Monday, December 10, 2007

genting !!! @ 6:04 PM

wheee!! just got back from genting. so much to blog about yet i doubt i'd be able to put all i wanna say down here. well i guess some memories are best treasured in the heart and not in words ba.

friday 7 december 2007

met owllie, dodo and euphie aka boon2 at mos around 9.30pm before we walked to somewhere midway between bugis and golden mile complex. we could have walked all the way there but since we had the time we decided to wait for a bus which saved us 2 stops worth of walking. haha. okok. i was lazy to walk all the way =P

we got there at the stipulated check-in time but the bus hadn't arrived so we just stood around in the midst of a huge crowd. chatting and being lame.. as usual. haha. was kinda disappointed that we had to change bus at the malaysian check point and that our seats were not allocated in pairs, which was the arrangement i had requested for. nonetheless, it worked out pretty well, since we were travelling through the night. think all of us were trying to catch some sleep but none of us really got to rest well. the seats weren't all that comfortable and it was hard to find a nice sleeping position.

saturday 8 december 2007

rainie and her bf - andy took a bus which left half an hour earlier than us, but they ended up arriving at 3.30am while we arrived at around 6am! *roarr* think we all arrived looking half-dead and half-frozen. haha. *brrr* we each got a drink at the starbucks located at the hotel lobby to defrost. we went to try our luck to see if we could check-in at 7am (we were told the check-in time was 3pm). we weren't lucky enough to check-in there and then, but were told we could check-in at 2pm which was still better than 3pm. we deposited our luggage at the bell counter and went around exploring, with andy, rainie and owllie being our tour guides. come to think of it, my last visit to genting was when i was in primary school, when exactly i can't remember. but i do remember that there was no theme park back then. my memory of genting before this trip is almost non-existent. anyway, we went around the indoor theme park and walked all the way to the resort hotel which was where we wanted to stay at initially as the rooms were larger. our first attendance taking session took place at the foot of the huge Christmas tree, outside a cosy-looking cottage. the Christmas lights there and all over the theme park and hotels were really beautiful. it was really those in which you can 陶醉在其中.

stopped to have breakfast at the foodcourt around 8am. the 2 couples had something to munch. owllie and me weren't hungry so we gave it a miss. oh yes, while we were out exploring, owllie made a remark while we were going up the escalator. can't remember her exact words but it was something like "we should be l_s". haha. owllie ai ai!!! oops.

we had decided on watching the golden compass in genting so we proceeded to the cinema to get the tickets after breakfast. we got a bit of a shock when we saw a sign saying "the golden compass full house", but then we realised the ticketing counter wasn't even open! dots. we met 2 staff outside the cinema who told us that the counter only opens at 10am. we were like "the first show is at 10.15 and the counter opens at 10?!" and they laughed and said "that's how we do things here." (in mandarin). zzzz. anyway we took quite a long time deciding if we should get the all-park or indoor-park tickets. we decided on the all-park despite the seemingly ominous weather the past few days in view of 2 reasons, 1) in-case the weather were to be fine it'd be nice to try out the outdoor rides, 2) the outdoor rides tickets are not sold individually.

we were still early for the 9am 4D motion master ride, so we decided to try out the bumper cars. i found it really amusing for some reason i do not really know how to explain. but what i can say is that it was probably the slowest and most gentle bumper car ride i've ever taken. i think anyone of us could have walked faster than the cars and we could probably bump each other harder without the cars than with them =P we then tried out the 4D motion master ride. we were like the 1st ones in the room. since we were early and we had the place to ourselves, it was back to our favourite pastime - picture-taking or in dodo's words, cam-whoring. haha. managed to get quite good shots of everyone except andy cuz he was seated too far and it was too dark. everyone looks so cute in the pics. haha. i found the ride pretty lame. the animation wasn't even good and the chairs didn't move all that much either. there were occasional spouts of mist at your feet and once at your cheek, problem being it was came on at rather inappropriate times. not sure if it's the ride that's dumb or just the one that we happened to watch - ali baba. owllie said the enchanted castle isn't too bad. so i guess it's just the ali baba one then. thankfully, this was one ride we didn't need to queue for cuz it wouldn't have been worth the wait.

was still kinda early so we went out (in the cold) to continue with our attendance taking session. haha. it wasn't THAT cold then so i took off my jacket and went about taking pictures for the next half an hour or so. dodo and rainie seemed to be freezing so i either have sufficient insulation or i'm outta my mind. haha. pick one. anyway that round of photo-shoot was really fun, even though i think some of us were shivering right to our bones. by the time we were done with or rather after we decided to head indoors before we became blocks of ice, ahbeng aka swordbearer and shane called to say they had arrived. think they got lost and took quite a while before they located us. in any case, we were lucky we went indoors when we did. while the rest headed for the restrooms, i decided to check if the ticketing counter had opened (it was around 9.40am then). amazingly, or not so amazingly, there was already a queue there. so much for them opening at 10am. *roarr* we had wanted to try out the osim seats but gave up on the idea as the seats were located right smack in the front row. we decided on the 1.30am show thinking that it would give us something to do when most of the other shops and attractions were closed. read on to find out how this arrangement turned out =P

anyway once shane and dxg got their all-park tickets, we headed outdoors for the rides. owllie and me got ourselves a scoop of ice cream each despite the rest, especially dodo thinking we were mad. well.. we never said we weren't =x haha. shane and dxg got themselves ice cream too (they hadn't had breakfast). actually eating ice cream in that weather was super 爽. haha. too bad the rest didn't want to try. it'd be so cool (literally and figuratively)! after we got our ice cream we went to queue for the rollercoaster. the queue was so long! just as it was about to be our turn, the ride was closed as the fog was getting heavier and the ride operator was concerned that the brakes wouldn't be fully-functional. oh well... it then started to drizzle and got really windy. that ended our outdoor plans up till then. we were all a little hungry and so went around looking for a nice place for lunch. we eventually settled down at this restaurant serving hongkong cuisine. the food was okay i guess. i didn't really eat much as my back was giving me a little trouble.

