chiang mai - kantoke palace

on the mini van to our hotel, the local guide was asking us whether we want to have a special thai dinner.

the thai dinner is at this place called kantoke palace. we will be served with local authentic thai food, and the food is free flow. while eating dinner, there will also be a dance performance.

(entrance to the palace)

(where we were seated)

so these were what we ate:

the starters - fried banana and soup

(look like chicken wing rite?)



the main food, which were put in small bowls. once the food is finished, the staff will come and top up the food.

炸猪皮

spicy pork

cabbage... not very nice...

fried chicken... this is quite nice!

very appetizing sauce

another sauce for the cucumber... taste a bit weird

fried sweet potato


dance performance was so-so. nothing fantastic. the most fantastic part was that the dancers invited the guests to go up on stage to perform. and this guy who look a bit like taiwan's 阿亮 came to our table and invite darling. (no female dancer came to me to invite me hahahaha)


so darling went up on stage, and naturally she became the centre of attraction! all the ang mor guests were looking at her. haha.

this whole dinner thingy cost us 350 baht per pax. which is around 16 dollars. a bit not worth it. but for being tourists, and for that one of a kind experience, 随便 lah 随便 lah~

sports & wellness camp

yesterday and today i was in sch to help out in the sports & wellness camp.

this is the first ever sports & wellness camp organised in the sch, for the sports cca students and TAF club students. the objectives are to foster better relationship between members of different sports ccas, for everyone to be exposed to different sports, and encourage TAF students to lead a healthy lifestyle by involving themselves in sports.

so for yesterday, i reach sch at 12 pm, and left sch at 11 pm!

and for today, i reach sch at 615 am, because at 630 am my wushu kids have to lead the campers to do morning physical training, so i definitely have to be around in case they gabra, which unfortunately, they did gabra. -.-'''

the program after that was hiking at southern ridges. there were more than enough teachers going so i went back home to take a nap. that is the benefit of staying so near sch. but instead of napping i played command & conquer until 1230 pm, then went back to sch again for the rest of the program.


i sacrificed myself again by being the cameraman. haha.

anyway i saw my chem CT yesterday and asked her how well did my class perform for the chem mid year. she said the class got the lowest MSG out of all the chemistry (combined) classes for that level! anyway the MSG is 2.58! woo hoo! i feel very 欣慰 upon hearing that.

updates on chiang mai trip will come soon, i promise! :)

chiang mai - empress hotel

last sunday we left for chiang mai.

the flight was supposed to be about 2 hours 50 minutes. however there was a huge thunderstorm at chiang mai, and the plane cant touch down at the chiang mai airport. so the plane keep circling in the sky for around 30 minutes.

the captain reassured us by saying that the plane has enough fuel to last for two hours. this doesnt give us any reassurance. instead we were faced with the worst case scenario that we really might have to be in the sky for another two hours! -.-'''

so ten minutes later the captain made an announcement that the plane is going to land. so the plane start going down. we can see the heavy rain splattering on the windows. as the plane was going lower and lower, the rain on the windows become heavier and heavier. then the plane did a sudden jerk downwards which freak all the passengers out, and darling immediately covered her mouth.

i grabbed the paper bag in front of me, tore the opening and quickly put it at her mouth. the plane continued going down for a few more seconds, and then suddenly it jerked upwards and went up to the sky.

and darling vomitted into the paper bag. the paper bag was half full, which is really alot of vomit. darling said she vomitted all the fish pasta out. the fish pasta was her meal on the flight. mine was chicken curry with rice, if you want to know. haha.

so the plane was hovering in the sky again for about 20 minutes, and i was holding darling's paper bag of vomit for that 20 minutes, because the air stewardess refuse to let me leave my seat to dispose the vomit at the lavatory.

finally the plane touch down and i quickly rushed to the lavatory, because i also have to answer the call of nature super urgently.

we stayed inside the plane for 3 hours 50 minutes! this was my worst flight ordeal.

once we stepped out of the arrival hall, the mini van was already there to bring us to the hotel.

we stayed at empress hotel.

it is 10 minute walk away from the chiang mai night bazaar. there are two massage shops located just outside the hotel.

the hotel exhibits a royal and antique feel. royal because the lobby looks very grand with all the golden statues. antique because the rooms use very antique wooden furniture.






hotel room is very spacious. as for the tv there is a CNN news channel, CCTV channel, a taiwanese channel, AXN and star sports.

