= FAVOURITE WORD =
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge Him,
and He will make your paths straight.
[NIV]
New phase. More changes.
What would the future bring?
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Coming Home Soon
I've just reconfirmed my flight back to Singapore. I can't believe that I'm flying back so soon. Sigh! :(
It's been really good here. I've been bumming around - just shopping, shopping and more shopping. No doubt my parents will hit the roof when they see the credit card bills. Oh well, I'm paying for these, so it's my pocket that will be burnt! ;p
Junmin's gone grocery shopping. I'll be indoors today - either online or TV in the apartment. She'll be attending some party later this evening.
I can't wait for tomorrow actually. We'll be taking the Chinatown bus to New York! It's the cheapest. Hopefully, we can wake up early and scoot off to NYC!
Hm... I'm hungry now. I wonder what's there to eat for lunch. I think I'll just go pop some biscuits and wash them down with spring water.
jOyZ blogged at 12:32 AM
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Monday, June 14, 2004
Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls was beautiful. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The sheer force of the fall causes water droplets to evaporate into the air. And because the volume of water is so great, the water droplets transform into mist, floating up into the sky.
We bought this passport pass which cost us US$24 each. With it, admission to each of the attraction was fast and easy. First, we visited the Observation Tower, where tourists had a pretty good view of the Falls and the ferry station on the Canadian side of the Falls.
We snapped many pictures and finally took the elevator to the second attraction - the Maid of the Mist. Here, we were given blue ponchos to wear before boarding the ferry. Once on the ferry, we were taken very close to the waterfalls. The water which hit the base of the falls hit us like rain. If not for the ponchos, we would have been wet. We continued to snap pictures furiously. It was quite an experience actually.
After about 15-20 minutes, the ferry went back to the station and we got off to grab lunch at a cafe. Then we took the scenic trolley (the passport pass allowed us to take this for free, otherwise we would have to pay for the ride) and went to another point of attraction to take more pictures of the waterfalls.
We saw a newly wedded couple in their wedding finery along with their best men and bridesmaids taking photographs.
We contemplated going back to the hotel because we felt a bit tired. But the parking cost us US$10 and to come back again would cost us another US$10. So we decided to have our dinner there as well.
Since it was still quite some time from dinner, we decided to go for another attraction - Cave of the Winds. Here, visitors were made to put on yellow ponchos and special sandals, while the rest of our belongings were dumped into this huge plastic bag which was given to us.
This attraction was more incredible than the Maid of the Mist. Even with the ponchos, our jeans were practically drench. Visitors were led to the base of the waterfalls where we felt the exhilarating rush of the winds generated by the force of the water falling down. It was freezing!
At one point at the base, we could see the rainbow! It was amazing! We quickly snapped more shots of the awesome scenery and hurried on because the water was peltering on us. It felt like we were in a mini hurricane. Haha... pretty fun actually. :) I wouldn't mind going for it again. Heh. The whole thing took about half an hour to forty-five minutes I think.
Our jeans were wet and we felt cold. We decided to take the scenic trolley to Terrapin Point, where the Top of the Fall restaurant was located, to have dinner. At the restaurant, we sat on the patio which overlooked the Falls - an extremely fantastic view. I tried to take a photo of it but the batteries in my camera died and I was pretty disappointed that I was not able to snap the prime view of the waterfall. :(
Dinner came. I ordered roast beef and Junmin had tuna wrap. We ate chicken wings for side dish. Other than the forgetful waitress who kept us waiting for our silverware and freezing wind, dinner was great.
After dinner, we took the scenic trolley back to the hotel and called it a day.
The next day, we were up late. We had only one attraction left to visit according to the passport pass. It was the aquarium. We drove to the place and took a walk around. There were cute seals and the usual fish/shark attractions, but nothing really fantastic.
We left Niagara Falls at around 12.45pm and drove back to Philadelphia. We arrive Phily at around 8pm and decided to go to Chinatown to have dinner because I had craving for soup noodles. :)
I ordered chicken soup noodles while Junmin had fish congee. We also ordered a spinach with garlic side dish. The food was good.
After that we drove around Phily a bit and came back to the apartment.
