For a dance and a meal

KL, 8-11 Mar 2008



Went for a ballroom dancing competition and roamed the city a little..

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Two Saturdays ago, we took off to KL on Aeroline - quite a comfortable ride. They had movies - watched Transformers and a bit of Tokyo Drift - and served food and hot drinks. Took us just under five hours to get to KL via Tuas. But we almost lost our bags cos we didn't realise we were supposed to take them with us at the customs!!
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(Almost) Christmas at the beach

Batam, 21-24 Dec 2007



Sito decided to take a trip to Egypt. On his own. But he came back in time for our beach holiday in Batam, wearing a tunic he bought in Egypt!

It was a relaxing beach holiday so there wasn't more than what I said before, here. Oh, but I need to repeat one point - for once, a massage at a beach resort was really good!

Whirlwind Europe

Europe 4-13 Nov 2007



This was a working trip across four countries in 10 days. I worked damn hard to get this going! And when we were there, I was too tired with tying up loose ends, organising people and writing filenotes to go out much. Not that it was very possible given that I had ambitiously arranged back-to-back meetings every day, including lunch and dinner meetings!

Well, it could be worse. Like 10 countries in 10 days! And anyway, we did have some fun along the way..

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Dublin

We arrived on a Sunday so some of my colleagues went to the Dublin Castle. I must have slept for a while cos it was dark when I headed out for dinner *.*

London

We were late for the first meeting due to the traffic and a driver losing his way! It was dark by the end of the meeting so I went to Harrods :p

At one point, a group of us split from the team to meet some chaps outside London. Anu and I smiled for the camera on the way to Fareham :)


And while waiting for the train back, I bought a packet of Walkers! Used to have it so often back in Oxford :)


We were supposed to meet up with the rest at this other meeting place but we had time so we walked a little and took some pictures along the Thames..


We even walked to Downing St but of course we couldn't go into the street. Well, still fun!

Paris

We spent the most time in Paris because of the weekend. On Saturday morning, a number of us went to a flea market where a man selling lingerie took a look at me - with my coat on - and told me my size! *.* I bought a pair of faux leather boots, which fell apart from disuse in Sg...

I didn't want to shop the usual so while the rest headed for the shopping belts, I hung out with my two bosses *.* But it turned out quite fun! LH studied in Paris so she brought us to this very good Vietnamese eatery. The queues were long but we got seats pretty soon, just that they were outdoors in November.. But the soup soon warmed us up :) Then we went look-see at some interesting shops, somewhat like Barang Barang.

We walked quite a bit, and along the way, I suddenly realised the charm of Paris. I mean, I liked it when I was first there back in 1999 because, you know, it was Paris! The second time in 2001 was a different experience but perhaps I was too young to fully appreciate my good fortune. This Saturday really opened my eyes to Paris.

When evening came by, we gathered for a dinner meeting that was pretty informal. So I took a picture of my dinner - beef tartar!


NEVER going to have it again. Not that it was bad - I finished everything - but because it was a bit scary hoho!

Berlin

I was very happy here. Because the end of the (hard)working trip was near!

And Rubber Duckie in the hotel bathroom cheered me up :)

Pretty in yukata

Japan, 8-17 Sep 2007


Dressing up was really fun! :)

Click here for my itinerary.

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Prologue

Kel: Have a safe trip. Don't do a porn movie, it won't sell.
D: If you act porn, it'll sell. It'll be on at Yang Tze where the uncles don't bring their spectacles.
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Pearl of the Orient

Shanghai, 7-11 Jul 2007



First trip with just Sito :)

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To maximise the 4-day trip, we took overnight flights both ways. But we were so tired on arrival despite sleeping on the flight that we slept until noon - glad that we could check in at 8am..

Woke hungry and headed for Macs (!) before walking down 南京路 (Nanjing Road) for 人民公园 (People’s Park)..
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Roarrrr!

Singapore, 16 Mar 2007



Just the zoo! :)

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Honestly, I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo; it must have been secondary school, or even primary school!

Last day of term break, there were countless screaming children, but I only remember one who pronounced scary as scaaaly..
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きもちいい！

Japan, 13-19 Dec 2006



I went to hotspring area with three boys. But that was the only shot of us in a hotspring together! Hoho!

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Logging my Kyushu trip - second time in Japan! :) It was really 游山 cos Kyushu is less for city stuff and 玩水 cos of the hot springs!

13 Dec - 福岡

It was such an early flight on 13 Dec.. Was out the previous night at the premier of The Curse of the Golden Flower - missed seeing Chow Yun Fatt himself but caught the opulent imperial settings with blossomy women whose boobs could pop out of their corsets at the next deep breath; another imperial tragedy - and slept rather late. But I chose to take the train to Changi, thrifty all of a sudden..

