Life's wonders

New York sights and scenes

2010-08-15T15:26:00.001+02:00

2nd day in New York. With a plan we had made the night before on how to fully utilize the New York pass, we started our day with a 75min ferry ride along the Hudson river towards downtown manhattan ad back up again. The ride was interesting enough or the first part. With a tour guide providing information and background stories to the skyline of the cities of new jersey and manhattan. On the way back however I fell alseep and didn't catch much of the continued stories. But it was nice, and you got to cruise pass the statue of liberty too.

We proceeded on to our 2nd stop, Madame Tussands wax musume! It was a cool encounter with the stars and famous people of history too! But the stars don't always look like what they appear to be on TV and it was hard trying to recognise them. Most were fortunaely easy enough to spot and it was a ball of fun posing or photos with the figurines.

King Tut! The Egyptian boy king. The exhibition was in New York and of course with didn't miss it. It was amazing, all the artifacts recovered and the stories behind it. If only I knew more to fully appreciate the wonders of the ancient egyptian world. If more time were granted, I'd recommand getting the audio guide. Probably they have more information on each artifact. That is if u are really keen on knowing the history. If not, just looking around at the short write ups will be enough.

Every city has a skyscrapper you have to visit. In New york's case, it's 2. Rockefellar centre... A full hours wait to get to the top. Pretty view of central park and a day view of te city. Not bad but nor worth that long a wait.. The elevator was cool though. It had a glass top that showed how fast you where travelling up and downwards.

So you are in time square new york. How could anyone miss a broadway performance? With the endless choices of shows each night. Queues were long too to get discounted tickets for last minute shows that night. We gt ourselves tickets to the west side story. But because wicked was sold out till aug 11 and so were Billy Elliot and the Addams family. I just love musicals no matter how cheesy the story line gets. It's just the music, live orchasra, singers and he dances that draws me into it. Amazing.. I'll definately catch a musical again when I can. But when I have the budget. To get good seats and also a show like Wicked. (:

New York New York!

2010-08-09T06:05:00.007+02:00

And so we are in New York with no clue on where we want to visit. Haha but we have about half the day to look around and decide.

So after half a day of looking around, we settled on the New York pass which is 120 dollars for 2 days. And 30 over free entries to various attractions all over New York. We even checked out the broadway show tickets and bought west side story tickets for the night,

And so it began put eventful 2 days in New York. Alot of walking, sightseeing and more walking...

The streets of New York are relatively easy to navigate. Orderly and in sequence. Ave 123 street 456 and so on.. No problems finding our way around the place and with our hostel just 2 streets from times square, nothing was too far either.

Only problem was, after leaving such a comfortable place in Florida, living in a hostel felt like so big a change. And from the sub urbs of Land O Lakes to the skyscrappers of New York, I felt out of place. Like a monkey in the city..

Scott's house and tubing!

2010-08-09T06:05:00.005+02:00

Awesome day! But I now have random aching spots on my body. Not too many though. Guess hiking in yellowstone did make me fitter or something. Ha!

We went to the most amazing house today. If we thought Spencer's place was nice, omg scotts place is 5 times that. Replace the pool with a lake and a boat.. And they even have the cutest dogs chole and Murphy. Gus is cute too I most emphasis. He's a snorting snoring dog who's the king of his house. Haha

Ok back to the house. We went tubing on the lake! Awesome. It was just hang on the float for your life and don't fall off. While the driver of the boat aims to throw you off the float. For a warm up, me and Lettie got on for a few rounds and they was relatively easy on us.

Until Spencer joined in. Omg, with lesser space, handles and Spencer on the float, the level of difficultly skyrocketed! We were screaming hitting each other during he bumps, climbing on each other for more grip and everything. It was a mess on the float. Laughing, screaming and grabbing at the same time is not a easy thing to do. Soon one of us would be thrown in the water.

But it sure was a whole load of fun.

I love water!

Baseball game in Tampa

2010-08-09T06:05:00.003+02:00

First baseball game! And now my loyalty has to lay with the Tampa bay Rays. Haha, but whatever, they are good and they beat the Yankees so I don't care, they rock my socks!

It was a surprising load of fun cheering and unlike soccer matches, the fans here are not seperated. No fights though. All friendly games people.

During the change of innings, random entertainments will be shown. Like a Dance off with the banana man and a sercurity person. It was lol! Hilarious! And in the middle of everything, a random pariotic American song was played and everyone stood up with their palm on their hearts and started singing at the top of their voices. yup, totally random!

If given the chance, I'll definately catch a game again. My only regret was not getting something from the fan shop! After visiting newyork and seeing so many Yankees clubs, sigh, I regretted not getting something from the Rays. Cos I just couldn't bring myself to get anything from the Yankees. The Rays bear was so cute!!!!!

House party in America

2010-08-09T06:05:00.001+02:00

Beer pong! Flip cup. Power hour. Heard of them? Yup, that's an American house party for you. Aim o the night is to win the games, drink and get drunk.

So many people were at the place even Jean was going alittle bonkers trying to get order and just start a game of flip cup.

Haha, Americans talk to much. Most of the time was spent on arguements that went in circles..and when it involves drunk people, yup, the arguement almost never stops. Mostly it was funny nothing serious... Looking at the sober one reason with the drunk one.

In another house party I got to play beer pong but today was tutorial and spenc's friend was telling me the rules of the game and the dos and do nots...

Flip cup was also fun looking.. Drink flip the cup and pass on. The fastest team wins the round and the losing team votes the weakest link out. And it continues until the final person in the team drinks all the cups on the table on his team and flips them to try and beat the other team.

Power hour is the cutest. Aim is get drunk fast! Time minute intervals and take a shot of beer after each minute for an hour. And taadaaah! After 20 min you should be tipsy already.

Universal studios Florida

2010-08-05T22:56:00.001+02:00

I spent 180usd on theme park tickets today! Omg, how did that even happen? But we got the ticketS for 2 parks islands of adventure and universal studios in a day with the express pass.

The extra 50 bucks does wonders! We flew pass all the people in the line and felt like kings walking straight into the attraction.

It was so much fun! We had to put on out Jillian hiking speed shoes and immediately sped into the first roller coaster. A green hulk themed coaster. The second on was the attraction next to that, dr doom tower drop! Haha what a way to start the day and wake us all up.

Unbelievealby we managed both parks in a day! Everything worth riding was tried. We even had time to gk back and line up for the new Harry potter attraction which was not open to our express pass. An hour of lining up and our own little game to entertain ourselves.

The only unfortunate thing was he other new attraction, rock it, this awesome looking coaster was having technical problems and we could not ride it. Omg it had a straight drop in an upside down U.

At about 7.30pm we were all dead beat tired and started to head back. Still cars were flooding into the park for the night life there. But too tired to stay and having a party to catch at 11pm, I fought te urge to want to stay and headed back home.

Felt so bad Spenc still had to drive all the hour and a half way back. I bet he was tired to. Not to mention been driving so much for the past few days, sick of driving. Thanks boy! ((:

Beach day

2010-07-30T04:19:00.001+02:00

The stay here is basically chillaxing. We woke up at about 10pm and took our time with brunch and headed to the beach at 12.

The waters were freaking warm! Like suana warm.. Omg. And we had boogy boards from spence so we rode the waves! Then it was just lazying in the sun and sand. The sand is fine and white and soft! Reminds me of Thailand beaches.. And we played some frisbee before it started to rain..

Unfortunate but we still headed back and gave spencer's dog Gus a bath! Smelly dog. Took a nap, made a run to walmart for a rice cooker and made dinner. Hahaha. And again, tv and movie or probably hang out with his friends around the area..

Florida!

2010-07-29T07:15:00.001+02:00

Work at yellowstone is done and me and Lettie took a plane straight to Florida to visit Spencer.

We sent his parents off to the airport today sk the house is ours! Hahaha anyway, it's a home stay so no busy touristy plans yet.. Probably universal studios, Disney but plans will come in time..

We spent last night hanging out at his friends' apartment. Americian style.. Funny people but we were too tired after the flight.. We'll prob see them again in the next few days we're here..

Mallard Lake Camping(6.8miles) - 11 July 2010

2010-07-13T09:33:00.003+02:00

2nd Camping Trip for us! But the first with a REAL campfire ans SMORES!!

The location was near Old faithful. About a 3.4 mile hike in. Which didn't seem bad at all. Maybe it was all the hiking training we have had over the past couple months. hehe

As usual at this time of the year, it was swarmed with mosquitoes.. and OMG, the are some really pro mosquitoes. They don't need open skin.. they can poke through your clothes! i wore a pair of tights and sweatpants but they mosquitpes still got all over my legs! Some crazy shit.

Oksay, ignoring the mosquitoes, once we arrived at our campsite, at about 7-8pm, we set up the new 4 men tent our RC, Silke had very kindly lent us and took our all our food reserves. Then it was firewood collection time and all of us dispersed to look for big logs for the fire and thin branches for the marshmallows.

Although it wasn't getting dark yet, i suggested starting the fire anyway since it would be #1 easier when u can actually see what you are doing and #2 an attempt to smoke the mosquitoes away. We spent some time on the starting the fire and luckily Spencer had suggested bring lint from the dryers to burn as kindling. I rolled them into dung like shapes and stick them in. Soon the campfire was burning!

Campfire's burning, campfire's burning, draw nearer, draw nearer!

First things first, DINNER!! we were starving and had already each bought sandwiches when we were at the old faithful general store. Dinner was Maggi noodles for me, Lettie and Spencer and some Kathmandu Curry for Jilllian since she's vegetarian.

