Everyone has a dream
I dream to be successful at this point of time
I dream my work & I can be recognised by other scientists all over the world
Making friends from all over the countries

It just needs something to get me to that stage

I'm trying to work on it

Trying
Because I do not have the authority myself to do anything at this moment
Without the approval of my supervisor

This collaborative project that I'd mentioned is one of my best opportunities

I spoke to Prof earlier
She frowned
I questioned why

"Things arent this simple, my girl...."

She said she'll get back to me once she knows the cost & benefits of doing this

Ecologists talk about costs & benefits all the time

Just wait & see
走一步，看一步

DarDar's sis is back from London
& having missed my trip back JB over the weekend
I met her yesterday & headed for a shopping trip with her

It's been long I last stepped into town
Everywhere is blooming with newly-opened shopping mall
I thought ION is gonna be another youngster's hang-out place
But I was totally shocked when I saw PRADA, LOUIS VUITTON, DOLCE & GABANNA flashing on the wall!!
It's like 2X classier than Takashimaya!

Had it said that it's constructed by Sun Hung Kei from HK (whatever spelling that is)
HK's big-ass shopping centres sell things like these
So, dont ask me where to shop cheap in HK again. I'd said it's MongKok!

We then disappeared to Bugis after that
I then realised something
Fashion nowadays are weird
The youngsters are mis-matching their tops & bottoms
& ultimately ending up with a pair of slippers that most mis-match the whole outfit!
-_-

I bought a pair of gladiators heels in HK for only HKD$90 (~SGD$18)
& I only saw 2 shops that sells the same design
But flat sole
Needless to say it's twice the price of mine

Hohohohoho
I'm so proud of my shopped items from HK
All the time =p

We had our dinner at Crystal Jade La Mian in Bugis Junction
As we entered the restaurant & introduced to our seats
We hesitated to get to our seats
BECAUSE
THE STUPID GIRL & HER BOYFRIEND (I ASSUMED) SITTING NEXT TO OUR TABLE PLACED HER BAG & HIS BAG ON THE CHAIRS THAT WE ARE GOING TO SIT

She looked at us with her fake innocent look
As if she is totally stunned that I'm taking her seat away
The floor manager showed us to our seats again

YES THANK YOU
But someone isnt cooperating

The stupid girl reluctantly removed her bag
I sat immediately without giving her chance to plead
She then asked the floor manager
"Hello, can I have a chair to put my 'bao-bao'?"

I rolled my eyes
Same as DarDar

Comon lah
Your bao-bao needs to sit on the chair?
Fuckanathan
We also have lotsa bao-bao from our shopping spree
We only shoved them to the back of our chairs

While eating half-way
Her boyfriend said he's feeling hot
& the stupid girl said it's because of the spotlight above head
They requested the floor manager to adjust the lightings
Which is not adjustable
& so they shifted the table away from the light

DUHZ
Did she even know that her boyfriend is eating Ma La La Mian?????
His bowl was fucking red with chilli oil

After eating their meal
The stupid girl asked her boy to guess the price of her dress that she's wearing
& she said it's $80+
I turned to look
TMD
It's those simple dress that I'd seen plenty times on onlinee sprees
Selling at $30+ the most!
She added that she will never wear this again
Coz she scared she'll burst the dress

..............

Bloody stupid inconsiderate bimbotic char-bo

I didnt mean to eavesdrop
But she's making all those bimbotic comments that I wish I could slap her to shut up
So would DarDar
& first of all
She was reluctant to let me have my chair because of her bao-bao!
She offended me from the start

I hope not to encounter these kinda people anymore

Back to our meal
I didnt like it
Coz the food sucks
It's salty & tasteless
Good grief!
I'd could have spent better at Sakae Teppanyaki

So anyway
I'm getting my rest finally this weekend
Haven rest well enough since 10 June 09

Bless me
& everyone

After my fieldwork on the rock today
I headed out to the coral rubble & took a look
As well as helping out in animal seeking for the guides who are doing guided walk at the sand bar

Was hoping to get an octopus for the crowd
& i found a Denison's nudibranch
As I walked a bit further
I found a big fish trap!
In it, there were alive catfish & a toadfish

Brenda & I carried the whole net back to the shore
& let the guides educate the crowded about illegal & unsustainable fishing

Evelyn told me to join them as Ubin volunteers

Haha
I'd love to
but not now
I'm always doing my survey during low tides
Which clashes with guided walks too!

So anyway
I'd still be pleased to help out at ad-hoc basis
=)

Finished my field trip early today =)
Reached home around 11am
=)

Just uploaded my photos from HK trip

The evening sky en route Hong Kong
Prof Gray Williams giving the welcome speech
We had 4 days discussing littorinids
2 days of fieldtrips
1 @ Cape D'aguilar
1 @ Big Wave Bay
& workshop learning techniques needed for my project
Met other scientists from other countries within Asia & one from Africa
I am glad I get to know these people
Sharing interests with such people make life happier

We had great talks, great chill-out & great food


I couldnt portrait this as life of a scientist
Until now

I'd always thought all scientists are as crazy & nutty like Einstein
Looks like we're the bunch NOT!

