Finally found some time to upload some of my videos=) more to come!
NUS- The North Face Boulderactive 201 OW Finals
Friday, June 10, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Kinetics Climbing
It has been one month into my new job, i am now working in Kinetics Climbing as programmes manager. This is my first full time job and i really do hope i can do a good job out of it. It hasnt been easy because i still have tons to learn. Work life is indeed very different from a student's life. As a full timer, it also means i have a lot of responsibilities. This is probably up one notch from organising Boulderactive 2011.
SEACF 2011- Represented Singapore in the South East Asia circuit- malaysia. This is a series of competitions organised by the countries taking part in this year's SEA games 2011 in Indonesia. For the first time, Climbing has been included in the SEA Games and Singapore will be sending a team of climbers up to do Singapore proud.
This particular comp really opened me up to the world of international competitions, i remember my first international comp was at the Asian Indoor Games, where i represented Singapore in Speed Climbing. A lack of training facilities proved not to help in the event because we had only been training on the speed wall up to the height of 6m? Whereas the actual event saw the wall being 15m in height. I realised i shouldnt focus on Speed because it really required alot of time to train which i didnt have. Almost every climber out there did climbing full time, while we singaporeans do it part time because we all have our other committments, be it in studies or full time jobs.
I didnt do very well, i kind of expected it, because i hadnt been training. I had been working from opening to closing for the past one month, managed to squeeze in 1-2 climbing sessions, but because i am still very new to lead climbing, it wasnt enough, i knew i had to climb outside ALOT MORE. I got pumped out really fast and didnt even have the chance to shake it out and resume my climbing, i literally climbed my way up to failure. I still love lead climbing more than bouldering and i really hope to get better at it and be challenged each time i start climbing.
I realised there is no point complaining because i should be thankful that i am working in a climbing gym with a wall facing me everyday. Although i cannot be climbing everyday, i have to make the most of whatever free time i can squeeze out from work. I had past the stage of complaining because there is simply no point in it.
But i am still looking forward to being more settled down in my job and being able to find time to climb hard again, and hopefully by nxt year, to the GREAT OUTDOORS!!! I still very much want to visit Fontainbleau...
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
I am back!
As usual, have been putting off updating my blog for the past few months. So much has happened. I have finally finished schooling with NUS by Dec 2010.
Didnt want to stop studying and decided to go ahead with signing myself up for the following courses, which began in Feb and ended in March. Trust me, Taking all these 3 at one time was as good as studying for a semester in NUS.
1. National Coaching Accreditation Program ( NCAP)
- took this with Jay, Lynette and Jonathan Hwa..it was nice to take it with a group of climbers because NCAP does not have a technical course specific for the sport of climbing, so this NCAP level 1 was really general. Overall, the course which lasted about 8 weeks was a little of a bore towards the end. I still remember the very 1st session with C KUNALAN who has made a mark in Singapore's Sports history by being the most successful track & field athlete in Singapore, C Kunalan's achievements date as far back as 1966. He was one funny figure but higly respectable. After attending 2 of his sessions, i thought things would get better. Unfortunately not, as the sessions went on, i didnt feel like attending the sessions. Most of the material shared by the Facilitator could easily be read in the course file. But i did learn the importance of conducting feedback sessions after a training session. Nevertheless, i managed to pass and am now a certified NCAP level 1 coach=)
2. Instructor Training Course ( Sport Climbing)
- Attended this with Ian, Yu Seung, Pamela, Dean, Kean Kok. I was very thankful to be able to attend this ITC with a group of people i knew. Well, at least most of them. Hence it didnt take very long for us to break the ice for this group. I definitely learnt LOADS in this course. Questions i long had were answered by my awesome instructors. Joanne Soo was the main course trainer while Jay, Garick and Margaret were assisting. Great dynamics between this group of trainers because all of them had a wealth of experience in climbing as well as mountaineering. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during these 4 intensive sessions. I finally learnt how to tie my knots properly, something which i always cant seem to remember after my Level 2 course. ( whoops)
- Did my first assessment with Amir, i made some careless mistakes in my Escape from System station as well as Abseiling station, was asked to defer and retake these 2 stations. Further which i passed!=) Being tested and during practice was a totally different feeling. During practice in my ITC sessions, i could well "escape" from the belay system with ease, but when it came to the assessment, like how one feels the "butterflies" in one's stomach before something important. yes, it came to me as well, i was practically shaking as i climbed up a fairly easy route to set up my test station. As usual, the Abseil station saw me shaking once again. this time we were given pretty new and interesting scenerios that caught us off guard. i managed to finish it, but i left 1 "danger" point which Amir didnt like; which was leaving myself very little rope to lower off my student properly. Hence the need to redo this station as well.
