Lessons Learnt

Taiwan Trip 2013

1) Never bring 2 towels:

Hotels will provide them everyday for you, just one is enough as you might need it for outdoor water activities. 

2) Never bring medium sized bottles of shampoo and body foam:

Hotels will provide them too, just bring a small bottle for emergency. 

3) Always change more money:

Money exchangers overseas are not as commonly seen around in malls like in Singapore therefore it is wise and better to change more money when you visit the money exchanger. It's always better to have extra money with you. Don't you worry about having extra and have to bring them back to Singapore because who knows you might travel to Taiwan again?

4) Don't ever go Formosa Cultural Village:

Why? There are SANDFLIES there and you will definitely end up with many sandfly bites on your limbs even if you were to wear pants while you're there. Furthermore, there's nothing much to see and play over there. SERIOUSLY. DON'T EVER GO THERE unless you're really interested in the culture of the different tribes in Taiwan. 

5) NEVER EVER scratch sandfly bites:

Yes, I know, they are SUPER DUPER ICTCHY LIKE NOBODY'S BIZ but DON'T EVER SCRATCH IT!!! I really regretted of what've done. Every night when I reach back to my hotel, I'll start scratching my leg. This is really bad. The marks of the bites are really ugly and they are all over my limbs. I have been wearing long pants to school everyday until I fell down and got wounds on my knee. Now that my wounds are healed, I'll be back wearing my long pants. Hais, no choice. Of course I won't wear long pants forever....just hope that the marks will fade off a little one day......according to the doctor, they take a looooooong time to fade off. :( 

I saw online that if you want to ease the itchiness, you can take a metal spoon, dip it with hot water and use it to apply some pressure on the bites. This will help to ease the itchiness. Not sure if it's true though but no harm trying! 

6) Always bring extra pair of contact lens, not 1 but 2 or even 3. Extra rubber bands for hair too:

I brought 1 extra pair of contact lens and this pair together with the one I wore that gave away. =.= The extra pair gave away in 2 days time. =.= Don't ask me why.....maybe I'm really just too rough while cleaning the lens. I wore my lens and found out that one of them is really uncomfortable in my eyes. I tried to blink and gently rubbed my eyes to fix the position but it's still the same. In the end, I took it out and wanted to clean the lens then I found out that there's a slit in the middle of the lens which I didn't see it when I put it on. Basically, the middle of the lens was torn apart. This explains why you see me in spectacle in the photos at the last part of my trip.  

What about rubber bands? I'm not that rough to break them.....I.....misplaced them, WITH THE SAME WAY OVER AND OVER AGAIN. OMG. Let me tell you how I always forget my rubber bands. Whenever I go swimming, I'll tie up my hair. After the swim, before I bath I'll remove my rubber band and hang it at the shower head/knob. THEN, I WILL JUST FORGET ALL ABOUT IT UNTIL I'M ALREADY HALF WAY BACK HOME. =.= So same thing happened. First part of my trip was to Kending. I went snorkeling and so have to have a bathe outside before going back to the hotel. I hung my rubber band on the shower knob and only realized it when I'm on the van, on the way back to the hotel. =.= =.= =.= Somemore, it's the start of the trip. So, always bring extra pieces of whatever you'll need because who knows you might need them? 

7) 2 hangers is not enough, especially you are washing your clothes during the trip:

I brought 2 hangers along as I know I'll be washing my clothes. After this trip, 2 is just not enough as normally I will wash only when the stay is much longer or the clothes are much thinner which dry up easily. I have to borrow extra hangers from the hotel during one of the stay as the weather is just too good to not wash clothes and there's a balcony in my room. 

8) Don't need to bring water bottle:

I actually brought my 600ml of water bottle as I thought I might use them. In the end, I didn't, NOT EVEN ONCE. When I touched down in Taiwan, I bought a bottle of mineral water and that became my water bottle throughout the trip. Hotels also provided mineral water too. Thus, there's really no need to bring water bottle. 

9) Always bring long pants and long-sleeved shirts:

Long pants for pyjamas because there's air-conditioner in the hotels....it gets soooooo cold at night. I brought sleeveless tops and FBT as pyjamas so I was always complaining that it's cold at night.

Long pants and long-sleeved shirts for day use. They can be useful to protect ourselves from mosquitoes and if some of the places you are going might be cold, they can be very handy too. So do pack them in even if you know it's summer there. 

