Just when I thought that I could fly…
February 13th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

I can’t believe that I could have made such a HUGE stupid and dumb mistake… I actually missed my flight back to Ipoh for CNY!! I was waiting so desperately in SG to get back home for CNY…

Well, the story’s like this… A friend of mine offered to help us purchase flight tickets back to SG via firefly airlines back in November 2009. Well, of course we agreed and she was kind enough to help us make all the arrangements. All we need to do is to agree upon a date and pay the money.

Yee Weng and I wanted to fly back on Friday morning (12 Feb) but then we were told that we couldn’t get the Friday morning as there weren’t enough seats. So, we’re okay to go back on 13 Feb. There was a nice spreadsheet with all our details indicating that Yee Weng and I will be going back on the 13th. Was even told to make payment for Saturday morning flight tix.

Well, here’s the problem… The itinerary that was sent back to us.. indicated that our flight was 12 Feb morning.. To our careless-ness, we actually didn’t notice that until 12th Feb Night!! Imagine the shrewd panic that we felt… It was about 10pm already when we found out. In fact, I actually read the itinerary a few times but still could miss the date. Our mindset believed so greatly that we’re going back on Saturday, that we didn’t really ’see’ it in the itinerary. I only realized it when I was manually copying down the details on my phone in case the airport check-in counter needs it….

So of course, no point crying over spilled milk and straight away attempt to look for a solution to it.. YW and I made a phone calls to bus companies, checked flight schedules to get back home but it was fully booked. Well, kinda expected as it’s CNY after all… And finally, we decided to do the following:

  1. Quickly take a cab to Woodlands Customs
  2. Cross over to JB
  3. Take a cab from JB to KL
  4. Follow Yee Weng’s parents back from KL to Ipoh

Luckily Yee Weng’s parents were still in KL at that time and were about to leave to Ipoh. They were supposed to leave that night but agreed to wait for us to reach KL. YW and I didn’t know what to expect when we were in JB as we’ve never tried taking a cab back, crossing the state and all. And it’s JB in the middle of the night! By the time we reached JB, it was past 12am.

To God’s Grace, we managed to find a cab driver’s friend to drive us back from JB-KL for RM500 (after bargaining from RM600). We sat on a private car as it’s actually illegal for taxis to drive across states without a permit. We left JB at 1230am, and managed to reach KL at 430am, at Yee Weng’s house. Then from there on, his parents and us set off our journey back to Ipoh immediately after that. And guess what, we reached Ipoh at 730am!

And here I am, blogging from my bed… This is indeed a costly lesson to learn.. Anyway, here’s the kicker:
I have another friend whose flight is scheduled on 13 Feb morning, and she overslept and missed her flight… Not sure how’s she coming back…. Think still on standby in the airport for a flight back to KL..

Ah.. they say that Ox year is a bad year for Oxes… And Ox year is about to end… Can’t wait to start the new Tiger Year!

Category: CNY, information, travel  | Leave a Comment
Can’t Wait.. Can’t Wait!
February 12th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

I’m feeling so anxious to go back home for CNY! I’ve to wait for one more day for that to happen…
Had a half-day work and now, I’m waiting anxiously to get back.. hahah

Off to run some errands to bring back to Ipoh!

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Early-Valentine’s Day in 2010
February 07th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

Due to the situation where Valentine’s Day this year falls on the first day of Chinese New Year, Yin Sin and I decided to celebrate it a week earlier, as well… Valentine’s Day is kind of man-made anyway.. So, we just set it a date around that time.

The day started with a trip to Tampines’s Ikea. We were supposed to be there for breakfast but ended up there for lunch instead. We didn’t really have many things in mind to buy but just wanted to take a walk there…

So, we lazed around the Ikea setting…

ikea-sofa

And had lunch there. With their famous Swedish meatballs.

ikea-meatballs

Bought a few stuff from Ikea (no bulky items) and we headed off to Giant, which was just opposite Ikea. The Giant there is really big.. Kinda remind me Malaysia when in GIant. Even the air smells like the one in Malaysia.

Giant isn’t really a good place to walk around, especially in the cold storage area. There’s so many people there!! Pushing the trolley around proves to be difficult. But one thing good is that, when walking down the aisles, we get to taste various samples of food..

