Vietnam Part I - Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sapa

Some pictures of the journey can be found in picasa and facebook.

I woke up at 8 am after a six hours of restless and shallow, but not a sleepless night. I guess I was a bit worried because I didn't have a place to stove my excess luggage for the vacation period and we were leaving to the airport in one and half hour. Past night was also my last night in the NUS UTown Graduate Residence. In the morning I was calling through number of my friends to find out who had booked the accommodation over the vacation period and would be home around December 20th. And in the end I found one, just minutes before leaving to the taxi. Actually, when the taxi came, we still had to wait almost 15 minutes to for my Spanish roommate, again... but thats already quite normal, everyone knows that he'll get lost or etc.

And so, off to the airport. I shared a taxi with my traveling buddies to be for the next month. My Spanish roommate and two lovely girlfriends from Russia. We arrived to the airport just in time before closure of the check-in and boarded the plane just 5-10 minutes before takeoff. The flight took three and half hours, and actually I can't recall if was I sleeping or not, presumably I was. I can only recall my crazy Spanish friend using an orange plastic back tied to his ears to cover his eyes, so funky looking.

I had applied for visa before hand through an Vietnamese immigration site, but we got a bit screwed. We bought the multiple entry visas because the price difference between single entry was so ridiculous low, only 5 dollars. But after paying the tickets, we received the receipt and confirmation email which stated that

*Note:The fee you have paid is NOT included stamping fee at Vietnam airport: 25 USD for single entry and 50 USD for multiple entry.

and again we realized that nothing comes for free. After buying the visas, I also realized that Finns can actually go to Vietnam for fourteen (14) days for free without a visa like Russians. However, I ended up using the visa application, because I wanted a new cool looking visa into my passport instead of just a basic stamp.

Hanoi

On the flight, I also checked out a place for us to stay from the Lonely Planet, an affordable backpacker accommodation called Backpackers Hostel. After landing, we hailed a meter from the airport and drove to the Old Quarter of Hanoi to check in at the hostel. When arriving to the door a guy jumped at us and started asking about if we had a reservation which we didn't have, because otherwise it was full. He then offered to take us to a different hotel, just a bit further away which was supposedly part of the same group and we followed... We bargained the price of the room and also the trip plans he tried to offer. After an hour of discussion we ended up paying 222 USD each for a two days one night trip to Halong Bay, two days two nights trip to Sapa and a open bus tickets valid for month which we'll use to travel to south, all the way to Ho Chi Min (Saigon). The open buss tickets were perfect for us, we can jump off at any place we want and continue the trip later when we would like to advance.

The first night was spent in Hanoi, we walked around the Old Quarter for couple of hours, enjoyed some local cuisine with couple of beers on the side, and finally went to bed around midnight.

Halong Bay

We had a long day upon us, we woke up just before 7 am and headed down for breakfast. The ride from Hanoi to Halong harbor took around four and half hours with a 25 minute break at a tourist gift shop place, from where we bought these whole pineapples, the best ones I have ever had so far!

Not for the fainthearted... Also on the highway we saw an accident that had happened just a bit earlier; on the middle of the road there was a young lady lying under a mattress and a fallen scooter a bit further away. But unfortunately for us some guy just lifted the mattress to check her situation and we saw that all the guts and brains had spread over the pavement. There was no police or ambulance coming at that time, luckily there were at least some people decent enough to cover her remains with the mattress. May she rest in peace.

The girls had heard about the Halong Bay boat trips previously. They were told to be famous with backpackers partying overnight at the boats. There was about sixteen of us boarding the boat. First started to head out towards Halong Bay while enjoying a very good lunch. After lunch we visited the Halong Bay limestone caves which were quite beautiful, even though already a bit too touristic with all the lights and stuff for my taste.

After the caves we headed towards a floating village with at least fishermen and fish farmers living there beside the tourism workers. From the floating houses we rented some kayaks and paddled out to the sea to feel the views and the sea for almost an hour, the most amazing thing in a while! After the kayaking we continued towards one of the bigger inner islands, which actually had roads going inside. We anchored the boat there and enjoyed a really nice dinner. We were also given a permission to go to swim there, but the water didn't look so inviting in the cold ocean air after the sun had set. Almost everyone gave up sooner or later, we continued chilling at least till 1 am.

The wake up was around 7 to 8 am. After the breakfast some of the others went swimming while we were jumping flips and tricks from the boat railing. We got back to the shore around noon and headed for lunch at Halong City. Around 5.30 pm we reached Hanoi and our Hai Nam hostel. We spent the next couple of hours wandering through the city while looking for a book store. I bought some allergic medicine and we also bought some fruits to go, and actually I found this small foot stall on the street that sold local döner kebab, it was like a pita kebab inside a paquet - just perfect!

After 8 pm we were picked up for the night train to Lao Cai and Sapa. We were promised our own cabin for four but we ended up in a six person prison cell. I didn't think it was that bad, but I'm quite good in adapting. The train departed at 9.50 pm and we arrived to Lao Cai at 6.30 am after a somewhat rested night. From there we continued 35 kilometers more with bus to Sapa through snaking mountain roads. We enjoyed our breakfast at Sapa Summit Hotel. At 9 am we were assigned with our guide to be, a young lady called Si from the Black H'Mong tribe. For the trekking we got a small, but very nice addition to our group. We were accompanied by one Danish girl, Serbian-Spanish guy and an older Swiss lady.

Sapa Trekking - day 1

And so we started trekking towards the villages and the home stay cottage in Black H'Mong tribe. After descending three hours and crossing the gorge with the main river, we then arrived to one of the bigger villages of the Black H'Mong tribe. There we enjoyed our lunch and visited one primary school, where nowadays they actually teach English for the children. Our guide told that she had learned her English speaking skill just from the tourists. On the way down we gazed upon on some of the most beautiful views before enjoying a lunch in the village, and after lunch continued to another village a bit further away for the home stay.

The views on the way down were amazing, snaking mountain rivers and vast rice terraces ascending to the mountains and reaching the clouds. I tried to capture them with my camera, but one really can't imagine the whole feeling through a lens. We arrived to the home stay around 2 or 3 pm. There we first enjoyed some local green tea and after that just walked around for two hours circling in and out the village and roaming the close by trails. They also served us some fries with fresh garlic which was very nice from them. We also saw lots of kids returning from the school with donated Unicef backpacks.

Around 6.30 pm we enjoyed a perfect Vietnamese dinner with the host family of the host stay. The food was amazing, it varied from different dishes of tofu to chicken and pork, from rice spring rolls to fried vegetables and cabbage salad etc followed by some self made rice wine - which in my opinion was one of the most nice ones to drink. After the dinner we started chilling out together, listen some reggae from my laptop and play some card games together. We also tried and actually managed to take some pictures of the stars after the sun had set. Around 11 pm we all called it as night and hit the sack.

