South Afrika!

welcome to south africa! yeah. after a ten-hour ride on the plane. The beginning of the beginning.


On my way down town from Johannesburg airport!


Highway


Wide and long roads


Still long roads


Advertisment. Africa uses alot of such cables for electricity..even after 7 hours I still see the extended line of cables!


single-storey houses..no more highrise buildings.


the houses seems to face everywhere! very confusing. might just lose your way on your way back.


Town - Chicken King (africa's kfc?)


certainly no. old school kfc! woo hoo!


okay. Mr Biltong --> preserved meat (beef, ostrich, mutton)


Random shot off the sky.


trying to look stupid. But then again, the jacket itself is retarded, just look at how you can zip yourself up all the way.


Busy afternoon.


A glimpse of urbanised african city.


Shops.


"Children crossing ahead" sign never fails to change.


SPUR HOUSE. where I stopped for lunch.


er. Kopi shop. It means photoCOPY shop though. Took me a while to figure out it wasn't the kopi shop I was looking out for. wth


First sunrise at base camp. Reached the night before. 7 hours ride from Johhanesburg.


Clouds moving away..rained a few days ago. and yeah, it rains every 2-3 weeks.


Still the sunrise. =]


and I've my first sunset in south africa...


sunset from out in the fields..


another shot at it. you're amazing.


beautiful. isn't it?


me in the attire. yes, it is freezing.


Out on the mountains and one week into the exercise. hensley n me trying to cook dinner before the sun sets. isn't the stove nice?


Feels good to bring our very own campbell mushroom soup. lol. it rocks.


2 weeks into the exercise..right...who wants some "EET SUM MOR" ?!


we reckon the rain was coming..been here for more than twenty days already...


Huge cloud moving across.


=x


@#$%^&*$$. Humongous tire.


God was trying to tell us something. Rain is really coming - seek shelter.


Rain came. It was hell. Lotsa of chill wind further brought the temperature down. and finally..it rained hail stones! I swear I got hit by it on my way to brush my teeth!


I haven't mention much about the animals. This dude is one of them. He will make your balls shrink.

Talking bout wildlife. On my way there..through the cities and rural areas. I've seen herds of cows, goats, sheep, horses, donkeys and even ostriches! my gawd. A fun fact for you: you can actually distinguish cows just by looking at their noses!

King of the beasts! The LION! feeding on a giraffee! omg!


zebras running away!


spotted a hippo.


more on the other bank!


Giraffes from far.


End-of-frame dinner! er. I swear I didn't drink much. haha


Bye Lohathla. Last sunset.


me and hensley taking a last shot.


Trying to be ART-y farty. This was the morning that I left hotel for the airport.


Into the towns were all the ambassy were located. and of course I saw singapore's one!


Back to Johannesburg. I had had a good stay.


Final shot. An impending nine-hour journey back home.

Just a few pics to share! South africa was fun. and for wildlife-lovers like me, it's definitely worth the trip ;) gonna head to mauritius one day! weeeeee.

Sued-afrika

Sued-afrika. Welcome to the land of wildlife.

Goodbye my homeland, see you back in June ;)

一個人的生活

是我想太多。。。

-title of no-title-

Haven't been home for a very long time. Even so, it's just a few hours, often to have a meal and a nap. It's really been a long time since I stayed at home for more than half a day. I can't remember when was the last time I had more than a day staying at home and reading newspaper. Was it in February or early March? Even at home, I don't see ah ma, she's busy taking care of my cousins at my aunt house.

For the past few days while I'm out and staying awake through the nights, I feel really lonely and a sense of helplessness. I've seen many times the moon rise up to the sky. Sometimes the quietness of the night dawned upon me, and then again, many things will run through your mind. I find this inevitable. And then when it rains and covers up the moonlight, you realised the sky is crying, too. What happened to the life of a twenty-year old? This isn't what is supposed to be! A walking zombie.

Personal time. Personal space. Something that every single soul needs. But again, before I can find some of that of my own, it will be the end of April and the next one or two working days that rise up in May will see myself flying off to South Africa. When I'm back, it'll be already June. Half of 2008 have passed. wow. Amazing.

Sometimes I've this crazy thought of becoming an invisible soul so that I could peep into other people's life and see what exactly is happening. I've come to myself that if one day when ah ma leave me, do I have anyone to turn to? I know what you'll be thinking, my mom and dad right. I'd glad to see them bring up my brother, let him be a happy boy, a happy teen. He who knows that he has a happy family. They should never let him go through what me and sis have gone through. It's bad enough. Really.

Hmm. talking about sis. I haven't see you since chinese new year! It's going to be another 2 months before I get any single chance of meeting you.