The short 4 days of workshop made me wanna cry on the last minute of the last day
This trip sure was a memorable one
Now I cant wait to go to Phuket next year for my conference!

I too traveled up north to Guangzhou with Mum for a shopping trip

Bought damn lotsa stuffs
Spent every single cent of my RMB$400
I will return for more with DarDar next time!

This basically is it
My 2009 Hong Kong trip
with 7 days of diahorrea (which stops on the day I returned SG)
No nice food eaten
& drained wallet of HKD$2000

Yes
I'm back!

Unpacked my luggage within 2 hours
Fastest achievements ever
Woohoo!

Thought I could take a rest
But seems that I need to head to school later to set up my heartbeat detection device for a demonstration
& heading to Ubin tomorrow till Tuesday

Dog
I'm already feeling the tiredness already

With millions of things awaiting me to get started
I have no idea which I should start with

If only I have a proper working environment
I'm sure I can be damn efficient

'Nuff said
I'm gonna grab some stuffs to munch
& head to school

At HK airport now
See you back in Singapore in 4 hours time

<3

I'm coming back SG in 24hours time
& this is the first time I am desperate to leave HK

I didnt enjoy the time spent
Probably coz DarDar isnt around
& Mum had left earlier
Leaving me alone having nowhere to go

I mean
I'm so damn familiar with the places in HK
Where can I be interested in?

I think I will not extend my stay for TOO long the next time round
Come for workshop/meeting, gone for home

I could work on my stuffs
But I'm too lazy to even pull them out from my file
The sight of billion words on the papers gives me headache

I'm so excited about the collaborative project that I'm involved
This will be one of my biggest achievements during my academics
I'm very grateful that Prof Gray Williams remembers me & gives me this opportunity
Even his staffs joked that Gray misses me
& that's why they get to see me every year still
LOL

I miss Gray too
After I was back in SG 3years ago
Thankfully we still keep in touch =)

The TV shows in the afternoon sucks
& I'm reluctant to use this crawling-slow internet anymore
I guess I have no choice but to repack my already packed luggage again for the 3rd time

Thanks Jasinda for the increased baggage limit
xoxoxoxo

Mum had left most of her HK shopping items for me to carry back
Sigh
But to her
It's like coming back home
I have no choice but to help

I think I need to sort out my life properly when I'm back SG
Too many things going on within a short period of time
& I'm going bonkers already
Now I'm thinking of my next R&R trip

Goodness....
Tell me life in SG is not stressful

My workshop last week went perfect
Met friends from Malaysia to Xiamen, China
& all of them are friendly
I enjoyed this so much
We're gonna do a collaborative project too
So anticipating it!

Other than this
Bad things happened to me & my family

First
My Grandpa was diagnosed with cancer
Already at his termial stage
Mum flew back with me

Second
I had stomach flu
& had 6 days of diahorrea including now
Did not eat most of the food that I ate most of the time!!
Sad

Third
My uncle was hospitalised with stroke
& I'm gonna visit him later
Dad is flying back this weekend

=|

Can someone tell me what exactly went wrong that these health signs had to occur?

I cant wait to go back home

Stomach flu
When I didnt bring my First Aid kkit
When DarDar is not around

DarDar said we cant be separated
=)

Today
Chek Jawa was crowded like hell
I've never seen it being so crowded
There were almost 700 people there before 12pm

Met several people too
Like some of my students, who waved 'Hi' to me across the boardwalk
& some volunteers

I'd also met a brainless man teaching his children
Kids:"Dad, what is that girl doing?"
Brainless father:"Oh, a sea lion on the rock!"
As I turned to my right side to jot down my data
Brainless father:"Wah, this sea lion can write! So clever!"

I looked up at him
He shut the fuck up

I bet he didnt even know that this 'sea lion' has a PhD scholarship!
But he's right about one thing
This 'sea lion' is clever

BUT
THIS IS NOT THE POINT!

Imagine years ahead
His kids are keen to do Rocky shore ecology,like I did
Basking under the sun
Tolerating the heat stress
Studying the animal's behaviour
& then the next generation of another brainless father go tell his kids saying the same thing that their dad had said before
How would they feel?

I felt frustrated
Not humiliated
I'm OK to be teased
It's fine
Since no one knows how Ecology are studied
Neither does anyone really know what Ecology is
I wont mind to explain if that brainless father had not known me as a marine mammal with flippers
He should rightfully explain to his kids that I WAS DOING RESEARCH!