Sapa Trekking - day 2

After a well rested night, maybe the best one in a long while, we finally woke and got up around 9 am. The host family had prepared a breakfast for us consisting pancakes served with running honey and bananas, muy bien! After the breakfast we packed our bags and got ready for the journey ahead. We knew it wasn't going to be as long as the first day, but we hoped that the views would be different and the route a bit harsher.

We had a decision to make: up to the mountains or continuing by the contour towards bamboo forest, another village and a waterfall. Because of all the smog gathered and a high possibility of rain, we decided not to risk going to the mountains.


The trails of the second day were amazing, we spent the day walking across rice terraces, jumping over descending mountain rivers and trying to find a steady ground while ascending and descending muddy trails. Everyone except me dipped themselves or their shoes in the muddy rice terrace fields. We also trekked our way through the bamboo forest. I also crossed this very old and squeaky suspension bridge over the river gorge with my Spanish friend. The trail to the bridge was the first clue to realize that it wasn't used anymore, it was the steepest mountainside without any footage and secondly because the bridge was actually closed with rusty barbwire from the end we entered. But we managed to throw the backpacks over and to squeeze ourselves through it.

After crossing to the other side of the gorge we climbed up a while to catch a lunch before a bus ride back to the Sapa Summit Hotel. Here I had the best noodle soup I have ever had, and of course I added some more chili to spice it up, or it just might be that I had a proper appetite after the days of walking. We showered at the Summit Hotel, visited the village and markets of Sapa before dining and taking the bus to Lao Cai to catch another night train back to Hanoi.

Back in Hanoi

The night train arrived to the Hanoi station around 5.15 am, from there we shared a taxi and dropped the Serbian-Spanish guy at the bus station before continuing to our tour hotel, Hai Nam. There we refreshed ourselves a bit before visiting the Vietnam's founders, president Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum and palace area. I wouldn't had though that it would actually be impressive to see preserved remains or body of someone, but it was.

The rest of the day was spend wandering around for six hours just exploring the city and the views before catching the open buss at 8pm towards south.

NUS finished

On Saturday morning at 11am on 19th of November 2011 - I had finally finished my studies in National University of Singapore. I was actually first one that I know to finish the studies completely. Moreover, the upcoming two weeks are meant solely for final exams and some of my friends are finishing their studies in the beginning of December, good luck for all of you guys!

After my last exam, we headed out to celebrate with my Finnish visitor and a good Pakistan friend. We went into an Italian restaurant called OChre in Somerset, one of the busiest and most expensive areas in Singapore,  the Orchard Road. The restaurant has a wide range of excellent but a bit expensive pastas and pizzas. There is actually some thinking behind the decision to choose this restaurant. I had previously heard a rumor about all you can eat pasta and pizza buffet offer for the price of 22sgd on Saturdays from 11.30am to 3pm. It was there, when we realized that it wasn't a buffet, we were actually allowed to order as many pastas and as many pizzas we wanted from the menu with the fixed price even though the pizzas and pastas cost more than that price separately. In the end we managed to indulge ourselves with six different pizzas and three different pastas before our bellies started bursting - the best pizzas and pastas that I have had in a long long while.

The upcoming night was filled with excitement. I had some free tickets to a beach party I helped to promote and sell tickets to. The night was success in every way, the swimming and partying in the beach clubs pools was refreshing. We started heading back home at 4am and finally went to bed at 6am already anticipating the following trip to Philippines with my friend from Finland.

Ps. Pictures will follow later, it takes eternity and a half to upload anything here in Philippines...

Past weeks

Here is pictures of my trips to Universal Studios, Pulau Ubin and Singapore Zoo!

There has happened quite a lot after the trip to Hong Kong and Macau. First of all, as I already realized after Bali, that I'm a bit late with my school work, I've been studying some long ten hour days filled with couple of hours of exercise at the gym or by the pool.

I was also visited by my good friend back from Finland who is an exchange student in Bali at the moment, and whom I met previously in Bali. He was accompanied by his villa-mate, a Finnish girl also as an exchange student. I shared our flat to them to couch surf for the duration of their trip. It was nice to have more life in the apartment and my roommates didn't mind at all, thank you guys!

With them and some other friends from Singapore, I also visited the acclaimed world tallest rooftop bar, the 1 Altitude on top of the One Raffles building. They enjoyed Singapore and we had some good times, even though I had to do some studying too at the same time.

After their visit, the trip to Penang was up, it was amazing, nice gathering of good friends I've made here in Singapore.

I also visited the Singapore Universal Studios, and to say, it was actually pretty amazing. I liked the roller coaster rides of Battlestar Galactica, the spooky trails under the pyramids filled with mummy's, gazed upon the varieties of dinos in Jurassic Park, enjoyed a full fledged Waterworld show with watery chases and explosions, saved the princess Fiona with Shrek in 4D, danced and sung with the Ass, stepped upon a 5level hurricane hitting Manhattan with Steven Spielberg and listened the Monster rock musical just to mention a few... We spent around 9hours there, it was worth the money!

At school it has been quite a work, I would really much like to tell what I've been up to with my studies but I haven't had the time or concentration to do it. Just to sum it up quickly... As a group project, we composed a video lecture of Chinese remainder theorem. I held two presentations about Context-Sensitive Program Analysis as Database Queries and one presentation on topic of Analysis and Usage of Fuzzy Logic for Optimized Evaluation of Database Queries. As a pair project we implemented three algorithms on Hadoop, the algorithms were PageRank, Shortest Path and K-Means Clustering and returned a 25 pages report on it. On another module we are at the moment finishing our 35 pages survey on Software Outsourcing.

I've noticed that for me to be efficient, I need to work out, that is one of the reasons I started to go to the gym or / and to the pool four to five times per week. I also started running again a while back, whit my roommate we circled through the university's inner route which spanned over 5.5 kilometers in around 40 minutes.

Over the past week on November 10th, I received my Student Pass. Now I'm legally finally legally in Singapore after my first three days in July. As you might know, tourist visa is a single entry 90 days, but I've been abusing that fact... Now I can travel safely for the rest of my stay before handing the Student Pass back before departing back to Finland.

I also got a Finnish visitor arriving from New Zealand, where he had spent the past ten months as an exchange student. After four nights, actually just yesterday, he continued his journey to Germany.

At the moment I've been visited by my good friend back from Finland! I consider myself lucky to have visited by so many friends here. Just this Monday, 14th of November, we visited the close by island Pulaud Ubin, which is a part of north east Singapore, located between the countries Malaysia and Singapore.