after lunch which was around 12 plus, we decided to head to the snookerium just beside the restaurant to pass the time until we could check in. owllie played a game with dxg and rainie played one with shane. it was shane's 1st time playing pool wor, like tuna. i always thought that all guys could play pool. maybe i'm generalizing or are the guys in the guild eh... special. lol. the girls decided to go shopping before we fell asleep watching the guys play pool. think we only managed to go through 4 shops in like an hour. haha. got ivan his birthday present - yes yes.. it's the usual present we get for ohanians =P took quite long to decide on it. we were kinda spoilt for choice. eh.. ivan.. must feel honoured wor. took 4 女人s to get your present leh. haha. at the last shop, dodo, rainie and owllie were rummaging through the mountain of clothes on sale to find something suitable for me. considering how aunt-ish it must have made them look, i'm most 感动 *hugs* it was a rather fruitful shopping spree, though short cuz i think we each managed to get ourselves something =)

by the time we rounded the guys up and headed over to the check-in counter it was already 2pm. we got the rest to collect the baggage while owllie and me went to the tour counter to check-in. almost fainted when we reached the tour counter cuz it was PACKED! we thought die le la.. so many people then by the time we queue more than 1 hour le. but thank God, the queue number was the one we got when we first arrived. and thank God again that we reached there just 2 numbers away from our queue number! we are such blessed people =) got the keys to our rooms located in tower 2 (new one) on the 25th floor, not that the level mattered cuz 1) our rooms did not come with a view, 2) even if the room did come with a view, the visibility was probably only like 50-100m. anyway, outta the 2 rooms one was ready while the other was still under-going cleaning. guess which one the guys took? or rather were made to take? LOL.

anyway once we checked into the rooms. everyone (the girls) were shoo-ed to take hot showers, starting with dodo. hehe. hot baths are great when you're cold and tired. i was the last to shower. think my back needed the rest more than my mind wanted the hot bath. the guys had to loiter outside their room for quite a while =x leaving the girlfriends all worried and running out to check on them every once in a while. we had our long-awaited pillow (piggy) fighting after our baths. was kinda sudden and random. i think dodo just picked up a pillow and said "pillow fight!" or something like that. been a long time since i participated in one of these. too bad we only had 3 pillows so we couldn't have a full-blown pillow fight. after that we took some photos of ourselves - the tv served as a very good tripod =P i love these pictures the best. dunno why.. just feels that way =)

after we all got washed up we went back to the theme park. all the queues for the rides were at least 20-30 mins wait. we ended up taking a ride in the corkscrew. thankfully this time we managed to get our ride despite the thickening fog. too bad rainie and andy didn't join us for the ride. i thought that descending the slopes were more exhilarating than the loops. but on the whole, i'm not the adventurous sort when it comes to thrill rides. think my heart cannot take it ah. haha. started to drizzle shortly after we got off the ride. the drizzle turned into rain and that really marked the end of our outdoor activities. at least we got 1 ride =) we then went indoors to try out the rides. we wanted to ride the monorail which goes outdoors as well, but even that was closed =( so we decided to try out the rio float ride. the queue was once again a killer, but thankfully the float ride was short (indoors only) and each float could take up to 8 people, so the queue moved pretty fast =) guess what we did while waiting in line? haha. yes! more photos! i started by taking pics of dodo, rainie, andy, euphie, shane and dxg cuz me and owllie were at the front of the queue so it was kinda convenient. owllie then realised we haven't taken a group shot. so with her pro camera which allowed the lcd to be rotated, we all tried to squash ourselves to fit into the picture. we did get a couple of pics with everyone but some only had part of their faces in the pic. i remember a pic in which the only visible part of andy was part of his head and 1 eye =x come to think of it, it was really amusing trying to take the group pic. in the end i suggested taking pics of our feet and hands. haha. well.. at least taking those pics were alot easier and you all can guess which foot and hand belong to who =P lol

before we knew it, it was already 6 plus. time for dinner!! dodo saw online that the be a star ktv had a dinner promotion - order a dinner ranging from rm13-rm20 each and get 2 hours to sing foc. we felt that it was a pretty good offer as meals anywhere else would cost at least rm15. furthermore, we get 2 hours of ktv free! the room was very spacious, but smelt of smoke and the screen was those OHP kind - super big, but sadly super blur also. the song selection was kinda limited but at least most of the english songs came with original mtv. hehe. another perk was that the mics were cordless which made for easy passing and they didn't smell!!! haha. oops. anyway the food was pretty good minus shane's which came in a super duper small tiny weeny portion. zzz.

this ktv session was the 1st ever which owllie actually asleep!! even when we had marathon ktv she also never concuss de lor. all because of dxg lor. go pick the 10 min long canto song and bore owllie to sleep! *roarr* the rest of us were like so sian we started doing our own things and stoning. dxg bully us!! after that song everyone like half-dead le. heng dodo sang 放生 and owllie 抓狂 to rescue the mood. owllie also sang another song that has become one of my favourite songs - 别惹我. haha. so fitting. though i doubt the person it was meant for knew it was directed at him. anyway the 10 min long song wasn't what made me upset with his behaviour. since he can sing canto and know how to sing the song, even though i was bored i can take it. cuz i guess we all have a right to sing songs we like. but maybe as a courtesy, since there are other people singing also, you should pick one that is like standard duration ba. that aside, can you imagine sitting through 2 songs in which the person singing doesn't know the tune of the entire song except the chorus and still refuses to eject/stop the song? i mean come on la, like i said, it's basic courtesy, if you can't sing the song at least have it stopped. it isn't nice for the rest of the people sitting there hearing mumblings of the song except the chorus. i don't mind if the singing isn't nice cuz i know i don't sing well either, but at least you should sing those in which you know how to sing ba. that isn't too much to ask, is it?

