Recess Week :D
The long awaited recess week has come (and almost passed) like the wind!
Can quite proudly (and ashamedly) say that I have done no work over the week, which probably means that there will be a lot of backload waiting for me to catch up on when I get back to the semester. But I seriously needed that break, I think I would have died from the monotony of school life otherwise.
Recess week officially started on Friday because I didn't have any school on the day, but I spent it packing and resting early for Saturday, because we were going off to cableski in Batam :D
Met early with Grace and we took a bus over to Harbourfront Station. Ate brekkies at Ya Kun and had the old fashioned watery eggs + coffee and toast. Still of the opinion that it is the best kind of breakfast to have, screw intercontinental breakfast :D After that we met Kao and Zhikai at the terminal. We couldn't contact Rob (law exchange friend) at the start and freaked a bit (we found out later that he had been partying the night before). Luckily we arranged a later ferry for him and he managed to join us in time later. Had a little run-in at the immigration when Grace's passports weren't in order -___- but it was only a brief scare and we got on the boat pronto!
My friends have strange faces.
The ride was slightly more than an hour (I think), and we reached Batam at about 10 am or so. Apparently our cableski company had an arrangement with the immigration, so we could get to the place as fast as possible without really having to get stamped or checked across the border. We were immediately ferried off to the spot, but it was still drizzling in the morning :(
You can see the deckchairs are still wet :(
We waited around for a bit and the rain subsided, to our joy and excitement! The newer ones (i.e. me, Zhikai) went knee-boarding first and it was damn fun I must say. More fulfilling than the actual cable-ski because in this case I actually managed to make it around full bends without getting owned by the turns. Kind of like just holding on to the cable and having it drag your entire body along. Crashed the first time at some damn ridic part and had to have the motorcycle pick me up on the trudge back, but after that it got slightly easier (clearly I wasn't listening to the turning points when they were giving their lectures) and I managed to complete a full round.
Grace and Kao were already starting on Skis + Board by the time we finished our round so we watched them go. For some strange reason, Grace was a lot better on skis then on the board, because skis were supposed to be harder. We always knew you were the accelerated one, Grace :')
Grace at her most accelerated stage
After an hour or two, Rob and his friend Tobias arrived and started to have a go at the skis as well. The people in charge told us that it was considered a less crowded weekend, usually there are more people around, so we were considered lucky I guess, although we still had to wait a substantial amount of time before it was our turn to go. After a bit of trying out the course, all of us were hungry, so we took a break for lunch!
It was a buffet kind of arragement, so we just ate what we wanted and added on at the counter (they charge SGD also!)
After that we decided to get to more serious stuff. Cableskiing, as I have repeated many times that day, is an art and a ridiculously difficult one to master, at that. It took a couple of hours before we could actually learn how to stand up and balance ourselves and even more before we could actually make some actual progress. But we were undaunted and persevered on.
Rob, however, appeared to have super Australian surfer genes and picked up really quickly. It seemed like he was probably the one who enjoyed himself the most that day.
We also talked to some of the Singaporeans who were there that day! There were some NTU people and a couple of NUS ones. Met an NUS Law senior there as well, damn small world right.
L for Law (inorite)
We went at it for the whole day despite feeling like our limbs were being torn off, but it was pretty worth it.
Total damage: $105 for one full day of skiing + buffet lunch + transport
Also went to play around with a cat that hung around the ski lodge
The locals also came around the waterfront to watch us go at it and had a sort of picnic along the way. Was quite malu to fall in front of them though :'(
I didn't manage to make it around the bend in the end, though it just leaves me with another goal to try for the next time we go again :)
Soon enough, the sun set and the day came to an end. We washed up there (must stop to comment that the shower facilities were a little lacking though) and changed into dry clothes.
Serenity of the park by night
Also collected our passports and paid our fees!
After that, Kao, Zhikai and Grace went off to catch a movie (About a piano tuner, hello guyssss) while Rob, Tobias and I joined the other NUS/NTU crowd for dinner/supper. Sat around and talked for a bit before we decided it was getting late and went home.