Alright. gotta go. I'm only back for the night, yep.

Bye.

Where's the smile.

fMonth of March passes by so quickly that tomorrow will be the last day for the month. Then some people will start playing the April fool joke. mm. These days, weeks and months have been tough. I find it tough. and I realised I can't seem to find anything to celebrate over or to be happy about. Plus the many rainy afternoons, which often made the day seemed so dark & gloomy and overwhelmed by the sound from the falling rain drops. But I guessed that is indeed a beautiful picture painted. Don't know what to confess here. Too many things that I will not write it down, but life feels like a struggle to me.

To top it up, Jieting and May counted that I've 16 strands of white hair (minus one that jieting plucked it off equals 15). That is doubly depressing after I realised I lost 3kg over the past month.

Every month seems a challenge to me. There's bound to have something on that bugs me 24/7. I have to get over the month of April, this concerns my future. "I hate to worry, and I know worrying will not help at all. But I can't help but worry!" Quite a few friends around me are going through difficult times, though on different circumstances but here's my sincere best wishes for everyone. cheers. '-'

Relationship; love

Relationship is both something complex and scary. You'd never realise that your relationship is turning sour until when you begin to sense it; which is often very very late into the game. The people, the environment, the culture around one is overwhelmingly distracting. There're too much distractions around, so much so that they always try to pull the attention arc away. And the latter wins the battle almost certainly. Until when one wakes up and realise the relationship is going the way it shouldn't be heading to, all he did was to put the relationship aside and avoid it, for he didn't know what to do. That is human. Cruelty happens all the time.

Prevention is better than cure. What a cliche. But then again, as true as how cliche it is. No relationship will work if either one doesn't commit. It's something that requires both to keep on working on it, and keep it going. It takes two hands to clap. It takes two teams of engineers to build a bridge from both banks of the river; the bridge will collapse even though one team continues to build. In a relationship, you and I, will become husband and wife one day. We seek for the perfect partner who will be with you through your life. It is important that both share/have a common goal in life, so that both can constantly push each other on later part in life. For me, yes, I've a dream. I yearn to build my own farm with my own cattle and a sheepdog, together with my future one, whoever it may be. But of course things doesn't always end up as what you'd thought to be perfect. In life, when we involve the human mind, the constantly-changing emotions, the psychology, no one knows what lies ahead. People change from time to time, the environment will shape their mindsets, the culture will affect the psychology and change the way one used to perceive certain things in life.

The occassional hiccups in a relationship is a classic example of the ever-changing emotions in us. Couples fret over certain things that they disagree with each other. He might feel uncomfortable over her sudden change in attitude towards him. She might feel neglected that he's not putting in enough commitment into the relationship. Both ideas clashed. He will feel that she's changed. She will also feel that he's changed. But what if they could put themselves into each others' shoes and take a look at the situation from another angle? Would things have changed for the better? For example, you get frustrated at your parents for nagging at you and restricting you to a twelve midnight curfew during your teen girls year. If you put yourself into the shoes of your mom and dad, would you allow your young girl to stay out late till the wee hours of the morning? Would you keep drilling advices into her, hoping she'd turn out good in future? It's amazing that how looking things at the opposite angle affects the turn-out of a relationship.

Relationship is indeed something so elaborated that it's difficult to find an exact definition to it. I don't seek an answer to relationship, but I'll scout for my definition to the second word of the title to this post.

The Leap Year..(or week)

As the leap year falls in 2008, I lept through this week as well. On a fine friday where every single one booked out at around 5pm, me and qy lept through the book-out time and walked out of gate at 8.15pm. We spent the whole freaking afternoon doing something which we were supposed to do but hated to do it. End of the day, we got ourselves full of soil and diluted mud splattered out from the wheels after 'shooting' it with strong jets of water. Gotten our hands and face stained with the mechanical grease and oil after trying to clean the inner compartments and engines. We didn't clean one of those freak which moved on tracks, we cleaned five --- FIVE. In the end we didn't really finished cleaning even with the help of another 20+ men, the sun was setting and we had to stop before the sky turns dark.

If I had nightmares over them, it would be disastrous.

Reached home and wanted to prepare for the PD the next morning, but god knows how I fell asleep while sms-ing and reading the straits time. Woke up at 5.30 the next morning and rushed to wash up and eat something while packing my bag and changing into my PT kit, at the same time I thought of the many possible casualties we'd expect today and the treatment. Met ong at 6.20 at interchange. Good weather, cooling and wet. Road run ended halfway due to CAT 1, lightning risk. That was dumb..but then it was good to have zero casualty rate. But then again, this PD didn't give the first aiders any learning experience..sometimes they really have to learn it the tough way.

