signing off from singapore

as a welcome home gift upon the return of my thailand adventures, my computer decided to crash.... dell seems to think it is my harddrive which apparently is a good thing to have die - except i've put most of my pics on my computer and was not sharp enough to back them all up....

over the past few days i have learned just how much the internet and msn means to me (LOL) -- in order to save face, i will not elaborate on this right now...

thailand was a great trip - we ended up going to bangkok, chiang mai, surat thani, koh samui (which was not so nice at all, and also where we stayed in the most ghetto place imaginable at the reccomendation of our host (chris' family friend) -- this is also the place where the ring chris was bringing back for his sister was stolen-- ironic because picking up the ring was the only reason we were in surat thani or koh samui in the first place!) ok back to the places, we then went to koh Phi Phi which was gorgeous (ask me sometime about my altrication with the owner of the snorkling tour boat i took and my almost run in with the police... yep, thats what happens when you leave me alone for a day) and finally we went to phuket town before flying back to singapore

oh, and if i didnt say it before-- the food in that country was INSANE... chris and i even took a cooking course (which doesnt mean i'll be able to recreate it in any way, unfortunately!)

right now i am avoiding studying for my law and economics exam which is tomorrow-- hard to even be interested at this point- especially since i am flying out of singapore friday morning at 8 am!!!

i'll likely put some more pics up on flickr when my computer life has been restored, but i suppose this entry is the final of my days here in singapore... as fun as its been, i am very much looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone -- i've missed you!!!

thanks so much for reading :)

thailand!

howdy!

actually on line for a change and writing from chiang mai --- we are taking the night bus back to bangkok tonight (booo) and i am enjoying a little down time... heres a quickie update of what is going down in thailand so far!

1. bankok -- a million temples!!! so hot!!! so many street vendors of deliciousness
-- also was promptly wisked on a shady tour and chris bought 600 worth of suits - we shall see about that! :)

2. chiang mai - sonkran festival (thai new year) = giant water fight-- insert people with water guns, pails etc.. lining the streets or in trucks and tuk tuks soaking everyone and everything in sight -- pure insanity -- lasted for 4 days but today (thankfully is a dry one!!!)

3. took a thai cooking course -- it was great but whether or not i can recreate it with my little cook book is another story!! oooh but i did set fire to my pan and that was quite fun!

4. 'trek': we rode an elephant (booooo!! it was awful and sad) we walked around a lot through a national park (very nice) we didnt really chill withthe hill tribe peeps (bonus) we went on a bamboo raft with a million thais drunk and picnicing and throwing water (highlight)

5. chris has bought 2, 100 usd crystal buddhas from some temple here --- high roller -- i have bought 3 necklaces for 1 cnd (in total) lol!

food is great, weather is nice and hot like i like it and we are heading to the south to meet chris' parents friend and then hit the beach -- thats what i'm talking about!!

hope the studying/working/chilling is going well

miss you and cant wait to see you at home!!!

chioma + cambodia = endless fun (and endless work!)

howdy!!!its 3 am here in singapore and i am fighting with my school work... its just about that time of night where you dont understand anything that you are saying and can only hope that somehow the words you have put down actually convey meaning... under normal circumstances i'd take a nap - but i have a funny feeling that i wont be able to wake up -- so those of you reading this entry have the pleasure of being part of my mental lapse (yes i understand some of you will stop reading.... now. :))this week i made the academically imprudent decision of going to cambodia-- the picture is me and arieh (my guitar lesson western friend) and was taken at the Angkor temples on our first night in Siem Reap - the sunset was absolutely beautiful...and as the guards were trying to usher us out- we were trying to get in as many pics as possible! (dont worry, i got mine, my sandal broke on the way down the hill leaving me to walk down the jagged side in my bare feet -- OUCH)i went to Siem Reap from tuesday (arrived at 6am) and left at 6am on friday- short trip but well worth it - the Angkor temples were AMAZING... i had no idea of their scale-- apparently the area the temples are in used to be home to over a million people and was the size of NY city!! - crazyon wednesday morning we got up early again and went to see sunrise at Angkor Wat- it was breathtaking --- and oddly it was busy but it felt really peaceful- the temple is huge and you can walk pretty much anywhere so i was able to steal off and find myself completely alone in some places -- hard to imagine that the buildings have endured for over 1000 years... or what it must have been like to discover them after so many years!our days were long and temple- packed - we caught sunrise and sunset every day--- including thursday when we biked in at 4:30 am to see the sun rise at Srah Srong (my spelling is definately wrong) -- i cant lie, i barely felt alive riding my uncomfortable bike at that hour- but again it was well worth it! the bikes were a great chance for us to take our time and appreciate the scale of what we were seeing... plus, who gets to ride a bike down shady paths lined with ancient temples? totally cool --- however, it took us 1.5 hours to bike out of the Angkor Temples at the end of the day - man were our butts hurting!i've posted about 70 pictures which is a small fraction of the ones i took - hope you enjoy them!! be lucky you arent reading arieh's blog- he took 1200 shots!!! (imagine!)now i am writing 3 essays through the night because i am leaving with Chris for thailand tomorrow afternoon (aaarrrggg - so much to do before then) but i thought i'd give a little update and am even going to try to do so from thailand --- we've got 18 days- there has to be some time to get online!alright- for those of you at home writing exams - best of luck!miss you all and see you soon!

