Mandy's post

BLOG POST 1:

An interesting experience overseas would be the one in Korea, Seoul when i was 13.  As it was years again and I have little memories of the country. However, I could still remember it was my very first time travelling and visiting such a far country. I could remember the tour guide teaching us some basic Korean so that we could communicate with the Koreans there. I was all excited and I couldn't stop 'chanting' those korean words especially "An Nyoung ha seh yo". Once we touched down at the Incheon International Airport, we have to wait for our coach to bring us to the hotel. As an adventurous 13 year old kid, my curiosity aroused and I decided to my mini adventure around the airport. Soon after, I realised I was all alone. It was all quiet, no familiar faces. I wanted to call my parents but I did not have my phone with me. I started panicking and burst out crying in the airport. I did not approach anyone for help as I thought they would not understand English. However, one of the staff at the airport spotted me running around and crying and came to me. Thank God, he could communicate fluently in English. I told him I was lost and he guided me to the tour group. I could still remember how I got lost as it was a frightening experience and I've learnt to remain calm when faced with difficulties next time.


Another interesting thing was that I could learn about the history and culture of Korea. Apart from all the sight seeing, it was my first time seeing SNOW!!! The first thing i did was grabbing a handful of snow in my hands and began shaping it into a ball. And throw! Furthermore, I had a chance to learn skiing! As we were on a tour package, we had someone to teach us some basic skills of skiing. I was anxious to try out skiing. It obviously was not as easy as it seems and it was energy draining. After I've learnt some basic skiing skills, I tried skiing down the slopes. No words could expressed how exciting it was as i ski down the slope, with the gust of wind gently blowing against my face. It was indeed a life enriching experience! 

BLOG POST 2:

Recently, the study trip to Malaysia last December is considered one of the interesting and memorable overseas trip. This is because it was my first time travelling alone without my parents or relatives. Throught this trip, I have learnt to be more independent and not only to take care of myself but also my friends who are going for the study trip as well. Besides, it was the first time I attended a study trip overseas. Out of the many places we visited during the trip, the most interesting one would be Cameron Highlands. Travelling up the hills of Cameron Highlands was awesome. Besides the beautiful scenery of plants and flowers, the chilling weather accompanied us throughout the trip. Most importantly, besides enjoying the trip, it was interesting to learn and visit the  BOH tea company and plantations. It was the first time I am visiting a plantation high up in the hills. 

We travelled up by an old bus, with no doors at all!!! That kind of bus was way too old and not seen in Singapore ever since I was born. The bus journey up the hill was  While travelling up the narrow and steep route up the hills, I was all nervous and anxious as there was too much horning along the way. I could feel the bus tilting to one side and I was totally shocked. Everyone held on tight and those screaming and panicking made the situation worse. I thought I was going to die. It was an exciting adventure and a first time adventure. In addition, along the way up the steep hill, we could observed the farmers harvesting tea leaves with bare hands. It was a rare sight and we would not be able to see it in Singapore. Furthermore, we observed the process of tea making. It was very educational, as i learnt that there are many steps involved in the making of tea leaves, which I felt was very interesting and informative.

Another interesting experience in Cameron Highlands was going to the night market in Brinchang. I was all excited upon the sight of many stall owners shouting and yelling the price of their product to attract customers. Yayness, I had a chance to taste honey comb at the night market!!! We would never have a chance purchase and to taste honey comb in Singapore! However, as we were at the night market, it was crowded and packed with people and we had to pay extra attention to our belongings. Also, we learnt to stick together as a group, ensuring no one was left behind before we move on to the next stall. It was an amazing experience, taking care of one another to ensure everyone is safe.

Story 2: Trip to Genting Highlands, Malaysia

Day 1-

Bascially, me and 9 of my friends were very excited about the trip, so we didn't get to sleep due to our excitment.(even though we know that our bus ride was 7am in the morning) All of us were tired and sleepy, but our excitment kept us awake and runny. All of us reached around 6.30am, to write the bus number for our trip there. So for the next 8hours, we were in the bus, doing our own things( sleeping, playing our psp, etc....)

