Haven't even done my paintball post... Argh... Nevermind, that's kinda outdated! Haha... Will update the outdated later!
Let's start from a little before the trip. Well, a neighbourhood friend of mine just died at a playground nearby just few days before my trip. Not really sure what happened, but he's really young!!! It's kinda shocking...
Alright so, let's just start with the day, before heading to Changi Airport!
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12 Nov 2008, WedDidn't have a big enough bag!!! Yikes! End up I went to JP to get all the remaining stuff and a bigger hand carry bag!
Went to get my shoes! It was supposed to be done the previous day. I just wanna add soles to my new shoes, oh well... I guess it's too new, so the Uncle kinda forgot. Haha! Well, went to collect my shoes and chit chat with the uncles there while the cobbler add the soles.
The cobbler said that his wife was dizzy in the morning so he had to bring her to a doctor. That's why he is late. Then one of his friend went to disturb him:
Uncle(The friend): So have a not?
Cobbler: Choy! Don't anyhow say ah! So old already how to have? 60 years old liao!
Me: Aiya! Now's the trend mah! 60 years old still can one!
Uncle: Ya lor! So common! Government funded also!
Uncle: Fun mah! Got 1 more young one!
Well, in case u don't know what I'm talking about. It's a child! Haha! The uncle is asking the cobbler if his wife is dizzy because she got pregnant? Hahaha!!!
Then went on chit chatting! Actually the cobbler's daughter just got married a few weeks ago! His daughter is one of the dance teacher in Mediacorp. So is her husband. On their wedding day, the bride and the groom performed a modern dance with they arranged themselves!!! That's sounds interesting!
Okay, and finally my shoe is done so I left for home.
And I'm back home to continue packing and squeezing.
At least managed to pack it up in time and then I bath and Dad drove me to the Airport. On the way to the airport, I think I saw a pool of blood on the road... Hmm... not too sure. When I reach the airport, bad thing is, I just remembered that I forgot my jacket!!!
Went to check in my luggage then ate Popeye's chicken, then went to shop around T3... I was trying to shop for a jacket. But didn't manage to see any suitable ones... No choice, end up just left for the plane.
Went into the gates at T1 and went to shop around a bit, and nothing much inside still... then walked all the way to the end, which is where our gate is. Went for the toilet, good thing is, both me and my friend knows how to use the squatting cubicles! There are lots of foreigners queuing up for the toilet and it seems like none of them uses the squatting ones. So, that's probably a good skill! Haha!!!
Alright on to the plane and lift off! Well, nothing much during the plane flight. Watched 'The Dark Knight' movie on the plane. Hmm... When we reach our transit point at Sydney, we are all asked to remain sited while the police came. Then watch the live show as the police took 1 woman from the business class seats away. My friend's seat have a better view though. Haha... our guess is, she probably smuggled some drugs or illegal stuff.
Then alighted at Sydney. Shopped a bit and went to brush teeth and wash up to freshen up a little. And we just sat at the airport and waited... Turn to stones... And finally, it's off to New Zealand, Wellington.
Sat beside us is a nice old lady. We watched the scenaries from the plane together!!! And when we were about to reach, she asked me, 'So are you going home?' Hahaha!!! Must be my hair colour! Well, the short conversation(The words are not exact!):
Lady: So are you going home?
Me: No. I'm just visiting, it's my first time here.
Lady: Oh! That is nice.
Lady: I remember the last time I came the plane flew in between the houses to land.
Me(Mouth open big!): Whoa! Isn't that scary?
Lady: Ya. It's strange! At least this time it's going in from the sea.
And that's the conversation. We've reached and we are the last to leave the plane! Haha!!! Oops... Because we are trying to fill up the Visitor form! Well, a really big thanks to the crew that patiently waited for us... Oops!
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13 Nov 2008, ThursAlright, that's total of 12 hours of flight plus a 5 hours time different. So, I finally reached the place the next day.
Arrived at the airport. Mum got me to bring seasoned Citrus fruit and because in the ingredients, it wrote 'honey' as 1 of them, gotta just threw that away. Haha... So the whole bottle of Citrus fruit got thrown away.
Next is off to our hostel. Took the airport flyer. Hehe... the ticket looks like this:
Tada! The bus ticket!
