BANDWIDTH KILLER! BBQSKAMS photos

Edit: oh dear...the photos are too big, but I can't be bothered to reuplaod =)

TUESDAY, 1ST DECEMBER 2009

(Bosco, Quentin)

Met up with Bosco at the New Town Plaza Mall in Sha Tin. Some photos we took at Snoopy's World.

Nice, big smile...CHEESE!!

Love the pose xD

OMG OMG OMG...It's 'Tell Me Your Wish'! IN HIGH DEFINITION ON A GAZILLION FLASHING SAMSUNG LED SCREENS.

SATURDAY, 5TH DECEMBER, 2009

(Bosco, Quentin, Sam, Mawson)

The day Mawson arrived in Hong Kong. We planned to meet up in Central at 2pm (according to the itinerary). Thus, I arrived fashionably early at 1.30.....Bosco and Mawson ended up meeting me and Sam at 3.30....

I wandered around an expensive shopping centre, not daring to enter the big name brand stores.....However, I did find a Dymocks which I decided I wouldn't look out of place in, and had a look around there.

On the bus to Stanley (Chek Chu in Cantonese) Markets. Hello Mr Pro-at-Luvos!

Bosco has the funniest faces for photo taking xD

We went up a mountain to get to Stanley, and OMG THE BUS DRIVER WAS GOING SO DAMN FAST!! Swerving and swaying on the top deck of a bus is not fun, especially when there is a huge cliff to your left.

Setting sun, at Stanley.

Photo of some people taking photos.

People fishing...the sun's already gone =O

Some random fish statue....

Pretty garden.

The basketball court in the background looks so out of place. Near this garden, I got ripped off buying icecream. The cone was stale, and I later bought another one at 7 Eleven for half the price...

Bosco and the East Asian Games Mascots.

I forgot what this building was (a museum of sorts?), but on the upper levels were some expensive restaurants which we took one look at, before fleeing xD

Strange photo of strange people (jks =D) taken on the balcony of the building.

Seeing as the food was so expensive at Stanley, we took a bus back to Admiralty (because we missed the stop at Wan Chai), and walked back to Wan Chai, to eat at Bosco's favourite restaurant.....SPAGHETTI HOUSE. YOU KNOW YOU LOVE IT BOSCO. Being the rich western tourist I am *ahem* I gave them a tip even though we already paid a 10% service charge. I'M GENEROUS! NOT STUPID =) Since I suggested that we eat there, I will only tell you about how nice the food was (for real), and neglect to mention how small the portions were and how damn expensive it turned out to be...

We also paid a visit to 'slut street', and even stalked a Western tourist to see if he would get pounced on. One of them leaped out at us (Me, Sam, Mawson), but it turns out she was luring in the man behind us. So SCARY!!!

We also visited Mawson and Bosco's hotel room. Their TV was dodgy, and they made Sam and me hide in the toilets when the hotel person came to check it out....Aren't guests allowed!!

MONDAY, 7TH DECEMBER, 2009

(Bosco, Quentin, Sam, Mawson, Sharon)

Ngong Ping 360 Cable Car at Tung Chung....Waiting for Bosco, Sam and Mawson to arrive. My sister and I caught E31 from Tsuen Wan MTR Station while the others caught the expensive MTR =P

Did I mention we were in a glass bottom cable car!! Shoes, from foreground going clockwise: Quentin, Bosco, Mawson, Sam, random taiwanese woman, random taiwanese man. Absent: Sharon

Luvo with my sister! We do NOT look alike...i'm so much more good looking xD

QBMS

Shame that it was a rainy day....Ended up quite foggy further up the mountain, and it was quite ominous, travelling in this glass bottom cable car, seeing no more than 1 metre in each direction...

The pointy thing in the middle is the big Buddha. It was actually quite clear by eye, but the camera doesn't do the view justice.

Now you can see him clearly! Those electrical wires were such a hazard...It was raining and there were exposed wire innards, and right next to the exposed bits there was some caution sign about wires....I think Bosco has a photo.

