Its A Brand New Year!

Proudly presents my work of the year: Sri Lanka 2014 starring Taylor, Roy, Gwen and Zinc.
Enjoy!


Its been a great year! It started off with my last semester in NUS, in Tembusu where I was a resident assistant. I was really worried about finishing my Final Year Project but thankfully I managed to smoke through it. Phew!

I had a really awesome last few months in school, relaxing and enjoying my final schooling days with friends. It was also the last times when I am living away from my parents which is good and bad. Good because I am more sociable and independent away from home and Bad because I miss out on all the good food at home. Had a little love story in my last month which extended beyond graduation for a couple of months but sadly it seems to have fizzled out.

But anyway after graduation I had a grand total of 5 holiday trips with 5 different group of friends and it was one of most exciting 2 months of my life. And shortly after I got a job which I have been working at since, and I must say it is something that I am happy to be doing. And of course the Sri Lanka Trip that capped the year off.

You never know how each year is going to turn out and they always kind of surprise you. Here's to more good surprises next year!

7 New Year Resolutions to work towards:
1) Sleep earlier at 1am latest
2) Exercise (not including teaching skating on weekends unless nonstop skating) 3 times a week
3) Read a book on my NEW kindle PaperWhite every month
4) Better Back Posture
5) Quit Bad Habit #1
6) Learn to Love again
7) Become more valuable at work by documenting work done and helping others be more productive.

*UPDATE: Second video of Sri Lanka: ROAR cover by Taylor NG

Xmas!

Its been slightly over two years since I started this blog, with the intention to capture the great journey I was embarking during my exchange programme. I blog alot during that 6 month period which was and will always be one of the most eventful period of my life. Nowadays the blog posts are rare and few but I hope to continue to use this as an output of my life as I continue to journey on.

I just came back from a holiday to Sri Lanka. Never have I thought that I would ever go to that place but when my old friend Yichun invited me to join him and his two friends Gwen and Zinc on this trip, I agreed almost immediately. It was a new adventure, in a foreign land with newfound friends, so how could I say no?

This is also my first holiday trip since I started working and I was willing to spend more to enjoy and relax rather than scrimp and save and chiong from place to place. Its a good change, one that comes from greater disposable income and past travel experience.

I also bought this new fake GoPro to take pictures and videos during the trip so watch out for the pictures and videos soon.

Merry Xmas everyone!

Totally unrelated to the post except for the Xmas theme! Xmas with the Babirusa!

Totally unrelated to the post also. Xmas with the skating gang!

Get the fuck out of bed.

Life is full of wants. Want this, want that.

Especially with all the social media going on.

Eating awesome food.

Having great time with friends.

Enjoying sweet moments with love ones.

Taking in the scenery of exotic parts of our beautiful earth.

I know that I want to do all this stuff too. But even back when in Tembusu, I get to be involved in all these things or when I was travelling, there are other things which I wanted also.

I guess what we get in life is never enough.

So it all comes down to what I really want to get out of this 人生. And then I gotta make sacrifices. Choices.

A steady job that provide fun challenges everyday and fits my personality.

A part time job that allows me to teach my favourite hobby inline skating.

Occasional outings with close friends.

Travelling once or twice yearly.

Eating my mom's yummy dinner at home many times a week.

and also everyday....

haha ...live life... my life.

The going is tough

Its been almost one and a half months since i started this insane 7 day work week. And its starting to take its toll.

I do love both my jobs and also to be able to spend time with my friends and family. But i do miss having more ME time and doing NOTHING time to really reflect and to work on self improvement and also to relax before fighting the next week battles. As a result it has been really affecting my emotional energies and that in turn affect my performance at work and my social behaviour. I have become very impatient and blunt of late and not able to communicate well.

So many things have happened also over the last two months too. Gave up on love again (it will be back i hope), found some drive and ambition in my career,  and witness the fragility of life...

i need to recharge...battery running low...

X.x

The next journey! To infinity and beyond!

Along the way when I was travelling for 2 months, I decided that when I find a job, my end goal motive is not for monetary rewards, but because I like it. I do not want to complain about my job. I want something that suits my interest in learning so that I will continue to learn on my own and not because I have to do it to earn money to feed the family. I want to believe that passion brings about mastery and mastery gives me passion as well.

Hence, after returning from all my grad trips and after I settled giving presents to people and unpacking and sorting out the unwanted stuff from my room which hasn't been touched since I returned from Tembusu, I started to look for a job on job portals like NUS Talentconnect, JobCentral, JobStreet. Sent out like about 10 resumes to companies that offer jobs ranging from engineering, proposal specialist, graduate trainee, and project coordinator. Got a phone interview from a program which I told them I do not like Engineering or technical stuff a lot when the company does engineering, so confirm kanna rejected. Also got a interview with the project coordinator from a company that does game and web development, simulations and 3D modeling. Location is central, pay was slightly below average for fresh grads and not much bonus, but the working hours made up for it! They made me a job offer and after some consideration, I think this would be the point where I hope when I tell my grandkids I can say:" and the rest is history"

Project coordinating or project management is interesting and I think it is something that I felt more interested in during my university days, be it doing my design project, ethics project, nanotechnology project, hackathon project, skating projects, tembusu projects, etc. I felt most comfortable when there are people around, working together to find a solution to a problem or to achieve an objective. Even when doing my solo FYP which I have mentioned I hate very much, I have always tried to learn better time management skills and communication skills to better complete my project. Maybe that is why when the job was offered to me, I felt that it was a right job fit that also enable me to learn and practice the skills that I would like to know about. These are also very transferable skills that will enable me to take the next jump in my career in the future.

