I have finished the 1st version of the European Conference Poster. Finally having a night to take a small break.
Heading of the poster: My project title with the authors below it. I am the 4th author. :D
Jun Wen and I have signed the Sales & Purchase Agreement and will soon be paying for our 1st HDB loan. There is no turning back. Lol.
I was browsing at the photo gallery of our future home and wanna share with you some.
We are going to live in the 9th storey in a block that is really near the BBQ pits. The BBQ pits are going to be on top of a multi-storey carpark. So unique right! After that we sort of regretted choosing the unit since we were concerned about the noise level at night. But I heard from my cousin that there will be security in the area so reminders will be issued for those loud teenagers.
Our living room will be linked directly to the balcony. We can add a door that separates the balcony from it or we can just use curtains. The flooring and the aircons are provided.
A small dining area by the corner of the living room. A mirror is placed beside the table to make the area more spacious I think.
This is the kitchen. The stoves and all the cabinets are provided.
The stove's brand is Bosch. The agent said it is a good brand but ya.. I find it hard to trust any agents, be it insurance, housing or investments. Lol.
The toilet will look like this. :D
The master bedroom. An additional balcony will be extended for 5-room flats only, so we won't be able to enjoy the scenic view from the master bedroom but we can still view it from our living room's balcony.
The park in the neighbourhood.
I know the Light Festival is long over but I'm here to tell you more about it. Lol.
Jun Wen helped Carine get tickets for the musical Wicked and we asked her to join us for the Light Festival that night to pass her those tickets. I felt like going too but it was kind of expensive. And the thought of Jun Wen being a regular napper in cinemas and musicals makes me not want to buy those tickets.
We walked around the stretch along MBS, but didn't find anything. No lights! Hence, my first photo was this, the photo which I'm confident that most Singaporeans have taken.
As we walked and walked we saw a large crowd of people sitting in front of the river as if waiting for a performance. And true enough, there was a laser show.
One of the effects made by the show. I was exasperated by the couple standing right in front of the show at the railing. Every picture that I took consisted of them. Everyone else was sitting down on the steps and being considerate.
Carine and I were disappointed that the show doesn't portray any story or meaning. It just exhibited some kids growing up. They graduated, get married, have kids and became grandparents. Erm... We wanted to see cute characters on screen instead of these real people. We are already people and we want to see something we are not.!!
The next thing after the bizzare laser show puzzled us again. It seemed like the Light Festival visitors were looking and taking photos of this tall white very striking brightly lit lamp attached to the MBS Shoppes Mall. We stood there wondering what we were supposed to look out for but we saw nothing. We read the description that told us this "lamp" was used to send out messages in the early days. Lol.
And as we went further away from the lamp, I saw a Peace sign emitting from the lamp. So... The trick is that u must look at it from a different angle, not directly at it. Sometimes u see it sometimes u don't. Carine began swaying her camera from side to side and we saw the moving pictures emitting from the lamp. It is so cool! The lamp changes colour from time to time and you will find yourself looking at different pictures. Cool factor is 9/10!
Jun Wen with the sea view.
Sorry about the poor resolution as the light emitted from the decorations was too bright. This is a squid made from recycled materials. It changes colour from time to time too, perhaps due to the different angles you were looking from. Well.. I didn't really know how to appreciate this artwork. lol.
We later realized the reason why we didn't get to see any lights from anywhere. It was Earth Day that day and the light decorations were turned off for the Earth Hour from 8 30pm to 9 30pm I think.
A craft made out of recycled materials once more.
When u start screaming into the flowers sticking out from it, that particular flower lights up. Kids liked it so much! They were taking their turns to scream into the flowers.
Carine and I in front of the masterwork.
We then passed by a row of small orange "tents". Saw some curious people going in it and we were curious too. Initially, we were fearful of uncovering the truth beneath the orange cloth. Lol. It looks scary and mysterious from the outside. It felt warm once we went into it. Lol.
