down with my inevitable-after-trip flu, sneezing my nose off & looking more like rudolph every min. feeling woozy after all tt cold meds which seem to have no effect whatsoever besides making me feel like i havent slept for days.

got back my less than stellar sem 1 results yestd. i'm contented with my lit, socio and philo grades but disappointed with south asia and econs which were afterall, expected. all i know is tt i've tried my best and tt's all tt matters. and if nth, this merely serves as a reminder to what i should and should not major in and further motivate me to do better nxt sem :D we need to find whatever light there is when thrown into darkness.

 

feel like a tiny little boat in the middle of the ocean sometimes, sailing along lazily when the weather's good, feeling like the world's our oyster. & at times, thrashing wildly in the waves and fighting for survival in storms. yet somehow still managing to survive and emerge stronger each time/

Met up with flo, shar, lh, kanitha and pat yestd ;D caught Avatar and and it was just magnificent. altho it was prob the longest movie i've watched at 161 mins, and it was our first time watching at the super humongous theater at Shaw Lido where pat and i were so overwhelmed by the size tt we started counting its capacity haha. felt like a 4D movie at times cuz our seats kept vibrating too. but srsly it was a really expensive movie, ard US$600 mil? tt could keep an entire country afloat for a few months, maybe even a year.

Headed to Botanical Gardens thereafter for a quiet and peaceful picnic and night walk, away from the insane crowds at town. suddenly everyone seems to be on leave and everyone seems to go to town. i'll definitely not head there till the festivities are over to avoid being prodded, poked and pushed from every direction.  i wish i lived near botanical gardens or the beach, haha could go for long quiet walks more often. there were many pretty xmas trees all lighted up lining the sidewalks and it really felt like a fairytale wonderland.


the hanging lights were really pretty and they looked like meteroties falling straight at you haha (oopes was supposed to let you ppl guess what it was)


 pretty crescent.

so on the way home pat was telling me how it took her 4 months to realise tt the friends she had in uni were not after all considered friends. when something happy or sad happens, you realise they will never be the first one you turn too. i mean tt's true i guess, maybe its because of the short period of time, but i feel tt ppl at uni seem differerent in a way tt like every man is an island by themselves. they will interact with you, at times only for their own advantage or for the sake of it. but when it ends, you drift back to being your own island. but like i was telling her, its all right, haha you can sms or call me anytime you have any dumb things to say, haha i'll definitely give you more than a one word reply, LOL :D

another thing tt really puts me off is seeing fake ppl in school, well they are not the majority but you still see them from time to time, i just think tt ppl who try to be someone they are not, and seem to assert a certain aura are the most insecure deep down and their "act" to cover tt is just revolting. and ppl here seem so much more stuck up and unfriendly, i dont know, overseas, strangers smile at each other and can strike up such easy convos, but over here, you'd be lucky if ppl didnt glare at you already, and i wonder how ppl at times can allow their entire world to revolve around such superficial things.

 
the end of another day and yet another glorious sunset. its really true tt the best sunsets/sunrises are viewd from the middle of the ocean.

 
Late night pool party where we did line dancing. really fun.

 
royal carribean is a really eco friendly cruiseline, you see these tags everywhere, reminding you to save the waves and they even have an environment officer haha interesting, i wonder what she does. 

   
late night supper of banana pudding, coconut cakes

 
they have really mouth watering buffet spreads. even salds are so artfully arranged.


arriving in beautiful phuket at noon. could already feel the swelter from the ship. applied copious amounts of sunblock but still got burnt. the skin around my chin was all peeling and cracked, ouch damn pain its still peeling slightly now =[ i think if i stay in phuket longer my entire face will peel.
 
 
taking the tender boats to phuket, patong beach, haha i love taking tender boats, they are so fun though its a rather bumpy ride.

.  
Views from the tender boat. when the ship sails at night and all the surroundings are pitch dark, i often wonder how it looks like from the other side, to passing boats.

   
the receding waves on the beach and fishermen coming home from a day out at sea. phuket is such a beautiful place. in the day the beach is filled with sunbathers and water sport activities and when the sun goes down, everything on the beach winds down and the nightlife comes alive.  


there are so many pubs lining the beach and they sell cocktails at insane prices. 80baht for all cocktails-- that works out to less than $4 per drink. but i guess it isnt tt safe for us to enter pubs since all their customers are caucasian topless men hahaha. there were many gay pubs too, yup phuket is really gay friendly and you see many caberat shows around as well.


