Awesome August

ok its actually 2 sept today, but i'm gonna back date this post to end it on a August.

spent alot of money too. probably the highest month expenditure for the year. 

there's the total expenditure of $900 over on the Rinjani-Bali trip. 

traded in my s95 camera with (faulty lens that needs to be repaired/replaced for $240, so i traded in for) a s120 with a top up of $396. 

and i finally got my own set of climbing gears $239. 

and i really randomly feel like climbing now.
its been long since i've felt this way about something.

last wkend's been quite crazy.

started with going back to the gym on thurs. so long never gym. kae kiang, go and do deadlifts. 75 kg. and my back has been aching ever since. that's 5 days alrdy man!

went to the airport to study on Friday night. M6 Materials and Hardware paper coming up on Monday.

finally met up with #Airbuschan before his night shift. hahas. and finally both of us in the same uniform, just different colour, didn't take a photo tgt though! hahas. back still hurting crazy.

Sat was sucha busy wkend.

morng was the start of Rugby trng for the women's development. every drill in between had some fitness component to it.

then went to Vivo to get my cam.

bye S95. u've served me well for these 4 yrs i think.

then went down to turf city for my wkend affair.

played for TpiranhasX this time round. always feels good to be playing with them all over again. TP touch alumnus. and we've got our new jerseys. we played well and won the game. :) 

Mixed game after that with Monsoon.

and soon the lightning came. threatened to have all the games postponed. but cleared out after about 45mins of contemplation.

went to meet ah huat to go Campers Corner at Waterloo st. totally in love with that place.

finally got my personal harness and shoe after a few yrs of procrastination.

hahas. supposed to go and study.. but played slackline along the walkway with strangers who turned friends.

it just feels so good to enjoy such chill time with random ppl. 

sunday morng.

went yishun safra to climb. ahhaas. so my instructor. felt abit awkward to see ur instructor at some recreational place 1 day before ur paper. ahhas. 

climbed the wall halfway when it started to pour. :(

so we went to the bouldering section (within the tall walls) for cover. climbed abit inside. never really tried bouldering. hahas.

after which, went to study again.

totally dont like Materials and Hardware coz its so darn dry.

Monday came.

exam-ed.

one of the papers that i really dont like doing. dont think i'll do that well. sigh.

and yep. now we just started on Electrical Fundaments and having the exam on Thurs.

kinda mad. but i'm not complaining. studying is so much better than reading emails / going to baseless meetings. 

one of my ex collegues dropped by to give me this! :)

ahhas. she saw it on instagram and got a few sets. 

that's about it.

late for work today. totally didn't hear the alarm clock. usually, i'd at least rmbr some images of me snoozing it or something, but this time, totally didnt wake up until my friend called me.

2 times late in a span of 3 weeks.

previously in my ex-company, i overslept in a total of 2 days for that 1 over year of employment, so idky i'm so lousy this time round. #discipline.

class is ok.

occasionally, some lessons reminded me of u. i try to contain those thoughts.

hahas. and yes, my class still continues to bully me. ahhas.

last fri, i was like jokingly whining to my instructor, "tchr.... see the class always bully me leh.." hoping to get some back up... and he said "u this kind can be bullied one me". hahahahahhas. totally backfired. but it was a good laugh. 

i'm really thankful for my class. coz everyone's working well together and strives hard together. finally i dont have to be the only one asking questions in class. :)

made my airport pass during lunch today. the 4th one that is. hahahhas

should compile all the photos of the old passes one day when i'm free.

went down with the 3of them. :) farhan pillioned me. hahas. they're the closer few who really treat me like their bro and i'm thankful for them.
so yup. cheers to the road ahead.

to love

Haha. This looks awfully familiar

particulate matters

hahas. Air Law down today.
i could roughly get 4 (or more) wrong out of 40 qns so far. got abit confused with the definitions of Airworthiness Notices, Advisory Circulars, Service Bulletins and Airworthiness Directives. ahhas. knew the answer but got confused along the way. i dont usually leave the examination hall after i finished but would spend time checking and thinking through the answers coz that's when ur brain should technically be at the peak of its knowledge capability of the subject. and w/o any means of secondary information, u could only think through using what u have in ur brain; so it makes ur brain go into more independent thinking. but after i finished the paper, i checked twice and left the examination hall early. i mean like for the last Human Factor paper, i finished the 15qns paper in 3mins and stayed throughout the whole duration just to memorise the qns so as to consolidate a question bank for student compilation purposes. but for this kind of paper filled with laws and close definitions, best is... to stay out of it. hahas. the more u think, they more u edit, and the more u deviate from ur first instinct (which is usually the correct) answer.

