DiViNE EViL
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Evening to the World
Alright, so I returned from Taiwan on a successful trip, I might say. Of course, I have gained a lot of experience and knowledge, but I'll be too lazy to describe much of the things that happened (what I type is usually more of thoughts and opinions rather than happenings, but there are some exceptions). In fact, I have returned for a whole week now, and somehow the time just warps past in a flash. Not a good omen anyway.
No pictures because my sister damaged the camera and my the phone in my camera can take wonderful pictures of dust. No, seriously the lens is clogged with dust that time when my father bought it second-hand two years ago as my birthday present and still grumbled about it. It is also quite impossible to dismantle it and clean that part of the phone. Not to mention it can't zoom and you can count the pixels on it, and maybe one quarter of it is clogged dust. So in Taiwan I watched other people take pictures (or have my picture taken) but no landscape pictures, unfortunately. There were some great views when we were on the top of a hill (or small mountain?) or just quite high up actually.
The trip was more of an educational/shopping trip rather than a musical exchange. In Taiwan, they are actually nearing their examinations (ugh) now and they cannot afford to miss too many lessons. Therefore we spent at most two hours at the schools. However, in the brisk exchange we still gained a lot. Not to mention their students were a cheery lot. As for educational, we went to a erm, site, that is evident of salt weathering. Because of the salt weathering, there were weird landforms near the sea, which became a tourist attraction. Not for long anyway. There were many pothole-like hole thingies on the rock, which had sea water trapped inside and some crustacean-like creatures around it which somebody said looked like 'sea cockroaches'. Then we went to a museum...yeah. It is apparently a famous museum. There are many and I mean a lot of artifacts in the large building, but somehow the main attractions were the printing stamps of artifacts that are supposed to be a token of commemoration scattered throughout the building...people were crowding around it to stamp their guide maps.
So that was geography and history...and for the shopping part, whenever it wasn't mealtimes or over 1900hrs, we were either brought to a tourist attraction or a shopping area. Speaking of shopping area, I'm not the type to shop for clothes, so usually I get down the bus empty-handed and return the same way. The booklet that they gave us before the trip recommended us to bring an equivalent of S$300 in NT (New Taiwan) dollars, but as the miser that I am I only brought 2000NT, the equivalent of S$91. Actually I misread the booklet or something haha. Oh and, when we reached Taiwan, 500NT was to be collected from each student for the tour guides, which left me with 1500NT, which is roughly equal to S$68.50, which I had to spend for five days. Well guess what. All I did was borrow another 500NT, and I returned to Singapore with two 50NT coins. Not to mention I spent over 400NT on the last morning on stationery. HA!
The hotel that we stayed in was in the middle of...everything. Apparently it is in a shopping district too, so we were allowed to go out at night until a certain time. The was a window in my room and I thought opening a window would reveal the street which isn't that bad. I opened the window, and saw...a wall. A WALL. It belonged to the next building, and the distance was less than half a metre. What's the point of a window if it opens to a wall? Anyway, I didn't go out at night much, I usually went out only to the 7-11 store(s), as I...well, didn't shop. Speaking of 7-11s, the whole Taiwan is infested with them. I mean, from the hotel entrance, you turn left and around the corner is a 7-11. On the right across the road is another 7-11. Basically you can stand in one and see the other. And in Taiwan there are a lot of neon signs sticking out to the streets. You can look down one straight road and see two to three 7-11 signs. 7-11 is not just 'a store and more'. It's plainly, 'There's no Escape'.
Oh and I obtained a pack of cards from the Singapore Airlines flight on the way back. It hurt my hands when I shuffled it. I suppose that was quite random. And because nobody played with me during the flight, I started perspective-drawing on the back of my reflection sheet. I tried to draw some streets of Taiwan but I apparently failed and gave up (half the picture anyway). It of course included a 7-11 store.
After I returned, it seems like time passed twice as fast. It somehow seemed like in the past 7 days, I gained 5% as much as I did compared to the 5 days in Taiwan. That's including a whole day of studying Chemistry (most of the time I was stoning). My engine has died down...had it even started?
I know that I need to start running at full speed over my studies, but the lack of resources is killing me. And that is when I know, the resources are available, the machinery is available to extract it. It is all ready and set, but there is no signal to proceed.