10) Apply sunblock evenly and the correct way:

I applied them dutiful but not the correct way. How am I wrong? Well, you need to make sure to apply sunblock on those covered parts which are near exposed parts of your body. Our body movements can caused them to be exposed to the sun and you will find yourself getting sunburn at those parts at the end of the day. These areas can be your shoulders (when you wear a sleeveless top) or your neck area. 

I saw this on facebook and I thought it's quite interesting....

I'm definitely in between Discoverer and Activitist and sometimes Thrill-Seeker. :) What about you?

F.A.T

And.....I was right, the weight loss is temporary, I'm now back to the weight when I just got back from Taiwan. *urgh* I just don't feel good. 

Furthermore, I can't go for jogging because of my runner's toes. Yes, toeS because both my big toes are injured. The blood clot on the right has been released but the one on the left is still inside. When I walk, I don't feel the pain anymore, so I guess the blood clot has dried up. It was super painful during the first week. I have to limp whenever I walk. In addition, I fell and had abrasions on my knee caps during the competition. Therefore, not only I have to limp, I can't bend my knee when I walk/climb the stairs etc. 

My legs already have LOTS of scars due to the sandfly bites I had over at Taiwan. Now, there's additional two more patches of scar due to my fall. *FACE-PALMED* It's just getting WORSE AND WORSE.......

Break.

十分大瀑布回九份老街途中，台北，台湾

*YAY* No school for the upcoming week because it's ELearning week for NUS!!!

So it's a break for me?

Nah~~~ for this semester, I have 3 electives and 2 of them have a few projects to do. *SIGH* If it's a topic which I'm interested in....then that's okay.....but it isn't.....:(

Anyway, I'm in love with these mini Marvel characters. Ain't them cute?

But of course, my favorite is still Ironman :)

I think this is partly due to this shirt I bought in Taiwan.

SO CUTE CAN!!!

And because of this shirt, I bought this tag immediately when I saw it in Taiwan. My childhood cartoon character, Sailormoon! She is my travel buddy now, her name is Ah Moon. :)

I hope I can use this SOON. o.<

And this! Learn A-Z with superheros~ 

Inter-Faculty Games (IFG) 2013: Netball

Last Saturday, Team Science competed with Team School of Computing, Engine, Law and Dentistry for the preliminary round. Team Science won all 4 matches and became winner for this group. Team Engine was the runner-up in the group. The winner for the other group was Team Arts and runner-up was Team Medicine.

I didn't play for the first match with SoC until the last quarter. This is because my shooting accuracy wasn't very good during training therefore need better ones to pull up the gap for the scores before letting others in. However, when I was up for the last quarter with SoC.....same thing which happened during my Nationals in JC and last year's IFG happened again. All of a sudden, my shooting accuracy is back! My shots were 100% for that last quarter. All o my team members were surprised. For those who participated with me last year realized that this happened last year too. I'm glad that I'm back!!!! Hahahhaa....I continued to play for the next match with Team Engine. It was a crucial match as Team Engine is strong. We fought hard and won them by 1 point! ^^ Then it was with Team Law and Dentistry, they don't really have experienced players so it was easy for us. However, I've to say that each player fought really hard throughout the game. It was a good play with them! 

I ended day with a runner's toe on the left and my right big toe bled again. My net burner is just kinda small for me at the front. I didn't have any problem when I wore it for jogging. I guess it's different for training....Anyway, everything ended at around 4-5pm and I was so drained by then. The sun was scorching that day but lucky for my sun block, I didn't have any sunburn. 

Last Sunday was then the semi-finals and finals. The winner of each group was to compete with the runner-up of the other group. So, it's Team Science against Team Medicine and Team Arts against Team Engine. Team Medicine was quite strong this year. I think it's partly due to their faith and confidence that they have with each other. I didn't play for this match at all because I just feel that my mind is not stable enough and I'm really scared that my shooting accuracy will go haywire too. Team Science fought hard but still lost to Team Medicine and this lost the 1st and 2nd place. 

Then Team Science is up against Team Engine for 3rd or 4th place. We won Team Engine previously by only 1 point so we didn't take the match too lightly. It turned out that 1 of their best player wasn't there on the 2nd day of IFG and we were kinda relieved? Hahahaha....My other GA who played the 4 quarters against Team Medicine was tired and had an injured toe too. Therefore, for this match, I went in and played for the first quarter to try out my shooting accuracy. Apparently, I was stable enough and turned out well! I played throughout the 4 quarters and of course in the end, we won Team Engine by about 5 points(?). I can't really remember because during the matches, I don't look at the score so that I can focus better and not get too STRESSED OUT. 

