Jeremy Teo | Just Simply Me

Bangkok and The Holidays

Bangkok was good, and despite it being my second trip there in like 6 months, I still enjoyed it alot, reason of course being that I went with my gf this time. With that said, I was glad that I could finally spend alot of time with my girlfriend, as I have this horrible tendency to neglect her whenever the school term starts. Worse is that if all goes well, I will be flying off to Hong Kong in a few months time, and I was looking at this bangkok trip as a good ‘time together’ for us.

Of course being just me and my gf at a foreign land, it meant more alertness and independence, as it was our first overseas trip together, as both of us had only previously gone on trips with either the school choir or a larger group of friends. And the importance of alertness was highlighted as early as our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel on the first night. Despite taking a meter cab, the meter read like 189 baht, but the driver had the audacity to say 400 baht, and even managed to say it in a very calm and polite tone. Thank goodness the bell boy came to save us of 200 bahts. From then on, we were always very careful with our taxi rides.

The hotel this time, as compared to the previous artsy fartsy one, was much ‘classier’. The previous one in with the bangkok gang was good, but this one was different in a sense that it was more like a normal 3-4 start hotel you would find in Singapore. The lobby looked good, the breakfast was not bad, and to my surprise, the room was surprisingly big for the price we paid. The both of us first thought that it was perhaps too big, but we ended up using the big space and sofa we had to put our stuff and clothes. However, one big big disadvantage was the location. It wasn’t at all close to any famous shopping centres or train stations (closest was chatuchak which was 15 mins drive away), and that meant that we had to spend on cab to and fro everyday. Eventhough cab was much cheaper day, it still added up in the end. Worse was, after tiring shopping sprees, we always didn’t have the luxury of going back to the hotel to rest first, and always ended up resting at some fast food restaurant. As I booked it rather last minute-ly and rash-ly, it was a good lesson learnt for future trips.

The rest of the trip was pretty much shopping at places which I went with the bangkok gang, although I did try a few new places. Again, we shopped till our feets were all aching, but I’m sure my gf enjoyed the shopping. As expected, Platinum was her favourite, but we discovered that Suan Lam also had lots of stuff, something which the bangkok gang kinda missed out on. Chatuchak affirmed my opinion that it was more of a 3-hour-go-in-the-morning thingy, but I found more reasons to walk MBK this time. Apparently MBK seemed boring the first time I went, but it was somehow rather enjoyable in a shopping sense if you really take the time to walk the mall. As our trip was much longer, we went sight seeing, and the grand palace was an eye-opener.

I am glad that I am now much more familiar with the streets of bangkok, especially their train system. I always think that it will be nice to know how to go around a foreign land, as the world is just that big, and Singapore alone that small. Next stop, Hong Kong. It may be a while before I go back there. After this trip, I am quite sure I have covered most of the shopping areas around the country, and am perhaps looking forward to another country.

This roughly wraps up my trip, and I am now looking at the rest of the holidays. Internship wont start until near the end of the month, so its kinda like a slack period for me now. I do have some worries in my head though, with SEP at the top of it. Still haven’t received the confirmation, although an e-mail yesterday from CUHK came. It was about course registration, and I always knew that module mapping would be a big headache, but the e-mail just got me a little more worried. I just realised that I had quite limited modules to choose from, and to make matters worse, I just realised that quite a lot of their modules are actually thought in either purely Cantonese, or a mixture of Cantonese and English. That is just so uncool, as I have almost zero knowledge of the language. This isn’t confirmed yet, so I am enquiring about it. One of the reasons why I chose Hong Kong was because it was one of the asian countries which has English as one of its languages, but now I’m starting to worry. Sigh.

Well, I shall just wait, as I look forward to my internship and of course, FOP. It’s that time of the year again, and it seemed like just not too long ago it all happened. Many people say it’s during FOP that you see everything, especially for the management committee. But I am not the biggest advocator of this statement. All I can say is that it will definitely be the time of new formed friendships and memories. Have a good holiday everyone!