Then throughout the trip my luggage kept falling... Argh... Just so tired after the flights... Still got lost in the streets while we are trying to look for the hostel. Had the feeling of shitting the whole time! Argh! Well, the people there are really friendly! They just saw us looking at the maps and asked if we needed help! Well, after around 1 hour of searching, we finally reached the hostel!
So check-in to our rooms and found out that they gave us the wrong room... Oh well, it's supposed to be 2 beds, but ended up to be 1 big bed... Asked for a change but those with 2 beds are all taken up. Argh... Then, no choice, just had to live with it.
Argh... problems... then found out no electricity for the plugs, can't charge our laptops... Well, not really sure whether is it my plug or is it the electricity. And another problem is this:
Reaching out for the heater!
Completely can't reach the heater no matter how much I tried to jump! Anyway, too tired... So, just rest a while, bath and get ready to go out. First thing is to get our free dinner!
We've got 2 coupons for '2-4-1' drinks and our free dinner pass that is only available from 5pm to 6pm... Oops... Forgot to take photos of the food... Anyway, it's just a plate of pasta and salad. Then in additional, we ordered 1 big bowl of fries! and used up 1 '2-4-1' drink coupon to get 2 big glasses of beer! Can't finish the food...
This Blend! The cafe right beside our hostel where we get our free dinner! A convenient place to get food and beer!
My friend took a picture of the 'weird-looking' me having dinner!
Beer!
Then slowly slacking and finishing up the fries and beer. After a while, got 2 'one free champagne' coupons! Okay, it's ladies night! There are just too much coupons. Argh... Didn't have time to use them all up! Didn't have enough beer! The beer there is good! It doesn't make your throat feels itchy, it's just smooth!
So walk around nearby as we waited for workshop to start.
Wellington Town Hall
The people waiting outside for the workshop
The other view of the town hall
The area behind the Town hall
Okay, there are alot more photos. But I think should just blog it in another post.
Alright! Then the workshop!!!! Marama!
Too bad! Can't show u guys online for most of the photos during the workshop though! It's confidential! Haha... So, I'll just show it when I see you people!
Alright, so party for the 1st day then went to a 24 hours shop to grab supper, which are cup noodles and potato chips! We ate and went back to the hostel. Kinda tired... so just went to sleep.
Hmm... Basically, the room and toilet look like this:
Erm... Please ignore all the stuff lying around. It's not that messy! Oops!
That's my towel hanging over there!! Hee!
I guess it's probably the weather. Kept trying to squeeze out the shit!!! But still... it's feels that the shit is just too hard. Just dun really know why, ate quite a lot of salad though, but I think it's probably because didn't ate fruits...
Okay, tired. So went to bed. Now I know why my friend kept stressing that she wants 2 separate beds! She is completely tired and flips around when she's sleeping. And I'm just too tired to care... Ah... Zzzz....
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14 Nov 2008, FriDarn! Something went wrong with my internet connection and now I have to write this over again...
Anyway, this day, we are both just too tired to take photos. I guess it's probably what people call 'jet lack'.
Woke up and took a photo of the graffiti just outside the room's window.
The sunny graffiti
Okay, then off to grab breakfast. And it's whole day of workshop programs. It's probably the time difference and it kinda made me really tired... And I'm kinda feeling upset too... So, sms Enki-chan and spammed her phone!
So during the lunch time, went out to walk a bit and my friend grabbed a new international plug. Then we went back to try, still can't work. So went down to ask the reception about it. Oops! The problem is, I have to push the card deeper till I hear 2 clicks, then it'll trigger the electricity for the plugs... Alright after knowing that, went back to the workshop.
Well, I'm still have that tiring feeling but there are some interesting lectures towards the end of the day like photography and about colours that kinda made me a little more awake. It ended around 11pm... It's just so tiring...
Feeling really cold and both of us completely given up on jumping and trying to reach the heater, so, went to the reception and the guy to help us with that. Haha... Oh ya, and the card works! We managed to charge our laptops and camera. And we went to walk around the streets to look for food.
Oh well, once again, got lost... Argh! And forgot to bring map out!! Well, at least we did managed to find our way back. Phew! Then we just settled our supper at burger king near by.
The burger king building! I forgot my camera so this was taken some time near the end of my trip.
Somehow at this point kinda felt a little disappointed with the workshop. So, my friend suggested that we should go for the lord of the ring half day tour to cheer up. Well, at that point, I'm really feeling kinda down, so didn't wanna think of anything. So just went back to the room.