Turned out that these tents were made for monks to meditate in them. We could understand why it was tailored for this use. The tent was warm and we felt serene in it. I dunno if this feeling was a psychological impact since I read its description before heading into it.
And Jun Wen loves it. He loves the scary ghostly figure of his. Carine thought he looked like some trapped human in those huge test tubes.
Lol!
Handmade lanterns in this hut. I told them to pose for a photo together and they gave me this expression. Carine is so used to his expression since the Vietnam trip that she copied him rather well. Lol.
A nearer picture. I just saw a girl looking so blur and pale behind Jun Wen. Gave me creeps for a sec!
The photo of the night. The miniature effect made by my camera where it blurs out the top and the bottom focusing solely on the middle strip. If I wasn't mistaken, each parts of the hanging lanterns were designed by the Vietnamese children.
A lit igloo made of many huge water bottles.
And colorful mushrooms made from tiny light bulbs.
And this was the last photo before all lights from the decorations were turned off. It was 11 30pm when all of this ended. Sad! We were intending to see the colourful Merlion. :(
We were kind of surprised by how these lights were turned off. A bangleshi came up to us and said something like, "No more! No more!" And he went ahead to the control circuit inside some circuit box hidden by the tree and switched it off. Lol. Then he cycled away to another attraction to make people sad. Lol.
Quite an experience I must say!
A little bit about Bangkok before I get tired.
Our hotel is quite near to the Platinum Mall so we decided to walk through some alleys before reaching it. Passed by a nice-looking mall which is opposite to Platinum Mall. And it's Shibuya!
How the inside of Shibuya looks like. A row of shops that looked so tempting. Lol.
But I wasn't in the mood to shop there yet since I wanted to go into Platinum Mall asap!
Of course I would want a photo with the Thai Macdonalds!
I remembered that Ting, Daniel and I took one such photo about 7 years ago in Bangkok too! We were sent to a conference to present our FYP project. Lol.
And we reached the Platinum Mall. We were at the overhead bridge taking an overview of the busy road with the mall. Look at the blue tuk-tuk! It looks so cute from this distance!
And we shopped... For a short while before I got really hungry.
Sure enough, our first meal has to be Tom Yam Soup Noodles. My favourite in Singapore and of course of course I can't miss Thailand's!
Jun Wen who can't take spicy food has to try it too! He loves it as much as I do. At least I think he does. Lol. It's difficult to guess his mind since he often lies.
We were shocked that after dinner at about 7pm, the shops started closing. Omg! I was relieved that i grabbed a few accessories before dinner. Lol.
We hailed a cab to go to Khao San Night Market but the cab driver told us that it only opens at 10pm although my itinerary stated 8pm! :D Maybe the website isn't updated enough or something. The cab driver drove us to a seafood restaurant instead. He said many tourists specially came to this restaurant whenever they visit Thailand. We decided to give it a try although we were still full from the dinner. But well... We are tourists.. We are supposed to listen to the locals and try everything they said. Lol.
He ordered a coconut drink so that he could scoop all its flesh up to munch on. Lol. He loves the attention and the stares other people give him, so he loves being extraordinary. (It's kind of a classy restaurant where most Caucasians are dining at.) I felt abit embarrassed but what can I do? :D
In his hardworking attempt to scoop all contents of the coconut.
We ordered scallops. They were so delicious I tell u!
And tom yam again. Thailand is the only place that Jun Wen would permit me to eat lots of Tom Yam! I dunno how to appreciate this again. He thought the taste was fantastic while I thought it tasted like vomit. Lol.
We ordered also curry crab since it was most recommended by the cab driver. Lol.
Yes, it was so nice!
Unglam and caught by the camera. Haha!
Ending the post with Simba standing in between 2 sleeping dogs. He said this photo would be memorable since the dogs were sleeping in the same position but at a distance apart! :D
I realised Thai dogs are so lazy. We saw many napping dogs on the streets!
