Do I look Christian?

Do I have Christianity imprinted on my forehead?

Why do alot of people assume I'm Christian? Without even asking. Just by looking at me? It's weird! Doesn't just happen once. Happened more than 3 times!

My colleagues just asked me if I'm christian cos I have the christian look. Huh? What the hell is a christian look? If you r saying I look like an angel, have the holy look, ok I accept. But I'm still not a christian. Still, don't understand. What does it mean by 'you hv a christian look'? Is there such a thing called 'christian look'? The other day, this taxi driver was driving pass City Harvest Church n he just asked me 'Do you go here on Sunday'? I gave him a blank look. Why should i? Just assume I'm christian. This is even more blatant. Not asking 'R u christian', but 'do u go to this particular church'. Already thinks I'm christian.

FYI, I'm a free thinker!! Meaning i have no allegiance to any sort of religion. I believe in myself. Self reliance. I'm not atheist ok. No offence to christian, but i prefer free-thinker. At least i have no restrictions. I can visit temples, churches, mosques, hindu temples...whatever. Personally, i prefer buddhism to christianity. For obvious reasons i shall not divulge much here. I think alot of christians r abit over the top. Not all, but alot. Esp those city harvest ones. Like cult. Ops i should stop.

Anyway, i think all gods r the same. So y discriminate? Aiy, best is just believe in urself. Life lies in your hands! U shape ur future. Miracles? Do they exist? If they do, y haven't they happen to me? Oh maybe cos i don't believe in religion? So discriminating!

Maybe i should practice my looks. How to look non-christian?

Gunung Belumut 22 April 2007

My 1st official mountain trekking! Chiangmai's trek not considered.

Gunung Belumut - Height 1010m. Place Kluang. Time of trek 4hrs up, 3.5hrs down.

Great fun! N Shiok! N Shack!

Set-off time: A bloody unearthy hour of 630am at Marsiling MRT! Means I had to get up at 5am, take a cab down. In the end, I woke up at 520am (cos i shut the alarm off when it went off). Can't help it, only had 4hrs of sleep, n i'm a pig who needs sleep.

Trip there was smooth, cos i slept all the way. But the road became bumpy when we were abt 1 hr from Kluang, so it was like a rollar coaster ride.

After a breakfast of unappetising oily noodles (which i only had a few bites), we start off! Up the mountain we go! Yippie!

Group photo b4 the trek

Me at waterfall!

Beginning trek was easy, slight upslopes and flat terrain. Smooth sailing for me! Though i was already perspiring haf hr into the trek. Stopped at a waterfall to rest before we headed off for the more 'exciting' part of the trek - UPHILLS!!!

This is more challenging than Chiangmai. At times I had to be tarzan, swinging myself up the slope or jumping down by holding on to tree branches. Yes, I was on all 4s at times. Mountaineering is not Glam. So members of Tai-Tai Ltd pls do not attempt!

After flights of slope after slope and 3hrs into the climb, we faced the most challenging slope of the trek! Steep slope up with huge gaps in between! This is the time to get down n dirty, climbing up on all 4s, hauling myself up with pure arm strength n leg muscles (i can feel the workout, my butt n legs must be damn toned now).

Finally after 4hrs, we arrived at the not so fantastic summit. Yes, it is only a small patch of land at the summit n u have to climb up the big rock to view the not so fantastic scenery.

View from the top

Me at the top
Ladies at the top

Just as we were well rested, God of Thunder decided to exercise abit and sent pelts of rain down on us! Oh great! Rainy descend. How great can it get! No choice. We had to descend bravely amidst the rain. Slippery slopes n muddy ground awaited us ahead! ARmed with raincoats, we started our descent.

Going up is tough, but coming down is even tougher! My legs just went wobbly half hour down. The strain on the knees and legs is just much more than going up. But never give up! Jumping from one point to another, taking gigantic steps, getting really dirty n muddy everywhere! 3.5hrs later, we saw the light! The exit point! Yeah! We have made it! I have conquered Mount Belumut! 7.5hrs of non-stopping trekking (ok, there were a few breaks in between which latest a total of maybe 15mins n a brief lunch stop of 10mins). This is damn exhilirating & shiok!

Journey back saw most of us slumber into deep sleep. Too tired to talk or do anything else.

N i woke up today with slight muscle ache. Only slight, which I'm proud of myself cos that means I'm an active person!!!

On a side note, I was the 1st lady to reach the top out of our group! Haha...

Oh no unglam photos of me available on this post. Ha I've hidden all those away!!!

Not ruling out another trekking trip though.

More pictures at my Ofoto website

Next adventure trip - Advanced Diving course at Pulau Perhentian!!!!! Yippie!

Busy Hectic Weeks at Work...