QBSM with the Big B in the background.

And another!

Behind us, on the ground, there was a truck with a big hose, sucking away the contents of some portable toilets. Bosco was very interested!!

After visiting Big Buddha, we went and ate vegetarian food at the Po Lin Monastery, just a few minutes walk from the base. The food wasn't spectacularly nice, and we noticed that our table was the only table with people under 30....

After eating, we took a bus to Mui Wo, and then arrived just in time to catch an express ferry from Mui Wo to Central. Bosco and Sam have some pictures on their camera, as well as Bosco's vlogs!!

Entering the harbour at Central........The weather was really dreary, but I kept thinking that the fog was due to all the pollution mixing with the rain.

At Central, we parted ways with Sam, who was feeling sick, and left for home. Bosco, Mawson, me and my sister decided to walk around Central, and got ridiculously lost, while trying to cross the road =) We ended up riding the Central Mid-Levels Escalators, which are the longest continuous covered escalator system in the world. We had absolutely no idea what we were going to do once we got to the top, seeing as the escalators only run downwards in the morning...

At the top, we saw a sign pointing towards the Botanical Gardens, but it seems it wasn't our lucky day....We ended up walking along a steep, deserted road that led to......an international school! Mawson failed eavesdropped on some Japanese people speaking uber fast, and we freaked out a little red head girl carrying a violin by following her, in hopes that she would lead us to a main road.

Above is Bosco, moments after the girl ran away from us! If I saw a person like that following me, I'd run screaming too! jks =D

We finally found the Botanical Gardens!!! This ugly bird is some African Hornbill. Bosco was communicating with it with weird clicking noises....AND THEN IT RESPONDED!! And he must have swore at it in bird language or something, because it suddenly flew against the cage, linking its talons through the bars, snapping its beak loudly....

KING JULIAN!!!!!!!! I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT

After making our way down back to Central (which took a very long time...whose stupid idea was it to go to the top anyway!!!), we took a ferry across the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui, to have dinner and watch the light show at 8pm. We wandered aimlessly around a shopping centre, and were very excited to find a BIG WINTER SALE. However, no one bought anything =)

Walking along the Avenue of Stars was a very windy affair.

I look like an idiot xD People were giving me weird stares, because it took 5 or 6 tries to get it right. How rude of them. I should have pushed them into the sea.

After this, we found a Japanese fast food shop to eat at. It was quite nice and cheap - food in HK always is, the latter, if not the first. Mawson says that the couple on the table next to us kept staring at and talking about us....How rude! I should have glared at them and told them off in Canto x)

Waiting for the light show. We met a couple from Bateman's Bay or something. They should be in Switzerland now.

No, this isn't a picture of the light show...the sky just always has this eerie glow! Too many lights in Hong Kong.

And another

The 'Symphony of Lights' light show wasn't as impressive as it should have been, because it was quite foggy =( It was mainly just green lasers and those white beams of light, flashing and waving to match the music, but definitely a must see if you visit HK.

TUESDAY, 8TH DECEMBER, 2009

(Bosco, Belle, Quentin, Sam, Drew, Kelly)

Bosco, Mawson, Sam, Belle, Kelly and Drew went to have yumcha, but I'd already wined and dined at MacDonalds, so we met up later at the New Town Plaza Shopping Centre in Sha Tin in the afternoon. There, we went on a mad shopping spree in Baleno, where Mawson bought a jacket, Bosco/Belle/Drew bought socks, and I got two pairs of pants and a belt. After that, we visited Snoopy's World again to take photos, and go on canoe rides ^.^ Photos are with Belle and Sam.

After this, we tried to find a bus that would take us from the Bus Terminus under the shopping centre, to Tsim Sha Tsui, so that we could catch a ferry to Central. Alas, we failed, so we had to catch the expensive MTR. Above is a photo upon the ferry.

View from the ferry...blurry much. The tower with diamond shaped bar lights is the Bank of China Tower.

