's been really nice and helpful to us. went to university of toronto to register it's a pretty place, stone buildings and all, kinda like a university town as well, it lines almost the whole of College street here which is about 5 blocks or so? there are lots of hotdog stands near the university as well... will definitely try one before i leave!