Yes, Finally I feel the peak and i'm hating it. Ok, not as bad as some of my peers but still it sucks. That is probably why i don blog that often now cos

1) No internet connection at my client's place

2) No life = Nothing to blog about

3) Work bloody late, no mood & energy to go online by the time i'm back home

3 main reasons. My life these few weeks has been

a) Morning taxi to client's place (enroute picking up colleagues)

b) Work whole day away

c) Late night taxi back home (reaching home after 1am)

d) wash up & sleep at 2am

e) Next day morning wake up at 7am again

f) whole routine starts again

Day in day out it has been like that. Mon- Fri, and some sats & suns. How to get a life with this kinda working condition? Even if you want to, you don't have the energy to. At the end of the day, u just want to go home & sleep. Even wkends, u feel damn tired. Damn, cannot like that, must get a life! And those late nights have taken a toll on me (showing on my face, outbreak!!! I need more beetroot juice)

So finally this wkend not so tight. Met friends for dinner on sat (reunion dinner). Yes, our dear Jane (a.k.a Mrs Yong) is finally back from lazy, boring Adelaide for a short week in Singapore. She still looks the same, though she keeps complaining she's gotten fat. But it was a great reunion. We were just talking, laughing, gossiping the night away. Back to the good old days when all of us were still in EY audit dept. Now out of the 7 of us, only tingmei & me are the sole survivor in EY audit. Sad but that's reality. Now they're betting on who will stay in EY longer - Me or Tingmei. N I"m leading the pack. Damn. Good or bad? Maybe I shld stop telling pple I want to leave EY cos most of the time, the ones who keep saying will stay the longest. So I shall keep quiet and throw them a surprise bomb!

So dear ex-colleagues & friends (both in Singapore & overseas) please keep me posted of any job opportunities! Internal Audit jobs are most welcomed! Accountants? Not interested.

Another great night out today. New Asia Bar. Good thing on Sun = Not crowded! So there were plenty of seats! Went at 5pm instead and stayed for the sunset & happy hour! And no, did not get drunk & not a place to get drunk. Yes, there is a place to get drunk.

Was great meeting up with Mei Mei & Angeline. Just talking crap throughout the night. N we made a pact to go clark quay in May! Yes, we want to experience the so-called improved night life in Singapore. And what better place then to start from Clark Quay! Probably going to 'The Clinic' to get the hospitalised experience! Hahah.

Damn, tomorrow is another terrible start of the week ahead. I need sleep!!!

FY2007 travel plan

Nice MV, great music, great guitarist!! Especially the middle part! Think is shot in France or somewhere in europe... That guy in the MV is french cos he speaks french haha (J'Taime, at least that's the french word i can make out... French sounds so sexy & romantic)

Maybe I should go France someday...I will go but dono when yet....

Talking abt travelling..Damn it..I don't know where to go this year! Diving trip is a must this year.. Don't want to waste my diving license. But my long annual trip? Actually planned to travel ard indo-chine in May-June but now got a big crazy sad news that a job has to start during that period, meaning no go for any travel plans during that period. So now what? After that period, hard to find pple to travel, haha maybe I shall do it alone again! Think I shall go london. Never been to london (too expensive and doesnt sound really great though) But well, I can do some visiting there, stay for free, and travel out of london abit..Needs some big planning which i have no time as yet. Anyway, think can only go for a long trip after july so plenty of time to plan.

Love travelling though not an avid traveller (i only travel once or twice a year, not all the time). N i love to backpack! The freedom to go as and when u want, the freedom to decide what u want to do and freedom to meet pple from all walks of life! I don't need luxury, just a normal bed for me to sleep at night. Anyway u'r out walking >80% of the time! So what's a 5 star hotel for? Some of my frens cannot stand that. They need hotels! Decent bed, decent food. Budget is a no-go for them. Well, i'm not saying i dont eat, just that i don't spend unnecessary money on food. As long as i'm fed, i don't care if it's just bread and soup.

One of my fren says that he will not stay in hostel cos he feels it's not safe. Ha. But if u'r backpacking, stayin in hostel is the way to go! U get to meet pple from different countries, share ur travel experiences and make new frens! It's actually quite fun! Staying in hotel means u'r just cooped up in the room n have few interactions with other pple. Sometimes, u need to 'torture' ursef a bit hahaha... Too much luxury and comfort at home, so rough it out when u'r outside! Maybe that's why i always lose weight when i travel. But i had fun doing that. Not torturous to me at all! Wah sounds like i'm a sadist hahaha...Not easy to find pple who can rough it out.. Most of my closer frens cannot do that.

But the worse part of backpacking is the planning stage. Need to plan out the places u want to visit, how to get there, especially if the plan is to go to several places. Transportation is not so easy to sort out in some places. But well, no pain no gain! Come to think of it, i do almost all of the planning for the backpacking trips i've been to so far - NZ (graduation trip), Chiangmai-Hanoi (that one no choice cos i was alone), Russia (Mei Mei did alot of the planning cos i had no time but i had my inputs as well), Phuket (diving trip which I planned all the way). Such accomplishment! Haha so proud of myself that I actually did all those! And also, I'm a good map reader! Who says Women can't read maps? I prove them all WRONG!

So... London this year, hopefully cambodia this year as well (if i can spare 1 week in may). Next year? Don't know... Like i mentioned before, i want to go to too many places that i don't have time! Tibet, Mongolia, China (for Olympics). I also want to go Spain!! South America!! I shall start to plan earlier for my next year's trip...HOpefully...

But well, 1st of all, I have to get through this tough April month. Feeling like a robot now. Everyday in the morning go to work, work all the way till 11-12pm, go home, reach home around 1+am, bath, tidy up, read news, go sleep close to 2am. Then the next day, wake up in the early morning and start the same routine over again. So no life rite... Don't even have the time n energy to log on the Internet to find pple to talk to & relief stress. Worse case -- I'm situated in Changi now! The worse possible scenario for someone living in the extreme west!! I should just rent a room in the east 'cos >50% of my time (in the whole year), i'm to be stationed in offices in the east!!! What luck!!

1 more mth to go. Gambatte!

Oh Happy April Fool's Day!