Friday, April 28, 2006
Thank god it's friday!
Have you been following the elections 2006? Well, here's a short summary on the hottest topic in Singapore so far. The island's long-governing People's Action Party(PAP) has been returned unopposed in 37 out of 84 seats in Parliament. This is 6 seats shy of a majority.
There is definately no doubt that the PAP will form the government - The question is their share of votes. This is the first time since 1988 the opposition is contesting more than half the seats.
There were loud cheers as the various candidates arrived at the Nomination Centres on Thursday to present their papers. Nomination Day is when candidates declare their intention to contest the 84 seats in parliament.
But when nominations closed at noon, there were walkovers declared in Seven Group Representation Constituencies for the governing PAP which is contesting all seats.
The PAP was uncontested in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, Jurong GRC, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, Marine Parade GRC, Tanjong Pagar GRC, West Coast GRC and Hong Kah GRC and have been confirmed walkovers.
Among those returned unopposed were the PAP teams led by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng.
There will be contests in seven other GRCs - Aljunied GRC, Ang Mo Kio GRC, Jalan Besar GRC, Sembawang GRC, East Coast GRC, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and Tampines GRC.
As in previous years, the opposition is contesting all 9 Single Member Constituencies.
The SMCs are Bukit Panjang, Chua Chu Kang, Joo Chiat, MacPherson, Nee Soon Central, Nee Soon East, Potong Pasir, Yio Chu Kang and Hougang.
Single seats have been the favored battleground for the opposition, which is defending two seats - Potong Pasir and Hougang. And the hottest areas at talking point are Joo Chiat Constituency, Jalan Besar and Hong Kah GRC.
Anyway, the week has been topsy-turvy, but all in all, a good week that has gone by really fast and now it's already Thursday. I had thought about going for training, but never mind, decided against it, it was raining when I got out of the house and I didn't particularly feel very active today.
On Monday I received another 2 letters, one inviting me to go to a seminar (interesting, I thought only scientists with a "Dr" to their name received such letters). But I wasn't interested, the other letter from NP was more interesting, but I didn't really feel overly elated. I will really be much happier if I knew I had achieved something else. Something more prestigious.
The letter didn't state whether I won those 2 awards, and I'd be really disappointed if I didn't win it on that day. Still at least I got something. Isn't that all that I wanted in year 2? Or have my expectations just jumped triple-fold?
Sherlyn Poh won a few more other prestigious accolades such as the ST Electronics Gold Medal & Prize (For most outstanding performance), the Dynamedix Prize (For "Biomaterials & Implants"), the BES Technology Prize ( February 10, 2006 Tyco Healthcare Prize (For 'Clinical Engineering') and the United BMEC Prize (For 'Industrial Attachment Programme')
She won a total of 6 prizes in addition of the above! If I won those then I'll really be happy. My 3 years in NP didn't go wasted.
Everyone seemed to be having examinations this week, and so I was pretty much left to my own work at my own pace at work. And of course, you know what my pace is like and very soon all the work was done.
I left a little earlier, to go back to school for the magazine meeting, yeah, plenty of work done today, but not nearing the completion of the magazine. Some have completed the most, the rest still in article design and editing phase. Ok, at least there has been work done, my part now is to finish the editor's acknowledgements and the coverpage, start the entire mag template, which can be done by this weekend and wait for them to send in their completed articles. Yes, at least I am seeing something now.
Guess what? We ended much later than usual at 9.30pm because they had so many things to show me and I had many instructions to give. Little did I know that there was a pleasant surprise in store for me =) I never expected it at all. Love ya guys =)
9:02 PM
Monday, April 24, 2006
Today hasn't been exactly a good day. I didn't sleep well last night, I actually woke up at 2.43am to get a drink. I just kept tossing and turning all night in bed, dreaming about the magazine, what kind of cover designs to put, my workplace. Argh. I want to finish the mag asap so that I can focus on my other worries. Such as what university to go to in the next 2 years. I may have 2 years to decide, but in actual fact, I have a little less than a month to decide.
My parents were very against me going overseas due to the fact that we cannot afford it. I found that tremendously irritating. I really cannot depend on my family anymore the higher I go up. I will have to find a way to finance myself if I want to go overseas. I felt really bitter after that unasked-for tougue lashing that mom gave me for no apprarent reason and I think I will not talk to them about this anymore. I guess it's all up to me to cough out the money. Talk about being bitter all over again just when you thought you found reprive in your life.
