Legend of Korra - Book Two

Hooray! After a year of long wait, the producer finally confirmed the release time for Legend of Korra Book 2 : Spirit.

It is finally coming out in September. AWESOME MAX!

Hope that the series is worth the wait. Something to look forward to after every book out from camp in Tekong. ^^

Looking forward to it!

What about you readers? Are you one of the Korra fans too? 

Signing Off.

My nugget for the day!

Monday blues, who else is sharing same sentiments with me?

Today marks the beginning of my last week working at SP Corp Comm Department. Time flies eh! Four months had passed since I last joined here. 2 more days and I will be leaving CCOM. #sad

So I was busy with mailing Escapade registrations (as usual) this afternoon. It was when I heard some commotion going on at front desk. I was at MySpace (literally) that time. This elderly lady was looking for her son who has not returned home since last weeks. Being a worried mother, she came looking for him at SP twice, last week and today.

The son is working at SP. Apparently, he has not gone home since last week and refused to let his mother know. He did not called his mother nor picked up any call from her.

After much callings were made, the supervisor of the son asked the lady to sit outside to wait for her son while they get him.

She waited nearly half an hour, and Jun was telling me she looked very frail and tired.

I couldn't bear any longer. I brought a bottle of water and some snacks to her. I bet she was really happy to see someone who cared about her.

Then the lady shared her woes with me. In fact, I was happy to lend her a listening hear, of course, hoping that she would feel better after she pouring her heart out.

After I sat down and accompanied her for a time being, her son appeared. So I left two of them alone to talk among themselves. Pray that she will be better now.

What amazed me was that she is very healthy and alert for an 83 years old lady. And that indescribable joyous feeling I got after accompanying and seeing her smile reminded me of the exact same feeling I felt back in Tibet.

It's just the same. And it also reminded me of why I wanted to do volunteering in the first place. To bring joy, and see someone smiles.

It is a simple random kindness that bringing joy not only to the people you helped, but yourself as well.

On a random note:

"After this particular phenomenon, I thought of my mother and my grandparents. I believe they pretty share the same sentiments.

Especially my mom, she has only me to depend on. I imagined her worries and woes over me and compared them with the lady, they are pretty much the same. Luckily for the grandma, she has 7 children to depend while my mom has only me.

And I thought of my father, who would always be excited and happy to see me whenever I returned Myanmar. If only he is still alive now, I would definitely treasure him more.

As of now, my mother is all I have in this world."

Let's get back to the topic!

Lesson learnt today, one act simple random kindness can bring joy, we might never know how big the impact is.

Join me, build a random kindness today.



Signing off.

Happy Ramadan

I know it's a little late but I wish all my Muslim friends a happy and blessed Ramadan. Pray that everything is fine and well in this holy month of fasting. You have my utmost respect. I too, look forward to celebrate Hari Raya.

In the meantime, once again, happy and blessed Ramadan to everyone. :)

Source: Evacomics

Signing off. 

Date with Jamie's

Thank god it was Friday. Benedict invited me join him and his girlfriend at Jamie's Italian for dinner on Friday.

'Hmm, I wouldn't mind. I get to know Ben's girlfriend too', I thought. But the food was expensive, as shown on the menu. I was preparing to order the lowest priced item, if possible.

Look at the price! Daylight robbery man!

SURPRISE! It was on the house. WAH HENG! PHEW!

That ass made a fool outta me, haha, told me I needa prepare at least 50 SGD, and my eyes were already twitching about spending so much. But hey, I was really glad man, and thankful of course. (I am just honored that Ben invited me to join them for 'once in a life time' chance. Thanks bro!)

Free food, happy cheapo. Of course. Zaylinn the Ultimate Cheapo never learns.

So we ordered, well, quite a spread of food. Haha, typical Singaporeans as we would always be.

 We ordered well, a lot of food. Can't remember what we order, haha. 

And not forgetting the liquor (cocktails) and wines too.

