Sedbergh Mapping Course - 18-28 Sep 06

My last 11 days were spent in this little town called Sedbergh, where I arrived after about 30 whole hours of travelling:

2 hour flight to Bangkok,
4 hours in transit,
12 hour flight to Heathrow,
2 hours WASTED waiting to clear immigrations
3 hour bus ride to Cambridge (there was a jam for 30 mins!!!)
1 hour of packing and lunch break
6 hour train ride to Oxenholme
30 mins travelling time to the hotel....

So all in all, 30.5 hours from the time I boarded the plane in Singapore that I arrived at my destination. Needless to say, I was TERRIBLY jetlagged and very exhausted and while everyone else was busy pairing up for the mapping projects, I was a little too tired to be bothered and ended up being paired with the leftover guy (NOTE: guy = singular) whom, well, let's just say he's different... And hence I spent the next 10 days controlling the rage and storm that was brooding within me. But ok lah, to be fair, I honestly was quite fine working with him. After a while, i get quite used to ignoring him and turning a blind eye to his actions, we developed a working relationship. :)

But I must say this trip has been more fun than I thought it'd be. For one, the weather was gorgeous. In a region where it rains more often than there's sunshine, we were quite blessed to have just half a day of rain for the whole trip.... For the other, I think the people (less one) on the trip were really nice people to be with. Not to mention the silly things we did... Read on...

1. Musical Chairs
Not that I played it, but I was stunned one night when I came down to the bar to find that there were 15 people standing round this arrangement of chairs. And it puzzled me for a while what mischief they were up to, until I found out they were gonna play musical chairs! (a game that I've not played since I was in kindergarten i think!) But yeah, musical chairs is also a very good spectator sport, sitting and laughing at the people.... hehe...

2. How Many Cambridge Geologists Can You Squeeze in A Phone Booth?
Apparently, on the Arran B trip, they've tried this before and the "record" was nine. Yes, nine people can actually fit into a phone box which would normally be a little crowded for two. (I wonder why i would know that.. hmmm) But we decided to try it again this time and guess what? We bettered the record by ONE, to ten. Maybe the phone booths in Cumbria were bigger than the ones on Scotland.. but who cares anyway.. I was part of the record-breaking act... :)

The phone booth gang....

As you can tell, fitting people into a phone booth is a very delicate process that requires lots of planning and also requires a certain amount of skill to scramble and hang under the roof of a phone booth...

3. The (German) Torture Game
hehe. this is a very fun game contrary to its name... Basically it's a variation of snap/heart attack/spoons/whatever-you-choose-to-call-it... And because Kenny is evil, he's not gonna try and explain it here... Challenge me to a torture game the next time you see me... ;p

And yes, Kenny was a HERO during the trip too, because he RESCUED a sheep from the perils of the depths... We were walking up a gully on the last day of mapping (27 Sep) and then there was this sheep that didn't run away from us (they normally do). Upon closer inspection, there is apparently a branch that it has crossed and is now stuck between its legs, thereby immobilising it. Kenny being the helpful person that he is, lends his herculean strength to break off the thick branch, hence setting the sheep free. Unfortunately, after setting the sheep free, Kenny realises what a golden opportunity it was wasted to have a photo taken with a sheep upclose...... sighz... (i've always wanted to take a photo with a sheep!)

I did get this stroke this pony which was by the roadside though... (i wanna go horse riding!)

The wild life we saw on the trip was amazing too.. this was a random slug that was in the grass. I also, for the first time ever, saw RED squirrels. Two times in fact, on two separate days. And I even saw this FOX running across the field....

And i've also taken to a liking for mushrooms now... Yummy yummy!

Lunch on the hillsides, basking in the glorious sun...

Getting onto the bus on the very last day...

Well, i am back safe and sound in Cambridge now, after what was 10 days of a "Anger Management Course" which i will soon write about! In the meantime, if you're bored, do give me a call at 6492-3124... (it's just like a Singapore number, except my phone in the UK rings and it's really just as if I'm in Singapore).. will write again soon!

I am now in transit at the Bangkok International Airport where I have a 3 hour wait for my next flight and I am spending money to kill time, ie. surfing away at the cybercafe. In the meantime, I thought i'd write something about the things I've observed during my last few flights...