after the ktv which ended about 9.30pm, we decided to have OTOT (own time own target) with the only restriction being meet at 1am outside our rooms. we went around shopping together for a short while before we parted ways. owllie and me went around some shops trying to pick out a present for dodo. saw dodo trying to get a new jacket so we browsed around looking for a nice one. the bum and diesel shop had a number of nice pink jackets. we wanted to pick one with a hood cuz dodo's current one doesn't have a hood (owllie and mine got =P) but those which came with a hood weren't as pretty as the one without. haha. so with this, we broke the ohana birthday present tradition. lols. we were kinda tired so we settled down at the starbucks in the mall for a rest and a drink - owllie and me are coffee addicts =x we both got coffee and owllie bought a pretty-looking cake, which tasted really good too. =) dodo and boon2 came to join us. we sat there and talked while trying to spot rainie and andy on the ferris wheel. boon2 so funny la. he started waving his jacket at them after he spotted them. we almost wanted to chase him from the table before other people thought we were mad too.

we sat there till around 11 plus chatting before deciding to head back to the room for some rest. felt so good to plonk on a bed after walking around for the entire day. haha. anyway since i brought a small deck of cards, we decided to play daidi (big 2). think i didn't win a single game? dodo also. we both got trashed by owllie and boon2.

sunday 9 december 2007

owllie and me decided to pop over to the guys room cuz we felt bad we weren't spending time with shane while trying to avoid dxg. so we went over to play a few rounds of daidi with them. kena owned lor. i think neither i won only 1 round? owllie also around there. sob. went back to our rooms around 12.15 to get some rest before the movie. was still chatting with dodo until around 12.30 when rainie came back. talked with rainie a bit. couldn't really sleep cuz of the back. other than the 2 of us, the rest were KO-ed le. everyone was so tired and wanted a short nap before the movie. but......... the room phone suddenly rang at 12.45, which made me jump outta bed and fly halfway across the room to get it. it was dxg asking to speak to owl. i replied by saying she's sleeping, but when i turned around to check, like EVERYONE was awake. so i told him to hold while i passed the phone to owllie, and guess what? when she picked up the phone he had hung up! like what the ... prank call? hello, you're not a kid lor, and neither are we. we said meet at 1am we will know when to wake lor (we set an alarm for 12.50). if you really wanted to give us a wake up call or check if we were ready, just SAY SO. what's with asking for someone and then hanging up? i was just so pissed at that moment i wanted to storm over and demand an explanation. then i heard the doorbell ring, thankfully it was andy and not dxg, if not i may have punched him or something. but i think i gave poor andy a shock.

that really just spoilt our mood and worsened our impression of dxg. i hate being woken up abruptly... and i think it's the same for everyone, especially when there is no apparent cause for it. 5 mins is still sleep lor. like please la, have some consideration for others can? even if you found that none of us are outside by 1am, it still wouldn't be too late to call or ring the doorbell then, the movie is at 1.30 and the cinema is max 10 mins walk away.

okay so after most of us were put into a foul mood, we walked to the cinema, got a popcorn, a snack (1 small packet of biscuit) and a drink each, was part of the package we got for the tickets. wheee i love popcorn. haha. anyway we got really good seats - last row with lotsa leg room. i ate like half my popcorn and only drank like 1/4 of my drink. at some point in the movie, dodo nudged me and told me to look at rainie and andy. they both fell asleep!!! andy was still saying during pool that whoever fell asleep at the movie would have popcorn thrown at them lor. i told owllie they fell asleep and remembering this, she reached for her box of popcorn, popped open the cover and threw popcorn over. the 1st piece barely hit rainie, who didn't seem to have felt the popcorn, the second piece however hit the wrong boyfriend as it was too light =x owllie then decided to try throwing the packet of biscuit over. it did hit its target, but she didn't seem to have felt it either! *roarr* we left them to sleep but i think they woke up during the last part =P

the movie's pretty good. little confusing at 1st cuz of the different tribes in the story, but not hard to catch on. overall good storyline though not as action-packed as harry potter or LOTR.

all of us we kinda shack by this time (about 3.30). so we hurried back to wash up and get to bed. we thought we could all go back and have our rest after the long day, but who would have thought, more problems were to arise.

once we got to the room, i was made to lie down =x we were all ready for bed but we discovered a problem in the guys' room - lack of space to sleep. apparently andy and boon2 hadn't space to sleep but they were too shy to tell shane and dxg. they wanted to go roam around the place and not sleep and of course this worried us. i mean everyone's tired and need to rest. i wasn't gonna allow anyone roaming around when they should be asleep. i wanted to go over to see if they had settled the problem but owllie said she'd go over and told me to lie down. i decided to be 乖, for once =P anyway think after someone voiced out the problem it was solved alot easier and faster. finally everyone could lay their heads down and retire for the night. it was already 4 plus by this time.

