Auckland, NZ

After 15 hours of traveling and having turbulence all the way from KL to Auckland, got stuck at the custom, ‘striping’ all my luggages inside out by the custom officer, finally, I’m in Auckland again after 10 years ago.

It is nice to be back in this city again. I love NZ. The sky is still very blue, the air is so nice to breath in, the people are still very friendly, nothing much changed in the city except…..THERE ARE SO MANY FREAKING ASIANS HERE NOW!!!

I can’t believe it! It just felt like another Asian City in an Ang Moh environment setting! Of cox, there are a lot of Asian restaurants as well (which is good for me). I guess if it is not because of all these International students, Auckland could be still be a very boring city, just like 10 years ago.

The hotel is really nice and it is right in front of the Harbour. The room is very big and comfortable! The food at the restaurant is good. So far everything has been really good.

I’ve met up with my cousin and we spent some time together catching up all the gossips. I managed to make a few new friends here and went party and drinking together. It was a lot of fun.

Went to visit the Casino and lost some money there. The casino just like Genting! I reckon 90% gamblers there are all Asian (80% are Chinese, probably! So typical!).

Friendship

While I was away from home, I think the only one thing that really kept me going is my friends in Singapore. From times to times, I’ll chat with them on MSN or Skype, and email them occasionally from my loneliness hotel rooms. They kept me entertained and making sure that I’m not too bored or to the worst, talking to the wall. Sometimes, I received SMS from them just to tell me how they missed me, which is quite heart warming.

Friendship is one of the important elements of living a good life. You need true friends to be there for you when you are sad, lonely, bored or happy, and being there for them as well. However, to maintain a good friendship, we have to really go and ‘maintaining’ it. You always have to make it to a point to call them and check on them when you haven’t heard from them for a while, or simply you haven’t called them for a while. Ones must never be selfish or lazy to pick up the phone and making the good call.

Being a good friend to someone, you should always be able to sense their sadness or happiness, even though you are half way around the globe (now, that’s powerful ‘power’). Sometime, they just want a listening ear. Other time, they needed your advice. Friends are the supporting bone of our day to day lives.

Sometime, you don’t need a lot of friends. You just need a couple of good friends. A true and genuine friend.

End of UK Projects!

Finally, after 3 month of traveling in England, Ireland and Scotland, it has come to the end of my UK project. My last project was the most memorable and fun one. This is because I’ve learnt much more than my first few projects as my team mates were willingly to share their knowledge and they were crazy and funny people as well. They have a good heart J

Last weekend, my best friend was here to check on us because it was her project. But the fact is her main priority is here to see me, before I returning back to Singapore. We went to Edinburgh visited another friend of ours and we watched Rugby (All Black) in a local pub and see some interesting places. Edinburgh is a lovely city compared to Glasgow.

Next week, I still have 2 days attachment at the International System Support Center in Glasgow and then I’ll be going to London on Wednesday. Initially, I’m flying back on Wednesday to Singapore immediately. But then, thinking to myself, I never really visited London. So I changed my flight to Saturday and hopefully, this time, I can really ‘feel’ the London.

Meeting Up Ex-Colleague

On Thursday evening, I met up with one of my ex-colleagues from my previous job. She was my surpervisor before. We have been on the phone for the past 2.5 years but we never really had a chance to meet face to face. Finally, I’m in Glasgow and I do not wish to miss this chance. So I called her up and we met at my hotel and have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant and catching up over a few drinks at the bar. It was a lovely evening, except, the fire alarm later in the morning (refer to my below post).

Another One!!

Another one?!?!

It's Thursday and it's 230am! The fire alarm went off again! I really don't know what the F*ck is going on! This is the second time within one week?! Why is that so many fire in this hotel?! (FYI, last one the fire was from the kitchen. Apparently one of the Chefs forgot to turn off the oven after shift) I wonder what is it this time?!

Once again, we were gathered at the hotel car park in front of the hotel main entrance. There wasn't much of action going on again. Can't see any fire (by the way, the picture above was just a random pic) This time, we were back into the hotel after 20 minutes.

Sigh....not sure when is the next one again....

Fire Evacuation!

After a long day, got a headache and took 2 panadols and went to bed at 1am.

At 2am, I was waked up by the fire alarm.

“What the F*ck is that noise?!”

I though I was dreaming but then I heard some noise outside my door as well. So I put on my jumper and head down to the lobby.

Everybody gathered at the car park, some still in their party cloths, others are in their pajamas and some girls were wearing their sexy silk lingerie. Three fire trucks outside the hotel main entrance but didn’t really see any smoke coming out from the hotel building.

A hotel staff was shouting to check the room numbers. But then, my room number was not in the list.

“Oh Great! So nobody knows that I’m dead in the room” thinking to myself and standing freezing cold at the car park.

About 45 minutes late, everything was clear and we were allowed to go back to our room. Jumping into my warm bed and trying to sleep but only realized that, if there was really a fire just now, I left my room with nothing. So I told myself, I must pack a small bag with my passport, credit cards and cash in it. In just of any emergencies, I just have to grab the bag and run.

Oh! Of course, I have to grab my music hard disk as well!

Goodbye Ireland! Hello Scotland!

Done Templepatrick and now moving on to Strathclyde.

Finished work at 7am and went to airport at 9:30am to catch my flight at 11:10am. As usual, I’m worried about my overweight problem. I’ve been praying and hoping that God will help me with this. I’ve cut down my suitcase body fat by 7kg but it’s still quite heavy.

Upon check-in, weighting my suitecase, it’s 27 kg. Luckily the girl was quite nice and she didn’t charge me anything but warned me that I’m quite heavy and need to watch up when I’m coming back. Proceed to clear the custom and only realized that I forgot to put my swiss amy knife into my check-in bag. The officer advised me to check-in my hand carry as well, which to my worry that the reason I have a hand carry is to put my most heavy stuff into it so I won’t be ‘too’ over weight. So either I have give up my knife or check-in my hand carry. So I decided to check with the counter again. I told the girl that I forgot to pack my swiss amy knife into another suitcase and the officer advised me to check-in my hand carry as well. Thinking to myself, “Oh No! She is going to find out that my hand carry is too over weight as well…”. She just proceeds with the check-in procedures (my hand carry weighted 15 kg) and past me back my boarding pass. “?!?!?!” I thank her immediately and couldn’t believe that she didn’t charge me anything or even lecture me at all.

For the first time, I don’t have carry a heavy hand carry bag. Thank you Lord!

Hilton Strathclyde is about 30 minutes away from Glasgow. However, a single taxi fare will cost me 22 pounds. After check-in into the hotel, settled down in my room, I proceed to check-out the hotel gym. To my surprise, this is the most equipped gym by far of all the hotels I’ve been to. It’s like a mini California Fitness Center and they have many classes as well. So I signed up for the Body Pump class in the evening.

Team Photo at Templepatrick

Drinks at the Bar

Drinks under a sunny day

More Beers Please!

Looking Good!