Upon arriving in Central, we parted ways - Drew had to go. Nevertheless, we were eager to make our way up to The Peak, to see the Tsim Sha Tsui light show from the top of the mountain.

We failed to find the minibus stop, so we had to catch the slow and expensive alternative - a bus! The traffic was terrible in Central. As we were going up the mountain, the bus kept pulling over to let cars pass, because buses are fat and slow when going uphill =( The trip took over an hour (compared to the 20minute trip down the mountain in a minubus...) We were also sitting in the front seat at the top, and every now and then, tree branches would loom out of the darkness and hit the windowscreen.

Unfortunately, our plans to see the Symphony of Lights from the top were foiled by the fact that there was a very thick mist obscuring the view...That thing above is The Peak shopping centre or something. We took the photo from the balcony of the shopping centre next to it. The fog was so thick and it was like a horror movie =( We were talking about how scary it would be if we were locked out onto the balcony, and we hurried back to the door. The others were totally freaked when I pulled the 'push' door (on purpose, of course!), thinking that we'd been locked out for the night.

For dinner, we really didn't want to spend lots of $$$ at the expensive restaurants, so they all opted to have McDonalds, while I chose to have linguine and Caesar salad from Delifrance =)

WEDNESDAY, 9TH DECEMBER, 2009

(Bosco, Belle, Quentin, Sam, Mawson, Sharon, Kelly)

MACAU DAY/bosco's birthday!!!! We'd planned to meet at 9ish at Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station, so that we could walk to the China Ferry Terminal and catch the ferry to Macau. HOWEVER, Bosco and Mawson were going to be late, so BQSS decided to go to the terminal first, and wait for BM there. They turned up at 10.30, so we decided that we would postpone Macau to the following day, so that we could get there early and have more time there.

So instead of Macau, we spent the day walking up Nathan Road (main road in Kowloon, running from Tsim Sha Tsui up to Prince Edward...or further...) These are just some flamingos which we saw in Kowloon Park. We made quite a lot of noise while making our way through the park, and earned many disapproving stares from people doing tai chi =(

Shopped around as we walked up Nathan Rd (Bossini, Giordano, SaSa....) Had buffet lunch in Jordan (Sam had left us to go shopping with her mum), and this was a very noisy and messy affair!! Mini pepper wars, and bBosco attacked my plate of jelly with a knife. However, I still managed to eat it all. Near the end, we made up a weird concoction of jelly, ice cream and other random foods, and to our horror, the waitress came along to clear the plates =O We all averted our eyes and tried to pretend the plate had nothing to do with us, not that we were successful, seeing as it was in the centre of our table...

After this, we continue to trek along Nathan Rd, to Mong Kok, and when we arrived, we decided to go KARAOKE!!! Let me elaborate how CHEAP it is to K in Hong Kong!! HK$444 (OMG HOW FREAKY) for 7 people for nearly 4 hours. Two drinks per person, as well as food (sushi, noodles, rice, deep fried stuff). Comes up to about AU$9 per person! I have no photos of this day apart from the flamingos because I was too lazy =)

THURSDAY, 10TH DECEMBER, 2009

(Bosco, Belle, Quentin, Sam, Mawson, Sharon)

Macau Day for real!!! Bosco and Belle were held up at customs xD But we made just made it onto the ferry. The ferry ride was quite long, and most of us spent it sleeping. We arrived in Macau at around 12 (not as early as we had originally planned....), and once we cleared customs, we were attacked by tour guides, offering to take us around the city for a small fee. Wanting to evade them, we pretended we could only speak English, but Mawson ruined our attempt to be Western tourists (which we really are...) by telling the guy in Mando that we were waiting for his uncle.

Having snatched a few maps from the tourist office, we decided that we would be able too make our way around Macau, and brushed off a woman offering to drive us around for the day, and headed for the bus stop. I shoved $19.40HKD ($3.8 per person) into the bus fare thingy (little did we know we would be hastily hunting for coins many times later in the day to pay for our countless bus trips) as we scrambled onto the bus, in our quest for what Belle called 'Food Street'.