Around 3pm, we have reached Our destination, Genting Highlands, even though i was already up at 1pm from my slumber, before our bus went up the mountain to Genting.( i was praying in my heart that nothing will go wrong) The view was scary as the bus kept going up, the further we are to ground level, which also means the higher we are, and closer to Genting Highlands Resort world.

After we reached, we checked into the hotel, which took around 2hours, as there a lot of us, so it was harder to book all our rooms together in one floor, and also there was quite a lot of people there at the resort. Once we have made into out rooms, we bathed and rested for around 1 hour, before meeting again for dinner. That night, some things happened, as the two girls that were with us, got lost. Thus this made us, the 8 guys to search for them in the shopping center. We searched high and low for them, but couldn't find them. After 30minutes, we finally found them, however, the place we found them were outside the toilet, when we wanted to wash up our face due to the intensive sweating. 

Day 2-

This day, was the day where we decided to go to the theme park for some adrenaline-pumping moments. We woke up 10.30am, for our breakfast, and finished it in less than 30minutes, as all of us were very eager to take on the rides. As the rides were outdoor, we had to face the cold and misty weather. 

 So everyone had to wear a jacket or at least a layer of clothing more. as shown in this picture

Some of the rides we ride were amazing scary yet exciting, even though u think i might be crazy, but one of the rides Called SPACE SHOT were 15 stories high, and the view at the top, is just horrifying. At the moment when the ride drops, it almost feels like your heart and butt is at top, while your whole body is 'dropping' down onto the ground. That moment of truth is one moment that anyone will remember after taking that ride. There were some other rides but we didn't get to ride them all due to the weather.

Day 3-

This day would be the 2nd day of visiting the theme park, to play all the rides that we didn't get the chance to do so the day before, or to have the chance again to play the 'SPACE SHOT' ride again. The 3rd day we had pizza hut for br-unch as all of us woke up kinda late, and this time we took our own sweet time. Even when we were in the theme park, we took our own sweet time, such as, we played everything that available in the theme park, such as the game stores, 

We even won quite a few prizes. Well some of us,

Day 4- 

This day, we went down to a place called 'mushroom farm' , we played 'guns' in the place itself. And guns as in gunpowder filled fake guns, which just makes very loud noises when the trigger is pulled.

And also guns which shoots 'bullets' or plastic balls called 'bellets' 

We played this 'Guns' for almost 5 hours. All the guys were so absorbed into playing them, that we forgot the time, even the girls got interested and played the 'Guns' themselves.

Day 5-

The saddest day of the whole trip, as this was our final last day in Genting highlands. Everyone was sad and happy at the same time, as some of them missed home. I was particularly sad as this was one of the best times i've had in my life, but like what people, 'All good things must come to an end'. We took some photos before entering the bus back to singapore, just to keep some more memories of this awesome Trip/vacation.

Story 1: Trip to Betong, Thailand

1st day:

The 1st day of this trip was travelling to betong, as me and my family(mother, siser and grandparents) were travelling down with a tour guide in his antique Mercedes Benz car. Although it was antique, it was not that different from a normal one. However, a problem occurred before the trip. As there were 5 of us, but only 4 seats in the car, so me, my mum, sister and grandma had to squeeze in the back seat.  

Once we had reached the border of thailand, the Border Custom checkpoint had a store which sold cigars and smoking goods similar, so my grandfather decided to buy one box of cigars, even though it was cheap, we wanted to try one since we had never tried one before.

After 1.5-2 hours of the car ride, we reached a hilltop restaurant where it is really fresh and organic.   The reason for why i say this, is because whatever we order, were killed on the spot, behind in the kitchen. I remembered we called a chicken and fish dish, so in the cooking process, i heard noise in the kitchen. As a curious young boy, i went to find out what the noise is coming, and to my surpise, i found out that the kitchen were killing chicken they were keeping in their back garden, and also fish in the pool they had in their backyard. The scene was kinda distrubing and cruel, so i did not take any picture of that particular scene. 

By the way, this is the picture of me biting on the cigar we bought earlier. It has a vanilla aroma and also taste, which was kinda strange, as it did not smell like tobacco or any sorts of smoking ingredients, until I saw what the name of the cigar was. Since it was named 'Vanilla Cigars', so vanilla aroma and taste was not that strange.

