A little of China..

too malas to write everything about china la. but the main thing was that NO ONE spoke english... serious. no, seriously! so i got by with hand gestures and CK's written translations - thank god. was quite hilarious actually.

highlights: everything's cheap.. shopped again.. went to this place called windows of the world where they've built miniatures of world famous place like the louvre, taj mahal, the leaning tower of pisa, the pyramids, the eiffel tower, a red indian settlement, niagara falls, mount rushmore, the statue of liberty.. you get the drift.. tried dressing up in a geisha costume as well, and got a picture taken with taj mahal in the background - absolutely hilarious if you think about it ;-)

also dressed up in an arabian costume, sat on a real camel (VERY cute), and got my pic taken amidst the pyramids, very cool ;-) also funny cos almost no one in that part of the world had seen a dark person and they were taking pics of me and with me.. freaking HILARIOUS. and this was despite the language barrier. even saw someone doing a video shot of me as i was walking - now i know what a celebrity feels like. i mean, dont they have national geographic or something? sheesh.. but funny all the same and a great experience.

was travelling alone and one of the things i like abt travelling alone is that you do things you'd normally never do. was hungry and since i ran out of my ever trusty muesli bars, i just walked up to a couple of girls and asked them for a grape-y biscuit cos it smelt pretty enticing. and they obliged ;-) it was so funny. human nature.. very interesting.. should try my hand at psychology or behavioral science or something.. hmmmm, something to consider when i hit midlife crisis ;-) (IF)

and since no one spoke the language, hand gestures were an absolute necessity especially when you're late for your flight and you're rushing so you wont miss it and you dont know the way to the airport.. so all that works is the "plane" - bear in mind that this goes best if accompanied by that "swoosh" sound ;-)

food: wantan mee with minced beef and beef fishball soup - very nice. baked sweet and sour pork rice - also very nice ;-) p/s: i think tv3 could do with an international version of jalan jalan cari makan and i could be the host.. hehehehe ;-)

was a good trip la ;-) almost had a constant smile on my face all through. and found out that my bargaining skills were pretty good - when you want something and you dont want to pay more than normal, JUST WALK, and they'll call you back. if they dont, give it 10 minutes, swallow humble pie and go back (if you think the last price quoted was worth it la).. got quite a lot of stuff tht i almost felt like santa claus when i came back ;-)

wish i had spent an extra day there or something. oh well..

yes yes, caught my flight w plenty of time to spare, got a baileys at the airport as well so was a good trip all in except that my bank balance needs help. so if anyone feels like contributing to the "help save kogs' bank balance" fund, i'll give you special mention when i make my first million.. cheers.. ;-)

My Poor Hushies

Just did 2 WHOLE hours of salsa. And i only remember the 1st, 2nd and last move.. Shit.. But was good fun and a great workout.. ;-)

HKG

Went to hkg and china for a week's hols - was a pretty good trip apart from the fact that i spent too much ;-(

got to hkg first and checked into BP int'al, watched tv and freshened up, took angela's map, made a few enquiries at the concierge and was off. got lost of course ;-) but had the map and some of the youths spoke a smattering of english so managed to get back on the route. got back to my hotel - cant even rmbr what i had for dinner - oh yeah, Mc Ds HKG - they had this burger where the buns were patties made of rice and diced mushrooms, like lo ma kai - quite nice and filling. always always ALWAYS go to all McDs around the world - the only staple think you'd find is the Mc Chicken. I had Mc Country in Prague where the meat patty was pork and I had cheese and broccoli nuggets in Vienna (you'd think they sound very vegetabl-y, but i actually like it altho i'm carnivore!)

so neway, went to kowloon park where there was a lantern festival going on. prob walked like 5 kms or something. went to some street market and did some window shopping. also wanted to buy a camera, so was browsing. there was this sleek really nice sony one, 5.2mp, which he was willing to give for HKD900 but only 1 battery (NO), the memory card was only 128 (NO) and the warranty was not in english altho he claimed it had an international warranty (DEF NO). so didnt get around to buying it ler..

woke up the next morn and went to maersk hkg, met up with april and ashley and april took us for typical hkg fare - sweet and sour pork, some veg with mushrooms, fishball soup (nice) and something else. there was chinese tea on the table and i was about to take a sip when she said that those were only there to wash your chopsticks!! oh well..

got back, checked out of my super expensive hotel and went to mariners club which was decent and less than half the price ;-) was near tsim sha tsui stn, abt a 2 minute walk so VERY convenient. went to the temple street market and shopped like crazy ;-) had a good nights rest then decided to go to ocean park the next morn - that was damn fun.

pandas, dolphins, sharks, stingray, jellyfish - my kind place ;-) also had this halloween thingy going on so took pictures of giant tarantulas, ugly pumpkins and the wicked with from the west. and another corner of the park housed and amusement park with all the rides and went on those as well. and there was a 10 minuite cable car ride frm the lowland to the headland which overlooks the SCS - damn nice and saw 12 eagles in the skies at the same time ;-) dont ever ever miss that if you go to hkg..

got back, went straight to the maersk office to have dinner with april - szechuan food which was quite nice - fish belly soup, dumplings, crabmeat in egg white, mushrooms w something and chicken w dried chillies. aaaaahhhhhh, the glories of food ;-)

prob walked 15 kms the whole day - not kidding! oh how i missed gorgeous!

took the tram to victoria's peak the next morn. quite disappointing actually but it was a must see tourist attraction, so. but the tram ride was good - was 45 degrees going up the hill!! also went to hkg park and the tea museum and a bought a chinese tea plucking music cd which cost me a bomb. very nice tho - all about wind instruments.

checked out, left my luggage at the hotel then took the mtr to the hkg space museum and the avenue of stars. saw jackie chans hand prints and also michelle yeohs. tried the moonwalk simulator in the space museum - that was cool. turns out that we only weigh 1/6 of our actual weight on the moon!!

so then got my luggage and got to the stn and took the train to china..

got salsa now, so china will be another blog.. ciao.