Our first mistake was not checking out the scale on the map...10 minutes into the trip, we turned to the lady next to us, to ask where on the map we were.....Turns out we'd traveled halfway across the city. Yes, Macau is that small.

It's similar to Hong Kong in that the pedestrians casually stroll across the road without looking, while the crazy drivers zoom past beeping loudly. The main difference is that heaps and heaps of people drive motor scooters. There are these alleyways where they're filled with parked motor scooters. I even saw an old granny roaring past with a hot pink helmet!

About the 'Food Street' I mentioned before - half the shops were closed when we went there for lunch. Ended up eating noodles at some poky little shop, where the woman tried to give us Macau money as change when we paid in HK dollars...

After eating, we made our way to the Ruins of St Pauls, which is a Catholic church which burnt down in the 1800's. There was this crypt with the bones of martyrs who were killed over the past two centuries in Japan and Vietnam! Kinda freaky because you could actually see the glass cases in which the bones were stored, and this eerie music was playing in the background. There were these disgusting mainland tourists who started talking loudly inside when there was a sign at the entrance which requested people to be quiet while they were in the sacred site. They shut up when I glared at them =D

The street behind is the road leading up to the ruins of the church, and it was full of different shops selling the exact same things. There was also THREE of the exact same shop, and each one was packed full of people. What shop is this? Macau number one bakery, selling delicacies such as almond biscuits (or as Bosco calls them, pedestrian biscuits). YUMMY!

Walked up the mountain next to the ruin (it's hidden behind the trees behind me).

At the top of the mountain was a fort. Sharon + canon + headless Bosco...

Love the expression xD

What a poser =D

Walking down the mountain.

It was so steep!! Belle took a really cool photo of these poles (the kind that block cars from entering pedestrian areas), with the last one knocked over. The perfect stimulus for next year's English Paper One x)

Macau Tower. We saw some guy jump from the top. We wanted to go in, but it cost $100 per person...

We caught a bus from Macau Tower, hoping to make our way back to 'Food Street' and see if the shops would be open at night. Unfortunately, we took the wrong bus, and ended up asking two Macau schoolgirls for directions when we got off. Bosco insisted on us taking photos with them, but those are on Belle's camera.

Anyway, when we finally arrived in 'Food Street', we figured out that half the shops weren't closed for the day, but were actually closed down......

Ended up taking yet another bus back to the ferry terminal, to have dinner in Hong Kong.

Some photos of the ferry ride back.....I think we were quite noisy...hehe...

In Hong Kong, we were planning to go to Cafe de Coral to eat, and journeyed through the dangerous slut street to get there. But when we arrived.....IT WAS CLOSED. So we ended up eating at McDonalds and eavesdropped on a group of women gossiping about job promotions...

I would like to say what a great day it was and that it's been the best day I've had since coming to HK. However, although it was a completely new experience, I have to conclude that Macau is a very BORING place! Hehe....won't ever forget it though, because BBQSMS in Macau was fun!

Friday, 11th December, 2009

(Bosco, Belle, Quentin, Sam, Kelly, Andrew, Mawson; feat. Belle's Mum)

Ocean Park!!!

Pandas! The first time that I've actually seen real life pandas =O These were relocated to Ocean Park, after the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan (China) completely destroyed the wildlife reserve which they were living in. Such a poser in the second photo. It was sitting at the front, up near the glass, happily munching on the bamboo shoots.

Cable car ride to the other side of Ocean Park. Belle, Drew and Bosco were in the first car, while Me, Mawson, Sam and Kelly were in the second.

It was quite a rocky ride, and although this wasn't glass bottomed, it didn't feel as safe because the cable car wasn't as stable as the Ngong Ping 360. In the distance you can see Belle clinging to the bars (screaming), as Bosco and Drew keep swapping seats and rocking the carriage ^.^

When we got to the top, we made our way around to each ride, starting with the Mine Train Rollercoaster. We were hoping that on a weekday, the queues would be shorter, but we were unlucky to have chosen the same day as a bunch of students on a end of year school outing =(

After this, we made our way to a WET ride, where Belle got completely soaked. Everyone in their boat (Belle, Sam, Bosco, Drew) ended up fairly wet, while everyone in our boat (Mawson, Kelly, me), were lucky and remained relatively dry ^.^ After this, we went onto what we nicknamed the 'spin dryer' ride.