- Managed to rebook my reassessment, and yes, i passed, just completed 2 of my OJTs and left with 1 more before i can become a certified Sport Climbing Instructor.=)
3. First Aid ( Standard First Aid Certification)
- This was compulsory as a pre- requisite before being certified a NCAP level 1 and ITC sport climbing. So yea. went ahead to do the course with Ian=) This was probably another course which i enjoyed thoroughly. Had one too many laughters especially during CPR. The instructor was hilarious in telling us to "blow harder"..."mouth so big, cannot blow properly". This would always cause the class to break into peals of laughter, and it was strange that the instructor never really realised that he shd change his use of words=)
Since the start of 2011, everything has been extremely memorable for me...i shall start with Gravical organised by SMU. Because i was involved in the ITC, which took place during the Gravical weekend, i could not take part in Women's Open category, and decided to form a team with some climbers. There was an open team event which was at night and all of us were free. My team consisted of Ivan, Jay, Aaron Tan and myself. I had heard alot of rumours telling me that my team was a threat to everyone else because of the strong male climbers inside. I brushed them aside and told myself not to be complacent because "anything can happen during a competition".
The event started....the first 3 routes proved no feat for my team. But as we got to the 4th problem, i began to have problems with the start. Starting to feel the pressure because another team before us performed pretty well and they were probably as strong as my team. I slipped at the last tile because i heard someone shouting "no bolt hole"..that was one epic moment. i got distracted, turned around and slipped and that caused immense stress to me which was brought over to the 5th problem where most females could not even start. I think i forgot to say that Females would get double points for the team. And so far, for at least 3 teams before us, every male had completed all the problems. It was really up to the female to add the points. i spent at least 4 attempts trying to move off from the start tile to the 2nd but to no avail. Time was ticking. I told myself not to give up and decided to give it one good hard pull, and i got it, but i panicked too much and couldnt finish it. Plus i was very tired from the many attempts to start, although i didnt finish the problem, i managed to get the bonus, hence allowing my team to win champion. I didnt feel happy because i was under too much pressure at that time. It was a horrible feeling to feel like i was bringing the team down. But 1 thing i learnt during this event, i cannot work under pressure. ( it was my first time taking part in a team event, i was too used to the individual category that i forgot how "teamwork" felt)
Boulderactive 2011: This was probably one of the highlight in my life so far. Firstly, I was one of the project directors who worked along side with Jack ( an awesome working partner)..we had started prep work for this event since july 2010. and when the time drew nearer for the event to be hosted, again, i was under quite abit of pressure. Both of us wanted this event to be one of the best Bouldering competition in the Singapore Climbing scene. And to make it work, we had to do alot of new things. We had an international Climber- Masatoshi Sugita to be our chief route setter for the Open Category. ( We intially invited Yuji Hirayama- renowned free climbing legend, but because of the unfortunate earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan very recently, he was forced to cancel his flight down, but nevertheless, another great Jap Climber came down). We had no regrets inviting Masatoshi ( known affectionately as Obi) down, his routes were a refreshing sight not only for the climbers but for the audience as well. The routes were well planned and everyone had fun climbing it as well as watching it.