After the meal, there was a temple, so me and my sister went and explore it and it was well unique. It was tiring going in to explore as it was an uphill temple, thus i think that after that, i lost a few kg. It had some stores that sold elephant teeth. But all those things carried a specific spiritual protection. There was one elephant that was believed to protect us from nightmares, another was from bad luck.

After another 2-3hours of car ride, until the night, we checked in a hotel and stayed there for the night, or did we? In fact, me, my sister and my mother went out into the near streets to try the local food and also to walk around. This is a picture of the local food, called 'Roti Janai' or pan-fry crispy Roti Prata. It was very tasty, which was filled with buttery goodness and sweetness. As I've said buttery, means that it was very oily.

Day 2:

This day, we went an flower garden and had lunch here. By the way, it was huge. This is a view of the garden when i was at the top.

There was a lot of plants and flowers available, since it was a flower garden. There were some weird looking flowers/plants and weird names for the flower.

One flower was even called 'Saliva'. But there was also some other flowers that looked very pretty, and very colourful.

Then after this, we took the car ride back to malaysia until night time, and as usual we needed to squeeze in the back seat

Anetta's story 2

Last year during April, I took up the CDS Global Citizenship. This year the trip was to Beijing and Tianjin. It was a 7D6N thing and spent 2D1N in Tianjin. 66 students and 4 teachers went. It was a very interesting and enriching experience for us to be able to learn so much about China’s history and culture. We visited places like the Great Wall of China, Beijing Olympics stadium & Water Cube (Aquatic Center), Beijing’s Zoo, ate peking duck, visit old folk’s home as well as an orphanage. We also visited Tianjin’s eco city mall to learn about their plans to help be eco-friendly. During the time at the Great Wall of China, it was very tiring and all of us did not want to give up. We climbed and climbed till our legs were sore. What was unexpected was that the higher we go, the hotter we get. We thought that the higher the altitude, the colder we get. It was another way round. I guessed it was because of the sun and as we climbed, we sweat a lot. We met fellow Singaporeans there as well, trying his way up to the Great Wall. One of my friends even vomited while attempting to climb the Great Wall. We had our lunch there and ate their famous peking duck. The duck was really awesome as compared to Singapore’s. We then had a debrief session before retiring for the night.
The following day we visited the Forbidden City and the Beijing Olympic Stadium. It was packed with people and many of them were taking photos. There was a room where the King and Queen used to spend the entire night there. It was really interesting as none of the furniture have been removed or adjusted. As China was quite cold when we were there, we ate the ice-cream and it did not melt. In Singapore, it definitely melts within 5 minutes. We then moved on to the Olympic stadium. We knew that we cannot go in and really see how it looks like. We can only take photos and enjoy the breeze there. It was really cold and cooling.

After a few days in Beijing we took a coach to Tianjin. We visited the eco-city there. It was a building full of static because when we touched the railings, there were static. It was really an experience to visit there. The guy who was the in-charge presented a PowerPoint slideshow on their plans to be eco-friendly.

Overall from this trip, I really learn a lot about China. Be it food, culture or history, it was really interesting to know. We have a guided tour-guide and she told us about her experience living and staying in China.

