第23回 星蘭祭

ペナンにいたから、第22回のを見失っても、今年（第23回）のへ帰ったぜー！

今回の参観は日本から帰ってきた後輩、忠祥さんと一緒だった。
彼は日本語が上手だし、日本へ交換留学が終わったばかりだ。

制服試着会

二年前の星蘭祭で制服の試着を見失って、ちょっと早く並んだらできたのに…けど、今回は最初の訪ねたスポットは「制服試着会」だったので、やっとすっかり日本高校生に変身したよ！

実は、制服の待つ時間は長すぎたから、試着会の後はすぐ食堂へ昼ごはんを食べに行った。$5の食券でこのきつねうどんをもらった。とても美味しかった！

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なんか、奈良で食べた巾着きつねうどんのような味がした、懐かしいなあ…

桃太郎のフェスタ

「桃太郎のフェスタ」でピンボールとか、ボウリングとか、ヨーヨー釣りとかした。

ヨーヨー釣りは本当に苦手だ。いくら頑張っても無理だったそうだ。

ゲームを上手にやれなかったもので、スコアが低くて菓子が二三個しかもらわなかった。

甘かったけど… ^^

御化け屋敷

僕はいつもこんな怖さに楽しみにしてる、やっと今日は経験できた。

グランド・ピアノさえ使って…

暗かったけど、怖いことはあまり怖くなかったと思う。でも、楽しかったよ。

アラジンと魔法ランプ Photo studio

おかしいテーマだったけど、あっちで簡単なマジックを一人の高校生に見せてもらった後でアラブの服を着てから写真が撮られたんだ。

忠祥さんの留学仲間と一緒に





早稲田渋谷シンガポール校の学生と先生たち、お疲れ様でした！
また今度ね！

Waseda Shibuya Senior High School
57 West Coast Road, Singapore 127366

Tampopo たんぽぽ @ Liang Court

There's this female colleague of mine, who sits beside me on bus heading towards the company everyday. Claire, joined Cameron a week after me in July, and thereafter I was no longer lonely on the bus. 2 of our common friends are actually the GRDP Trainees of the same batch as me, and I'm glad that I know a friend who's also living in the relatively remote Bukit Panjang area.

We're having a mini celebration cum dinner at Tampopo たんぽぽ near Clarke Quay, which specializes in ramen.

Deluxe Tampopo Black Pig Shabu Ramen デラックスたんぽぽ黒豚しゃぶラーメン @ $16.30


BP Rich Pork Bone Ramen 黒豚濃厚豚骨ラーメン @ $15.30


Katsu Don (served with Pork Miso Soup) かつ丼（豚汁付き） @ $18.00

Something fishy is to be expected when someone is begging for an excuse to visit the washroom.


Claire looks happy with the present we bought her in the U.S. during our GRDP Leadership Week


177 River Valley Road, #01-23/24,
Liang Court Shopping Centre,
Singapore 179030

Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant @ Johor Bahru

It’s been 2 months working for Cameron, and being a single and lonely guy, most of my Friday evenings were spent at home – no significant meaning of TGIF for me at all. Thanks to Yi Jie who invited me to a Friday evening getaway to Johor Bahru, with the colleagues from Machine Shop 1 & 2, which put the melancholy to a tentative end, although I'm actually not as close to colleagues from the Machine Shops. That's when I need to bring my passport along to work.

Separated into two groups, I took the company bus which goes to JB (Bas Pekerja) after work, and we transited at the house of Alan, one of my colleagues; while some hopped onto Wai Ming's car which drove directly to JB. He fetched us to meet another group of them at one of the petrol stations around the Taman Bukit Indah neighbourhood, before proceeding together to our dinner place - Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant, run by a Korean family, I supposed.

The foreign workers in the restaurant can do their work well, but it's kinda troublesome when you find out that they can't understand your English or even Malay, and so the young Korean owner of the restaurant had to serve us by himself.