all the rest of the girls fell asleep shortly after. all dead tired le. i wanted to concuss also but my back didn't allow it. despite already taking 4 panadol actifast from 11 plus till then. dunno what i was doing or thinking throughout the night. i only know i changed like tonnes of sleeping positions. think around 6am i inched my way to the floor tried to sleep sitting up. almost laid on the floor to sleep cuz i figured i could toss and turn without waking the rest. then i thought of going for a walk but dodo suddenly woke up and in a half-dazed stated asked me to go back to sleep. so i went back to the bed to lie down and try to fall asleep. think i finally fell asleep at 7+ when my brain couldn't function le. but before i knew it, i heard someone knocking at the door. i thought i was imagining it and wanted to continue sleeping but the knocking continued. once again, i jumped outta bed hoping that the knocking hadn't woke the rest. and once again.. i saw dxg. in my half dazed state, i remember asking what he wanted, and he replied nothing, just wondering if we were still asleep. i replied yes, and if my memory doesn't fail me, he asked if ALL of us were asleep and i replied yes, ALL. i closed the door and went to check my handphone for the time - it said 8.00am. i was like what the ... i just fell asleep. *roarr*

dodo and rainie woke in half-dazed states and asked me what happened. i briefly mentioned to what happened and told them to go back to sleep, which they did. i on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. i mean how can anyone go back to sleep after being jolted awake. furthermore, i was worried that dxg came over cuz he found people missing in his room. i wanted to get the girls to check on their boyfriends, but seeing them so tired i decided against it. i fell asleep at dunno what time and woke at 10.50am. decided not to sleep any longer. the rest of the girls woke shortly after and we decided to check on the guys as they had to check outta their room by noon. owllie and me went to knock on their door. after knocking for some time with no answers, owllie pressed the doorbell. lol. shane answered the door. on peering into the room i realised andy and boon2 were still asleep while dxg was sitting up on the bed. apparently he went back to sleep.

*roarr* no one was missing in the guys room, the lights in the girls' room were off and not a sound came from our room. so why in the ......... did you knock on our door at 8am? don't you know that by the time we settled the sleeping arrangements it was 4 plus? if we were ALL awake don't you think we would go over to wake you all? angry sia.

brunch was the hotel's international buffet priced at rm39 each. as owllie commented, the buffet was more an asian buffet than an international one. the food was okay. nothing really fantastic, the spread wasn't all that great and the desserts weren't even pretty. wouldn't really recommend it. i remember how bored owllie was that she went to cut her fruits into a T_T face, quite a masterpiece i must say. trust owllie to have such a wacky sense of art. haha.

didn't have much time left after brunch so we decided to shop our way towards the hotel lobby. owllie and me were so tempted to get a non-permanent body art (tattoo) each, too bad there was some kid in the shop getting hers done and we don't think we have the time to get ours done. next time ba =P oh yah, owllie and me got a cushion each. i needed something to hug on the return trip, i got a moo2. owllie decided to get one too, she got an ahbee =P haha. we asked dodo if she wanted to get one. we were joking that she didn't need one cuz she already has a life-size one. haha. anyway moo2 and ahbee are soooooo cute!! will post a pic of moo2 when i have the time, and ahbee too.

headed to the bus departure point which was absolutely crowded. it was like a mad house there. we said our goodbyes to rainie and andy who extended their trip for another day just before we went to check-in at the bus counter. shane and dxg waited with us. our bus was set to leave at 2.30pm but even at 2.45pm the bus had yet to arrive. in the meantime, we had to wait in a small room packed with people, breathed in smoke from idiotic people's cigarettes and got bumped around countless times. i almost fell twice. thank goodness owllie grabbed onto me. our bus finally came at 2.50pm, we said our goodbyes to shane and dxg and shoved our way through the crowd to look for our bus. we eventually found the bus with the correct number but the front letters were different from what the bus company gave us. zzz. the bus smelt like smoke - so much for the no-smoking sign on the bus.

the superbly inconsiderate driver was blasting his music on the bus. if it's in malay it's still okay, but it was those songs with loud drumming and screechy background music. gave all of us such a bad headache we all had to plug our ears with mp3s and play our own music. what's worse was that he was smoking while he was driving every now and then. KNS la. polluting our air. the only consolation about the bus was that the seats were more conducive to sleeping. when we stopped over yong peng for dinner, the driver could have dropped us off before he went to top-up the gas tank, but no. all of us had to spend 5-10 mins on the bus watching the gas tank being filled. when we got off the bus he just mumbled 25 mins. i thought it was 35 mins but owllie said it was 25. like kns la. even recess in school is longer than that. anyway we got our dinner and more cup corn! haha. i love cup corn too =) we had enough time to shop a little at the 土产shop.

long queue of tour buses at the tuas check point. even though immigration itself was really fast. think everyone on the bus got out of immigration before the bus even got through. we arrived at golden mile at around 11.20pm. saw a huge crowd at the taxi stand and decided to walk backwards to see if we could catch a cab. but everywhere we went, there were people waiting for cabs. i decided it would be best to call for cabs as there were simply too many people waiting and we'd probably end up paying more in midnight charges than booking fee if we continued to wait past 12. we all got our cabs and arrived home safe and sound =)

wahh.. super long post. longer than my assignment essay le. haha. anyway i must say that inspite of the little hiccups here and there on this trip. it was really enjoyable and memorable. the activities may have been ordinary, but the company (for the most part) was extraordinary. we must really do this again sometime soon. let's start planning so that i have something to look forward to =P

a few things i've learnt:

1) don't take 5 stars buses unless you plan to upgrade to the super comfy sort with massage chair, personal tv and all that
2) common sense to some people ain't that common
3) i can buy and eat cup corn anytime at any place - yong peng and genting. haha yes, i'm corny. cup corn, popcorn... yummy!!


photos as promised. compilation of dodo's, owllie's and mine. may add on more once i get my hands on rainie's pics =P

5260 words and counting ... =P (edited. missed out the bumper car ride and commented on the 4D motion master ride)