More From Bangkok

Here are some pics from my camera. I seriously think there needs to be an invention to either allow us to do far range self shots, as we are always having problems finding people to take pictures for us; or a wireless camera system which allows us to automatically send photos from each other’s cameras. Anyway, after looking at the pics tk posted, and the pics that I transferred from my camera, its just amazing. No, not the pictures that are amazing, but the fact that the 5 of us actually went to bangkok together. During the start of the trip, I remember we vaguely asked each other if we would have thought of going on such a trip one year ago. Just one year ago, we were all tendering for our FOP projects, and were all gearing up for a busy second semester. And now, just a year later, all 5 of us from the 27th, are enjoying such a trip together during the december holidays. I guess these pictures are a testimony to something which we so dearly gained from our term in office, and that of close friendship.

Sa-Wa-Dee-Kap

Hello everyone, the bangkok gang and I are finally back. Well its really hard to pen down 5 days of happenings, so I’ll just sum up by writing some thoughts. I’m sure mich and tk would prolly blog something about the trip too.

Overall it has been really enjoyable. It was tiring as we walked alot doing lots of shopping, as our feet ached very frequently, but I’m sure the purchases of new clothes and accessories eased some of the pain in our feet. But as mentioned in my previous post, what I really enjoyed was the company, as it is kinda like my first time going traveling with my friends on a leisure trip. The trip was not only about shopping and walking the streets of bangkok, but also the mini mahjong games and chit chat sessions during meals and at the hotel room. I was really looking forward to this short break and vacation after a horrible time with school and exams, and as much as my feet suffered, I had a great mental break.

Just some thoughts:

I so gotta go back to bangkok again. Still got so much of chatuchak to see, even more of suan lam night market to see, seafood to eat, and more thai food to try. Also didn’t get to visit phat pong or any of those ‘live shows’, and would probably just one to go and see what it is all about. Whats going to bangkok without visiting these areas, visiting and nothing more :)

Although my first experience was a butt burning one (the gang would know why), tuk tuk rides were very fun and exciting. Definitely beats the boring and oh so normal taxi rides. Was also quite surprised at how modern and advanced their train system is already.

And as much as we didn’t really want to risk our stomachs, I think I would probably want to try more street side food. Fast-food there is even more expensive than Singapore, and when they say double big mac, its not double the size, its just more slices from the same thickness of two beef patties we are used to. Got faked. But A&W was good though. Really loved the waffle ice cream. We talked about A&W at the airport before leaving, and I was so glad we really found an A&W. And yes, pad thai from the food courts are real good and cheap!

I so liked the boutique hotel we stayed in. It was so artsy fartsy, with a room nice enough for a comfortable sleep at night after a full day of shopping. Even had LCD television and some cable channels to watch.

Bargaining was real fun and eye opening. I guess in some sense we all improved in our barganing skills, but I guess its still far fetched from what those really good bargainers can do. It was interesting, especially on the last night, to see the many different bargaining technics which we soooo lacked. Even had one incident where it kinda backfired, as we pissed the stall keeper off, haha. And our favourite phrases, (in very soft and draggy tone), ’2 hunled bahhtttt, no discount, hosale plice’. Hahaha. It was so strange hearing the ever-so-used-to Singapore accent again when we boarded the plane back home.

Well so many other things happened, but I guess its just so hard to pen it all down. Haven really unpacked my stuff as I was busy up catching on sleep as we slept very little last night due to our early flight. Kinda having some post-vacation syndrome, as the routine for the 5 of us were pretty much the same for the past 3-4 days, and suddenly it feels all so different at home. Then again, its a real good chance to rest my very tired feet.

Oh, after finally surfing all the web pages, blog surfing, checking e-mail and stuff, I realised alot of people are either going on vacation soon, or have started working. As for me, I am feeling a little lost now as I really do not know how I am going to spend the rest of this short holidays. Probably going to slack alot at home, but I also don’t see myself doing that for 4 weeks. Hmm, wonder what I can do. And coming back home has also brought me back to reality, that results are coming back in about 2 weeks time. I really feel damn sian everytime my chain of thoughts comes across issues about school and exam results. As the days go by, I’m getting a worser and worser feeling each time. Suddenly I just feel like going out to work, earn some money, and go on more vacations :p

A New Year, A New Experience

I am back! And what an experience it was at Shanghai and Hong Kong! I really enjoyed myself, and it was just too eventful and long for me to actually type everything down. I will just sum my thoughts up in these few points.

Shanghai: -

It was my first time experiencing a winter of about 4-10 degrees overseas, and I really loved it. Although I am still waiting for my first encounter with snow.

A beautiful city, especially with its buildings all lit up at night. And it is a real horny city. But do not get me wrong, I mean it literally. The vehicles just seem to never stop horning at vehicles and pedestrians alike, whether or not there is a reason to do so.