I'm getting tired of typing this up (and you're probably bored of reading...), so I'm just going to list what the next few things we did.

- Met up with Belle's mum who got in for free, because it was her birthday

- Bought overpriced drinks to quench our thirst

- Had clay pot rice for lunch, using our Buy-one-get-one-free coupons

- Went on a few more rides

Now for the juicy Mainlander scandal! While we (Sam, Mawson, Belle's Mum, me) were lining up to go on this tower thing, these mainlander tourists decided that they were better than the rest of us, and shouldn't have to wait, so they decided to push their way up the queue. They wielded cameras and were pretending to take photos, as they pushed an shoved their way up the line. What I don't get is why they bother to fake their photo taking when they stomped on many feet (including mine) and elbowed many people as they attempted to jump the queue. Dude, pushing in is already dumb when there are so many people around watching you, but being so obvious?

Well anyway, obviously I wasn't going to stand around and watch such an injustice unfold around me, so I started hollering in English....tbh, I really can't remember what I was shouting...I vaguely remember the phrase 'woman with the ugly hair' and 'get back' coming out of my mouth....Stupid of me though, seeing as they didn't understand English. But other people started speaking up too. They decided to play deaf, and ignored everyone who was yelling at them, and two of the women even had the nerve to duck under the rope barrier and get even further ahead in the line.

Finally, the barrier guy decided to check what the commotion was all about, and Belle's mum had the pleasure of identifying the four culprits =D They defended themselves, saying that they were in a rush, which is why they pushed in....Obviously failed, and three of them left in a huff, glaring at our little group since we had made the biggest deal out of it, while one man moved a few places back in the queue and refused to budge...

View from the top of the tower:

Haha, you can see the camera in this picture.

And this too.

After we got down, we farewelled Mawson, who had to leave for polluted Shanghai, and then rushed to the theatre to watch the seal and dolphin show.

Pretty Christmas Tree

And this is the end of BoscoBelleQuentinSamKellyAndrewMawsonSharon!

This blog was started on 17/12/2009 at 11.16PM, and I'm finally done at 12.23AM on 26/12/209 =O

I'll forgive you if the only comment you leave is tl;dr

* * *

This is just a photo of a friend me and my sister went bowling with...Had to post it up, because of the awesome pose!!

FREEZING

I'm turning into an icecube!!

Hong Kong

I've been here for three and a half weeks!! Time has flown, and I'm finally confident wandering around Tsuen Wan by myself. I'm also knowledgeable in regards to transport (234x will cost you HKD$7.80 and will take you down Nathan Rd to Tsim Sha Tsui via Mong Kok; 48x will take you to Sha Tin; A31 and N31 are damn expensive and run from Discovery Park in Tsuen Wan to the airport; E31 is slightly cheaper and also departs from Discovery Park, destination being Tung Chung town centre; trams on HK Island have a flat rate of $2; Crossing the harbour from Tsim Sha Tsui to Central costs $1.80 on the lower deck and $2.10 on the upper.......)

tl;dr?

So, what have I been up to? Well amongst shopping and shopping, I've managed to find time for shopping and some more shopping. On top of that, I spent four days running around Hong Kong with a bunch of weirdos from school, and one day getting lost in Macau! My wallet is AU$600 (or HK$4200) lighter, but my suitcase will be a few kilograms heavier.....I'm too lazy to blog about BBQSAM happenings, but I'm sure Bosco and Belle will have comprehensive recounts. But for my sake, hopefully not too comprehensive......*angelic smile*

Anyway.......HSC results!! So last night, I got up at 3am HK time to check out my results over at https://www.hscresults.nsw.edu.au/ Nervous, apprehensive..well not really. It's kinda surreal, seeing my results. There's a sense of finality, and its a reminder that high school is finally over. My sister was checking out her results one year ago, and now I've done it too. OVER.