We tried some of her curry since it serves 2 and the 3 of us came to a conclusion that it was missing something... MEAT!

After dinner, i made some milk tea and we roasted out marshmallows for the smores! Plus some irish cream liquor and music, dancing around the campfire..

Okay, so when camping in bear country, we are suppose to hang our foodstuff at least 10 feet above the ground away from our sleeping are. So they have this high pole for us to hang out foodstuff for the night. The girls looked at the pole and our first comment was, Wao, that's high up. i dun think we can get a rock up and over to hang the bag. Upon hearing that, Spencer bursted out laughing.. he couldn't believe we had thought that and said that he could do it in 1 throw..

So with our egos to save, we all tried to throw the rock. But Damn! Failed... he was already rolling on the floor laughing by that time. It took all of us 3 tries each before Lettie finally got the rock and rope over..

Then, we talked for awhile more under the stars until the fire died down since we weren't suppose to leave the fire still burning in case it starts a forest fire..

Finally, snuggled up in our tent and sleeping bags, we played a few games of cards and a round of Monopoly Deal before heading off to bed at around 2am.

At about 5am, i woke up with a splitting headache and had to head out of the tent and even threw up. I was feeling so bad i couldn't even go back to sleep. So i lay against a tree stump by the lake facing the rising morning sun and tried to catch some rest instead.. Eventually my head stopped hurting and i found out that it was cause i was sleeping on an incline with my head downwards the entire night. hence the enormous headache. Ouch.. but all is good and we made ourselves breakfast of oat cereal or milo and nuts. A little chipmunk even relentlessly attempted to steal our food and made a cute little stance every time we looked at him.. haha! Doing the puss-in-boots from Shrek move..

I love camping out with my friends! And i want to bring a piece of sky back with me....

Firehole River & West Yellowstone IMAX - 10 July 2010

2010-07-11T09:07:00.004+02:00

6 of us, Jillian, Lettie, Nina, Spencer, Jay and I decided to go somewhere in the afternoon since we were all on day offs! So Spencer asked around for some place fun to go and Silke, our RC suggested Firehole river. It is basically a river that i think due to thermal features around, had water that isn't icy cold and swim-able. Not something common in YNP i must assure you. We jumped in.

Hmmm.. not warm i would say but not icy either.. still cold enough for you to shiver after being in it for a while though. But the best part of the river was the stretch of rapids that we had to swim against till we hit this rock, stand on the rock and jump in.. letting the current and water push you down, in and all the way to the end of the swimming section of the river..
I love water so much!

After that, we went over to West Yellowstone, a town just outside YNP and caught a free IMAX show about Yellowstone National Park!

Well, it was a huge ass screen and the show was alright.. more history of YNP and the earlier explorers and how they showed the world the beauties of the place..

Oh yes, we went to the Candy Shop too! and i got a huge Caramel Apple! ((: But i like the one i got at Cooperhagen better... The Candied Apple instead..

Dinner/supper was an Elk Burger.. ok.. For those who have never tasted Elk, it's just a way tougher version of Lamb.. Lettie didn;t like it. Saying it has that smell - the mutton smell. I was ok with it since i like mutton anyway. But the meat patty wasn't that nice either.. like chewy and hard... not enough fat i think, seeing that the elks are all wild and fit, climbing up and down slopes here.

Working - 9 July 2010

2010-07-09T21:42:00.004+02:00

Finally finished my 5 shifts of work in a row! Breakfast, Dinner, Breakfast, Dinner, Breakfast. i feel like my life revolves around intervals of 3-4 hour naps. Of which i will wake up to go to work. My life is so exciting the past few days...
Thank god the weekend is here! was suppose to go camping at glacier national park this week end with Spencer, Jillian and her family but Jillian is sick so we didn't. We'll probably do a camping trip when she gets better. Hope she gets better soon!!

I'm so tired after work. But cause of the naps, i can't seem to fall asleep. Weird i know especially when i have not been having sleep problems since i am here. When my living pattern goes back to normal, i'm sure i will be able to sleep better. my pimples are starting to come back due to this weird sleeping lifestyle too! scary...

We ended up watching The Bourne Trilogy that evening.... Jason Bourne overload!

Horrid day turned not so bad. Ribbon Lake Hike (4 miles) - 6 July 2010

2010-07-07T08:38:00.004+02:00

Today was suppose to be White Water Rafting day. A trip that cost us $46 each. The paper given to us wrote 6.30am at the rec hall. And so we were there around 6.30 and saw the van drove away without us. With no phone contact what so ever, it was a mission impossible to get them to turn around.
We went back to the dining room and got Michaela to lend us her truck so we could try our luck at catching the van when it goes to Canyon Village to pick the rest up. On the way back to the dorms however, we met Alex and Christine who were heading for a hike at Canyon area and they offered to give us a ride. His car unfortunately started breaking down halfway and we got off and tried to hitchhike the rest of the way. 15min with no luck, it was impossible for us to catch the van and so we turned back and tried to hitch a ride back to lake. Which was also a fruitless effort. No car stopped to pick us up at all. it took us an hour and a half to get back to our dorms finally and it was only because we saw a family sight see-ing at a stop off and wanted to ask for our position and distance to lake. The taiwanese family then very kindly offered to give us a ride back to our dorms.

To be continued...

So we came back to our dorms finally and slept... all the way till 12. 30pm and went for lunch. While eating, we met Nina, a Taiwanese SA and she was also having a bad day. Problems with cultural shock and habits of the Americans we Asians might fine irresponsible. But hey, it's normal to them so we just have to adapt.
Later, we went to Michaela's room to tll her all about our morning and lettie out of the blue just asked if she could take her truck our and go to canyon since Nina has never been around the park yet. Michaela agreed!
Thus, we proceeded to the Canyon! On the way we also stopped over at Mud Volcano area. A place so near our lake hotel but lettie and i have yet to visit! haha.. And then it was a relaxing walk/hike at artist point. Kristen, who too joined us in our little outing saw a short hike of 3 miles to ribbon lake and suggested we do that. It was a pretty walk along the canyon area but Ribbon lake itself was unfortunately disappointing. Lilypad lake was a pretty cute little thing though and still worth the hike.
Dinner was at Canyon's Dining room and this time we ordered starters as full meals instead BBQ pork shanks and Chilli Fries! Delicious...

I also had my first taste of a SMORE! although it's not the authentic one since it was made in a microwave instead of being roasted over a fire. BUT, heavenly in any case. ((:

p.s. A Smore = a graham cracker sandwich with melted marshmallow and chocolate in the middle. Yummy!

4th of July Parade and Flat Creek @ Jackson Hole

2010-07-07T08:37:00.004+02:00

Because pictures are so hard to drag around an already written blog post, they'll be up here. I'm sure u will know what is what when u have read the post. I'll put captions to help too.

We made it to the end of the river! Heroes!
Here's the start of it. when everyone is nice, fresh and un-scrapped.
4th of July parade!

Freebies! see our proud faces and badges?

4th of July is the best holiday in the United States!!! Everyone was high and happy today and the streets of Jackson's town square was filled with people waiting for the parade! For a small town, it was a fantastic parade and only pictures will every let you have glimpse of what it was. Basically, red, white and blues, horses and damsels on them, Car parades, Uncle Sams and ever boys on unicycles playing basketballs! Throughout the parade, sweets were also thrown out na dkids with plastic bags stood right in front to snatch for them.. hahhaha it was a cute sight.

They also threw necklaces with red white and blue beads as well as other random stuff like frisbees! haha all in the name of fun and Lettie, me and Spencer even got a jackson hole wyoming badge for a lady before the show started.. for free! hahha, cheapos we are... During the parade Yong Xiang, Theresa and Abel met up with us as arranged when the parade ended, we headed back to Jillian's place to get changed for the next stop. FLAT CREEK!

Flat creek was amazing! We rented tubes from a kayaking shop and because there wasn't enough for all of us me and lettie shared 1 tube while yongxiang and theresa shared another. Flat creek is not the laziest river either so there were bridges to duck from and rapid drops to watch out. because 2 of us shared a tube, it was harder to keep balance and out tube tipped over twice. But we were laughing non-stop, probably adding to our inability to maneuver better. Half-way, at the dollar tree store to be exact, Yong Xiang and theresa decided to stop as theresa got quite a deep cut by a rock. So they passed their tube over to lettie and we continued on to our car further down the river. It was so much fun and scary too! Scary because of the trunks and shrubs in the way which scrapped your arms and legs. I even almost banged the back of my head straight into a trunk if not for my fingers that were bruised from protecting my head. We even got split up at this sudden fork, with me as the only one on the other side. i was worried i would miss them since Jillian had just said we should get out about anytime NOW. hahha.. but the river merged back and we scrambled to find a spot to spot our tubes. Not a very easy task. Oh we also got plenty of free beer from the residents or people celebrating 4th of July in their back yard along the river! They would just throw a beer into the river for us.

We ended the day with a display of FIREWORKS! it was at least 30 min long i swear and the firing area was right in front of you so u are as close as u can get to the fireworks... it was AWESOME... Jillian brought a blanket out so we could lie down and look at the sky. There were even small bits of ashes raining down because we were so close. There were a ton of people there too and the atmosphere was amazing. cheers, screams, music and laughter... It sure is a 4th of July to be remembered!

Awesome day, Best Weekend ever!

Kelly Cliffs and Chinese dinner! - 3 July 2010

2010-07-07T08:36:00.002+02:00

OOoo... my ass hurts!
So today, Jillian and Faith brought all of us, plus Mike to Kelly Cliffs to jump off this huge cliff and into a freezing river below.