And probably the best end to Boulderactive 2011? I won 1st for the Open Women's category. I was totally caught off guard by this unexpected win, because i was ranked 5th during my qualifiers. I was not only physically but mentally drained from being in charge of this event to climb properly. i just told myself to have fun as i took part. But Praise God, the flash of my first problem was what led to me winning. I had never quite dreamed of winning 1st place before in any competition, because i knew i wasnt very strong. I had always looked up to other female climbers like Beatrix and always wondered how they ever got up there, always ending the competition with a podium finish. I had always wanted to be as strong as her, if not stronger, but i know it will take time to train up, but during this comp, I guessed my mental strength paid off. I was able to "switch off" any pressures during the competition and just focus on my climb and enjoy it. And i totally love it when i can climb without having many tiles around me. ( i always have a "mental block" when i climb in a gym because of all the tiles ard me, and me trying hard to avoid hitting them. but during a competition, whatever tiles are on the wall, were for my use, hence i was able to go all out. )
Now that Boulderactive is over and all my courses have been done, i have abit of time to myself to concentrate on work. Time to work and start earning and saving....I cant wait to get out of Singapore and climb outdoors again.
Didnt want to stop studying and decided to go ahead with signing myself up for the following courses, which began in Feb and ended in March. Trust me, Taking all these 3 at one time was as good as studying for a semester in NUS.
1. National Coaching Accreditation Program ( NCAP)
- took this with Jay, Lynette and Jonathan Hwa..it was nice to take it with a group of climbers because NCAP does not have a technical course specific for the sport of climbing, so this NCAP level 1 was really general. Overall, the course which lasted about 8 weeks was a little of a bore towards the end. I still remember the very 1st session with C KUNALAN who has made a mark in Singapore's Sports history by being the most successful track & field athlete in Singapore, C Kunalan's achievements date as far back as 1966. He was one funny figure but higly respectable. After attending 2 of his sessions, i thought things would get better. Unfortunately not, as the sessions went on, i didnt feel like attending the sessions. Most of the material shared by the Facilitator could easily be read in the course file. But i did learn the importance of conducting feedback sessions after a training session. Nevertheless, i managed to pass and am now a certified NCAP level 1 coach=)
2. Instructor Training Course ( Sport Climbing)
- Attended this with Ian, Yu Seung, Pamela, Dean, Kean Kok. I was very thankful to be able to attend this ITC with a group of people i knew. Well, at least most of them. Hence it didnt take very long for us to break the ice for this group. I definitely learnt LOADS in this course. Questions i long had were answered by my awesome instructors. Joanne Soo was the main course trainer while Jay, Garick and Margaret were assisting. Great dynamics between this group of trainers because all of them had a wealth of experience in climbing as well as mountaineering. I thoroughly enjoyed myself during these 4 intensive sessions. I finally learnt how to tie my knots properly, something which i always cant seem to remember after my Level 2 course. ( whoops)
- Did my first assessment with Amir, i made some careless mistakes in my Escape from System station as well as Abseiling station, was asked to defer and retake these 2 stations. Further which i passed!=) Being tested and during practice was a totally different feeling. During practice in my ITC sessions, i could well "escape" from the belay system with ease, but when it came to the assessment, like how one feels the "butterflies" in one's stomach before something important. yes, it came to me as well, i was practically shaking as i climbed up a fairly easy route to set up my test station. As usual, the Abseil station saw me shaking once again. this time we were given pretty new and interesting scenerios that caught us off guard. i managed to finish it, but i left 1 "danger" point which Amir didnt like; which was leaving myself very little rope to lower off my student properly. Hence the need to redo this station as well.
- Managed to rebook my reassessment, and yes, i passed, just completed 2 of my OJTs and left with 1 more before i can become a certified Sport Climbing Instructor.=)
3. First Aid ( Standard First Aid Certification)
- This was compulsory as a pre- requisite before being certified a NCAP level 1 and ITC sport climbing. So yea. went ahead to do the course with Ian=) This was probably another course which i enjoyed thoroughly. Had one too many laughters especially during CPR. The instructor was hilarious in telling us to "blow harder"..."mouth so big, cannot blow properly". This would always cause the class to break into peals of laughter, and it was strange that the instructor never really realised that he shd change his use of words=)
Since the start of 2011, everything has been extremely memorable for me...i shall start with Gravical organised by SMU. Because i was involved in the ITC, which took place during the Gravical weekend, i could not take part in Women's Open category, and decided to form a team with some climbers. There was an open team event which was at night and all of us were free. My team consisted of Ivan, Jay, Aaron Tan and myself. I had heard alot of rumours telling me that my team was a threat to everyone else because of the strong male climbers inside. I brushed them aside and told myself not to be complacent because "anything can happen during a competition".