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On Crossing into Daylight
I recall talking to Ying on MSN sometime back before I went to Hungary about how the air stewardess would ask us to shut the windows whenever we crossed from darkness into light. I've not experienced it myself although I've heard of it. So on my flight back to Singapore (SQ flight), and we were about to be delivered from the darkness, I asked the stewardess why we had to shut the windows (cos they only told us we were approaching daybreak). I thought it would be some sophiscated scientific reason like, "Oh, so that the passengers won't become disoriented" or maybe be told of a ghost story on a plane, or something. But to my question, i got the reply, "Because it will be very bright." hehe.

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On Landing
On my recent trip to Hungary on Turkish airline, I had to make a transit in Istanbul and took a total of 4 flights there and back. Of two out of the 4 flights, there was applause and noticeable cheering when the rubber tyres hit the solid tarmac ground. It was as if the passengers on board had not expected to land, and were jubilant that we were actually safely on the ground.

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On Service
Thai Airways definitely wins the SMILES service award, beating Singapore Airlines by a fair bit. It wasn't that the service on SIA was bad, but it's just that you couldn't feel the sincerity. (Boy am I a difficult customer!) This is is contrast to Thair Airways where they were genuinely happy to serve you! And they were really generous on serving wine too, I recall them going round at least 5 times offering red and white wine - of which, i had to decline 5 times... hehe..

And not to mention, the air stewardesses of Thai Airways are pretty, without the thick make-up of a certain other airline. *cough* (yeah, i'll be tempted to fly to Bangkok on Thai Airways on TG410 again soon.... ;p eye candy aplenty)

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ok. i think i shall go grab a drink at the cafe to kill some more time and not let this EXPENSIVE cybercafe suck me dry of my baht. :) Take carez and i'll write again soon!

Anyway, if you haven't commented on my last post, here's your last chance... ;p

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so i've been back from KL for a while now... it was my first ever trip to the capital city of our nearest neighbour. I must say it was a really enjoyable trip. Now here's some things i never knew about KL.

1. I thought the food in Singapore was good, the food in KL is fantastic! or maybe it was just that i was brought to the best of the best stalls in KL.. hehe
2. The traffic jams that people tell me about - it's true... :)
3. The chinese all speak cantonese.
4. I speak Malay (and understand it) better than i speak cantonese. ;p
5. KLCC & the twin towers are actually quite small upclose....
6. The rail system of public transport is relatively efficient compared to the roads...
7. Very patriotic citizens. (or at least the ones who were out at midnight on Merdeka Day). Who would be walking around at 2am in Singapore waving a Singapore flag? (you might even get arrested and sued for defamation unruly behaviour!)
8. The trick to not get a ridiculous price for a taxi ride is to just hop on the taxi first, instead of telling the driver where you want to go (by opening the passenger door). it doesn't always work though, but works more often...
9. I am a "leng zai" in KL, or at least every time i walk by a stall in chinatown, they call out to me as "leng zai" and i can't understand the rest of what they are saying... hahaha...
10. i haven't thought of a 10-th thing to say yet.

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so i'm (still) reading "The Life of Pi" now... and i must say i cringe every time he writes about how he kills sea turtles and i've finally reached the part on the meerkat island.. and i must say how strange it is that these two creatures have been popping up in my life is weird places...

when I was in KL.. i turned on the TV one night to find this conservation documentary on sea turtles and without any advisory warnings, this guy just started cutting away at this LIVE sea turtle that he had overturned on the beach. the flippers were still flailing helplessly and the turtle looked like he/she was tearing while his/her flesh was being harvested "fresh". gosh. it was absolutely nauseating... and yes, i continue to read about it in "The Life of Pi"

and then just yesterday, the day after I read that Pi had reached the "Meerkat Island", i open my email to find a discovery channel update that there will soon be a Meerkat feature documentary on the discovery channel....

what a strange mix of coincidences.............

If you comment (you must Comment because then I'll be able to give a proper reply) with regards to this post...

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory about you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. You must post this on yours.

yupz... i think i'm gonna be really horrible at this, ie. i'll be spending countless hours making things up.. hehe.. but yeah, leave a comment and i'll write something...

and since it was initially from Corrie's blog, here what she wrote:

kennnny!

