televisions' life support

Sunday, December 25

t.o.w. the best experience

Warning - This entry loads long.

Firstly, Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah!

Monica, Monica, have a happy hannukah.
Saw Santa Claus, he said hello to Ross.
Please tell Joey! Christmas will be snowy!
And Rachael and Chandler ladidadididiler!

I love Phoebe.

Anyway, I've done a fair bit of amazing stuff. From chairing the organisation of a 100-strong party back in 2003 to being up at 8000ft on a hot air balloon to other insignificant yet meaning events that have happened over the course of my life. But nothing has and most probably nothing will ever for a very long time compare to the OBK experience. I feel blessed that I was given a chance to go for it. I feel dumb for almost wanting to back out at the very last minute. But mostly I feel thankful for everything that happened and did not happen during the course of the trip. =) Definitely something you should try. Anyway. I'm about to attempt to describe in words the course of events over the past 12 days but I don't think it will be easy. As Sheena said, words cheapen feelings. Hopefully the photos will help.

Day 1 - Midnight Flight to Korea
To think we almost didnt get to leave for Korea promptly because of the KE pilots strike. Anyway I felt like shit on the ride to the airport cos I realised I didnt pack it my watch and face moisturiser. And when I got to the airport I felt worst cos' both Dennis and Sheena werent there and I felt rather lost. Luckily Hsien, Kenneth Tan and Brandon Leong were nice enough to talk to me for a bit. Checked our luggages in and then said our goodbyes and we were off! Hah. Dennis and I were quite stranded after we crossed immigration but the humanities guys were nice enough and included us in. Lulled around the terminal and sat at macs for a while before boarding the ugly plane. Lucked out into pulling a seat next to Dennis and Kenneth Tan. Yea. Otherwise it would have been boring. Anyway. The flight was the first time I came to be acquainted with Mr. Eric. Indubitably, the funniest person I know in this world. Slept a bit on the plane. Reached Incheon International Airport at 6 in the morning.

Kenneths

meeting Eric

Day 2 - Reaching Base Camp
Got on the bus and slept the journey away. Oh. This is Day 1 in my 200 dollar solomon long johns. =D Stopped halfway at this reststop and then started to get to know the humanes ppl better because everyone was joking about how lim en walked straight into the guys toilet without knowing. Ate my baby donuts and koped some of Sheena's soup. Sheena is determined to try every single Korean dish. =D And I mean that in the nicest possible way. =D

Stopped a little bit later for a Korean lunch. I'm not a big fan of Korean food but I cherished the fact that it would be the last decent meal for a while.

Finally reached base camp after a 3 hour bus ride and a trek across a bridge.

Got split into groups and I was in Chainsaw. Initially I was like wtf, cos both Sheena and Dennis were in the other group, Pigs. Argh. But never mind, got settled in soon enough. Here are the Chainsaws!

Kenneth Tan

Hsien

Edwin

Kaisiong

Eric

Matthew

Jieyu

Gracia Vera

Estelle

Pamela

Alicia

Yiting

Lim En

Joyce

Winnie (teacher chaperone)

Our group instructors were Song and Ari but Song was MIA for quite a bit so I guess I regard my dearest Ari as the main instructor. Shes a damn good person. Shes gently strong and powerfully finessed'.

I love Ari.

Ari loves me

Anyway. We got our gear and then started pitching out tents. Shared a tent with hsien, edwin and kaisiong.

Then we got into the main tent and started cooking dinner. A very sad dinner. Spam, rice and kimchi soup (which I hate). After that we had a group sharing session and they asked us why we were here. All time low during the camp, didnt really know anyone well, I was freaking cold at -6 degrees and I was damn tired. I wanted to go home. Boo.