The event started....the first 3 routes proved no feat for my team. But as we got to the 4th problem, i began to have problems with the start. Starting to feel the pressure because another team before us performed pretty well and they were probably as strong as my team. I slipped at the last tile because i heard someone shouting "no bolt hole"..that was one epic moment. i got distracted, turned around and slipped and that caused immense stress to me which was brought over to the 5th problem where most females could not even start. I think i forgot to say that Females would get double points for the team. And so far, for at least 3 teams before us, every male had completed all the problems. It was really up to the female to add the points. i spent at least 4 attempts trying to move off from the start tile to the 2nd but to no avail. Time was ticking. I told myself not to give up and decided to give it one good hard pull, and i got it, but i panicked too much and couldnt finish it. Plus i was very tired from the many attempts to start, although i didnt finish the problem, i managed to get the bonus, hence allowing my team to win champion. I didnt feel happy because i was under too much pressure at that time. It was a horrible feeling to feel like i was bringing the team down. But 1 thing i learnt during this event, i cannot work under pressure. ( it was my first time taking part in a team event, i was too used to the individual category that i forgot how "teamwork" felt)
Boulderactive 2011: This was probably one of the highlight in my life so far. Firstly, I was one of the project directors who worked along side with Jack ( an awesome working partner)..we had started prep work for this event since july 2010. and when the time drew nearer for the event to be hosted, again, i was under quite abit of pressure. Both of us wanted this event to be one of the best Bouldering competition in the Singapore Climbing scene. And to make it work, we had to do alot of new things. We had an international Climber- Masatoshi Sugita to be our chief route setter for the Open Category. ( We intially invited Yuji Hirayama- renowned free climbing legend, but because of the unfortunate earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan very recently, he was forced to cancel his flight down, but nevertheless, another great Jap Climber came down). We had no regrets inviting Masatoshi ( known affectionately as Obi) down, his routes were a refreshing sight not only for the climbers but for the audience as well. The routes were well planned and everyone had fun climbing it as well as watching it.
And probably the best end to Boulderactive 2011? I won 1st for the Open Women's category. I was totally caught off guard by this unexpected win, because i was ranked 5th during my qualifiers. I was not only physically but mentally drained from being in charge of this event to climb properly. i just told myself to have fun as i took part. But Praise God, the flash of my first problem was what led to me winning. I had never quite dreamed of winning 1st place before in any competition, because i knew i wasnt very strong. I had always looked up to other female climbers like Beatrix and always wondered how they ever got up there, always ending the competition with a podium finish. I had always wanted to be as strong as her, if not stronger, but i know it will take time to train up, but during this comp, I guessed my mental strength paid off. I was able to "switch off" any pressures during the competition and just focus on my climb and enjoy it. And i totally love it when i can climb without having many tiles around me. ( i always have a "mental block" when i climb in a gym because of all the tiles ard me, and me trying hard to avoid hitting them. but during a competition, whatever tiles are on the wall, were for my use, hence i was able to go all out. )
Now that Boulderactive is over and all my courses have been done, i have abit of time to myself to concentrate on work. Time to work and start earning and saving....I cant wait to get out of Singapore and climb outdoors again.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
South Africa, Rocklands, 22 July-25 Aug 2010
alrights, finally found some time to write about Rocklands!!!get ready....
i decided pictures indeed speak a thousand words, so i will be using pictures to talk about my trip. these selected pictures pretty much sums up my adventures in Rocklands.
this is where our laundry is hung up. as long as you can find 2 boulders, hang up a ratchet and there you go, a steady makeshift laundry line!
this is our bouldercave, where we cook,eat,watch movies on the laptop. it is a source of protection against the cold winds that blow early in the morning and late at nights, and keeps the rain out too=)only problem is, it is about 1M in height, so it can be rather break-breaking to walk in and out of this cave. jay and i developed backaches from moving ard in the cave.ha
Yes, this is Rocklands, where Bouldering and Sportclimbing is offered=) i was fooled by this sign, it was put at the entrance to many different crags. the bigger crag was known as "THE ROADSIDE". i happily thought the boulders were just nxt to the roadside, little did i know, that it was nearly an hour walk from the ROADSIDE, into the boulders.sigh. this signboard is a guage of an hour's walk into the bouldering area.