1. I talk to you more online than I meet you in person! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing but now we don't have a choice haha.
2. RELAX for a bit. Like, slow down and attempt to be substantially less of a workaholic. 'grin.
3. Yellow, for obvious reasons...
4. You have the capacity to be resourceful and steady and calm, which allows you tons of level-headed judgment. Which of course I lack, and hope to obtain. Haha.
5. M. Butterfly! I think you were standing slightly backstage while they were beginning to build the set in the Esplanade, and someone mentioned that you were the Assistant Stage Manager.
6. CHIPMUNK. hehehe.
7. What/who do you miss most from home, when you're in Cambridge?

:)

1:08 PM

I must have mentioned that I was reading "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro. And today, i was trying to search for the "song" which kept getting mentioned in the book (which was "sung" by Judy Bridgewater) and i'm disappointed to find out that it's fictitious, as the Washington Post had pointed out:

"by a singer named Judy Bridgewater (fictitious, as best I can determine), one track of which is a song titled "Never Let Me Go." source Washington Post

how upsetting.. I even re-read parts of the book to determine the singer.... :(

So i've been looking up and watching Singapore-made films lately, prompted by Jonathan Lim passing me a copy of the "cut" vcd, a short film by Royston Tan that has been banned in Singapore (now now, what's new about that? ;p)

But anyhow, I've been told, just distribute lor... and what better way than to spread it through the internet right? So here's the links:

Trailer to Blind (The Trilogy) - 57.5mb
The Making of "Cut" - 63.2mb
Cut (~10 mins) - 130.3mb
Director's Interview - 28.7mb

(PS: you need to right-click and save the file as first and then you need to open it with either VLC or Windows Media Player)


I also bought 2 other DVDs yesterday (from Kino), both of which were documenting the short films that Singapore has produced - Royston's Shorts & Singapore Shorts. Once i'm done with it, feel free to ask me for it. And yes, if Weining is looking at this, I'd like to get my "15" DVD back too... ;p

(Double-click on the image to start the teaser. And this teaser isn't quite what the movie is about btw...)

A impulse made me want to catch a movie today and I ended up watching Singapore Dreaming at Plaza Singapura....I did ask Yu Beng what he thought of the movie last week in KL and he did say he liked it. And I must say I really loved and enjoyed it... although I was REALLY ANNOYED by two ladies sitting in the row behind me, though not directly behind. They were talking and laughing through most parts of the show, even in the serious bits. I turned around and glared at them quite a few times, but i suppose glaring isn't the most effective in a dark cinema.

I really enjoyed the issues and themes explored in the movie, many of which I felt I could identify with. There were many subtle moments, that may invoke laughter as it did, but were definitely not as superficial as it seemed. For example, there was the consistent theme of mum's brewing of herbal tea through the show, but it was very cleverly used to bring out certain points that the writer/director was trying to bring out....

There were also moments during the movie that I cringed in irritation, but not because of lousy acting or directing (which i am all praise for), but because of the attitude of the characters, that you really just wanted to slap them in the face. And there were moments, that my eyes welled up in tears because you could really feel so much for the characters. And not to be missed is Yu Beng's two minute mandarin-speaking section which was hilarious.

I strongly recommend the Singapore Dreaming to everyone. It's definitely not one of the soppy TV series or one of your cliched Jack Neo shows. It's a film that we, as Singaporeans, should be really proud of... :)

Labels: Singapore Dreaming

i'm finally back home after what seems like a very long holiday... got back home from KL at 10pm this evening, unpacked, showered and went off to Boon Seng's dad's wake....

I was quite shocked when I first got the news from Boon Seng just before a show in KL. And because i had to prepare and setup for show, i didn't have time to ask more, plus he wan't really replying. So i had to wait till the end of the show at night before I managed to get BS's home number from Gerald to call and ask about what happened. Thereafter then I started to help spread the news, although I felt quite lost in KL, because i didn't have my phone with all the contacts in it... And I didn't have ready access to the internet either. And for some reason, I felt that it was my responsibility to help spread it to the friends we knew...

it'll all be over tomorrow. i suppose a funeral has a nice way of rounding it up. You let your grief out at the final moments before the coffin is pushed into the furnace and all that is left is soot and ashes. And then life goes on, maybe not exactly as it used to, but we learn to manage.

as the french say, "c'est la vie".