Hi,

Okay, and it's now time for me to spill on my Singapore trip. Overall it was a very wonderful week. Business with pleasure - something like that... I went there from Monday to Friday to attend this course on transactions programming (ie programming of user screens in SAP programming language - ABAP). First of all, I really wanted to go for this training as it will help me a lot in my job later on. So, I was really appreciative of the course and I can say that it was the most attentive class I've made myself to be!

The course would be from 9am to 5pm each day and that was really good coz it left my evenings free for other activities. I stayed in a hotel (The New Otani Hotel Singapore - unfortunately I didn't find out how many stars) which is just 5 minutes walk away from my training place (call it the Sapient College). Breakfast is included and the hotel is with a shopping complex (Liang Court) below. Very, very convenient.

I'm starting to get the hang of flying here and there. It used to be that I was so 'blur' on what to do when flying out or into a country. I mean where to go, what forms/documents to fill and bring. Getting the hang of it and pretty cool about it too - like when I was informed that my airtickets were not confirmed and somehow ended up on the waiting list (happened 3 times already!). Pretty calm (then again... but what else was I supposed to do?)

When I got to the Changi airport however, I took the airport shuttle to UE Square (where the Sapient College is). I knew it was a cab (I thought it would be something like our KL limousine lah). What I didn't know was it was a premier cab (Mercedes Benz)! Yikes!! It costs me 35 SD! Of course my company is paying for it but I felt so bad because normally they take 'normal' cabs. I had to watch out on my spending too as I didn't bring a lot of money. And because of the guilt feeling, I took the MRT and the normal SBS bus when I went back to the Changi airport. And that was only 3.20 SD altogether.

Anyway, on my first day I had dinner with an ex-colleague of mine who's working on a project in Singapore. We ate at Clarke Quay and it was mighty expensive - $37 SD for a plate of seafood fried rice and fried mee. Wow! I had to keep switching of the 'conversion calculator' in my mind. I almost imagined the picture of the dollar with bird wings on it!!

On the second evening, my cousin sister and her boyfriend took me to Chinatown for a treat of porridge with side dishes of raw fish (yee sang), chicken feet and duck meat. Tasty (but the Hong Kong porridge is still best) and the best part is I found that it included pig intestines in the porridge. Fortunately, they were fried and quite salty. I ate most of it but had I to choose again, I'll leave out the spare parts... As for the chicken feet, both my cousin sister and I decided it was best for her boyfriend to take over. We've seen how the chickens run about in our granny's place and what they run on isn't pleasant to the eyes!

Chinatown is what you expect it to be. Shops with herbal stuff, makan places, Chinawares, etc. I discovered some parts here aren't reflective of Singapore's cleanliness image. Anyway, still better than Malaysia. Here, I have a peace of mind regarding the litter business. At home, when I see rubbish here and there, I keep imagining myself sweeping them off when I get old and have nothing to do.

On Wednesday night, I had dinner with an ex-primary school classmate, Asha. She took me to Lau Pa Sat (near Raffles MRT). It was a great hawker center with lots of varieties. I had some green noodles and it turned out to be very tasty. And prices are reasonable. The meal I had only costs me $3 SD.

We walked all the way back to my hotel. But before that, we had a chatting moment at Boat Quay. Very nice place too. It has a feel of Paris in it. A very good place to lepak with a view of the river and bright lights from the buildings that surround it. We talked about lots of things - general and personal. Sometimes, you can't believe that a person who you seldom see is able to share such deep thoughts. We talked about boyfriends, marriage, family and goals. She hasn't a close friend to share it with. And I told her that I'm known as a 'tong sampah'. But thanks to you, my perspective have changed that I welcomed the opportunity that someone wants to talk out his/her feelings and feel better about it afterwards.

Thursday night, I was supposed to have dinner with another friend (boy, life's pretty exciting here compared to Bangkok!) but I guess that friend couldn't make it. I bought myself the cheapest meal - two McDonald's cheeseburgers and it's all for $1.40 SD. I enjoyed my meal while watching 'Footloose' in the hotel room. It's nice to watch that show again and see how Kevin Bacon could dance back then. Then I saw Dirk of 3rd Rock From The Sun acting as a minister and father to a teenage girl. Somehow, it was funny watching him play the role of a religious minister and imagine how wacky he was in 3rd Rock.