I'm satisfied. Apart from German, but that's really made me realise that you really do reap what you sow. Two years of being behind in sending in work, lack of calling in for speaking practice, not bothering to study until the half hour before the exam....I should be thankful ><'

* * *

One thing about Hong Kong is that I haven't been going to church. But the other day, a friend who's also came over from Australia for holidays rang me up and told me about an English speaking congregation in Tsim Sha Tsui. The talk was on the Magi, commonly known as the 'Three Wise Men'. What I've taken from the talk is that God works in strange ways to bring people to Him.

Unrelated to the service on Sunday, but Hong Kong has really made me aware of how materialistic and superficial I can be...."Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7

This verse is about leading a God-centred life, but I guess even if you're not Christian, it really calls into question what you live for, and if it's worth it. Hey Quentin, put on your shopping brakes!! Easier said than done....

It's weird, but I miss Australia. More specifically, the people, the lifestyle, the SPACE. A funny thing about space is that I hate living in such close proximity - the lack of privacy and not being able to hear myself think. yet I love the closeness of everything, and the convenient transport. Hong Kong in Sydney would be awesome!!

Hmm, reading back it's such a disjointed blog, jumping everywhere, but I have so much on my mind, and I don't know what to put here. At the same time, I'm keeping in mind that anything that goes up here is up for anyone to see......scary thought =O Which is why blogs have become fewer and fewer.

Cya guys back in Australia, in some 14+ days time!

Long overdue!

A/N: Sorry about the dodgy picture quality...no photoshop to touch things up ^.^

Hello all! I am currently sitting the room which my cousin's shared (one of which was ousted into their parent's room, to make room for me), tapping away at my laptop, and hoping to deliver a long overdue update on my life (which I know you're all very interested in) within the next half hour.

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start (no Bosco, I didn't steal that off you). So at 7.30pm, on the 21st November, 2009, I arrived at Sydney airport, a little dizzy from the fact that in 24 hours time I would be standing on Hong Kong soil, and inhaling the beautifully clean *ahem* Hong Kong air. I was accompanied by my mother, sister, and brother, and my father was soon to join us, as he was parking the car.

We proceeded to the China Airlines check in counter (lugging my twenty year old, disgusting, red suitcase), and were dismayed by the long line that snaked itself around the rope barriers. Nevertheless, it was soon my turn to check in for flight CI 56 from Sydney to Taipei and CI 641 from Taipei to Hong Kong. Having done that, we were joined by dad, and wandered around the airport aimlessly.

View from the Observation Deck...nothing fancy

As we were wandering, a group of flight attendants from Emirates marched past us. The captain at the front, accompanied by the co-pilot, I assume, a few stewardesses, in twos and threes followed, and three stewards were at the very back. They looked so pro, and it was exactly like the movies. The camera pans across the group, then focuses itself on the captain. A second later, it zooms back out, and the attendants flit across the screen, heads held high, with a little smile on their faces. Finally, there's a high angle shot of them from behind, as they disappear into the distance....

* * *

At 9pm, we said our goodbyes, and I made my way to customs, a little apprehensive at the fact that I would be travelling alone. Again, I was dismayed to see that the line at customs was shockingly long, but I passed my time observing all the interesting people around me. There was a bunch of Japanese school girls and I attempted to translate their conversations, but they just spoke too fast =( Fail eavesdropping =D

After clearing customs, I rushed through Duty Free, to gate 34 (I think), only to be met by another long queue...busy day at the airport =)

As I boarded the plane, I snatched up a copy of the Sydney Morning Herald in one fluid movement, and flashed my boarding pass stub at the flight attendant. I had chosen a window seat, and soon after, a middle aged lady plonked herself down in the seat next to me.