(our room number)



the hotel breakfast is wondeful! buffet style, with alot of varieties! got western, oriental and thai!


(the egg looks really nice! reminds me of mauritius where we had eggs almost everyday for breakfast!)

(they also have a wide variety of fruits for breakfast. and the mangoes taste really sweet!)

first day of breakfast i had omelette, potatoes, sausages, and danish pastry.

second day of breakfast i had waffles, bread pudding, cakes and chinese porridge!

for more information on empress hotel:
http://www.agoda.com/asia/thailand/chiang_mai/empress_hotel.html

stay tuned for the next post: dinner @ kantoke palace!

chiang mai here i come!

darling and i will be going to the land of thousand smiles (chiang mai to be exact) tomorrow. we are taking silk air and the flight is at 1455.

over there, we will take their authentic transport



we will become devoted buddhists



we will bathe elephants



we will shop and eat at the night bazaar



we will eat their authentic food like pineapple fried rice and mango glutinous rice



we will go for massages!



AND WE WILL BE BACK ON TUESDAY!

handball court shoes

recently i had been going to braddell heights community centre for handball training. it all started when eric from my hall keep bugging me to go for the training, and after dunno how many weeks, i am finally starting to train over there.

actually i had been there before, which was during my secondary school days. i went there with a few of my wushu sch team members on sunday mornings to train with our wushu instructors.

i also cant explain why i am quite involved in handball right now. after my uni days i thought i will stop playing handball for good, but who knows i started to play again for the ntu/nie team, and then i was involved in organising the first singapore youth handball tournament, and later on i will also be involved in the handball yog!

so for those who still dunno what position i played in, here is the answer:

(i wish i could be able to make saves like that!)

goalkeepers are the most relaxed and most pitiful on the playing court.

relaxed because you no need to run up and down the court all the time.

pitiful because you always kenna whacked by the ball, and you will hate it to the max when you are faced with a fast break from the opposition, which most likely will result in you conceding the goal.

hence to play as goalkeeper, you need to be very strong mentally and psychologically, because you concede goals often, but you must often tell yourself to stay alert and keep the balls out of the goal. if the goalkeeper plays well, the team also plays well!

ok anyway i became a fan of this handball page in facebook, and the page has photos of handball court shoes. the shoes are so beautiful, but EXPENSIVE.




dunno whether hong kong got sell handball court shoes a not. maybe can ask the hong kong youth team athletes on facebook! haha.

back to heaven

after the ten weeks of hell, its finally back to heaven for one month plus a few days, and then its back to hell again. at least 3 years of hell.

its nice to see all my pe classmates!


a chocolate cake to celebrate the conclusion of our practicum. next time should cater halal buffet. haha.

so for this three weeks, i only need to go to nie twice every week. thursdays will be my chemistry lectures, whereby we will share with everyone our practicum experiences.

wednesdays will be the four hour CME workshop. to be exact there are two 4-hour workshops. i just had one today. so next week is the final CME workshop.

which means on the third week i just need to go to sch once! hahaha. how cool is that!

a sneak peek on what we did during the CME workshop:


------------------------------------------------------

so why did i become Pam? hahaha.

in 20 years...

hahahahaha~

monday post

barclays premier league was concluded yesterday night. it was wishful hoping on my part that wigan will put up a good fight to win chelsea, but chelsea thrash wigan 8-0 instead.

man u win stoke city 4-0, but it was useless. chelsea wins man u by one point and was crowned champion. yawn...

nvm, try again next year. hope that man u will buy at least 2 big name players!

so for the whole morning i was just slacking at home, surfing the internet to do research for chiang mai trip. initially i intend to go to the elephant camp to watch elephant show and ride elephants, then go to tiger kingdom and take photos with tigers, and then go adventure center take buggy ride.

but i chance upon this elephant nature park website whereby you can interact with the elephants the whole day, feed them and even bathe them in the river! this is an opportunity not to be missed and darling also wants to try that, so we shall go to elephant nature park instead!

i was also looking through my previous pics, and i chanced upon this:


michael i can be in your 夜已深 item! hahahahaha.


