One Step Ahead

Few more days to August so what have I done in July? Apart from the daily rotting at home, I actually had some time for myself to do something that I usually don't. First week of July I met up with Lauren and we made a day trip to the SEA Aquarium and I really loved her accompany. Despite the gap that spans across our age but she is more like a sister to me than just a friend. We almost have message everyday on Facebook to keep ourselves updated. I would really appreciate if we have more time together. =)

Next up is Andrew's birthday which was last week at their new apartment. I was pretty conservative this time not doing anything significant sometimes I believe by making things simple is better than the other way round. Had time to catch up with my classmates and coursemates who all have made their first step in their career. Nothing much to fancy with but I realise one thing in common which everyone was trying to sell their company by telling people how good their current job is. Not too sure if I am gonna be one of them soon but even if I do, I won't stay too long doing the same routine everyday to get up by 7 and get off by 6.

I have already started to plan my RTW (Round The World) trip which I will do it latest by 25 or 26. So now I have a few more years to prepare and get ready especially the financial part. I asked my dad few weeks ago how much would he give me if I were to work with him. He said probably about the same of what I am going to earn in Singapore but in MYR. I was like no way that's gonna be 2.5 times lesser. He was kind of outrage saying what am I expecting when I already have a Peugeot and a place to stay if I were to go back. Fair enough I guess I am on my own this time for RTW trip. I have to save enough money that will last me a year to see the world. It is hard to tell if I am able to achieve that but I already have a goal set for myself. Consider myself fortunate as I only have to focus on how to manage and adjust my income to meet my saving target, my bachelor and master support are still on my parents (although I wish I could be more independent but judging from the current situation, big sigh). 

I have a different feel for Singapore now even with the people I used to hang out with. A lot of time I find what people are doing contradicts with the situation they are in. For instance when someone's bank account is approaching zero but still have no sense of alert, maybe a little without real action taken. Still longing good food (as in fine dining) at the expense of traveling far away which adds on burden to transportation fee. If I were in that situation I would prefer cheap eat (like Indian food) or maybe homecooked meal. I will try to find alternative that can stretch my dollar further. I read about a travel forum few days back and one of the rules was "try to hang out less with the people who are not intend to travel because the way of spending would be different." Soon or later I would start to isolate myself from unnecessary spending spree that will jeopardise my reach to the goal. Nowadays I feel happier to hang out with travellers because they all seems to be more open-minded and easy-going. We share our life not afraid to be known by strangers, literally no border in between us. I would do things my own way yet no question asked, revealing one's true hidden identity. I miss all the good time with full time travellers as I love to be bounded by big and small interludes that arise surprise. I miss traveling and I love it now.

*I do not know why but now I find it annoyed when people question my accent. What has Australia done to me? I find it comfortable the way I speak English now but I do not know how does it sound like in other's ears. What Jeremy said was also true - I cannot stand very very typical Singlish now with very strong and heavy tone, like trying to articulate every single word. God luckily English in Malaysia is more Malay influenced which sounds more of standard English than awkward. 

Restart Afresh

Finally, I made a move. I always thought that I gonna stay at my aunt place for indefinite time in Singapore. But things happen and story changes from time. My aunt has some issue with her husband thus my parents asked me to shift. First time moving house and now I know how much junk I have got in my room. So fucking lot of clothes, about a third of them are brand new I mean those still with tags on! I could not believe how much I used to love shopping. If I have saved the amount of money I wasted on unnecessary things I definitely can go traveling for an extra month in New Zealand. I feel so silly at the old me. I love how I have changed since I met those fabulous people in Australia, a trip that gave me an invaluable experience and lesson.

So let's start on my new room. This is how it looked like when I first moved here. It was equipped with basic furniture - a wardrobe, a single bed and a small side table. 

So I did some research online to look for cheap furniture, I start becoming a cheapskate trying to cut down unnecessary expenditure for which I would rather spend my money doing traveling some time later. In the end I think IKEA has the best deal. Picture below shows what I have ordered from IKEA. Cheapest swivel chair at IKEA for $35, KILBY bookcase for $69, a white table (in brown box wrapping that lies on the wall) and a 195 X 133 carpet. The picture was when I was halfway fixing everything.

 My study corner - a bookcase complete with a high pile dark pink carpet

My charmig white table is fixed. Got my printer, MacBook and penguin table lamp set up. I have to be honest I like my room so much now. =)

My bed. Got a bed linen set from NTUC nearby. Blue fleece blanket I bought from Philip Island in Melbourne. The brocoli plush toy I got from IKEA last year and Tigger which I got as an exchange gift from Inggrid during Christmas last year.

I originally wanted to take a panaroma picture of my room but the picture did not come out very good. I guess panaroma was meant for taking scenery than enclosed room. I have to express my gratitude towards IKEA for making my room looks so clean and modern now at a fraction of price I would pay for if I sourced everything from other furniture store. Although having to fix everything on my own was really tiring but it definitely worth it when you see the end product you built up from scratch.

This evening I finally had my long awaited video call with my besties. The last time I met them was in December? God it has been more than half a year. Love the fun conversation and I wish everyone all well. Looking forward to our next meetup! =)

A Concoction of F - Fun, Friendship and Future

FUN

Still remember couchsurfing from my last post? As soon as I had Lauren, Duncan and Arturo as my first wave of surfers. I had second wave after resting for a week. My parents were not very happy with my second wave as they were complete strangers to me, just some random travellers who put up open request on couchsurfing.org. Dad was skeptical about their personality although I rest assured him with the good references on their (Marti from Barcelona and Caxia from Poland) profile. Despite some disagreements from my parents I insisted to host them. It has been awhile since rebellious last shown up but I was quite aware that if I did not host them that time I do not know when will I get the chance to do it again. My experience with couchsurfing has been amazing so far and I believe I will continue to benefit in the future. 