Anyway, to the part you're most looking forward to...THE FOOD:

Supper is served, at 11.30pm

Fish with rice

Chicken with pasta

Pastry, with almonds and currants *drools*

Fruit: Pineapple, Honeydew, Rockmelon, Strawberry

I believe some people would be quite excited by what I found in the music section on the plane =)

Brown Eyed Girls: Sound-G (including the infamous ABRACADABRA)

And I was quite excited to find:

Boys Over Flowers OST

Utada Hikaru: Heart Station (Flavour of Life!!!!!)

Of course, I could have just whipped out my iPod, but for some reason, it felt more fun, listening to songs I knew, on the plane entertainment system. It's a bit like hearing your favourite song playing in the shopping centre, and looking around with a stupid grin plastered on your face ^.^

Ooooooh, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before this, I watched Up. IMO, it had quite a lame plot...but good if you wanted something light and funny. After a restless three hours, trying to sleep while blocking out the plane's engines with music, I watched Julie & Julia - quite a good movie.

Soon after, a light breakfast was served:

Chicken pie and macadamia nuts, smothered in chocolate

Soon after, we landed in Taipei, and I wanted to take some photos, but it was raining, and it was quite hard to get a decent picture through the aeroplane window. Anyway, I ended up chatting a bit with the woman next to me, and we were quite amused to find out we could both speak Cantonese xD Throughout the flight, we'd chatted briefly, with my limited Mando and her shoddy English.

Turns out that she was also flying to Hong Kong, after visiting her daughter in Australia, who studies nursing. Her flight to Hong Kong departed an hour before mine, but we walked together as she was to wait in lounge C4, and I was in C3. Anyway, since we had so much time (I had a 4hr, 40 minute wait), we wandered around, exploring the airport.

This was the Hello Kitty lounge. Very cute ^.^

Orchid displays. These were really beautiful!!

Not sure if these were real or fake...

Some fugly tree thing standing in the corner

More flowers

Reclining on the sofa...very comfortable ^.^

Apparently Taiwan is famous for it's orchids. I should have realised, seeing as the China Airlines logo is an orchid. Might I mention, wandering around at 4-5am in the morning has it's bonuses - no one getting in the way of photos ^.^

Anyway, we both were wondering why our flights weren't on the screens in our respective departure lounges, and we consulted the main screen, realising that we were meant to be in lounge A8. Misleading boarding passes...

Not complaining though, because we got to see more of the airport, as we made our way to the opposite side of the building.

Outside the Prayer Room

There were also many Chinese artworks:

And then this brings us to the previous post, where I sat in lounge A8.

Orchid logo on the tail

Breakfast on the plane from Taipei to Hong Kong:

It refuses to rotate....so you can look at it sideways

Noodles...tasted very nice! Much nicer than they look ^.^

The view, as we were coming into Hong Kong

The first few days have been a bit dull, but I've been out to buy some clothes and window shop a bit - blog about that later, seeing as this post is photo-spammed enough.

It's taken me quite a while to get used to the different air, and up until today, I was constantly sneezing. Much better now, but I still have to arm myself with a packet of 'Tempo' tissues, whenever I go out. Went out to Mong Kok today, and saw some very nice Korean style clothing....albeit expensive. Lots of shopping to do over the next month =D ......but not as much money to spend =(

Haha, hope to see some of you soon!

Good Morning from Taipei

HELLO PEOPLE. Yes, I'm currently sitting in lounge A8 in Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, waiting for my flight to Hong Kong. I'm too lazy to blog properly now, but I'll write more later, and upload all my piccies from the plane and airport =D I'm staying with relatives, and hopefully they have a card reader, because I forgot to pack ours, and I have no other way of transferring pictures from camera to laptop.

Till then, stay safe!!

finish!!

I don't feel particularly relieved about finishing....

There was no feeling of a burden being lifted off my shoulders at 4.40pm, when the supervisor said. 'Time's Up, stop writing.' Not that either of us were still writing.

