back from Mulu!

okie i think i should start updating my blog! went to Brunei/Sarawak for 8 days! what i thought will be a fun and relaxing holiday with my uni friends turned out to be filled with adventure, fatigue and excitement! =) am tooo lazy to go into details so you can read jinyang's blog if u wan to know more!

there were a total of 8 pple in this trip; 3 Singaporeans, 3 Ipoh-ians, 1 Miri-ian, 1 Bruneian! Sounds pretty much like mini Asean! we spent the 1st nite in william's place and took off the next morning! so off we go into the jungles of mulu via the Fokker 50, not knowing what was in store for us. =S

on our 2nd day, we went into deer cave and lang cave! it was a pretty fun and interesting experience in deer cave, cause the guide decide to bring us off course=) guanon (sp) was gross but oh well, it's still an experience!

3rd day, we set off for camp 5, dropping by clearwater cave and young lady cave along the day. our bags were heavy, but our spirits were high. though i wasnt very prepared to go into the water to push the boat, but i still did anyway. =) the 8.8km march from our so called jetty to camp 5 was filled with mud, mossies, leeches! got stung by 2 tiger leeches along the way, 1 while i was washing my feet, the other when i got to camp 5. pretty unlucky huh..

4th day, woke up super early in the morning to scale mt abi, the pinancles! it was 2.4km in distance and 1.2km in height. I wasnt really prepared for such a steep and tough climb, and i think most of us arent. the 5 caucasians in our group were very fast ahead of us, but oh well, there's no price in getting 1st! after 3-4 hrs of tough, ardous and gruelling climb, we managed to reach the top! and pinancles was indeed magnificent and worth the climb! =) and the reward for the day, bak kwa and pork floss for lunch! climb down took even longer coz of the rain and some hiccups along the day, but glad we made it before sky turns dark!

5th day, it's the 8.8k march back to the supposedly jetty, and this time round, we were very much faster! =) went to racer cave to do some real cave climbing! was pretty fun and was glad my past rockclimbing skills came into good use! we end up getting dirty, wet and HAPPY! =)))) went back to hq spending the rest of the day nuaing, jenga-ing, carom-ing =)

6th to 8th day, back to civilisation! took the flight back to miri! jinyang's dad brought us back to brunei and we stayed in the Empire! simply magnificent and befitting of it's 6 star status (less the breakfast) it was merry making from that moment on =)

this feeling,,

finally touched down this morning at 8am! A380 was awesome, really spacious, comfy n nice, except for the stewards n stewardess who tend to pretend to be more frenly to foreigners than to singaporeans.. typical!

it feels so surreal to be home, cant believe that i left home for 9 mths alr.. everything seems to be pretty alright, upgrading going on at my block, dad n mum seem to have aged, prices of almost everything gone up! and singapore is hot!!! have to start getting used to the weather again! nonetheless, i love the sun! =)

waiting for results.. the feeling is urgh!

Leaving on a jet plane!

i cant believe this! i am going home now!!! =)

YAY!!!

end of year 1

alright i know this is a pretty late entry.. but anw an update is an update...

exam ended on 11th june, went london the next day, was busy on 13th with bop, 14th had Buddhist soc garden party and preparation for the cumsa garden party, 15th garden party and new hall garden party. went back, packed my ass out, and left at 3am the next day for my hols! sounds pretty packed.. wad was i thinking.... =S

anyway, 11th june 2008 marks the end of my 1st year in Cambridge. A year with mixed feelings, where i learnt more about myself, taught myself to be independent and exposed myself to this big huge world! Nonetheless, this a remarkable moment and memorable academic year thus far. No more, will i be a Nat Sci. No longer do i have sat lectures, no longer do i have 30 hrs week, no longer do i have to write crazy cells essays and meet crazy deadlines and so on n so forth.. you get the drift. But grass is always greener on the other side of the pasture, hopefully Chem Engine will be filled with lovely surprises and many interesting people. Finally get to have a department to call home, and a small class.. 60 pple i think!

1st year out in the uk. was pretty intimidating for a start. It's like getting plunged into this big big world where i have to learn to take care of myself. no longer will there be parents acting as support, and i have to start looking for new frens, frens close to heart. It's practically like resettling yourself in a whole new world, where your room is your own home! was pretty tiring for a start and i think i lost my direction for a brief moment at the beginning. studying abroad is fun yet intimidating. fun coz you have all the time in ur hands, no one's there to nag at you and you can do wadever you want. intimidating coz you got to learn to make your own decisions, manage your finance and try to get a life!

one thing i learnt most during this short 1 year (9 mths actually) is to cook. coming up with dishes i have never tried before, trying to emulate home-cooked food.. it's fun! and of coz cookouts are the best! you get to share home cooked food with your frens, mingle, feels like home! strangely, singaporeans only gel when they are not in sing.. exclude those el. at. though... and what i hate most is to do laundry! it's such a chore and really takes up lotsa time and effort.. sometimes the machine decides to go on strike and there goes my money and time... and i still cant iron properly! it's appalling yet annoying... i must learn how to iron or or or.. ask my to iron my clothes!! haha MY get the hint??

i think i am going to miss my 1st year.. where i dunno where my time went to, where i mug like there's no tomorrow, where i can do dumb things n get away with it.. this is life! camb has manage to bring out the best and worst in people. and it's amazing! during term time, it's like 8 weeks of hell.. the heavy workloads and activities and formals.. tt can definitely kill.. just y cant they extend term time and cut short our hols? n if onli if.. changing the start of the week from thursdays to mondays will help to avoid alot of trouble... but oh well... traditions are hard to change especially in a place like this...

alright.. 12 hrs to my flight home.. i cant wait to get back home!

shall update on my trip soon!

parts of the brain...

good way of learning.. by ms tan!

who am i today..

today i started off being a gene.. looking at how i can be replicated using dna techniques. and i begin look for my close siblings, RNAs, how we are being spied on by machines, microarrays, southern blot, zoo blot n what not..
then i became a no., matrices in particular.. i journeyed through transformation, identifying and learning myself..
after a mini break, i decided to take on the identity of waves/particles. i learnt how to express my inner particulate nature and to hide under the disguise of being good old wave. i got to know my fave buddy, the hydrogen atom, where ride waves of quantum mechanic vibrations, tunnelled thru to out galaxies..
and soon i will become small particulate molecules... what will i become tomorrow?

a less than normal day

alright.. 7 days to exams! yay!! not like i am well prepared or anything, but it's killing me! just cant wait for it to be over..
went to this camb overseas trust reception. supposed to be welcome ceremony for pple like me.. under bursary! it's like am here for nearly a year alr.. duh! anw it turns out to be a eat n talk cock session. met up with a no. of sing, malaysian n hk peepz.. talk cock, eat aimlessly for ard 2 hrs.. untill GOH finally turned up. prince of wales.. yes prince charles.. he's in his usual attire n coat/shirt combi.. and the funny thing was that i just watch The Queen yesterday! the way the media portrayed him n the real series of events behind the whole hoohaa.. it's questionable.. but anw it's not like he has tt much *ahem* of a reputation anwa... and he is like some cAMP secretory gene.. he beats dictyostelium for sure! anw everyone tried to take his photo, shake his hand n wad not.. but i didnt.. too troublesome! so here's his pic!!























n this is wad i do when i am bored!


okie time to make up for the lost time!!! boohoo