Monday, December 10, 2007

genting !!! @ 6:04 PM

wheee!! just got back from genting. so much to blog about yet i doubt i'd be able to put all i wanna say down here. well i guess some memories are best treasured in the heart and not in words ba.

friday 7 december 2007

met owllie, dodo and euphie aka boon2 at mos around 9.30pm before we walked to somewhere midway between bugis and golden mile complex. we could have walked all the way there but since we had the time we decided to wait for a bus which saved us 2 stops worth of walking. haha. okok. i was lazy to walk all the way =P

we got there at the stipulated check-in time but the bus hadn't arrived so we just stood around in the midst of a huge crowd. chatting and being lame.. as usual. haha. was kinda disappointed that we had to change bus at the malaysian check point and that our seats were not allocated in pairs, which was the arrangement i had requested for. nonetheless, it worked out pretty well, since we were travelling through the night. think all of us were trying to catch some sleep but none of us really got to rest well. the seats weren't all that comfortable and it was hard to find a nice sleeping position.

saturday 8 december 2007

rainie and her bf - andy took a bus which left half an hour earlier than us, but they ended up arriving at 3.30am while we arrived at around 6am! *roarr* think we all arrived looking half-dead and half-frozen. haha. *brrr* we each got a drink at the starbucks located at the hotel lobby to defrost. we went to try our luck to see if we could check-in at 7am (we were told the check-in time was 3pm). we weren't lucky enough to check-in there and then, but were told we could check-in at 2pm which was still better than 3pm. we deposited our luggage at the bell counter and went around exploring, with andy, rainie and owllie being our tour guides. come to think of it, my last visit to genting was when i was in primary school, when exactly i can't remember. but i do remember that there was no theme park back then. my memory of genting before this trip is almost non-existent. anyway, we went around the indoor theme park and walked all the way to the resort hotel which was where we wanted to stay at initially as the rooms were larger. our first attendance taking session took place at the foot of the huge Christmas tree, outside a cosy-looking cottage. the Christmas lights there and all over the theme park and hotels were really beautiful. it was really those in which you can 陶醉在其中.

stopped to have breakfast at the foodcourt around 8am. the 2 couples had something to munch. owllie and me weren't hungry so we gave it a miss. oh yes, while we were out exploring, owllie made a remark while we were going up the escalator. can't remember her exact words but it was something like "we should be l_s". haha. owllie ai ai!!! oops.

we had decided on watching the golden compass in genting so we proceeded to the cinema to get the tickets after breakfast. we got a bit of a shock when we saw a sign saying "the golden compass full house", but then we realised the ticketing counter wasn't even open! dots. we met 2 staff outside the cinema who told us that the counter only opens at 10am. we were like "the first show is at 10.15 and the counter opens at 10?!" and they laughed and said "that's how we do things here." (in mandarin). zzzz. anyway we took quite a long time deciding if we should get the all-park or indoor-park tickets. we decided on the all-park despite the seemingly ominous weather the past few days in view of 2 reasons, 1) in-case the weather were to be fine it'd be nice to try out the outdoor rides, 2) the outdoor rides tickets are not sold individually.

we were still early for the 9am 4D motion master ride, so we decided to try out the bumper cars. i found it really amusing for some reason i do not really know how to explain. but what i can say is that it was probably the slowest and most gentle bumper car ride i've ever taken. i think anyone of us could have walked faster than the cars and we could probably bump each other harder without the cars than with them =P we then tried out the 4D motion master ride. we were like the 1st ones in the room. since we were early and we had the place to ourselves, it was back to our favourite pastime - picture-taking or in dodo's words, cam-whoring. haha. managed to get quite good shots of everyone except andy cuz he was seated too far and it was too dark. everyone looks so cute in the pics. haha. i found the ride pretty lame. the animation wasn't even good and the chairs didn't move all that much either. there were occasional spouts of mist at your feet and once at your cheek, problem being it was came on at rather inappropriate times. not sure if it's the ride that's dumb or just the one that we happened to watch - ali baba. owllie said the enchanted castle isn't too bad. so i guess it's just the ali baba one then. thankfully, this was one ride we didn't need to queue for cuz it wouldn't have been worth the wait.

was still kinda early so we went out (in the cold) to continue with our attendance taking session. haha. it wasn't THAT cold then so i took off my jacket and went about taking pictures for the next half an hour or so. dodo and rainie seemed to be freezing so i either have sufficient insulation or i'm outta my mind. haha. pick one. anyway that round of photo-shoot was really fun, even though i think some of us were shivering right to our bones. by the time we were done with or rather after we decided to head indoors before we became blocks of ice, ahbeng aka swordbearer and shane called to say they had arrived. think they got lost and took quite a while before they located us. in any case, we were lucky we went indoors when we did. while the rest headed for the restrooms, i decided to check if the ticketing counter had opened (it was around 9.40am then). amazingly, or not so amazingly, there was already a queue there. so much for them opening at 10am. *roarr* we had wanted to try out the osim seats but gave up on the idea as the seats were located right smack in the front row. we decided on the 1.30am show thinking that it would give us something to do when most of the other shops and attractions were closed. read on to find out how this arrangement turned out =P

anyway once shane and dxg got their all-park tickets, we headed outdoors for the rides. owllie and me got ourselves a scoop of ice cream each despite the rest, especially dodo thinking we were mad. well.. we never said we weren't =x haha. shane and dxg got themselves ice cream too (they hadn't had breakfast). actually eating ice cream in that weather was super 爽. haha. too bad the rest didn't want to try. it'd be so cool (literally and figuratively)! after we got our ice cream we went to queue for the rollercoaster. the queue was so long! just as it was about to be our turn, the ride was closed as the fog was getting heavier and the ride operator was concerned that the brakes wouldn't be fully-functional. oh well... it then started to drizzle and got really windy. that ended our outdoor plans up till then. we were all a little hungry and so went around looking for a nice place for lunch. we eventually settled down at this restaurant serving hongkong cuisine. the food was okay i guess. i didn't really eat much as my back was giving me a little trouble.