I had visited the Pulau Ubin already past year, but my two Finnish friend had not. The ride to the ferry terminal took around 1h30min with MRT and bus. The actual bum boat ride from the Changi Point Jetty Terminal to the Pulau Ubin took only around 10 minutes.

While visiting the island, you can experience the Singapore 20-30 years in the past. Fishing village with roaming wildlife and uprising civilization. The Pulau Ubin can be seen in half a day riding a mountain bikes. We actually saw over three meter long Komodo Dragon and some fishes wiht lime green glowing eyes while cycling through the jungle and mountain bike trails.

We also visited the Singapore Zoo, it had quite a lot to show us, actually we both recalled that last time we had been in a Zoo was back in preliminary school in Korkeasaari or Ähtärin Eläinpuisto.

Now I'm facing my final project deadline on Friday and one and only upcoming exam Saturday morning. Hope to cope them through!

To celebrate the end of the school, we are having a beach party on Saturday, it is actually managed and organized by a business student from Germany who asked me to promote the event too. The party is called Rapture of the deep - Berlin meets Singapore!

Destination Bali, Part II

Here is a link to my photos of the second part of the recess week trip to Bali on facebook II and picasa! These pictures cover the trip to Lovina through temples, waterfalls, hot springs etc. and back to Kuta and Kerobokan.

From Ubud we started heading to Lovina, a seaside town with various water activities to offer. We rented a charter for just two people for the whole day to drive us through the mountains to the northern side of the island. On the way there we visited numerous of attractions varying from lake temples to waterfalls and hot springs.

First on our route was Taman Ayun, the Royal Temple of Mengwi Empire in Bali. It's strategically located beside the major roadway between the two main cities in Bali, the Denpasar and Singaraja. The temple is set on a land surrounded by a big fish pond so it looks like drifting on the water like an island. Inside it has a beautiful temple building with multistoried roof and Balinese architecture. The beautiful landscape of the garden in front courtyard is very welcoming. Even though it's the Royal Temple it was the most un-touristic temple we had visited on our journeys in Bali with a most calming more natural like garden.

After the temple we continued our journey towards Lovina. When driving through the beautiful landscapes of rice terraces and high soaring mountains we stopped to admire a breathtaking view opening to every direction.

The next stop on our ride was a local food market called Candi Kuning Market. It's located in Bedugul. It provides fresh fruits, vegetables, spices, and such exotic flowers as delicate orchids and roses. The combination creates an array of wonderful colors. Spices include nutmeg, pepper, paprika and turmeric. A wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables can be found here, as well as jeruk bali (pomelo) and durian. From the food market we bought some local chips resembling snacks like dried vegetable slices, spinach leafs and flower pedals. We also bought some local strawberries they raise on the mountains all over the year due to suitable climate. The market was supposed to be only for locals but the increasing tourism had brought the small stalls with all you can imagine stuff to buy also there.

The ride continued only for 15minutes and we arrived to the lake temple of Ulun Danu Beratan. It's a Balinese Hindu Temple located at Candi Kuning countryside, Baturiti sub district and Tabanan regency. The distance from Denpasar town is about 50 km north from Denpasar towards Singaraja, so on our way. The temple is surrounded by a beautiful view of surrounding mountains on a lakeside of Beratan. It is situated in the plateau area with a cooler atmosphere. On the northern side of the temple is Pucak Sangkur mountain and in the east side there is the Beratan mountain which is also referred as Pucak Mangu or Pucak Pangelengan. On the southern side locates the Terate Bang mountain and in the westside there is the Tapak and Watukaru mountains. A part of the temple is located in the lake creating a mystical atmosphere especially on a foggy day.

From the temple we continued our way through the mountains to our next destination before Lovina. The Gitgit waterfall is a very beautiful tourist destination in north part of Bali. Gitgit waterfall is located in the plateau area with the height about 35 meters and it is surrounded by tropical tree and emits the constantly natural water debit during the year. There are some plantations protecting the rain forest around the waterfall and in this place we often met the wild monkey to get the water from this waterfall. The waterfall is free to visit. From the road it was nearly 20min walk downhill to the waterfall. When we got down and had taken some pictures we changed into our swimsuits and hopped in to the water. To be honest it was more of a scary sneaking through the slippery rocks to the pouring water. The water was coming down so hard that you were barely able to withstand it's force and balance in it to keep yourself standing. I had to hold my friends hand to get her to accompany me to the waterfall too.

From the waterfall we continued our ride through the city of Singaraja to check-in to our hotel in Lovina before continuing to hot springs. The driver took us to a quite nice looking complex of four buildings with four bungalow style apartments in each. You could always get a room for cheaper price but the room was nice enough and not too costly, in the end only 175 000 IDR for two people.

Our predefined final destination was the hot springs of Air Banjar located close to Lovina beach. The sacred hot springs "Air Panas" of Banjar are set in the midst of the jungle in a landscape of a beautiful tropical garden. It consists of three public and one private pool. The sulphuric water is of volcanic origin and has an warm temperature around 40 degrees Celcius. It's said to be ideal for people suffering from rheumatic diseases. The hot spring water gushes from the mouths of eight stone carved nagas which are mythical dragon-like creatures, into the oblong shaped upper pool.

From the upper pool the water overflows from the mouths of five more nagas into the largest of the three pools, which is square shaped and situated at a lower level from the depth of one to two meters. Adjacent to these pools is the third and smallest one from which the water pours down via three four meter high spouts, giving you a strong, reviving massage.

After the refreshing and replenishing bath we headed back to Lovina and the driver continued back to his home in Ubud. At that night we watched a beautiful sunset over the quiet seashore filled with sailboats arrived from all over the world. We had a nice dinner and a good chill night in a local club with live music. We didn't stay in the tourist filled beachside restaurant clubs but headed a bit further away. We also booked a dolphin watching ride on sunrise and morning snorkeling on the coral reefs of Lovina beach.

We woke up around 5.30am and headed towards the beach. We were picked up by a local guy with a balinese style boat and headed to the sea. There were at least 20 other boats too. We headed towards the city Singaraja while the sun was rising behind the receding island. We round a bit of circle with all the other boats trying to catch a climbs of dolphins in their morning swim in their natural habitat. We saw around 3-4 dolphins about 4-5 different times and told our driver head back to the beach. We were a bit hungry and wanted to have a breakfast before the snorkeling. 

The snorkeling was amazing, even though the corals weren't so colorful the fishes and the sea stars were. I have always been sceptic about snorkeling due to the mud ponds of Finland I have snorkeled in, but not anymore. I could recommend coral reef snorkeling to everyone! After the morning we booked a new charter to drive us back to Kuta for the rest of the week and weekend.