We are going to King of Prussia tomorrow for shopping. I'm looking forward to this. :)
jOyZ blogged at 1:19 PM
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Saturday, June 05, 2004
Flag Day (Sec 4)
The Secondary 4s and 5s had their flag day today and the collection centre was at Jurong East's NTUC. It was alright I guess. It was just a little bit chaotic at the start. I went down with Pit Kun by cab as it was raining.
I hung around until about 9am and went for breakfast at the Delifrance nearby. After that, I left the restaurant and saw Lee Kit and Kok Wei. We chatted for a while. Bored, I roamed around the NTUC, looking around to see if I needed to buy any more things for my USA trip. Apparently, I had nothing to buy.
I decided to hunt for camera shops to see if I could get any good bargain. Well, I combed through practically the entire central, but I gotta say this: the place is utterly pathetic.
Disappointed, I left for QTSS to clear some work, check my emails and pack my table. I left at about 12.30pm after handing in the meet-the-parents file to Mr Lau. I was supposed to meet Pit Kun for lunch in town before embarking on my camera hunt again.
I hopped from camera shop to camera shop. I was most displeased with the arrogance of most of the shop owners or promoters (or whatever names you call them). One directed me to the digital camera sale at Centrepoint even. Was that laziness or helpfulness? *shrug*
Anyway, I went down to Centrepoint to try my luck. True enough, the sale was on. So I took a good look around and found something which appealed to me. Fuji A-330. It's simple and easy to use, with lots of freebies thrown in. Besides, the sales promoter was polite and most obliging. I decided to just KIV of that.
Pit Kun messaged to say that she would be late and I suspected she probably wouldn't arrive town till after 2pm. I decided to continue with my camera hunt.
Along the way, I got distracted by Robinson's. I went in and bought $90 worthed of stuffs. Haha... was I mad or what? After that, I went to Times to check out Lonely Planet's book on USA.
Pit Kun finally came and we went Fish & Co. for a late lunch. I was famished. We ordered Fish and Chips and some dory fish main dish, and shared. Then I went back to the Fuji sale downstairs and promptly bought the A-330 camera.
By the time I got home, I was not able to meet Gina and the rest at Newton MRT station to go to Quality Hotel for a special service. It was too late and I was too exhausted. I came back home and dozed off. In fact, I woke up not too long ago and just finished dinner. So here I am, blogging and listening to David Tao's 沙滩. It's very relaxing.
Okay, I think I'm gonna play with my new toy now. Otherwise, I'll just waste a lot of time in USA.
jOyZ blogged at 10:21 PM
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Thursday, June 03, 2004
Countdown To USA Trip *Excitement*
It's almost 8am. I've been up since 5am or so because my parents were going in and out of my room the whole night. They were packing for their trip to China. It's so last minute right? Anyway, they're finally gone. Their flight's departing in 10 minutes. :)
Unbelievable eh? They're away again for the 2nd time in 1.5 months. I don't know why they're travelling so intensively of late. Well, they enjoy travelling. They used to bring my brother and I for overseas trip once or twice a year when we were much younger - until we became teenagers and yearned for the company of our friends instead of theirs. Haha. ;p
I have been emailing Junmin about my visit to USA. I'm counting down already - 4 more days. This is the first trip which I'll be going -on my own- entirely. I'm not really worried. I guess it's because I've been travelling with my cousin, Xiaorong, and with Hwei Leng (ex-colleague from QTSS) before, so that those trips kinda roughen me up a little. Still, it'll be quite different because they were looking out for me then (being older than me and all). This time, I have to be the one looking out for myself as I'll be all alone. It sounds exciting! ;B
Anyway, thank God my flight's in the early evening, so I can easily get a cab to an MRT station and take the train all the way to Changi Airport. I have to be at the airport by about 3pm, which means I'll probably have to start travelling at around 2pm.
Hm, which reminds me. I'd better bring along a novel to read. I'll probably buy a couple of magazines at the airport. The waiting time at KL and Dubai is at least a couple of hours. I don't wanna fall asleep and miss my flight to USA. The best way to fill my time while waiting would be reading. :)
Okay, I don't intend this to be a long blog. I gotta get going soon. There's EL remedial with my pupils at 10am and I think I'd better start getting ready. :)
jOyZ blogged at 7:56 AM
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