AND YAY~~~~ Team Science clinched 3rd for Netball Inter-Faculty Games 2013. Each of us will be able to get a bronze medal and an IFG bear. The IFG bear is cute okay! I got one for last year, I hope it will be of a different design, if not I can get some other faculty's IFG bear.

Last year's IFG bear

Ain't it cute? 

I'm quite happy that my wish came true, especially so because it's already my last year, before I graduate. When I was informed that I'm in the team for this year's IFG, my target was to get into at least top 3. Team Science was only 1 point away from 3rd place last year therefore I have faith in Team Science that we can get at least top 3. And......*HURRAY* WE DID IT! ^^ The closing ceremony for IFG will be held end of this month and it's also the time which I will get the medal and the bear~~~ ^^

The PJ'10 netballers came down to support both last year and this year. Last year, it was just cheuk yiu and yuxin, this year, joy came along too. I couldn't recognize AT ALL. At the start, I was thinking maybe she is just a friend of theirs who came along to support and watch the matches. At the end, they came closer and once I had a closer look at her, then I REALIZED IT'S JOY. Maybe it's her spectacles....because how can I forget someone who worked so closely with me on court for almost a year back during the JC days? :)

PJ'10 netballers with me, the only 09 batch

(@.@)

Last weekend, I was busy with tuitions as I can't have any this week due to trainings and competitions. On top of that, I've an assignment due on Monday! For the whole of this week, I've night activities everyday except today. 

So for this week, after school I had: 

Monday - tuition from 8 - 9.30pm

Tuesday - meet up with lynn and qinning because lynn is flying to budapest the next day 

Wedneday - IFG training from 7pm to 10pm

Thursday - IFG training from 7pm to 9.30pm

Friday - REST DAY 

For my weekends: 

Saturday - IFG competition

Sunday - IFG competition (if we manage to go into the finals which I think shouldn't be a problem! :) ) 

SO BUSY....but I quite like the netball trainings I had for this year's IFG. I just find it more fun than last year? I think it's the group of players that I met. They're all so  friendly! In addition, the trainings I had this time round is really thorough such that my whole shirt is WET. Within that 2 hours of training, I can perspire that much! I'm so happy!!!!! HAHAHA, can burn off a lot (I guess?) of calories! 

If I were to go jogging myself, a 5km jog will take me about 45 minutes and my shirt is only 50% drenched with my perspiration, sometimes worst, it's not even wet. Furthermore, I normally choose late afternoon when the sun is still out to run so that I can burn more calories due to the sun. Now, with netball training which is at NIGHT, with just 2 hours, my WHOLE SHIRT IS WET. My 4 limbs will also 'sparkle' under the moonlight due to my perspiration. THIS IS AWESOME!!! HAHAHA.....Personally, I think playing netball is so much more fun than jogging. I don't feel tired when I play netball. For running, I always need to tell myself: Shihui, 1 more round and you're done! GO GO GO~~~ It's really more fun to exercise by playing netball. I will sprint as fast as I to get the ball or defend the ball when I need to. It's a normal reaction that I will have, at least I don't need to keep reminding myself to keep moving and don't give up etc. 

I went to weigh myself this afternoon after my lunch (a bowl of home-cooked penne with pasta sauce) and............I'M BACK TO MY ORIGINAL WEIGHT!!!!!!! SOOOOOO HAPPY CAN!!!!!!! I'm not quite sure if it's true, will monitor it....because I didn't really have a diet plan. I think it might be due to me skipping dinner due to trainings at 7pm. However, I always make sure I've 2 pieces of bread 1 or 1.5 hours before my training so that I've the energy to run/jump/... and of course don't eat anything after trainings other than maybe a cup of honey water. And maybe also I've been skipping breakfast too. For this semester, all my classes start at 2pm everyday except for even weeks, on tuesdays, I will start at noon. Therefore, I normally have brunch before I go for classes. So basically, each day I only have 2 meals. *Oh wells* It's too early to say if I've lose that 1kg which I've gained in Taiwan. To me, staying healthy is the most important thing! :) 

ALL THE BEST FOR TEAM SCIENCE FOR TOMORROW'S NETBALL INTER-FACULTY GAMES!!! JIAYOU!!! (I really hope we can get top 3 this time round!!! :) )

OH and HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY BRO~~~~~ ^^!!!!!!

I've a confession to make.....

清境，台中，台湾

I gained 1kg after my Taiwan trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T T.T
I weighed myself immediately when I touched down and reached home that day.