Ended up with a really bad shirt tan and mangled limbs in the morning, but totally worth it ^^
Actually was going to blog about OG Potluck/Zouk/MBS but way too tired/lazy to do it today. Maybe when I get back later, eating at the Korean place at Beauty World tonight :D
Can quite proudly (and ashamedly) say that I have done no work over the week, which probably means that there will be a lot of backload waiting for me to catch up on when I get back to the semester. But I seriously needed that break, I think I would have died from the monotony of school life otherwise.
Recess week officially started on Friday because I didn't have any school on the day, but I spent it packing and resting early for Saturday, because we were going off to cableski in Batam :D
Met early with Grace and we took a bus over to Harbourfront Station. Ate brekkies at Ya Kun and had the old fashioned watery eggs + coffee and toast. Still of the opinion that it is the best kind of breakfast to have, screw intercontinental breakfast :D After that we met Kao and Zhikai at the terminal. We couldn't contact Rob (law exchange friend) at the start and freaked a bit (we found out later that he had been partying the night before). Luckily we arranged a later ferry for him and he managed to join us in time later. Had a little run-in at the immigration when Grace's passports weren't in order -___- but it was only a brief scare and we got on the boat pronto!
My friends have strange faces.
The ride was slightly more than an hour (I think), and we reached Batam at about 10 am or so. Apparently our cableski company had an arrangement with the immigration, so we could get to the place as fast as possible without really having to get stamped or checked across the border. We were immediately ferried off to the spot, but it was still drizzling in the morning :(
You can see the deckchairs are still wet :(
We waited around for a bit and the rain subsided, to our joy and excitement! The newer ones (i.e. me, Zhikai) went knee-boarding first and it was damn fun I must say. More fulfilling than the actual cable-ski because in this case I actually managed to make it around full bends without getting owned by the turns. Kind of like just holding on to the cable and having it drag your entire body along. Crashed the first time at some damn ridic part and had to have the motorcycle pick me up on the trudge back, but after that it got slightly easier (clearly I wasn't listening to the turning points when they were giving their lectures) and I managed to complete a full round.
Grace and Kao were already starting on Skis + Board by the time we finished our round so we watched them go. For some strange reason, Grace was a lot better on skis then on the board, because skis were supposed to be harder. We always knew you were the accelerated one, Grace :')
Grace at her most accelerated stage
After an hour or two, Rob and his friend Tobias arrived and started to have a go at the skis as well. The people in charge told us that it was considered a less crowded weekend, usually there are more people around, so we were considered lucky I guess, although we still had to wait a substantial amount of time before it was our turn to go. After a bit of trying out the course, all of us were hungry, so we took a break for lunch!
It was a buffet kind of arragement, so we just ate what we wanted and added on at the counter (they charge SGD also!)
After that we decided to get to more serious stuff. Cableskiing, as I have repeated many times that day, is an art and a ridiculously difficult one to master, at that. It took a couple of hours before we could actually learn how to stand up and balance ourselves and even more before we could actually make some actual progress. But we were undaunted and persevered on.
Rob, however, appeared to have super Australian surfer genes and picked up really quickly. It seemed like he was probably the one who enjoyed himself the most that day.
We also talked to some of the Singaporeans who were there that day! There were some NTU people and a couple of NUS ones. Met an NUS Law senior there as well, damn small world right.
L for Law (inorite)
We went at it for the whole day despite feeling like our limbs were being torn off, but it was pretty worth it.
Total damage: $105 for one full day of skiing + buffet lunch + transport
Also went to play around with a cat that hung around the ski lodge
The locals also came around the waterfront to watch us go at it and had a sort of picnic along the way. Was quite malu to fall in front of them though :'(
I didn't manage to make it around the bend in the end, though it just leaves me with another goal to try for the next time we go again :)
Soon enough, the sun set and the day came to an end. We washed up there (must stop to comment that the shower facilities were a little lacking though) and changed into dry clothes.
Serenity of the park by night
Also collected our passports and paid our fees!
After that, Kao, Zhikai and Grace went off to catch a movie (About a piano tuner, hello guyssss) while Rob, Tobias and I joined the other NUS/NTU crowd for dinner/supper. Sat around and talked for a bit before we decided it was getting late and went home.
Ended up with a really bad shirt tan and mangled limbs in the morning, but totally worth it ^^
Actually was going to blog about OG Potluck/Zouk/MBS but way too tired/lazy to do it today. Maybe when I get back later, eating at the Korean place at Beauty World tonight :D