Went to bath. It's kinda late, and guess how we blow dry our hair? We used the heater! Hoho! Good thing that it's so high up and it's kinda like a hand dryer. Okay then thought about the tour for a while and went to sleep.
Well, for the night... My friend tried to wake me up in the middle of the night because she heard some weird loud sounds. But I just gave her a 'I can't be bothered' face. And then near the morning, she kicked my butt while she's sound asleep! Okay, both of us didn't know these things till we had breakfast the next day. So, off to the next day!
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15 Nov 2008, SatAlright it's really the jet lack. This is a fresh morning! Alright, up to go for nice breakfast! We had breakfast at a cafe right opposite the town hall.
Interior of the cafe
The counter with all the cakes and cookies and pies!
Hoho! That's my coffee, Americano!
Well, one thing bad is, the coffee gets cooled really quickly because of the cool weather... And Oops... I have not food photos at all! After breakfast went to shop around.
Then went to the town hall to wait for the program to start. Just in case I start to fall asleep again, I started to randomly taking photos in the outside area...
That's the area where we registered and bought books, DVDs and shirt of the workshop
This is the sign right outside the place where we are having our workshop
And then, I continue to randomly take photos of the interior...
That's the ceiling!
That's some sort of stage.
Alright then back to the workshop. Well, for the previous day, I was kinda not confident of drawing and things like that. In short, I'm just feeling down. But kinda felt better and sorta drew a bit and I kinda felt happier! Haha! It's kinda getting more interesting! Well, we even get to watch a new movie trailers and an online TV comedy that is yet to release!!! It's great!!! It's really funny and interesting storyline! Muahaha!!!
Well, for the whole trip, I didn't used the laptop at all... Argh. Anyway, the class ended pretty early this day. Around 8pm. Forgot to bring camera out for dinner again! We went to a really nice and cozy place to eat kebahs!
Next, we went back to the 24 hours shop to grab milk and cup noodles. Completely broke after buying shirts, books and food!!! So, we just had to eat cup noodles for the next morning. Booked our half day lord of the rings tour at the reception as well.
For the night... I was kinda woken up by a bad dream. My friend kept asking me to go back to sleep. Towards the morning, she got some bad dreams as well. Haha... Oh well.
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16 Nov 2008, SunHoho! We have tour on this day! So more stuff! Well, woke up in the morning, there is only 1 photo of me after 3 days, so I decided to take a photo of myself while my friend went to brush her teeth!
Self taken photo of me looking out the window!
We got ourselves ready and went down to eat our cup noodles for breakfast! On the way down saw this nice fluffy dustier which they used to clean up the rooms!
Nice and fluffy!
So, we went to the courtyard to have our breakfast!
The courtyard
The BBQ pit that we are free to use!
Sitting at the courtyard waiting for the noodles to be cooked!
As we clean up at the pantry, saw this sign right above the sink.
Like the sign says, may karma shine on you!
Alright, and it's off to the super market!
Walking and fighting against the wind!
Smell of nice and fresh bread from this bakery! My friend can't help it and took this picture!
Saw a shop with all these models!
We are nearby!
Finally! New World supermarket!
Haven't got my morning coffee. So, got to the coffee bar at the supermarket!
Me buying coffee!
Alright, the supermarket just looks like supermarket! Haha! Whenever there is food, I just can't seem to take photos of it! Alright and of too buy chips, chocolates and junk food!!! We forgot to take a cart, so end up we took a basket each. Still, baskets are just not enough! The stuff I took kept dropping... Oops... Still, I think I just didn't grab enough stuff... Well, walk back to the hostel!
Fighting against the wind to get back with all the stuff I've bought!
Alright, so for this day, the workshop's location changed to Duxon hotel's ballroom. So, we went for 1 talk and then run away for the lord of the rings half day tour! The talk is very enlightening! And it's just extremely hard to take photos inside. Well, took the celling of the ballroom.
Tada! All of us are listening to the talk! I'm in this photo, try spotting me!!
Right after that, rush back to the hostel to find out that the tour guide will be picking us up at Duxon hotel... And so, went back there. Just right at 2pm, there's Santa Claus Parade!!!! But, we went for the tour so, kinda missed it. On the way to pick up another person, we saw Ronald Macdonald in skates!
Cool!
~~~~~~~~~~~~Okay, check out the half day Lord of the Rings tour here!~~~~~~~~~~~
Well then, back to the workshop. End up, there was no recruitment drive. Argh... Oh well... It's the last day of the workshop. So we had lucky draw and group photo taking. And that's all!