Day 3 - Kenneth on Ice
Did rappelling, a mini flying fox and a traverse across a frozen river. Haha. I lucked out into being one of the earlier ones to complete the traverse so I got in loads of time to skate on the river with my salomon boots which are a bore to wear by the way. They are highcut, so even though I've done a lot of demanding stuff during the trip, the hardest thing I had to do everyday in the morning was to put on the pair of freaking boots. Anyway, we got harnessed up and then had a lot of fun in the rope courses. More so on the frozen river where we engaged in senseless territorial ice shaving fights and ridiculous efforts to try and break the ice layer and even more futile attempts to spot fishes through the clear ice.

The infamous salomon boots

Then we had a mini trek around the base camp to look at the Korean Outdoors and its a LOT of leaves. Lots of clambering and climbing and sliding as we did a 6k trek. The terrain was quite ok just that some parts were a little slippery. I think I slipped and almost rolled my ankle. I remember cramping on my right thigh too after trying to jump over a log. Heh. I am fat, podgy and unfit. Anyway, pictures along the mostly easy trek. It is very safe to judge the difficulty level of that day's trek by the amount of photos I have to offer.

Limen broke this off with her bare hands.

We all love Ari

At the halfway mark

At the end of the trek

Day 4 - Lost!
We were supposed to play this silly game of navigation in the Korean wilderness. And I had thought that with 4 years of learning how to play with that damn silva compass, I'd be able to navigate with ease. Quite the opposite. I didnt even remember how to set the map. To think I yelled at my sec 1s for not knowing how. Boo. =( Anyway. We got quite hopelessy lost cos' we had to climb up this uber steep trail and we didnt really know what we were doing. We were following rafia strings like the bible cos' we thought they marked out the trail but they were actually signs to show farmers where good mushrooms were growing. Heh. Ari rocks. She led us out of the deep mountains. Its almost as if she lived there, she would make turns and spot paths that we never would have and she knew exactly how to get back to camp even though we were hopelessly lost. Yep. But I remembered feeling bad about the trip cos I felt drained and I was dreading the even worst 3 day expedition that would soon follow.

Nice, meaningful pic

Day 5 - Last Breath on the Stairway to Heaven
Expedition Day! Argh. Woke up real early to unpitch our tents and then caught a local bus to the base of the mountain. Some idiot spread word that it would be a 16k hike up the mountain and I almost threw that asswipe off the peak. It turned out to be ONLY 10k. Heh. But yeah. The first 1k was easy cos' we just trekked up the main road then my sunglasses broke unceremoniously so my poor pupils were left without protection. The next 4-5k was not too bad, a lot of bridges to cross and the incline wasnt too bad yet. Then after a while the incline got really bad and someone spread word that we were just 1k away and once again I almost killed the person cos we soon found out we had another 3k left. Of which, 2 were steep. Stairway to Heaven as we aptly called it. The last 2 k was 2 kilometers of stairs. Not nice metal/concrete stairs but mountain stairs. Terraced in to take the shape of stairs. Each step was equivilant to 3 normal steps on the staircases we use so often. The terrain was rough and rocky so after a while we resorted to using our hands to clamber up. I almost died I tell you. TWO FRIGGIN KILOMETERS OF STAIRS. Come to think of it, it really was quite dangerous cos I had about a 1 meter space to walk (or waddle with that stupid 15kilo backpack) and on either sides of me were steep slopes down so if I fell I would probably die. And there were a lot of trees too so I don't see how a helicopter (as promised by the insurance company) could possibly airlift me out. And the worst part was we only had one instructor who practically ran up the stairs like there was a pot of hot kimchi waiting for him. So all of us were panting in keeping up with him so much so that some of us had cramps. I think I cramped up about 3 times during the whole expedition as we climbed up to an elevation of 1400m from a mere 50m. I never knew till then that if you walk out a cramp, it will go away. Haha. So yep. Then we finally met the notorious mountain man and we all felt damn relieved after the draining 8 hour trek up the friggin steep mountain. I still cant believe we made it all the way up in 1 day. Then when I finally reached the mountain hut, the expected feeling of a great magnificent triumph did not come. All I felt was a sense of relief. The mere thought that the trek was over and that I was safe was overwhelming. No time for mental rest though. As the sun went down, it soon got freaking cold and I remember shaking in the mountain kitchen hut with Kenneth Tan because I really could not feel my fingers nor toes and I was so afraid that I would lose them to frostbite. The pigs started streaming in about a half an hour after us in intervals and in groups. One thing that I'm uber proud of chainsaw was that no matter how slow we got because people were pulling us back, we stuck together as a team and waited it out and completed the whole thing as a team. Right. It was just a physically and emotionally stressed day. Ate our MREs which are these really cool boxes that have a heating pack in it so all you do is pull the tab and the food turns hot instantaneously. Drank hot choc' too. We slept in this small mountain hut so about 30 of us had to squeeze into this friggin 5m x 4m room. Imagine the squeeze. It was also so cold that my moisturiser froze up. Just as I got into my sleeping bag I realised how that at desperate times, the poor side of the human spirit really shows. I mean, some guys took the wooden bunks even before some of the girls arrived the hut so some of them ended up sleeping in the floor. Some would refuse to try to make space. It really was a 'I'-mode out there. I managed to force my way up to the wooden bunk cos there was no more space on the floor. I hated everyone that night except for Ari of course cos' she really was cool in making sure everyone had a spot to sleep in. I distinctly remember being the 2nd last person to find a sleeping spot. Not that I blame anyone, I just guess its how humans behave. If I had managed to secure an early spot on the bunk, I probably wouldnt have given it up in that fucking cold. For the record, it was a freaking -16 degrees that night. I hate the mountain hut. Physically draining day.

