In remembrance of my very last assignment

I will be missing this kind of mess.

photo taken at 4:30am on Nov 15, when I was still writing for the final essay which is due by 4pm.

Sisters Island shooting trip

Went to Sisters Island with some Singaporean photography lovers on Oct 27. This is probably my last time shooting in Singapore as I'm leaving this country very soon. This was an incredible experience to me since it was my first time shooting "in" the sea. Well.. not underwater yet.. we walked on the 'sea' when the tide was low and shot. Here's some highlights of the day:

Can you tell what it is?
Highlight this row for answer: Octopus

More photos at my fotop album: http://www.fotop.net/headless/20071027

Laos Trip Day 1．Fly

Lost in Laos - Day 1
23 September 2007
Singapore ->Bangkok -> Luang Prabang

Photos: http://www.fotop.net/headless/20070923
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Since there are lots of assignments and exams coming up after the break, I was busy writing reports all the time before the trip, I didn't have time to pack for my trip until several hours before I had to go to the airport...

I took budget airline from Singapore to Bangkok, so the departure time was 0630 which means that I had to leave from my place at 3:30am so that I can reach Changi airport by 4:30am!

At the porch of my school residence, there is a taxi stop. There is a sign right there with some numbers of the taxi companies so that we can call for cab when we need, of course you have to pay additional cost for that though. I was prepared to call a cab since it was 3 something in the morning. But when I called, this is what I heard on my phone.....

"Sorry, the system is under maintenance, please call again several hours later."

Several HOURS!? Several hours later, I should be in Bangkok boarding another plane to Laos already! Alone in the dark, with the very huge backpack.. I begun to sweat.. and didn't know what to do..

It is quite impossible to flag a cab in any places nearby the place I live, not to say it was 3 in the morning! I saw a few cab passed by but they were all occupied. And all the taxi drivers stared at me....

Just when I was about to cry... (not really..).. miracle came! An occupied cab drove in the residence carpark. I ran towards the exit of the carpark and waited until it came out again! After a few minutes, the cab did come out! The driver was a bit shocked to see me standing there!! haha

Just like my past few experience, the taxi drivers in Singapore are generally nice and talkative. This nice uncle is one of them. We chatted along the way and he took me to the Budget Terminal of Changi Airport at about 4am.

Singapore Changi Airport opened the Budget Terminal in 2005 to cater the increasing needs of budget airline business. This is my first time using this terminal. In my opinion, the Budget Terminal is a normal terminal without the "unnecessaries". For "unnecessaries" I mean things like air-conditioning (which they have fans instead), and the little connecting bridge from the boarding gate to the planes etc. Other than that, I don't see anything lack in Budget Terminal. There are bookstores, convenient store, souvenior shops and free internet access.

If I have to say any differences between the Budget Terminal and the normal terminals, maybe I'd say it's the service quality of the immigration staff. As far as I remember, the immigration staff I encountered in other terminals during my last few times using Changi Airport were quite nice.. I won't say they provide "excellent" service.. but at least they are not rude. But this morning when I was departing Singapore.. it was quite a nightmare..

In my own common sense, I always need to show two documents to immigration staff whenever I depart - my passport and the boarding pass. Anything other than that, e.g. departure form, usually will be given to me when I check-in at the airline counter. I didn't get anything from the airline staff when I check-in this morning, so I just gave my passport and the boarding pass to the auntie at the immigration counter.

Perheps it was too early in the morning (it was just 6:30am), once she got my passport and boarding pass, she was stoned, seems that she didn't know what she supposed to do...

She didn't say anything to me.. 5 seconds later, I tried to break the ice by giving her the only ID I have on hand - my Student Pass. I wish it would help. A Student Pass is a little card which serves as a student visa in Singapore. I supposed I only need it when I enter the country.

Once she saw my Student Pass, I saw a light bulb on her head!! She knows what to do!! But!! before she did anything, she started to yell at me... scold at me.. do whatever she can to embarrass me. The main point she said was I didn't take out the Student Pass at first, so she didn't know what to do.. and I'm wasting ALL the people's time.. etc....