After that, the silliest thing happened. We wanted to go back to the North East area and decided to take the free shuttle bus which takes us from the ‘retail area’ to Sengkang/Punggol. We managed to board the bus but the thing is, we didn’t know where to alight. We wanted to go to Punggol and I was waiting for the bus to alight at Punggol Central. The bus was so near Punggol Central… but it didn’t end up there… So, what happened was… we waited and waited.. and we ended up back in Ikea/Giant/Courts area. We took one big round around the area.. lols

One good thing happened from there was that, we took our nap in the bus and was energized to walk again. He continued our journey to Courts. Courts is a good place to shop. Lots of cheap electronics and many other electronics to see.. I even bought YIn Sin’s valentine’s present from there! haha

comb-dryer

It’s a comb + hair dryer! Hot air coming out from the brush end…  =)

And we did the smartest thing ever in Courts. We went and sit on the OTO massaging chair. Damn syiok.. lol

When we were done, it was almost evening. We headed to Punggol correctly this time and I took her to Punggol Beach.

punggol-beach

Lots of people were fishing there.. But the beach wasn’t very big. We just chose a cosy spot by the rocks and just enjoyed the waves there..

gab-yinsin

Took some pictures there…

yinsin-lalang

Had ice-cream there and took some crazy pictures…

yinsin-fierceyinsin-icecream  

The breeze was great.. even gave a nice effect to her hair..

yinsin-beach

Right before it starts to get dark, we took the bus to Kovan for our dinner. We stopped by at some floral place where it provides landscaping solutions.. Very beautiful flowers..

yinsin-flowers

And of course, lastly, we had Thai Cuisine for dinner! Very good and spicy Thai food at Nakhon Kitchen… Both of us were having tears and our faces all red from the spiciness. The tom-yam soup is a must try!

 

thaif-food

After stuffing our stomach with all the food… (did I mention it was a 45-min wait for us to be seated?), we walked around Heartland Mall in Kovan. Okay, it may not be a very romantic Valentine’s Day outing, but we sure did enjoy ourselves.. By the time we reached home, we were like half-dead already… Anyway, one more week to CNY!! Can’t wait.. =)

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Double Farewell Celebrations
January 31st, 2010 | Author: gabriel

Two farewell celebrations in a day, two seafood meals in a day… Luckily it’s not the same restaurant.

Friday became a farewell day for me as during lunch, had a farewell/welcome/teambuilding session with my department people at Jumbo near Indoor Stadium. Jumbo almost became the default place for any of my deparment’s outing.. Even though we always call for a vote each time there’s an outing. Ate the set meal which consists of several main course dishes. Of course, the main delicacy there are crabs, which wasn’t very nice in my opinion.

Mobile VAS Planning Jumbo

Then at night, had another farewell dinner for Yvonne at Melbann Seafood Restaurant. She’ll be flying off to Korea for the next 6 months after finishing her ‘6 months-shift’ here in Singapore. Again, had crabs again but ate more crabs here than Jumbo. But this time round, as most of us were there, we had a round of lou sang first. First lou sang of CNY. Okay, actually not really counted as it’s not CNY yet.. haha..

 

lou sang

Then, had the usual crab meals and the stir-fried dishes. Was a very filling meal. Some came late as there was work to do but everyone was there by end of the day.

group 1 Out first batch of meal Chee Lim, Chin Zwen and James aren’t here yet.

group 2 When we were leaving and everyone was there

Later after that, they continued their night with drinks at a bar but too bad, Kah Hon and I couldn’t join them. Had to wake up early the next morning for other matters. Anyway, was a great night and hope Yvonne will do great in Korea. =)

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Getting Accustomed
January 27th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

I guess I’m getting accustomed to work… It’s been half a year already since I started working. Wow.. How time flies..

I think what helped me to get accustomed is this believe – many things are out of our control. We only have this much capacity to do something.

To bring less stress to an already stressful job, I’m trying my best not to bring work back to the house cause.. well, you can never finish your work. Of course, with a few exception that it’s very urgent and need to be completed there and then!

In order to sleep soundly,I jot down all the things that I need to do for the next few days and let the ‘book’ worry about it. I’m even keeping two organizers – 1 for everyday tasks, 1 for notes from meetings.

I’m also getting immune to the constant buzzing from my hand phone indicating a new e-mail has arrived.

Hope I don’t speak too soon… As any moment in time, things may just happen. Worse thing is, many things happen at the same time. Oh well, at least I’m not working for long hours… *Cross fingers*

Category: emo  | 2 Comments
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