 
Phuket is really a beach haven, its one of those places where you can see bikini clad ppl walking inside shopping malls(saw loads actually, prob escaping the insane swelter) and no one bats an eyelid or gives a damn haha. good to check out hot bods too =p

  
my fav Phad Thai which i added too much chili powder(their chilli powder is so much spicier) and really teared while eating, all my tear ducts were activated hahaha and for some reason my ears get blocked when i eat too spicy stuff, but still damn delicious. love thai food. yums.

 
hahaha you seen this sign everywhere cuz it has so many pubs but so far i havent seen any drunk ppl.

 
dunkin donuts!!! omg really yummy!! hahaha i love the small ones on the last row. & its only 7 baht per piece which is around 30cents?!! cheap and good! somehow the dunkin donuts in SG tastes diff.

 
Tuk Tuks, thai ppl are really friendly but can be overly friendly at times, haha the endearments they use when persuading you to take their taxis can put you off at times.

we actually lost our way for abit due to a wrong turn and it got abit scary cuz we ended up in a stretch full of scantily clad women from massage parlours which probably offered more than massage services gg by the clothes(or almost none) they wore.

  
clear blue sky and perfect weather for suntanning? yeah right, within 5 mins of walking i looked like i just stepped out of the ocean, drenched in perspiration. the sun was SCORCHING. its the kind of sun which gives you a migraine.

the weather there makes singapore's summer looks cold and our rainy days to them are practically winter. gosh i dont know how they tolerate the heat and humidity. i would prob get a heat stroke already.
 
 
i think there's a kind silent beauty and grace tt cruise ships have, a certain poise and they just look so goddamn beautiful.

 
haha anyone who knows of any pastry chef remember to introduce them to me =p i could live on deserts all day and all night, sadly i didnt get to try my cheesecake cuz i was just so stuffed full.

   
such tantalising spreads!! no wonder i get hungery everytime i see the food. & this is only the outdoor buffet, there's an even greater spread at the indoor one. 

   
breakfast every morning is such a mouthwatering affair. pastries and breads of every kind to placate even the fussiest eaters :D i want my pastry chef!

   
beautiful beautiful beautiful. only the poets could describe such beauty accurately, maybe even they cant do that. you really have to be there to feel it.
 

Their arcade was really small though. its even smaller than our stateroom.

  
i love white grand pianos, they have quite a few grand pianos in the ship and why do all male pianists look so damn hot? haha

 
i know i posted many sunset/sunrise pics already but its just so irresistable, this is what beauty is all abt.

 
that's the captain's table with another expensive painting as a backdrop. the captain's the one abt to sit down, he's from Norway and has an absolutely unpronounceable name. its like a tongue twister.

 
haha 2 crew members breaking into a dance halfway as the band started playing, i guess tt's the ethos of the ship, ppl seem to dance everywhere.

 
they had 3 walls filled with such medals as a recognition of the ship anchoring at those ports. this ship's maiden voyage was in 1999 and till date it has sailed to nearly 100 ports, tt's almost worldwide.

 
leaving its trail of white capped waves behind

 
haha the stateroom tv keeps replaying harry potter, angels and demons, UP and a variety of other language shows but harry potter keeps playing in japanese. its so amusing hearing dumbledore and harry speak in jap dubbed by others. =p

 
Petronas Tower made of chocolate! haha i bet it melted within hours such a waste of chocolate haha

 
another one of my fav paintings.

 
the golf course.


Arrival at Singapore at 7am.   



i would love to stay in one of those royal suites one day and have my own personal view of the ocean. one of the royal suites comes with a baby grand piano which i think is ridiculous, haha why do you need a piano on a vacation? and it costs thousands of dollars.

royal carribean is much stricter than star cruises, if you are below 21 you have to travel with an adult, means i cant travel with my friends! && you cant consume alcohol if you are below 21 unless the accompanying adult signs a waiver. haha upon check in they asked my mum if she wanted to sign the waiver for me to consume alcohol :D &&& their safety drill is compulsory to the extent tt they take attendence haha, they literally knocked on cabin doors to make sure you're not hiding there.

when you are having a great time, time passes in leaps and bounds. i can add these 5 days to the best days of my life, away from everything :D  sadly the Legend of the Seas will be leaving SG for Hongkong/China in early Feb and will only be back in Nov next year. but i the cruise industry in SG is still growing and i cant wait for other ships to arrive :D hopefully they'll send Oasis of the Sea when we finally build a bigger cruise terminal.

Hasta la vista :D

ok im doing this in random order cuz the pictures are all mixed up( rmb its 700+)  
they have a drink special gg at USD $4.95 everyday at all bars and i tried them all haha well cause its cheap. on the right is Singapore Sling and Vodka Punch on the left is The Orient Express which was responsible for making me drunk cuz of its high tequila content. damn sad la, everyone was dancing around me and i was just sitting there too stoned to move. =[ will rmb to leave the cocktails to after the party's over.

