Chasing After Rainbows

I'm preparing the camera for my trip, so I am gathering all the SD memory cards the camera uses. Check the battery, charge it, and such. Found several mini and micro SD cards that are, at most, 2GB. Ugh... these tiny, easy-to-lose cards... At least I have the adaptor that turns it into a regular SD card. The camera may come with 2 8GB SDHC cards, but on a holiday, I want to reduce the inconvenience of changing it and, if I'm not near a computer I could use, have enough space for more shots. Oh well, something is better than nothing. The camera is a normal point-and-shoot kind, 12.1 mega-pixels, 1080p video recording (with the capacity of those <2GB cards I mentioned earlier, that works out to less than 5 minutes. Total. With nothing else on it.). I had used it for my travels last year (2012) and I kind of like it better than other cameras I had used. What I liked is the 4x optical zoom. Handy for taking pictures of animals (or people) without getting too close and risk t

In recent years, I had travel to countless number of different countries around Asia. I travel because I hear so much about different countries, but never actually visited them. Back then, I had thought that you could only go abroad through "packages" by travel agencies, which I found expensive and inflexible. Not a fan of tour guides that travel around in large "herds" I see around me either. Just visiting a tourist spot near where I live and I could already see how expensive it is over the "less-touristy" ones. Expensive: Hotels they offered, which is typically 3 to 5 stars, and may include meals containing food I do not want to eat. Inflexible: They have schedules that are made up of mostly visiting tourist places and, looking at it, there is only little time where we aren't herded around except perhaps arriving and departing days, which, depending on what time of the day, can be short or long. I hate following schedules. Anyway, during my

There are many languages spoken around the world. However, if you are travelling around the world,  English is the most language to learn if you avoid the situation of finding yourself unable to communicate with others, or, worse, face a dangerous situation, but you don't understand the important instructions that are being given. So, here are a list of languages that are spoken in random countries. Not saying the names, but you could probably tell from the languages spoken. (Note: This is not the list of official languages. More of languages visitors would come across there from the most frequent. If not listed, it may appear, but hardly come across any.) English, French English, French, Spanish Portuguese, Spanish Spanish German, French, Italian Hindi, English, Tamil Malay, Chinese, English Arabic, English English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil Korean, Chinese, English Chinese, English Chinese, Portuguese Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean Thai, English, Malay, Burmese

What you are likely to already know is that public transport is a cheap way of getting around, and even more practical for a built up area. However, it also has benefits that aren't mentioned directly. fewer fatal accidents from loss of control, drink driving, other road users trains don't need much space for high speed travel. don't need to waste time just to find parking. Depending on security systems in place and design, reduced likelihood of being robbed or hijacked while traveling. Especially when there are a lot of people around. Since you aren't using your ride, which itself can cost quite a lot, the loss is minimal. There are negative things too, but when you prioritize the environment, they don't seem that important.

These past few years, I have traveled to several regions and countries that are quite far away from home. As I traveled, certain aspects about how different a place may be from what I'm familiar with is become more apparent. Things that I take for granted too. Depending on what country it is, cost of living may be lower than where I'm from. Although, if I'm unfamiliar with the currency of the country, that can be a hard thing to tell, especially if the rates are not dividable by 10 without a remainder. Well, 2 and 5 too, but that requires more thinking. However, some products, especially ones produced from my country, or an another country, may be more expensive than back home if you calculated the exchange rate of the price you see there. Although, for some places, spending $100 (around there, and something like that in other currencies, and stated price might be before/after tax, and if the store participates) would allow you to refund the tax. While planing for tra

I don't know why but that "thing" (I can't say it here) above "random image (from anywhere)" is in japanese sometimes. Another thing is that the banner of the same dimentions on my other blog has images instead of static text. I exchanged money with my sister for lower denominations (eg. 1 $1 coin -> 2 $0.20 + 6 $0.05, 1 $1 -> 2 $0.50) and then $8.60 worth of 1&5 cent coints for a $10 note, then 10 $1 coins for 1 $10 note. I use the vending machine (it has "Polar: the popular choice" on the side) to exchange the $0.10, $0.20, and $0.50 coins for $1 coin. They don't accept $0.01 or $0.05 coins. I'm doing this so that I can have as little coins without the bulk of coins (and help the vending machine to have small change). Too bad the bank deposit machine only accepts $10, $50 and $100 notes. The bank would also charge if you deposit too many coins (250 of mixed denominations i think), an amount equal to buying a meal at a fast food

Here are a bunch of entries that took place from 8 Dec (Sat) to 12 Dec (Wed) 8 December 2007 (Saturday): Stayed at home most of the time. Decided to make major changes to my 3rd and 4th profile after making this post just the night before. Managed to watch "ef - a tale of memories" and "灼眼のシャナII" (Shakugan no Shana Second). 9 December 2007 (Sunday): Woke up earlier than usual (7am) on a Sunday. Father comes home with mother (she works the night shift and he went to fetch her) with MacD breakfast (it happens every week) at 9am. He also wants to watch "Doraemon" (ドラえもん) on RCTI (an indonesian free-to-air network). Had to connect the external antena via VCR (which is almost 12 years old) as the widescreen tv bought almost last year can't display it. Made a lot of changes to friendster, blogger and youtube profile. Later on around evening, went out with parents to fech my sister from work (Hans Art, Bishan Branch) without changing. Went to Sheng Siong sup

I took the JLPT level 3 at the Japanese School (日本人学校（小学部）チャンギ校) today. (Level 4 is the easiest, 1 being the hardest but enough for living in japan) I'm aware that there is also the Standard Charted Marathon run with the SC that morning. Well, I registered for it back in August (about 1-2 weeks before regestration ends) at a obscure place called Midland House at Middle Road (hmmm). I hardly studied. Some of the reasons for that is that there is the lack of study (though i have studied a bit), too much school related activities (mic money sense, sc oath taking / grad night), watch/read too much anime and manga (though they are in japanese with no subtitles). I went there from my house (simei blk 164), walked to Jln Pelatok (there were dogs barking madly at me around there one night) and take from the bustop along Upp Changi Road East and alighted at the school at Upp Changi Road North (quite near). Removed shoes before entering the exam room. During the 2nd part of Listening (聴解) se

As I mentioned earlier, my school is at Bishan St 13 and my house is at Simei Road. People keep asking me why I didn't end up at the College East campus. Simple: I passed only 1 subject and therefore the chances of getting there is slim, in addition to the facilities there. (FYI, I did choose the one at College West if I didn't get at College Central) Anyways, as most of my schoolmates would know, I would take the train at Bishan in the direction towards the city. Sometimes in the opposite direction, or take the bus from Bishan interchange or outside the MRT instead. In case you are curious, here are the routes i take for each of the above 3: Train towards the city: alight at City Hall (Raffles Place if the train is already there and is/has depart) and transfer to the East-West line towards Pasir Ris and alight at Simei and walk from there. Total time: ~50min (~54 if from raffles place) alight at City Hall and transfer to the East-West line towards Pasir Ris and alight at Ta