i mean like, for the 2nd last qns, u've got a qns that says something like..
"ETOPS is under.....
(a) Chpt 4.11 Appendix 1
(b) Chpt 4.12 Appendix 2
(c) Advisory Circulars "

ahahs. i could only use my (hopefully existent) pictographic memory and guessed (a) which was the right ans.  hahhahas. the ti-kam champion indeed. who would specifically rmbr the chpt number for the exam if u're not getting the hints to do so right?!

tricky paper, but i think it was the best i can manage.
so the whole class was quite sian about it. hahas.. even the amlt ppl whom went through the course together at the same time as us felt the same way.

anyway, finished the paper and went ehub to watch a movie. it was a planned outing. the first for the class. hahas. it almost didn't go through coz everyone was too sian. hahahas. but guess we got over it fast coz u can't do anything to the answers anymore. whahahas.


watched Lucy.

and the irony of it is that, its about brain capacity.... and how human can unlock it to its 100% usage coz apparently, we're only able to use 10% of it. more towards sci-ficition and stuff though. its almost likka x-men movie.
ahhas. sci-fi movies.
the amazing thing about such movies is that though its so out-of-this-world, they make it sound so logicial that with such excellent imagery and graphics right before ur eyes + the dual surround sound system, u tend to wanna make belief out of it right. ok, for that moment at least. hahas.

kinda like how the story went coz it was really quite science-y with a tinge of strong literature background to it. i like how the way the do immediate cross referencing of the current movie action plot with the very abstract scenes of animal survival instincts and Mother Nature in her glory.
quite beautiful to some point.

the movie on the whole didn't have quite a good ending though. sucha waste for a massive plot like that. i guess it became too intelligent to a point that the writer didn't know how to continue on coz everything he would try to say would be indefinite and w/o a stable conclusion since everything was about infinite logic.

if u'd the philosophical kind of person, u'd probably like the movie to some point that u'd want to scrutinize every bit of it for some personal satisfaction out of the self-witted logical analysis for evaluation and contradictions.

you go watch it! u'd probably want to wait for the DVD or the alternate online source.
$7 on a monday with less than 10% occupied seats in a cinema is not too bad for this 1.5hr movie.

hahas. some takeaways...
1 + 1 = not 2 coz it is infinite;
and everything cannot be measured. Measurements are just Man's way of putting everything on a scale to quantify its existence and so on. Everything is about time and the movie used a speeding car to illustrate this.
if a car is traveling at a slower rate, looking at it from a the parallel side view, u can see the car moving. as the car speeds up to a point that its too fast for the eye to process, it disappears. just like how a spinning rainbow coloured wheel becomes white coz we just dont see it due to its superfast motion for the eye to capture and process it.
so, she went on further to break down things and her explanations using the particulate theory of matter that everthing exists in unlimited forms depending on how well our metal copes with the information and the biologically set boundaries to make it limitless.

ahhas. am i making sense so far?


hhhahas. and so, after such an intense brain-squeezing movie....... what is a 40 mcq qns air law paper man. HAHAHAHS. that feeling was almost priceless.
but yea.

it such movies and on such aviation days that i'd want to converse all my thoughts with someone who's willing to witty-ly argue with me. but that's about it, coz i know i can't push the boundaries coz nothing would really matter in the end.

Augmented August

1 week later.
seems like so much has been done and still so much more things i wanna do.

sometimes dont you think just want to escape to places that no one can find you?

Last Sat 
was the beginning of the league.
Played Mixed. no game for the womens.
a 3pm game, thought that the sun was going to kill me, but it wasnt too bad.



Sunday
Monsoon Beach Touch
at Sentosa. helped with the set up, played, worked, pack up. 7am till 7pm.
great job to gc and team for all the work. hahas. i totally understand ur pain.
though i became a tone darker from the day's event, it was a nicely cloudy-ish-kinda-sun-day.
played in the Womens Open. got 4th. not bad. out of 6 teams though. HAHA. but well, prizes were for the 1st to 4th. so not bad, got our registeration fees covered + some tips back.
i felt that i played well coz there's really no pressure but just to have fun.
had 1 epic dive for the try. fell short of about a few cm. hahahs. had to reach out and wriggle my way, trying to push the ball to the line with my finger tips. i think everyone was laughing, including the ref and the defender that they just gave the try to me for the effort. hhahas. i mean, coz i was am short you see. hahas. one of my teammates noted that the rack was taller than i am. tmd. the ground is not even. hahas.