For the remaining time of the day, went to have a walk at Wellington Waterfront! Looking all over for fish and chips! But end up having dinner at Blend, right beside our hostel. It's still fish and chips! Alright photos of the bay!
Cross the bridge and it's the bay!
Acting cool on the bridge!
Ah... Meaningful!
The bay!
Exploring around the bay!
I wanna ride one of those some day!
Yeah! Playground!
Monkeying around the trees!!
Alright explore the city at night once again! This time, we finally remembered our cameras!
My hair looks like the grass eh? Haha!
Nice guy with the dog! It's a statue in the middle of the street!
The streets at night!
This is one interesting car!
'i was abducted by aliens... i was really quite scared but i had a few little drinks and i felt fine...'
Macdonalds! It's everywhere!
That's the bus stop!
Alright, so back to the hostel to rest because we wanna wake up really early to go to Weta cave!!
We got this brochure from our tour guide for the Lord of the Rings tour
Okay! Pack the bags! Squeeze the chips! And sleep!
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17 Nov 2008, MonWoke up pretty early! Around 7am! Get ready and double checked everything! Then, time to check out! Even till the last day, we just had to ask questions at the reception! Haha! Everyday we had questions for them to answer! Like, 'Where can I get fish and chips? Why is this not working? Which way to this place?' Okay, it's raining heavily outside!
Look at the rain drops!
Yeah! Our reception helped us to call a cab! It's just $1 extra charge! So we just stayed at the lobby and waited... The cab still haven't come so I went next door to Finc to grab my coffee and my friend's muffin. Darn! I'm 50 cents short! And they are so kind, they just said it's okay and grab 50 cents from their tips bowl... Argh... kinda felt bad...
Oh well, back to the hostel to wait. The reception start to find it weird, so she call up the cab company again. Hmm... End up, someone just grabbed our cab! That's why we are waiting for so long! Then, as I was standing there drinking coffee, one of their sign board dropped on me. Darn! I split a tiny bit of coffee! Well, the wind is just too strong. Haha... And finally the cab was here and off to Weta Cave!
The gates to Weta Cave!
Riding on the komodo dragon outside!
The entrance!!
This is the cashier counter!
The ceiling is filled with alot of pictures!
King kong!
Dr. Grordbort
Gollum with fish
Luntz
Alright, and that's for the Weta Cave!!! Hoho! There's a mini museum and small cinema where they show an introductory video of what they do! The rest is just buying toys and books! Haha! I have no space for toys!!! I wan all of them! But, no space... So, just bought the books!
I kept wondering why there are so many bugs, so I asked the Weta cave guide who is also the cashier. Actually, 'Weta' is a name of a bug in New Zealand! Ooh... So that's how the name Weta came from!
Then, off to the airport... cry!!!
As we waited for the plane, I got myself a long black coffee and a big piece of chocolate cake! Haha... in the airport saw some cute stuff and bought it back.
So that's around 6 hours flight to Sydney for the transit! I think there's a wrong estimation of angle. The plane went 1 round before it landed in Sydney! The local time there is 1710 and our boarding time for next flight is 1655!!! Yikes! The both of us panic like mad! Then found out later that the plane only leaves after around 1 hour from the boarding time.
Still, I rushed to get alcohol! Got a wine and a small bottle of vodka! Then I just run to the plane!! And sat down! Whoa! I've never been to such a big plane before! There is really 2 levels! And, there is a phone on each of the seats as well! And, shopping in the sky!!! Alright, bought some nuts and took a long time to watch 'Hancock' then watch 'Wall-E' half way. Then landed...
Because the flight was kinda 30 mins late, so I just turn on my phone immediately once it's allowed! Weird... some weird sms. Called up dad to just tell him that I've reached. He didn't say anything. And I continued to recieve weird sms... The messages have no beginning and no end, dun get what they are saying... Don't know what is going on. Can't be bothered, so I just happily went to look for more alcohol!
Then just right pony called! Haha! I asked him alot of questions! And I finally got some idea what is going on. Still, don't exactly know what is going on, so continue to heck care and too the escalator down to the other alcohol shop. Then, the police called. Ooh... So that's what is going on. And Jewl called to ask me help her buy Martell. I bought Martell and end up I told her I need it, because not enough gifts... Oops... Haha...