In terms of company fit, I think I also found a right company as after staying in Tembusu for 3 years where there was not alot of hierachy and the professors are very close to students and leaders come from not just the seniors but also the juniors. Such a flatter hierachy is enjoyable rather than a normal pyramid hierachy where you feel distant from the top people.

I would say I am excited to start work! Yay!

At the same time, I am also aware that I need to start planning for the super distant future, not just the immediate future. During my last semester, I tried to start improving my financial literacy. I took note of this especially after one of the stocks I held had a sharp nose dive and I lost some money (might be small to other people). This made me aware that I need to take more responsibility of what I invest in, but not to give up on it. It is foolish to stay away from investment because I still believe that wealth management if done properly and diligently, it is able to achieve our financial goals (Long term: retirement plans, housing payment, children education. Short term: holidays, marriage, material goods)

At the JobCentral career fair I went to, I chanced upon a company that invited me to the recruitment talk, and thinking why not, since I haven't got any job or applied for one yet. It turned out to be a really good move for me as it exposes me to financial planning to help achieve my financial goal of being financially independent or financial freedom. Initially I was sceptical about the product, but after taking time to understand the mechanism of the investment, I was convinced about the credibility of the financial product and the company and decided to work as a salesperson part time to not only earn extra income but also improve my sales techniques which I think can be applied in many places. But of course, I think my friends are just potential clients at the moment as most are still studying or just started working and do not have the capital, but I think if the product and company is solid, in the future, the preparation I made will enable me to seize the opportunities ahead.

Lastly, I also wish to continue to teach skating during the weekends more to share the love of skating but gradually reduce the amount I teach to just one day per weekend. It pays quite well and allows me to enjoy doing something I love and something I know that I will always love for the rest of my life.

How can I manage to do all this and still maintain my friendship with BAF, babirusa, MEKids, exercise, play musical instrument, read, paktor, etc.? I came to a conclusion: My experience of living in tembusu with all the activities and crazy amount of fun things to do which I thought was the best part of my life is probably just training for me to achieve greater things in the real world. The journey didn't end when I finish university or leave Tembusu. It has only just begun!

最后一个毕业旅行。终点站：台湾！The last grad trip. Final Destination: Taiwan!

This
is
my
final
grad
trip
.

All good things must come to an end. So it seems that my 2 months worth of travelling has almost finished. But it went out with a BANG!

Taiwan. I always wondered why Singaporeans always come to this island that while being much bigger than Singapore, it is still considered a small country.

This is what I found:

As you can see from above we did tonnes of outdoor activities! One day was spent at Taroko Gorge, the next day river tracing at Golden Grotto, 3 days of cycling along the coastal road from Hualien to Taitung and also hiking Yangmingshan to the highest peak in the Taipei area. Our reward: all these wonderful scenery. and a lot of Vitamin D. LOL

And when you come to Taiwan, you cannot miss out the eating. With at least a night market in every city, we were spoiled for food and tried almost every variety of street snacks in taiwan. Below are just some of the snippets of Taiwanese food.

Mr Goose at Hualien. Cheap also

Cheap and fresh sashimi that we had in 宋妈妈 restaurant at Shuilian town.

Sticky when you smell. Yummy when you ea.

Duck head! It was said even the bone is edible. I tried. Its not.

At the original Din Tai Fung Store in Taipei. Now that's what I call visiting historic places!

Taiwanese people are also very friendly and helpful. We were treated small gifts many times like when I dropped my wallet while cycling and somebody returned it to the police who chased up to me to verify and return it to me! We also met a father-son pair who shared a room with us as the minsu only had that room left. He treated us to dinner later.

My travel buddies this time round are 3 guys who also graduated from the same year and class as me from university. Everyone has their weakness but together in a group we were relax and try to cover each other backside as much as possible. It also allowed us to do more physical stuff whereas most girls would not go as extreme as us.

Now I know why Taiwan is such a nice place to go! 

Turkce Bilmiyorum! (I don't speak Turkish)

Merhaba! (Hello in turkish)

Less than 24 hours after I arrived in Singapore from Bangkok! I was on my way again to Exotic Turkey which I have to say is one of the most memorable trip ever. 2 weeks where we experienced the warmth of the turkish people, the taste of turkish food and the beautiful and diverse landscape of turkey.