Moday/Tue
Back to Work / School.
can't believe i was aching from beach touch. hahas.
first paper from the academy on Tues - Human Factors.
aimed for perfect score, but i think i got the last qns wrong coz i mentally inferred wrongly. guess i gotta work harder. subtly, there's competition in the class and i know it. hahahs. but all's still good and glad that this batch of classmates are pretty much more focused that my previous class / sch.

i guess coz they're all of age and since this is really part of the working life and not just some course in some school. and also, they're all poly grads so they would have that edge of academic tenacity there.
haha. not to play colour, but its quite funny that the 3 malay boys really treat me like their minah machik. i guess this 1 year is going come to a pass real soon.

i guess for me, my main aim is to keep focus.
since i have an advantage with that 1 yr in the advanced playing field, the tendency for me to become complacent can be subconsciously high that i really need to be make a conscious effort to remind myself not impose my (negative) work attitude that i picked up during when i was working, towards my currently learning.

oh yes. and we've got our uniforms on tues!
finally i can save up alot on clothes; not only that, i think i may have allowances for laundry when i pass out too. hahahas. no more looking horrible with my lazy work-fashion sense. ahha.
and mother poon helped me to alter the length of my pants and added elastic to my shirt so it looks tucked in when its not. ahahs


and then, its.....

hahas. the horror once again.

7 binded books for a 4 day course. ok la. actually its not that alot coz 60% is downloadable current materials and information from CAAS website. i really think that they could have save paper at least printing 2 pages in 1 or, not printing them at all. just give us the link / dropbox it or something.

ok. the instructors are amazingly clear and knowledgeable. no offense to my previous educational institute, but here, they know the real deal and it's really more towards application than just passing the paper. haha. though i've already passed the license paper, i feel that i'm finally starting to understand this whole thing only now. and since my previous company was going through the major restructuring that allowed me to help the quality side with the manuals and applications, i now understand the bigger picture of the whole system. ahhas. and when the instructor flashed current info of the SAR 145 personnels and stuff like that, i felt damn resourceful coz i knew most of the listed names on the list. hahahahs. #businessdevelopment #likkaboss but its quite a funny feeling coz i do miss working / doing business with some of them.

that's the whole big general summary in a nutshell if u're interested.
this 'mindmapping' concept/ layout is not fully done by me, but its just my compliation of what the instructor did over 6 -7 wipes of the no more that 1.5 x 1 m white board.


just as the days go by, i still miss that week when i was in hiatus alot.

wanted to go running on wed coz i felt that i've been eating alot this week. planned to take on a new route at the coastal road and then watch planes in e evening / sunset since it was abit foggy (its when the lines of light from the landing gear lights will be clear and nice as it reflects on the surrounding moisture in e air). at the junction out of the work area, i contemplated as i was super lazy, but still successfully managed to make that left turn (instead of the right turn home) to my destination. however, idk if its by God's grace, it started to drizzle when i was about to go to the toilet and change into my running attire. not the light drizzle kind but the big-drops-its-gg-to-get-heavy kind. so, i packed up and planned to go and study instead. hahas. i mean, still can run, but wouldn't wanna get sick and not do well/study well right. hahas. #excuses.


Thurday.
the usual busy day.
what made it unusual was that the rinjani gang managed to all meet up for dinner at dempsey and then chill at b&j thereafter! we managed to follow through our promise which was to take a group photo with our green 'achievement' shirt with the indon flag prominently showing at the side coz we totally didn't have time to do so while we're in Gili coz of the tight schedule after the summit descend. hahas.
i think it was one of the rare few times that i was in dempsey at night (usually there on sat morngs when  my club's touch trng is on). totally different that i almost couldn't recognize the roads, and its really a nice chill out place if u've got the money.

managed to spend some time going through the vids/photos on my macbook together, laughing at our shagg faces and how we stumble over everything.
i guess all of us wished that we had the luxury of time to continue soaking in each other's company, but we're all working adults and the reality of it all is that there's 1 more weekday to go through.

Friday
#TGIF

(during 12am on the streets of Bali with my plastic bag and packet of milk)

cell group week became a surprise farewell for Jay who's going scotland to study for 4yrs n then find a job thereafter forever. he totally failed on the situational awareness prior to the surprise -
the obvious increase of no. shoes/slippers outside the house, 2 additional bikes (which he is familiar with) that's not suppose to be here for 'cell group' being parked outside, and as he walked in, he totally didn't notice the large amount of food, a table with all his group photos, and more obviously, the little banner that says "Farewell Jay". hahahs. its only when we told him that there's no bible study tonight that he knew what's goind on. duno whether bluff one not he. (pardon the singlish) hahas.
definitely gonna miss him. hope eveleen can take it, hahhas. i can be the boyfriend on stand-by.