For me it's work at work, then at home it's work all over again. Not to only mention that, the flash-rain was so heavy it soaked through my suppositely water-proof bag. I was wet waist-down, dammit why didn't I wear water-proof apparel today. It was miserable and was it my imagination? To think with each step I took, the rain seemed to increase in intensity.
Of course, I have been working on the mag for nearly over a fortnight. But at least today I had a eureka moment. Finally. I got something that I can say is workable.
I'll finish the design by this week, post it out for all of them to decide, by then articles would have started coming in. Maybe by 2nd week of May we can actually see the whole magazine on screen. Then we'll get it printed out, send it to selected lecturers, and find the printing company. =)
I am just so tremendously busy, hopefully after next week, the work load on the ece magazine will ease up abit. And all the hardwork will pay off when we actually get to hold the mag in our sweaty hands.
It's work all the way till mid-May, then we'll see where I'll go from there.
WORK FX WORK!
FX
8:13 AM
Friday, April 21, 2006
Yesterday there's lots of work to do, we had a group meeting to discuss what are the next steps that we are going to do, such as further testing, and fabrication and lithography of more chips, so maybe it isn't so fast after all, but last week I thought things were going a little fast for my comprehension. I learnt the protocol once and I was almost expected to be able to carry out the tests myself. But hey, slow down! I love high expectations. What's life without a little challenge?
Then I retested the SAM (self-assembling monolayer) of in my experiment and the results were good. My supervisor is very optimistic, he said that after this part is done and when we go into the testing with intercalcators he can start writing another paper and I’ll have two papers under my belt. How nice!
I approached my supervisor for advice on my further education. My supervisor was talking about studying in the US. The education that the US provides is far better than any other institution and the whole world knows that.
In MIT, the professors there don't really bother about your GPA. They want to know whether you can do research. But the difference is not my grades, the difference is that they have the money to go there and study and I don't. So the bottom line that they're still offering is that take your undergraduate studies in NTU, then go overseas to the states for your masters or PhD.
Money shouldn't be the problem there, because you work as an assistant researcher doing actual research and getting paid for it at the same time, your employer pays for your tuition fees and pays you a salary for doing research as well. But I probably need to take a scholarship to get over to the US in the first place. They were really skeptical about Australia, a place where you just throw money and obviously the training over there can never be compared to the states. Moreover you won't be able to get a job there even after you graduate and you have to come back to Singapore.
UNSW seem lucrative to me because of the accelerated route. But will that leave my options open for my future development? US is out for undergraduate but it's the best for PhD. I think a US university won't accept a UNSW cert isn't it? All this thoughts has got me thinking about this guy in my course, he was saying that he wants to go to UNSW and really makes me wanna laugh, his GPA is probably in the low 2's. Now he's begging to get a place in NTU. I'd swear if he even gets in and laugh if he doesn't.
Anyway, I shouldn't be bothered by an insignificant... UNSW is fast, (graduating at 25). But I won't be able to continue after that and it's just plain working. NTU>US is slow, 3+5 = 8 years + 22yrs = 30 Years old for my PhD. Talk about having no life.
The best kind of CV in the US is several research papers (4-10), a decent GPA (3.5+), a good SAT and GRE* score. A masters is nothing over there, you immediately do your PhD after your Bachelors.
The best kind of CV in Singapore is a 3.9+ GPA, a strong CCA record with leadership positions.
It's really different in Asia and in the US.
Now my options have gone further in depth. Do I want to do a PhD? If I do do a PhD, it'll be nice, but I probably won't be paid much, working my butt out and will be away for 5 years. No girl will want to wait for 5 years for a guy isn't it? There are plenty of other guys out there. Sob. Either way it's still a sad and bleak future even if you are respected. If I do a PhD, then it's NS > NTU for me. If I don't then it's NS > UNSW for me.
Or maybe I am thinking too far. Do I really want to do a PhD?
There has been a name dubbed for PhD-candidates like us or Post-doc or even just undergrads. We are LOSERS - League of students with extraordinary research skills. Talk about being positive eh?
Then I went back to school to work on the magazine, sigh. Can't say much about that though, but here are some random photos.
*GRE - Graduate Record Examinations
7:29 PM
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
WARNING LONG ENTRYThese few weeks, the HOTTEST topic amongst all polytechnic "graduates" are "What university have you gone to?" or "What course are you going to study?" or "Where are you going to go or what are you going to do now".