Yup, it sounds crazy and i didn;t think i would do it until i was standing there.. Letitia and I decided to do it together in case we get lost after jumping down and not know how to get back up the cliff.

It was 1...2...3.. jump! and without thinking, JUMPED! omg, the feeling of falling was frightening at first and the waters were FREEZING!!! i couldn't feel my ass and any scratches obtained.. it was just omg, BREATH! cos the water was so cold it was hard to even breath and SWIM for shore before u get swept away by the current.

I never thought i would be crazy enough to do it but i did.. It wasn't that bad after u've climbed up the cliff and i was even thinking of doing it again. But we spent so much time trying to Coax Gail down that i dried up in the sun and didn't feel like getting into freezing cold waters again,.

And as the title has suggested, me and Lettie cooked a home-made Singaporean dinner for all our friends. Rice with dishes and a soup. We made meat omelet, Onion and Carrot omelet (for the vegetarians) Chicken and potato with soy sauce, the typical dish we have and 2 stir fried veggie dishes, Broccoli with mushrooms and oyster sauce(Mushroom oyster sauce) & Beansprouts with black pepper sauce (an invention of lettie) with a pot of corn, carrot and potato soup.

Well, they liked it! hahaha, which i suppose means it was a success! Well everyone was sleeping after the the 8am soccer match, Jillian brought me and Lettie to the nearby Grocery to get out stuff. the meal for 8 cost us about 30 USD. Which i though wasn't too bad at all.

((: It was good to have some home cooked chinese food for a change too. so Everyone was happy today!

Grand Tetons hike to holly lake (13 miles) - 2 June 2010

2010-07-03T18:07:00.001+02:00

Aching muscles, abrasions, wet socks and a half soaked pair of jeans..

2680ft climb all the way up!

But the view was breathtaking.. The mountains, valley, rivers and forest. Flowers were starting to bloom along the way too and we saw wyoming's state flower, the Indian paintbrush.

I'm so acident prone while hiking. Plenty of cuts on my hands. I also slipped while crossing the river and fell in. Held on to the log I slipped from to prevent myself from being swept by the river currents but I unfortunately lost my watch. Yes daddy, the longines is gone.

Blogging from my iPhone at Jillian's place now so when I get my netbook back in yellowstones, pictures will be up.

Jillian & Faith's house in Jackson Hole! - 1 July 2010

2010-07-02T19:56:00.001+02:00

Thursday till Sunday off! And it's the 4th of July on Sunday. We headed off with the sisters as they came back home to Jackson to visit home. There were 6 of us cramped into a car. But we made it safely with no broken bones nor sprains.

First stop we had was to have icecream. ((: it was a shop called moo's tht sells homemade icecream. Cos the weather was so warm, there was a long queue o people waking to get their scoops of icecream.

Later, we just sat at the town square park to finish up our icecreams. The park had 4 large arches made of elk alters collected from the elk reserve just outside Jackson hole.

We later got a call from their mum asking for help back home and so we all got back into the car and drove back to help with dinner - homemade bison burgers, grilled corn on a cob and baked beans.

I love the corn!!

Dinner at Canyon Village & a leisure hike at Canyon Rim (1mile) 27 June 2010

2010-06-28T08:10:00.003+02:00

It was suppose to be camping again . But since Hay's party was full, and we couldn't find Matt anywhere, we decided to go ahead and tag along with Ariana, Katelyn and Kristen to Canyon for dinner and a short hike/stroll.

Katelyn had a friend working at the dining in Canyon Village and so she wanted to visit her. Dinner was not too bad although i still miss my Singaporean food. I had Trout with pecans and wild rice for dinner. Lettie and I wanted to get deserts but after the main course, we were to full to stomach down a dessert.

After dinner it was a drive to the Canyon Rim Trail and we took a couple of scenic trails and pictures.. The mosquitoes are getting crazy out here! they are everywhere!!

Then it was back to the dorm to chill.

Lamar River Trail Camping(7miles) - 26 June 2010

2010-06-28T07:28:00.003+02:00

Boy was it an adventure!
#1 It was a Night Hike. Due to misadventures, we only set of on our trail at 10pm. When the sun was just setting.
#2 Lamar Valley is freaking full of wildlife! Bears, Wolves, Elk, Bison, you name it.
#3 We got blocked by bison we could hardly see and it was scary as hell. More people die from bison attacks than bear or wolf attacks in the park!
#4 There was this creepy elk cry in the hills at 1 point. Like something just died. Followed by Wolves howling. Freaked the shit out of all of us.
#5 We took a wrong turn at the second fork cause we thought the campsite was at the other trail.
#6 So duh, we couldn't find out campsite and hiked more than we should have.

We ended up camping just off the trail a little in a small clearing we found.

Thank you Buddha for keeping me alive.
Yes Mr Bison, i will keep my promise of not eating beef or bison when i have the choice.

Ok, so what happened was:
Jillian and lettie went hiking in the morning. I didn't join them because i had a bad knee and headed to the clinic to get it check. Nothing much in the end. "Just a sprain", said the doctor.
So because they went hiking, Jillian wanted to rest before going on the camping trip and we set of at 7pm. It wasn't that bad since the sky stays bright till 10pm and the hike was only 3 miles in.

Unfortunately, We were caught in about 5 bear jams. FIVE! can u believe that? Talk about bear overload. And took a wrong road so we had to turn back. Nearing the Lamar Valley, we were again stopped by a wolf sighting. Creepy.... thinking that you will be camping around here and there are so many animal sightings. Grizzly, black bears, wolves....

So now, we started off on the trail. And smartly, went on the stock trail for horses. So of cause there wasn't a bridge for us to cross the river and we were stuck. Wandering around for 30 mins, we finally decided to drive down to look for another trail head shown on the map.

And so u have it. We started at 10pm on our 3 mile hike to the campsite. It was actually very scary cos we can hardly see in the dark. Otherwise i didn't think it was be that creepy.

That's my FIRST back country camping experience. Truly back country adventure i must say.

On a side note, the moon was round and bright. Beautiful as it nests between 2 mountains and shone into the valley.

Lamar Valley is a very beautiful place and one worth hiking again.

Chico Hot Springs, Bozemann day! - 25 June 2010

2010-06-26T22:15:00.001+02:00

Plan A: Chico Hot Springs with Michaela and the girls
Plan B: Camping with Zac and a bunch of other random people
Plan C: Full Moon Hike to Mt Washburn

Well, i had a bad knee last night and when i woke up this morning it was still not right. So after lunch this afternoon lettie walked with me to the clinic to get it checked. The wait was about an hour though and we came back to the dorm to wait it out well preparing for our plans A, B & C.

On the way back we headed to Osprey to look for Zac and confirm the camping trip but he was no where to be found. So we walked back to Pelican and saw Michaela's truck drive off. "Well, there goes plan A" i thought, and we went to our room to pack for the camping trip should Zac come by later in the afternoon to confirm it.

10 mins later, Michaela walks to our room and asked us if we were still going. Omg, they actually went to the EDR to look for us!So we hop on her truck and CHICO HOT SPRINGS here we come!

The Trip was a blast. Although it was not what we expected. We ended up eating at a cool restuarant, The Garage, which had car plates for menus and a freaking awesome toilet. Later headed to Target cause Ariana and Michaela needed swimsuits for the hot springs and got caught in a thunderstorm.

Yup and proof went Chico Hot Springs. So we just wandered through Target for the afternoon
waiting out the storm. Drove through Mac Donalds TWICE for frappes, got gas and drove back
home.

We did catch the freaking huge moon rise on the way back to Yellowstone though. And blasted
clubbing music through Katelyn's ipod all the way back to the lake.

So that was our Chico Hot Springs Trip.. Cool huh?

I know. (:

Elk Point? (8.5 miles) - 21 June 2010

2010-06-22T08:36:00.001+02:00

So, me and Jillian had dinner shift today while Yong Xiang was off. Thus we decided to go on a hike short hike. hahha! but short hkes with Jillian are never short. But a close to 10 mile hike. The nearest one we could find on the map was Turbid Lake. But because Jillian had tried it before and lost the trail, we went for another trail just opp the carpark which was towards elk point and along the lake.

Crossing rivers are so fun! we crossed about 3 today. and all involved balancing over tree trucks across a relatively strong flowing river!

Unfortunately we couldn't find Elk point and i think we even passed it and walked more than we should.

It was Yong Xiang's first real hike with Jillian and you could see he was really tired at the end.. Jillian seriously flies...

Canyon Rim North & South (9 miles) - 20 June 2010

2010-06-22T08:33:00.005+02:00

Remember the time i talked about the Circle of Fire tour and wrote on how the grand Canyon was formed?

Yup, i went back there again. This time for a hike around this magnificent landscape. The planned route was to follow along the North Rim Trail and continue on to the South Rim Trail. All along walking on the circumference of the canyon from Inspiration point, crossing at Chittenden Bridge and ending at Artist Point.

Well, we kinda lost ourselves and started at grand view instead. Making the trail about 9 miles instead of the original 12 miles.
This is my favourite spot of the hike. Crystal Falls. Just look at the waterfall and the rainbow it created! We had lunch somewhere around here and yes, i found out that Yellowstone does indeed have mosquitoes. Big, fat, slow-flying mosquitoes.

Cody Pow Wow! 19 June 2010

2010-06-20T08:13:00.002+02:00

10 of us went to Cody today in 2 cars. 5 of us Singaporeans and 5 Americans... It was an awesome day with the great weather and company, although the Pow Wow wasn't as great as it was hyped up to be, we entertained ourselves with visits to WalMart and walking through the town itself.