after lunch which was around 12 plus, we decided to head to the snookerium just beside the restaurant to pass the time until we could check in. owllie played a game with dxg and rainie played one with shane. it was shane's 1st time playing pool wor, like tuna. i always thought that all guys could play pool. maybe i'm generalizing or are the guys in the guild eh... special. lol. the girls decided to go shopping before we fell asleep watching the guys play pool. think we only managed to go through 4 shops in like an hour. haha. got ivan his birthday present - yes yes.. it's the usual present we get for ohanians =P took quite long to decide on it. we were kinda spoilt for choice. eh.. ivan.. must feel honoured wor. took 4 女人s to get your present leh. haha. at the last shop, dodo, rainie and owllie were rummaging through the mountain of clothes on sale to find something suitable for me. considering how aunt-ish it must have made them look, i'm most 感动 *hugs* it was a rather fruitful shopping spree, though short cuz i think we each managed to get ourselves something =)

by the time we rounded the guys up and headed over to the check-in counter it was already 2pm. we got the rest to collect the baggage while owllie and me went to the tour counter to check-in. almost fainted when we reached the tour counter cuz it was PACKED! we thought die le la.. so many people then by the time we queue more than 1 hour le. but thank God, the queue number was the one we got when we first arrived. and thank God again that we reached there just 2 numbers away from our queue number! we are such blessed people =) got the keys to our rooms located in tower 2 (new one) on the 25th floor, not that the level mattered cuz 1) our rooms did not come with a view, 2) even if the room did come with a view, the visibility was probably only like 50-100m. anyway, outta the 2 rooms one was ready while the other was still under-going cleaning. guess which one the guys took? or rather were made to take? LOL.

anyway once we checked into the rooms. everyone (the girls) were shoo-ed to take hot showers, starting with dodo. hehe. hot baths are great when you're cold and tired. i was the last to shower. think my back needed the rest more than my mind wanted the hot bath. the guys had to loiter outside their room for quite a while =x leaving the girlfriends all worried and running out to check on them every once in a while. we had our long-awaited pillow (piggy) fighting after our baths. was kinda sudden and random. i think dodo just picked up a pillow and said "pillow fight!" or something like that. been a long time since i participated in one of these. too bad we only had 3 pillows so we couldn't have a full-blown pillow fight. after that we took some photos of ourselves - the tv served as a very good tripod =P i love these pictures the best. dunno why.. just feels that way =)

after we all got washed up we went back to the theme park. all the queues for the rides were at least 20-30 mins wait. we ended up taking a ride in the corkscrew. thankfully this time we managed to get our ride despite the thickening fog. too bad rainie and andy didn't join us for the ride. i thought that descending the slopes were more exhilarating than the loops. but on the whole, i'm not the adventurous sort when it comes to thrill rides. think my heart cannot take it ah. haha. started to drizzle shortly after we got off the ride. the drizzle turned into rain and that really marked the end of our outdoor activities. at least we got 1 ride =) we then went indoors to try out the rides. we wanted to ride the monorail which goes outdoors as well, but even that was closed =( so we decided to try out the rio float ride. the queue was once again a killer, but thankfully the float ride was short (indoors only) and each float could take up to 8 people, so the queue moved pretty fast =) guess what we did while waiting in line? haha. yes! more photos! i started by taking pics of dodo, rainie, andy, euphie, shane and dxg cuz me and owllie were at the front of the queue so it was kinda convenient. owllie then realised we haven't taken a group shot. so with her pro camera which allowed the lcd to be rotated, we all tried to squash ourselves to fit into the picture. we did get a couple of pics with everyone but some only had part of their faces in the pic. i remember a pic in which the only visible part of andy was part of his head and 1 eye =x come to think of it, it was really amusing trying to take the group pic. in the end i suggested taking pics of our feet and hands. haha. well.. at least taking those pics were alot easier and you all can guess which foot and hand belong to who =P lol

before we knew it, it was already 6 plus. time for dinner!! dodo saw online that the be a star ktv had a dinner promotion - order a dinner ranging from rm13-rm20 each and get 2 hours to sing foc. we felt that it was a pretty good offer as meals anywhere else would cost at least rm15. furthermore, we get 2 hours of ktv free! the room was very spacious, but smelt of smoke and the screen was those OHP kind - super big, but sadly super blur also. the song selection was kinda limited but at least most of the english songs came with original mtv. hehe. another perk was that the mics were cordless which made for easy passing and they didn't smell!!! haha. oops. anyway the food was pretty good minus shane's which came in a super duper small tiny weeny portion. zzz.

this ktv session was the 1st ever which owllie actually asleep!! even when we had marathon ktv she also never concuss de lor. all because of dxg lor. go pick the 10 min long canto song and bore owllie to sleep! *roarr* the rest of us were like so sian we started doing our own things and stoning. dxg bully us!! after that song everyone like half-dead le. heng dodo sang 放生 and owllie 抓狂 to rescue the mood. owllie also sang another song that has become one of my favourite songs - 别惹我. haha. so fitting. though i doubt the person it was meant for knew it was directed at him. anyway the 10 min long song wasn't what made me upset with his behaviour. since he can sing canto and know how to sing the song, even though i was bored i can take it. cuz i guess we all have a right to sing songs we like. but maybe as a courtesy, since there are other people singing also, you should pick one that is like standard duration ba. that aside, can you imagine sitting through 2 songs in which the person singing doesn't know the tune of the entire song except the chorus and still refuses to eject/stop the song? i mean come on la, like i said, it's basic courtesy, if you can't sing the song at least have it stopped. it isn't nice for the rest of the people sitting there hearing mumblings of the song except the chorus. i don't mind if the singing isn't nice cuz i know i don't sing well either, but at least you should sing those in which you know how to sing ba. that isn't too much to ask, is it?

