the campfire..

the sunrise which we woke up so early to see but was disappointed..

weijie won tickets to see maria sharapova live at singapore indoor stadium.. and so nice of him to hv invited us to watch together wif him.. so the 6 of us.. chin boon, yuan hong, xuanyi, firdaus me and of cos weijie.. supposed to meet at kallang mrt station.. ended up so many things happened that foiled our plans.. weijie had to take taxi down frm serangoon aft cutting his hair.. and it was pouring so heavily.. we were stranded at kallang mrt for lyk quite some time.. and miscommunications here and dere.. resulted in us taking taxi to the new leisure park shopping centre.. where we had our dinner and we met weijie dere.. chin boon joined us alittle later..

maria's serve..

the final score.. maria winner..

so as u can see.. the match lasted 94 mins.. totally cool lars.. actually i think the whole stadium was looking forward to the 3rd set.. lol.. then it wld realli have been a great match for all to watch.. yup.. so we ended up walking all the way back to kallang mrt.. which took us quite some time.. and wanted to eat supper de.. but den too late ler lar.. later no bus or train home.. den ya lor.. so we left for home.. yup.. dat was ytd..

looking back at year 2007.. it really has been an eventful year.. the emptiness sets in.. after graduating frm vs.. and entering a new phase of life.. oh well.. i wonder how i'm going to face it.. hopefully with an open mind.. and a positive outlook.. yup.. so as the year draws to a close.. wishing all a happy happy new year!

jus look at the beautiful sight!..

am i alone?...

or can i be with you?...

the christmas tree at the foyer where me and kevin sat for awhile b4 actually submitting to the fact that we reali had to go home..

well.. reached home around 11.30 plus.. and by the time i hav cleaned up and everything.. jus nice midnight.. no one realli arnd to actually talk to me.. and spend the arrival of christmas day with.. unlike xuanyi and meimei.. ha.. and so.. i called my church fren.. and we welcomed the arrival of christmas dae tgt.. and with the recent spate of events in my mind.. i was thinking.. this was realli gonna be a sad christmas.. it was lyk i realli didn't know wat was wrong with me or with the way i was thinking...

but i realli thank God for the msg this morning at my church.. talking abt this morning.. i woke up arnd 9.45am.. and i was lyk shoots.. my own church service was gonna start in lyk 45 minutes time.. and i rushed lorx.. den i saw dat my family members were all still laxing away.. den i figured out dat dey werent going lorx.. and usually.. i go wif dem.. dat kinda thing.. and so.. after some thought.. i got changed after cleaning up and without having my breakfast i rushed out of the house to go on my own.. and amazingly..jus as i was coming down frm the overhead bridge to the bus stop.. i saw my bus drive off.. so i spent the nxt fifteen minutes waiting for e nxt bus but none came.. so i decided to take taxi.. reached church at about 10.40.. 10 minutes late.. sigh.. but i didn regret at all..even tho i sat on the steps.. the songs inspired by the choir.. and the wonderful msg.. realli reminded me tt this christmas.. we should be focusing the whole idea of christmas on God alone.. and nth else.. in fact.. every christmas.. God shld be the focus of christmas.. thats where we can draw happiness.. and joy from.. everlasting.. and overflowing.. so i realli thank god for the msg todae.. that reminded me.. focusing on God alone.. and putting the other earthly issues into lesser consideration..

aft morning service.. went to hav christmas lunch with my grandma.. my two uncles.. all my mother's side wan.. and by the time finished lunch.. alr 2 plus gonna 3.. and poor longkuan waited so long for me.. really sorry! hais.. den spent lyk 10 min outside j8 coffee bean wondering where to go or wat to do.. and he was lyk complaining that he didn wan2 move at all.. in the end.. took cab down to paradiz centre.. merc somemore lar.. we were in luck.. haha.. altho dere was a comfort wan behind.. we still chose the merc.. and i remarked smt abt making this x'mas a slightly better wan by taking a merc cab.. lol.. and for breaking a record in my life.. it did make it better alittle.. so went to play pool.. and taught him 9-ball.. and we jus played.. it did get me off my mind for a bit.. and smt amazing happened towards the end of our pooling session.. hahas.. only longkuan knows wat.. and yup.. it was time to make my way to my uncle's house for steamboat dinner.. this time.. my father's side wan.. and yup..steamboat's my favourite.. soup and all.. haha.. great time of fellowship dere.. plus 2 babies' company.. and so.. that was abt it for my x'mas..

sigh.. is dere smt wrong wif me.. or is dere smt wrong wif the things around me.. pastor mentioned.. dat if God hears our complains abt why lyk this and why lyk that.. God wld wan2 change us and not the things around us.. bcos ultimately.. the only thing that we are in control of is ourselves.. individually.. and den recollecting smt frm city harvest sermon.. why love someone when u are gonna lose that someone in the end? but it's a perfect demonstration of God's selfless and unconditional love for us..

so God.. help us to love others lyk u hav loved us..

next we went to what they called the fisherman's wharf.. dere.. they had the lovers bridge or otherwise known as the ai qing qiao.. and it was super cold!! due to the winds lar i guess.. u can feel the coldness lyk right into ur blood lor.. it was that cold.. this was where they filmed liu xing hua yuan.. and yup.. it was a romantic place to be alright.. but many of us didn't wan2 stand out in the cold weather too long so all of us were back in the bus 10 minutes before the time given by the tour guide.. lol ..