But yeah. Rather, it feels rather strange, not having to worry about studying, or catching up on math exercises, or needing to memorise chemistry equations. I don't want to waste my holidays sitting around doing nothing. I want to do something productive, something constructive. But what? Playing Neopets is NOT satisfying at all =)

There's so much to think about, and to talk about, but yet...

I don't know.....I borrowed a book from the library today - a THICK book. But I can't concentrate. I can't resist the urge to swivel to face the laptop, and alt-tab, endlessly searching, waiting....and no, not for the best bargains in the Health Food Shop, or Faerie Food Shop (in Neopets, for all of you who are confused) Haha, I must seem like I'm going crazy =)

Oh dear. This is a horrible post to break my unofficial hiatus. Hopefully no one will be left horribly confused. Like I am....about the whole DBSK/SM Entertainment court case *sobs*

Adieu.

3

Wow. I think it's finally hit me that school's nearly over!

Monday: English, Free, Jap, Recess, Year 12 Assembly, Lunch, Double setting up hall for Tuesday's luncheon

Tuesday: Free, Chemistry, English, Luncheon

Wednesday: Beach!

What everyone will miss the most (and I'm 100% sure this isn't a generalisation), is hanging out with their friends. Sure, we'll see a lot of our friends around at uni (hopefully), but it'll be so hard with people in different courses, different classes, and so on. We won't be able to sit around in a big group, chatting, laughing. While many of us will have much more flexible schedules and more freedom, it'll be hard organising things which cater to everyone's taste (except karaoke!!).

And then there are those you don't talk to all the time, but sometimes you happen to sit down next to them at lunch, and strike up a long conversation about something which you never realised you were both interested in. Of course, uni will offer similar opportunities - new people to meet! - but I still wish I could keep in contact with more of these people I've gotten to know a bit, but not enough, over the past 6 years.

Looking back over my high school years, there's one thing I'll always regret (but will definitely change) and that's the way I relate with others. I'm quite introverted, and thinking back to Year 7+8, I was a bit of a recluse. Not quite a loner (trying hard to defend myself here!!), but to be honest, I don't think I had any real friends - just acquaintances, and some who were closer, but not quite friends.

Year 9 was a real turning point in my life, and I got to know three special people who I really hope I'll never lose contact with. In addition to these three, there was this b!tch-loser who shall not be named =) I'm sure you'll know who you are.

Year 9 and 10 flew by, and by now I'd happily settled in a 'clique', with some I know well, and others not so much. However, year 11 was a year of extreme ups and downs, and I quickly realised that despite all these friends I had, I still couldn't ever confide in anyone, and many times this just magnified the insecurity and prolonged the periods of downs. It felt that friends were there for physical enjoyment (please don't take this in a sick way....), but not for emotional support.

My introverted character, as well as my insecurity and growing up as someone who subconsciously chose to be emotionally distant to those around me, has contributed much to this and it's something I'm determined to changed.

I was really worried about going to uni, and losing touch with all these friends, and someone who I've come to be able to confide in gave me some wonderful advice last week.

Friendships are SO hard I know. You need, but you don't want to seem too needy. You don't want friends that 'cling' too much. Yet they are essential and ultimately satisfying. I'll tell you this -friendships are there to sustain us- whether that be listening to your worries, telling you rude jokes, singing k with you or whatever. Friendships nourish us and make us happy. Are all your friendships doing that?

Although it may seem too late, being the end of high school, I'm still going to make every effort to strengthen these bonds of friendship that I already have. Maybe it's not being too clingy, or maybe it's telling others I need help, when I'm upset. Maybe it's just simply catching up with each other more, and talking about ourselves, rather than SNSD's latest song and dance. Sure, our interests can help us get to know each other better, but ultimately, if you want to get to know someone, you have to be willing to change the topic to your own lives.

Apart from this, there has been another deeper, more ominous problem which I'm not willing to share on such a public domain, but I really hope that I can face up to it, and overcome it. University is a new beginning, and I'm going to take this chance to make sure I don't make the same mistakes twice.

This has probably been my most 'revealing' post ever, and I don't think I'll be game to post anything so personal up for a long while yet. That is all =)