Natural streams of cold running water!perfect for COLD WATER TREATMENT!and as drinking water, and water to wash our hands. basically, for anything.haha. and i didnt get a stomach upset from drinking the water.
Visited Muizenberg, a small town just at the coast of South Africa, small in size, but big in beauty=)
Stayed at this campsite en-route to the Kgalagadi Transfontier park- Safari
we didnt bother bringing our tent from out camp at Rocklands, so we just put our boulderpads on the floor and slept on our sleeping bags. coolest night out ever!in the wild=)
Awfully cute ground squirrels that were extremely tame and spoilt by humans.tsk tsk.
our safari guide taking out a huge rifle." just in case".where we were on the prowl for lions, cheetahs, etc.
my favourite breakfast! bread with banana,jam and peanut butter!helps you send all of your projects for the day=)
fresh barracudas for sale at Muizenberg.
awesome line called "the Rhino", 7b+. tried it, cldnt finish it. will be back for it.
first time bouldering in the dark!with headlamps.pretty cool experience!
sending JOHN DENVER,7A. took me 2 sessions. finishing it was rewarding coz i got to see paul robinson too=)hahaha. ok. but seriously, finishing the project was my aim. Seeing Paul Robinson at the same boulder was just a bonus.
trying MINKI, 7B, definitely a different style from Dirty lies, also 7B, knee jams was a pretty new move to me in natural, going back to finish it too!
My "room" for 1 month.
new things i learnt in this trip
1. Spotters- the importance of having one when bouldering. Growing up in an indoor climbing environment, we are pretty much on our own whenever we climb, because we have mattresses to fall on. but once outside, on the natural boulder, all we have is probably a 72"x36"x4.75" safety pad to rely on? and as we progress higher or traverse across the boulder, we definitely need someone to spot and move the mattress for us. Spotting is not just ensuring the person lands safely onto the pad, but looking out for possible angles the person can fall at and being ready for the fall anytime. Learnt alot from jay about spotting.
2. Food- i found myself almost hungry 24/7. the Hike, the cold weather and climbing made me hungry quicker than usual. Even though i wasnt perspiring due to the cold weather, i found myself getting real hungy after a short hike. always be prepared to have food in your bag when you plan to stay at 1 climbing crag the whole day.
3. working on a project- it is my 2nd bouldering trip, but it can almost be considered a first because my first time bouldering in Hampi, well...i didnt exactly climb hard. i didnt push myself. but in Rocklands, i was introduced to the concept of working on a project ( line/ problem). i hardly worked on any projects while climbing in Singapore. but in Rocklands, there were certain problems that i cldnt send in 1 day, and had to keep going back to work on it. i was drawn to the beauty of the problem and the moves involved. Bouldering, unknown to our bodies, actually sucks alot of energy out without you feeling tired. and so, even when you feel ready, the minute you get back onto the boulder, you feel tired almost immediately. hence, i had to go back to work on it. sometimes, that particular session would be just working on parts of the problem, and other sessions would be attempting to link all of the different parts up. it felt alittle irritating and disappointing when i felt so ready to send the problem in that session, only to realise there was no way i cld finish it, coz i was dead tired at the end of the day. but it is definitely rewarding to finally finish it. and with all the encouragement from all the climbers working on the same problem. definitely cant do without them too=)
4. dont give up- this is one thing that was extremely applicable to me. there were a number of problems where i kept on falling at the same move, which was probably my crux for the problem. there were times when i felt like giving up and moving onto another problem because the moves seem impossible by my standards. but jay,weida and peter told me not to give up and that the move is very possible. for Dirty lies, a project which took me 3 sessions to finish, i was stuck at the same crux for 3 whole sessions. only managed to get past the crux without starting from the beginning once. and that was it. decided to go for the whole problem from the beginning. but i found myself another crux, which was getting to the first crux i encountered. and so my last session was spent working on linking the moves up. it was not easy, i really felt like giving up. but i was so glad i didnt, because at my final attempt, i managed to send it. and the minute i sent it, i looked back at my previous sessions and heaved a huge sigh of relief and wondered how i managed to get out of it. it was the same for the other problems.
noticed a pattern in my ability to send problems
- 7a: at least 2 sessions
- 7b: at least 3 sessions
-7c: at least 4 sessions.
with this experience, i now know how long it takes me to send a particular grade.haha. this would most probably serve as a guide for my future bouldering trips.