---------------------------------------------------------

later i will go to SYOG for a meeting at 7 pm, then go for xiao long bao buffet at holland v crystal jade with my NTU handball friends, and finally 12 midnight i will be singing ktv at cineleisure k box with darling and her friends until 6 am the next morning! woo hoo! happening!

passport size photo

YOG is asking all volunteers to upload a passport size photo so that accredition passes can be made for us.

All photographs submitted must adhere to the following guidelines. Photographs that do not meet the specifications stated below will not be accepted.

(a) Photos must be recent (within the last 6 months) to ensure an accurate likeness of
the applicant.

(b) Photos taken must be in colour; black and white or sepia photos are not accepted.

(c) Photos must be taken with even lighting; there should be no reflections or shadows on the face or head.

(d) Background of the photo must be plain white and must have good contrast against the individual’s face and hair.

(e) Headgear, hair bands or dark glasses are not allowed, except for religious or medical reasons.

(f) Photo of applicant should be face-on, showing the top of the head to the neck with both eyes visible and eyebrows not covered. Side profiles are not accepted.

(g) Photos must not be altered in any way, digitally or otherwise.

(h) Photos in print form will not be accepted. Only digital photos will be accepted.

(i) All photos must be .jpg/.jpeg file format – with 300dpi resolution and file size between 50KB and 500KB.

photos must be uploaded by 12th May!

yesterday night at darling's house, i ask darling to take a photo of myself, but it was at night, and because of the lights in her bedroom, the photo does not obey guideline (c). i deleted the photo so cannot show.

so just now i took a photo by myself.

i look damn chui, probably because of the 2 hour soccer session in the morning, under the crazy hot sun.

and i quickly source through my archive of photos, hopefully can find some picture that portray me in a more handsome, youthful and vibrant look. and i found this!



after the adjusting and cropping...


ta da! this will be my passport size photo for the YOG accredition pass! haha.

last day of practicum

so finally, its the last day of my 10 weeks of practicum.

i can tell everyone honestly that during the first 3 weeks i was like going to die, because having nua too long in nie, i find it hard to adjust to the fast-paced life in sch, rushing to complete lesson plans, rushing to prepare my teaching resources, and also having to attend dance rehearsals.

but the 4th week onwards, i became more adjusted to life in sch, and everything becomes a breeze. it also helps that i have two wonderful CTs, and i love the cohesive working environment, although sometimes the students' stupid behavior make me wanna strangle them at times. haha.

so today i was walking around the school, students came up to me and said goodbye to me, wish me all the best, and even said that they will miss me. they also ask me whether am i coming back but i refuse to tell them i am coming back. instead i just tell them it depends on god's will. i noe i am mischievous. hahahahaha.

i am very touched by 3 of my students from my chemistry class, because they specially went out of school to buy a box of merci chocolates and came back to school to give it to me. thank you carlyn, jaslin and diane. :)

before leaving we had a short meeting with batman, who told each of us our tentative deployment.

of course we have to take a group picture with batman!



after the meeting i went to tampines safra with my pe colleagues for lunch to celebrate my last day of practicum. we ate at sakura! they have this special promotion of 12.80 per pax, but you must finish eating the buffet within one hour!


i ate tempura prawn, lamb chop, salad, clam garlic pasta, dim sum, scallops, prawns, sushi, salmon sashimi, durian cake, kueh lapis and oreo cheese cake. i drank a cup of f&n grape and a cup of cappucino. all these for a price of 12.80!

and then my plan was to go back home and nua before going to city hall to meet my jc friends for dinner. but then my hod got some stuff to do, which i volunteered to stay back to help him. so wat happened? ok it goes like this...

my school is going to become a community school, meaning that the school will lease out its facilities to the public, including our indoor sports hall and gym. so one of the members of parliament will be coming to the sch tomorrow for the official declaration of the community school, and he will tour around the school. so batman asked my hod to make our gym look proper and professional, so that the member of parliament will be impressed.

after the satisfying lunch, some of us make a trip down to changi general hospital to borrow some gym equipment. then we head back to school to decorate the gym.

before:



how the gym look like, after the decoration:




behold this artistic design, done by my colleague, dan. haha.