 
The Grand Finale at the entertainment theatre, the performances were great, there was this pianist, Linda Gentille, who was just amazing. omg if only i could play like her, hahaha in my dreams totally, some ppl are just born gifted.

 
 Everynight the stateroom attendents would fold a towel in a shape of an animal and leave it on our beds. i think they hired a few guys specially to fold towels, (they had a towel folding demostration) haha its not easy folding towels for 1700 guests. an example of their great hospitality and service.

 
Farewell Dinner at the main dining hall on the last night. All the waiters and chefs performed and sang a song in chinese despite coming from different countries. the entire crew is made up of 55 nationalities.

Dinner everynight is a themed affair and we had Italian on the last night, haha i cant pronounce half of the items of the menu. well you've got to have an adventurous tastebud cuz you dont recognise some of the food, like this italian starter, besides the rockmelon at the side, i have no idea what everything else was but it tasted delicious. there were escargots too but it was too wild for my taste haha. 

 
Our table!


This was the theme of the party for the last night, like the food, there is a themed party everynight too.

 
They have free flow ice cream services and snacks like pepperoni pizza,fries, burgers etc. well basically there's food 24 hours round the clock and somehow the food all look so tantalising tt you still manage to eat eventhough you are already full. the pizza is damn delicious! its better than pizza hut's cuz the crust is thinner but not too thin and the cheese is just so yummy. no i dont wish to know what's my weight now.

 
The entire ship was like some floating art gallery, there is a painting at every part of the ship, even the toilets. they had an art auction on the last day where the super rich bought quite alot, omg the paintings were all thousand over dollars(USD) but were damn gorgeous even to my untrained eye. (i think i will do a separate post for all the paintings, haha i think i took nearly all of them)


 
Rockclimbing! imagine scaling the rockwall with the ocean as a backdrop, unfortunately i didnt get a chance to climb cuz the queue was really long, but it was fun looking though.


haha the scenery is so perfect tt it looks almost photoshopped. you can only see such beauty in the middle of the ocean.

 
The art auction. the 3 pictures come in a set and its my favourite. the entire picture is made up of masks. these ppl are damn rich, the paintings go as high as USD 12000-20000.



The Boutiques of centrum where they sell loads of stuff ranging from Guess bags, swarovski crystals, Lacoste, Tag Heur watches, liquor etc, and there's a different sale everyday. The towel pals are so cute! but 2 for USD12 for 2 small cloth made toys' quite ex, but its so freaking cute, really wanted to buy them.


haha did i mention tt i want to marry a pastry chef? no matter how full i am, there's always space for deserts and some of their deserts are sugar free/low fat etc! haha sweet tooth.

 
A cooking lesson from one of the pastry chef. breakfast is really one of my fav meals :D

 
Look how low the clouds were! its nearly touching the ocean haha

 
The outdoor pool which is forever crowded ( i took this when everyone was still eating haha). the pools are 1.7m deep which is good, i hate pools where i can touch the ground when standing.


The indoor pool, a respite from the relentless sun on days when im already burnt and dont wish to get burnt further, you can just pop by the pool bar for a drink or pizza at the Solarium cafe with its multitudes of liquor and other drinks.

 
9 hole golf course! its the kiddy version, i still thought it would be the prof kind haha.

 
Our stateroom! definitely bigger than Virgo's, bed's more comfy too!


 
paintings ranging form pop artist Andy Warhol, to Renaissance paintings, to oil paintings, there were many nude greek sculptures and nude oil paintings.

 
omg the liquor onboard is really cheap. a bottle of Bacardi rum which goes for 50-60 SGD sells for 11.95 USD only! omg can buy like 3 bottles! haha but my mum refused to buy cuz she says our house is becoming a liquor shop soon. -.-

 
THe interior of the Grand Centrum which spans 5 decks, really gorgeous and grand.

 
The dining room was called Romeo and Juliet, oh it wasnt just paintings galore but sculptures too, there's one of William Shakespeare. seriously some art haven.

 
Interior of the dining room which spands 2 levels complete with spiral staircase and a grand piano in the middle, state of the art chandeliers and even more paintings and sculptures.


Spinach salad on the left, Atlantic Codfish on the right with cream sauce.

Pan Seared Salmon with Rosemary and a desert which i cant rmb its name

cant rmb their names too but their deserts are all damn delicious. anw back to the dining thingy, so we really got to know the waiters and our dining partners which i thought was a really good idea. and the waiters were really attentive and hospitable. everynight they will serve you extra food and my waiter is really really cute, he's really flirtatious and has this irresistable boyish smile. whenever he smiles his eyes literally twinkle hahaha and we saw him in phuket town on the way for a massage too and his smile was just dazzling. hahaha.