My first time drinking so much after a while. And my virgin cocktail experience. Hey, it's not bad. Haha, white wine was smooth.

A group photo: Denyse, myself, Ben and and Cherry (Left to right). Me and Denyse looked like the Jamie's Italian staff. 

Well, what do yea know. I met my former manager from Ambush here. Singapore is just too small. Wendy, my former manager at Ambush is working as a manager at this restaurant too. She looks much happier too. Well, the staff here are nice too. Almost everyone is friendly and attentive, except some. The girl who served our table is really nice and friendly, Ren Chi the name, if I am not wrong.

As we wanted to order dessert (we were willing to pay for the dessert), there's where things turned sour, a bit. The Caucasian supervisor (or trainer) came and told us that, well, you know, we can't order a lot because any 'normal customers' would not order that much. 

That's not the right attitude my lady. Screw you and your stupid stereotypes. Since your restaurant invite us and treat us, you should have been expecting this kind of order, am I right? 

What kind of attitude did you gave us? While I appreciate the friendliness, attentiveness and efficient service of the staff, I could not accept this kind of answer. 

To cut the story short, it was quite an unpleasant experience near the end. I shall not go into detail on how bad the experience was. 

Nevertheless, I really did had a great time there of course. The food was good (can be improve though), the service of the staff is good (except for some screwed up attitude by the higher people) and perhaps they can lower the pricing. 

Overall, it was great dining at Jamie's Italian, thanks to my bro. 

Well, the bill was more than I expected. Just wow!

Signing off. 

Feeling a little discouraged

Currently getting depressed and discouraged. Seriously I am having second thought if the trip to Korea is actually worth the expenses or not?

Even before I could actually go there, I already am spending closed to 1K, almost all of my last month pay. If only I have a some kind soul to sponsor me. (Oh well, the world is full of if only's, what if's, blah blah blah.)

Then comes additional expenses for visas for Korea and Vietnam (I am transiting one night at Vietnam, so I might as well apply for a visa and tour around Hanoi).

But after spending so much, I am just discouraged. Simply discouraged.

Is this trip gonna worth everything? 

Source: Google

Signing Off!

Myanmar (mis)Adventures 2013: 23.06 - 30.06.2013 (Part Four)

Alright, I bet you are getting sick of waiting for more. Here it is, part four of Myanmar Trip. Enjoy! :)

Day 7: 29th Jun 2013

It was our last day in Yangon. As everyone was exhausted from travelling, running, screaming and fooling around, we decided to take a break on the last day. Well, not quite. 

We went to Mingaladon Market, the biggest market around the vicinity of Mingaladon. 

Riding motorbike to market

Fresh fruits, oh yeah, we bought 60 mangoes from this shop worth 15000 kyats (22 SGD). hahaha, the owner must be super duper happy.

Mingaladon Market

Buying veges, ingredients for the cooking later!

Unfortunately, Xinyi got her leg burned by motorbike's exhaust. That was really really painful, I can imagine the pain. But hey, I must say she is really brave. Hope she recovers soon!

During afternoon when KX was taking a break as he was down with diarrhea, I brought the girls to the paddy field nearby.

This is the convenient shop in a typical Myanmar village.

The models wannabes, but hey, the photographer is awesome right! :D

Then comes evening, duh, you don't say. While they busy preparing food for the 'cultural dinner', I sneaked off to find my buddy, Thu Aung. Man, it's been six years since I last met my best friend in Myanmar. 

The name's Thu Aung, studying medicine at Military's Academy. Doctor Acula, going to graduate next year, he is going to be a doctor soon while I am stuck in army. But I'm definitely proud of him. :)

I shall not go to detail about the cooking. Well, it was fun! We (they) managed to come out with some dishes, even though most of it did not turn out the way we wanted. But hey, it was fun I tell you! :)

Posting with my family, well, almost all!