massive singapore food night.
freakin looking likka sg aunty with the rolled up pants and slippers + many many many plastic bags while getting the food back.
and yes, had to bump into some friends at Serangoon Gardens (as always) in my messy hair, unkempt dressing, tired and 'lok-kok' state. classic; and shamelessly not shy about it since there's nothing left to lose. hahas.

oh yes.
eveleen gave me cool socks btw! she always rmbrs that my fav disney cartoon is somehow Arial. ahaas. she'll usually surprise me with such of my fav things.

and so, today,
its Saturday again.

the CSR event by my company held at Gardens by the Bay (East) at Rhu Cross. sucha beautiful place + awesome weather and nice skyline.
it used to be my night cycling route before it was closed for the major renovation to alter singapore's skyline. haven't seen it since the until today. might wanna check it out at night someday to see if its a nice/safe place to run/ nua.

statistically, not many ppl turned out though. met the event planner and knew him through the last company event that i planned. ran with my ex-collegues. saw some of the the other trainees from other batches. hahas. more so, saw some of the management stuff whom i used to have meeting with. didn't engage in much of those 'small talks' anymore since it wasnt necessary and my plan for these few yrs is to just stay low other than trying to strive for outstanding academic excellence in this field. hahahas.

always nice to catch up with some them though they're located just 1 level above my 'working area' for now. managed to catch up with some ppl with the other part of the company too. hahas.

its a 3.5km run. and since the conditions were nice and just chillax, i managed to hit the 6min/km pace! ahhas. i guess since its just 3.5k, it shouldn't be a thing to be proud of eh. hahas. but ok la, considering the amount of food intake and trng that i should be (but haven't been) doing, i guess its legit to be proud of it. ahhahas.
but after the run, my lower back was aching.. hahahas and had to down 2 cans of isotonic drink.

Sat's touch league is on. no Mixed Game, but Womens game this time.
however, didn't go for it because come to think of it, i dont have much time left to study for monday's paper. so its studying.


and then. turn of table, had a shitty evening today.


----------- nothing positively interesting after this point ---------------


evening time,
wanted to bring mother poon and sis out to the Night festival coz i rmbr last yr, she enjoyed it and was saying that its a pity that the arty farty sis couldn't join us. this yr.. tsk tsk.
mother poon was moody.
and sis kept saying about me treating the family after getting my bonus. initially wanted to set aside a day to bring mother poon and all go eat atas seafood at east coast or smth....but not today though. coz the plan today was to have a quick early dinner, then go night festival. everyone late. then unnecessary comms. so heck it. i'd rather not say or plan anything alrdy. let them do what they wanna do.
i mean, i've pushed away friends who jio-ed me for this just because i 好心 wanted to bring them out.
and its not like i have to force myself to be filial daughter right.

so, no photos for the supposedly happs evening.
dont feel like going out anymore.


that's the thing about giving.
we always expect something good in return.


that's the thing about r/s also.
recently i find myself slipping back to the old thoughts again. before i drop to point of no return, i try to pull myself out before i suffocate.
as i mentioned before, the whole rinjani mountain air + ash really did help to clear my system. and well, still manageable, and while it's still manageable, i hope i dont fall back coz its really really sodamnhard to climb back up again. and really, the sodamnhard climb up to the summit really sucked all the life out of me which was probably an essential move to actuate an internal system reboot.

while being upset and quiet this evening, i'm really beginning to understand the need for me go along life in solidarity. i did recall some stuff some ppl said to me before and those words are probably starting to shed some light to all these 'conflict of emotions'. while i'm happy and want my people around me to be happy, i can't seem to come to terms with disappointments and the inevitable sadness of life. personally, i can sleep it off under a nice warm blanket; but the process of it, being shared with a willing third party is something i struggle with. i dont think its ego though, more towards unnecessary overwhelming feelings of care and concern with a tinge of self-esteem issue i guess. or, perhaps its just me being selfish which then can become a comforting notion for the opposition.
and once all that's aligned likka James Reason's Swiss Cheese Model for Error (Human Factors), complications sets in when all forms of redundancy dont seem to work out aka misunderstandings where honest opinions become useless defenses for a hopefully better future.

and so, because these memories of actual episodes with different people do haunt me and eat me up from within, they become very clear reminders and alerts before i start feeling comfortable with anyone.
as i've been getting to know more people recently with my new job environment as well as the recent travel, i realized that i'm putting on all the stops out of subconscious fear that i may never be able to cope with anything. and well, wherever i am now, it is much... safer.
and the lesson here for today is to learn to be satisfied, yet hungry for something better. sounds like a contradicting statement, but i guess they're both somewhat likka imagery of 2 parallel lines, somewhat the same, but these lines will never meet nor come into contact. application wise, i guess it just simply means, 2 different things will not mix; hence, to simply strip down to the core, it means we must all 看得开.... chill man.



forget about all the planning, analyzing, thinking, listening to heart/brain shit and all. just be bold to live life to the fullest. sometimes the best plan is the plan w/o a plan.