So the day started of with us each paying $7 to enter the Pow Wow arena and yup, native red indians in their dance costumes and bells on their legs everywhere. But the art works were beautiful and lots and lots of dream catchers...

After we got enough of the Pow Wow, we headed off to sierra trading post just across the road to get camping equipment, bag packs, harnesses and what-nots. And it was to Walmart for detergent and other stuff we needed up in this ulu out-of-civilization-world.

Dinner was at a hong kong chinese restuarant and YES! for once! We got to eat REAL chinese rice! Fried Rice!!! omg, i ate like 3 bowls of rice today(the typical small chinese rice bowl though)... the most i have eaten since i got here. Ok, all of us Singaporeans ate alot for dinner it seems...RICE!

Faith then suggested we walk around the town area since we were here. We eventually got stuck in a Dinosaur discovery center and the guys bought a T-Rex shirt for $25 each. Spencer also bought a very random marble owl.

Ice Cream!! we ate at Peter's and read stupid books like 'How to seem like a normal person', 'a book to understanding women' written by a man. 'How to survive when you are surrounded by idiots'.

Although Jillian felt sick half of the day, she recovered after she ate the ice cream and hopefully she had a good time too.

It was a good day off. (:

Snowing in Summer? 17 June 2010

2010-06-17T23:42:00.001+02:00

Yes, it is snowing in summer on the 17th of June in Lake Village Yellowstone. Cold and windy day.... Lettie was going hiking with Jillian, Mike and Kyle but they called it off because of the weather.
So we stayed in and watched The Jungle Book and A Knight's Tale.

Look for the, bear necessities. The simple bear necessities.. Forget about your worries and your strife!

I don't remember exactly what was in a knight's tale but towards the end, it was good... Touching, in all manly honor.

Row Boats at the Marina - 16 June 2010

2010-06-17T23:20:00.005+02:00

So today, we went to the marina and tried to get row boats. All 8 of us, girls, squeezed into Michaela's truck and headed off 2 miles down the road to the Marina..
The weather was cool and sunny when we were out there but winds started to blow once we rented the row boats..

We were having fun though and just continued laughing and taking pictures when suddenly, it started to HAIL! omg... screaming, we started to head towards shore and the marina employees made us dock along the nearest quayside. ice chucks were hitting us and it hurts! So all 8 of us girls scurried to the nearest shelter there, the life jacket store and burst out laughing..

hahaha, it was hilarious just seeing all of us trying to squeeze into the tiny shed.

4 on a boat each. so here's Michaela, Lettie and Kayla in my boat.

All of us in the tiny shed! Can u still see ice pieces on some of us? lol..

Lewis Lake, Shoshone Lake & Dogshead Trail loop (11.5 miles) - 13 June 2010

2010-06-14T19:08:00.005+02:00

With Jillian and Spencer, we took a car 5 miles past Grant Village to the trail head of this hike.

It was rolling terrains up down up down on some parts and streams to cross. one of which i almost lost balance and fell into the icy cold water.. We also notices a couple of bear footprints which sent us all shouting " Hi Bear!! where are you!" To prevent a surprise encounter with one nearby.

I also collected a whole beach in my shoe... and the sand gave my heels abrasions... grumbles. but the view was nice the weather was nice and although i think i was a little too quite cos i was busy trying to catch up and look at the surrounding, it was a nice and healthy experience. haha exercising.. Oh, and there is a campsite at the Shoshone lake banks too!

Now, let the pictures do the talking since all i can say is the view was tranquil and calming... i kept wanting to jump into the river or stream of crystal clear waters... ahhh

All three of us at the Lewis Lake Channel

Sliding down!

Yahoooo!

Shoshone Lake View. The campsite is behind us.

White Water Rafting - 12 June 2010

2010-06-13T07:26:00.004+02:00

Gardiner! I had the most awesome day today! We signed up for a white water rafting trip with the recreation hall a week ago and it was finally here.

7.30am, we got our pick up van at the rec center and met Laurel's boyfriend, Caleb, a recreational supervisor at Canyon Village who was going to bring us to the white water rafting activity.

We headed back to Canyon to pick up another participant and Caleb let us choose a route we preferred to get us to Gardiner. We choose the road along Mt Washburn, i think. Through tower junction.

It was a fantastic drive! we saw a grizzly bear with 2 cubs just off the side of the road and they actually crossed right in front of us! and later, we even spotted 2 black bears along the road as well.Later in the day, after rafting, we took the same route back and saw another 2 black bears! We suspected that they could have been the same black bears we saw. But, that made a sighting of 4 black bears and a grizzly with 2 cubs up close! - My Yellowstone Moment.

Rafting was fun too! i got to ride rodeo in front with my legs swinging out of the boat in front. When we went through the waves, the icy cold water splashed right in our faces! There were of cos lots of screaming and cheering. Making the experience a whole lot more fun. Liz, our rafting guide was cute as a button too! hahah with 45 years of experience under her belt at the age of 20 something and rafting since 4 years of age. Impressive huh? A senior, Sam was on the boat to help her out too. So we where all in safe hands and they did took good care of us as well as provide us with information and stories about the scenic spots and wildlife in the area.

Oh yes, i have to mention what we wore. It was a wet suit over our swimsuits, with a fleece jacket and a spray jacket to keep us from getting too wet. Nice and warm. The only problem was the hands and fingers, because the temperature of the water was freezing, our fingers were frozen of course but Liz kept us rowing to help keep us warm.

And now, pictures!

Hike tomorrow! Good night!

Storm Point Trail 3 (2 miles) - 10 June 2010

2010-06-13T03:56:00.000+02:00

hahaha.. Third time at Storm Point. This is starting to become a favourite stroll in the park. The ground was muddy and wet though and big fat earthworms were crawling all over. squishy worms.. hahhaa i picked one up and was tempted to bring 1 back with me. they are HUGE and LONG. 0.5cm thick i think. and we saw a coyote or a wolf from afar. it was looking at us and sitting there.. but too small for us to make out what it was. Not forgetting the resident marmots. Cute as always. The mountains are so beautiful here!

Grebe & Cascade Lake (11 miles) - 8 June 2010

2010-06-09T18:23:00.004+02:00

Lettie, Jillian and I at Cascade Lake

The view of the tree tops from the forest... I love the sun!

An animal body across the trail, at least, what is left of it.. just the hooves.

Grebe Lake group photo!

Grebe lake view

My legs are still aching from this hike! and i got 3 big blisters on my feet... ouch. big like a 50 cent coin.

But, the weather was so great! blue sky, green grass and a soft dirt path. These lake are just in the Canyon Village area, 3.5 miles from the village.

Jillian wanted to catch up on her 50 mile hike goal.. So she asked if we wanted to hike the next day when i was doing dinner shift with her. Te initial plan was to only do 1 hike. That is, Grebe lake. But because she flew and we tried flying after her, we finished the 3-4 hour hike in 2 hours. and there was plenty of time b4 dinner shift. So she suggested another one nearby, Cascade lake.. hahha and so in total we clocked 11 miles in 4 hours.. I never knew i could possibly do that!

Hiking should be done slowly! she totally missed the hooves on the floor and zoomed pass. Luckily i spotted it. Its one of the more interesting things we have seen in the hike i must say. Oh but the views are so beautiful! if only i could get the wind to not blow and get the reflection of the mountains onto the lake. Nature can't be controlled though..

Oh ya! we also saw a Bald eagle on the way back from the hike. It was soaring in the sky like a kite!

Dinner was so tiring after that. Probably cos of the hikes and the blisters on my feet. 2 of them burst halfway though the shift... Time to rest my feet for a night or two - no hikes, period...

Fairy Falls & Twin Buttes (8 miles) - 5 June 2010

2010-06-06T19:34:00.005+02:00

Day off! Saturday! Initially, we were planning on going hiking at the Mammoth Area - Beaver Ponds with Daniel. On the way to lunch however, we met a group going out to fairy falls and decided to join them. There were 8 of us in total and we took 2 vehicles down to Old Faithful to start the hike.
The walk to fairy falls was easy with a short climb up a slope for a better view of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Midway Geyser Basin. It is the 2nd largest hot spring in the world and look at the colours! A rainbow stuck on the ground.
Fairy Falls was a little wonder of its own too, with a small stream cascading down a clear descent. There was even a piece of snow bridge in the middle with bluish hues. the prettiest sight ever. I feel that waterfalls have this calming effect as the sound of water splashes constantly and the gentle watery mist brushes arcoss your face. It's my favourite thing to be around with after a tiring hike whatsoever.
Continuing on, we stomped through marshy wetlands and followed a thermal stream towards Imperial Geyser. Another wonder of Yellowstone. It constantly erupts after every 5 mins or so and has the same beautiful crystal blue bottom and gradual changes towards the side of it.
We even encountered a herd of Bison on the way and Josh, crazily tried to get closer but quickly backed away when some bison started to look at him and walk towards him... seemingly trying to run into a charge.. A herd of Bison walking quickly towards you is not something for a faint heart...
Then starts the climb up the Twin Buttes, said to be formed by glaciers long ago that dumped 2 mounds of gravel as they passed over this active hot spring area. Climbing up was not a joke! i was so out of breathe i had to stop numerous times to make sure i wouldn't black out from the lack of oxygen at the altitude. After much huffing and puffing as well as encouragement from Daniel who was closing the rear behind me and Abigail, I made it! and lie on the grass for a got 2 mins looking at the sky and catching my breathe. From the top, we overlooked everything we just hiked! Fairy falls, the carpark, the geysers and miles further too. WOW!

