Wow, so fast the year is gone, gonna be 2010 alr. So fast. Gonna be Sec3 next yr. 10 subj OMG. I shall try to enjoy my last days. :}
Went to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 w Sharon, Carine, Joanne and Jia Hui ytd. Cinema was so booked we had to sit in e 2nd row. But it's fine once ur used to it. Movie was gd, ending was so hilarious :D Aft that went to take neoprints.
My mum and bro went to watch tdy and surprisingly e cinema was v empty compared to so full ytd! So weird man. I stayed home e whole day except to buy lunch. I was supposed to do my hwk and tidy my desk/book cupboard but in the end i got quite distracted by my bro's book (i wish they had funny books for teens/adults! I guess childrens' books can be funny cos some kids can be so silly and immature while older guys can't :()
At least, i managed to do a little work and empty all my files :] which is a really good achievement alr.
Mayb i can go and catch sherlock holmes/storm warriors in my last days. :D

Merry Belated X'mas!
Although it's holidays i've been very busy with Buddhist Fellowship stuff, outings and last minute holiday homework :@ Didin't know the damned hwk was so hectic. I can't quite be bothered to learn the chn words for some random test when sch reopens- just too many! Read thru 2 yrs worth of 词语手册 which is tedious enough and i shall wipe my hands clean.
I slept a lot on X'mas. So tired, dunno why. Came back fr an X'mas party at 12am (in fact i left early at 1130 cos i didn't want to leave so late) and slept until morning. Went sentosa and cycling there was quite a disaster, but later had fun swimming in the sea :) Slept like a log when i came home and was still damn tired when i woke up for dinner. Hence i missed the making of the X'mas chicken and log cake ;x
The best thing of all: I GOT THE HOST FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xD I screamed when i opened the wrapping paper. OMG!! :D Am reading it now. :D
I watched 2 movies consecutively one Tues and Wed- Bodyguards and Assassins and Avatar respectively. For free- my aunts treated me xD Bodyguards and Assassins is a historical show when Sun Yat Sen made a secret trip to Hong Kong and the authorities found out, and the ppl fought for their lives to keep him alive. It was super violent. I realised i don't like seeing good guys getting killed. Some ppl who died in the fight were teens OMG.
I watched Avatar in 3D. It's superb la!! :D If you haven't watched it yet, you should.
The year ends so fast. Soon it's sch :@ and sch = stress= assgs, tests, hwk, proj= uniform and no nail polish, nice clothes or letting my hair down= sleep deprivation= 10 subjects= you can't expect how yr classmates are like.. and the list goes on.
The good things about sch? Food! Friends! Going to Toa Payoh to eat aft sch!
I just have to live with it.
Going to camp reunion tmr! :)
Singagpore Idol Grand Finale tmr!! :D I will only be home for the results, but that's the impt part! :D

Really sorry. Posts jumbled up. Scroll down 3 posts for the beginning.

台北Taipei
Day 6 (14/12)
Left for Taipei at last. No more changing of hotels. Went to a few shops to buy souvenirs. Went to see some nature places along the way, like a cold spring, and beach w all rocks. Splendid waves :) Too dangerous to go to the water. Arrived ard aftnn- dunno wad time. We bade farewell to our driver. At night went to a laundry shop to wash clothes.
Day 7 (15/12)
Took the subway, and changed bus to Wulai, up a mountain. Took a mini train and a cable car. Went to a waterfall. Was quite fun. We fed a duck in a pond, played in some playground and rowed a sampan- took turns:D. Kept cursing each other to go down the waterfall >:) Aft that went to a hot spring, where we soaked our legs. Then we found a natural one- where we mixed hot and cold water to form the right temp. Temp kept changing! OMG. So cool. :P
Day 8 (16/12)
Rained. Took subway and a train, went to a nature place to see a waterfall 金瓜石, which looks like a pumpkin. but in the rain, we went to a place on the way called 九份 to shop. Was in a bad mood since i was sick of shops and the ppl asking us to buy gds fr the mtns. We waited a really long time for the others. We were quite sian and decided to go back, esp since it was raining and they were doing more shopping for foodstuffs. On the train back we discovered that the rain stopped, and they went to the waterfall. :@ We went back to rest, my dad went to check out some underground shopping mall, and the area near our hotel, Ximending. We wanted to check out some clothes, and lunch, not snacks. We later found out that the others who went to the waterfall found it closed, and went to a museum instead. We shopped a little, had some special ice kachang that looked like snow- ice blended w milk :) and went for dinner at a night market :) Good food. Tried the delicacy 臭豆腐 but by the time we brought it back to the hotel it was cold, and therefore, had the bad smell. ;x didn't get much out of shopping, but did get a few things. :)
Day 9 (17/12)
Went to Danshui, a park. Took subway all the way, but since it was raining we couldn't cycle or anything, and was pretty much boring and disappointing. D; The others left for the airport at noon- we didn't have plane seats for that day when we booked. Slept, and was shocked how tired i was. Went shopping in the evening. Pleased with our buys :) Packed up.
HSH
Day 10 (18/12)
Very 舍不得 to leave. Woke up at 5 again cos we had to get to the airport, a 40min drive away. Was freezing in the morning air as i'd been foolish enough to wear a dress, even with my winter jacket on. Took the plane, where they served brunch at a time i usually hadn't even eaten breakfast yet- 9am. Gd food again. :) Watched another movie i didn't understand ;x and despite feeling exhausted i slept v little. In transit at KL for 4 hrs. Had lunch. And then the plane delayed, WTF. Pissed lar. Hence we got home late.
Mixed emotions when i got home! Was like happy to get home, at the same time wish i could've stayed in Taiwan since we had such a gd time. I didn't quite know how to respond to seeing home after so long. And the first thing i did? Run to the comp and check my email, and my phone for smses :}
Cos i survived for 9 days, not counting the last, without a comp, and without my tv. :]