My friend wanted to stay at Kuta for her last days and I headed towards my friends villa in Kerobokan where I could live for free. Actually my friends from Singapore were also invited but only one took the offer beside me. Other exchange students from Singapore gathered to Kuta for the last days too, mainly because the close distance to the airport.

The Villa Onga was really nice, it consist of big green yard, swimming pool, fish pool, kitchen, living room, two story with 4 double bedrooms, outside chilling balcony etc. It was a home to my friend, five other finnish girls and two german guys. By that week the girls were on a boat trip so we were allowed to stay there for free in their apartments.

I spent my last to days there chilling, having fun, surfing, scootering around Kuta, Double Six, Old Man etc. We also visited the beautiful oceanside temple of Tanah Lot that could only been reached on low tide.

We had a lot of fun that weekend jumping to the pool with the Tarzan rope I plaited from three different ropes. Actually we had a minor accident too, I was the first one to test it... We had put a small wooden stick through the rope as a handle to hang on while swinging. I swung towards the pool, in the middle of the way the stick cracked and I fell on the poolside. I was lucky not to hit my head tough. My friend got terrified because it looked so bad, but I only got a minor head smoothie and back pain and a big bruise in my left calf. My back and head got ok over the day and weekend. But otherwise it was fun jumping to the pool.

After the trip while I was stretching in the gym I noticed a huge rip in my left calf inside the muscle, but from outside there was just big bruise the size of the whole calf. I should have gone to the doctor but you know me... At the moment the rip is getting smaller and I can't fit my whole finger inside of it anymore and also it's not that touch sensitive anymore, it doesn't hurt to walk or exercise. It's good, gooood!

On that weekend we also visited the bar and club complex of Double Six, the Sky Garden which consists of 5 story with total of 10 clubs and bars. There or after that my wallet got stolen, luckily I had only some money and my credit card there, nothing else important that I could have remembered or missed. For the last two days I had to borrow money from my friend to sleep, eat, surf, take a taxi to airport and get of the country with the airport service fee of 150 000 IDR per person.

In the end amazing trip and not feeling bad about losing the wallet.

Ps. I might be going back to Bali at some point to visit my friends again and to learn to surf properly!

Chinese Lanter Festival

Here is a link to my photos of the festival on facebook and picasa! Check out the huge lanterns covering over 8 hectares of the Chinese Gardens. This year's theme was The World of Legends.

We were supposed to go to see the lanterns in a small group of four people, but in the end we ended up there just by two of us guys but we still had lovely and romantic night, haha! Just to note that it would have been a really nice place to go on for a date...

The Mid-Autumn Festival also known as the Moon Festival is a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people, dating back over 3,000 years to moon worship in China's Shang Dynasty. In Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, it is also sometimes referred to as the Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in the Gregorian calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties. The Chinese festival is very traditional and a great way to celebrate.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the fall harvesting season on this date. Traditionally on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes and pomelos under the moon together. Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as:

• Carrying brightly lit lanterns, lighting lanterns on towers, floating sky lanterns
• Burning incense in reverence to deities including Chang'e
• Erect the Mid-Autumn Festival. Hanging lanterns on the bamboo pole and putting them on a high point, such as roofs, trees, terraces, etc.
• Collecting dandelion leaves and distributing them evenly among family members
• Fire Dragon Dances

Doctor's appointment

As I previously posted that I cut my left foot big toe badly in Tioman. Actually even though it hurt and was sore I really didn't think that there were much about it. Still my lovely finnish friend commanded and helped me to clean the cuts, she is so wonderful! We arrived back from Tioman on monday late evening. I had nothing to do until thursday so I just chilled around and started to organize next weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur.

By the time the big toe started to get really swollen and walking started to get unbearably painful. So on wednesday morning I went to the university health care center to take care of it. I queued in the line and got to a see a doctor after 30 minutes, which wasn't so bad. He just gazed the cuts in my toe and stated that even though the wounds are deep there is no infection cause the surrounding skin is white. It was that, I think it wasn't even more than a minute. The doctor then redirected me to the nurses whom then cleaned my toe and wrapped it up. I also got some antiseptic cream for the cuts. The whole parade cost 11.38S$ from which the doctors counseling was 10S$ and cream the rest.

On wednesday evening we went to watch a movie titled Horrible Bosses with a group of seven exchange students and one local. The movie was actually a good comedy that I would recommend, even though after first 5minutes I realized that I had already seen it, damn you pirates! We had a lovely time. But it was by that evening my leg started to get really sore and painful to walk. We took a taxi to drive us back to UTown. My finnish friend went to get some antiseptics and other wound cleaning stuff from her room.

It was then when we realized that the problem at the moment wasn't anymore with the two cuts on the toe. The problem was a blister that I got on a first party night in Tioman trip from my flip flops. The blister had broken at the beach and some sand had gotten inside it and into my bloodstream. By that evening my foot was almost twice the size if you allow me to exaggerate a bit. The foot was really hot, red and painful to walk, the pressure was so vast on it. After my friend opened and cleaned the wound with sterilized needles it started to get a bit better.

When I woke up on thursday, almost all of the swelling  had gone and I started to head to my first class in the NUS. It took me around 35minutes to find the classroom on first day. In the end I had only two hours of school that day so I didn't think that it was bad to walk around a bit. By the time I got back from the classes to UTown my feet was hurting again, I was sure that we didn't get all the sand away yet.

In the evening I had some running duties concerning the trip to Kuala Lumpur, I had to collect the money and arrange all the cancellations and get some replacements. That wasn't really relaxing for the foot.

So after all fuzz in the evening, I again got some help from my lovely finnish friend. She opened my wound again and took care of it. We noticed that there was still sand and almost like black blood coming out of the wound. We cleaned the wound and I tried not to cover it for the rest of the day and night.

My spanish roommate was also helpful providing me some anti-inflammatory drugs that he had gotten from his mom who is a doctor. He also told me to keep the leg up so that the blood pressure wouldn't be so rough in the wound.

For the next 5 days and over the weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur I ate the anti-swelling pills two times a day and cleaned the wounds and wrapped it up for three times a day. The wounds started to heal and the swelling got down.

Now when it has been around 9days from the accident the wounds are starting to get better. There is no signs of any infections and the swelling is gone. I still walk a bit different way cause I'm trying not to put any pressure to the big toe so that the wounds could close. It still feels a bit sore but I think it will be more than good by the end of the week before we are leaving to Bangkok!


Ps. I'm not going to post any pictures of my foot, it would just be nasty

Private Beach Party @ Tioman

There will be some pictures about Tioman on facebook and picasa.