Well, basically, my parents recieved a call saying that I'm kidnapped... (-_-)" Okay details later... Let's just continue with me happily buying alcohol first!
After getting the alcohols, went out to meet my friend to grab the luggauge! Then I saw another old friend! And he was on the same plane as me! Hoho! Just that he went to Sydney for 2 weeks though. It's for some drama stuff... Haven't seen him for a long time even though he stayed near by. Well, okay, got our luggauge and went out.
Kinda a little unexpected, my cousins and aunt came! They are just all concern about the phone call. And honestly, I haven't seen them in ages!!! Well, end up dad did not drive, so we just took a cab home. On the way home, Banana called me to confirm that I've reached! And I listen to the story from my parents.
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The kidnap call storyWell, I'll just raftly write it out. Not extremely sure what exactly happened. But raftly, should be something like that.
Okay, in the afternoon (Wellington's time) I did message my dad that I went on the plane already. So, since I'm in the air, I can't be contacted!
Then in Singapore time, afternoon, my Mum recieved a call from a china guy saying that they kidnapped me. So, my Mum was shocked! The call was made to our home phone. Then the guy demand that my Mum give them her mobile number, not to call the police or anyone else and follow according to what they say.
Somehow, Mum just lied to them, she doesn't have a handphone. So they give her 30mins to buy a new phone and get the money. During the 30 mins, she just called our relatives and ask of what to do. She accidentally called my grandparents of both side and basically everyone but not Dad yet. Then those scammers called again and got my Mum's mobile number. And the call was transferred to her mobile phone.
These people just kinda made Mum tell the story. She accidentally spit out that I was in New Zealand and got on the in the morning(Singapore time). Well, these people forgot that there is a 5 hours time difference. And still tried to play along saying, 'We caught her at the airport in the morning.' Haha! It's afternoon in Wellington!
They told her not to hang up the phone and not to tell Dad. Then she replied,' but I need him to get the cash from the bank because the account is signed by the 2 of us!' They demand her to give them Dad's number. Then she hung up. (Actually, I don't think such an account even existed!)
And she called the police and then called Dad. When those assholes called back, Mum replied, 'I don't know how to use this new phone!' Once again, loop hole. Mum is kinda funny too! this is how it goes:
Scammers: We've got your daughter!
Scammers: I'll beat your son up! Beat up your son!
(I guess they just kept repeating the sentence to make them look more psychotic.)
Mum: Huh? U caught a daughter or a son?
Despite that converstion, things still went back to 'Is she really being kidnapped?' mode.
Then at the same time, those assholes called Dad as well. They even asked someone to act and cry. Dad found it kinda weird because the person who is crying sounds more like a guy... After that, he just went back home and went to the police station after that.
Dad went to call Jewl and told her about the situation. And I think he asked for some information as well.
One funny thing is, at first he didn't know of my 2nd aunt's number, so he sent the number to the police. She just called to see if they are okay. Well, at least Mum did tell him and he inform the police of the false alarm. Oops.
In fact a couple more calls here and there! Everything kinda sounds quite messy! Well, Mum did call relatives that are staying overseas. They pretty much got used to these kind of situations which are quite common around the world, so they made my Mum calm down and think!
After all those calls and blah blah blah, I think the police went to catch these assholes as they set the time and venue to meet and pass them the money.
Well, Jewl and family kept thinking of whether the phone call was real or a scam too! And I heard from Jewl that she and her Mum was walking in circles anaylsing the situation!
Alright, no way the police are gonna show who these assholes are! Because right after everyone knows that it is a scam, all of them started to scold bad words at these scammers!
Haha... Well, I was kinda angry and irritated when I first hear about that. But after hearing quite a few stories and reactions and I just think back, it's kinda funny. But of course, that better not ever happen again!
Alright that is pretty much exciting! Woo hoo! Ah... probably gonna go back to boring life again... Well, at least life is getting more interesting!
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Check out more photos here: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/568832508YgtpwU
Anime Festival Asia 2008!
First, Tickets!!!
The big Gundam Model just by the door!
Tada! Doraemon and other displays!
Square Enix! And a weird person behind the display! Haha!!
The Award winning limited edition Gundams!
Other cool gundams!
Of course, there's cosplay!
Then us, doing funny poses at the posters!
The gundam is resting...
And everyone still doesn't wanna leave that poor guy alone! We are all still taking photos! Haa!
Cute right? And it looks like a heart shape! Aw...