Everyone was given an apron in red.


First, he added the cabbage.


Then some meats.


Fry ah! Flip ah!


We ordered noodles as add-on.


Soju, which I found indecent to me.

The level of spiciness we requested was either mild or medium, but I felt like I could throw flame out of my mouth after eating, which also made me feel super dizzy as I tried so hard to catch breath. ♨♨♨
Make sure your table always has a jug of water standby before your throat gets burnt really badly.

The dinner costs about RM28 per person (I can't really remember), and it's followed by a karaoke session at DeBox Family KTV.

The next day’s gonna be Malaysia’s 56th National Day, so we had to quickly flee out of Johor before any road congestion upsurged. During our journey back on a flyover in JB, we actually saw fireworks somewhere eastwards, what a gorgeous scene.

Credits to Alan who fetched me around in JB and Wai Ming who fetched me back to Singapore.

Uncle Jang Korean Restaurant
17, Jalan Bestari 5/2, Taman Nusa Bestari,
Johor, Malaysia

Santa Monica, USA

21 Aug 2013 (Wed)

Bidding farewell to Oklahoma City, and maybe even US, we soon will be back in Singapore in no time.

As there's no direct flight from Oklahoma City to Singapore, the flight route was scheduled as Oklahoma City ✈ Los Angeles ✈ Singapore, and guess what, the stopover at Los Angeles was 7-hour long!
Are we gonna be good boys and girl stoning at the airport for the upcoming flight? I don't think so... :)

Los Angeles International Airport

Our flight details
21 Aug 2013 (Wed)
Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) - Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Terminal 4
Flight No: AA 3692
7:25AM ­- 8:20AM

21 Aug 2013 (Wed)
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Terminal B - Tokyo Narita Airport
Flight No: SQ 11
3:45PM ­- 7:15PM (22 Aug)
Tokyo Narita Airport - Changi Airport Terminal 3
Flight No: SQ 11
8:50PM ­- 2:55AM (23 Aug)

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Things then went pretty crazy - the airport staff told us that there's no luggage deposit at the airport, if we were to get out of the airport, our luggage goes with us. Yes, it's the full load of luggage we're bringing back to Singapore.

And we did, we called for a cab to bring us to a beatiful beach in Santa Monica, a beachfront city.

Renting bicycles is a good reason and excuse for us to deposit our luggage at the bicycle shop, we were then able to cycle along the beach without having an eye on our bulky luggage. Two birds with one stone! WHY WE SO SMART?! Lol~~

The weather was great, it's not the warmth that you would typically feel under the sun of the beach (LOL) at noon.

Perhaps throughout these years, nothing could be merrier than cycling by the beach with beautiful blue sea, blue sky and babes.

Cycling makes me recall my exchange days in Sweden, when I cycled for months under right-hand traffic, until I learnt to cycle hands free. Guess what, Boon Kiat and Yi Jie did their exchange in Sweden as well! XD

I mean, how freaking awesome can it be if I were staying in one of these beach houses...

Rusty's Surf Ranch

We had lunch at one of the restaurants along the pier, hoping to dig in their really fresh catches.

Rusty's Surf Ranch
256 Santa Monica Pier

We managed to get back to the airport in time, and bade out last goodbye to America, at least for this year.

Not just Santa Monica, we'll miss the fortnight we spent in the US. It's our first time stepping onto this continent and country.

Thank God that because this was a partial business trip, being a Malaysian passport holder I was still able to get my visa in a bit upon interview, as US visa approval is heard to be an incommodious hassle for those visa waiver program exempted, I wonder if they see everyone as a potential terrorist.

Fish 'n' Chips @ $11.95
BBQ Chicken Breast @ $11.95
Chef Avelar's Marinated Skirt Steak @ $19.95


Singapore Airlines SQ11 Airbus A380-800

Bye USA. Hi Singapore.

For more photos, please check out my photo album Santa Monica, USA on Facebook.