The First Week

 hello! 1 wk back into civilization, and first week of the new job.

it's not just about the new job, but i'm taking this as an opportunity to restart my life.

i dont mean to disregard everything that i've learnt in my life and especially the few recent yrs of work but more so towards letting go of all the heavy baggages that's been bothering me for a few months/years.

really, the mountains do have a lingering effect on me.

as always.

the trip was really refreshing and needed.

hahas. almost everyday, i'm re-viewing the photos, trying to #liveinthemoment. hahas. i mean, i still rmbr how we kept kept looking back at the peak of the volcano and thinking... "we were really there last night / a few hours ago" as we made our quick descend down. it was really magnificent and i really wish all my friends could be with me to enjoy the marvel of Mother Nature. the blanket of stars in the night sky was really really beautiful. i would say its a different kind of feeling as compared to the nights i spent in the mountains of northern thailand. perhaps its the lack of comfort along with the dependence on ur group of friends and just the basic stuff that allows to u be more down to earth and close to ur surroundings.

and i spent 2 nights in Bali with my bro in law. it really felt good to just be exploring, going places randomly, not really having a plan but it was just all about chillin out, doing the things we wanna do and just enjoying ourselves w/o any worries.

i really think that the last 1 wk week will be the best week for the year and probably the top 5 best weeks of my life. its as if my systems are being re-booted and refreshed to default settings. hahas.

anyway. about my new job.

its been long since i woke up for work, not feeling stressed or super reluctant to go to the office.

no emails. no meetings. no proposals. no costings. no boring faces of the general office workers.

i mean, i enjoy doing those to some extent coz i do find myself being thrown to a big ambigious learning ground to learn everything on my own; however, it's not w/o the unnecessary over stresses and time pressures that's being subconsciously forced on leaving me to lose the essence of the whole supposedly pleasant and competitive picture.

now, my priorities are pretty much simpler. 

the no.1 thing on my list is getting to work on time (coz there is no grace period. 1 min late = half day off) and the 2nd thing on the list is passing my exams.  not just passing them actually, but i really want to perfect them. zero error if i should put it.

i do wanna boldly and un-shamingly aim for Top Trainee. hahas. not because i think i'm a genius or what, but i hope my passion + experience is enough to fuel me to study hard and retain all the information. i guess its not gg to be that easy since there are grads from the aerospace courses from SP. so, even though its going to be my 3rd time going through Human Factors, i'll still be giving my best to score well for the internal exams. hahas. i've already cleared this caas paper btw. even had a re-fresher course while i was working, not forgetting the previous sch's exams and what nots.

And yup. I'm the only girl in the batch. Quite sad coz no one to go toliet with or whine to. Hahah! But my class guys are nice ( so far ) haha! And apparently, they've treat me like their bro alrdy. I'd rather that actually. I mean, I dun want to be known just because i'm e only girl, but i want to be known as a reliable and responsible engineer one day. Also, it's good that they are not making concessions for me, then I feel more comfortable.

so its going to be 1 year training + 2 yr bond. 

70% of the training phase will be class room while the rest will be OJT, thereabout.

the sad thing is that we're not even Certifying Techs but just techs. so there's not much value add and i would need to spend ($80 x 19 papers?) on the qualifying papers; and w/o any form of subsidy.

looking forward to passing out to get more income.

well, the next big down side is the big drop in my financial income. so i gotta replan abit for the next yr's expenses. the not so good news is that mother poon also did sounded out that the family's $$ is drying up. i mean, i did a rough estimate when i was abt 16 yrs old and pre-empted that it would dry out when just nice after i graduate from uni. so for the pool to last till now is quite amazing. i mean, it was an assumption based on me & my sis not working, taking the public transport and all luh. 

no one is really working in the family except for me. i mean its just mother poon and i while my sis is happily married out and has also her road to fight for. she finally got a temp job and finally (x2) getting a permanent job almost after half a year.

well, i'm doing good.

just that i secretly hope that the class time can pass faster. i mean, the difference is like... me knowing the checklists of cabin works / galley repairs and different types of a/c checks; while the class is teaching things like.. what is a hangar, what is line maintenance. yea. that kind of difference.

but i guess since i've chosen this path, i gotta be patience and continue to strive for what is good for me.