after the ktv which ended about 9.30pm, we decided to have OTOT (own time own target) with the only restriction being meet at 1am outside our rooms. we went around shopping together for a short while before we parted ways. owllie and me went around some shops trying to pick out a present for dodo. saw dodo trying to get a new jacket so we browsed around looking for a nice one. the bum and diesel shop had a number of nice pink jackets. we wanted to pick one with a hood cuz dodo's current one doesn't have a hood (owllie and mine got =P) but those which came with a hood weren't as pretty as the one without. haha. so with this, we broke the ohana birthday present tradition. lols. we were kinda tired so we settled down at the starbucks in the mall for a rest and a drink - owllie and me are coffee addicts =x we both got coffee and owllie bought a pretty-looking cake, which tasted really good too. =) dodo and boon2 came to join us. we sat there and talked while trying to spot rainie and andy on the ferris wheel. boon2 so funny la. he started waving his jacket at them after he spotted them. we almost wanted to chase him from the table before other people thought we were mad too.

we sat there till around 11 plus chatting before deciding to head back to the room for some rest. felt so good to plonk on a bed after walking around for the entire day. haha. anyway since i brought a small deck of cards, we decided to play daidi (big 2). think i didn't win a single game? dodo also. we both got trashed by owllie and boon2.

sunday 9 december 2007

owllie and me decided to pop over to the guys room cuz we felt bad we weren't spending time with shane while trying to avoid dxg. so we went over to play a few rounds of daidi with them. kena owned lor. i think neither i won only 1 round? owllie also around there. sob. went back to our rooms around 12.15 to get some rest before the movie. was still chatting with dodo until around 12.30 when rainie came back. talked with rainie a bit. couldn't really sleep cuz of the back. other than the 2 of us, the rest were KO-ed le. everyone was so tired and wanted a short nap before the movie. but......... the room phone suddenly rang at 12.45, which made me jump outta bed and fly halfway across the room to get it. it was dxg asking to speak to owl. i replied by saying she's sleeping, but when i turned around to check, like EVERYONE was awake. so i told him to hold while i passed the phone to owllie, and guess what? when she picked up the phone he had hung up! like what the ... prank call? hello, you're not a kid lor, and neither are we. we said meet at 1am we will know when to wake lor (we set an alarm for 12.50). if you really wanted to give us a wake up call or check if we were ready, just SAY SO. what's with asking for someone and then hanging up? i was just so pissed at that moment i wanted to storm over and demand an explanation. then i heard the doorbell ring, thankfully it was andy and not dxg, if not i may have punched him or something. but i think i gave poor andy a shock.

that really just spoilt our mood and worsened our impression of dxg. i hate being woken up abruptly... and i think it's the same for everyone, especially when there is no apparent cause for it. 5 mins is still sleep lor. like please la, have some consideration for others can? even if you found that none of us are outside by 1am, it still wouldn't be too late to call or ring the doorbell then, the movie is at 1.30 and the cinema is max 10 mins walk away.

okay so after most of us were put into a foul mood, we walked to the cinema, got a popcorn, a snack (1 small packet of biscuit) and a drink each, was part of the package we got for the tickets. wheee i love popcorn. haha. anyway we got really good seats - last row with lotsa leg room. i ate like half my popcorn and only drank like 1/4 of my drink. at some point in the movie, dodo nudged me and told me to look at rainie and andy. they both fell asleep!!! andy was still saying during pool that whoever fell asleep at the movie would have popcorn thrown at them lor. i told owllie they fell asleep and remembering this, she reached for her box of popcorn, popped open the cover and threw popcorn over. the 1st piece barely hit rainie, who didn't seem to have felt the popcorn, the second piece however hit the wrong boyfriend as it was too light =x owllie then decided to try throwing the packet of biscuit over. it did hit its target, but she didn't seem to have felt it either! *roarr* we left them to sleep but i think they woke up during the last part =P

the movie's pretty good. little confusing at 1st cuz of the different tribes in the story, but not hard to catch on. overall good storyline though not as action-packed as harry potter or LOTR.

all of us we kinda shack by this time (about 3.30). so we hurried back to wash up and get to bed. we thought we could all go back and have our rest after the long day, but who would have thought, more problems were to arise.

once we got to the room, i was made to lie down =x we were all ready for bed but we discovered a problem in the guys' room - lack of space to sleep. apparently andy and boon2 hadn't space to sleep but they were too shy to tell shane and dxg. they wanted to go roam around the place and not sleep and of course this worried us. i mean everyone's tired and need to rest. i wasn't gonna allow anyone roaming around when they should be asleep. i wanted to go over to see if they had settled the problem but owllie said she'd go over and told me to lie down. i decided to be 乖, for once =P anyway think after someone voiced out the problem it was solved alot easier and faster. finally everyone could lay their heads down and retire for the night. it was already 4 plus by this time.