The other thing that has been on my mind other than the ECE magazine is "what the hell am I going to do with my future?" Yeah, sure, I've got a nice GPA, I can go to NTU and NUS with my first choices. But I'd rather study overseas, the prospect and the lure of studying overseas was always more attractive than studying in a local university. There'll be greater social life, better life experiences, new scenery, better study environment.
But you need money to study overseas. MONEY. Everything needs money, these days you're either damn smart so that companies throw scholarships at you (such as A*STAR), or you're damn rich that you can afford anything. Anyway I've looked through most of the scholarships, some are either very lucrative, but come with a 5-6 year bond (argh, that's way too long), or others don't cover the universities that I want to go to. By the time I finish my NS I am already 22 years old, add another 3-4years for my bachelors if I don't do a double-degree. I'd be 26 years old by then!
All the advice that I've heard from other people on what kind of educational path to take on all lead to completely different directions, some say do an Honors Degree, other say do a Masters, others say a Masters in the United States is useless, and go for a PhD directly.
Right now I have 2 choices that seem to present the brightest path. I shall list down the pros and cons of each life-changing decision, a choice that I'll have to make 2 years from now. I have 2 years to rot away in National Service, 2 years of time to decide where and what I want to do with my life.
National Technological University
1) NTU, 4 year course to Electronic and Electrical Engineering (EEE), I've heard that it's a very tough course to get into and I have direct entry into 2nd Year. So that means I can complete this Bsc in 3 years. (25 when I graduate). Appeal rating? 4/10. Pros - Affordable, no tuition fees if I get a scholarship, social life moderate with dormitories and a healthy CCA life and the ability to spend time with friends, family and of course a girlfriend. Cons? That leaves me with no job, a mere Bsc alongside with at least 10,000 other graduates with similar qualifications vying for the same job. Probably a mere electronics technician or operator not earning more than 2.4k starting pay not including CPF and income tax. Then if I decide to go for my Masters, I need to cough out another $100,000 at least if I want to go overseas and of course, Singapore is boring.
2) UNSW, 5 year course to double degree for a Bachelors in EE, and a Masters in BME (Biomedical Engineering). But I have direct entry and module exemptions based on my GPA. So that means I can complete my Bsc and Msc in 3 years overseas in Australia. Appeal rating? 8/10. Pros? Fast accelerated route, 22 + 3 = 25 years old with a Bsc and Msc in engineering. I have 8 months of experience in an A*STAR research institute. Starting pay no less than 3-3.5k SGD. Increased overseas exposure and different social experiences. An overseas experience is ALWAYS better than local. You get to see many things that you can never see in Singapore. Priceless. Cons? I need $250,000 at least. For 4 years including living expenses, nearly impossible without a scholarship. And of course, neglect for a girlfriend, detrimental to any relationship, as far as I know, almost all long-distance relationships suffer and eventually break up. Then if you do happen to find love over there. How are you going to bring her back to Singapore?
University of New South Wales
3) Other scholarships. Pros - Everything is paid for, assured of a job when you return. Cons - Only a Bsc and a very long bond time!
The issue of money has always got a strangled neck hold. A*STAR invests almost $900,000 to $1million SGD in every scholar. It costs almost $500,000 to study to PhD level without living expenses in the UK. The A*STAR scholarship is probably the best, if not for the 6-year bond that comes along with it. Minimum requirements. At least a 3.9 GPA and above (O_O) or 4As and 2 S Merits for A-level, good CCA records, leadership skills. Everything is paid for, allowance, computer, living expenses, tuition fees, annual air-ticket, but 6 years in a research institute. All that just for a Bsc! Forget about your PhD. That's another 3 years. 4 years for Bsc + 1 year Msc + 5 years PhD + 6 year bond + 3 year PhD post-doc bond = 18 YEARS. That's 22 + 18 = 40 YEARS OLD. Old faggot rotting his life away for a PhD. Forget it. The other government scholarships PSC/DSTA/MAS/HSA/PUB all offer similar options but with a 5-6 year bond.
I wonder how those rich families can afford to send their children to the US for their Bachelors. It will cost nearly $100,000 - $200,000 SGD per year to study at places like Harvard, UCLA, Carnegie-Mellon, UIAC (University of Illinois Albania-Champagne), Yale, Cornell, San-Frans, UIW, don't even bother about MIT you gotta be top 0.1% world-ranking to get in there. How do those families break the financial barrier? You need half a million dollars to break the financial barrier. Families in the middle-class just can't afford to do that. You either sacrifice your life working your butt out for 6+4 years or you cough out FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND BUCKS.