Not long after, it started to rain again and worried about lightening strikes as well as the closesure of Old Faithful's Employee's Dining Room (EDR) we raced down the Buttes and back to the carpark... the climb down was hard too.. having to be careful not the slide all the way down. there were times i wanted to just sit on my but and slide down cos they were so steep!

We made it in time for dinner at the EDR and later headed back to lake in Daniel's car.

It was supper night though. i ate cup noodles at about 10pm and just as i was finishing, Lettie brought Spencer in saying he was starving for food but the snack machine was down. so we gave him a pack of maggi but could only offer him chopsticks since none of us brought a fork. hahaha it was so funny looking at him trying to eat with chopsticks. it looked nothing like what it should look like.

Lettie got hungry watching him eat and also cooked a pack for herself after that. Abel came out and was, after that, complaining about being hungry too. lol.. the supper monster was after everyone.

Storm Point Trail 2 (2 miles) - 4 June 2010

2010-06-06T18:39:00.003+02:00

Storm Point again! But this time in the evening and with the lake half melted.. We went with Michaela, Ariana and 2 Ukrainians, Natalia and Igor.

From Left: Natalia, Ariana, Lettie, Me, Igor

Here's Michaela!

In the evening, you can see so much more animals there. We saw a herd of elks grazing on the meadows. But the marmots were no where in sight thought.. Halfway though, it started to drizzle and winds were getting so strong.

The lake was like the sea! with big wave humps the crashed towards the cliff we were on. On our way back we also caught Snowshoe Hare who didn't care much for humans around it.

Unfortunately it started pouring and we raced back to Michaela's truck. My pants we totally drenched on the left since the rain was blowing at us from the left. haha! Thanks to my jacket, my top body was dry and still relatively warm. (:

Jackson Hole - 3 June 2010

2010-06-04T23:18:00.001+02:00

After breakfast shift in the morning, lettie and i met up with Zac who had v kindly offered to bring us down to the nearest town to get supplies.. we both needed hand creme for our very dry hands due to all the washing and sanitizing at work. I was also in need of a microwavable Tupperware to cook my maggi in.

So we headed of the Jackson instead of Cody cos we had never been to Jackson before and Zac though it was a neat town.

We passed an elk reserve and stopped by a wildlife museum to check out how much it would cost to get into the museum. After that, we decided not to go in cos we did not had enough time to visit the museum long enough to justify the entrance fee we had to pay for it.

Well, Zac was right. The town was truly quaint and pretty. We cowboy old school buildings and historically rich structures. There were even arches made out of elk antlers and movie-like sets of buildings that came out from Shanghai Noon.

We headed straight to the local K-Mart to get our supplies and headed of to the Ripley's Believe it or Not in Jackson Hole. They had a $2 discount for Xanterra employees too! So we paid for Zac's ticket to thank him for the ride out here. The weird and wonderful starts here....

After the very informative Ripley's tour, we headed to Wendy's for dinner! (haha, James? are u drooling? i'll try my best to get a set back for you... i'll try.) BBQ Bacon Crispy Chicken Burger Super Value Meal. Yum! And they can get drink refills as well, although their small coke is about the size of our up-sized ones.

And Lettie drove his car all the way back from Jackson to the Lake. Oh i forgot to mention, his car is total hippie! with loads of stickers on the back and weird crazy colourful stuff all around. Spongebob car-seat, Green aliens, orange sunglasses and even the automatic seat beat. hahaha!

Howard Eaton Trail (9 miles) - 2 June 2010

2010-06-04T22:48:00.004+02:00

TIRED!!!

Both Lettie and I worked dinner that night. so with the morning free, we decided to join Jillian and Mike on a Hike starting at Fishing Bridge.... They talked as if it would be a relatively short hike, in time for dinner.. haha! little did we know what was going to happen.

The hike up to LeHardys' Rapids Overlook was actually relatively decent. The only problem was, it did not stop there. The majority wanted to continue on the trail and cover more distance.. and, that was what we did. There were a total of 7 of us. Gradually, it split up to groups of 4s and 3s. The 4 in front walking at the speed of light being Spencer, Mike, Jillian and Emily, and the 3 of us, Lettie, Jay and I trying to walk as well as look at the surroundings.. not something u can do walking at the speed of light. (The only major concern walking that fast was to look at the gound in case i tripped or fell off the path. Scary)

It was an interesting hike though.. walking through marshy grassland and crossing rivers. At one point, we even walk through a burnt part of the forest and Jay was doing crazy stunts here and there. Trying to jump 10 ft, climbing a tree.... haha ultimately, he dropped his knife along the way and upon crossing the next river stream, we decided to turn back in advance to look for it as well as start our journey back. The 3 of us were getting very tired and there was no sign of the 4 others in front.

After much huffing and puffing, we finally reached fishing bridge. Lettie, being extremely responsible, wanted to first leave the guys a message on their cars about us being back in case they came back thinking the 3 of us got lost. However, Jay and I were so tired and hungry, we wanted to first stop over at the General Store which was right in front, for a rest, before heading to the carpark some distance down. Over ruled, we headed for the general store first and melted into their rocking chairs.. haha!

Heading down to leave a message, we realised that we had no pen! Instead, we took a stick and i wrote a huge-ass message on the dirt in front of their cars. "Back to Dorms" with 3 stick-mans At the back representing the 3 of us. Later Lettie borrowed a pen from a passer-by and wrote a note on Jay's paper grocery bag and stick it to the car-wipers too. Then, we hitch-hiked a ride back from a fellow employee driving pass.

Later that night, DINNER SHIFT! haha... tired as hell for obvious reasons but it was a good thing i had very helpful servers and they helped out a lot with clearing off tables and plates which made my work so much faster to do. Thank god!

Storm Point Trail (2 miles) - 31May 2010

2010-06-01T21:52:00.003+02:00

We managed to borrow a car from Abel's new roommate Alex! Thus, we set of for storm point trail early the next morning 8am...

The trail was a relatively easy one as compared to Elephant back, but the view was nothing short of spectacular too! On the way, we encountered a family of marmots living in the plains.. they seem accustom to humans though since Yong Xiang and Abel were both able to get really close for their pictures.

Spencer, our American friend even managed to call home on his cellphone since there was reception at our scenic stop. he almost drop it into the lake though...

As we finished up the trail and headed back, the car refused to start.. hur... it was a good 3omins or so and we even hail for help from passer-by cars. Eventually after much coaxing the car purr-ed to life. YES! off we were, to the gas station and the General Store at fishing bridge down the road....

At the fishing bridge General Store, we met Rob. One of the people we met on our elephant back night hike. I got myself a souvenir penny press (Whatever that is called) It is said that there are a number of such machines all over the National park each with 4 different prints. I might probably try to collect a few. like 1 from each machine? hahhaa ill try...

pictures when i get them!

Circle of Fire Tour - 29th May 2010

2010-05-30T22:49:00.006+02:00

Saturday! it was my day off, and all 5 of us Singaporeans decided to sign up for a daily tour called the Circle of Fire. As employees, we could do the tour for free provided there was space for us. 3 other American friends joined the tour too!The tour was lead by George, a tour guide with 15 years of experience here at Yellowstone National Park.

First stop, West Thumb Geyser Basin. With colourful seismograph pools and icons like the Fishing cone- a hot water hole where fishermen used to cook their catches it and Big cone- a big version of fishing cone.

Nowadays such activities have been prohibited to protect these natural features from damage. Black pool used to be black but is now a crystal blue due to the change in water temperature and the bacteria that live in such pools; they result in the colourful effects of these pools as the bacteria changes colour with different water temperatures.

Next stop was Old Faithful Inn, to see the famous Geyser eruption. Old Faithful is so crowded as compared to Lake. People are everywhere and the Carparks are huge but still full! We also visited the general store there since ours is currently under renovation.

We then proceeded to the Fountain Paint Pots, to see boiling mud. Ok, they aren't actually boiling but rather are due to the release of gases by bacteria and organism living in the muddy pool. These gases consist of hydrochloric, sulfuric gases and carbon dioxide. It is said that the muddy consistency is a mixture of sulfuric acid too. Not something you want to stick your hand in. A bison walked past us and even snorted too! haha!

Finally, we made out last scenic stop at the Upper and Lower Canyon Falls - The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The view was breath-taking! George also educated as on the formation of the Canyon. Said to be created after the last Super volcano eruption Yellowstone recedes in. The Canyon was curved out by the river relatively quickly due to the soft molten rock as thick as oatmeal. There are also many colours on the sides of the rock which we from the minerals in the rocks such as iron and copper oxides.

We ended the tour with a final stop at a General Store known for its ice-cream and i made a purchase of much needed batteries for my torchlight and a mug to drink from. (Something i didn't bring because mummy and daddy said "You work in restaurant. No cup meh?" Yes, no cup. i cannot bring anything out of the place... But anyway, the cup is nice and i'm happy.

p.s. Ali, nah! your bison pictures. lol...
p.p.s. pictures will be up as soon as the internet improves.

Tired

2010-05-29T01:13:00.002+02:00

Just got off a Dinner-Breakfast-Lunch shift at work. Damn tired.. legs are ready to break anytime..

hahha i was so tired to the point that i was actually happy... singing songs and taking my time.

Now i just wan to lie on my bed and put my feet in the air.... Weekend is here!!!

