me and golden weeks

IMG_5583a, originally uploaded by dckf_$êr@pH!nX.

Finally, on my sixth trip to Beijing, I went sightseeing. The first time I was there, I didn’t have enough time to do any sightseeing. The subsequent trips before this were during winter and I didn’t feel like walking around in the bitter cold. This time around, the weather was quite comfortable. Unfortunately it was Labour Day Golden Week (a week-long public holiday), so I had to fight for space with billions of Chinese residents! The last time I went sightseeing in Mainland China was in Shanghai, it was the National Day Golden Week. So both my sightseeing experiences in Mainland China have been characterised by spectacular crowds of millions!

pink dolphins

pink dolphin, originally uploaded by dckf_$êr@pH!nX.

The pink dolphins in Hong Kong are really pink! Whenever I read about pink dolphins before, I had always imagined them to be rather grey with pinkish undertones. The dolphins I saw were Chinese white dolphins (Sousa chinensis), also known as Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins. They are born dark grey and gradually lose their pigmentation as they mature. It was definitely worth the chionging straight after a fourteen-hour flight without sleep!

harowa, kl & sjørslev

IMG_4590a, originally uploaded by dckf_$êr@pH!nX.

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to visit a friend in Denmark recently. It had been seven years since we last met in KL. She now lives in village called Sjørslev (pronounced something like "shars-lef") with her husband. We only had a few hours together but it was really good catching up with an old friend.

I never thought we would ever meet again after we first parted in Harowa, Bangladesh nine years ago, but she came to visit us in Malaysia and this time I visited her in Denmark. The four of us (me, her and two other Malaysians) spent almost a month together teaching English in Bangladesh and became pretty close friends as a result. It would be nice to have the three Chinese and the Viking at the same place at the same time together again.

delhi

IMG_3260a, originally uploaded by dckf_$êr@pH!nX.

I was in Delhi recently. This time I had the opportunity to visit the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid and to take a lot more photos than before.

11 days off! balik kampung…

Woohoooo! I have 11 days off for Chinese New Year! I’m still unable to make it for Reunion Dinner, but I’m still trying to work something out. As of now, I’m off from the 8th till the 18th of February. It will also be my first balik kampung experience for the festivities, having lived in KL all my life before this.

a380 airborne

I’ve seen the A380 quite a few times, but I saw it airborne for the first time a few days ago from the train when I was going to work as it was about to touch down in Singapore. I'm thinking of photographing it airborne, now that I know of a vantage point to do it….

trying to be home for reunion dinner

I’m on standby on the second day of Chinese New Year. If only I could give it away, I can be back in KL in time for Reunion Dinner….

2 days off

Finally, after over a month, I’m getting two days off after my five-day Penang-Christchurch flight. The last time I had two days off was on the 2nd and 3rd of December after Cape Town, but I took the opportunity to go back to KL, so it was very hectic. The last time I had two days in Singapore was the 27th and 28th of October!

photo (as yet untitled)

IMG_2291a, originally uploaded by dckf_$êr@pH!nX.

This photo was from my recent flight to Cape Town. It was taken at Hout Bay.

durian runtuh

I was rostered for a flight to Shanghai recently which was later cancelled, and I was put on standby instead. I was extremely displeased by this arrangement as I had already bought a ticket to watch Wangi Jadi Saksi, a play directed by U-Wei, on the day I was supposed to return from Shanghai, but now my plans were all up in the air.

Much to my delight, on the day that I was on standby, I was called up to operated a flight to Malé, as I have always dreamt of visiting the Maldives. But that’s not all; one of my best friends was also operating that flight, and she had swapped her rostered flight much earlier to be on this flight. We were just talking over dinner the night before about how wonderful it would be if I were to be called up for her flight, but we both dismissed it as wishful thinking. But I did get called up for her flight! What are the odds of that?

How wonderful it was to get to go to the Maldives with my friend for work! It was also our first flight together.

To top the cake with icing, I did manage to catch the play after all as I arrived back in Singapore on the same day as I would have if I had operated the Shanghai flight.

first flights

My first training flight was supposed to be to Sydney on the 26th of May, but now it’s been changed to Tokyo on the 25th of May due to reasons I can’t disclose on any blog (not allowed to blog about work-related stuff). I’m scheduled to fly to Auckland on the 30th of May and Nagoya on the 15th of June.

Lot’s of interesting stuff has happened at work. How unfortunate that I can’t blog about them. I’ll tell you personally if I’m in the mood.

bye bye kl

I should be leaving for the airport in less than 2 hours. I don’t know if I’ll have regular access to the Internet in Singapore, so this may be my last post for a while….

front page news

Guess what? I’m on the front page of The Star today, together with hundreds of others, no thanks in part to my soon-to-be employer. See if you can spot me….

恭喜发财

[untitled] Hosted on Zooomr

Happy New Year everyone! Will be off for the reunion dinner soon. This will probably be my last family reunion dinner for the next 5 years as I probably won’t be granted leave during Chinese New Year….

into the tiger’s mouth i go

From the Malay saying, "terlepas dari mulut buaya, masuk ke mulut harimau", literally, "escaped from the crocodile’s mouth, into the tiger’s mouth", not quite the same as "out of the frying pan, into the fire", but similar….

So what’s this pepatah got to do with anything…? Well, I finally got a starting date with the new job in Singapore: 12 March. So I guess I’ll be moving to Singapore after all.

Hence, I begin my blogging life, as a soon-to-be migrant worker….