jenn comes to singapore!

this will be a quickie since i'm not feeling too hot and am leaving for cambodia at 4 am tomorrow!!!

jenn and matt came from hong kong this weekend (note pic on the side of us at Raffles Hotel having the signature Singapore Sling- the verdict --- tooo sweet!)

some of the things we checked out on our whirlwind 3 day tour of singapore included: new asia bar, dinner at hooters on clarke quay (the boys idea), the botanical gardens (which were a lot less cheesy than i anticipated given my trip to Sentosa island earlier this term!), shopping (grumble grumble... i just cant stop here!!!), Ministry of Sound (a massive club with a hip hop room, a techno room, a 70's room and lots of exclusive side rooms -- which gets way too packed with about a million singaporeans!),the merlion, the asian civilizations museum (where they hid fake things around the museum for april fools day -- type A girls that we are, we couldnt leave until we found all of them!!! sadly, we didnt win the draw for 50 dollars of free haagen das, but something tells me that was for the best!), chinatown, little india, high tea at Raffles hotel (yes, i am a princess in training, so what?) and the magical night safari (again an example of extreme cheesiness but very entertaining)

i've uploaded my pics of our little adventure if you are interested.... my body is compelling me to get to bed in anticipation of my early start!

will post when i get back from angkor wat!

singaporisms

greetings from sweatiness central -- abe, i chose this particularly flattering photograph especially for you!! normally i'd have a sufficient sense of self preservation not to put a pic like this up but i am currently in the aftermath of the depicted glory... yes, i engaged in a 'singaporism' = late night jogging outside-- as you can see this is not for the faint of heart... you step outside and immediately you are covered in sweat....although i have to say it was a lot easier than i expected! (go figure)Jenn is arriving here for her weekend of fun in s'g and instead of doing school work (sigh) i thought i'd share with you some cultural 'highlights'......
1. 'la': much like 'eh', 'la' can be added to the end of just about anything... essentially it means, right? for example, Q: can i break a 50? A: ok-la
2. if people walked any slower here they wouldnt be moving - perhaps evolution and oppressive heat has just gotten the better of everyone
3. moving out of the bus occurs in both directions (yes, imagine how much longer this takes) moving onto the subway does not require one to wait for other people to get off-- its way more fun if you just plow into them...
4. ladies first? not likely when it comes to lines or seats (but they have free booze on wednesday - sandra i'll have to tell you those stories sometime later ;) )
5. anything you want, someone will agree to give you -- but they never mean they are agreeing...real life example: Tanya: i dont want soup, i want noodles vendor: ok-la result: tanya gets a take-away soup (repeat this in every situation- lesson learnt: make sure you specifically point out what you want!)
6. if you want something done simply or efficiently - forget it.. there is one way, it must be done that way
7. although the city is approximately 45 minutes to drive across and many times smaller than the niagara region (thanks, vlad) no cab driver has any clue where they are going --- EVER.... my dad thinks this is a ploy to make more money...i am more convinced they are genuinely clueless
8. if you have a boyfriend (or girlfriend) you must be touching them at all times during your life... you must lean on them on the shuttle bus, you must sit on them in the study rooms, makeout at the bus stops or in a swimming lane of the pool.... example, if your man goes on the treadmill, you should stand next to it to keep him company (for the record i almost got of mine due to the revulsion i felt at this true life scene)
9. if you are on the subway you must fall asleep - preferably with your mouth open (what is most impressive is that people magically wake up at their stops!)

ok, so thats an odd number but these are the ones i can think of right now!!! maybe it will help you to imagine life here!