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vinny_law
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Name: Vinny
Birthday: 9/11/1984
Gender: Male
Interests: [Raw Horse - check]::::[Whale(various parts of) - OMG check]::::[Natto - check (tastes like puke)]::::[Fugu - check (allergic)]::::[Uni at the fish market - OMG check]::::[Onsen egg - check]::::[Hakata Ramen - OMG check]::::[Sushi served on a naked chick - pending...]
Expertise: UBC FIZZZZ!!!
Message: message meEmail: email me
Member Since:
7/13/2003
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| So we've been dying to goto a Tropical beach in S.E.Asia for some time now. Cuz they're beautiful and extremely cheap. I'll include prices (CAD) just to give u guys an idea. We were deciding between Bintan and Tioman. After reading comparison forums we concluded that Bintan is for the rich but total sketch cuz its Indonesia and Tioman is just a better place to chill. Bintan's youth hostel is called 'shady shack'.
The Brits were already gone so me and Colin headed out after work Friday night. The journey is a bus ride over the bridge to Malaysia (1hr - 1$) and then a busride to Mersing (3hr - 3$) and then a ferry ride to the island (1.5hr - 13$). Thing is, when we got to the bus station in JB (town that's closest to Singapore) all the buses were gone! We could've gone back to Singapore but we grabbed food in JB and stayed in the only hostel there, a place called Footloose and it was 5$. The next morning we headed out at 7:30am and caught the first bus to Mersing. After the ferry ride, it ended up being about 3pm when we got the Island on Saturday. Sooo many tanned european girls along the beach =D We got our hut (Salang Beach Resort - 15$ for 2 people with a fan... no a/c) cheapest we could find but i was planning on sleeping in a hammock anyways. The brits were out on a boat trip so me and Colin decided to do some snorkelling (equipment rental 2$) just outside the waters of our room. Coral reefs and tons of fish!!! apparently we could see some sea turtles if we were really lucky. we spent about an hr there swimming aorund w/ the fish but didn't see any turltes. we did see a gigantic looking perch type fish which was like maybe 2' in lenght and like a food wide. it was like 10x bigger than the 2nd biggest fish we saw that day. we named him 'friendly sam' cuz we saw him like 10mins later too and he swam up closer. we met up w/ the brits for a bbq seafood dinner and a night-hike throught the forest. some of us got kinda cut up while bushwhacking and we all got bit by these giant red ants. we ended the day getting 'wankered' as the brits called it at the local bar (drinks were like 4$ each) and just chilling until like 4am.
We went back to the room and slept for like 4 hrs and then moved out to sleep in the hammocks. I would give a lot to be in that hammock again. Warm monring sunshine leaking throught the palm trees + cool breeze + sound of crashing waves + general morning laziness. I actually didn't get that much sleep cuz staring out into the sea was paradise, like I didn't wanna stop looking at it. Woke up at lunch and yeah... Malaysian food is amazing. Especially their versions of chinese food. The meals on the island were the same price as Singapore's but were slightly better. Work-term in Malaysia?!? hehe.. so we went snorkelling one last time and what luck struck us. A wild SEA TURTLE!!!!! It was a big sucker... like its wingspan was maybe 3'. We were so excited that we swam full speed towards it but we scared it away. We called him 'Leo' after the ninja turtles. A little bit later we actually saw him again and this time we stayed still. It swam up to us and kinda checked us out and looked at us for a bit. Then it swam underneath us but slowly. We kinda followed it for a good 2-3mins before it took off. Definately the highlight of the trip. We left the island at about 3pm w/ the brits and made it back to JB by 8. We went for dinner at an outdoor chinese restaurant and had a feast. Awesome food including bat meat hahaha. it was actually evil tasting. They also had sea turtle meat but we couldn't do that after meeting Leo.
Everyday at work I wish I was back there =D
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| So I decided to goto HK again for a couple of reasons. One being, south east asian budget airlines. CHEAP. I think Tiger Airways got me into Macau airport for like $230cad. Budget is not bad, they don't give u any free drinks, u gotta buy water but its clean and comfortable and has a giant tiger on the side of the plane. The seats were first come first serve and no movies or music to speak of.
We land in Macau and first place, Macau Tower. We wanted to do the SkyWalk but they said 45min wait so decided to jet. Twas a pretty cloudy day anyways. Next up was Sun Ma Loe, or that food street that leads up to the Cathedral. We get our fix of egg tarts, beef jerky and almond cookies and then leave. Dear God the almond cookies...