I looked at her as she was yelling.. I tried very hard to hold my laugh.. I think she kept yelling me for about 2 minutes.. I felt really sorry for the people waiting behind.

What I was thinking at that time was the immigration staff in Hong Kong.. I really miss their service. Immigration staff is the first person a tourist will encounter when they visit a country. Everyone knows how important is first impression. If Singapore really wants to continue boosting her tourism industry, immigration staff would be one place to be improved.
The journey from Singapore to Bangkok was about 2 to 3 hours. Due to time differences, I arrived Bangkok at 7:50am Bangkok time. I needed to fill in an arrival form for the Thai Immigration. There was a field called "Hotel" in the form. Since I was going to take another plane later, I don't know what to put there, I left that blank. Will I get scold again?

Once the staff got my form and passport, he quickly noticed that I didn't fill in that field. Then he said something to me in a language that I don't speak.. and he suddenly realised that I don't understand what he said.. he looked at my passport again. and changed his channel to Cantonese but with a quite funny ascent. "Hong~Kong~AR? Hotel!" and he pointed to that field. I explained my situation to him. He taught me to write down 'transfer' instead of a hotel name.

In just a several hours, I did something wrong in the immigration counter of 2 different countires! However, in a country that is generally perceived as highly educated and developed, I was scold and embarrassed for 2 minutes. On the other hand, in the less developed country, I got smile and friendly faces. What do these indicated?

Ok, everything is done. I even got my big backpack back on my back. It was still 8 something. The flight to Luang Prabang is 12:40.. what should I do?

The new Bangkok International Airport looks almost the same as the one in Hong Kong, especially the Departure floor. There were only a few very small shops, I don't really think I can go in with my backpack and my camera bag and walk for 2+ hours. So I went to the airline counter and asked if I can check-in "a bit" earlier than I supposed to..

To my surprise, they let me do that!! Although they felt very strangle for a passenger to check in 4 hours earlier than the departure time, they were still very friendly!! Ok now I get rid of my backpack and got my boarding pass, I could do whatever I want, especially I can get into the Departure Hall and walk around those shops!

First I got some Baht from the money exchange, then start planning how to spend my few hours at the airport.

If you know me well, you know the first shop I'd go. Yes, the bookstores. Although the one I found in the BKK airport was quite small, I still spent more than half an hour there until the staff started staring at me..

Then I went to Burger King, wanted to have some food and plan for my trip later in the afternoon. A meal in BK here costs 235 Bhat, even more expensive than Singapore. And it was upsized almost automatically. During my stay in the store, everyone (EVERYONE incl ME!) was having an upsized meal!

Long Live the King

Finally waited until 12:40! All other passengers and I board on a bus at the boarding gate. Our plane parked at a outer bay so we needed a bus to take us there. When the bus was about to stop, we saw two planes. One was a small jet, another one was a even smaller jet, a propeller-driven one... just when we were still guessing which one was our plane, the bus driver took us to the back of the propeller-driven one.. and we all laughed. Well, it seems that it's not only my first time taking this kind of aircraft!

My first time on a propeller-driven aircraft

Although the aircraft looks small on the outside, the seats are actually more comfortable than the usual 747 plane, of course I'm talking about the economy class! Once the flight took off, I tried very hard to catch some sleep. However, despite the time to spend on the in-flight meal, the nice lovely American lady sitting behind me kept giving her speech on "Women rights in the States" to the lady next to her, whom she just met on the plane. She didn't stop talking for the whole journey.. and I thought I only slept for about 10-15 minutes!

Ok..anyway, finally, I arrived in Luang Prabang at 2:40pm

Immigation time! Most of the visitors to Laos are required a visa to enter the country. Visa-on-arrival (30 days) can be applied at only 3 international airports (Luang Prabang, Vientaine and Pakse). The fee for visa is different according to the passport you are holding. Hong Kong is one of the most cheapest passport to get a visa to visit Laos, we only need to pay US$30. However, if you arrive there during weekend like me (this is Saturday!).. you have to pay an extra US$1 for the overtime of the immigration staff. The thing is, since most of us didn't have one dollar note, and they only accept US cash, the staff actually has to spend more time to find out how to give us the $9 changes!!