Life in the hotel was great too. It's very near to Clarke Quay - the place where gwailos go for their beer and dinner. I would like it if the window overlooks this area but instead it looks over another part of the city which is not so hectic during nightlife. However, it does overlook the swimming pool. And there's this guy (I can't even make out whether he's Asian or Western) who swims at about 7am each morning. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my swimsuit along, so I'll just have to admire him from the window.

I did the jumping on the bed thing here too. I dunno why I do it though. I guess to me staying in a hotel is pretty privilege to me just like taking an airplane. I told Asha that if I were to get on a flight 100 times, it would be 100 times that I would enjoy the flight. It's just that to me, I feel very lucky and awed to be on an airplane too. Even though I could afford it now, I'd still feel this way. BTW, flying from Singapore to KL during daytime is pretty good as the scenery below is fantastic. I saw one river which was absolutely 'snaky' and the whole thing looked like the outlines of branches of a tree.

The hotel is pretty good. The breakfast was American style. There's bacon, sausage, eggs, bread, cereal, etc. I had the full 'version' on my first breakfast there but the following days I only had fruits because I really, really felt fat. I've been eating a lot recently - what with the good food in Bangkok. I also think I'm gonna get diabetes when this project over. Lots of sweets - at the client's place and at the hotel. One thing about these hotels is they have these small glasses for fruit juices. I would love to have a big glass even in the mornings.

Service is pretty good too. In the evenings when I come back, the bed is made with an orchid on it with a message from the housekeeper "we wish you pleasant dreams". That's a nice gesture. Then I also received an invitation for a cocktail reception from the hotel but had to forgo it because I had an outing with Asha. Anyway, I'm not brave enough in these cocktails stuff. Not good with mixing around...

TV programmes are nice. I watched one episode of Ally McBeal here - the one about computer sex. What's nice is that this is a much newer episode with Lucy Liu in it. There's also reception for TV2 and TV3 but unfortunately not NTV7.

On Thursday right after class, I decided to explore Fort Canning Park on my own which was just right beside the hotel on the left. Some old fort gates, remnants of a fort wall, a spice garden (smelled of curry leaves), asean cultural garden (with funny structures and I don't think that's art!), walk pass the registrar of marriage (no intentions), 9 pound cannon and a sally port (secret entrance). There weren't many people around. Being kiasu a bit at Singapore, I took an ice cream from the Sapient College and treated myself on it over at this park. (Apparently there were no refreshments unlike SAP Malaysia where they provide sandwiches. But here, they have ice cream and soft drinks.) At 6pm onwards, more and more joggers came to this area which was a pretty good exercise for me too to climb up and down the hill.

My trainer was pretty cocky. He has knowledge but he's quite impatient with some of the questions the participants pose. Anyway, I'm able to get along with the training materials and also with the other participants. By the end of the training, I'd managed to chat a bit with each participant (there were 8 of us altogether). Sometimes, I don't understand why I don't have this magic when I'm in Bangkok?

All the other participants are from user sides (IT support). I tell them that they are very lucky to have the opportunity to attend an SAP course. I only get to attend one after 3 years of working.

During the taxi ride from KLIA back to Seremban, I had a debate with the driver on why I was single and also how disinterested I was in relationships. The driver was a Malay guy and he argues that human were made with 'nafsu'. Cannot avoid one. I told him, I'm special case. Should have been a nun.

Workwise, I've been pretty happy with myself. Before going off to this training, I managed to figure out on barcode printing in SAP. It's probably the same satisfaction you got when you came out with your intranet thingy. I'd work 3 days on it before getting to print out the barcodes and seeing it coming out from the printer gave a quite a relief and a pat on the back (myself to myself lah).

Oh, I also watched X-men on VCD today. It was a movie that I waiting for I couldn't wait for the cinemas. I'd read some X-Men comics and so far the reviews have been going great. I had to see for myself. X-Men has always been one of the most interesting superhero comics around. And it's great to see that the movie focused on Wolverine who is also my favourite character as well. But I won't spill anything here. You'd have to watch it.

I'm also cutting out some Peanuts comic strip. They've come out with the series on Snoopy's attempt at writing a kiss n tell book. It's really funny. You'd then understand why people like the comic strip so much.

Here's some pictorial explanations:

The view from the New Otani hotel room window.

Another view - overlooking the swimming pool. Did not 'catch' that guy here.

The cricket stadium while walking to the City Hall MRT.

The New Otani hotel from Fort Canning.

Clarke Quay from Fort Canning.

The 9 pound cannon.

Regards,
Li Li