So we reach HK and after dropping off stuff at the Uncles, I met up with Queenie (who moved outta Vancouver) for some dinner at XTC at Festival Walk. Watching the little kids fall on the ice was fun as usual. Then we headed to MongKok for .... I forget what, but we ended up in McDonalds and chatted for a long time while exchanging pics.
Day 2, met up with the CJP crew!! Henry, Sonia, and Billy took me to yum cha at a pretty fancy restaurant in Prince Edward. Actually beofre that had some Ice Lake Wild Rice something... wow, hk is goin the health route. But they helped me look for a new cellphone cuz I lost mine earlier in Macau. Sorry Joey! Got a cheap one for like 390hkd. Next was Stinky Tofu.. just follow ur smell kids. Frickin delicous. Met up w/ family after to goto a Thai restuarant where we argued about the World Cup a lot heh. Then played Risk w. my little cousin and aunt before chilling in LanKwaiFong w/ the Singaporeans. (well, Pooner and Stephen). It was late so we all slept over at Pooner's place in Tai Koo after watching the Grudge in Japanese.
Turns out, Queens used to live in Tai Koo too! So I got to meet her grandparents and her mall and where she used to take the bus to school. Oh and another thing... meeting at a Starbucks is stupid. There were multiple ones even in a HongKong MTR. We went back to Kowloon Tong and had some world famous 'jeu pah fan' at 'big family happy' before goin back to Macau to go back to Singapore. I'll miss ya Queens, hopefully see u in England. Ahh, brilliant. Oh yeah, on the way to the airport we bought like 6boxes of cookies and a couple dozen po tat. Stephen finished off his 2 boxes in about 2 days.
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| One thing also that I did on the first day and I think pretty much all travellers do when they visit Phnom Penh: shoot guns. Yes, as I've told a few of ya'll already, they let anybody willing to fork over $30usd to shoot guns. And I don't mean ur regular pistol(u can do that too if u want for like 12$ or so), but a friggin AK-47. Shout-outs to my mom as you can see below. So these shooting ranges have a full-blown palatte of weapons including M16s, grenades, anti-aircraft guns, and a rocket launcher(200usd). Legend had it that before, if you paid enough money, a cow would be setup on the mountain waiting for you to bazooka the brains out of it. the anti-aircraft guns and bazooka required them to drive you out furthur into the mountains which took another 1/2 hr so we decided to pass. I ended up shooting a Colt-45, AK-47 and I threw a handgrenade. They let me keep the target which had an AK-bullet through the head and a colt bullet through the heart. Pretty much everything else missed heh. but the finale was the hand-grenade. they only let u throw it in a pool of water cuz otherwise, u'd get cut up with shrapnel. so my hand was shaking as i held this grenade in my hand thinking, 'i'm holding a cambodian grenade in my hand, if i pull the key, what are the chances of it blowing me to bits right away'. Definately one of the most nervous times of my life but I'm super glad I did it. I'll show the video when i get back :D
Anywyas, the 2nd day we spent in Siem Reap. That's a city about 5.5hrs away by bus. So we got up at 7am and took a 9am bus. We got there a little after lunch and dropped off our stuff. We hired a tut-tut driver and took us straight to Angkor Wat. Usually ppl spend like 3 or 4 days there; we only had one, so only the main temple and the temple with the 4 faces on every pillar was done. Walking up the main temple tho, wow. That place is frickin ginormous. I can't beleive ppl built that so many years ago. And everything is so, symertric and detailed. And they let ppl climb all over it!!!
Angkor Wat Girl Convo:
Girl: Hey, you buy water.
Me: I already got some water, and my friend just bought some from your other friend!
Girl: But he no share with you see.
Me: Haha, don't worry. *I punch my fist
Girl: Cannot, you small more than him.
Colin: Hahahah
Me: It's okay you know, I know kung fu heh.
Lester: This guy's Jackie Chan!
*Our tut-tut starts to drive away.
Girl screams: Jackie Chan old!!!!!!