The last day was, definitely a memorable night. Of course, there were dramas too. Like people crying, tearing up, it was quite touching. :')

Day 8: 30th Jun 2013. Home Sweet Home

It is time to say goodbye. And it was the best trip back home to Myanmar with my buddies. I love it of course despite a few misunderstandings. It was definitely an awesome trip. Well, hope to go back Myanmar with the three of them again. :)

With the family!

A farewell photo with the family

With Le Grandma and Le Aunt

Photo of the day

At airport 

With the Pilot? 

Views from the plane as it is about to Land!

And yup, Myanmar trip has come to an end. Looking forward to go back Myanmar again. :)

~ The End ~

Myanmar (mis)Adventures 2013: 23.06 - 30.06.2013 (Part Three)

Day 6: 28th Jun 2013

We arrived Yangon around 5 AM. Man, that was fast. And the bus ride was rather comfortable. Reader, if you are thinking of travelling to Bagan or Mandalay from Yangon, I would recommend you to take JJ (Joyous Journey) company. Their service is really fantastic. They even have the "bus stewardess". Haha, okay can!

 After we had our breakfast and planned our itinerary, we took a short nap. Mind you, we had not have a proper sleep since day 1.

After lunch, first destination was Bogyoke Market (known as Scott Market).

The three jokers with Wai Wai and Pyae Pyae

There they go again, wearing Burmese Traditional attire.
Hey, it looks good on them isn't it? 

Their first time taking public bus in Myanmar. It was quite a scene though.
Haha.

On the way to Scott Market.

Scott Market (or Bogyoke Market, named after Bogyoke Aung San, independence father of Myanmar)

Necklaces made of jades at Scott Markets

I was rather disappointed with the trip to the market as almost all the stores in the market carries expensive stuff like jades, jewelry or sculptures. Not quite what we were looking for. But at least, we have been there. AND WE CHANCED UPON A VERY FAMILIAR SINGAPOREAN BRAND.

YAKUN KAYA TOAST!

What else can I say? AWESOME FEELING! IT'S OPENED JUST WEEKS AGO.

Choo Choo train! City train circulating Yangon.

And Yangon Zoo, here we come! It was quite a sad sight to visit the zoo as the place is very poorly maintained, the animals are being neglected and underfed. Their condition is really, beyond horrifying. Heard from my uncle that the animals will be moved to Hlaw Ka zoo as the old zoo is going to be torn down for development. Hopefully the animals will be better taken care of there. *pray*

When the sun was about to set, we continued our journey to Kandawgyi Karaweik. We intended to have our dinner there but as we reached the place, we were informed that it costs 20000kyats per person. Nah, not worth it. So we decided to have our dinner at nearby restaurant.

View of the famed landmark of Yangon at night, simply beautiful, isn't it? :)

Oh yea, you can see the Shwe Dagon Pagoda from Kandawgyi Lake. The view is breathtaking. You should be there to see this scenery as the looking at the picture alone is not enough.

And this is Shwedagon at night. Magnificent, simply marvelous. Buddham Saranam Gacchermi. 

And we moved to next destination, Shwedagon. As we were about to reach the top, we were approached by the security personnel collecting 5USD for entrance. Luckily my reaction was fast enough and the three jokers managed to gain entry into the pagoda without having to pay entrance fee. 

And KX had stomachache, so U Aung brought him to nearest toilet. And it rained! :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

While waiting for the rain to stop, we sat at the staircases of South Entrance. We decided to brave the rain and walk one round around the pagoda. And we were approached by the security personnel again. This time, we wasn't as lucky as the first time. This guy was smart, he instead went to the three jokers and asked them questions. 

Well, to cut it short, they were exposed. And we decided to just head back home since it was getting real late and not worth paying 5 USD to walk around the pagoda in the rain even though they would not mind paying the entrance. 

Eastern Entrance to the Pagoda

We came down by the Southern Entrance.

Look at our wet bodies, literally! 

Impromptu much, but they had a photo shoot with my family. :) Grandma and U Aung were not in the pic. :(

Part four to be continued.