Monday, November 10, 2008

Oct/Nov trips

the past few weeks have been rather busy. like what's new right? but the busyness here is nothing compared to being busy back in singapore. nothing really beats being busy in singapore. and i can already imagine how my hectic lifestyle will begin once i touch down in changi airport in january. but i'm sure it'll feel really good to be back home. back to my family, friends and to my church back home. and of course back to the singaporean food and suppers!! i'm so looking forward to prata! oh man..

ok so what's been up recently? lots of stuffs. just this week, i submitted my business case and the analysis. so that's one major load off my chest. but i've still got my business case presentation, internship presentation and company appreciation video to take care of. all due by the end of the this month. that's the academic side. during the last 2 weekends, i was out of town. i was on a cruise to riga on the previous weekend, while i was in oslo during the last weekend. so this weekend is rest and relax time for me.

riga is the capital of latvia and also the largest city in the baltic states. it's a simple city with an old and traditional feel to it. and while we were there, they were having a mass traditional dance in their streets to try to create a world record for the longest dance. apart from riga, one of the most fun part of this trip was the cruise itself. not that the cruise ship itself was extremely exciting, it was more of the crazy company and the interesting things that you learn about each other. ;) and the basic code of conduct is, whatever happens on the ship, stays on the ship.

oslo on the other hand, was a more beautiful place that really exceeded my expectations. i was told by friends that there wasn't much to see at oslo. but the city proved them, and my little expectations, wrong. my only disappointment was that i was unable to travel to see the breath-taking fjords which norway is famous for. i was really tempted to take the train to bergen and enjoy "one of the most beautiful train journey in the world", to quote wikitravel. but that would mean that i would take a 7 hour train ride from stockholm to oslo, and then another 7 hours to bergen. then spend 1 night there and take the 14 hour train ride all the way back to stockholm. 我屁股会开花! (my butt will blossom!) and i would be so dead @ work the next day after heading straight to work. if i had made my way to oslo earlier by a week or so, i would be able take the ferry cruise there. i guess this gives me another reason to come back to scandinavia. jag måste! (i must!)

and what's up next weekend? WATCH AN EPL MATCH LIVE @ OLD TRAFFORD! how can i travel half way around the world, living in the same time zone as UK and not watch an EPL match @ the very same stadium where they are playing?!?! but to actually get an EPL tix is NOOOO easy task man. as the flight tix were increasing, i decided to buy the flight tix without having any match tix. so i knew i had to get my hands on those tix for that weekend. i waited for man u to release the tix for sale to the public. but they were sold out even before it was released to the general public. i was like.. WHAT?!?! then i had this regret that i should have just signed up as a member for 33 pounds and bought the tix. so i resigned to either buy the tix from the tout on the day itself, or go to the countryside to see sheep (as proposed by my friend). but i'm so not going all the way to manchester to see sheeps! and then i found the official trading site for man u tix, of which i had to first join as a man u member. so, i ended up doing what i had to do in the first place. lesson no 1: when you know that's the right thing to do, DO IT! so now i tried to buy the tix from the site with way much lesser choices for seats and had to pay another 30 pounds extra (2 tix) for handling fees and tax. and i used paypal to made payment for my purchase. BAD CHOICE. the payment went through "successfully" on paypal, but it wasn't received by the other party and it wasn't deducted from my bank. after a million of email exchanges with paypal and the other party, of which paypal only gave automated email responses that tried to sound like a real person behind it, i finally got my money refunded. and then i made a purchase for another set of lousier seating tix, as my previous one disappeared (got bought away i guess), this time with my credit card direct. lesson no 2: if possible, avoid using payapl, PAYPAL SUCKS! but now, it's still not 100% confirm until i get my hands on the physical tix itself. i emailed the tix exchange again to double check with them if they will ensure that i will receive my tix by thursday or do i collect @ the stadium itself. *sigh* why do things have to be so complicated? then the motto of a gay site which i vaguely remember coming across, came to my mind, "because life's not straight". i seriously hope there won't be anymore surprises. oh and i've yet to settle my accommodation. *sigh* here we go again. like how my friends and i always say, "if life's not exciting enough, then it's ain't worth living now, isn't it?"

i have placed a map of the places i've been to (with links to related pics/vid) and the places i would like to visit (in question marks). you can check it out here.

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