Seoul

Kim Chi anyone?

I happened to be in Seoul the same time as Nard, but we only had enough time to meet for lunch before he leaves for Singapore. But we manage to take a walk nearby the hotel's day market. Fun!

London

I finally got the 'courage' to walk around London's tourists spots. I went to the Salisbury cathedral, Windsor castle, and the Stonehenge in my fourth trip to London. Lovely trip on a lovely trip, except for the part where we were herded from place to place in a rush. Never am I going to take a guided tour!

=Windsor Castle=

=Stonehenge=

=Salisbury Cathedral=

On my fifth trip to London, I went to London's Tower Bridge and Greenwich park. I also visited the Big Ben and took the ride on the world's largest ferris wheel, the London's Eye. The view from the Eye was breathtaking. It's worth its 13.50 pounds fee. Too bad I didn't have a proper camera with me. With my crappy Sony T-5, I took only limited good night shots. But great experience nonetheless! The Greenwich park is one of the main park that shows the Line that splits the east and west, the GMT.

=Tower Bridge=

=Greenwich Park, the GMT line=

=London's Eye=

=Big Ben=

Nard, you have been away the longest time.. i miss you.. come home soon..

9-11

It was September 11 when I woke up in my hotel room in London. My immediate reaction was to turn on the tv and the news channel. Scanning and listening to the news while preparing to go out for the day, I was relieved there was no terrorist attacks for that day. At least, not in the vincinity.

So, that day's plan was to go out and tour the part of London that I have not been, despite the fact that I've been to London for so many times. The Tower Bridge, Big Ben, London's Eye, the Greenwich park. Anyway, to cut the long story short, I went to all those places in a day's time.

During lunch with my colleagues, we were talking about my plans to go site seeing in London. They ask questions like, "Hey, you know it's September 11, don't you? You're still going out?" Oh well, I shrugged it off with the it's-been-five-years-dude attitude.

After coming back to Singapore and as I was looking through my photos, I stumbled upon the photos taken when I was in New York few weeks back. I went to Ground Zero, took some pictures (3 to be exact). It was too devastating a site. To think that the area has been a graveyard to thousands of people, it was just a heart-wrenching scene. Not only that, it has led to more deaths around the world, in Afghanistan, Iraq, London, Iran, India. Suddenly, the world is full of terrorists that wants nothing but to kill.

9-11 has started a war that is not going to end anytime soon. Five years has passed, the shadows of it remains. More and more people are dying in this war against terrorism. Even as I am writing this, there are people who die of gunshot, of bombs, of beatings.

Let's just take a break from our daily chores and have a quiet moment, to remember those who has left us and those who are still fighting...

It's a challenge!

About a few minutes ago, I stumbled across this site that says, 'List down ten things you love about your life...'

It got me thinking, it's not that easy to do just that. Us being human, it's much easier to list 100 problems rather than 10 things that we love about our life. Such ungrateful creatures we are. So here is the challenge, let's list down 5 things you love about your life in less than 10 minutes. When the time is up, let's see if you can fill up the numbers. No cheating here!

1. My traveling (1st minute)
2. The figure in my bank account. Muahaha (3rd minute)
3. Nard (4th minute)
4. My photo album that is categorized by countries (7th minute)
5. My family and friends (time's up!)

How hard can it be right? Hahaha...

Sick. Medicine. Sleep.

I fell sick again.

It has not been long since my last visit to the doctor, and yesterday after work, I have to visit the doctor again. Not exactly my favourite past-time. And the medicine, eeeuuww...

Time to take my medicine. And sleep.

Sigh...

Reflection by the plane's window

It's almost the end of August. Two-third of the year has passed me by. The other day when I was in London, I was on the phone with Yen Ling from that faraway place (it might be on another planet) Aberdeen, she said that 'life is like a toilet roll. The nearer you are to the end, the faster it rolls.' Can't help to agree with this cuckoo. Finally, she is making some sense.

Yet again, this post is going to be a reflection of what has happened this year. (More or less like how companies audit their financial position.. haha) This year has been an eventful year, a year full of soul-searching, endless with surprises when I least suspected it.

Right now, right here, I can proudly say that I've achieved one of my biggest dream. Which is to travel around the world, and hey, I'm only 22. I have been to a lot of places, but traveling has taught me a lot of things I never know I never know. It is a great revelation to me, because I have always been a person who never knew how to count my blessings, and now, I'm counting it.

Other dreams that I have consistently thought of coming true, is slowly coming into focus, so I can finally say that I have found the reason of my being, my destiny, as Paul Coelho would put it.

But at the moment, let's just enjoy the moment, and I'll blog more, earn more, eat more, shop more and be happy.. after all, I can only grow so much in a year right? Hahaha...

Melbourne

With last minute changes, I managed to go to Melbourne with nard last week. This is our first trip together, and it was fun.

We stayed in the casino hotel, which I complained so much about because it is so far away from the city. It is such a hassle to get city, either a 20 minutes walk or by the free shuttle provided by the hotel.

I just realised that Melbourne itself has quite a few places that is nice to sight-see. The past few times that I was there, I spent all my time catching up with my relatives, cousins and friends, that I overlooked the sightseeing part.

Then again, this trip to Melbourne, we didn't do much either. Just took lots of pictures by the river near the hotel. And there's this lovely red colored block of concrete somewhere. Lovely lovely. The next time I'm in Melbourne, I definitely going to explore more of the intimate parts of this subtle yet imposing city.