The idea of the trip was to organize cheap trip to Tioman, Malaysia for a vast number of exchange students to get to know each other and form some sort of cross nationality groups. So we organized a three days and two nights trip to Tioman with only 150S$ per head, in the end that included travel costs back and forth, accommodation for both nights and a BBQ/grill beach party with all you can drink alcohol for both saturday and sunday. For some of you who might not know, Pulau Tioman is one of the duty-free islands in Malaysia, so the alcohol there was cheap compared to Singapore and Europe.

It was a lot of work to organize this trip. We posted the the brief trip information on three different Facebook groups to get everyones attention, but for convenience we only used one group to gather all the registrations and contacts. The trip was success even before it started, we had around 180 attendees but we only could take 60.

So we had to do some first-come-first-serve based selecting and also some male/female ratio and nationality balancing. After couple of work filled days and some sleepless nights we managed to get the group together. A lot of the work was caused due to the last minute cancellations and new recruiting and money collecting.

The trip started at 5am. For the trip we had ordered a rental bus to take us directly from UTown at NUS to ferry termimal in Mersing, Malaysia. The ride from our pick up point at UTown through the customs of Singapore and Malaysia took around 3hours. Of course everything didn't go as planned, one girl and one guy had forgotten or lost their disembarkation card which allows them to leave from the country. They had at least 10-15 minutes sit down interrogation beside the passport booth and after that they were taken to the interrogation room. After total time of over 30min and lots of answered questions later the unlucky pair was allowed to leave the country without the disembarkation card. The trip continued through the no-man lands to Malaysian customs and the apply for the free quick visa went without annoyances.

Around 8am we reached the Mersing and had a good one hour for the breakfast, some of the hungriest ones just settled with a "special burger" found from a small grill booth beside the ferry terminal while the others just waited or went for a breakfast into a nearby foodcourt.

The ferry left the port around 10am, we had asked from the ferry company if they can drive us directly to the other side of Tioman, to the Juara Mutiara beach, where our resort was located. The whole ferry was filled from our 60 person group so they agreed to our terms. To be honest, we had been scaring everyone about the boat trip cause of our previous ferry experience from Langkawi to Penang. This ride was calm and smooth, no jumping or puking even close by. Half of the group tried to rest, sleep and chill inside the ship and the other half watched the sceneries from the rear deck of the boat. The ride to other side of the Tioman was about two hours.

We reached the Tioman around noon, we arrived directly to the correct side of the island, right to the shore of our own resort, Juara Mutiara Beach Resort. We had booked the whole resort village, around 20 air-con 2 to 3 person beach apartments. After we had received and divided the keys everyone had free time to do what ever they wanted until the 7pm. That was the time we had arranged the BBQ/beach party to start. Some of the group hit the beach, others decided to walk a bit in the jungle and some wanted to rest the trip stress away. As a organizer I had a "special" room with my singaporean friend. Actually it was just the same room but there was a bathtub in the bathroom. We felt so overwhelmingly special... One could have not used it nor would have wanted to use it! The water from the shower was pouring so slowly that the it would have taken at least an hour to fill the tub and further more the bathtub didn't look so good to be honest. Still in the end, we felt special.



Booze trip was about to begin. We gathered a car full of volunteers to join us for a rental car trip over the mountain to the other side of the Tioman island. Even though the island is small, the ride across it took nearly 30 minutes due to the steep mountain road. The road was so narrow and fluctuating. The driver honked the horn before every corner to warn the inclosing vehicles. Luckily it had been cement covered now. Local friend of mine told that previously on a one trip a couple of years ago they had to push the car over the mountain due to rain caused mud floods. On the other side of the island we found the so called "capital" of Tioman. Actually it was a quite a small beachside tourist village. We had a nice car ride through the jungle and over the middle mountain of Tioman to the other side. When we got over the mountain and started to head down on to the other side, the view was just breathtaking. There we saw this huge blue lagoon with a sandy shore so white that it almost was painful for eyes to gaze upon it. The view from the mountain was just so bright. All across the shore there were small cabins and shops spread widely. When we arrived to the beach, at first we hit the duty-free shop for the beach party freeflow drinks and mixers. That was quite a big job actually.

The shopping list for the freeflow was (not include mixers or snacks etc.):
Smirnoff Blue Label 1.0l x12
Skyy Vodka 1.0l x5
Bacardi Razz 1.0l x2
Bacardi Limon 1.0l x2
Bacardi Carta Blanca 1.0l x2
Absolut Raspberry 1.0l x2
Barton gin 1.0l x7
Bombay Sapphire Gin 1.0l x1
Captain Morgan Spiced 1.0l x4
Jose Cuervo Blanco Tequila 1.0l x3
Jagermeister 1.0l x2
Cruzan Banana 1.0l x1
El Picu Mojito 0.7l x1
El Picu Caipiranha Lime 0.7l x1
El Picu Margarita Strawberry 0.7l x1
Changi Beer 24x0.33l x 3
Jaz Beer 24x0.33l x 2
Tiger Beer 24x0.33l x 5



After the whole shopping thing we decided to go for a nice lunch, we ordered almost everything from the diner and shared it. That was one of the best meals. The trip back to the Juara Mutiara beach, the only beach on the other side of the island went well. There we unloaded the truck to our apartment and headed to check out our upcoming beach party shack. The shack looked warm and welcoming, it was good for us.

Before the party we headed to chill out in the water and beach. Played some volleyball and some of us went jumping from the pier to the ocean. And of course, what else can I do than backflips! We were jumping from the far end of the pier so we were able to use the stairs meant for boats to unload people to clime up back to the pier. The underwater part of the stairs were covered with seashells stuck to the cement. Oh, boy those were sharp and and of course I cut my big toe from two different places, but I didn't worry about that back then.

The beach was really nice, although it was a lot different than the one in Langkawi where you could easily walk 500 meters from the shore. Here the shore was a bit steep and you could walk only about 50 meters, more or less. Beside the shack by the shore were two chained monkeys, I actually felt a bit sad for them. They were friendly and nice. At some point the owner decided to give us a show and she took the monkeys out of the chains and took them for a swim. The monkeys were so scared that they crawled and jumped to sat on the top of the owners head. And by the time I was holding keys and locks to the monkeys chains, I should have released them, but I don't think they would have survived cause they were so used to have some people around.

By the beach we also played some volleyball and around 6pm we headed back to our condos. Everybody started to gather around 7pm close to our apartment, anxious about the upcoming party. No one knew what to expect, but in the end everyone knew that we were party planners to be reckoned with.

Around 7.15pm we told everyone to start heading to the shack and that we'll rent a moped with a side van to get all the booze there. The ride arrived at 7.30pm, but at the same minute a monsoon rain started to pour heavily upon us, it was quite a show with some lightnings and strong whirlwinds!