trng is at the academy. quite nice place with a few others in the same plight as u. hahas. so its really back to school man.

ahhas. and yes, been secretly going in and out of the office of my ex-company.

still keeeping in touch with them.

and today, the closer few of us went out for dinner! got treated to a good meal at Jumbo. its been over a year since i've ate such a massive atas crab. and the black pepper aroma is really shiok and somewhat nostalgic.

last time when dad was still around, we could afford going to Jumbo on special occassions. since he passed away, we hadnt really gone to such place much. the last time i went was i think 2-3 yrs back when i got a $100 Jumbo voucher in which i used it to its maximum on mother poon and i. hahas.

so i really enjoyed this Friday as we go into our usual complain-about-everything mode. thank God for this day.

so yep. first exam on Tue. 

touch league starts tmr. Beach touch carnival on Sunday (thank God i'm not running the even this yr - rmbred how stressed i was trying to cope with that, my new job and my side jobs. hahas!)

hope to squeeze in time to studyyyyyyy! secretly happy to be going back to my secret study hideouts to study again.

good night.

and i'm really missing the mountains and the group of people whom i slogged out with for that week.

lastly, heard that he has gone for an exchange program and i hope that he'll enjoy himself and make the best out of it. and to you, i'm just glad this its all fine for me now (hope u're doing well too) and i just hope that this lesson will be a good reminder for me.

Mt Rinjani

1 - 8 August

i'm back! it's been an awesome trip and one of my best adventure ever. 

needed a getaway from the life i was having.

initially planned to climb Fanxipan in Sapa, Hanoi or the Annupura Trek in Nepal. however, i didn't have time to plan and was pretty busy at work. it was my 2nd last week at work when i stumbled a FB event by Equatorial Adventures. hahas. since the date fitted so perfectly, i decided to go for it.

asked james over a lunch and he was also excited about it! hahas and so, we decided to go for it. James' is my bro-in-law and we're never really very close. through this trip, we got to know each other and protect each other. ahhaha. he's a policeman for 12 yrs in the special ops unit btw. hahahas. many first times for him and i as well. for me, it was the first time 

sleeping in a tent on a volcano, 

burrying my shit into a molehill, 

not bathing for a few days after strenuous activities, 

climbing at 4 deg at 2am 

and the list goes on. 

as for him, everything we did was practically almost his first time. hahahahs!

ok, i guess i'll use the photos to summarise my exciting journey.

Day 1 - Getting there

we met at Lavender before heading off to JB for the flight.

had wanton mee.

and i guess because of the strike, JB was too quite for a 2am Friday night. 

arrived at Senai Airport and it was closed.

first time being in a not 24/7 airport.

 #singaporeans

before boarding..

loving the fact that there's no aerobridge.

first thing popping out of the skies is mt Rinjani - the 2nd highest volcano in Indonesia

Day 2 - the Waterfalls

Reached Lombok airport 

ride to the lunch first before changing at a petrol station and heading for the Senaru Waterfalls

going to the 2nd waterfall first as it was getting dark.

heading for the 1st waterfall and wanted to try out the drain. it was a very fast moving drain! was quite scared at first. but it wasn't too bad. hahas.

Post by EquatorialAdventurer San.

from my point of view. hahas. the bump was looked scary and freaked me out abit... ahhahas. pardon the shriek.

at the end of the drain was this 'cave'. at first we didn't want to go in coz it was dark and we didn't bring our torches. hahas. but glad we did! it's basically a big drain for irrigation purposes.

at the 1st bigger waterfall.. 

so so amazing!

a group shot with our guide, all wet and cold.

reaching to a hotel nearby to stay for the night

dinner and then packing before the ascend up Rinjani.

 

Day 3 - The Ascend

good morning

at the start with the clouds covering the peak.

guess whr is this from. hahaahs

lunch break at POS II

7 hills to go. and the terrain got dustier and steeper.

after about 9hrs...

Finally at Base camp!

always wanted to stay in a tent and wake up to mountains and clouds. and tadah! :) so happy.

wished that all my favourite friends could be with me to just soak in the goodness of nature.

ok. from the view in the vid, the peak looks pretty near right. but NO. its's like a few hills away.

the toliet. hahas. where the shit hole became a molehill of shit.

the porters tent. they dont sleep in tents nor sleeping bags. they just wrap themselves up in blanket and cook all day long just for us. w/o them, i think we wouldn't make it. hahas.

last pic at about 7pm.... filled our waterpacks and getting ready to sleep for the summit climb later at 2am.

 never travel w/o my smelly pillow and diary. even if it means the extra weight, i will carry it. hahas. stuffed all the extra clothes into the dry bag as my pillow. slpt with 4 layers + my down slping bag + 1 more sleeping bag as a cover. the 1st night was really cold. and it rained. 

it was good that we had good tent. heard the rain pattering against the tent and was abit afraid that they would close the summit climb. but felt very safe in the tent.

