Strangely sheltered.

It is strange how things work out at times. I tend to be away from heat of things for most of the time. Used to comment on how during certain days I wouldn't want to go sailing previously and things would happen. (Of course on one or two occasions they had a wonderful time, and on one occasion, I was the one in big trouble out at sea. Hehee... well I am not a psyhic, the feel can be wrong too. :P)


Didn't feel like going out last night and avoided an incident, but I want to go training tonight. Hope the instructors are not caffeine high tonight. Hehehee... then again... an intensive one will work off the frustrations of the feeling of pushing the wall away. (Sat: Glad I went, it's a good session. Finally met a fellow trainee whom I could talk and relate better to.)

Weekend is here! Heheee, the dry season's here it seems... been having cloudless yet strangely cool days, even cooler night... flies were coming out more too...

Ah choy and company coming over during the weekend as well, with the bonus she can definitely live like a queen here. LOL... maybe ah cheng outfitter can earn abit from that too. Hooohohohhoooohoooo...

Sat: I really have to go back home and 拜拜。Someone up there somewhere is definitely looking after me as I bump around in life, taking calculated risks. 天公疼傻儿？

Fri: Humans are emotional and irrational. A wrongly worded email will not achieve the intended noble ideas within. Noble idea or just plain demand and sense of self-righteousness? Rationally I should write back and confirm stuff. But I am irrational at times too. Haha. See how...

My knees are beginning to make their presence felt...
Talk about inertia, they are fine with motion and dared not complain during jogs or training (yet), but if I try to stand up after 2hours on the couch or seat, I swear I can hear them creaking.

Their chorus of creaks have increased in frequency too. I know christmas is coming, but I prefer a different kind of carolers... Oh god... Yes... it is the beginning of a downward trend. Haiz...

Plan ahead!

Hehee... just been to a Vietnamese wedding and probably had a little more to drink than I should have. (Happily da-ing away with the male colleagues while the Vietnamese principal looked on, definitely without a smile on her face...) So here I am happily in a semi-sleepy mode dreaming and planning for trips in year 2008. Hahaha... talk about being kiasu.

Dec 2007 - Batam; Ipoh
Feb 2008- Cambodia
April 2008-Dive trip... back to Perhentian? Or go Indonesia? Bali? But it's not mola season... :[
Jul 2008- Travel all the way to north Vietnam?
Oct 2008-Laos? Or South Vietnam/Mekong delta...

Hehee... got to set papers first before anything else!! OoO

We see what we want.

Facebookers may have seen this already, but it is way cool!

Click on the picture, watch it spin. Which direction is she spinning?

Either direction you are right. Huh? Now make her change, use your brains!!

Yes, it is possible! Interesting huh?

Amazing illusion, amazing insight to brainworks. Makes me wonder which direction is she actually spinning when the picture was first created, or it doesn't matter...

So, is it really what you see is what you get? Or we see what we want to see? Hmmm... the link below is where the picture is taken from.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,22492511-5005375,00....htm

and here is a link that explains how it works... heeh...

http://coloredchalk.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=42

Hagibis

Woke up to grey skies and slightly windier weather this morning. Thought it was kind of cool till the news report of things more to come.

Hagibis, meaning 'rapidity' in the Philippine's Tagalog language, and which was previously identified as storm 23W, would land on Vietnam's resort town of Phan Thiet at the weekend, the Tropical Storm Risk Web site (http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/) said.

It would pose a major danger to southern Vietnam, a region rarely struck by typhoons or tropical storms. The southern tip of the country was hit in November 1997 by Typhoon Linda in which there were 600 known deaths and 2,123 people never accounted for.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSHAN9630620071121?sp=true

Heh, apparently HCMC is in the path of Hagibis this time, if the storm stays its course. Wah...

Learnt a new phrase in Vietnamese, Bao Sau Bay, Storm no. 7... O.O There were 7 typhoons that hit Vietnam already? Wah.



Good thing that Hagibis is weakening, may become a tropical storm instead, and it is shifting up north a little more... There was a Hagibis in 2002 and it was a super typhoon that didn't make landfall. Phew...

Heeheee, it's Saturday now, but I am lazy to change the date of the entry. It's all calm still in HCMC, Hagibis decided to change its course and head back out to sea. Hope it doesn't change its mind again. :P

We have so much more to learn about storm prediction...

Battle of the will power and the couch.

Heh...
Got to get my bum off the couch... soon...
Go for a jog. Start on an exercise routine. And stick to it...
I am so heavy for my frame that my colleague cannot believe it. Hah!
Will power... will power... will power...
Go.....