In the end around 8pm we decided to take our shirts off and just ride the damn moped there despite the rain! Everyone was already there eating and loving the BBQ grill buffet. After I had gotten all the booze inside and organized the rest of the evening I could relax for a second and start to enjoy the night with the rest of the group. The food was good, there was some fried chicken, beef, noodles, rice, sweet and sour chicken, eggs, shrimps and all sort of delicacy. We partied by the shack doing rounds of tequila and jager shots and all crazy drinks till 1am and then tidied the place up a bit and headed to continue the party beside our beachside condos where we partied until sunrise around 7am.

On sunday I woke up around 11am, I didn't sleep so much but I still felt refreshed. The day started with a lovely breakfast brunch with some good morning after punch. We had bought some special bottles for this reason, the banana rum, mojito, caipiranha and margarita. Thats the way to start a day!

After breakfast everyone started to do different activities, some chilled by the beach while others went to do some snorkeling or hiking in the hills towards waterfalls. Actually to the waterfalls the trip should have been around 4-5hours back and forth, but no one found it, even though it took 5hours from them!

My decision was to hangout by the beach with a smaller group. There we played some sports like frisbee and volleyball, also played catch with this tiny soft ball that bounces a great deal from the surface of the water if you throw it in the right angle. It was quite cool and it needed some reflexes to catch it!

The freeflow and cost included beach party was supposed to be only on the first night, but we couldn't finish everything over one night. Around 4pm to 5pm when we were checking the budget we realized that we still had some money left. We asked from our resort could they organize buffet for us for the evening with that much money and they agreed. Around 8pm we had our second buffet party, the food was even better than the first night. We had shrimps, fried chicken, sweet and sour chicken, calamari, sausages, rise, fries and fruits etc.

Around 9.30pm everyone was full, but we still decided to get all the leftovers with us to the beach party for finger foods. The beach party was awesome, even though on first night there was around 80 people partying from NUS (even though our group size was only 60) we allowed them to party with us, just said to bring their own foods and drinks. We didn't want them to drink our payed drinks and foods for free, but still they did. At the second night party there was at least 100 partier by the shore. It was just whack. I had my laptop by the beach blowing some mainstream spotify music through a pair of speakers that I had borrowed from my South-African roommate. The owner of the resort was very friendly and even without asking he turned on the lights for us on the beach for us to enjoy the beach and the party. There I also made my Tioman famous drink called Juhana Juice, the secret ingredients were Bacardi Razz, Smirnoff Blue Label, sprite, half a lime squeezed in and a slice of lime on top! Thats just best beach drink ever!

At some point people just started to gather in the further end of the pier and someone shouted that the locals had caught a shark. Quite a big group of us went to see it, there it actually was, a one meter long shark. I hugged and kissed the shark! One of my norwegians friends wanted to do some fishing by the pier also at the same time and he caught a squid with his first throw! The squid was so nasty and I did one indescribable think, I put half of the squid in to my mouth while hanging it upside down, I'll just regret that, it didn't felt or look so cool afterwards! There was also this weird incident but I took care of it with a the locals. One guy that no one knew but was chilling and drinking in our party decided to steal the shark and run with it to the shore. I was running with the local guy who was in charge of the fish to recover it back. The guy just didn't realize anything, he couldn't comprehend that if he steals someone else's shark it's not that cool. I just hoped that we as organizer weren't the ones to be blamed, but in the end I was able to handle the situation with the local and retrieve the shark to its rightful owners. I think the beach party lasted till 4am, then we cleaned the beach and headed back 30meters to our condos and continued partying there until 8am or so.

Around 12pm I woke up and had a good strong breakfast with friends, actually I think it could have had been called already a lunch. We had couple of hours left to chill out and clean the place up. After 1pm we started to gather up and left to the pier to take a group photo. After the group photo, when the ferry was already arriving I decided to do the last backflip from the pier, everyone was watching and filming it and it felt nice. Actually it was quite a perfect one.

The ferry ride back was a bit longer and it took nearly 3hours and we stopped couple of times the get more people on. This ferry was bigger, at least twice the capacity of the first one. The ride back was also smooth, no roller coasters this time either. Around 5pm we started to head back to Singapore customs from Mersing ferry terminal. In the middle of the way we stopped to this huge chinese dining mall. At first we thought that this will be expensive lunch but when we got the menus it seemed nice. It was about 160RM for a 8 course meal for the whole table and it was around 8persons per table. So it really was nothing compared to what we got to eat. We had soup, fish, shrimps, chicken, pork, vegetables, fruits etc. and we couldn't finish it all, it was just amazing!

The ride back went fast, I don't know about the others but for me it was easy cause I'm a good sleeper. We cleared the customs and got back to Singapore around 11pm on monday just nicely before the National day of Singapore on tuesday.

Ladies night

In Singapore there is always a ladies night on wednesday in most of the bars. It means that wednesday is the night to go out and to meet all the other exchange students and also everyone else worth to meet. It actually seems that Singapore focuses on wednesday night when making party plans. Though they also party on saturday too, so it's kinda like the same what we have in finland with the little saturday (wednesday) and actual saturday but just opposite.

Usually everyone goes to the the Chijmes area to hit the freeflow in Insomnia or at La Baroque. I usually go to the latter one. In La Baroque the freeflow starts at 9pm and lasts until 23.30. Freeflow means that for the entry fee you can drink all that you can handle for the time being. It covers white and red wines, beers, ciders, drinks with vodka, rum, whiskey, gin etc. so almost anything you want. And of course, because it's ladies night they can go inside free and also drink free, guys have to pay the 20S$ entrance fee which is not much for all that.

Funny thing though here in Singapore is that usually the age limit for ladies is 18+ and for guys 23+, even at the same bar.

After the freeflow, usually some of the exchange students gathers back to the Bridge or go clubbing in the bars like Zouk, Attica or Zirca. And Of course there is tons of other clubs worth to visit, just check around!

So I arranged a gathering and some pre-drinking before the ladies night with my local friend. At the pre-drinking there were about 20 exchange students. We wanted to keep this small because we were planning and talking about our second trip at the same time there. We left a around 8.40pm with a taxi to the Chijmes party area.

First we were thinking about going in to the Insomnia but when we arrived around 9pm to Chijmes area we saw the hundred meter line already going in... Ok, it was the first ladies night for the vast number of new exchange students. So we decided to head to La Baroque which was downstairs almost below Insomnia. There we only waited around 5minutes.

We were in, even though I think that not all of us were over 23+ year old. But the fun started, it took around 15-30 minutes for the bar to be filled with people. I knew around fifty of the exchange students there beforehand and got to know lots of new ones. I just love to socialize! Usually in Singapore there is always a live band in the bar and oh boy when  was surprised when the band took the stage, it was the exactly same band that I had heard 8-9 months ago when visiting my brother. Ok, that wasn't bad because they were actually good back then and good now too! Playing and singing all the mainstream songs, everybody just loved to dance there!