Went back school settle things down and then came back home to do up my logistic stuff for next 4Q '07 and 1Q '08 meeting next sat. Hate to use micro. excel but had to, and I spent 90 minutes doing up one simple form.. wth.

Left home at 6 for suntec. Wanna check out the career and exhibition booth, cause I came to know of Murdoch Uni coming down from the straits time. Went in and again I saw Mr Ferdinand, nice to meet him again. It was great, I first met him in 2005 in PJ. I asked about my application again. It was exhilirating to know that I've received an acceptance letter from Uni of Queensland (again for the 2nd time since last year), and MURDOCH uni ! omg omg. I left the exhibition straight away after a while.

will update again soon. nite

Mr. Saint Valentine

Oh Mr St. Valentine...

Who'd be your valentine? 14th February, a special day celebrated by couples and as a tradition - the exchanging of gifts. For friends who're attached, this day means something to them. Love is in the air. A day which often brings a couple closer to each other.

:))

鼠年迎新春!

我在此祝福大家有: "鼠"不尽的快乐, "鼠"不尽的笑容, "鼠"不尽的幸福!

Something to share! Reverse of a 2008 Australian Year of the Rat or Mouse Gold Bullion Coin.

screwed up.

screwed up. major cock up. quite depressing to see the results. Nope, I'm not thinking about the int. FAC. It's over. I'm thinking about further plans prior to FAC. I know I've not done enough to help the boys. Their performance reflects my training; it's a fact. Can't run away from it. Today's int. fac made me reflect over my weaknesses. It saw through many things. And yes, finally I ask myself - what does an officer mean to me? Have I done enough? or what have I been doing for the past weeks? months? or years? even I can't answer them.

Been pondering over certain issues. The boys wants it this time. The trophy on 1 June. But I've gone terribly wrong this time. There's so much more to do. I promised to commit my time to train and up the standard, whatever it takes. I'm really sorry. I know it myself, I didn't do my job well.

But again I didn't want to give up... because I simply hate to give up. Had so much to say yet I can't write it here.

Hope everybody had a great day.
After a night's sleep,
things will be different from tomorrow onwards.
mindsets will change,
emotions will start afresh with the sunrise.
for those who cried, may the moon dry the tears up.
for those who celebrated, may the celebrations end tonight,
and get prepared for a new challenge few months down.
By tomorrow, today will become history,
everybody with something learnt, and had had a great day.

Friends.

The best kind of friend
is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with,
never say a word, and then walk away
feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

- random paragraph :]

A new year; with same old colours

It's new year's eve! With 1st Janurary unfolding in 90 minutes' time, I welcome the better new year with some resolutions. haha. Before that I'd like to write down some reflections of 2007.

1)A level results
2)Part-time at NUH and Veterinary clinic
3)Enlistment
4)KSJ
5)Derrick's baby girl

1)A lvl results. It was end of Feb. The day we collect our results couldn't have been more frightening. We all knew it in our heads that it either make it or die. And that's the cruel fact of A levels. WIthout good results you're practically kind of screwed. I can't relieve the excitement on the day now, but I remembered hugging my teacher after getting my results slip. I've proven myself. I can see where I'm heading towards at that point in time. Good job. Done with college, what's next?

2)Work. Wanted to find a job in the zoo but failed on 2 attempts within 2 years. Tried the Animal Hospital at mount peasant road but the places were reserved for veterinary students on attachment. Tried many many many clinics but to no avail. In the end got a job offer from my aunt who works in NUS, a job in NUH. So I ended up signing the 4 months contract faster than I thought, got attached to a doctor and assisted her in gathering raw data for her research. I learnt alot as well, been travelling to many schools and taking blood pressure readings of children from 7-16 years old. These 2 months of my entire life was really shiok. I'm literally free of everything and just happy happy go to work and travel around schools in singapore, acting like big boss directing the kids around. Everything seemed so free and easy. Then sometimes go NUH for a while, meet the doctor then we FO to schools. sounds fun right. haha. Next I was in a vet clinic, at paya lebar. Have to reach at 9am in the morning to clean up the cages and feed every single animal inside. Of course I did it with huishan, she's the old bird there. Been into the surgery room and watched numerous surgeries, and poof. nothing beats seeing everything with your own eyes! awesome.

3)Enlistment. Getting enlisted really changed my whole life. Nothing much to mention but one takeaway would be I really learnt to cherish my loved ones more, more than ever before.

4)KSJ. Been kind of MIA from April till bout July, then returned during my sispec days. Officially back into KSJ action during my arti trainee days. Very busy year again, but with the ultimate reward in FAC. Had much fun during ATC as well. Had a spring cleaning at the end of year and changed the layout of the room totally.