Columbine 0609

Ok, so its been a long time.. but I've been having such a good time that i have had no time whatsoever to update this. lets start with my vessel tour ;-)

apart from a few glitches (minor ones ler), it was an absolutely FANTASTIC experience. was a cargo ship - columbine 0609. so i got up and met the captain and he briefed me a bit (like for 2 mins) and then told me he's see me in the dining room for dinner at 1730! so i go to my cabin (which is almost like a hotel room minus a tv!) and put all my stuff away since that was gonna be my home for a week ;-)

went down for dinner and the first thought that came to mind was "oh my god, its danish food ;-)" felt almost nostalgic although we all know that danish food is prob one of the bland-est cuisines in the entire universe.. but thats besides the point. so there's bread and butter and a few diff kinds of vegs tht can be made into salads with thousand island sauce and mayonnaise and olive oil and goodness knows what else. but i'm a self confessed carnivore so had some meat and stew or something and some cold slices of ham and chicken.

met some of the officers and the cadets and the captain told mona to show me around the ship. so went to get my boiler suit and safety shoes and helmet and gloves and then began my journey to the heart of her (god bless her soul - the vessel i mean ;-)

went to the bridge and the engine room and the duty mess and the candy shop and the saloon and the theatre.. god its like a whole house on board! but of course, if you're expected to sail like 3 mths at a stretch or more!! went to check the containers and the cargo holds and the aft and fore and everything lah. was a pretty interesting 3 hrs (1800-2100) albeit a VERY tiring one cos i was ascending and descending and ascending and descending and ascending and descending ladders and stairwells and all. but DAMN interesting. kinda gives you a big picture of what goes on onboard a cargo ship.

too tired after that so went back to my room and fell asleep and had to awake for breakfast at 7.30 the nezt morn. went to JB with a few of the cadets and came back just as she was abt to leave for singapore. went up to monkey island to watch her leave tpp. was supposed to go up to the bridge to watch the berthing in SGP (expected abt 2300), but only stayed til 2230 and watched the sgp skyline, then too tired so went to sleep.

next day went to the cargo holds to check the reefers with the electrician and another cadet as she was loading in sgp. also connected them to reefer plugs (all were carrying shrimp) and set the temp. met the chief officer to plan the rest of my week onboard and he asked me what i would like to see and all the stuff i could do.

so basically - galley (kitchen), bridge (navigation, plotting, charting, etc.), moorings, bunkering, engine room, ship's papers, etc. Lunch that day was pretty weird tho - pork patties with cranberry sauce and bread crumbs. but i've had catfood before so this is alright i guess! tomato soup and ice cream with strawberry wafers and hersheys choc sauce for dessert ;-)

then met a marine officer at 1400 to check all the moorings as she's leaving PSA. apparently this area is the most dangerous cos a lot of things can go wrong and the ropes are so thick that if they snap on tension, have been known to break a man's body in half! had a nap, dinner, then went up to the bridge for navigation. captain was there and he taught me to plot ships on the radar - very very very interesting. can tell you exactly how close you would be to an oncoming ship in the exact time. amazing. btw, 1NM = 1.852KMs. (thats prob gonna stick in my mind forever)! she was going abt 24.7 knots and apparently at this speed, if a man falls overboard, he prob wouldnt be seen!

next day (thurs) - galley - blended onion, cut potatoes, fried sausages and stripped pork skin (to make bacon rind i think)! also made salad dressing with vinegar, mayo and mustard. the chief steward's a hilarious guy so had a lot of fun.. went his office and the captain's office and the thai cabin as well.

learnt abt charting in the afternoon on the bridge, then went fr a cadet meeting in the evening. played foosball with one of the engineers then went to the tv room to watch prison break and final destination. wanted to go to bed but just thought i'd pop by the bridge and got a chance to hand steer her in open waters - fun but tiring. and i LURRVVEE the binoculars - they are SOO powerful.

friday: breakfast - bran, cereal and sugar pops with cold milk and bread and nutella and cream cheese for breakfast ;-) went to the deck office and learnt about loading and bunkering from the CO. went to the captains office and the chief engineer's office to elarn about their duties and the kind of certs they need on board the vessel. engine room for abt 2 hrs in the afternoon. bloody huge. and hot. engineer was damn cute ;-)

played cards with the cadets after dinner (asshole) - if you lose, they call you asshole! watched prison break with the cute engineer - finished the whole first season ;-) made myself a sandwich and hit the sack.

sat: got up at 6 n went to the bridge to see her berth at yantian. very foggy and mountainous. apart from that, nothing much cos almost everyone was at shore. saw chicken little with a cadet and did my laundry. my last night on board (sob)!

well, got to hkg the next morn, got up at 6 again to watch her berth. then had breakfast, said some thank yous and goodbyes and got off.

well, thts it for now cos i wanna go home and tidur - so the next blog will be about my holiday ;-) til then, cheers.