The full-moon hike on Elephant Back trail (3.5 miles)

2010-05-28T09:25:00.006+02:00

Yesterday night, Lettie, Abel and I prepared to join the full moon hike organised by the recreation centre here. Unfortunately, due to cloudy weather, Clayton, the RC in-charge canceled the hike.
Thankfully, while we were there, we met a group of people from the fishing bridge that wanted to go ahead with the hike anyways and happily joined in. Some of out lake hotel employee friends also decided to join in the hike and in total we had a group of 15 people. haha perfectly noisy and safe in my point of view.

OMG, the route up there is not an easy one. there were cliffs, puddles, mud and SNOW. Freaking shit, the snow was knee deep at some points and we had so much trouble continuing upwards...halfway down, i even though i lost my toes cause they were frozen solid and even painful. thankfully it wasn't snow all the way and god was i happy to step on nice soft bouncy dirt from time to time. Plus, the altitude here made breathing harder than usual since we weren't used to it.
Lucky for us, the few fishing bridge friends we made were more or less struggling with us and the group gradually split into half. the quicker ones and the slower ones. we even chatted up with each other on the way up and at some points, the hike wasn't as bad as it should have been. haha

FINALLY, we made it to to top! Oh, i must note this down too. Halfway uphill, we actually heard a pack of wolves howling.. it was the coolest sound ever and for a split second i even considered it to be the people at the pub celebrating. lol The view was breath-taking and totally worth it- To see the full moon over the lake and see the lake hotel from up in the distance... stunning...

I'll probably do the hike again.. when the snow melts and in the morning to get a contrast of night and light.

Yellowstone Lake Week 1

2010-05-27T00:51:00.003+02:00

I'm currently at Lake Hotel Yellowstone National Park.
It has been cold for the past week we have been here and today is the first day we have had clear warm weather and a sunny sky.

23rd May, Me and Lettie went down to Cody with Daniel to get some stuff.. the ride there was scenic and beautiful... a pity i forgot my SD card... sigh.

Being a Server Assistant can be tiring work. But what kind of work issit? hahah we'll probably get used to it. pour water, clear tables, reset tables and set tables...

It's Lettie's birthday today! i dunno how we'll be celebrating it but we're going to go on a full moon hike on elephant back tonight with the hike club. wish us luck..

I'll try my best to post up pictures.. but loading is slow here.. so do bear with it.. go to facebook for the pictures instead. ((:

Tromso- Dog Sledge

2008-12-18T02:41:00.003+01:00

We're now at tromso and just came back from dog sledging.. it was fun fun fun!! i love the dogs. ((:

After booking out sledging trip, we had to wonder around town until 6pm when our guide will pick us up from Rica Hotel. So here's what we did...

We walked around the little town and did some shopping at an army shop. Cool second hand stuff! Also, spent 2 hours in their library and had BURGER KING before heading off to Rica hotel.

Here's what i managed to take with a normal idiot camera's night mode. Not bad i must say for a no tripod nor manual control camera. the bright triangle u see is the Arctic Cathedral.

Finally!! THE DOGS!!

There were about 86 dogs i think, and the owner only started with 6, 8 years ago!

Once we reached the place, on Whale Island (Kvaløya) We were brought into a small hut for us to change into boots and a trenchsuit!

The dogs were absolutely adorable. they kept barking and jumping on their hinds upon the sight of visitors. All were craving for pets and cuddles. After a relatively sufficent explaination, we had 6 dogs attached to our sledge and off we went in pairs.

That's our sledge.

The dogs are CRAZY!! they absolutely love running! When we stopped for what seemed like seconds, they'd think is too long, start howling and barking, saying "Come on! Come on, let's get going already!" Some even turn back to look at us. We were later told by the guide that turning back basically means they're asking for more speed. "Less brakes! You idiot slow humans!"

Nothing much to say except that i love the dogs! lets have pictures do the talking then. (:

3 Dec - Snow Day

2008-12-14T13:22:00.012+01:00

In the middle of our exam papers, we went to play SNOW!!

This was how the place looked through my room window. pretty eh?

See the small hill in the picture? thats our distination!

Actually i'm going to squeeze in both times we went to play snow. in the second one, there will be upgrades to our plastic bags. hehehe...

This was on 3dec. we actually played from 10am to about 1-2. it was FREEZING!!!

Alicia and i got convinced by the guys that this was fun. it was more of..... dizzy! and the snow was cold! and the world was spinning. omg. But, it was something new. haha!

This is the snow slide. Since it's the first day, you can see that we are using the rice sack as our seat. there's also the F1 kiwi plastic bag, which is DAMN FAST. climbing that hill in winter is tiring.... we keep slipping back down!

Here we are, all set and ready to go on the snow slide!

Second snow day

i actually don;t have much pictures for snow day 2. but just to show u the highlight. see! snowmobile. it's mean, it's cool, it's fast... it's the one and only balck snow mobile. and my butt hurts!!! i had a bruise as big as my palm. Ouch!

Cute kids we met that day, the boy in green kept laughing at us when we slip. evil little boy... it actually helps that he is cute.

Look at the difference! It's the same lake behind our hostel. and the trees u see in the middle of the snow, it's actually, in the middle of the lake ( as in the corner right picture)

Green ones were taken during summer-autume. when we were having our first BBQ here.

London Cont.

2008-12-14T12:58:00.004+01:00

I've sort of put every interesting picture into 1 college cos i am lazy to constantly upload them. these are sort of the highlights and anyway London ppl are so oblivious to their surroundings we had alot of pictures which where distroyed by them walking into it.

The first picture from left-top is the royal horse guard's quarters- where the horses are kept and guards are trained. there's also the picture of a overexposed guard on a horse. they just stand there. for a few hours i think and rotate with a little ceremony. (Changing guard parade) which we did caught but couldn't mangae to flim.

The second picture is on westminster. it's like their court house or something. ( or was it a church) well, i only remmebered that there were like 5 traitors 200 years ago, who were killed just outside this place and their bodies torn apart when they were still alive and brought to all the different villages in London to remind the people of the harsh punishment for treason. And now they have a holiday for that day. I thought such killings only happened in china! 五马分尸！

typical outcome of our pictures.) that idiot woman is such an ass! there was a wide clearance behind and she just had to walk there!

B-O-R-E-D

2008-11-24T17:28:00.003+01:00

i'm bored here... it's dark already at 5, it looks like midnight.
ARGH.... someone entertain me.. NOW.
i don't wan to blog about my travels Yet. i'm too bored to do that...
i need to get inspired! ((:

haha rarrar lala shalala....

London Pictures!

2008-11-14T12:20:00.011+01:00

Okay, because i forgot to bring my SD card, these pictures are mostly from facebook and fiona's camera.

Day 1. The Ryan air plane again, as always. Oh, heard that Sterling air went bankrupt? Yes. gone, poof. If you have booked a ticket with them, it will be gone...

Pictures on the bus ride from the airport to Victoria Station.(the big sign board with words). Taking 'The Tube'. London's famous Underground.

That night we visited the Tower Bridge. London Bridge is actually that red light bridge. Boring right?

Random pictures we took along the bank of the river. The egg building and it's egg statue. Oh yes, 29th October 2008. The first time in 74years that it snowed in October in London itself! See the flakes on the photo? Yup! i was there! Piping hot Cornish pastry! Yum yum!

Day 2, this was what i missed. When Fiona went to Manchester for Man U VS West ham. Me and Ama stayed in London and followed a 3 hour tour around it's royal buildings. After that, SHOPPING! No photos yet though. that will be another entry when Amalina passes me her photos. hehe..

Day 3, when they came back, we went shopping again! and there's Big Ben. FYI, big Ben is actually the name of the bell. not the clock tower. It was called big Ben because it looked like the shape of the man who bought the bell, Benjamin.

Seasons

2008-11-02T23:40:00.005+01:00

I've been meaning to put these pictures up since a long time ago. It HAS started snowing this week so i better have it up before it's too late.

Autumn! haha, playing with the leaves... jealous guys? hehehe

The same place with 4 different types of weather and 2 seasons. Autumn afternoon, frosty iced morning, snow when i came back from London and just this morning. foggy wintry- all white.

Oh, i lost my scarf while i was at London!! I'm so sad!!! it's the one cha cha gave me as a farewell gift. the warmest scarf i had. damn you Londoners! pushing and shoving me around. in all that meaningless squeezing, just to get into the tube. whats the hurry!?!? and i lost my scarf. THANKS ALOT!

i know it's random, but i just wanted to see my cat again.. i miss playing with him!! squish squish and hearing him squeak. *rubs his tummy, rub rub*

Back from London 27-31Oct

2008-11-01T10:35:00.003+01:00

hey guys, I'm back from London and while i was there i experienced London's first October snow in 74years! hahha but the snow wasn't nice. it was grey and wet, seemed more like rain since it was the city.

i can't put up pictures just yet cos my camera is going abit kuku. Also, i forgot to bring my SD card with me cause i wanted to clear pictures away, which i cannot do on my camera ever since it got soaked in my bag, and i so cleverly left the SD stuck in my laptop. so now i have like a few pictures but they are all stuck in my camera with me having no idea of how to extract them out since my camera's only connection is a dock which needs a half moon shaped head cable to connect to any computer.

London is a freaking disgustingly crowded place! when i mean crowded, it's the so crowded the i cannot even walk straight without banging into people kind of crowded. At Oxford street, we had to squeeze our way through junctions and shopping is like war! A friend however did tell us that it was because this week was the week for school term breaks, which explains everything. The good thing was however, student discounts are everywhere! 10% at so many shops just by showing your student card.