Final checks

View along the way

On the Stairway to Heaven

Entrance to the hell hole mountain hut

Day 6 - Minus 25!
Woke up in the friggin cold and everyone just moved very slowly cos I guess no one wanted to leave the hut and go out into the morning cold. But we had to wake up early to trek to the very summit, which was about a 5 mins walk away to catch the sunrise. Now that was nice. First the sky was a very nice shade of blue and at the horizon it was a little yellow. Then in mere seconds, it turned into orange and then this great big ball of magnificent fire just blew up and rose in a matter of seconds. Beautiful. =)

View from the summit

Zhuai picture of KS thanks to great photography skills belonging to Kenneth the Magnificent

Kicthen Quarters

Vappys delirious from the cold

The trek wasnt that bad. It was short, about 4k. And the terrain though tough to negotiate at times was still manageable. One thing that bothered me a whole lot was the twigs though. They grew into the trail so I was getting twig-slapped every 2 minutes. Ouch. Anyway. We reached the highest point of elevation of the expedition at this really pretty meadow. The wind was pretty strong so everyone kinda huddled together and pressed on.

Chainsaw and Pigs

Finally reached Camp 2. Now Camp 2 is nothing like the mountain hut or base camp. It is friggin cold and there were no buildings to seek shelter from the winds. And we had to pitch our tents on snow so that meant sleeping on cold icy snow. Argh. Anyway, after we did pitch our tents, it started to snow. So everyone just went into the main tent and tried to keep warm with Little Sun and the stove's fire. Halfway through dinner I remember my feet feeeling wet and I was afraid to death that I would wake up the next morning without my toes. After dinner we just sat around singing christmas songs since it was fitting. It was FREAKING cold. Halfway I decided I had to bomb the toilet even though I told myself at the start of the expedition that I would not expose my tush to the freaking cold. But I was pleasantly surprised when I reached the toilet tent. The seat was extremely comfortable and most of the wind was blocked out. The seat was leather-lined and even though the stench was gross, the comfort that my tush gained from the leather seat more than made up for it. There was even a small little pocket in the tent-lining to place toilet paper and other necessities like my glove and trusty headlamp that shone light into the bomb bin. Someone made a very large poop just before I did and I had a rather nice view of it. Very nice tent indeed. I think we all slept at 9pm cos we had nothing to do since we reached base camp at 3, ate at 5 and started getting tired of singing at 8. That night it was minus 25 and all I had were my 2 sleeping bags and my silly tent. I placed my heat packs in my socks though for fear of frostbite but they started burning a hole in my socks midway through the night so I had them removed. I think I kicked Kaisiong in the processed and might have elbowed Edwin too.