The people there are really loudspoken and somewhat rude, but I guess it is just part of their interesting culture.

Technology may have progressed much down the years, but reliability of technology is a whole different issue. Quite disappointed that I lost my Shanghai photos due to a memory card error. I guess I will just have to go back one day to take new photos :)

Meeting up with undergrads at Fudan and our very own NOC students at Shanghai was an eye opener, and has made me realise how fun and interesting it would be to study overseas. I am very much looking at SEP now.

Then again, before I consider that, I would seriously need to brush up on my chinese. To think that I cannot even speak fluent chinese or read chinese papers and magazines, despite having studied it for at least 10 years and it being my mother tongue.

The Shanghai street markets are so fun to walk and shop at, and the xiao long bao and lamb kebab is a must try, especially with the cold weather.

Food is cheap, Taxi is cheap, and almost everything other thing is cheap. What more can a tourist to the country ask for.

Shanghai and Fudan University made me realise how small NUS and Singapore is.

Hong Kong: -

The weather is not as cold as Shanghai, but still cooler and much nicer than Singapore of course. Then again, the air is just too dry, making my skin dry, throat dry and lips dry. Definitely not desirable to stay too long in such conditions.

Another beautiful city, and the view from The Peak of Hong Kong was just extraordinary! I wouldn’t mind spending hours up there admiring the beautiful view.

It was also good to experience being in the streets which I see so often in TVB serials.

The mini bus was also a great experience, but overall, the transport in Hong Kong is freaking expensive. I spent almost S$40 on transport in just 3 days there.

Then again, the food is also relatively more on the steep side. And being a typical Arts and Social Sciences student, the first thought that came to my mind was about social inequality. With its average income being lower than that of Singapore, how in the world do the lower class people actually survive with such expensive transportation and food cost.

The amount of walking and shopping in the last 3 days was probably equivalent to the amount of walking and shopping I did in the last 3 years.

The night market aunties can be really pestering, and its really amazing how they can cut down prizes by almost 80%. Sometimes I just wonder how much they acquired their products for. Bargaining can be both fun, and annoying.

The cable car ride to Lantau Island was great, and the huge Buddha up there was even greater.

Suddenly have an urge to learn cantonese and other languages, as it can be very useful when going overseas. Felt so lost and helpless at Hong Kong this time. Fortunately, the city has very much globalised with chinese and english still rather ‘usable’.

HKUST is extremely big and extremely beautiful. The entire campus is built next to the coast right smack on a mountain valley, has a scenic sea view, has a huge vacinity, has numerous amenities and facilities, and even has a premiership standard football field.

And again, Hong Kong and HKUST made me realise how small NUS and Singapore is.

No doubt I enjoyed alot, seen alot and experienced alot, but the most valuable thing I gained from this trip was definitely friendship. To think that just 1 week back, the only people I knew from this trip was Brandon and Thomas from my SLC group, as the others were practically strangers to me and vice versa. I still remember feeling a little lonely as bit and reuben were not going to join me, and I was still a very new face in council. But now after the trip, the situation has definitely taken a huge turn for the better. Really enjoyed their company, as what was suppose to be an overseas exchanged trip turned out have an extra agenda of council bonding and also sharing of experience and ideas between the clubs.

I really enjoyed myself very much in this trip, and having experienced so much, I very much would like to have more opportunities to travel in the future. Don’t know why, but I never felt this way before from my other oveaseas trips. I am now even hoping that my future job would give me frequent opportunities to go abroad for businesses or assignments. The world is just so big, and having been confined to Singapore for the last 22 years, I now very much want to see the rest of the world. Then again, I am still very much a Singaporean and the last statement should be of no basis to question the level of my patriotism :)

There is something which Fumin mentioned to me, and has since stayed in my mind. He said “You are really fortunate to be given this opportunity for such an experience and exposure in year 1 sem 1.” And to think of it, I really am. Must really thank the union, council and osa for this wonderful opportunity. Of course, my very own 27th. If not for you guys, I would not have been in council, and this opportunity would not have come my way. So sorry I missed the chalet too, heard you guys had fun and definitely wished I was there.

On a side note, apparently not only has the economy and stock market been on a rise, but also everyones CORS bidding points. Just cannot believe how I actually got out-bidded for my modules. Time for some last minute scramble for my modules.