Carnegie-Mellon University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
US by far offer the best education. UK second, and the cheapest and most affordable overseas education is Australia. Even then, there is a stark contrast in cost. To study locally, Singaporeans are subsidized. Paying less than 2k per semester in a local university for a full-time course. In Australia, it costs almost 25k per year! Just for tuition fees and not including living expenses.
How the hell do you cough out half a million dollars without robbing a bank? Or getting bonded for 4-6 years of your life. Your youth wasting away in some cubicle or some laboratory mixing chemicals or running the same experiments over and over again.
Apart from the two choices that I have above, both have pros and cons. And I've heard about life-stories from others. There are people who have gotten their PhD at 23 years old! Those are super-geniuses with a lot of money in their pocket. But the fastest educational route is always business and accounting studies, (2 year Bsc), the 2 longest routes are Medicine and Engineering. Medicine and medical studies requiring a 6-year course, but you graduate with a MBBS or MD and you are called Dr! Add another 4-6 years to specialize in a particular field. You can be well settled down in your career in your early 30s. Engineering comes with a 4-year course, but you're merely a Bsc or Msc graduate. You're a mere skilled labor, a white-collared worked competing for jobs with hundreds of thousands of other graduates from polytechnic and universities annually. Every year you are unemployed decreases yours employment chances.
How do those geniuses do it at 24 years old? They study overseas, getting a masters or bachelors at 22 years old and going on further from there. I still have to rot away doing NS for 2 years till I am 22. At 22 I only have a diploma! Now you know why NS men from Singapore are all whiners and full of gripes. We rot away for 2 years in an Army camp whilst our peers surge ahead in their careers, finding soulmates and settling down with a family in their late 20s and early 30s and we men are struggling to find a job late 20s struggling with thousands of others with better and brighter Curriculum Vitaes. Losing women to smarter, better-looking and richer men. Then we have to support our family, parents, girlfriend/wife/children/ourselves and still remain employable, have a good education certification and a good-paying job.
Women say they are stressed? The 2 years does make a big difference. But nevertheless we are going to take it like men isn't it? Times have changed and the battlefield for supremacy and recognition has changed as well. Bullets no longer kill men, lifestyles kill men. Bombs no longer destroy, bloodthirsty organizations and cut-throat society destroys. Corruption, greed, deficit, malice, deception, dissention, and backstabs are the way to go these days. How can you find purity in a world full of darkness and degradation in society and moral values?
Nevertheless before I get too philosophical, which just doesn't suit the objective of this entry. I’ve heard stories of how bright students with no money live and study overseas. The life stories that they have just to study overseas and get a good degree is very sad. There is no life, students work overseas to pay for the meals that they eat. So they work at night, study in the day time. See their peers merry and party whilst they work their butt day and night, studying along the way so it won't jeopardize their grades. I also heard that there's a 20hour work limit for expatriate students in UK per week.
So these bright students with excellent grades forgo and sacrifice their life, forget about parties, clubbing, going out, having a holiday, going sight-seeing, going to other places, going shopping, hanging out with friends, going out with a girlfriend. They gotta work to study! There is this person I know, he had to mortgage the home, every time he eats his meal he worries that his parents have no home to stay in. Some students forgo their meals to save and scrimp every cent that they can get to pay for their studies. Some parents love their children so much they work non-stop just for that, sell off everything in the house to pay for their children's education.
Out there, there's some rich bastard who has the luxury of having his parents send him overseas to study, can live being fed by a silver spoon, enjoying life here, playing games, going to parties, spending money like water, NEVER experienced working before, gets mediocre grades in his studies. Then goes overseas to study, merry and party, not studying, completely forgetting about his parents, comes home spoilt, demands his parents give him a job at their company. Gets a high-paying job for doing nothing, has no experience whatsoever and screws up completely and the parents say "nevermind".
Plain assholes. What about the smart people? They have no money, but they have brains and their life is wasted away working their butts out for the degrees that there are studying for. Where is the justice in this world. After that, they come back, worrying about how they are going to feed their family, going for interview after interview and finally accepting a mediocre-paying job and having to start working from scratch in that organization for the rest of his life.
Face it, money speaks in the current society. Nothing else. If you have the brains, go get the money. Break the bondage of the financial barrier. I am processing the pros and cons of studying overseas, but it is extremely expensive. I am not sure if I afford it. Rely on parents? Screw you. My parents have done a tremendous job putting me where I am now. The next step of my life is entirely up to me and I have an obligation to fill, to support my parents so that they can enjoy the rest of their retirement and sip the fruits of their labor and all the sacrifice that they've spent to bring up their children wouldn't have gone to waste.