Day 4 - The Summit Climb

2am.

8hrs up and 5 hrs down. took too long. probably made record time. but at least we made it. at it was the high season for climbing and on a sunday, there were many ppl. but we've got a feeling that not everyone made it up. coz we didn't see many ppl at the summit / the groups that we passed didn't come up. so, a pat on the back for all of us!

not much photos taken in the dark night. each time i remove my gloves, i feel the wind chill eating up my fingers.

light breakfast b4 we start heading up.

i rmbr this photo. it was taken with long exposure, aka, long exporsure of my fingers to the cold. i rmbr after doing this shot, i sat cross-legged crouched down and started to shiver uncontrollably. and for the record, i cried. hahahs. it was damn cold and i couldn't do anything abt it. the heat pack wasnt working coz it was too cold. apparently, it needed abit of heat to kick start the effect. so yea, it was quite unbearable for me. 4 layers of good clothing still not enough from the 4 deg elements.

i think my mind went out cold too. ah huat told me that fabian was trying to warm me up also but i couldn't rmbr anything about it. hahahs

while climbing up, we saw the sunrise. we're gg quite slow so we're gonna miss it from the peak. was rooting for the sun to rise faster. needed the heat asap.

at this moment, i want to thank Fabian. he was behind me all the way. each time i slip, he was there to hold me steady.. he was literally pushing me against the loose gravel from behind. really, w/o his support, i guess i'll hide behind some rock and not wanting to reach the summit. and thank u for also enjoying taking photos with me throughout the trip. hahas. at least someone understands the need to stop to do so. haha!

but it's quite and interesting feeling overall. coz u'll feel super tired and wanting to just fall into slumber. i guess its all about the temperature chapter of Human Factors. ahhas. its so severe that u can even dooze off while climbing.

and i rmbr this fire very clearly.  upon seeing the fire, i ran up towards it, overcoming all odds of the falling loose gravel. ahhas. i rmbr how close i was to the fire that the smoke and ash was going into my lungs and irritating my throat. but the warmth was so impt that i just let it continue to go into my system. hahas!

his vid. it is this grey section that was the most challenging part of the climb. this is the infamous 3 steps up and 2 steps down. 

Post by EquatorialAdventurer San.

FINALLY AT THE TOP. 

find this photo v funny. ahhahs

usually, i'd be excitedly taking photos upon some completion. however, i just collapsed and died facing the sun for at least a good 5 min. checkout the tube of the hydration pack. probably slept while drinking water. hahas needed the heat and the moment to pull myself together. hahas. everything was falling apart. i was cold and my shirt as wet. its like.. had to decide whether to take out the shoe/clothes to face the cold wind or have faith that the sun's heat was strong enough to overcome the cold weather.

 after the break, was watching how the rest climbed. hahahs. everyone's expressions was the same. looked down while climbing - look up at the peak - stone + sigh - look down and repeat. hahahs. classic.

wasted! didn't take more photos or a landscape one. hahas. glad that fabian did. was probably to mentally drained to think of anything.

Post by EquatorialAdventurer San.

this is Zaino, our guide. we call him Zai. he is really "zai" with the hokkien tone to it, . hahas. he was really encouraging us all the way. his simple phrase of "come on, lets go" somehow seems very very motivating and full of hope. as mentioned, he climbed the summit with his full pack just in case anyone of us would have AMS probs.

 

ok. time to make our descend down.

going down wasn't that easy either. definitely, it's less tiring. but u need to be steady man. the loose gravel really #lastwarning. and looking back, since we climbed in the dark, we didnt realize how near we were to the edge and how narrow it was! hahas. some of us were quite freaked out while climbing down. hahas. #knowinglessisknowingmore.

hahas. a vid by ah huat. looked like a freakin drunkard and #loser. totally felt like just rolling down all the way.

kinda narrow uh.

ahhahas. this one epic. he almost fell off the cliff man. quite scary. but it was more funny than scary. so i laughed all the way. what a shot. hahas. he's got the footage from his gopro/SJ4000 in full HD. hahas. thank God he held on to the bar. this is y NS shouldn't take out the pull up part. it save lives.

finally back at base camp. coz we took too long, we didn't have time to go to the lake and hot springs supposedly to trek down there and pitch the tent there for the night. and then make the descend via the Senaru route. oh well, next time! hahas

 

check out my pores clogged with dirt and volcanic ask on my sunburnt face. tsk tsk.

lunch. and rest. too much free time since all the plans cancelled.

the last night on the mountain together.

it was nice. we had dinner with the setting sun. 

 we sat on the mat provided by the porters and chatted by the fire under the stars.

secretly hoping that i brought my slr cam. but i guess i'm with with the small cam. 

though it was cold everywhere, it was warm inside. we really wished that we could stay up all night, but it was really getting too cold and we're all too tired. so we KO at about 9pm. probably the first night since the start that we're going have a proper 9hr sleep.