I felt so at home in London though. Singapore is a total London copy cat! The whole river with the London bridge and London eye reminded me of the Singapore river. The right hand drives stopped my constant headaches on the buses- for once i know what was going-on on the roads. the signs were ALL in English! and.. we can FINALLY read the newspapers!! So i obviously pounced at the chance and bought 2 novels and a Cosmo magazine back to Oslo with me.

And btw, jasmine, if u are reading this, Happy belated 21st birthday! since i couldn't wish you in time yesterday.

Happy Halloween!

The Gym in Oslo

2008-10-18T12:07:00.003+02:00

i wanted to tell you guys about the gym here. ok the entrance fee is 60nok. do the math yourself. but it had a gym, physio room, swimming pool, tennis court (you still have to pay to book this) a multipurpose hall, for badminton, volleyball, basket ball and table tennis. it also has a sauna.

The point is, ppl here go to Saunas naked!! hahhaa cultural shock when we went in. that's the first time i felt overdressed in a bikini!

Ached all over the next day though. it's a pity the multipurpose hall was booked for the entire day for some floor ball competition. or it would have been so so so much more fun!! so all we could so was gym and swim. lets hope we get to go another day. maybe to the gym with the rock climbing wall. but i need my cert to climb!! damn... i left in at home in Singapore.. SHAUN!! can u help me scan the card and email it over? Please?????? (((:

Oh and the guys decided on a very last minute BBQ by the lake at night. it wasn't as cold as the one i had in September though. but it was very dark. we had to have a guy at each pit holding a torchlight as a lamppost to make sure the food was cooked. But we had fun. (:

Autume in Oslo

2008-10-18T11:43:00.007+02:00

It's getting colder now here, all the trees are like yellow or bald. except the pine trees of cos.

something like this. except without the fog on clear days..

Oh god, you just feel like staying in your room and not go to school when u look out of your window and see something like this.. frozen fields and iced roofs. COLD!!

Okay, this is the moon i snapped just a few days ago. it was BIG and round. hahha just something random.

this was so cute i had to put it up. i dunno who did it or took it though. LOL.. i think it's on one of our movie nights at my place -Where we squeeze onto 1 bed in a room and watch a movie of our choice online. 1 english and 1 asian movie. i love online streaming.. ((:

Since this post is already so jumbled up and random, i shall throw this in as well. hmm 2 weeks ago, we had steamboat!! hahah cos it was so cold...

look at the food! we invited luna, our neighbour, who is btw a chinese born in norway and her friend over for dinner.

oh my god... it was ALOT of food. we even had to call the guys from upstairs to share the love and finish up the food. they were more than happy too. hahha.. 2 rice cookers as the pots, dumplings made by luna, wonderful porkrib stock. so so so filling!!!

September bunnies - Oslo

2008-10-18T11:06:00.006+02:00

Due to my inefficiency, i am perpetually blogging for the past. Thus never giving myself a chance to blog day to day like what normal bloggers will do. So this belongs to like the days before the bremen trip. (opps!)

my birthday actually consisted on a surprise custard pie made by james, a Handmade card from alicia, chocolates from yuan sheng, cheesecake from jenna and audrey, truffles from fiona ans chocoballs from hualing. it was a baking birthday i suppose. I got a november cactus from james too! a flowering cactus. (:

But because there was another September bunny (Audrey) within the same week, we were treated to a bbq at the Sognsvann lake.(yeah!) hahha cold and windy and i've never seen so many ppl wanting to stand so close to a bbq pit in my life before. Of cos, we all went back smelling like smoke and more smoke. Oh yes. our dear yuansheng got pneumonia after this fateful bbq.

My Birthday

Lake BBQ!

Here's Audrey's birthday. she cooked so much that day. but it was YUMMY!! jap food. chicken cutlet, steamed egg, jap style, miso soup and dessert was mango sago. almost exploded eating but i just couldn't stop. hahhaa at midnight, we surprised her with an apron which had her name sewed on and a handmade card as well as a huge marshmallow cake with creme and fruits on top made by james with the help of hualing. hope she liked it!

Recess break

2008-09-27T22:51:00.003+02:00

Yay! i'm back from my recess break in Germany! We went to Bremen only though. for a total of 3 days solely for the purpose of shopping and buying food.

well, it was somewhat better than sight-seeing i suppose. it's always good to do something different when we're travelling. looking at things u can always see on the travel books sometimes gets alittle boring. it's not like u discovered something on your own. unlike travels where we just walk around and get to know what life in the town is really about. People also tend to be nicer than in big cities.

Bremen's famous for the brothers grimm's story of "The Bremen Town Musicians". heard of it? hmm maybe a picture or two will refresh your memory...

yup, see the donkey, dog cat and rooster? ring a bell now?

On our last day at bremen, we even met audrey, jenna and hua ling by chance! and they came over to our hostel to have a drink and play some games. omg.. the beer is germany is freaking cheap! even cheaper than their coke.

My Computer is BACK!!!

2008-09-19T13:23:00.002+02:00

YEAH! my computer is finally back!! hahha i just just just got it! but i don't know what they did to it since i dun read norge. but who cares! it's working! yes yes yes!!

Sad Week

2008-09-09T20:59:00.003+02:00

My laptop is down!! since last wed!!! and until now, no one has come to pick it up for sevicing... norwegians are freaking efficient man. ARGH. i just called today to find out that i wasn;t even registered in their database!! all that trouble....!

i can't skype back, can't email, can't watch shows/movies, can't blog and can't msn!!! the horrors i've been through. i'm currently using jame's laptop to blog since he's too tired to play a game of dota with the rest and asked me to take over for him..

I want my laptop up!!!

also, i wan to go travelling... but i can't seem to finE partners to go with... everyone seems to have gone everywhere or we would have different interests. Maybe i'm not searching hard enough. Moreover, james can't go to england due to his indonesian passport.. weilyn.. why u don't want to go king college!!!!! sob sob.

nvm, i'll wait for maybe a trip after my graduation. Josh, Van! wait for me k!!

Paris Day 2

2008-08-30T17:46:00.005+02:00

Basically for our second day in Paris, it was more walking. Yes. Walking and walking. We ultimately only took one metro trip to get back to the hotel -too tired to walk back.

Our plans were to check out Paris' shopping, pay our friend Mona Lisa a visit and take a trip to the Arc De Triomph since they were all along the way. ( also Champs Elysees)

While walking, we passed a pastry shop and not resisting the temptation, James and Karen got a dessert pastry each. A VERY pretty macaroon and an equally ravishing Rivera (layered fruit pudding dessert)

Awake early in the morning to plan where to go; what to do. Macaroons! yummy! sitting on a grass patch after walking in a Parisian shopping plaza. ohhh the grass was soft and moist. Heavenly...and finally, the desserts! pretty right? look at the size of the macaroon!!

Any yup we did all that, expect for the part on paying Mona a visit. Her place was way too big. By the time we reached her front door we were drained and tired. Imagine doing that 4 times! (the museum has 4 levels) But we did take alot of photos to show our effort and sincerity of wanting to be there. (:

Arc De Triomph was just.... Arc De Triomph. Having climbed up the Eiffel tower, going up the Arc De Triomph wasn't such a big thing anymore. Plus it was a package of having to queue, pay and climb up, get squashed and come down. So we decided to give it a miss. But of cos we still had to go there and take a picture. And yes we did. Standing in the middle of a road junction just in front of the Arc.

On the way to the Arc De Triomph, we had to walk pass a very busy and crowded street named Champs Elysees. I'm sure many have heard of it. lots of shops, people but nevertheless i won't deny it's a very pretty street. Due to the European cultured buildings and pavement. There was also Louis Vuitton! The one everyone wants to go to get their bags. I'm not one of them though and ended up sitting in the cafe opposite the shop and attempted to order a 8 euro soft drink when Karen popped out of the LV shop and saved me. heng....

The Arc, the VERY expensive cafe across the LV boutique, our friendly hotel receptionist and yes, that middle of the junction i talked about. The arc in front, the road behind.

Groceries Day

2008-08-30T01:50:00.002+02:00

Wao, today i spent close to 100SGD just shopping for food! Also i tried to cook baked salmon with mashpotatoes and buttered corn. Hahaha, and it wasn't bad. ((: ( i tried the mashpotato recipe that me and stef learnt when we were working in a restuarant. hehehe nice lor!) Oh yes, i forgot to mention, my dinners and lunches are done as a group of 5. Each taking turns to cook for the day. Yesterday, Fiona cooked Sliced fish bee hoon soup. Yes, the one with the milk and fried fish. only that ours wasn't exactly fried cos we didn't have any flour bought yet. tomorrow, yuan sheng is going to make mee hoon kueh. sounds good man.

p.s. kevin, i'm getting better at dota here. hahaha, my friends are playing it every night!

Olso - Paris Day 1

2008-08-23T11:39:00.016+02:00

Okay, I'm finally going to start blogging about my trip.

First stop, Paris.

To catch the 6am flight to paris, the 4 of us, Karen, Fiona, James and I took the last public transport to the airport possible and spent the night there. Surprisingly, sleeping at the airport is quite a common thing to do as we found out looking around. (Their airport stops opeations at night unlike our Changi Airport.) They had these self check in machines for Norwegian air which we used 2 hours before our flight. baggage stickers had to be stick urself too!

Oslo Airport. bottom left: the self check-in machines

Norwegian Air, although a no frills budget air is not bad i must say. the seats were okay and it really feels like a regular airline. 2 hours later, we arrived at Paris-Orly!