Where do I go to now? What am I going to study?
Thinking about it already makes me feel depressed. Smart people don't whine isn't it? Just DO IT. But I guess I've done enough whining for one entry. It's a sad and bleak future.
10:39 PM
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Alright! Another update again. But unfortunately I have no time to do up a new layout, maybe FXblog9 will be far more sophisticated than this current layout. But that's not important, I've been busy! Haha. I'm working full-time now, after office hours, I'm busy with the ece magazine design. But that should all end by the end of May.
But life has been good though albeit tiring. Tkd is optional after all I am already completely exhausted after work. Then this weekend we went to Malaysia again! There was no congestion on Saturday, traffic was smooth and we met up with the rest at CS.
There were 10 of us this time and we had lunch at Kenny Rogers, and walked around, guess what? We met Eddie (bme ex-TSO) and some other acquaintances. What a coincidence to meet so many people today. The world is really too small.
Then after that we headed over to qin's place to stay over. It was like a chalet-like feeling. The ambience reminded me of Mersilau Resort on Mount Kinabalu, Sabah. If only we could go back!
The view was spectacular, uncontested horizon and clear skies and you can see out into the straits of Malaysia water channel and into the city. The angle was limited though and they spent time horsing around. I love going overseas away from boring Singapore. Hahe. Dinner was sumptuous, and we passed the night horsing around and watching a movie. The next morning, some left, some had breakfast and lingered around before heading back home. It was really fun.
There will be further plans to go overseas! Haha, maybe Genting or KL, and it'll be even more fun. I think I am addicted to going overseas, Singapore is getting too boring. Time to go out and explore.
Places to go to before entering NS.
>
Kukup, Malaysia>
Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, West Malaysia>
Penang, Malaysia>
Phuket, Thailand>
Bangkok, Pattaya, Thailand>Redang, Malaysia
>Genting Highlands, Malaysia
>Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
>Seoul, South Korea
>Hong Kong?
Places to go to After NS
>Darjeeling, Himalayas, India
>Virginia, USA
>Massachusetts, USA
>San Francisco, USA
>Mont Blanc or Zurich, Switzerland
>Helsinki, Finland
>Stockholm, Sweden
>Frankfurt, Germany
>Rome or Venice, Italy
>More to come
Ahhhh. That's life. I am contented now.
8:01 AM
Monday, April 10, 2006
I've finally received all the 3 most awaited-for letters. All of them giving positive infomation, with the expected words that i want to see. Both acceptance letters and one notification letter of the enlistment date. The next 2 years down the road is pretty much laid out. It's the path after that that I have to choose to take. =) But the path is bright.
FX 9/4/2006
6:45 AM
Friday, April 07, 2006
saw this somewhere on the web, which is quite true. When Maria Shriver came out with a book called, "ten Things I Wish I Had Known Before Going Into The Real World." The real world? Come on, she grew up a Kennedy and married the biggest action movie star of all time! That aside, it got me to thinking: What are ten things I wish I would have known before going out into the real world? So, here they are?
Life isn't fair.
You know, your mother always told you this but as kids we never believe it. We think that somehow mom was two tacos short of a combo plate and that eventually we will go into the real world and show her how those who work hard and do right always do come out on top. Then after about five years we become disenchanted and start to smell the coffee. Life isn't fair! Why didn't anybody tell me that? I guess they did, didn't they? Unfortunately, sometimes the bad guys wins. Sometimes people die early. We shouldn't take this lightly, but we must be realists. While we accept what comes our way, we still strive to work hard, dream big, and do right.
People play favorites.
It is true that it isn't what you know but who you know that counts. This is because people play favorites. Sometimes it doesn't matter that you are the best person or have the lowest bid. People will regularly cut deals with people they like or who can scratch their back in return. I guess the lesson to learn is that while we strive to achieve much and have excellent skills, we should also develop a strong network of healthy relationships.
People will let you down.
Being a person who does what he says can be a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because I am able to look at myself in the mirror each day. It is a curse because if you are like that, you will most likely expect that from others and yet they will regularly let you down. People can be bad at keeping their word or doing what is right. I could have relieved a lot of emotional stress if I would have known this one before getting out into the real world.
Not everybody wants to grow personally.