Totally enjoyed this trip because i got to climb and push myself way past my expected limit. thanks to Jay, Weida and peter. Made a lot of new friends from all over the world. Definitely going back again!so many unfinished business=)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Lost in Transit: Sri Lanka and Dubai
I wanted to buy food but found that the airport only accepted US dollars or Rupees. “Good job fel”. I had failed to check what currency was available in this airport. They did not even buy Singapore dollars, so there I was, 8 hours without food or money. Thankfully, there was a water dispenser, and I still had some raisins I brought from Singapore. And so I sat on Bandarahaire’s Airport departure “lounge”, which consisted of hard plastic chairs and tried to snooze abit. But got worried about my baggage. At that point, I totally disliked traveling alone. Even making a trip to the washroom meant I had to carry all my bags around.
Finally got onto the plane to DUBAI!!!!!!the minute the air stewardesses served snacks, I grabbed it and opened it almost immediately and chowed down the whole packet in less than a min. it felt good to have food going into my mouth.haha
Dubai
Arrived at Dubai International Airport. Was welcomed with a beautiful airport, with Rolex clocks all around!haha. departure and arrival display screens were aplenty, as many as you would see in an electronic store selling flatscreens!
I realized I had 24 hours of transit in Dubai and yes, I needed a place to stay. No way was I going to stay in the airport for 24 hours. Tried the transit hotel and 1 room cost 400usd/night!mad. so I decided to go out of the airport. Found myself a small room in Dream Palace Hotel for about $50usd/night, just 15 mins drive from the airport. Paid for it at the airport hotel booking booth and made my way out.
OUTSIDE DUBAI AIRPORT
Was greeted with an extremely warm blast of air and dust. Nothing like I had expected. I was indoors for the past 2 days and the minute I got out of the airport, I could hardly breathe. I felt like I was in a sauna, hot and “steamy” ( dusty in Dubai). Quickly got into the taxi and arrived at my hotel. Dubai was really hot, it was summer and temperatures were reported to be almost 40 degrees Celsius in mid day!!!!worse than Singapore! its not humid, but rather, HOT AND DRY. The cars in Dubai were all covered with a thick layer of brownish dust, I guess it doesn’t pay to clean your cars in a desert land. Haha.
Stayed in a hotel for the first time ALONE, bought snacks from the supermarket for dinner as I didn’t want to spend too much money in Dubai. My money is reserved for Rocklands!
Boarded the plane to Cape Town the next day.FINALLY.
Cape Town
Arrived late afternoon, excitedly waited for Jay, Wei da and Peter to pick me up. Got into the car and off I went to our camp site in Rocklands! More updates on Rocklands coming up soon. i need a break from typing=p
Saturday, July 17, 2010
BOO BOO BOO BOO BOO.
Dear Felicia,
As mentioned in our tele-conversation, since you are unable to complete your placement on time, we would have to impose a penalty of 10 marks for late submission of your portfolio, which should only be handed in after completing 400 hours of placement, and not any time earlier. We are not in favour that students submit their portfolios without finishing 400 hours placement, since it is required of students to only submit portfolios 2 weeks upon placement completion. Hence, please note that if you are finishing your placement on 30/8/10, you would have to submit your work by 13/9, 4 pm to Ms Lim Shan Shan at the General Office.
Also, please give considerable thoughts towards your work with clients, especially how you intend to continue and terminate your work at the agency after your trip. This is because it is important for you to develop this aspect of professionalism in your work as a Social Work student.
Thanks.
Regards
( teacher)
i cannot believe they are so INFLEXIBLE. sigh.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
A weekend of Crazy driving, Good music, Fantastic company!!!
