"Tour" of Duty

Just got back from a nice trip to Athens, Greece. It's still winter there so the load was light, and thus most of the crew were in a relaxed mood. It also helped that one of my senior colleague organised a trip to one of the outlaying islands, called Aegina. So this actually felt more like a vacation than work!

The island of Aegina used to be a small fishing port, and I suspect they still do some fishing for the local market. It was totally different from all that traffic and noise that's so common in the city. We checked into this very nice studio apartment with a great view and quaint rooms. 3 of us guys shared a room, with the 2 of us sleeping in a cosy attic above.

As it was an off peak season, the rooms were reasonably priced and we didn't have to fight with the summer crowd, which can be quite daunting. Moving around in the small island in a big group of 11 plus a child wasn't as difficult as I thought. We happily went about snapping pictures of each other and the group. In the evening when it got cold we headed back to the studio apartment and the nice owner got the fire started while we had drinks around the warm fireplace. We retired happily, and I think my room was the noisiest as us guys took turns keeping each other awake with our snoring!!

I woke up early to try to get some sunrise pictures but alas, it was too cloudy to get any good ones. I did, however, get in some very nice pictures of the island, each looking just like them picture postcards. We had a nice lunch of (more!) fish again before going back to pack for the trip back to mainland.

The rain came pouring down just as we were making our way to the port for our ferry ride. After that I saw the biggest rainbow, rounding up a pleasant stay on the island.

Special credit must go to my colleague, who did all the research, made all the bookings, even got down to ordering for us during lunch. It's not easy to be the tour organizer/leader I think, but he does it with such ease. Of course, it helps that most of us are quite chin chye, and don't nit pick about food, the weather and sleeping arrangements... ...

A wonderful tour of duty, truly

We are in the last 8!!

Last night Arsenal secured a place in the last 8 of the Champions League. I was literally watching the last 10 minutes standing right in front of the TV. To send in a team that's so young(in a way, dunno what is called die) and perform so well against one of the biggest club in Europe is indeed commendable. Goalkeeper Lehmann damn steady, singlehandedly, by the tip of his fingers prevented a goal that was a sure thing.

Henry should really forget about the overtures from other clubs and stay to see how exciting this team will become next season. C'mon, he's just gonna be another expensive import in the other clubs. Here at Highbury, he's a Legend. That's something money can't buy. And I have a feeling Henry is not someone who just goes for the biggest buck. Finally got to wear the jersey with pride!


For a guy who's alone most times at home, I have an extraordinary amount of kitchen utensils, cutlery, crockery plus pots and pans. After removing all the grime from both my bathrooms, I decided to clear up the clutter that's my kitchen, since I was on a roll. After putting away the good wine glasses and numerous commemorative mugs, I found myself going through an inexplicably large number of unused dishes, cutlery, scissors, condiments, spices and even a rice cooker!

I don't cook at home, and my Mum's too busy to make me any home-cooked meals, therefore I'm puzzled as to how all these landed in my kitchen. For your info, my storage space is really a premium in the kitchen.

Now headache how to hide all of them...

Sundown

Sundown
Originally uploaded by ahtiong73_.

One of the rare times I've captured the sunset on camera.

Taipei isn't just a noisy, crowded city after all. For the cost of NT$40 you can take the subway to a smaller town near the sea.

And come across a view like this...and there's more

It's a Small World After All...

I'd just recently came back from LA. Would you believe that in the 10 yrs I've flown I've not visited Disneyland once? Well this trip was different. Armed with wads of cash for the merchandise I'll be coming across, and a camera that's fully charged, I started on a 1hr30min bus journey to The Happiest Place on Earth.

One would think that in LA everyone has to drive to get somewhere. Well, it has a wide network of buses and subways that are clean and efficient, if you know which ones to take that is. A tip would be to ask the hotel concierge, most of them has a timetable of sorts.

The bus stopped right outside Disneyland, and though it was a tad bit overcast that day, people were still streaming in. We bought our tickets (no crew discount though), and headed straight to Toontown to meet Mickey Mouse. Photos were taken before we joined another queue to have a snapshot of Minnie Mouse.




From there on it was a slow walk around the huge park. I'd think that any child would be drooling at the prospect of meeting the many characters that have been churned out by this company. And they showed it by buying up every merchandise in sight. Even adults were into it, gosh the power of an icon.



In a way Disneyland brought out the child in me too, though I had a closer affinity to the traditional cast rather than the new fangled ones like Nemo or The Invincibles. Yep, it's old school Goofy, Mickey, Daffy, Pluto for this man-child.

It rained towards the evening and thus the nightly parade was cancelled. We still left happy, knowing that in this big, bad world that we live in, there are still places you can go to feel like a child with no care in the world.

Mr SBS

You were young, you were rash.

You dabbled in vices that got yourself and your love ones into trouble.

Now, you are old and frail.

You have become dependant on those that you'd hurt in the past.

Some have forgiven you, some have forgotten.

Why can't I do either?