Aeroview of Paris (Orly)

Flying from 1 EU country to another is like flying within the same country. No stamps on your passports, no custom checks. Its like taking a bus, a flying one.

We then had to take the airport bus to a train station and take a metro down to our first and last hotel stay through out the trip, which had a very cool spiral staircase despite it's size.

Bottom right: Gare du Lest train station. pretty huh?

First things first, we asked the very kind reception for a good and cheap place for lunch. It WAS good and FILLING. soon after, off we went to sight-see!

First stop was a small but extremely pretty cathdral, Saint Merri. Nicknamed little Notre Dame.

Honestly, i think i enjoyed it more than the famed Notre Dame. You actually get a sense of peace and tranquility here.

To our original destination, The Notre Dame.

We passed the Centre de Pompidou, full of life, buskers and colours, walked on a bridge which had a piece of artifical grass. And obviously Parisians are beach deprieved cos they called that small piece of grass as u can see on the bottom left, La Plage (The Beach). like huh? And they WERE wearing their bikinis and trucks laying right in the middle of the city! And so, we arrived at The Notre Dame.

One thing about Paris is the amount of tourists they have. And visitors to places such as the Notre Dame. Queues are everywhere and i thinkwe spent most of our time queuing up. to go into the cathedral to go up the cathedral. AND, FYI do NOT take FLASH photography INSIDE the cathedral. ARGH. it irritated the hell out of us. we would have no idea the notre dame was a religious place if we didn;t know it was a cathedral.

As a student, we get a special rate of 4.80euros to go up the Notre Dame. James and Karen weren't keen so Fiona and I went up while they sat at a stall to people-watch and wait for us. This is what they missed:

I am totally fasinated by how they got the humogous organ piano up.(2nd picture) It's HUGE. Fio and I climbed in total of 400 steps up, saw the famed Gargolyes, which i find cute. (This picture is so common you can actually google it. BUT i took it okay!) Visited Emanaul the bell. That's his front door and a picture with him, and finally climbed all the way up for the view of Paris. That small triangle is the Eiffel Tower.

Next stop, THAT small triangle.

Yes, i absolutely adore the Eiffel tower. especially when the sun goes down, which was not until almost 10pm.

Look at how long the queue was! we actually spent quite some time queuing for the tickets and our queue wasn't the one with the lift. We were going to CLIMB up the eiffel tower. Talk about vertical marathon! Luckily the tower was divided into 3 parts. level 1, 2 and 3. The highest can only be accesed by the lift. But hey, its still a damn long climb. Afterall i did just climb the Notre Dame earlier on.

As we reached the highest point of the tower, the sky darkened and the boring iron structure transformed.

I love the Eiffel Tower... AT NIGHT!

oh yes, i forgot to blog about the first meal we had outside. A HUGE meal which we had no idea what it would be until it came due to our inability to understand the meal and the waitress' refusal to tranlate anything for us. it was so filling it made we want to roll the rest of the day. at 15 euros for a lunch set, yes it was well worth it. For more details, u can check out Fiona's blog. She has all the food pictures she so obsessively took, whiping out her cam before we could dive into our course.

p.s. i cleaned my room today and.... i miss magic clean wipes!!!

School

2008-08-20T19:45:00.003+02:00

Wao, my time table is amost non-xisitant. school's only for about 3 hours (1 class) and, it ends. one monday, we finished at 10.15am. tuesday too. But, Financial management is hard. Not sure if i should really take it as an elective, although the teacher is damn cool and hot AND not to mention,very nice too. ((:

It's been foggy these few days, cold wet and foggy. i almost cannot really see the mountain in front at times. the whoe world is a blur and i can still see soccer teams practising everyday even now, when ts raining and damn freaking cold! i swear it's damn cold when it rains. i'm sure the guys will love this place. i have the view of at least 3 full length soccer courts from my window and because we are next to the olympic village in Oslo, yeah, they do play quite damn well. and train hard too. (they still wear shorts to play when its raining) i dunno how they do that.

yes, i know i promised to put up the europe trip pictures and tell you guys about the travel stories, but i haven gotten all the pictures yet! By tomorro okay? i hope.

Back from Europe

2008-08-16T11:27:00.003+02:00

i'm finally back from the europe trip. i got back yesterday afternoon but only had time to blog today. We so didn;t want to come back at all.. the prices in europe are so much more reasonable. and we were greeted by a VERY expensive bus trip back to Olso where we still have to take the metro back to the hostel. 180 kornos for a 1 way trip. Karen and James cleverly thought that maybe taking a taxi will be cheap. bu guess what? the driver said, "it'll cost about 2800 kornos. you'll be better taking the bus (the 180kornos one)." WTH.. he can earn up to 800 SGD in A TRIP!!
I'll slowly update my trip and put up pictures when i get them from the others. So make do with this i've finally taken out all my clothes and have settled into my room also.

As promised, my new view from my new room. SO MUCH BETTER!

Repacking everything. Tiring......

P.S. Chee, u blind bat.

Oslo- Day 4&5 (2,3 Aug)

2008-08-04T18:30:00.003+02:00

okay, nothing much on day 4 but i moved to a new block on day 5 though. it's got a better view and at a cheaper rate too! yup and loads of ppl skyped and msned me. but so sorry i couldn't entertain u guys for long. i have to pack up as i'll be going on the my europe trip tonight. to camp at the airport and check in at 4am cos the public transports only start at 6am.

Anyway, i won't be able to blog until about 15 or 16 when i come back. by which school will already start. so i'll try and post up my new room and new view.. (hahhaa, no more brick wall) and yup i've already showed some of you it.

Yes ching, you have been missed too. i didn't get to go to your house and NUA before i had to come over.. girl u can leave a comment instead. i can't read tag msgs fast enough.

with love, bernice
(sorry no pictures today. i'm charging the cam up for the trip) - ((:

Oslo -Day 3 (2 Aug)

2008-08-04T18:17:00.003+02:00

We went shopping today! haha cos its summer here but i packed mostly winter clothes. so not enough NORMAL clothes to wear. hahha. but luckily their having their summer sales now cos fall is coming. so come things are relatiely cheap. i mean like normal price in sg. haha but theree were good deals too. limited stock of cos. James, karen, fiona and I just walked along sentralstation to sightsee. finally we saw the sea! oh, i also did went to H&M and i got 2 tops. i really needed clothes la...

Oslo- Day 2 (1 Aug)

2008-08-03T12:34:00.009+02:00

Paperwork Paperwork Paperwork! so many paperworks to do today. police station, immigration, student ids. so many things we got to do. Still suffering from jetlag, so it was tiring and horrible. We even had to wake up at 6 to reach the police station at 8 in case the police close early too.

did abit of groceries shopping at their supermarket called 'kiwi' and do i need to say it again that it is godly expensive?!? hahah

oh yes but we did have a very fulfilling lunch at Oslo sentralstasjon. A kebab at 49; but SUper HUGE and yummy and not to mention filling!! YUM!

Along the way, we took photos and saw cute stuff. i shall save the talking and show you the photos instead.

cute car! 1 sitter and its super thin too. haha

And my school! Norway BI. i will so love coming to school. so pretty!!

Oslo Day 1 (31July)

2008-08-03T12:19:00.004+02:00

The exchange rate is 1; is to 0.275SGD

Checked into the room, as u have seen in the previous post. but yes of cos i didn't unpack everything up nicely in a day. i actually took it today to show u guys my room. Day 1 was spent getting the room, which took quite long. they work quite slowly here and a close means its closed. they can even close early because they thing there are too many people coming in. they werer suppose to close at 6pm that day but did it at 4pm when the bunch of us walked in.

when to ikea to get stuff like the nice fluffy pillow and blanket. also bed linen and quilt covers. yes its all green. (stef's favourite) hahaha cos its CHEAP and not as ugly as some blue and red flowered ones. also got a mug and plate 7korons and a table lamp, pots and knives to share with a few friends of cos. i dun really have a picture for ikea cos we will all stony and tired. but just to show u the things we all got, i'll post this picture up.

And this is only half if it. hahhaa bags have to be bought here and all plastic bags or NOT free. sad.

Oh yes. we also found out how to use the subway here. buying tickets and everything. a flexipass worth 8 -1 hour trips, cost 160kornos. Not cheap at all man.

Singapore-London-Oslo

2008-08-03T11:12:00.008+02:00

It was a super long trip to oslo. Plus the plane in london got delayed for 2 hours due to some hydrolic problem.

During the flight to London this Holland guy was sitting nx to me. A surfer! hahaha. he had spent almost 5 weeks in indonesia. Bali and another small island-surfing. A very friendly person. he kept giving the cheeky smile. hahaha and the 3 of us, james, me and him will mostly discussing about the movies that were nice on that flight.

here's the london heathrow airport. its foggy outside. HSBC is everywhere!(in London)

Plane delay. took this from the window. thats our standby plane which we didn't use.

Aeroplane view of norway. the landscapeos totally different from singapore's. they have pokey pointed trees and huge bushes for trees too. looks alien. no rainforests and big canopies.

home for the next 5 months to come....

Test

2008-02-18T11:17:00.001+01:00

hihi hello "quote quote" haha hehe hoho

Cheshire Cat : All ways here you see, are the QUEEN'S WAYS!
Alice : But I've never met any queen.
Cheshire Cat : You haven't? You haVEN'T? Oh, but you must! She'll be mad about you, simply mad!
Alice : How can I find her?
Cheshire Cat : Well, some go this way, some go that way. But as for me, myself, personally, I prefer the shortcut.