Happy New Year everyone!!! 2008 has came and gone.... and its currently chinese new year. I've been lagging a bit, but lets touch on the 1st Jan bit for now...

Quite a lot has happened, I have so far made a few attempts across the border for drinks....just for the fun of it. Work has been kind to me so far, though its not unusual for things not to go my way, but its a fact of life. We must all strive to be hardworking for our own good and for the good of the country.

Anyway, back to 1st Jan..... I didn't celebrate much, but as it was a boring day, i decided to have some fun by toying around at the beach... so i got a friend to join. I drove all the way to meragang beach (Crocodile beach), off the tarmac, into the grass and finally all 4 wheels hit the sand! Then i used 4H-Lock mode to proceed in, before we reached the water.... it was a nice experience as I have always wanted to drive my car into the beach. It was a quick drive in, across the loose sand, occassionally hitting past the tides and over this small rivermouth crossing. The 4WD was doing fine all the way till the end of the beach. However on our way out, i was 4 wheeling the car on the loose sand when it got stuck! I switched to the low range gears... and it still won't budge! instead, the tyres dug deeper and deeper into the sand, until the whole car rested on its belly!

The pic above was taken only after some good samaritans dug out the sand from the undercarriage. Yea, not so bad from here. my car was practically the only car playing in the sand... and we tried to bring it up by stuffing the wheel area with some old wood, coconuts and some other shit.

No use... its still too deep! Half the wheel was buried in sand! The under belly is still lying on the sand. The car park was filled with Land cruisers and pick up trucks, but no one could help as nobody has a tow rope.

Lesson 1 for 2009: Keep tow rope in car!

Lesson 2? : Always deflate tyres when driving in loose sand!! Keep air compressor in car.

Grrrr.... in the end, i ended up calling a tow truck. A quick snatch and the car popped out! A costly new year indeed. As the window was left open, all the sand flew in and landed all over the dash, and my flip flops caught tons to sand on the floormat! The undercarriage was filled with sand... sand sand sand...wedged in every possible end of the car. But it was fun before it bogged down.

On 6th October 2008, we were all just settling down after the Hari Raya holidays. It has been a wonderful wonderful weekend.... I just hate Mondays. Anyways, this particular Monday was initially not a much hated one because at that time i had three things in mind... Kuala Lurah on Thursday, going on leave on Friday and flying off to singapore on Sunday! Yes, DT training cum all expense paid "vacation" including hotel and breakfast.

Seemed all good till my intercom buzzed. I got a call from the secretary that I'll be going alone!!! I was supposed to have gone with a colleague but his first year class was cancelled. Seemed genuine enough... but it was dreadful having to spend my time there all alone!!!! But anyways, i have to cut down on alot of my plans, such as the Adam Road nasi lemak, MOS burger, japanese buffet at Odeon towers and so on.... end up having tapau dinner for almost a whole week.

Managed to meet up with a couple of friends, though, they were all busy. But overall, things just seemed ok as I have met quite a number of ppl in my training class and thank god they were all nice and helpful. Only times i have to be alone are the weekends and nights. But with the TV and laptop on the internet, time just passed by very fast.

One of the most expensive meals i had was with my friend at Chijmes... oh, i've been looking forward to this resturant for months!!! Hogs Breath!!

This meal costed me a whoopin $40 after all taxes and a drink!!!!

Another meal I'd recommend would be nasi padang (tapau for me) from Marina Square shopping mall. Its quite economical too, considering the generous portions of mutton, rice and the banana leaf novelty.

The above picture depicts the chicken pie at M Hotel's bar downstairs. It was highly recommended by my colleagues and its worthwhile recommending to you guys too!!! Its $4 with taxes and bigger than what it looks.What a convenient meal!!

Ah... the above is my latest! Hokkien fried mee.... way way different from what I see in Brunei. It's mixed with some mee hoon and contains a few tiger prawns and squid. I find this quite reasonably priced and i strongly recommend this!!! No lard and light on MSG! You can get this at Tg Pagar market.

There's still another 4 days for me to go in Singapore.... having survived the past 7 days here alone, i don't see any issues in hanging on for another 4 days.

The lonely road ahead..... hahaha