5)Derrick's baby girl. On 30th dec 2007 morning, Raeanne was brought into this world, with much excitement and anxiety from the first-time father. Congratulations and all the very best for the future. =)

Bye 2007. The year has fallen into the book of history.

Chatted with ken a lil and he told me the IN colour for next year will still be green, brown and black. Stunned for a moment, turned around and saw my uniform. Just as he typed it out in msn; very true. argh, never mind bout that.

Talking about resolutions. hmm. Resolutions. For peeps who're still studying, I won't find it surprising if they wants to excel in the exams. For working ones, perhaps a promotion, or to find a better job? For parents would be to see their own children grow up, healthy and happy. For my friends in camp, I guessed it's hoping for the o-r-d date to arrive soon. =x For my brother, he hopes to get more barney toys and watch more bananas in pyjamas on disney channel. For me, I hope I can get my university preparations settled so that I can get this load off my chest. It's been bugging me for quite some time.

It's tough. For buddies who are still "not-attached-yet", I sincerely hope you can fulfil your resolution. fate is in your own hands. you can when you believe. Personally, to be truthful, whenever I think about committing myself to a relationship, I shrunk; I withdraw. I can't be certain, not that I'm gay, but I'm really afraid of hurting the one I love. I don't want a repeat. Yes, I'll walk that path, the path which leads me to my career. But it's a long long way, I'm not even at the starting point. I don't want to commit myself to a relationship before leaving for the starting point. My starting point will be when I stand firm at the gate of Murdoch. It's a challenge to control your emotions, sometimes they will really play with you. They tell you, you're in love. But then you tell yourself you can't let your emotions get in control; you're not suppose to be in love; you can't express your love at all. You must let your eyes close and let any opportunties go; shouldn't even try to grab hold. You keep it all shut in that tiny fist-sized heart, never to let a single bit leak out. You carry on with life, the only consolation is to tell yourself she will definitely appear, at least 5 or 6 years down the road. I don't ask for much, she must share similar passion - we educate the masses and conserve wildlife.

Next up, I'd still be in SJ...and I really want to do my very best for the juniors in year 2008. "I, S883.... CSO(6) Loh Choon Kiat pledge to serve KSJ..." lol. crap oath. I realised KSJ has found her own meaning, a sense of belonging to her. KSJ really evolved, from zero to heroes. Yes, we are champions, nothing less. or rather, you all are champions in my very own eyes. I learnt alot from trainings, having fun with the kids and watching them grow up - through their 4-5 years spent in secondary school. It takes effort and reflections to take away many important lessons. and all these lessons will only make my life richer and more meaningful. We forge many friendships through sweat and tears, sometimes even blood. This I'll find it hard to forget.

Thirdly, I WILL GET GOLD IN IPPT. VERY SOON, I CAN FEEL IT. LOL. 2.4km in 9.44min, HERE I RUN. :):):) (not forgetting additional $100 into my account. hahaha)

Forth, I wish for a safe and successful exercise in South Africa next year, with lotsa happy returns! haha.

Lastly, I wish for health and happiness for all ! nothing beats having a healthy mind and soul right? May we have a smooth-sailing, properous 2008!! 1 more minute!! wee.

Christmas

merry christmas to all! :D

A new lease of life

I'm back in blogging! haa. Sorry for being MIA for the past weeks or (months). Recently got to my new unit and realized life in there isn't what I thought to be. Found myself struggling to cope with the unfamiliar environment and getting myself overwhelmed by the immense pressure on my weakened soul.

Didn't had appetite for my first meal - lunch. Couldn't stomach what's on the plate. It just didn't seem right to me. Suddenly I could feel the world's gonna collapse on me after lunch. The future 's full of uncertainty. I couldn't see where I was heading towards; it was as if I am walking into this space of infinity. It's that scary. Tears could just roll.

On the first night I went down a storey to share with my buddy. We both couldn't get to bed. It's kind of tough to fight the lonely night with no one to talk to, just you and yourself, rooming in with many unfamiliar faces and only your new pillow to hug. Uneasy feeling all around, isn't it. No, this isn't homesickness. I know it. I repose under the blanket of stars, the moonlight pierced through my face. As I lie down and watched the moon through the window, how I wished if I've someone beside, someone for me to lend a listening ear, someone to stay for the night. (certainly not those mates in there! :x)

For all I know, it's nearing the hour. The hour to get out of bed and wash up, and prepare for the new day ahead.

'Heaves a heavy sigh' as my feet got out of the blanket and hit the floor.

mmm. alright. enough said. "you can't change the way how you feel, but you can change the way what you want to do about it"

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. - The line I'll hold on to.