Started off our journey after the heavy downpour in Singapore. Vincent and Jack rotated driving down the north- south highway. They drove well, minimum speed 140km/hr.hahaha
Genting
Got kinda lost in Kl onwards, GPS wasn’t working too good. It was laggy and so whenever we needed to make a turn, the GPS would only inform us after we missed the turn.haha. we dreaded hearing the sound which indicated we were off route. But thankfully, Vincent and Jack managed to get back on the right track. We were so happy when we saw the signboard to “genting highlands”.
Reached the bottom of Genting, Zhao Xiu took over the wheel!!=) ( not over take!haha) it was dark and misty and it started drizzling. Believe it or not, it was my 2nd time sitting in na car driving up to Genting. My first time was with my family but at that time, I was too young to look at how windy the road was. And yes. That night was the first time experiencing the drive up and being able to look at the road. I tell you, it was no easy feat driving up, countless bends, many sharp turns and did I mention it was dark,misty and wet?haha.yea.but zhao xiu was super good!she managed to drive all of us up safely=) reached First World Hotel really tired from the ride from Singapore. Hurriedly checked in. Zhao Xiu conked out on the bed while V, Jack and myself changed to go to the Casino!!yay.
Casino: it was my first time entering one, I can finally enter the casino legally and gamble too. My first time was when I took part in the Asian Indoor Games in Macau 2007. We just went into the Casino for fun, walked 1 round and went out because we weren’t really supposed to enter. I was still underaged that time.hahaha. being a noob, I followed V and Jack. V sat himself down comfortably at the table playing dices. It looked pretty easy. I observed for awhile. Finger started to get itchy to place a bet but I wanted to observe more first. How people place their bets strategically.
Genting
Got kinda lost in Kl onwards, GPS wasn’t working too good. It was laggy and so whenever we needed to make a turn, the GPS would only inform us after we missed the turn.haha. we dreaded hearing the sound which indicated we were off route. But thankfully, Vincent and Jack managed to get back on the right track. We were so happy when we saw the signboard to “genting highlands”.
Reached the bottom of Genting, Zhao Xiu took over the wheel!!=) ( not over take!haha) it was dark and misty and it started drizzling. Believe it or not, it was my 2nd time sitting in na car driving up to Genting. My first time was with my family but at that time, I was too young to look at how windy the road was. And yes. That night was the first time experiencing the drive up and being able to look at the road. I tell you, it was no easy feat driving up, countless bends, many sharp turns and did I mention it was dark,misty and wet?haha.yea.but zhao xiu was super good!she managed to drive all of us up safely=) reached First World Hotel really tired from the ride from Singapore. Hurriedly checked in. Zhao Xiu conked out on the bed while V, Jack and myself changed to go to the Casino!!yay.
Casino: it was my first time entering one, I can finally enter the casino legally and gamble too. My first time was when I took part in the Asian Indoor Games in Macau 2007. We just went into the Casino for fun, walked 1 round and went out because we weren’t really supposed to enter. I was still underaged that time.hahaha. being a noob, I followed V and Jack. V sat himself down comfortably at the table playing dices. It looked pretty easy. I observed for awhile. Finger started to get itchy to place a bet but I wanted to observe more first. How people place their bets strategically. I next followed Jack to the baccarat tables and learnt a lil on how they bet as well. I decided to try it out. Bet 50rm on the banker for the 1st time. And I won!haha.but the 2nd round I bet 50 again, I lost. So I decided to stop playing. Wasn’t feeling lucky. So with my original 50rm, I decided to join V at the Dice table. Changed into playing chips and started playing. Won abit here and lost abit, and at the end, I ended up with 50rm xtra!=) I told myself I would stop playing once I won double. So happy me returned back to the hotel with 50rm richer. Didn’t want to be too greedy and lose everything in the end.
Had a bit of sleep. Was woken up by some stupid drilling from the floor above us, even though I clearly remember our 13 floor was the highest alr.haha.and at 7am, there were kids shouting down the hallway. Don’t the tourists in genting wake up late!?!?!?
Managed to get out of bed, we showered and had brunch at Kenny Rogers. Took our one and only theme ride: Space Coasters, 12 rm. The ride was really short and jerky. It wasn’t very fun because it was awfully cold and the gradient of the drops and turns were too soft. Not scary at all. Just very jerky. But nvm, we had enough of rides for the day. Our aim wasn’t the thempark anw.