There was a bit of deja vu cuz its mostly filled with Japanese tourists!!! All the cambodians there know how to speak Japanese so sometimes talking w/ them using that is easier than english. We met some local kids hanging out and they gave us some bbq corn and we chatted on the temple. At first I was still skeptical cuz I was still in the mood of eveyrone wants u to buy stuff from them. But these kids just wanted to chill, quite refreshing. I gave them my email cuz they wanted to practice English but havne't heard from them yet. Cool kids, hope to see them randomly again next time I visit heh. Runnign around the temples was awesome, we evern saw a lot of monks. I overheard them talking about world cup a lot hahaha. The steps to the towers were crazy inclined and just w/ the blue sky and the green grass, it felt a little out of this world. Definatley a world class heritage site.
The next morning we took another 6hr bus ride back to the capital city to visit the national museum and the Russian market. Bought a few trinkets and on the way, we passed by the royal palace. it was filled with tv cameras and ppl in suits. we later found out that they were holding trials for the Khmer Rouge leaders so lots of important ppl were in the city that time. So a few hrs before the place departure, we still didn't experience the motobike ride yet. So the 4 of us separated and each got our own drivers. I got offered 3$ so on I went. Then I did something stupid: I told the guy, I'll give u 4$ if you go faster. ZOOM off he went and more than a few times, I feared for my life hehe... but it was mad fun. I'll defn be visitn Cambodia again sometime. Cheers!!! Au kuun. (sp? thx in khmer)
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| To be honest I've never really heard much about Cambodia before arriving in Singapore. Honestly, I would've prob. thought it was somewhere in Africa or the middle east. Call me uncultured if you want but its the country right above Canada when you fill in webforms and want to be all quick and type 'c'. I've heard of this 'Angkor Wat' before (nvr seen TombRaider) but didn't know exactly where it was. Apparently, its a huge tourist spot for Japanese tourists and there are pictures of it all over the travel agencies there. So with that, we thought, hey, we gotta get in on some of that.
So we (the 4 of us) got up at like 5:30am and headed to the airport to take a SilkAir flight to the capital city of Phnom Penh. We arrive 9:30am Saturday local time to PP and dropped off our stuff at the hotel. Yes, we had a hotel and didn't rough it like the other younguns. Only 2 nights in Cambodia, meh might as well enjoy a private bathroom while we're at it. An argument taht came up again and again was that if we're doin the tourist thing too much. Things like catching a music and dance show at a hotel or eating at restaurants instead of shacks down a dirt road. At least for me, I'll do the backpacking thing when I got a whole month to stay in S.E. Asia. Hotels were 15$ a night per person. I paid more staying in an internet cafe in Japan.
Day1 was Phnom Penh and for those of you who dont' know about the Cambodian massacres, a dictator named Pol Pot wanted to turn Cambodia into a farming culture and therefore, killed anyone with culture or smarts and even people who wore glasses. All in all because of his stupid ideologies, 3 million Cambodians ended up dying reducing the nation's population by 1/3. Then the Vietnamese came in and stopped it. Anywyas, we visited the Killing Fields and S-21 prison dedicated to them and looked at pictures and the stories of people who were victims. It was a pretty solemn experience and we didn't talk much with each other while at the sites. Along the way there were lots and lots of people mostly children asking for money. It was hard not to give all of them money (especially when you're in that mood) cuz they were running around barefoot and kinda dirty. Most of the roads there were dusty and it really felt like a 3rd world country. These people are poor; the beggars in Vancouver aren't. So for the most part, I'm pretty sure I got ripped off a lot, but I didn't mind, these ppl could use the money a lot more.
We also visited the Royal Palace which had amazing buildings and a LOT of gold. Even more bling than a gold watch shop in Little India. We ended the day eating dinner at a restaurant near the river and wandering around. At night, we headed out to a bar to watch England vs Portugal but we got lost. So we went to this really local place where they didn't speak English and watched the game there. 4 pitchers of beer and 2 bottles of water + lots of peanuts = 8$. Needless to say, walking back to the hotel was a bit harder than we expected. We were also yelled at a lot 'Massage 3$, u like?' 'no? 2$ for u my friend =)' haha.. but we made it back and got ready to take the 6hr bus ride to Siem Reap the next morning at 7am. Angkor Wat here we come!!!
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| Chicken rice!! F-CK LAH!!
Chili crab!! F-CK LAH!!
Laksa!! F-CK LAH!!
Kiasu!! F-CK LAH!!
Humidity!! F-CK LAH!!
No gum!! F-CK LAH!!
No porno!! f-ck, lah??
Caning!! F-CK LAH!!
SMRT!! F-CK LAH!!
Wah lan!! F-CK LAH!!
Durians!! F-CK LAH!!
Gov't approved hookers!! F-CK LAH!!
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