Oh wells, what's done is done. I enjoyed the trip. I enjoyed EATING all the food during the trip too. *SIGH* I guess I have to control my diet now....at least lose that 1kg of fats?

I TRY LUH HUH.

With that whole trolley (YES, a TROLLEY) of junk food at my house, I really need a lot of determination and persistence to control myself.

Taiwan trip 2013

Longest trip I've had till now. I personally think that going for overseas trips should at least last for 10 days. Since you already paid for the flight, might as well stay there for a longer period of time before flying back right? This will make the air ticket more worth it, isn't it? ;) 

This time round I get to visit more places in Taiwan as compared to my previous Taiwan trip. There's still a lot more to see in Taiwan. I do hope I can visit the other places in the future. 

What does traveling means to me? Previously, all I think about is to play, eat and shop till drop. Now, I tend to focus on having new experiences and looking at things which I hardly get to see in Singapore. For example, the old shophouses with a tinge of vintage feel along the streets in Taiwan, scenery of the mountains, lifestyle of the people at the suburbs/countrysides....

I've been living in a city for 21 years and counting. It's crowded with people everywhere, high standard of living, fast-paced lifestyle and lastly, a stressful place. I'm not implying that I dislike living in a city, rather, I'm glad and fortunate to be a city-kid. I get to enjoy the convenience from transportation, to living, shopping and many more. However, like I've mentioned earlier, I want to have new experiences while traveling. Therefore, visiting a suburb or countryside will definitely give me a lot more new experiences or even insights than a city. 

Suburbs/countrysides will have their own entertainment in the day and night. Most of the time, you will be able to see pretty and magnificent sceneries from the Mother Nature in these areas too. 

Being able to live in a totally different place while traveling is a good way to have a change of lifestyle and relax at the same time. Although I've to admit that sometimes I can't tolerate bad living environment. Like when I went OBS back in sec 3, I think I almost died while camping there. It's already sooooo tired after the whole day of activities but before the nightfalls, I've to finish cooking dinner and setting up the tent. It's really a chore to setup and pack the tent. Maybe I was still young and can't tolerate some tough jobs back then? Now that I've took up some part time jobs during my holidays and able to tolerate how tough jobs can be, maybe I'm now mentally stronger? I won't complain as much as I do back then?

Other than personal experience, being able to travel with my friends is also something that I adore. My travel buddy for this taiwan trip is, qinning. Traveling 16 days with her also means that I have to live with her for 16 days. This gives me the chance to know her even better although I've known her for about  6 years....:) 

Me and my travel buddy, Miss Quah Qin Ning, aka, QQN. 

Fun Facts of QQN, She:

1) Only eats SUPER COLD and CHILLED drinks, fruits, cakes, bread, and I think whatever you don't put in the fridge that can be put in the fridge, she will put them in for few hours before eating it. Chilled fruits to us, are just fruits she won't eat. Her definition of chilled fruits is: fruits which are taken out from the fridge/freezer just when she wants to eat it. Yeah....that's how particular she is. And this applies to everything that she wants it to be chilled. 

2) Tends to ponder a lot before buying something she likes. When she decided to buy something, 1 minute later after her decision, she might just tell you that she don't want to buy it. 

3) Loves to DRINK. I don't mean drink as in alcohol but drink as in milk tea, juices, MOST OF THE TIME, it's ICE BLENDED. She can buy drinks before or after a meal. Ice blended is her favourite especially so when the weather is warm. Plus, there's something which I don't understand: she can drink so much of 'soft' drinks and not plain water but still stay good and healthy. On the other hand, I'm the one who will start to drown myself with plain water each night when I get back to the hotel but still feel unwell. WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!?!?

4) She likes chilled stuffs so much that she can have ice cream after meals for desserts every time. The 7-11 stores in Taiwan sells many kinds of ice cream which we've never seen before. She just love 'em all! Everything looks so good for her that she always will take some time to choose which flavour of ice cream to get. Furthermore, good things have to share, right? Therefore, she will try to convince me to get the ice cream from 7-11! I've never tried the ice cream from 7-11 in Taiwan although she told me to because I would rather spend them on some other interesting stuff. I can tell you, she is just FASCINATED by the ice cream there. Yes, that's the word, FASCINATED. I'm not exaggerating okay, it's the TRUTH. A FACT. That's why I named this part, 'Fun FACTS of QQN'. 

Okay, I guess that's all I can think of right now. I'll update this part if I remember more of it. So to those single gentlemen out there who want to know more about Miss QQN, please look out for this space to get to know more about her! :D 

She's the girl on the right of the photo~~~ o.<