Some facts before check-in: 23 in tour group; all families except the four of us; no cute guys and all the boys are too young - oh well!
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Showing off Singapore!

Singapore 1-3 Oct 2006



I used to show friends around Oxford when they came visiting but this was the first time I showed my friends around Singapore!

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Took two days of leave to play host to Jens and Eric. Woke up early on Children's Day to fetch Jens from the airport. We met Eric at the hotel; he arrived a short while ago by train. It had been three years since we met!
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Beach holiday with the boys!

Bali, 14-17 Jun 2006



I went to a beach resort with three boys.

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Prologue
A few days before..

Sito: Who is going to bunk with you?
mf: Well, I'm closer to you and Hup. So two of you pls fight to bunk with LY!! :p
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Ilha Formosa - The Beautiful Isle

Taiwan, 19-28 Nov 2005



The first trip I took with CY and Kel, who didn't know each other beforehand, and no, it was not a matchmaking trip! Hoho!

Click here for my itinerary.

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19 Nov - 你不是日本人吗？

That was the first thing a local said to me when I asked for directions to my hostel - strange cos I thought I looked less Japanese after cutting my hair.. Anyway, that was when I started re-learning the Taiwanese accent; perfected it by the next day. No one can tell I'm foreign unless I stumble upon some phrase I'm used to saying only in English, eg it's 公车 for cab, not 德士 or however you write that, which exposed me as a foreigner!
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The trip with a sacrifice

San Francisco, 11-20 Apr 2005



I might as well just call it my Stanford trip - I went to the city twice. The rest of the time, I was watching Kenshin in YX's room!!

The sacrifice? Sighs, read the second post..

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It's 450pm SF time now. Just back from a late lunch of enchiladas and banana berry smoothie from campus. Took a 40min slow walk to get back to YX's place, could be faster but I hollanded at one point :p

Anyway, this is my third day in Stanford, haven't seen SF city cos I've been lazy!
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Back for the day! Morning we went out to fetch YX's friend Erwin from airport; he's here for some conference in San Jose. We drove straight to Taqueria Cancun in SF city for lunch, satisfying mexican food :) Then we started our adventure from Bay Bridge, after which we made a quick stop at Fisherman's Wharf - I was there on Thurs but Sun was horribly crowded! - before turning to Golden Gate Bridge.
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桜の夢

Japan, 31 Mar-10 Apr 2005



This is the very first time I blogged about my travels in mf-ism :) A couple of my earlier travel logs were on my Frontpage web archive but I don't remember if they were ever published on my now-defunct Geocities webpage!

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Day 1 - 初めて、東京！

I have to start with the flight, which itself was interesting. The big screens with the usual flight info were showing live feed from a camera outside the aircraft. We saw the runway from a totally different angle: the lights were white as the plane cruised along and turned to a whole new set of pink as the plane got ready for take-off. We both saw and felt ourselves soaring into the night skies!

By the time I reached Ryokan Kangetsu, it was already late morning. After a short rest, I set off for Shinjuku from where I would embark on a trip to see an old friend: Kitty-chan!
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Second trip to Malaysia!

Malacca, 27-29 Dec 2004



My first trip to Malaysia was in late 2003 - to JB! Went along with Yan and her friends for shopping and seafood.

For Malacca, I'm not too sure about the dates.. We could have been there for four days.. Anyway, three or four days, it was a bit too long. Or we didn't where to go :p Later trips to Malacca became more and more fun with our cousins who knew where to go!

Blogged a little about this trip, but that was when I just started blogging so there was no pictures. So I'll let the pictures say more now!

Written 10 Apr 2011.

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Spent a long time chatting here.. For some reason, I only took it in B&W!


A building we passed by, with 3D advertisement on the side:


Another building along the way - I like old and new stuff, ok..


But old buildings have a kind of charm that draws me to them - to look, not live in them unless they come with modern sanitation!

Another old building :)


Found a rickshaw!


Also found some scary mannequins in a showcase - I last saw these in shopping malls in Singapore when I was a kid. I think it was somewhere in Katong...


PS: Thankfully, these mannequins were no longer there when I went back to Malacca some years later..

Now, time for some poser shots!

That was a youthful me, still a little chubby from four years in the UK but with perfect skin! Was carrying my bag from Bangkok and my shoes from Oxford days..


卖豆腐！Hoho!


The gaze... But I should have removed the bag!


That was in Malaqa House, btw. I liked it.