Snowing!

Sleeping on snow

My favourite tent

Experimenting with my MEGA O.I.S that I didnt know my cam had

Day 7 - 70mph winds
Day 3. I promised myself halfway through the freezing cold night that I will not get out of my sleeping bag lest the temperature goes above -10. Even though it was around -15, I still had to pull myself up and 1. freeze in the shit cold, 2. put on my jacket that had ice in it, 3. roll up TWO sleeping bags (which is not fun to do at all in a hot climate, much less at friggin -15), 4. put on my shoes that had frozen up on the outside, and 5. clamber out of the "warm" tent into the freaking cold for breakfast. Ate beijing mian for breakfast and that was real good. Haha. It tasted like Hokkien Noodles. Yum. Even though we brought oranges, no one wanted to eat them because they were 1. frozen, and 2. hard as ice (which would make sense sering as they were frozen, but nvm.)

Began the final day of expedition. First part wasnt too bad, cos we were hiking back to where we came from for about an hour and a half. Then my most beloved Ari told us we were on our own and we had to find our way to the destination on our own. Boo. I honestly felt like that was the last time I would have seen Ari ever again. I imagined all of us falling of a steep cliff or getting hopelessly lost and meeting a korean cannibal that would kill us because all we could offer him was Kidos. Anyway. The first 15 minutes of that track wasnt so bad and we were dumb enough to be singing TSOM songs like that one with "the hills are alive..." Yea. Cos once we left the forested area, the hills really got alive. To one side of us was this freaking expansive hill and the wind was coming at us at 70kmph and we had no protection whatsoever. So every step we took, we took with much difficulty cos I've heard from my most unfortunate friend that at those speeds, the winds were not unlike speeding cars coming at you. So we trudged ahead, everyone huddled together and tried to push forward. Then for a while the wind died down and we came to this y-fork and we all thought we would finally be able to curse and swear at the friggin wind and actually be heard. But the wind picked up again and we took the wrong turn at the y-fork and this mild sand storm started blowing sand into our faces so I was inhaling sand with every breath and I had to look down at my feet cos' otherwise the bloody sand would have hit me in the eye and I had no sunglasses (if you remember from Day 1 of the expedition) to shield me from this ghastly weather. God Mother of Friggin Bollocks! So this was hard. Having to find out we were on the wrong trek and having to hike back (uphill, mind you) for about 45 minutes in the friggin sand storm and having been overtaken by the pigs felt even worse. Everyone (I assume, even though Hsien was still able to carry 2 bagpacks) was havig problems on their own with the freaking weather. And for the first time, I felt humbled by Mother Nature. Like I haven't experienced first hand any natural disasters and I did expect the cold when I signed up for this but the wind! We were hiking against the wind so that made things harder and there were times when each step I took to the left, I would end up walking to the right. Even the breaks were to die for, literally. Cos' even though we tried to find a spot with shelter from the wind, at best all we could do was a small ledge to hide under. And still the sand would end up blowing into your food and every other open orifice your face had to offer. While some others tried to walk together and talk about stuff to try and forget about the bloody winds. The rest, including myself, choose to face this ordeal solitarily. Not that we were freaking loners but had anyone come up to me with a joke during that freaking time I would have manhandled the person down the hill. Whats more, I didnt see how I could talk when my mouth was covered by the jacket hood flaps that was dirty and grotesquely looked like it had fungi growing on it. I was NOT going to open my mouth. So all I did for about 3 hours was walk with my face down, staring at this area about the size of a toilet bowl and trying my damn'est to put one foot before the other. To try to psyche myself up, I would hum dumb songs like South Park's Karl's Mum A Bitch or sing stupid songs in my head. I even came up with this stupid rap that included beatboxing at one time about how I would reach the freaking destination and for the first time be able to wash the grime off my body and be able to wash my hair.