After the freeflow ended I headed back to the Bridge, I had promised to see my local friend there. Most of my friends continued to the Zouk to party! We headed back to the UTown to discus about the upcoming trip. At the same time we were multitasking and inviting people to join as in UTown for a chill-out on one of the Graduate Residence balconies. This was on the 12th floor. I can remember some of us staying up until 7am. after hitting the bed I woke up around 11am to organize the next trip to Pulau Tioman for the upcoming weekend!

So if you want to club with the girls, just move down to either Attica or Zirca. Else if you want the freeflow you might wanna check the Insomnia or La Baroque. Else, just hang around "The Bridge" with your drinks and mingle with the rest of the folks! Just remember to dress appropriately - long pants and covered shoes for the guys and bring your ID!

What about studying

Here you can find pictures of the place where I'm staying. It is the new Gratuade Residence @ UTown, NUS.

Actually not much. I have lectures, labs, tutorials etc. only 9 hours a week. On thursdays from 12-16 and on fridays from 9-14. I have selected three courses, one of them should be a compensatory course to my bachelor studies. The name of the course is CS1231 Discrete Structures.

The two courses left are actually a post-graduate courses intended for the sixth year, CS6880 Advanced Topics in Software Engineering and CS6203 Advanced Topics in Database Systems. Hoping to cope those courses, because they seem to be interesting and would be useful to me at work.

So as you can see from my study plan, I'm not going to study much.

I'm all about traveling and getting new friends!

Langkawi and Penang, Malaysia

You can find the pictures of the trip from my facebook gallery or from picasa or flickr. (i might not be updating the flickr so check picasa)


So the whole trip to Langkawi and Penang was an ad-hoc trip with a little or no pre-planning. We actually decided the places where to travel on saturday around 9pm and after we got back from the beach party on Siloso beach we ordered the flights around 4am. It was 8am we woke up and started heading for the Changi airport to do the check-in. The group consisted of one singaporean, one spanish and two norwegians and me of course. We had a little episode on the airport security check when our lovely spanish companion had his nail scissors with him, but he survived just by signing a form. He had to leave his precious scissors that he'd stoled from his mother though.

One could say that we were a bit tired from the Siloso beach party, cause one of the norwegians fell asleep on the airplane even before the plane took off! The flight to Langkawi was only 1hour 20minutes and it went quickly, i just remember taking off and waking up when the tires reached the surface of the runway. We were arrived to Malaysia.

Pulau Langkawi

To say something about Langkawi, the Jewel of Kedah. Langkawi is a archipelago of 104 islands and it's located in the Andaman Sea about 30 km off the coast of northwestern Malaysia. It has the population of 65k and it's one of the duty-free islands in Malaysia.

So we arrived to the Malaysian airport, there we went through the normal procedures without any hassling. There was one thing though that was quite extraordinary, they took everyones fingerprints. And actually when we were checking our tourist visas one of the officers just started to laugh when we stated that we just bought the tickets and we don't yet have any accommodation there, dunno why!

From the airport we rented a four wheel drive for one day, the price of the car was stated as 380 RM, they offered 180 RM, we got it for 130 RM. Then the journey started, it had been a long time since anyone of us had driven a car on the left-hand traffic side. So first one to drive was the Singaporean and i was the co-driver. We started heading towards the ferry terminal to book us a tickets to Penang for the next day. Ride to the terminal was fun, filled with some upsy daisy moments like when we had to make a u-turn to get to a gas station before gasoline would end. One motorist almost crashed into us, they just wouldn't give any space or slow down. At the terminal we bought some duty-free fun for the evening and got the last five tickets to the ferry to Penang. We also had this one episode with giant mantis jumping on one of the norwegians and he was just yelling something about flying snakes! Everyone was just laughing!

Now it was my turn to drive and ride to the beach started. I admit that for the first hundred meters we had some kangaroo gasoline! But it was just due to the reason that i tried to drive automatic car using my both feet at the same time... So after a quick recess the trip continued. We turned our car towards the Four Seasons Hotel (private) beach. The views were amazing, the island is just filled with steep mountains and unbelievably green forests. I really enjoyed driving.

Around 2pm we reached the beach, it's really hard to describe the feeling that you had when you got there, it was just overwhelmingly beautiful. The beach reached out far to both ways and the sand was so fine with the tiniest granularity. Over the ocean you could see some smaller rocky islands around 500 meters away from the beach. There was only one option, we had to go there! We started walking and swimming. Our Singaporean friend just shouted from the shore that watch out for the blowfishes and everything, it was funny cause for a little while some of us freaked a bit! On the way to the island, at some point it felt just like small children's play. When we were about in the middle of the way we started to have this ticklish feeling in our feet. We soon realized that those were small fishes that were like eating something from your skin, it was a very funny feeling! And we had also new (not flying snake but) swimming snake experience with the same guy. Good laughs! It mid had actually been a eel, but dunno. One of us turned back but three of us continued. When we were closing in to the island the water started to be so deep that we had to actually swim. We also realized that there was a very strong current pulling us so we had to be careful and staid close to each other.

Finally we reached the small island. When I was walking to the shore I saw this tiny palm sized sea crab. On the small beach we found some caves that was only visible on low tide. We crawled inside and could here bats whining. We tried to scare the bats out by throwing in some rocks but we didn't succeed and actually that was a good thing, because then we started to think that if one of us get scratched we might have to start looking for a rabies shot. At some point we decided to head back for the beach to get a camera cause the view back to the shore was so great. But still we decided to hit some waves first that were clashing close by. The waves there weren't so big, but I'm pretty sure that I'll get my big waves someday!

When we started to head back to the shore we saw a weird view. That moment we realized that the reason behind the strong current we had witnessed was the low tide. In the middle of the ocean were forming these stretches of beach and now you were able to walk to the islands! From us the trip took around 40min and now you could just walk there in 10minutes. Around 6pm we decided to head out from the beach.

Our next target was to hit a cable car to highest parts of Langkawi to see the sunset. The ride to the top was unbelievable, even though the final height was only 700 meters from the sea level it was awesome. From the top the view was just breathtaking, there were observation decks and then a curvy bridge over a big gorge.