after that we went to the shihlin night market.. where we ate oyster omelette.. chicken fillet.. and fried rice for dinner.. not bad lars.. although the chicken fillet was a little salty.. oh well..

so it was back to fortune hotel.. probably the 2nd best hotel after the first night's hotel.. went to look for streets to shop wif a few other families we made friends wif.. but all were close and we didn't really know where to go.. so only my sis bought 4 pairs of sox frm one shop that was lyk the only shop open among the few shops that were open..

wahh.. tmr morning to wake up so early lars.. cos need to be at the airport early.. haiyo.. better slp early.. although it's quite late already..

entrance to the temple...

Sun Moon Lake.. the biggest freshwater lake in Taiwan..

lunch was at the only crowded restaurant along the street of the sun moon lake.. and also the only restaurant that had queue.. luckily we arrived earlier and we managed to skip a huge batch of ppl coming in to eat too..

next we went to the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village which was a multifaceted theme park.. and most rides were mainly for kids lars.. yar.. we watched the aboriginal show where the tribal men were supposed to swing across a river using a rope hung in the centre.. and most of them managed to do it.. but one of dem..very funny lor.. jump already.. den lyk missed the rope completely.. so he ended up diving into the water and he swam across to the other side.. sat rides lyk royal train, monorail, cathrine train and canyon.. all of which were seriously boring.. no ci ji gan lars.. but oh well.. on the other hand.. the roller coaster and wat they call the UFO.. were the really ci ji ones.. but we didnt sit lors.. my mum also bu fang xin let us sit so oh well..

in the "forest" in the theme park..

one of the mansions at the theme park.. how i wish this was my house.. lol..

we carried on moving to taichung.. and we stopped at Feng Jia Night market to shop.. we ate noodles and duck rice.. drank milk tea wif pearls.. and nice seh.. i was the only wan finishing up the remaining pearls that were buried in the ice cubes... i didn't buy anything.. and i don't think i will.. so it was back to the hotel for the night.. =)

what they call guan cai ban which consisted of fried bread and somewhat lyk campbell soup..superbly delicious seh..

after that it was back to Hotel Holiday Garden which had a very very cool lift..

Seven Star Lake...

had lunch at the restaurant in Herb Spa Resort.. and after that it was a 3 hrs long bus ride to Taitung.. jus slept and slept.. and it was rather frustrating lor.. the bus journey so long.. luckily got bring my handphone earpiece sia..can listen to music in my phone..

den it was Chulu Ranch where i sat on a horse for 2 rounds around a small track.. and yup.. really small track.. made the money not worth it lar.. but oh well.. best part was halfway when i was on the horse.. the horse jus suddenly stopped.. and guess what it did lars.. it shitted.. lol.. and eww.. disgusting.. the person who was dragging the horse also seemed alittle chissed off.. den it was dinner at the restaurant of the hotel.. Flower Garden Hill.. this hotel was lyk so woody lor.. everything was made of wood.. and their ceilings were lyk many doors aligned together.. and their walls.. they used those kinda container zinc plates.. and it was quite yeah.. the room was big.. 4 king size beds again.. in 1 room.. wif a dining room.. living room.. and 2 toilets.. yup..

after dinner.. we had muah chee pounding.. where both tour groups under ASA tours took turns to pound.. i didnt lars.. stand one side and slack.. haha.. they added grounded peanuts too.. and end result.. it was not a bad snack after all..

we watched fireworks frm a really close up view.. and wow mann.. it was very nice.. different variations and all.. took videos of it.. here's one of them..

after that we went to the Hot Spring to jus soak ourselves inside.. and wah.. geothermal energy mann.. it was shiok lars.. got 3 different kinds of temp for ur choice.. one hot one medium and one cold.. massager for ur back and knee.. and almost everywhere else.. jus had to stand under the massager.. and poof.. totally rawks...

went back to the hotel room feeling slightly hungry so shared a cup noodle frm downstairs of the hotel room wif my sis.. yup.. thats abt all..

a view frm chiufen...

after that was Yilan National Center for Traditional Arts.. (24ha in area..) all the arts thing were lyk exhibited dere.. and many of the stuff that they produced were handmade.. quite alot of nice stuff dere.. but of cos.. expensive lors.. so jus spent some time walking through the whole thing and look at whats nice lor..

after that was the train ride to Hualien.. seats were rather comfortable.. and we left suaosin railway station to xin cheng.. met up wif the bus that we were gonna take for the rest of our trip and we went on to watch what they call the Ami Aboriginal Cultural show.. danced and photographed.. but yar... all of us arhs..frm singapore wan..obviously dun really know how to appreciate their dance.. and we were the only tour grp watching them perform so it was quite sang..

we had dinner at a restaurant which appeared high-class but actually quite budget.. table cloth.. they use plastic wan lars.. and the building had windows that were quite old and dirty.. and the food was avg only.. it was the chairs that made the restaurant seemed lyk a restaurant.. oh well..

this time we went back to A-star hotel.. but i'll give it a B- lol.. definitely cannot win the first night's hotel.. nowhere near it mann..