Only if I do, will I obtain results. Only when I proceed, will I retrieve. I had the enlightenment, but through the flash of time, it disappeared again.
Good Evening to the World.
No pictures because my sister damaged the camera and my the phone in my camera can take wonderful pictures of dust. No, seriously the lens is clogged with dust that time when my father bought it second-hand two years ago as my birthday present and still grumbled about it. It is also quite impossible to dismantle it and clean that part of the phone. Not to mention it can't zoom and you can count the pixels on it, and maybe one quarter of it is clogged dust. So in Taiwan I watched other people take pictures (or have my picture taken) but no landscape pictures, unfortunately. There were some great views when we were on the top of a hill (or small mountain?) or just quite high up actually.
The trip was more of an educational/shopping trip rather than a musical exchange. In Taiwan, they are actually nearing their examinations (ugh) now and they cannot afford to miss too many lessons. Therefore we spent at most two hours at the schools. However, in the brisk exchange we still gained a lot. Not to mention their students were a cheery lot. As for educational, we went to a erm, site, that is evident of salt weathering. Because of the salt weathering, there were weird landforms near the sea, which became a tourist attraction. Not for long anyway. There were many pothole-like hole thingies on the rock, which had sea water trapped inside and some crustacean-like creatures around it which somebody said looked like 'sea cockroaches'. Then we went to a museum...yeah. It is apparently a famous museum. There are many and I mean a lot of artifacts in the large building, but somehow the main attractions were the printing stamps of artifacts that are supposed to be a token of commemoration scattered throughout the building...people were crowding around it to stamp their guide maps.
So that was geography and history...and for the shopping part, whenever it wasn't mealtimes or over 1900hrs, we were either brought to a tourist attraction or a shopping area. Speaking of shopping area, I'm not the type to shop for clothes, so usually I get down the bus empty-handed and return the same way. The booklet that they gave us before the trip recommended us to bring an equivalent of S$300 in NT (New Taiwan) dollars, but as the miser that I am I only brought 2000NT, the equivalent of S$91. Actually I misread the booklet or something haha. Oh and, when we reached Taiwan, 500NT was to be collected from each student for the tour guides, which left me with 1500NT, which is roughly equal to S$68.50, which I had to spend for five days. Well guess what. All I did was borrow another 500NT, and I returned to Singapore with two 50NT coins. Not to mention I spent over 400NT on the last morning on stationery. HA!
The hotel that we stayed in was in the middle of...everything. Apparently it is in a shopping district too, so we were allowed to go out at night until a certain time. The was a window in my room and I thought opening a window would reveal the street which isn't that bad. I opened the window, and saw...a wall. A WALL. It belonged to the next building, and the distance was less than half a metre. What's the point of a window if it opens to a wall? Anyway, I didn't go out at night much, I usually went out only to the 7-11 store(s), as I...well, didn't shop. Speaking of 7-11s, the whole Taiwan is infested with them. I mean, from the hotel entrance, you turn left and around the corner is a 7-11. On the right across the road is another 7-11. Basically you can stand in one and see the other. And in Taiwan there are a lot of neon signs sticking out to the streets. You can look down one straight road and see two to three 7-11 signs. 7-11 is not just 'a store and more'. It's plainly, 'There's no Escape'.
Oh and I obtained a pack of cards from the Singapore Airlines flight on the way back. It hurt my hands when I shuffled it. I suppose that was quite random. And because nobody played with me during the flight, I started perspective-drawing on the back of my reflection sheet. I tried to draw some streets of Taiwan but I apparently failed and gave up (half the picture anyway). It of course included a 7-11 store.
After I returned, it seems like time passed twice as fast. It somehow seemed like in the past 7 days, I gained 5% as much as I did compared to the 5 days in Taiwan. That's including a whole day of studying Chemistry (most of the time I was stoning). My engine has died down...had it even started?
I know that I need to start running at full speed over my studies, but the lack of resources is killing me. And that is when I know, the resources are available, the machinery is available to extract it. It is all ready and set, but there is no signal to proceed.
Only if I do, will I obtain results. Only when I proceed, will I retrieve. I had the enlightenment, but through the flash of time, it disappeared again.
Good Evening to the World.
1 Comments:
The trip reads so so, but guess that might because it's part of the exchange program. When I travel to somewhere, I prefer being accompanied by private tourist guides, so as to get more insights.