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Will power won this time. Went.
Overdid... a spliting headache woke me up in the middle of the night.
Hah...

But it's good. Am glad that I am still mobile, nevermind the speed. Haha.

The initiator;
Takes risks and volunteers.
Will you be a pioneer,
or end up a martyr?

You won't know till it's too late.
But if you procrastinate,
Chances pass and you may hate
yourself not taking that leap of fate.

Such is the uncertainty,
Plain, colourful anxiety
Laced with that fleeting estacy
That makes life kind of a fantasy.

So, despite all you have done,
It's still at square one.
Risk to take or no,
Say it, then do it so.

Mountains and Beach.

A much needed break has come and went. 2 friends came along and together we went on a short trip together. What a mixture of fun, relaxation, disappointment and rest. The randomness and complexity of this beautiful place is at its best.

PS. Wish you were here, then again... maybe not, as the pictures enhances and softens reality in ways more memorable and desirable. Let me distill and relate it to you, fuelling your wish to come see it yourselves. :P

Dalat

It's cool, clean, quiet and boring. Heheeheee. Guess it is both side of a same coin. Touted as the number one honeymoon spot in Vietnam, it has somehow failed to impress me on that aspect. Maybe it is not the scenary that is there, it is all about the state of mind. Perhaps it's because of the company... :P

Doing the touristy things when you are bored of the tour... -.-

Drinks after drinks after drinks... ^_^

Town planning is haphazard, tour guide's not the most helpful and engaging, the waterfall's murky, attractions tacky, the hotel's clean, dining out splendid and highly affordable, strawberries' sweet and going for S$1.50 a kilo without bargaining, the flowers' look so fresh and bright... the women are working hard, the kids happy, the pig oblivious... guess it's the parts and pieces of everyday life that makes Dalat charming. You have to seek it out.

"I know my fate, I ain't that dumb..." and so the eyes seem to say.

MuiNe

From the mountains to the beach. It's a sharp contrast but still paradise on Earth nonetheless. Yes, it is quiet as it is the weekday. Yes the stretches of beach have migrated elsewhere, and yes there are signs of wannabe developers wanting a piece of that eroding market as we chance upon rows and rows and rows of resorts, either completed or in the process of being built. But with the right company, sun, sand and the sea, and good cheap food, who really cares about the tour guide being non-proficient in English, or if the canyon touted is actually a gully?

From the fishing village to the market...

Yes... from the sea of abundance to a sea of sand; amazing...

The dunes' the nicest, and a geological adnormality. Say cheese!! :]

Heeeh back to reality, back to work tomorrow. -_-

Beached.

Must. Get. To. The. Beach. Any. Beach....

Hoped onto a hydrofoil and sped towards VungTau over the weekend. Hmm... yes, the others were right, there wasn't much to do there. But I am not complaining. It's clean, cleaner than what I imagined. It's quieter than I imagined. It's cheaper than I thought... and the journey there more interesting than I had hoped for...

Coming from a country without any beaches to boast about, any decent natural bays and headland formations stirs up some excitement and emotions for me... and Vung Tau has some nice beach and headland formations that geography teachers will love to import back to Singapore.

Vung Tau seems to have extra divine protection as a large Jesus statue stands watch over the cliff. Pagodas and temples adorn the cliffs of this beach town too. You can climb up and perch on Jesus' shoulders. Though for some reasons I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I just love the fusion, see the back of the statue, it has chinese style windows with the word 'shou'...

The view of the town from the cliff at the foot of the giant Jesus... put me in a reflective and shamed mode as I reflectedat all the curses I uttered on the way up the cliff and becoming acutely aware that the kindly devout elderly catholic lady who was hobbling along would be red-faced and saddened if she understood Hokkien... hah... anyway I just loved the misty peaks of the nearby islands... And as an occupational hazard, I thought what a great place it would be to teach students about arerial photographs and mapping. Heeheeheeheeee...

It was easy to wander on your own and to starve that sinking feeling of being alone, randomness was the word. Suddenly I found myself halfway up a cliff in a cattle range. Then off I was on a headland chasing butterflies... Without knowing I was back on the beach... people watching, crab watching, challenging the waves foolhardily. I so glad that the waves were kind enough to just play a little prank and didn't fancy my RP sunnies much. They knocked it off, toyed with it, tire of it and flung it carelessly back soon after.

I guess someone up there is really looking after the people (and sunglasses) in VungTau? :P

You know what, it is a nice quiet get away... and it beckons... again...