So here it is. My travel story!! :D Note: the place stated is the place we spend the night. :] These is what i can rmb.
台中TaiZhong
Day1 (9/12)
Basically travelling the whole day. Woke up at 4.45 despite sleeping at nearly 12 :@ Left for airport @ 5, met my dad's colleagues there. Had breakfast @ Macs aft chking in. Flight @ 6.45, stoned. Reached Kuala Lumpur @ nearly 8. Then waited till 10 for next flight- read my bk. (Haha so antisocial >:P)
On the flight to Taipei i wouldn't have survived w/o my bk- didn't know when they'll switch the movies on. Lunch was gd.:} After that watched a movie, but i totally couldn't understand it-bored- turned off halfway- slept for 1/2 hr. Was 2+ or so when we reached. Spent a long time @ airport discussing how to get to TaiZhong. Took a first-class bus-2hr. :] fell asleep listening to music. Wasai night fell damn early la, was darkening by 5. Felt so like night. Then changed bus and stayed at Honeydew Hotel (what a cute name:P).
溪头XiTou
Day 2 (10/12)
Left for XiTou in the morn. Aiyo pack things v 麻烦 everytime scared i lost this and that. Chartered a bus for 12 of us. On the way we went to a park called 太极峡谷, which had a suspension bridge over a river- and a waterfall. You might think it's just a suspension bridge, but it's not like any other. This was the toughest, scariest and most dangerous trek for our trip. It was so scary man. ;x It was actually a valley that ran 500m down (can u imagine?) And we climbed all the way down and up again! OMG la. The paths are precariously perched on the side of cliffs. There are stairs at places- but even then not all the time there are railings, and looking down could scare the shit out of me. Tended to feel giddy. And it's v hard to walk- v rocky. Never had i seen a place so diff to conquer- and so damn majestic. The view was awesome. A rocky river ran between the 2 cliffs- right from a waterfall! By the time i reached the suspension bridge, i had nearly sprained my ankle once, and was almost at the end of my hook. Yet it was just the beginning of the walk. The suspension bride was super high abv the water- omg i was scared like shit la. Nv knew i was this afraid of heights- almost never get scared on roller coasters or anything.
Then we climbed all the way down- wa hard man. Scared to trip, scared to fall, scared of this and that. Tiring. The scenery was so beautiful. I learnt that in order to see nature's beauty, you must be fit! we climbed to the bottom to touch the river- and i had a hard time on the rocks ;x cos i scared ma.
Later we went to the waterfall. All the way. It was the source of this river. OMG it was the first time i saw a waterfall. I couldn't believe it was natural. it fell into a pool- tricked onto rock, and went down, and down- wow, water was lovely blue. must show picture ar! Next time. I had a stomachache and i had to go to the bushes ;x which was gross.
I overcame my fear of heights quite a bit that day. learnt not to fear where i step so much after awhile. half of us were so tired climbing up we called a four wheel drive- a veh to drive us to the top. Wow. What a time!
Checked in our homestay @ XiTou- rooms abv a shophouse. Nice and cosy, but had to bathe w a face towel ;x (that place is mainly for travelling locals) Had dinner and lunch tgt- was late. Played w the others- rms quite open, on same floor :)
Day 3 (11/12)
Went to XiTou Ntl park. Not as bad as e prev day's but wow, what a trek! It's beautiful. It belongs to a university for plant study. not so much up and down, but as we didn't know the way, walked one big round. Went on this adventure trail w some things to play w like ropes. And then this dog suddenly appeared and kept following us for food, and i was damn scared- i scared of dogs. it wouldn't go away, and i kept panicking. Fortunately we managed to drive it away when we took another trail. Whew! And i learnt that i should try to stay calm as far a posible, met w other dogs in the later day. Then we found this playground that was super fun. :} Went back to rest in the aftnn.
埔里PuLi
Day 4 (12/12)
Woke up b4 6- we were supposed to go to Hualien that day. Went to see some nice things along the way, like a place w many flowers. There was a famous stall for a "dragon beard" kind of snack. cool to see how the man made it. :]
Later we went to the mtn w a hot spring. Nearly puked bcos of the bends in the road D;. The spring was actually a spa w pools heated w water fr the spring- spring was too hot. Was a cool experience. Helped massage my muscles that was damn sore a little. We didn't know that that place had been hit by the typhoon- they told us even the locals didn't dare to come! Then we went to another mtn where we had lunch, and then watched a sheep show. No shearing, though :(
Then we went up the mtn. We went damn high. Then the bus broke down, OMG WTF. :@ At first i thought it's a small prob, and read my bk while waiting. It didn't move. Sometimes we got out for the men to push it to start it going. Some really helpful passers-by helped us- how kind! :] It started awhile, and stopped again. Ugh ;x Then it started getting dark. Our driver called a mechanic, and another bus to bring us down- couldn't go up anymore. But it'd take a few hrs! One really kind couple brought my fam down to a hotel lobby (no rms, had to wait for the others to find) Ate 7-Eleven hot dogs for dinner. They had some festival and there was fireworks :) and traditional songs. Later the bus finally came down- a diff one- the faulty one was still up there. Luggage was packed in that one, and we met up w the others. It had been pitch dark up there, but awesome stars. I bet i'd been damn scared.
Went down much more to a motel, which was actually in a temple. Didn't bathe that night- had at the spa. They only had face towels to bathe w too. But my pants had grass fr sliding down the slope at the sheep show :x
花莲HuaLien
Day 5 (13/12)
So yea, emergency. Well discovered the temple was really beautiful. our driver stayed overnight there with us aft his bus was fixed. Had vegetarian breakfast :] Then we headed for hualien. Went all the way up to the top of the mtn- 3 deg C at 3275m! Cold man. :] What an experience! Saw some icicles on the roadside later:D went to another peak aft that. Then we went all the way down the mtn. Stopped at Tarako Ntl Park along the way, but we didn't see much other than a river- our plan had been changed due to the break down. Kinda sian w all the nature. We went to a beach. So cool! The waves were big, and the ground was stomes! :} But my poor mum fell in trying to film my dad and bro. Got soaked to the waist ;x Still not as bad as when i got dunked at camp, i reckon. Finally reached our hotel. Finally we had a decent bath towel!:D

