Bintan Beach Bumming - Shiok!
Cost of my taxi-fare from home to Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal: $17.60
Price of the ferry ticket: $50
Three fun-filled days with Jon, Mich, Jo and Jerry at Club Med Bintan - priceless.
My bobbing and sun-burnt body's back, but my heart's still there, no thanks to a certain Colombian Group Organiser (hehe...).
It was paradise for me and my four childhood friends - nice, comfortable rooms, all you can eat gourmet buffets for every meal (which is included with the accommodation cost), and need I repeat happening GOs who are paid to entertain you from the moment you're awake till you fall asleep.
Awesome!
Tried snorkelling and salsa for the first time - my only regret was not spending more time there.
Now to plan the trip to Club Med Bora Bora...
Just added - photos courtesy of mich.
Here At Last
It's here.
My week-long leave - long-awaited, much-needed, not-to-be-missed.
Hopefully I'll have time to relax and reflect.
Am praying that the wed-fri Club Med Bintan vacation works out, that Jon can come along.
Just finished watching "Bride and Prejudice", a movie by the same director that did 'Bend it like Beckham, and a film adapted from Jane Austen's classic work 'Pride and Prejudice'.
Besides being totally enthralled by Aishwarya Rai's beauty, it also brought to mind the notion of love and marriage.
My life philosophy has always been this - 'it's more stressful to be in a relationship than to be single'.
Call the above statement an excuse or just the result of pure cowardice - I've had many female friends, but I've never been in a relationship. Perhaps the only girl I've ever liked I never told.
Instead, I created a mess that I could never clear up.
Being a single guy with metrosexual tendencies these days does have implications - people might mistake you for being gay, even your own sister *evil stare*.
But does it mean that you go out and get attached just to debunk that rumour?
With my current job, getting into a relationship might just be a recipe for disaster - unless it's divinely orchestrated. As I told a friend who asked me if I'm seeing anyone, the only 'person' I'm dating these days is my Taiwanese girlfriend aka my Acer laptop, which I use for most of my work.
But my 92 year-old grandma never fails to remind me - "to bring some girl home to show her before she closes her eyes and never wakes up again."
She's pretty liberal about this, she doesn't mind any race or nationality.
With this situation in mind, these recent words from a close brother who just got engaged could not be more timely:
"Choosing a wife is the second most important decision in your life after salvation. Do you not think God is working on it? Wait for His absolute best, and do not compromise - you will be rewarded in due time."With this, I seek the Giver, not the gift.
But if you know anyone who looks like Aishwarya Rai, loves the Lord, then Liverpool FC, you know what to do... *cheeky grin*
Near Yet Far
I can almost smell the Bintan seabreeze and picture the golden sand at the Club Med resort, but there remains another two work days before the vacation and the start of my leave.
Work's been okay this week, save the 'chim' (deep/difficult to understand) golf assignment I received today. That has pushed visions of the ideal holiday further in the horizon.
Lord help me ace this feature!
Hopefully Mich can find another girl to come along as well - it'll be super fun.
Just realised I've been at the movies since I got struck by IOC fever. Mebbe it's time to break it.
Looking forward to cell group and badminton, then supper with colleagues on Fri.
The famous shirt
The secret behind the Blue Steel look...
This post might be one that I'll regret for life, but I've always had this metrosexual side of me, just waiting to be unleashed.
Haha, was feeling super bored and I decided to show readers of this blog a totally different face.
On second thoughts, maybe this should be left in the closet.
In case you're wondering, that's me having an Istrilene cooling face mask.
And no, that was a birthday gift - I'm not vain enough to get myself one of those...
Freedom
The end of the IOC session equals the rebirth of this blogger's life and the resurrection of my social existence.
For a month, the heat was on, days seemed endless, home was the office, and my primary companion the laptop.
Now instead of coming up with story ideas and chasing Raul et al around Raffles City, my main occupation is to plan the perfect getaway for the week starting July 25
Club Med Bintan seems the perfect place for a solo/group (depending on schedule) holiday, though the prices are a little steep - you could pig out and then work out all at the same place.
As the brochure says - everything's included - the only question is 'to spa or not to spa'.
Should I go alone and make new friends, or find travel buddies?
I do need some time alone though.
Dilemma.
Anyways, looking forward to a peaceful and hopefully productive week at work.
Finally...
The best thing about the IOC session is this - the big decision is over, and it's ending.
The pressure to land stories, and compete with 1001 other journalists and photographers plus TV crew is not something I look to ever again.
Not to forget the seemingly eternal meetings, and never seeing the light of day.
Is it worth it? Surely there must be a higher calling, a more divine ambition.
Maybe, to quote another friend, I just 'don't have the balls for journalism'.
LondonNow over to London - congrats on the 2012 Games!
London might have been my adopted home for 3 years, but I was never attached to it. It was a cold, materialistic and even somewhat dog-eat-dog place. What else do you expect from a city with over 8 million people?!
Having lived there, I'm naturally more skeptical about their plans to do this and that.
Also, I had fallen for Madrid. Here was a city that did not do anything wrong - their people were friendly, their bid highly impressive. Perhaps their only mistake was not paying enough attention to the media, something which London did almost to perfection.
RAUL
Was pretty distracted after the whole hoo-hah with Raul on the Tuesday papers. Friends started calling, colleagues wanted autographs. Not sure if I wanted that kind of limelight.
But I could not not write about that bus trip, rite?
I just hope I didn't make use of him. That was never in my mind.
Well I hope the bosses are appeased for a while. Memorable stories? Take that *kabish*
Arantxa - she's a gem too!
My new found friend - Raul
Me and my new found friend from Madrid...
Guess who I sat next to on the bus yesterday?!
Hong Kong Disneyland
Anyone interested in a makan/shopping/Disneyland trip to Hong Kong? Think it opens in September...
Again
Finally, another page 1 feature.
After all the sweat, toil, 'sleep less' nights and tons of research.
Writing and rewriting, waiting and wondering.
But this time, my face is much smaller than a certain person. *snigger*
Decided to be nice and bought my colleagues some makan.
Not newsroom tradition cos it's my second time, but purely goodwill.
Now to finish an overdue feature... then again, Sharapova's playing Venus live on cable TV.
Hmmm... the choice is obvious.