I just assumed that everybody loved to learn and to grow. I thought everybody wanted to get better at what they did. The reality is, however, that most people do not. That is why there is something that we call ?average.? Most people want to stay where they are. That is why they do. Those who strive to go forward will always be cutting against the grain and will often be resented, even if quietly, for it.
The stock market goes down sometimes.
Some of you older folks knew this. But us young whippersnappers, we have been riding it high on the hog for a while. This is good in a sense, but unless you have some common sense of how financial markets work, you can get quite a shock from time to time. You see, before you get into the real world, everything gets handed to you and you really don't have to work for much. Then you do and you think that every investment will turn out grand ? whoops!
The older you get, the harder it is to lose weight.
I was always a little pudgy. Nothing big, just not like the cover guys of Men's Health Magazine (You know, the ones that say Six-pack abs in 20 minutes a day. I think that means they only eat twenty minutes a day, and it is usually stewed vegetables! But I digress?). If I would have known better, I would have worked harder when I was younger to keep the weight off so I wouldn' have to work that much harder now!
Marriage is work
A good marriage is more work. When you are young you think, "I'll find the girl of my dreams and we'll live happily ever after." Well, hello! You forget that your spouse is human and you are too, most of the time! To live under the same roof with someone and to work out likes and dislikes, personalities, and schedules, not to mention life goals and the like is HARD WORK! Not drudgery, just work. Yes, there will be plenty of bliss and joy, but marriage will make you work for it!
It takes longer to get out of debt than to get into it.
I have never really had much debt. I did take out student loans to pay for school and wow, do they take a long time to get out of. Fortunately I have them paid off but for a while there, it was one of the big checks we wrote every month. Many people think credit cards are great because they can have what they want when they want it. Too bad they don't realize that twenty minutes of shopping ecstasy will result in months or years of payments.
It doesn't work to try to please others.
I have always wanted people to like me. Many times, I wanted them to like me too much. That isn't good. This doesn't work because I realized that most of the time, people liking or disliking you has nothing to do whatsoever with rational thought. Some people will dislike you, no matter how well you have done, and others will love you, warts and all. So I do my best and let the chips fall where they may. now.
You need to tend to your spiritual, emotional, and physical health or you will crash hard. If you don't take time for yourself, both inwardly and outwardly, your body will catch up with you. You can take time for yourself by choice or not. It is much more fun by choice! Life is hard and it can and will weigh you down. We need to tend the fires of spirit and mind while keeping our physical bodies tuned for success as well. If not, our bodies break down.
Bonus: In spite of the above, life is very much worth it! Some of the above may seem like bummers. They aren't the "positive" things we like to focus on, but they are true. Being positive doesn't mean sticking your head in the ground in order to avoid the negative of life. What it means is that we are realists who understand the negative aspects of life and choose to be optimists instead. We deal with the negative and pursue the positive.
That is why I can say that life is worth living no matter how expensive or painful the lessons I have had to learn have been. Life is good and I can make it better!
So I had to learn some lessons AFTER I got into the real world. So what? At least I learned them and can live the rest of my life to the fullest from now on! I hope you can too!
8:13 PM
Sunday, April 02, 2006
During the weekend, the bme peeps went to Kukup, Malaysia for a quickie holiday =)
Arrival at Kukup, whilst waiting for the others to arrive.
The Kampung-like ambience and houses on stilts on water. Bottom right is the house that we stayed at.
Everyone having fun upon arrival, just relaxing.
Karaoke!!!
Ahhh, this is just life...
This is our 'toilet', all excretment is just excreted into the sea!
Sumptous food! Omg, the landlady's cooking was stupendous that had everyone's mouths watering for more.
Great great fooodddd...
Taking a walk along the narrow walkways of the kampung..
Some magnificient houses along the way.
Some other pictures =)
The edge of the kampung.
Some photos.
Kukup Primary School! School on the water!
Peaceful sunset and ambience.
Bubble time!!!
Just relaxing and blowing bubbles...
Sunset...
Day 2: going to Pulau Kukup island mangrove swamp.
Pulau Kukup and a suspension bridge tower.
On the suspension bridge haha, great! Only a max of 3 people is allowed on the bridge.
Observation tower that rose above the canopy of the trees.
Our last stop before leaving back for S'pore, a "Kelong", Malay for Fishing village. We saw magnificient fishes, like the horseshoe crab, the spitting fish, crabs, urchins, jellyfish and sharks.
All in all, a very relaxing and pleasant weekender =)
6:07 AM