As the plane descended, the clouds grew less and less. The ships on the vast ocean were now more of an aerial view rather than satellite, tiny little toy-sized things, not visibly moving due to the speed of the plane. Then the land came into sight. The greenery, the densely built-up island city. Singapore! For the first time in ten days, I caught my first sight of home.
The land became nearer and nearer, and...
Bang! We felt the wheels of the plane touch ground, solid ground, not air. The ground of home.
...
We alighted from the taxi, at the carpark where the familiar lift-landing stood nearby, something that was so close to our daily life. Excitement surged in me. After unloading our luggage, we squeezed our massive baggage in the lift. As it rose, we got closer and closer to our doorstep every second...
We reached our floor and got out. As we walked along the corridor, I wondered silently: of the ten days we were gone, what went on over here? What had our neighbours done? How had they been in this very familiar neighbourhood, so close to heart?
We reached our doorstep. The key turned in the lock, and the door opened.
Welcome home.

♥I'M BACK!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!! WOOTS!:D♥
The first you've seen of me in over 10 days!! Had such an experience, man!! :} I couldn't be bothered to blog ytd. After all, it was nearly 8pm when I reached home.
Slept a measly 11 hrs despite feeling so tired D; Other ppl can sleep till aftnn lehs! Or even sleep for an entire day.
FYI, in case u wanna go there in future or sth, let me share some things that you could know about Taiwan. :D