There were many firsts in this trip! Mainly couchsurfing and hitchhiking. And also travelling with a girl. Just the two of us! This girl G has been a good friend since year 1 semester when we took a module together and we have kept in contact since then mainly during the holidays. Our common topic is travelling and last year I thought about travelling with her and it came true this year. Awesome!

There was a lot of travelling on this trip as we went about to see the best of Turkey with those 2 weeks. I shall limit the pictures to one per location!

First Stop: Istanbul where you see majestic mosque like this across the skyline.

2nd stop: Pamukkale or Cotton Castle

From the town of selcuk we went to Sirince, a small village with black mulberry and apricot trees around.
Free and delicious!

One of the main attractions in turkey is Ephesus just beside Selcuk. A huge ruins area. Our first hitchhiking experience as we tried to walked there but decided to try halfway. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Kusadasi is also 30 mins from Selcuk and is where we had our 2nd hitchhiking experience. Unlike what you see in the picture, it started pouring after we finished Ephesus, so we were walking in the rain under our tiny umbrella. Our savior came to our rescue and lo and behold he was going to kusadasi also so phew!

Highlight No. 1 (at Fethiye): Paragliding from Babadag, the peak of the mountain almost 2000m high. It was a 45 min glide down to the beach with awesome mountain, beach and seaside scenery to look at. The spinning downward descent was just out of the world.

One day Butterfly Valley cruise that brings us around on a big wooden boat. Swimming in the cold but refreshing and crystal clear bay by jumping from the boat upper deck, having fish that was cooked at the rear end of the boat in the open while the boat was travelling and talking to old turkish folks. The turquoise Mediterranean sea is just super mesmerising to stare at.  

Saklikent Gorge. The Gorge was super pretty to look at and the water is super muddy too. Some people put it on their skin. I didn't haha. Had a friendly person who guided us only to ask for money at the end (paid him only like 3SGD/pax in the end)

Scanning the beautiful pebble beach and sea at Olympos where you have to pay to get into the beach. If only Singapore had waters like this.

The landscape of Cappadocia. Fairy Chimneys everywhere.

Highlight 2: Hot Air Balloon flight. We got a good deal through one of our couchsurfing host and I would say any amount of money (and waking up at 330am in the morning) is worth going up to sea the scenery. I was snapping pictures all the way because the sight is truly breathtaking. Any other activity just seems MEH compared to this.

There were a total of 70+ balloons that morning. At peak times, it can reach up to 100 balloons!!!

One of the reason why we had such a great time during this trip was because of our coachsurfing hosts who made our stay in turkey so homely. For many of them and also turkish friends, fellow couchsurfers and other friends we made along the way, their generosity and friendliness really touch our hearts and that is something more beautiful than the most amazing views on Earth. 

And it also saves us alot of money hahaha. Gotta admit that too! After all these places we went back to Istanbul where we saved the shopping for last! 

Some of the challenges we faced during the trip was 

1) Expensive to purchase the SIM card in turkey.

2) Language barrier. I tried to learn some turkish beforehand but that was definitely not gonna be enough.

3) Everything must bargain! Even bus ticket and food...I hate bargaining...

It is always special to just travel with another person. It gives you a lot of mobility which decrease with the size of travelling group but also offers you a companion to rely on and more importantly to share you experience with. You learn a lot about each other and their habits and character that you don't really know by just meeting now and then. G is a really good travel companion. Other than being pretty, she is also very independent, capable and dominant character that complements my more laidback character. But every holiday has to end and we had to part ways which may be a good thing as too much of each other and lack of personal space can cause conflicts to occur which I experienced last summer.

Gule Gule Turkey! Tesekkurler!!!

Sawadeekap again! 06S12 class outing to phuket and bangkok!

Lunch at raya island.

Its great that my JC classmates from NJC are still in contact with each other 6 years after we graduated.

It took a long time but we finally went on a overseas trip together to phuket which was not easy to come by as the girls are working already and need to take leave. We had a great time during those short 3 days enjoying the white sandy beach, the crystal clear water, the ATV, river rafting, the daily thai massages hahaha. (my muscles all turned into jelly after 3 days)

At the airport!

Jellyfish anyone?

Sunbaked...

Please don't kiss me.

Tut tut!!!

Fun riding on the top of the van because there was not enough space inside

Add caption

After the time in phuket, me and the other guys who just graduated and are not starting work yet said goodbye to the others and took a domestic flight to bangkok! Love Bangkok! for the amazing food, shopping, and cheap taxis!!!

Talad Rot Fai Night Market! Damn huge and cheap stuff. A different experience compared to the usual Chatuchak which we went also in the morning.

Tailored a shirt and pants and look who I saw (in a picture) at the shop! LHL!!! 

My greatest regret of this trip! Never bring enough money to buy this!

Cafes to rest our tired feet after some shopping!

More resting!

Met my fellow babirusa in platinum shopping mall!

Met my uncle who works in Bkk for dinner! Its great to meet friends and relatives abroad!

Its definitely more chill in bkk since everyone has been there before and we just do what we enjoy the most, eating and shopping. 

but that's not the same for the next stop! Turkey lezzgo!