Bukit Tinggi
This was our next destination, this time I took the wheel!weee..it was my first time driving in msia, and I was given the honour of driving down genting.haha.vincent belted up, so did everyone=( and I began the drive down. It was a very good experience because you hardly get such windy roads to play around with in Singapore and not forgetting the steepness as well. Vincent taught me a lil here and there on handling the vehicle when navigating sharp turns. Still not very good at it because he felt nauseous after the drive down. I felt so bad.haha.but I will get better with more practice!=)
Got to bukit tinggi in no time, we didn’t get lost!yay! again, it was another windy and steep road up, but this time it was a 2 way lane, meaning 1 lane up 1 lane down. It was more difficult because whenever I took a corner, I couldn’t really see if there was a car coming the other way. So had to negotiate the turn slowly. Didn’t want to hit an oncoming vehicle. But it was fun. The road is really good for drifting man.but dangerous la.=p
French Bakery at Bukit Tinggi
Got to the top of bukit tinggi. We were greeted with a beautiful sight! Bukit Tinggi is a French- themed village and the whole setting gave a nostalgic and rustic feeling when we got off the car. It was gorgeous. The buildings were tastefully designed to look like French houses and it felt peaceful. Walked around, took plenty of pictures. Visited the Japanese village as well. But after a while, we all got bored, decided to drive down to KL for dinner.haha. it was a long drive, a bit of jam. Went to find Carrefour to stock up on food and BOOZE!hahaha.had a quick dinner and grocery shopping and drove back to our hotel in Bukit Tinggi.
Party time began at 11plus. Our room was big enough, we had a living room, kitchen and bedroom. So our drinking session started. We had beer and red wine and lotsa chips. Played many stupid games that made us more stupid with alcohol in our bodies.haha.but it was a very fun and crazy night. I never drank so much in my life before. That night was the first. And im glad we were in the hotel and not in some club.All of us slept really soundly that night after drinking.
Woke up, packed up and drove down to Melaka for lunch and shopping before heading back home. There was a torrential downpour on the highway to meleka and we saw 3 accidents on our way. It was scary and I was really thankful we were not involved in any. Encountered jams along the way coz of the rain, and it being Sunday. Zhao Xiu was still on the prowl for A& W since Saturday.haha.we couldn’t find any while in Kl, but we didn’t give up. Jack was driving now and we had to stop in front coz we were in the wrong lane. Zhao xiu looked up and called to our attention. Right beside us were the 2 golden words in red and brown. A&W!!!hahaha.we were so excited and it was really funny because Jack had driven into the “parking lot” at the side of the road. Imagine we never stopped there, we would have not found the A&W shop so soon. Had our lunch there. Everyone was happy and we were soon on our way to Meleka to shop!!
Ohyea, we encountered a scary incident on our way to Meleka. Vincent was turning out of the parking lot when he didn’t see a white car coming really close to us. The driver horned really loudly but we didn’t hit each other. Thank God. He stopped infront of us. Got out of the car looking really pissed. Banged out window and shouted at Vincent. V apologized and the guy shouted:” what you doing!penalty 100!” we were shocked. Why the hell do we need to pay him money when no accident happened? I think he saw that it was a Singaporean car he decided to take advantage. He told us to drive to the front and talk. we decided to ignore him and quickly drove off towards the left lane. The car high- beamed and horned once again coz we were “running away” from him.haha. lucky there were a few cars that went behind us and so we lost him. We all heaved a sigh of relief when we were back on the highway and the car was nowhere near.
Reached Makota shopping mall and did abit of shopping. Managed to get a few tops and bought cakes from SECRET RECIPE!happiest. bought durian cheese cake, choco banana, hazelnut cheese and some new creation: Strawberry marshmallow cheesecake. It was cheap and good!!!
Dinner in JB: paper wrapped chicken!!!yummy and other dishes as well. Full once again, we started driving back to Singapore. It was another horrible jam at the checkpoint, but again, we made it out of msia safe and sound!!
Totally enjoyed this trip: EAT EAT EAT.PLAY PLAY PLA.DRINK DRINK DRINK. Cant wait to make another one with them soon=)
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