Beer buffet with couchsurfers and guests at hostel

from left: Caixa from Poland, Justin from Wellington, me, Marti from Barcelona, guy from Canada, Jereon from Holland, Stephen from the UK, Symon from Sydney, last three also from Canada.

FRIENDSHIP

afternoon I was at Brian's place still wondering what was going to happen next as it was my first time doing couchsurfing and Brian told me there were a few girls from Germany, United States and Austria arriving that night. Not knowing what to expect but I was getting a mixed of both anxiety and excitement at the same time. The next day we went outing in a big group. Brian was like our guide showing us around Darling Harbor in Sydney. That was when I started to get a closer chance to have proper conversation with Lauren. I forgot what the conversation was but I remembered there was a part where we were talking about hobbies and I told Lauren I am sort of like an IT geek and she asked if I could fix the problem which she couldn't play certain video on her Mac. I have the problem solved the following day. At night we went out around Redfern to hunt for Indian food (Lauren explored the area earlier on so we were following her instinct). We found the place and I had rice with some chicken curry if I didn't remember wrongly. We were sharing our travel experience during the meal. I learnt that she was going to China, Japan then Indonesia after Australia but not Malaysia. I was like "Why not come to Malaysia since you're going to Indonesia?" She said she will look into that but I thought she just said that as a gesture of goodwill not to turn me down. 

When Lauren was in Sapporo...

She wrote me a message on Facebook asking me how long would be sufficient for her to spend in Malaysia. I was suggesting a few days in Penang and Langkawi or any other island on the Peninsula like Redang or Tioman and maybe a week and a half in Borneo. We were doing this discussing remotely on Facebook for a few weeks before she finally confirmed her itinerary for Malaysia. Lauren ended up spending a week in Kuching. We went to Gunung Gading to see the largest flower on earth, went trekking in the tropical jungle, spotted Proboscis monkeys in wild, tried most of the local delicacies and billions more. I had to admit that it was the most fulfilled week I've spent in Kuching for my vacation back home that round. Not only that through couchsurfing we also met other travelers from Australia, France and Spain who joined us for most of the excursions we have done together in the vicinity. 

Three weeks later...

We met again in Singapore. Although this is the shortest time we traveled together (2 days) but the fun level always stayed on peak. Did some really touristic thing in Singapore which I reckon we were both not used to. Went to the shopping district in Orchard road, seen the Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay and the highlight was the SEA Aquarium (it claims to be the world's biggest but seriously not jaw dropping huge to me at least). Had our old-fashioned Indian food, dumpling noodles which I doubt if she would have it again and of course some really good ice-cream and gelato. I was trying to squeeze in as much as I could to let Lauren experience the most of Singapore in such a short duration. The outcome was definitely exhaustion bounded with heaps of fun that never failed to cease.

Finally we waved again at Changi airport. I don't know when are we going to see each other again but definitely not as soon. She told me she has a feeling that we're going to meet in the States. That sounds so encouraging and I hope her instinct is right.

We've met 3 times within 5 month in 3 different countries. Can you imagine that? I am amazed by how our friendship grows. Totally psyched. 

FUTURE

Always wonder how will my life be in the next few years. I am definitely going to spend a few year in Singapore before further plan is made. Three years ago Singapore was always my dreamland, I spent almost every school holidays here. With the strong "settlement" of almost half of my relatives here I somehow call Singapore my second home. So when I decided to come here for studies I was quite happy as I do not need to worry settling myself to a whole new environment, everything just felt kind of familiar. When I was young (in high school when I frequent Singapore) I always admired Singapore how advance the city state is and always wanted to move here. My dad even wanted to send me here when I was in Form 3 but luckily I did not. Or else my Mandarin and Malay would not be as good as my English is now. In my impression, Singapore used to be a perfect city - clean, readily available public transport, world leading economic hub, almost corruption free government and a lot more.

Everything started to change when I moved here to pursue my diploma. For me who originated from big land getting suffocating in small unit here. Houses are way too small for my comfortability. I had also encountered some biased treatment in my college, those who are familiar knew what was going on. You can refer to my earlier post if you want to find out more but I suggest you not to. I tend to enjoy my life now and put aside those which drag my mood down. Most of the things on the island are artificial. Man made island Sentosa, man made trees at Gardens by the bay even the entire suburb Marina is built on the sea. I am now more inclined towards nature in pursue of discovering wild flora and fauna and that just would not happen here. Too many retails. Shopping is one of the reasons why I used to love Singapore. There are shopping malls everywhere to fulfil everyone's desire from the luxurious designers chain along Orchard to wallet friendly brand names like H&M, Zara, Uniqlo and so on. Singapore is definitely one of the shopping paradise for shoppers. Now I would rather spend my money on experience than materialism. By experience I mean travel to see how the rest of the world differ from where I live, difference in culture, food, practice and almost everything.

To make it short, I love Singapore as how organised it is. This city is no longer a place where I would want to spend the rest of my life with. It now serves as a jumping board to achieve my dream to do a round the world trip - which is I want to save up enough money to travel a year round the globe few years later. My blue plan in 5 year time:

1 Get at least a Master degree

2 Round the world trip

3 Pan Borneo road trip

4 Start up

I wish

Dirty Paws by Of Monsters And Men

*A song that keeps looping on my iTunes