   
The entertainment theartre which was really grand haha i wonder how many chandeliers do they have. 


Breakfast every morning consists of a whole table load of cereals, how cool is tt, haha i think i tried everyone already.

 
7am arrival at Port Kelang, cruises are not suitable for ppl who wake up late since arrivals are mostly early and every morning when i wake up to catch the sunrise, the uppermost deck is usually filled with other early birds jogging and doing taichi haha. 


Took a 1 hr drive into the heart of Kuala Lumpur--Bukit Bintang and did some shopping

 
At the Star Cruise Terminal

Theme of the dinner for that night was Asian Fare. Vietnamese Salad on the left and Curry Potato on the right, the curry was really nice, thick and spicy unlike others.

 
Grilled Chicken


Souffle on the left and dark cherries with ice cream on the right

 
It was Formal night that night and everyone was dressed to the nines. omg i felt so under dressed. all the men were in tuxedos, bowties and all that and so many women were in floor length silk/satin/organza gowns and really gorgeous cocktail dresses, it was really a sight to behold.

We had a cocktail reception at the lounge with white wine and champagne and tt's my mum in her black lace dress. haha er i was wearing jeans, will rmb to bring a nice dress next time.

 
Meeting the Captains, cruise directors and all the senior staff of the ship. i think men look really good in white tuxedos.

ok that's it for now, haha another post to go. :D its so fun doing such posts hahaha.

i love cruise trips so much because its away away from land. i feel very tired of everything happening on land, i want a different culture, different environment, one that makes more sense, one that's more meaningful.

 
 

have been enjoying my holidays so far. headed over to pat's hse on thursday for a day of swimming, chilling and chatting which was a great way to spend a lazy afternoon. i think we sat in the pool and chatted till our skin nearly shrivelled. hahaha. doesnt seem tt long ago when we were doing the exact same thing before uni started. anw her bro found the piano score for Alexandre Desplat (new moon) ! omg tt has become my fav song. i cant stop playing it and its like stuck in my mind. its such a be-yoo-tiful song. can get me his cd for xmas :D (erm but its not in stores yet)

cousin's wedding on friday, held at Mandarin Oriental. haha i dont get it, no matter how many "stars" a hotel is rated, all their carparks look like mazes tt are gonna cave in anytime. if they have so much money to renovate and decorate the hotel, can't they spend a little to improve their carparks? gosh, the entire carpark was like one huge S-course Crank Course thingy except tt it wasnt curbs at the side but cars, which was 100 times worse( though i wasnt driving hahaha of course, would have crashed 10 cars straight). and its so narrow, after parking in this super squeezy lot we realised tt none of us could open the door to get out without hitting anything, haha and had to find another lot.

the ballroom was really unique as it was 3 tiered and really spacious though i really hate sit down chinese dinners. the interval btw each dish is like 10-15 mins & by the end of 3 course i was already full cuz the food already digested. celebrated sis and grandma's birthday on saturday at another chinese restaurant at novena. i guess sit down dinners are only fun if you actually have things to say to one another, if not you'd just end up staring at each other in awkward silence or forced conversations. aye lazy to post pictures also.

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sometimes we just wish to take the easy route out, to end it all and throw in the towel. i dont think its so much of a cowardly move because at times it seems like the only viable route besides insanity. i think tt at this age we should be looking forward to whatever life might bring because endless possibilities seem to stretch in front of us. but what if too much optimism and hope is placed in this thought and tt this is all there is as the best times of your life has already occured and passed? i wonder whether it is a good thing tt certain memories seem to be getting wispy and fuzzy, there's no point in trying to rmb when at the end of it all, we need to forget in order to move on. why anyone would want immortality is really something i cant comprehend. ah stupid book nvm.

& misreading my intentions, maybe they should just ask us directly what we want instead of guessing and thinking tt that is what we want when its not. all i ask for is just this simple request but apparently it has been misread as something alot more. suddenly everyone has become a mind reader, but it's the unsuccessful type. ugh just dont understand why ppl can't ask/talk saves so much misunderstandings from happening.



but it doesn't matter, as long as you are happy.




lame(someone insists its funny) convos
(at my cousin's wedding)
pat: oh is your cousin's beau handsome?
me: er my cousin is a guy & the last time i checked he was definitely not marrying another guy. -.-

(showering after the swim)
pat: the floor is reflective la, i can totally see your sillhouette, but at least its not a mirror.
me: wth??!!

like who in the right mind would put mirrors as flooring in toilets? you might as well just remove the walls and dividers and have some open shower area.