Anetta's story 1

Just recently during the March holidays, my family and I went to Hong Kong and ZhuHai(part of China) for a vacation. We arrived at Hong Kong's international airport and we took a coach to our hotel in Kowloon. We took the Hong Kong map and it provides every single detail of the streets and where is the best place to shop in Hong Kong. The map was really useful to us as it helped us to find our way back. On a night, we went to the famous 'Lan Kwai Feng'. It's something like Singapore's Clark Quay. The stretch of ‘Lan Kwai Feng’ was very unique as all the restaurants and bars were actually on a slope. It really amuses me. We found a bar with beautiful ambiance and decided to have a drink there. There was also live telecast of football and the supporters were cheering their favorite team on. What really interest me was there were many foreigners there were very 'high' at the bar. Some were topless despite the cooling weather there. Some were wearing a hairband of a reindeer.  Many passers-by took photos with them.
The following day, my family and I went to ZhuHai by a mini bus. I shared room with my sister and father while my mother shared the room with my grandmother. When we reached there we had sumptuous meal before heading back to the hotel to retire for the night. What was really shocking and interesting during this whole trip is that somehow we were 'robbed'. Before the sun rises, my father woke up and found his trousers on the floor near the door. He frantically checked for his belongings like handphones, wallets and cash and they were all missing. He called us up and I knew that my handphone was missing as well as I placed it on the dressing table. My phone was less than 2 weeks old! After that we checked the luggage and realized that our camera was missing as well. All the pictures from Hong Kong that we took were gone! We called our mother and informed the hotel staffs about it. I guessed we did lock the door, however we failed to ledge it. What my family suspect was that it was by the hotel staffs because only they had the access to all the rooms. However, they strongly denied that it was by them and refused to let us see the CCTV. We then reported the incident to the nearby police headquarters. They could not really do anything as well. Luckily we are able to claim the insurance. What really pity was that the photos were gone. Through this, we learnt a lesson that we need to ledge the door before we sleep. Somehow we were grateful that the 'robber' did not harm us. What would have happen if we woke up while the robber was flipping through our stuffs? I honestly could not imagine that. I reckoned we were all too tired to feel that someone was in the room. Luckily my mum had some money with her and we continued to shop despite feeling a little moody. We then take the coach back to Hong Kong International airport and returned to Singapore.

It was my first ever trip to bangkok and i was really excited and looking forward to it. It was a 3 days 2 night. It been quite a long time since i last take flight and i almost forget how it felt. Alright my journey start ! The flight only took 1 hour plus and we reach bangkok. It took around 30 minute to reach our hotel by taxi. The hotel i am staying is Baiyoke suite and the hotel is really big enough for my whole family. Sight from the hotel window was awesome. i decided to explore area near my hotel to search for food as we are starving. Searching for food is very difficult as there only a few of halal restaraunt near our area. Next stop is shopping time, something which i look forward to. Clothes were selling at really cheap price as it is in baht. Our first shopping mall is central world, it was quite a new shopping centre then. It was very huge !!But some of the shop is selling the item expensive compare to the flea market outside. Near to central world was the platinum mall which is located 10 minute away from central world. It was impossible to finish walking around the whole mall cause it was just too big. I decide to continue shopping the next day as we are tired. Our second day, after having breakfast at our hotel , we start with MBK. To me, MBK is more to a place for someone who more into IT stuff. To my surprise, there is also Kfc at one of the shopping centre thus we decided to have our lunch there. There is a lot of flea market and bangkok is more happening at night. However, language can be a barrier there as some of the shokeeper are not able to translate in english thus we have to use our hand sign or they will use calculator to show us the price. The best part is taking the sky train at there, it is something like MRT here. After shopping and dining we go back to hotel and pack up to as we are heading to back to singapore the next day. Although it was a short trip , i really enjoy myself going to a place i never go before

ISI Jogjakarta

Usually when I go overseas trips, it's either for a dance festival or holiday purposes. However, the most recent trip made this year was not for any of that, but I went there for studying purposes. Six of us were send to Institut Seni Indonesia(ISI) also known as Indonesia Arts Institute. We were there to study more about ethnomusicology.This trip is really interesting because I was actually not interested in music in the first place, however somehow I was the one chosen for that study trip. It was a blessing in disguise I supposed because that trip taught me that there are more to music itself. Over there, we learned to play the gamelan. We also got to know that there are many division in gamelan itself. This is beacause Indonesia is such a huge country and there are gamelan from different parts of the country. It might differ in the notes, the material used to make their instrument and also the way its performed. This trip was different from the other overseas trips because we all had a village homestay. Stripped down to the basic. We showered with water from the well. The electricity wasn't that good. I had no internet access. We were literally living the way people over there lived. Being a Singaporean, everything was way too different however we did get used to it because even without all the advantages, we still had a lot of fun there. I also got the chance to teach the student there Malay dance. This was fun too. In Singapore, we usually have classes indoors, on cemented floors. Over there, we were out in the open, we danced beside a paddy field and not on a cemented ground. That was really something to rememeber. In all, the trip taught me alot and it made me experience life in the village. Something that I won't be able to experience in Singapore. Thank you ISI Jogjakarta. :)