After we got down from the mountain the sun was set. And also the Spanish guy wanted to buy a football for us to play when we get back to Singapore and NUS, even we told him that he might not be able to take it with him on the airplane. We started to head towards other side of the island to find a beach resort for us to stay in. After a while search we found the Sunset beach resort. Nice place beside the shore with amazing treetop houses. We just booked the rooms and hit to the showers before gathering to go for a dinner. We actually went to eat some mexican food at that evening. At the dinner beside our table there was this meowing tiny black cat walking cautiously with three legs. So now there wasn't any flying or swimming snakes, only a little cat but the same guy just freaked when the cat touched his leg. He jumped up from his seat, almost knocked the table and our drinks over. Again we got good laughs! This episode was called snakes under the table.

Rest of the night elapsed with walking around the beachside and then sitting and chilling in the beach drinking some whiskey on rocks. Beside us there was a reggae party so we were just jamming on the beach. On next day we had to leave our rooms at noon and we started heading back to ferry terminal.

The ferry ride from Langkawi to Penang took three hours. It was the best roller coaster ride ever! The ferry was actually a boat with hundred seats packed tight together. We went to sit in the front row and oh boy that would be mistake if you have weak stomach! At the beginning it was quite fun when you flew into air 40cm above your seat and smacked down. But after a while people started to get seasick and vomit. I'm a lucky one blessed with a good strong stomach and sleeping skills like no other. Even though people were screaming etc. I just started to nap. After the first stop around 40minutes of ride time I finally fell asleep completely. I can remember couple of times waking up from the fact that I was literally flying in the air and smacking down back to the seat! I woke up after the trip when we were docking to Penang.

Penang is state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Penang is highly urbanized and industrialized and it's one of the most developed and economically important states in the country, as well as a thriving tourist destination. The population of 1.5 million is very diverse in every way.

In Penang after a short walk we jumped to a bus and started to look for a hotel to stay. We decided to stay in a Grand Continental Hotel cause the sun was already setting. We booked a room of three for the five of us and got an extra bed there. On the top floor of the hotel we found a sky pool which was a tiny disappointment but still a welcome refreshment for the daily trip.

After a while in the hotel we headed out to have something to eat. We tried to find a local food court but they were all closed inside the local mall we went. So we ate in a little bit more expensive Fusion restaurant, but then the food was also nice. While walking around in the mall we found this shop that had all different dried fruits and plants to sell as little snacks. You could taste them all if you wanted, i preferred dried rose pedals.

From the mall we decided to head out for a drink or two in a local bar. There we enjoyed a tower of beer for the price of 70RM which is cheap, in Singapore tower costs 75S$ (1S$~2.5RM). There we also heard some local karaoke talents. After started to head back to the hotel we decided to have snack in a close by food court which we happened to walk by. The Red Garden was lovely place and filled with people with good spirit. There were people dancing, singing and just watching and chatting. After a while we started to head back to the hotel cause we had a early wakeup waiting.


It was around 6am when we had to wakeup, we didn't had time to go to the hotels complimentary breakfast even though it was included in the room price. We had to take a bus to get to the airport in Penang. The bus ride to the airport took around one hour and we made it in time for check-in. And of course guess what happened at the check-in, our spanish guy had another episode when trying to get through the security. They argued about 10minutes about the ball and finally he had to leave the ball behind, even though the nice officer offered to puncture the ball for free. We had some good laughs! The first but not the last trip was near to it's end, next thing I recall is waking up in Changi airport in Singapore.

Amazing trip! Thinking about going to Penang for a longer trip to see it better, but we'll see because there is so much to see everywhere!

Ps. I accidentally deleted all my photos from the trip! But luckily with a help of my friends and a free software called PhotoRec I was able to recover all of the photos I had deleted! I truly recommend!

Siloso beach party

The gathering on friday was just about making new friends. We had already decided to hold a new gathering on saturday. First it was just going to be a new direct gathering on the bridge and then tell people about different clubs before hitting in. But on friday night I met a couple of older exchange students from previous semesters (they did also know my brother). They told me that there were going to be a once in a month beach party on saturday. So we decided to arrange a pre-party there beside the beachside club.

On that day we were also planning our first trip abroad but we just hadn't chosen where. So we had a little planning pre-party for the small ad-hoc trip on first weekend in one of the apartments on GR. It was actually there when we decided not to dare risk to take anyone without the disembarkation card or student pass (visa) abroad due to possible fine of a 1000S$. Also the student pass would might have been revoked, but that would have only meant that you'll have to do the process again. So at that point the group size of the first weekend trip reduced from 8 to 3. We decided to try look out for some people from the upcoming gathering on the Siloso beach and we had already one Norwegian in mind. We found the Norwegian from the party and got him and his friend to join, so then the group increased to it's final size, 5 travelers.

So the arranged gathering took place again in front of the GR around 9.30pm. From there we started to divide people in to groups of four with directions to the beach party on Siloso beach on the Sentosa island. Even though the taxi lines were awful long and MRT route was a bit complex, everyone made it to the right beach. The word about the gathering had spread, in the end we had around 130-150 exchange students hanging out beside the club just listening the music and chatting. Of course at some point, part of the group went inside the club area and partied until 6am by when the club was closed. One could say that the club was awesome, it had outside pools and everything. If you want to check it out, here is a link to the Azzura beach club.

The gathering by the beach party was a great success! More about the planned trip still to come.

Hunt for the camera

...started actually already in Finland. I didn't have a camera other than one on my smarthphone. Even though it's a 5MP camera it's a shitty one with blurry vision (sorry for the language, but thats the best way to describe it). In Finland I got plenty of good advices for the camera but just didn't had time to concentrate to check them out and buy one. And I had heard that electronics are around 10% cheaper here in Singapore than in Finland.

In Singapore, after the friday nights party I posted to my Facebook message page about it on the morning. By the next day I had decided the camera to pick. I chose Nikon S9100 to be the target. So I went shopping with my Singaporean friend. We went to the City Hall Mall on City Hall MRT station. It's a quite big mall with lots of shops filled with small electronics. The camera was advertised with price 545S$ everywhere, the package included the camera with one year manufacturer warranty, extra battery, mini tripod, casing, memory card reader and 8 GB memory card. Still had the feeling that the price is off. So I paid visit to every shop there and asked for the price for the package, it varied from 475S$ to 439S$ (but the cheapest offer only included the 8 GB memory card and casing). Even so, I decided that I don't really need the extra stuffs. I just decided to try to get the extra battery for the same price.

So I went back to the same boutique and asked the price for the camera from another seller. He told me the price is 445S$... what? I told him that previously when i visited there it was only 439S$. The shopkeeper accepted the price. It was then when I realized to ask again that does all the extras come with the price also? This one answered yes! By then we were smiling discreetly and winking with my Spore friend. I also asked to get the receipt for to get the tax free 7% GST refund when leaving the country. So the camera with the total package was only around 415S$~240€. So it was quite a good deal.

Now when I have the camera, you can just be waiting for some nice pictures from my trips, hope you'll enjoy!