Day 5 - the Descend

we're fast. took about 7hrs.

nice scenery though it was somewhat the same route.

with network coverage on one part of the mountain. 

changing into not so cold clothes as we make our way down.

hahahs. see how Porters vs Man. 

and btw, they are in slippers while we're in like trekking shoes. hahas

last meal in the mountains with the full team.

getting the hang of it so running down. hahas

on the truck back to the main office.

saw a mirror and first look after 4 days. hahas. the horror.

then a quick packing before taking the speed boat to Trawangan

reached Gili Trawangan island in 15mins. hahas. 

havent booked accomodations. so quite epic that we had a contingency plan to split up and look for rooms. and since it was peak season, most of the lodging were fully booked.. so it was quite an adventure. hahahhas 

well, we managed to secure a boat ride to Kuta Bali for the next day though!

at this place. 400,000 for 3 person per night. so its about $13 per person?

no hot water. no wifi. no clean towel. no blanket. erratic a/c. hahahs. well, at least there's a comfy bed which i had to make my sheet first. hahahs.

chillin' out. last night with no QC Bintang beer.

Day 6 - out and about!

Gili island. not one of my fav island coz its full of angmohs and tourism.
interesting coz the only mode of transportation is horses and bicycles.

sorry i have to make fun of this.

the MINISTRY of transportation and tourism and comms... main email is a gmail account. #awesomelombok siol. HAHAH. this is hilarious. and the english is best.

nice beach. but still too touristified.

 and we're off on an atas boat to Kuta Bali! and i found a 3 pin plug at my random seat. #whataretheodds.

2hrs boat ride + 1.5hr bus ride to Kuta Bali.

and its BYEEEE SHAUN! have fun at work the next day. ahahhas.

Day 7 & 8

while James and i embark on our Bali adventure. hahahhas

how nice. we stayed at Nau Here hostel. walked from Kuta Central park where the bus left us off.

k. have to confessed, i booked the place coz i really like the foldable table as noted in the photo of Agoda.com. ahhhahas. its $12 per night. why not right. anddddd... here's hot water, clean towel, blanket, comfy bed and a/c.

even made some friendly friends from Europe and an unfriendly one from China who ate cup noodles and left them there w/o clearing after he left. tsk tsk.

ok. so its R& R ALL THE WAY with a rented motorbike for $7. we bought 2 L of petrol in 2 1L voldka bottles for 70c each. hahas. quite nice. pillioned ah huat most of the time. got used to an auto bike. never liked it coz each time i let go of the throttle, my heart sinks, thinking it would stall coz there's no clutch lever.  

kenna stopped by police at one point. market rate of 50,000 ($5) to settle it all. a good experience for the books. hahhas. 

went to factory outlets. 

ate indon food.

also ate atas and very nice dim sum. 

saw the signature bali waves. not as crowded as i expected it to be. 

got myself 3 shorts, 3 tops and 1 soccer boots in total.

had massage. 

wanted to eat at Bubba Gump but it was closed... so went to this very nice place to eat nice angmoh food. #noregrets and really enjoyed ourselves.

had black canyon coffee. not as good as the real deal from chiang mai.

drank more Bintang beer coz its like $1.70 per bottle. chilled out till 3am. got to know my bro-in-law more. 

Bali bakery for breakfast before we left for the airport

and really had a good 2 r & r days after the trek.

ok. let the photos do the talking.

 

 

hahas. finally done posting. what a long post.

alot of photos i really wanna share but let's not flood this space. 

overall, its been a great week. probably the best week of 2014. and its really timely coz after this good break, its a start of a new job for me! hope that i'll put all the unhappy past behind, leave them at the grey gravel of the summit climb. 

this is also a good reminder that i can really enjoy myself, live life to the fullest and positively, if i really want to. situations do not define me, but its how we respond to the situations that define us. i'm glad to have made new friends along the way. and also, happy that i got to know my bro-in-law more and that he has really enjoyed himself with the many first-times for him.

alright. time check, gtg and zzzz, all ready for tmr. hahas!