That went on till we reached this downhill portion with a building in front of us. The pigs had just arrived so even though we felt lousy losing the final trek to them having won on most occasions, we felt relieved that we were finally there and that we had made up some time. Just as we reached the building, the pigs gathered around and started cheering for us and had Sheena and Dennis not be in pigs, I would have started cheering about every possible type of pork dish available. Nyeh. Haha. I'm not a good loser. Anyway. The pigs started doing stretching exerices and Ari (who suddenly appeared and made all my muscle cramps and aches go away) led us to the back of the building where we thought the entrance would be. But she led us further down the road and told us that we another 1km to go! All of a sudden, we were rejuvenated and after 3 cold hard days and having trekked a total of 22km of mountaineous terrain, we still managed to break into a semi-run down the hill.

Then when we finally reached the destination, I remember feeling empowered. Like I could do anything in this world! Except maybe give birth or do the entire expedition ever again. That I think I will not be able to do again in this life. Haha. But anyway, we checked into the resort-like place. Now I had envisioned the place to have a common room for everyone and separate common bathrooms for guys and girls. But the place was a freaking godsend and everyone was chumming about how the entire shit-ass expedition was worth it when we got into the rooms because the place was about the size of a 3-room HDB, had heated parquet floors, had 3 rooms, a living room and a kitchen and had a BLOODY TOILET. Of course, all this was before we actually got into the bathroom and attempted to bathe. I bunked in with Jieyu, Matthew, Eric and Edwin. We took turns to bathe and even though the shower was a godsend, I now might have gone without it because the water was freaking cold! I remember the first 5 seconds of my unforgettable shower had hot boiling water and I was dumb enough to turn it down. Cos then, I never got my hot water back ever again. Instead the water was icy cold, so I had to turn it off. I started trembling and I crouched over and put my knees together and started shaking like a polaroid picture. Nyeh. But I was really freaking cold, never before have I ever felt so cold. So after 5 minutes of trembling in the cold during which I honestly felt like I had gone mad with the trembling like I had entered hypothermia or something like that and I remembered telling myself I was a great big idiot to complete the expedition and then die in the shower. ARGH! But anyway, I decided to brave the icy cold waters and started soaping myself so I would have no chance but to shower up. The saddest revelation came after I washed my hair and twenty million strands of hair came out. I almost died. Bah. Anyway, after a bit of acclimatisation, the water became bearable and I stepped out of the toilet, for the first time in 6 days, presentable. =)

In retrospect, the best thing the resort had to offer was not the shower, but space. After so many nights of having to stuff my belongings into the bag cos I only had a space of about a toilet bowls area to pack, I finally had SPACE. And to a high-strung organised freak like me, this was the best present Santa could give. I laid my things out one by one as though they were on display. I couldnt control it and this huge wide grin just came out of my face. It was a melting pot of emotions. Relief. True Happiness. Empowerment. Its funny how after an outdoor course, the simplest things like a shower or space can make one truly happy. Anyway. We went for dinner which was about a 600m walk away at this restaurant. And we were served hot food that had no grass in it. I was a happy happy man. After dinner, we bought stuff from this convenience store so while everyone made a mad dash for the chips and noodles and what not. I made the obvious choice of COKE. Even though it did cost 2.50 for a small 600ml bottle. Every sweet sip was spritually scintillating. Ahh. =D

Now that the expedition was over, I must give special mention and credit to my toes. While my shoulders were strained from the heavy bag, it was my feet that were really killing me after each day of the expedition and we got to take off our shoes and rest our feet. To wear the shoes in the morning is one thing, but to have to take them off after walking 9k of mountaineous terrain is even worst. And after that, every step I took without my shoes I would utter a single profanity. That said I exhausted my collection pretty soon. But thankfully, I did toe clenching sessions everynight before I slept during the expedition and that saved me a whole lot. So thank you toes!

