Trip to Singapore - Part 1

Due to the looong-winded posts, I had to type when I actually typed out the actual bits so not to confuse on what I was feeling at the moment...at least to me. @@ Sorry for the confusion caused. xD


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[Written 29/10/2010 night]

I seriously shouldn’t be typing this right now knowing that I need to get up really early in the morning tomorrow. What’s more I’d been having this floating/fainting feeling the past few days, all the more I shouldn’t be staying up late. But if I don’t start somewhere, sometime...this post will never be done and up before all my memories are lost. Well...not to say that I’ll totally lose all my brain cells. Just that....well....my memory really doesn’t serve me well (else I wouldn’t have to worry about law paper. >.<).

Just last weekend, I had a trip to Singapore to participate in the 9th ASEAN Kendo Tournament (AKT). The preparations consisted mostly of dreadfully necessary training which resulted in many bruises, light and heavy ones. Careful planning and packing the day before departure and I’m ready to go!


22 OCT 2010 FRIDAY (DAY 1)

[Written 31/10/2010 night]

The bus was supposed to leave at 6AM. But I had to get up about 4+ in the morning since we were required to gather by 5.30AM. = = So I did my last minute checks and stuff. Nelson came over to hitch a ride, and we were off to JCKL.

Almost reaching, I realised we were tailing Mr Yap’s car. xD Abul, Hakim, Boon and Ishii sensei were there already. Apparently they didn’t sleep much but Abul looked energetic enough as always. Haha As we waited for the rest to turn up, Mr Yap gave me work to do.

The bus made its entrance with its reversing alarm sounding like a car alarm that got scared by lightning. So early in the morning!! I pity the neighbours. >.< We packed our luggage into the bus and got on. Everyone was there except....Suan. None of us could get her on her handphone and some of us thought she overslept. Luckily she arrived in a nick of time and we were ready to go.

After Mr Yap told us to be good (xD) and left, we were off to Singapore. Along the trip was a variety of activities which generally included sleeping, Abul talking, Peter working, me reading, some eating, sightseeing, chatting, some singing the Duck song (waddle waddle xD), etc.

An hour away, at our first stop, we had an early breakfast. Groups split to going to washroom, cheap stall food and KFC. Lol I was being fickle whether I should eat since mom packed me lots of goodies to eat. @@ But I ate anyway. Xp

When we were done, we headed back to the bus and along the way, found Mimi entertaining with her yoyo tricks (which soon after caught KS’s bugging attention for more). The driver and conductor still at the stalls left the bus door locked except for the driver’s door! @@ Peter being Peter, climbed up to the driver’s seat (*shock!!*) and opened the passenger door with the automated alarm. (Some commented he could be part-time bus driver already and take us to S’pore. xD)

Before we reached the customs, Aimi put up videos of Japan High School Kendo Tournament matches which I took a glimpse of a few rounds. I was analysing how they fought and compared them to my fighting style. I noticed they just WHACK AJE LA! Well..sort of. xD

To be precise, there were no hesitation in cuts and they reacted very quickly. I took those into consideration to fix my weaknesses. That and a thought of wanting to end my string of losses and draws; to finally win back my matches and take something home. Well...we’ll see to that the next day. (Read on. xp)

At the customs, we did a quick stamp, back to the bus and a little on more....we’re in Singapore!! The customs there was so different; so big and nice, with so many officers checking our passports and bags. Ooooooo~~ My handphone decided to vibrate as messages flooded in notifying of the change in service provider. Wah~~~ So efficient my line. xD It was around noon already.

Sightseeing the new environment, I was kinda disappointed to see that many of the roadside decorative bushes were dying and there were some rubbish around. Maybe my expectations were too high. Then again, there was haze at Singapore. =/

It took us another half an hour or so to reach the hotel, which the bus had trouble entering and resulted in us hopping off at the housing area next to it and “climbed” our way to the lobby.

There was a huge banner indicating the hotel to be the official staying venue for the AKT participants. We littered our luggage at the lobby, making a huge mess as we registered ourselves and waited for our rooms to be ready.

We hanged around the lounge area, Mimi entertained with her yoyo again, some took pictures and oh...Chris came and briefed us a bit. Then he took us to lunch at the row of shops opposite the back of the hotel. In fact, adjoining the hotel behind was a...rather run down building that only comes to life at night with pubs and stuff. Yeah, you get the picture. >.o It even had those one-by-one escalators, so you could see us going up and down in a line like lemmings. xD

Oh!! There are many 7-11s in Singapore!! (Here starts my fascination. xD) There was one on each side of the road and it almost like a bound to be one in between each row of shops. Anyway, we went for Kahtong Laksa + Otak-otak (though I was the odd one out, ordering Nasi Lemak. Picky picky. xp). Some went next door for duck rice. After lunch was free-and-easy, do as we please. Lol