1. If you've a bad phobia of heights, better avoid the parks and mtns. Or rather, if your phobia isn't so bad, going there will help you overcome it quite a bit. :] Like I did.
2. They sell a lot of beef there, which I can't take. So better read yr menu carefully if you can't take it! Fortunately they'll state there if there is.
3. KFC is spicy D; (i can't take spicy food)
4. You should prepare a towel, esp if you're going for a home stay or motel. I bathed with a face towel for the 2 nights at Xi Tou D; and froze.
5. They don't throw the toilet paper into the toilet bowl, but a bin! :O So they don't choke up the sewage. Was so shocked after finding that out after many days. I still couldn't bear to do that at times- i feel disgusted not flushing everything down.
6. You should try the sausages and tea-leaf eggs. They're awesome :D Can hardly resist their sausages once seeing them. >:P
7. If going to the mountains, you might get motion-sickness from all the winds and curves. Prepare some motion-sickness pills, or plastic bags to puke in. D; i nearly puked a few times. ;@
8. The ppl there are really nice and helpful. :D Should learn some manners fr them! They even helped us when our bus broke down on the mountain highway ;x which i share w you later.
9. Most things are in Chinese! culture shock! D: they use zheng ti zi, and with my standard of HCL, i was quite cham. :x
10. Be prepared to miss local food! The food is mainly rice or noodles, esp in the mtns. Got quite sick of it :x
11. Food servings are huge. Easy to overeat, esp w the snacks. Although my fam of 4 usually shared 3 servings of fd at mealtimes.
12. Bring yr facial cream- i got pimples for not washing my face for days. D; And moisturizers if yr skin peels. And wear lip gloss to prev lips fr cracking :)
13. Bring yr own bag! They dun provide plastic bags at supermarkets, 7-Eleven etc, although most shops do.
14. Dun buy phone cards of too great value. My dad only used abt a quarter of his NT$600 :@
15. Currency: NT$100=S$4.50. Dun be too shocked if the prices suddenly "jump" so much.
16. Mtns- mainly snow-less. Was lucky enough to see a few icicles only once. :]
17. Be prepared to get super sore muscles from trekking. D:
18. Roads are left-hand drive. The opposite side of the road is on you left, instead of right. Stand on the right side of escalators, not left. Felt weird.
19. In winter, days start and end early. Gets bright ard, 5-6, dark ard 12 hrs later.

And now my grandmother story. Here goes!

Woohoo! Tmr i'm leaving for Taiwan :D I'm super busy lar ;x Once i came back fr camp, i unpacked and repacked again :O Got a lot of last-minute prep- and i'm v busy too.
Camp was great! :} I must say it was even better than the alumni camp :) I guess as i get older, i learn to appreciate camps more :] Although it was like this:
Beg of camp: D;
End of camp: xD
Cos i kinda got used to it. And i must say i learnt more things from this camp than any other :D And this was perhaps the first time i gained so many insights within so few days xD
No time to provide more details, but i just say that i had to step in as a leader :@ when my grp leader wasn't present- but what an experience! OMG definitely learnt a lot fr it :} Although i'm still not as gd as others, i realised that you shouldn't compare: If u improved, it's really a great achievement.
Everyone has potential, but they just have to be given a chance to realise it. :]
Another thing: Got dunked in the sea at Sentosa ;x
Flight at 6.45am tmr (gotta wake at 4+ :@) and i return on the 18th. :} kk see ya then!
And lastly, when i disappear for the next 10-odd days, friends do leave behind tags :D I want some spice to my blog kay?

Leaving 4 my camp in a few mins so better be quick :} No time to change blogskin alr :(
Well on Mon went to Escape w Sharon, Joanne my bro, dad and cousin. Glad e drizzle cleared up so we could play :D Wasai was dem fun lor. We took some of the kiddy rides >:P And that park had so few thrill rides. My fav is e pirate ship :] Sit at e end is e best! :D feel like flying and falling at e same time and its so fun. If u dare u shld let go :D The other 2 were screaming lo :P Later no space had to sit nearer mid ;x so boring, but the stopped e ship to let some sick ppl off and i went to e back :D
E wet and wild was fun but go down too quickly to feel much effect :O Luckily i brought my poncho of i'll be drenched!! Bumper boats was even wetter since we spray water at each other. Wasai couldn't control e boat at first ;x 2nd round got e hang of it:D
Wasai e haunted house was kinda freaky and i kept calm by telling myself "this is not real!" Thn smtimes couldn't see anything and had to be led my e ride attn :O I was leading some more. but end up i din scream :]
We played until 7+ and had a hard time findin our way home :O since my fam went home but we did. :] Reached damn late.
Tues went to watch 2012 w Sharon and Carine :} So horrible when all e ppl died. Makes me treasure my life -and technology more :]
Ytd went to cut my hair. Layer too much liao lar ;x Then i'll wait till it's damn long b4 i cut again :P Aft that went for flu jab. More painful thn i thought ;x Later when i took out my nail polish my nails were yellow! D:<
Walao super busy now ;x Keep packing. Ok g2g so bye bye :)