Back to civilisation. We watched football but trust me I felt like killing my roommates when I heard Friends was on.

Packing flurry

As compared to this amount of space

Stupid Boots

Food without grass

Chainsaw guys with Song

Worlds Apart

Day 8 - Orange peels, gloves and dogs.
Woke up in the resort and then packed up for basecamp. Ate breakfast where we had dinner and then took a bus back to basecamp. The bus journey was bad. It was very hot and stuffy because the idiot driver refused to turn down the heater and the journey had lots of bends so most of us felt like puking. But anyway, finally reached base camp. Pitched our tents and participated in a game of frisbee where I think I knocked Edwin's nose of with my superb throwing skills. Then we had solo where we were supposed to sit down and reflect on the trip and our life thus far in the outdoors. That was quite fun. We all recieved letters from home and we all wrote letters to ourselves that we would recieve 6 months later. That was quite fun. I remember sitting against a rock while writing and then I saw how comfortable Hsien was lying face down so I did the same.

The funniest thing happened though. The dogs at basecamp (really freaking cute dogs that I adore and that speaks volumes given how I'm not a dog person) started playing with Hsien cos' they were trying to get his gloves out of his hand. And when it finally did succeed, it ran off with the glove in mouth and streaked to where the other dogs were and they proceeded to snatch for the glove. All these while Hsien got up and started shouting every single profanity available to the great entertainment of all others near him. We werent supposed to speak during Solo so it was really very quiet and that whole act was quite bemusing. Heh. That pesky little dog tried to tackle my orange peel away but I promptly scared it off by growling at it. I think I would make a great dog. =)

Anyway, in the evening, we had to plan for this stupid skit encompassing all that we've been through during the camp. But yeah. That whole thing was quite blah since all we did in the end was to laugh at Eric and his silly stories. Quite the blah night.

Day 9 - Confessions Night

Woke up and made breakfast and then caught a local bus to this fishing village. Walked around the seafood market for a bit and then bought some stuff like chocs and cuttlefish. Broke off the main group who were looking in vain for squid and scallops with Jieyu, Pam, Estelle and Edwin to search for good crab. Sadly, we didnt end up buying any and the rest managed to get their squids. Argh.

Got back to base camp and everyone started taking pictures like crazy. More pics of other people.

David Lim

Alex Tan

Dennis

Yingxuan

And this is a pic of the pee place =)

Got our certificates from our friends. That was quite special. Then proceeded to cook our last dinner in the main tent. Myself, Gracia and Estelle took up the huge responsibility of cooking soup. It actually means stirring the soup powder in boiling water. Heh, but the soup was good! Ate quite a bit plus the peaches that we had saved for the last meal. Cleaned up a bit and then had campfire. Campfire was quite sian cos no one was singing campfire songs except for me, Jieyu and Estelle so that got quite boring. Then everyone broke off into small little groups and were talking on their own for a bit and Estelle was complaining that her tent only had 2 people. I personally don't see how that was a bad thing, I would have throwed 2 ppl out of my tent on any given day just to get more space. Haha. Then all of a sudden Lim En pulls me aside to tell me of the latest happenings in camp that I was oblivious to because come on, in the freaking cold, I really wasnt going to bother about who was into who or who was not. SURVIVAL CAMP people. Only some people turn it into a Rob and Amber like romance fairytale. Heh. So I remember going into the sleeping bag while talking to Kaisiong about how we were so glad we were not involved in either of the 2 big hoohahs. Haha. 2 of us slept quite early while everyone bustled around the tent area full of unspeakable missions. Quite a night to be in especially if you are watching it from outside the complications.

But I'd still have taken my sleeping bag anytime.