Once you got the visa done, it's very easy to get pass the immigration counter. I gave my passport to the staff there, they input some information to the computer. The staff were very nice and friendly. They even chat and share jokes with me.

This 'international' airport has only one bagguage belt. Since I spent very long time waiting for the visa to be done, when I get out from the immigration (which is just the room next door), the belt was stopped already. All the bagguages were placed nicely on the floor. Later I notice that other people from outside can actually come it and get the bagguages, but nothing was stolen.

Luang Prabang International Airport（shooting from the apron）

It only takes less than one minute to walk from the bagguage belt to the outside of the airport. Just when I stepped out, 2 men approached me at once and asked me if I wanted a cab to the town. I looked around, most of the tourists were gone except for one standing nearby. I asked him if he wanna share the cab with me. He agreed but he wanna check with the tourist information counter inside the airport for the normal cab fare so that we won't get cheated. We found out that the fare is all the same, we have to buy a 'taxi ticket' from the counter and get a cab. So we bought the ticket and hop onto a cab and started our way to the town of Luang Prabang.

The 'taxi' we took was not the taxi we usually see in major cities. It was actually a mini van. And it can mainly be found at the airport. In the city, people either walk or travel by tuk-tuk. It took us about 15-20 minutes to go to the town. We introduced each other during the short trip. He is Dan, a 31 American from NY. He's already an experienced traveller! He has been lots of places in China!! A lot more than me, a Chinese!!

We stopped at the guesthouse that Dan found out from his guidebook. We went inside and asked for the price, then we went upstairs and checked the rooms. The staff was very nice, never push us to stay there. He first showed us a room with 2 single beds, Dan knew that I was only staying there for one night, so he suggested us to share the room to save costs. That was a good idea, but this was also my first night of my first individual trip.. I still feel strange of sharing a room with a person that I just knew.. so I prefered to have my own room instead. So we went downstairs wanted to pay for the rooms.. but the staff didn't come down with us.. I think he thought we're not going to take the room!! haha.. After a while, he went down and saw us waiting there.. he was abit surprised. When we told him we wanna take 2 separate rooms, he was even more surprised!

The whole Luang Prabang town was listed as World Heritage in 2005, it is one of the most important tourism destinations in Laos. Therefore the price of the rooms here is a bit higher than other places. The room I got this night costed US$13/night. Dan got a room without window, so it was one dollar cheaper.

After we settled down, Dan and I decided to have a walk around the town. We first walked along the Mekong River, it was very quite, we only saw a few locals walking pass. One the way, we made a visit to the Wat Xieng Thong (Entrance fee: 20000kip = US$2).

We walked till the end of the road and turn right to the Nam Khan River. There were lots of Wats on the way but we didn't visit all of them. We just walked very slowly and had a nice chat all the way. We passed by some travel agencies on the way, I bought the bus ticket to Phonsavan for tomorrow and Dan also asked some information about the boats.

We walked until dusk and we were at the bottom of the Phu Si hill. Dan realized that there was a Wat up in the hill and suggested to go up and have a look, so we decided to climb up the hill... of course there were stairs.. we climbed and climbed until we almost couldn't make it.. we reached the top of the stairs!! AND! we found the ticketing counter!!! There was another stair!! And the Laos are humorous enough to write down how many steps we had just climbed (130) and how many more we need to climb up to the top (190). Dan and I couldn't stop laughing when we saw those signs.. we rested for a while, paid for the tickets and climbed the remaining 190 steps!

Still 190 steps!!

Finally we were at the top of the hill! It was soooo beautiful up there! You can see the whole Luang Prabang from here! What's even more beautiful is.. we came just in time! Just in time to see the beautiful sunset!

Top of the world

There were some big steps on the hill just perfectly serve as seating space for tourists to view the sunset. Though the place is quite small up there, there were still 20-30 people sitting or standing there waiting to witness the sunset. At that time, I felt the power of the nature.. there were no signs, no guards on the hill, but no one speak a word. It was so quite.. everyone just keep silent to enjoy every second.