Now I wanna scold KNNBCCB

From this
I realised that Singaporeans have narrow mindset
Dont see the big picture
Dont understand the tiniest matter


Tsk tsk tsk

Anyway
I'm flying to Hong Kong tomorrow
Finally packed 80% of my stuffs
But presentation slides still undone!!!
*croak*
Gonna do that on the plane

I'm so gonna miss DarDar & Mong Mong
& my durians
=~

Planned to stay at home to read up at least 4 journal articles
But I only read 1
since 11am

O_O

I then got distracted looking for information on Langkawi
Air tickets are so fucking cheap!!!
& I wanna bring DarDar there soon

Then got to find out that Ying is heading Kuching
Ah!
There I was being a busybody
& go SMS her what to do & eat
Where to go & play
Duhz

Blah blah blah

FOCUS!!
F-O-C-U-S!!!

As I was sleeping last night
I felt I was in OneBorneo
Still enjoying the holidays

HA!

Sigh
Back to the reality
I was stuck in Ecology lab working the materials & methods for my preliminary indoor experiments
& I was damn confused with the different types of methods that had been done by other scientists
Prof isnt helping much
& eventually, headache developed

Dawg

How am I going to make it for the rest of the academic years?
If only I can work elsewhere in places such as.... Thailand? Malaysia?
*dreaming*

At this situation
I think I will need getaways very often before I turn schizophrenic

p/s: I love my red rattan handbag from Sarawak

o_o

I'd been spending my time looking for travel info
Will be going to
- Hong Kong for my research
- P. Redang for R&R
- Kuching with in-laws
- Langkawi with DarDar
- St Petersburg for conference
- Finland for vacation (Wooo! See reindeer & Santa Claus!)

Gotta save lotsa lotsa money
>_<

Our Sabah trip almost 'killed' us
Both physically & mentally

First of all
We didnt do much research on that place as I was busy working on my presentation earlier
& the fact that DarDar never assist in doing research & always get me to do
We went there fearing this fearing that
Like we will get lost & missed all our booked packages, etc...

But since I'm writing this entry
It meant we survived

Cab is the best solution if you have no idea how to go to your destination
A RM$40 trip to OneBorneo from the airport



Oh yes
Finally
TuneHotel again

I love TuneHotel (concluded after these trips)
Sabah's TuneHotel is so special that I almost fall in love with it
It is IN a shopping mall!


Seaworld was not opened yet
& this gave me an excuse to be back again. Hohoho
New York New York for dinner at half of the price in Singapore!

After the meal
We realised it was only 8+pm
Time in Sabah is slow too

The next day
We checked out for our Mount Kinabalu climb
Headed to KK city for the long-distance bus
Which is small & cramp

My -_- look explained it


After 2 hours...
Reached!

We spent a night at the base camp which was full of moths


DarDar said that's Mount Kinabula ahead
"Ah... Not that high", I said
DarDar said:"You look carefully!"
As the clouds moved away...
KNN! SO TAMADE HIGH!!

My fear added on

Our journey started the next day
It was tedious
& the distance never seem to end despite the many steps one walks
There are signboards at every 500m
& in my mind
500m is just a one-round walk in the stadium + another 100m
But that 500m seems like it never comes!





I was also worrying about the high altitude sickness
& at the same time
We were desperate to reach the resthouse - Laban Rata at mid-level

Tell me about it
What is nicer than a cup of hot milo?




I told DarDar we must not give up now
We'd already climbed half-way
We must reach the summit!
Slowly!

Our climb continued at 230am
& with tiny steps & rests
We reached the summit at 6am for sun-rise
Gorgeous!




Too bad our fingers were frozen
If not I'd have like 100+ photos at the summit
It was really damn fucking cold @ ZERO degree Celsius!

With just a short break
We had to get back to the bottom of the mountain
It was fucking scary
Especially for a person who fears extreme height (i.e., me)
& getting down the steep slope by rope caused me to hyperventilate
& getting down the steep steps made my legs break

By the time we were down
We grabbed our stuffs & left for our TuneHotels by cab
We didnt care at all!
Our whole body ached like no fucking business
We were desperate to lie on beds!

Surprisingly
Both of us were damn awake
Couldnt sleep
& headed for Secret Receipe for dinner -_-

How can I not dive when I'm in Sabah? (or any other places with beautiful waters?)
Despite the bodyaches
We headed for our dives at Tunkul Abdul Rahman Marine Park with Dive DownBelow



The dives were good
But visibility was average
About 8 to 10m
Our dive masters - Cyril & JC were very friendly too =)






Our bodyaches seemed to disappear while we were in the water
But we were wrong after minutes back on land
They got worse!
& our heads hurt during ascends
I was so afraid that my brains would burst!

So much 'pressure' for the trip

Last day of the trip
We went sightseeing & shopping in KK City



Hours before our morning flight & on our way to airport =(



We will be back Sabah for more adventures

***More photos here