Tear-jerker, this one.

I must say that we all had a fun time in Bali. We tried white water rafting @ Telega Waja River, climbed the 1717m tall Mt Batur, enjoyed soothing Balinese massages etc... It was a good trip, and it would perhaps be better if we had planned for a longer holiday there!

Amidst all the fun, the trip also further highlighted to me how fortunate we are in sg, really. I'll share some anecdotes from the trip.

Our driver for the Mt Batur climb is a very friendly guy called Mardi. En route to the mountain, I had a good chat with him. He had gotten his diploma in tourism many years ago, and had been driving tourists for close to 7 years now. He shared with us the salary range of Indonesians: working in a low end job (eg. gardener) would earn you sgd150/mth, whereas if you were an engineer/manager, you would probably earn sgd500/mth. His is in the middle. His dream is to travel the world, however, he admitted that in his country, the reality is harsh and he knows that it is a faraway dream for him. He hasn't even travelled outside of Bali before. And he's already 30 plus. And yet I have already been to 10 countries thus far, some of which I funded on my own even.

During the ascent of Mt Batur, we had a mountain guide named Wayung. I learnt from him that in doing this tiring job, it is still hard to make ends meet for him and his family. Worse, it is currently not the peak season for tourism, so he only gets to climb twice per week instead of 7. To make ends meet, he relies on growing crops to sell. An ardent fan of Barcelona and the god of soccer, Messi, his dream is to become a soccer player. It's hard for him to watch football matches as he does not own a television. He has to make long trips to clubhouses to watch his favourite team in action.

When we reached the mountain top, another mountain guide, Ketut, approached us. We had met him just before the climb and had learnt that he was a drink seller. At the summit, he offered us coke at sgd2 per bottle. 2 dollars mean a lot to them than to us. And imagine the feeling he would get if he were to climb all the way up without being able to sell any drinks. So we all bought from him.

We rounded up the day with a fantastic massage session at Bali Green Spa. The masseuses there were very professional. We chatted with one of the masseuses, and learnt that they were only earning a commission of sgd1 for every customer, and on that evening, we happened to be her first customer! At the end of the therapy session, we all had no qualms about tipping them extra.

Singaporeans are so fortunate. We have a vibrant economy and an efficient government. Yet it is common to hear locals complaining about not having enough of this or that. We all ought to go on trips to such places to open our eyes to what we ALREADY HAVE, not what we don't yet have.

Improvements and modifications from the first attempt:
This time I added rum and pomelo into the tiramisu. Plus, I finally managed to beat the egg whites to form "stiff peaks". I also used mascarpone cheese that was straight out from the fridge. The overall effect: a much less watery tiramisu. This is tastier than the first. Love it:)

Off to Japan! Tokyo and Osaka here I come!

Last Fri, we bade our good friend zhijie goodbye as he flew off to Australia for further studies. It's kinda sad that he's leaving, n that one by one, we're all parting ways, n we know that we're all gonna meet up tgt only after 4 yrs. But then again, we're happy for him for getting a scholarship to study at this great sch.

All the best to my good friend zj! So long, mate!

Haha this is long overdue. Now I finally have the time to write this post.

Thank you to all those who made my 21st birthday a special one. To the frisbee peeps, for the sentosa outing; to my Jc classmates, for the meal @ hippo grill; to my ocs mates, for the meal @ Paulaner; sec sch friends for the night @ Wilson's place; n most of all, to my family for the little celebration that we had tgt @ Nyny. And not to mention the gifts too.I appreciate the gesture a lot:-)

Happy 21st!

I used to enjoy gambling on blackjack a lot. And every year during CNY, all the relatives would gather and play the game. We all enjoy the thrill of winning money. Well who doesn't?

However, I've decided to shun it once and for all after a small lesson learnt during this CNY. I lost $30 in 1 sitting. Honestly, it's not a huge sum, but I think it taught me this:
better to earn money through honest means than to gamble. Your wishful hopes of striking it big can easily cause you to lose a lot more (and that was precisely what happened to me haha!). This is quite common-sensical, we all know this. But greed can be quite overpowering sometimes. We all need a painful lesson to learn from our mistakes.

I think this "pinch" is enough to teach me this lesson. I definitely wouldn't want to learn it in a harder way.

Looking forward to the next CNY :)! But no more gambling for me next time haha!

I cannot tolerate it when someone makes a request to me, and makes it seem as though he's doing it for the good of others, when he himself is in fact receiving benefits from this favour. And usually, people are smart enough to recognise that.

Instead of being gracious, one appears to be conniving instead.

Moral of the story: To gain the trust of others during negotiations, it is important to share "What's in it for me"

~ Love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? Fall head over heels. I say find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart. I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. ~ William Parrish