Sunset

I didn't expect to see this at all, so by the time I saw the sunset, I was so excited! This is not my first time watching sunset, but this was surely the most beautiful one! After the sun was gone, we didn't go immediately, we sat there and played with a kitten who has been sleeping there during the sunset!! Then a girl wearing some sort of uniform approached Dan and asked him to fill up a survey. She heard from Dan that I am not Laos (!!), so she also came and asked me. The survey was something about my consumption behaviour in Luang Prabang.

After that, we got back to the main street and ready to go for dinner. Dan is a vegetarian, originally he wanted to go to a restaurant suggested by the guidebook. But after we walked for a while, we walked pass and got attracted by a vegetarian buffet store on the street! The food looked delicious and the price was even more attractive! only 5000kip (US$0.5) per plate. So we changed our mind and had our dinner here! The food was really nice, we both cleared our own plate!!

Vegetarian buffet

It was only 8pm+ after the dinner! We head slowly back to the guesthouse, walked pass a night market selling all kinds of cooked food. After we reached the guesthouse, we sat down at the outdoor area of the restaurant, and we both tried the very famous Beer Lao! One thing we didn't know is that the bottle of Beer Lao is 650ml! So huge! Lucky the taste is very nice, i can easily finish it!

Beer Lao

We drink and chat until 9 somthing, I have to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow, so I headed back to my room after the beer. Dan gave me his name card and we said goodbye for now.

Somehow I think that I was very lucky that I actually met Dan at the airport. Otherwise, I definitely would not climb up Phu Si hill and I would have missed the sunset! And I would also just booked my bus ticket through guesthouse and never go and check with travel agencies. I really have to thank Dan!!

Dan and me

There was a little story happened later that night. Maybe I was too excited, I wasn't able to sleep so I kept reading on the bed until 11pm. Suddenly... there was a black-out... no more air-con, no more lights.. I looked out from the windows.. seems to me that the buildings nearby were all cut out of electricity. Electricity was back after about 15 mins.. but the room had already became very muggy. Besides that, I'm now very not used to air-con room since I've been staying in my non-air-con hostel for about 11 months. Adding up all these, my head started to feel very very painful... the serious headache stopped me from sleeping until I took 2 panadols.

The headache thus ended my beautiful day.

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Expenditure for today
Cab to Changi Airport：SGD16 = US$11
Burger King：THB235 = US$7.5
Visa for Laos：US$31
Cab to Luang Prabang town：US$4
Guesthouse：US$13
Tickets for Wat：20000kip x 2 = US4
Dinner：12000kip = US$1.2
Bus ticket to Phonsavan incl. tuk tuk：160000kip = US16
TOTAL：US$88

Shooting fever

Seems like I've met the craziest group of local photographers since my first gather with them to Pulau Ubin!! These guys are crazy!! But I love them!!

Remember we went out for 6-hour night shooting on Friday night? My upper back was in pain after that 6-hour carrying all my gears walking around the district, leaning forward and backward to get the view I wanted.. But on Sunday morning.. I went out again, with the same group of people! What's more? Since I knew that I couldn't do any studies on Sunday, I stayed up all night on Saturday night.. didn't sleep at all!

Anyway..

We arrived at the Jurong Bird Park exactly at 9 in the morning. The entry fee for the park is S$18, very expensive, so we wanted to fully utilize the opening hours!! So here are some of my takes:

Let me tell you a secret...

Shooting the eagle in the cage w/o showing the cage need certain patient.

What's so funny??


Look at those professionals!!


Taxi~~~ don't want to be shot!

This is a fantastic photo shooting experience. I've learnt a lot again! Now I know how to shoot the bird in the cage, and the owls in the super dark area! And, I've also learnt how to pay attention to other cameras while concentrating on my own shoot, cos you never know who's shooting you!!

When u're attacking someone, there is always someone else attacking u!

We shot all the way till lunch time, and found out that the cafes in the park are SUPER expensive! So, most of us skipped lunch, and continued with our shooting instead.. until 5:30pm .