--------------------------------------------------------------

went to shokudo to eat dinner. i ate a bowl of mushroom ramen, drank a bottle of milk tea, and the bill cost me 16.55!

i feel very cheated because i ate so much yummy food for lunch at a price of 12.80. so only one word can describe my thoughts, my feelings, my whatsoever:

WASSUP!!!

thursday post

today i am very happy because its the second last day of practicum!

and i went to century square with my colleagues to eat popeye! popeye as in the fried chicken, not the sailor. but the portions they give is very little and i was not that full. :(

ok brushing aside that unhappy lunch, the next happy thing is i finally played volleyball at the school's ISH with my colleagues! we had a really fun time playing, from 4 pm to 6 pm! woo hoo! reminds me of the nie days that i played with my pe classmates.

i cant wait to go back to nie and see them again! although its a bit too far for my liking. haha.

the weather is very hot these days. i think the planet is dying. what shall we do?

scroll down for the answer...

.


.



.

ip man 2

watched ip man 2 with darling at suntec just now. the movie was unsurprisingly AWESOME. the fighting scenes made me BREATHLESS.

but what i like most about the movie is that it brings across a very important message:

人的地位虽然有高低之分，但是人格绝对不能有贵贱之别，我们必须学会怎样互相尊重。

after watching the movie, i am proud to be a practitioner of wushu, although i have not been practising it for quite a number of years. hence i am very tempted to pick up wushu again!

world expo here i come!

dear all, this afternoon i just booked the air tickets to shang hai!

mummy, mike, fen, nzj and xiaoyun will be at beijing attending the tech classes, after that they will fly to shang hai on the 11th june. me and hw will also be flying to shang hai on 11th june, and our flight is at 1725. we taking SQ!

so we will stay in shang hai until 15th, then go to shen zhen to visit some cultural village, then go hong kong for some shopping, and then hw and i will leave hong kong on the 20th, but nzj and fen will only leave hong kong on the 22nd.

please dun have the impression that i am rich, actually i am not. i just think that now is the right time to travel because once i get married and have kids, very hard for me to travel already. my married colleagues are encouraging me to travel more before i settle down! haha.

different groups of teachers in the staffroom

this was taken from a note posted by jingkai on facebook (not written by him of course):

· the Tai-Tais, women who had married well-off husbands, and who admired, respected and competed with each other for their Ferragamo shoes and Louis Vuitton bags.

· the few unmarried men who were mothered by the Tai-Tais as they were regarded as “good” men (i.e. hardworking and honest) but ironically insufficiently compelling marriage material (for why on earth would a functioning, virile, desirable man become a teacher?).

· the married men who usually lived in HDB flats (unlike the Tai-Tais and their non-teacher husbands), who generally kept to themselves.

· the older single women who were diligent in ensuring that all forms are handed in on time and helping students who need extra help get the preferred grades. They were usually more conservatively (and cheaply) dressed, and did not generally interact socially with the Tai-Tais.

· the expatriate teachers who were generally avoided by the other teachers and not expected to do very much because they either could not be trusted to do the work, were too difficult to communicate with, or were too troublesome to work with. And when they got together, they made plain their disdain for Singapore and its school system of which they were a part. Stereotypical as it may sound, those I’d met had invariably come to Singapore either to heal from a broken marriage (in which case, getting involved with a local woman usually came with the package), or had fled an unsuccessful career so they could return home and say, “I spent a few years in the Orient.”

· And the young teachers, bright-eyed and bushytailed, who believed they could make a difference, and who usually started out immensely popular with the students. They organized extra activities which they were not required to do, sat with students for long hours when they had problems, and generally tried to innovate with teaching. The Tai-Tais usually tried to matchmake the young single female teachers with single men they knew, but never the single male teachers. Seasoned teachers generally sat back and placed bets on when the neophytes would eventually burn out.

I didn’t know a single lazy teacher - everyone was extremely hardworking, taking work home, often physically running around as they hurried to different parts of the school. The teachers hardly had time to rest and reflect. It was as if we had been trained to work hard, but not to think.

-----------------------------------------------------------

so which category do you belong to?

from that passage i think i belong to the "young teachers, bright-eyed and bushytailed".

let's see when will the neophytes eventually burn out.