Day 10 - Dootadong and Pyounghwamon
Woke up and returned all our gear and then said a very sad goodbye to my dearest Ari. Quite a stupid day lah cos' we had this long bus journey back to Seoul. Sat with Gracia Vera aka Maybank and we were being dumb and talking about silly stuff and sleeping. Anyway. Nothing much at all. Arrived at the Coop Apartments around noon. Ate a sushi meal before checking in. Err. I still don't like Korean Food. Anyway, we had 4 to a room at the Coop Apartments which is kind of a cool studio apartment with one and a half floors. Yea. I remember walking to my unit thinking I was at the Atlas Apartments in New York. Heh. I love Jay.

Anyway. Went shopping at this prime Orchard Road like area but didnt really buy squat cos everything was damn ex. Bought this fried bread with hotdog and fries though, that didnt taste good but looked really enticing. Oh. Then we went to have icecream at this place thats decorated with postit notes. Alicia left a love note for Kihyum that I imagine he will one day find and then revoke his license to be gay and come to Singapore to ask her for her hand in marriage. Then had dinner and I was really freezing cos I didnt think it would be cold and I didnt bring my down. The stuff in Korea is freaking ex lah and they refuse to bargain with anyone. I was quite sad. Anyway. After that we went to this shopping place called Doota and the shopping was much better. At least I managed to get a pair of jeans for 2/3s of its actual retail price. Would have made better buys if only we had more time. Was quite pissed when I found out Doota was opened till 5am and all we did was be dumb and waste time in the Coop Apartments.

Anyway. Went back to bathe in real hot water (for the first time in the entire trip) and then went for our orange party. I think I peeled like 20 plus oranges but no one really ate any. Err. Then slept for a bit.

Quite the insipid day.

Loads of pics though.

At lunch

Atlas Apartments

Vappys Shopping

The Love Note

By the way. My name is Dootadong.

Day 11 - The Ties That Bind
Last day! Woke up then rushed to buy Dunkin' Donuts. Walked about 10 minutes to the shop and bought about 10 donuts. I should have bought a whole lot more cos' they were gone in like 2 days. Anyway. Rushed back to pack everything up then left for the airport. Sat with Mr. Eric on the bus and we were looking at pictures and reflecting on everything that had happened and did not happen over the last 10 days. Quite a nice coversation.

Reached the airport and checked in our stuff then went for a last Korean meal with the HC humanities people and Dikai at this restaurent. I didnt really enjoy my beef soup cos it tasted too much like Kimchi. Instead, I managed to get my hands on this awfully expensive but incredibly tasting cheese steak burger from BK (ahh, BK!) and that was good. The best burger ever albeit it being a bit cold and compressed from the cabin pressure on the plane.

Talking about the plane. It sucks. You'll see why later. Anyway. Sat next to Lim En and we were playing blackjack or rather I was playing with myself cos I helped her called the cards. Haha. Then erm, watched Skyhigh on the flight too! Yea! Steven Strait! Haha. Yea. Nothing much lah. The only memorable event was probably the significance in the changing out of the salomon long johns. 11 DAYS in that long johns! Heh. I think I set a record. Yep. Thats about it. Talked a bit to jiamin on the plane too.

Then we came back to Singapore and that was about it!

I miss Winnie

Freaking Ugly Plane

But at least they didnt card me for wine

This is lame but this is at takeoff

and this is at landing

Yep yep! Loads of people to thank for the amazing experience. Sheena (without whom, I would not have signed up), Dennis, Hsien, Kenneth Tan, Brandon, Kaisiong, Edwin, Jieyu, Eric, Matthew, Gracia, Lim En, Yiting, Joyce, Pamela, Estelle, Alicia, Winnie, Alex Tan, David Lim, my dearest Ari and just about everyone else who played a part in OBK! It's been a helluva journey and I've learnt a lot of stuff about myself and others and also made great friends. (Evident, seeing as how we've met up for prata, icecream, christmas, sentosa, movie and new year's eve over the past few days) Couldnt have done it any other way.

The non-perfect path we took was perfect enough. =)

Find me one unhappy face and I'll find you a person who

obviously does not know to smile for the camera.

Hope you had a great 2005!

kenn thwacked an asshat munchkin' at 1:40 PM