Just when everyone's thinking that we were heading for dinner, somebody suggested to go up to the hill somewhere near the park to shoot the sunset!! So.. we drove up to a hill nearby.. but unfortunately we couldn't find a place to shoot the sunset properly, instead we shot some nice views.


And finally! After a whole day long shooting.. we went to Marina to have steam bowl dinner! I was the only one taking photo cos everyone was soooo hungry and I was the only "tourist" there!

Notice the butter on the table, it turned out to be a sculpture of durian later after the dinner!

What a day!! My whole body is in pain now! But unlike the don't-know-why backpain I've been suffering in the past few weeks, I love this kind of pain! It reminds me of the wonderful time I had!

The group is now planning for more outings in near future. They are really crazy about that! Some of them are planning for what to do in CNY next year!! And someone also thinking of going to Malaysia for overnight shooting!!

I've promised myself, as long as I'm free, I must join them!! I won't let my mood beat me this time.

To see all the photos I took that day, please visit my online album.

Singapore's night

Went out for night shooting with some local photography lovers I met on a forum last night. We started from 6pm and shot until mid-night. This is my second time going out with them. I enjoyed going out with them very much and we've already planned a few more shooting trips. Once again, I'm proved to be more comfortable with the people who are a bit mature than me. Most (or all?) of them are married men.

A nice view from my room today

Almost get caught by him when taking these pics.. =P

Sweet Sweet Sweet

My friend took this lovely picture. I almost cry when I saw it. Soooo sweet!!

I wish I could get a hug like this!!

Sooooo sweet....

Not 100% agree to the caption of the 1st pic. But they are just so sweet!! What a man!

Another pic of the man.

My pics and my mind

This is one of the photos I took last week at Haji Lane. I posted it to an online photography forum and asked for comments. The first comment I got was "Saddddddddddddd"

I was not surprised by the comment. Actually I felt a bit confused recently when I went shooting. Seems that I've lost the sense of good shot. Well.. just like a storyteller who doesn't have any more stories to tell. I lost my sensitivity.

When I took this picture, I was not sad, and I was not happy. That's the reason of not able to take a good pic that can show my feelings.. because I didn't have a feeling!! Isn't it terrible?

But deep down in my mind, I'm still a sad person, so I'm kind of attracted by sad scene like this when I didn't have any emotion. To me.. it is not a good sign.

I did take happy photos before. But those were taken when I was in very good mood. I think this is the photo that can reflect the true me at this moment. A bit sad, and I don't even know.


But compared to the pictures I took when I was very upset.. I guess this one is just a very plain normal picture, at least it is very colorful. =P

Happiest day in Singapore

Thank you! =)

this is me!!

dunno how old was I at that time.. hehee

is this me??

this pic was taken last Dec.. and I look so different now.. sigh. getting old.. will try to take a new pic later next week for u to compare.. hahaa

A photo of my friend's fostering cats

hahahahahahaaaa...

The only 2 things I saw today

I've been studying in Singapore for 6 months, today it's my first time visiting Sentosa. The weather today is so nice so I decided to go for sun bathing, by myself. Too bad that I lost my bikinis when I was in Australia, so I have to buy a new one.. $$ gone...

I realized that I've been pushing myself a bit too much these days, not for my study though... for other aspects of my life. Although I am having a long holiday before the next semester starts, my sleeping disorder is getting worse, I've to take Stilnox every night. But I recognize that I won't have enough for the remaining time before I go back to HK again.. so I have to stop taking them asap.. sigh..

That's why I went to the beach today.. and I went there not for shooting.. just went there to lay down and relax. I hope I can slow down myself a bit.. I hope I can take things more easily.. I don't want to be a serious person anymore.. it's very tiring.

But if you know me well, you will know that I'm never able to stop thinking.. NEVER.. haha.. even I was reading my book / having a nap on the beach just now.. I was thinking... mostly about my past. I realized that the last time that I went to a beach by myself was already about 9 years ago!! I used to go to the beaches alone, just sat there for some hours doing nothing.. yes.. I'm weird.