all the rest of the girls fell asleep shortly after. all dead tired le. i wanted to concuss also but my back didn't allow it. despite already taking 4 panadol actifast from 11 plus till then. dunno what i was doing or thinking throughout the night. i only know i changed like tonnes of sleeping positions. think around 6am i inched my way to the floor tried to sleep sitting up. almost laid on the floor to sleep cuz i figured i could toss and turn without waking the rest. then i thought of going for a walk but dodo suddenly woke up and in a half-dazed stated asked me to go back to sleep. so i went back to the bed to lie down and try to fall asleep. think i finally fell asleep at 7+ when my brain couldn't function le. but before i knew it, i heard someone knocking at the door. i thought i was imagining it and wanted to continue sleeping but the knocking continued. once again, i jumped outta bed hoping that the knocking hadn't woke the rest. and once again.. i saw dxg. in my half dazed state, i remember asking what he wanted, and he replied nothing, just wondering if we were still asleep. i replied yes, and if my memory doesn't fail me, he asked if ALL of us were asleep and i replied yes, ALL. i closed the door and went to check my handphone for the time - it said 8.00am. i was like what the ... i just fell asleep. *roarr*

dodo and rainie woke in half-dazed states and asked me what happened. i briefly mentioned to what happened and told them to go back to sleep, which they did. i on the other hand, couldn't fall asleep. i mean how can anyone go back to sleep after being jolted awake. furthermore, i was worried that dxg came over cuz he found people missing in his room. i wanted to get the girls to check on their boyfriends, but seeing them so tired i decided against it. i fell asleep at dunno what time and woke at 10.50am. decided not to sleep any longer. the rest of the girls woke shortly after and we decided to check on the guys as they had to check outta their room by noon. owllie and me went to knock on their door. after knocking for some time with no answers, owllie pressed the doorbell. lol. shane answered the door. on peering into the room i realised andy and boon2 were still asleep while dxg was sitting up on the bed. apparently he went back to sleep.

*roarr* no one was missing in the guys room, the lights in the girls' room were off and not a sound came from our room. so why in the ......... did you knock on our door at 8am? don't you know that by the time we settled the sleeping arrangements it was 4 plus? if we were ALL awake don't you think we would go over to wake you all? angry sia.

brunch was the hotel's international buffet priced at rm39 each. as owllie commented, the buffet was more an asian buffet than an international one. the food was okay. nothing really fantastic, the spread wasn't all that great and the desserts weren't even pretty. wouldn't really recommend it. i remember how bored owllie was that she went to cut her fruits into a T_T face, quite a masterpiece i must say. trust owllie to have such a wacky sense of art. haha.

didn't have much time left after brunch so we decided to shop our way towards the hotel lobby. owllie and me were so tempted to get a non-permanent body art (tattoo) each, too bad there was some kid in the shop getting hers done and we don't think we have the time to get ours done. next time ba =P oh yah, owllie and me got a cushion each. i needed something to hug on the return trip, i got a moo2. owllie decided to get one too, she got an ahbee =P haha. we asked dodo if she wanted to get one. we were joking that she didn't need one cuz she already has a life-size one. haha. anyway moo2 and ahbee are soooooo cute!! will post a pic of moo2 when i have the time, and ahbee too.

headed to the bus departure point which was absolutely crowded. it was like a mad house there. we said our goodbyes to rainie and andy who extended their trip for another day just before we went to check-in at the bus counter. shane and dxg waited with us. our bus was set to leave at 2.30pm but even at 2.45pm the bus had yet to arrive. in the meantime, we had to wait in a small room packed with people, breathed in smoke from idiotic people's cigarettes and got bumped around countless times. i almost fell twice. thank goodness owllie grabbed onto me. our bus finally came at 2.50pm, we said our goodbyes to shane and dxg and shoved our way through the crowd to look for our bus. we eventually found the bus with the correct number but the front letters were different from what the bus company gave us. zzz. the bus smelt like smoke - so much for the no-smoking sign on the bus.

the superbly inconsiderate driver was blasting his music on the bus. if it's in malay it's still okay, but it was those songs with loud drumming and screechy background music. gave all of us such a bad headache we all had to plug our ears with mp3s and play our own music. what's worse was that he was smoking while he was driving every now and then. KNS la. polluting our air. the only consolation about the bus was that the seats were more conducive to sleeping. when we stopped over yong peng for dinner, the driver could have dropped us off before he went to top-up the gas tank, but no. all of us had to spend 5-10 mins on the bus watching the gas tank being filled. when we got off the bus he just mumbled 25 mins. i thought it was 35 mins but owllie said it was 25. like kns la. even recess in school is longer than that. anyway we got our dinner and more cup corn! haha. i love cup corn too =) we had enough time to shop a little at the 土产shop.

long queue of tour buses at the tuas check point. even though immigration itself was really fast. think everyone on the bus got out of immigration before the bus even got through. we arrived at golden mile at around 11.20pm. saw a huge crowd at the taxi stand and decided to walk backwards to see if we could catch a cab. but everywhere we went, there were people waiting for cabs. i decided it would be best to call for cabs as there were simply too many people waiting and we'd probably end up paying more in midnight charges than booking fee if we continued to wait past 12. we all got our cabs and arrived home safe and sound =)

wahh.. super long post. longer than my assignment essay le. haha. anyway i must say that inspite of the little hiccups here and there on this trip. it was really enjoyable and memorable. the activities may have been ordinary, but the company (for the most part) was extraordinary. we must really do this again sometime soon. let's start planning so that i have something to look forward to =P

a few things i've learnt:

1) don't take 5 stars buses unless you plan to upgrade to the super comfy sort with massage chair, personal tv and all that
2) common sense to some people ain't that common
3) i can buy and eat cup corn anytime at any place - yong peng and genting. haha yes, i'm corny. cup corn, popcorn... yummy!!


photos as promised. compilation of dodo's, owllie's and mine. may add on more once i get my hands on rainie's pics =P

5260 words and counting ... =P (edited. missed out the bumper car ride and commented on the 4D motion master ride)