After sun bathing, I had a beer at one of the bars at the beach. When I asked the waitress for a bottle of beer, she "stared" at me and said "one only?". I smiled and said "yes".

Yes, I'm all by myself now. After all these painful days.. I guess I am really starting my new life, my single life, and learning how to enjoy it and live with it. And I guess it will be a long way to go.

wish me luck.

Check out my photos

Went for shooting on Wednesday from 9am - 6pm.
What a sunny day.. totally changed my skin color..

Check this out
Singpoare Botanic Garden
Chinese Garden

Childhood drink

Saw this drink in canteen and bought it without hesitation. This is a drink that reminds me of my childhood. No, I don't like this drink when I was a kid.. and I don't like it now neither.. in fact, I can never finish any of them.

But I just like the design of the drink. It gives me a feeling that it is a nice drink. Besides, I can never figure out why it is named "Green Spot" while it is an orange juice.. nothing to do with "green"

well.. of course, I also couldn't finish this can of Green Spot neither.. cos it's not really that good.. haha

A visitor to my room tonight

Positive vs Negative

Positive

Negative

Photos taken by SonyErisson w880i at bus stop opposite NUS Central Library

Settled down

I was going to write these last nite..
but after long long time of typing... the whole thing gone suddently!!


anyway.. let's start over..
many many things happened since the last time I wrote here.

I went for a 2-week trip in Australia with my family to celebrate my sister's gradution.
The trip was better than we expected... it was quite another long story to tell..
I may need to write it on another day..

Just 1 day after my family head back to Hong Kong, I started my journey to Singapore.
I arrived on the 28th Dec 2006, since I didn't get any confirmation from the hostel of NUs before I fly,
I booked a hotel for a few days to make sure I've somewhere to stay.

This is really my first time in life, stepping on a country without knowing anyone, what an exciting experience!
When I first went to Australia, my sister was already there.

My hotel is located in Aljurnied, which is quite a low class red light district to me... I'm not sure about this.
but u can see a lot of "ladies" standing everywhere on the street at nite... or sometimes even in the morning...
so.. when I walked on the street at nite.. I was stared by everyone on the street.. hahah.. quite scary...

So, I went to my hostel to see if I can check in a bit earlier.. and the answer was "yes.. as long as u pay for the extra days.."
so here I am in my hostel room.

The semester has already started for 3 weeks now..
most of the things are fine to me.. especially the work load here are slightly lighter than in ANU..
Here in NUS, I'm taking 5 modules (which is considered to be too much for exchange students....)
for those 5 modules, only 1 of them has final exam.
and as far as I remember, on 1 or 2 have individual assessment.
all others are bascially with 1 group project (report + presentation), 2 quizzes and participation..
While in ANU, we normally have all of the above + final exam - quizzes + 1 or 2 individual essay/report for each module

However, one thing I have to really try to get use to it is that.. most of the modules in Business Facualty here have 3-hr lectures...
I really wonder who made this kind of decision to have 3-hr lectures?? Do they know that people cannot concerntrate for so long?
The worst thing is.. during those 3hrs.. we ususally only have 5 minutes break!
It really kills me... I didn't fell asleep during those lectures, but I'm sure I can't take 100% out of it.. maybe only 70% or even lower..
coz sometimes I just have to let my brain take a rest or do a bit day dreaming before I can put some more into it..
Just checked with my timetable.. I've got class on Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri.. and one 3-hr lecture each day!!
Give me a break~~

something happened last week..
I won a 2nd prize in a photo competition held by the Internationl Relation Office of NUS. I was so excited!!

The competition is held for international students at NUS, the theme is "Looking Out.. Looking In"
I submit 1 photo each for the "people" and "lifestyle" category.
and I won the 2nd prize with the "people" one..
I never won any prizes in photo compeitions before.. (of course, I never participated before I start learning photography)
Actually, I also participated in another photo competition but I didnt win.. hahaha..
But.. I'm going to submit some photos for another competition again~~~
good luck to me~~
well.. I try to upload the photo which helped me won here... see if u like it or not~~
feel free to comment~