if you have the time and don't mind reading random stuff, check this website that i just designed:

http://www.srcf.ucam.org/culdt/

this, and the fact that i've been bringing juniors around camb nearly everyday, is really making me really tired. *yawn*

haha i think i was one of the first few undergrads of my college to come back from their long vac, so the college has been pretty quiet for the past few days..

some pics of my new room =D

view of my desk - there's a skylight above me, which means that the room is quite brightly lighted in the day, but not so at night.

the door, food cabinet and my bedroom (it's separate from the main room).

sofas! last year i had only two chairs and a wooden stool, this year's room is a great improvement over that haha.

view of my bedroom.

sigh, if the kitchen was as well-stocked as my previous year's, and if the shower point wasn't that far away from where i'm staying, i'd consider my room to be perfect haha =) but i think it only needs some getting used to - i bet i'll like this room as much as i liked my previous one when i eventually get used to it =D

the long vac's almost over, so is the validity of my 3-month flight ticket.. haha whenever i tell someone familiar with the camb system that i'm flying on 23rd, i almost always will be asked "why" in return. it's not that i dun wanna fly back later with friends, it's cos the price difference btw a 3-month ticket (600 pounds) and a 4-month one (700+) is rather significant, so i chose to return one week earlier and save on that 100 quid (in retrospect, i think having an extra week of accomodation in magd is about the same too haha, so i should have had bought the 4-month one).

will fly in 9 hours' time, hope there aren't any more repeats of the incident where a drunk had his ass hauled away last year, which successfully delayed my flight for 30 mins.. and i'm wishing fervently that no one's sitting beside me, so that i can have extra leg and arm space hahaha =)

i had been having small bumps at the underside of my arm for about 10 months, which wasn't itchy nor reddish, so i had been ignoring it for quite some time.. until yesterday, when my mom decided to let a skin specialist look at it.

basically he diagnosed my condition on one look - keratosis pilaris - and he prescribed a cream for me to apply over the affected areas.

after a bit of wiki-ing, i found an article about it, and it was rather surprising.

(copied directly from here)

Keratosis pilaris (KP) is a very common genetic follicular condition that is manifested by the appearance of rough bumps on the skin and hence colloquially referred to as "chicken skin". Primarily, it appears on the back and outer sides of the upper arms, but can also occur on thighs and buttocks or any body part except glabrous skin (like the palms or soles of feet). Worldwide, KP affects an estimated 40 to 50% of the adult population and approximately 50 to 80% of all adolescents. It is more common in women than in men. Varying in degree, cases of KP can range from minimal to severe.

There are several different types of keratosis pilaris, including keratosis pilaris rubra (red, inflamed bumps), alba (rough, bumpy skin with no irritation), rubra faceii (reddish rash on the cheeks) and related disorders.

Most people with keratosis pilaris do not know they carry it. While KP resembles goose bumps, it is characterized by the appearance of small rough bumps on the skin. As a result, it is often confused with acne.

Keratosis pilaris tends to occur as excess keratin, a natural protein in the skin, accumulates around hair follicles (process known as hyperkeratinization). Bearing only cosmetic consequence, the condition most often appears as a proliferation of tiny hard bumps that are seldom sore or itchy. Though people with keratosis pilaris experience this condition year round, it’s during the colder months when moisture levels in the air are lower that the problem can become exacerbated and the “goose bumps” are apt to look and feel more pronounced in color and texture.

There is no cure for Keratosis pilaris; treatments are largely symptomatic and must be repeated. Regardless, exfoliation, intensive moisturizing cremes, Retin-A, lac-hydrin, and medicated lotions containing alpha-hydroxy acids or urea may be used to temporarily improve the appearance and texture of affected skin. It seems coconut oil used on the affected areas during showers benefits a lot, and in some cases, can even make KP disappear.[citation needed]

Wearing clothing that is looser around the affected areas can also help reduce the marks, as constant chafing from clothing (such as tight fitting jeans) is similar to repeatedly scratching the bumps.

Keratosis pilaris often improves with age, and can even disappear completely by middle-age. Some, however, will have keratosis pilaris for life.

Scratching and picking at KP bumps causes them to redden, swell, and even multiply. In some cases, they will bleed and/or scar. (oh no ><)

besides working *cough* diligently in the office, i do take advantage of my weekends to travel around hk.. why else would i go there to work, if not to explore and live a hk life? =)

first of all, some pics of the place i called home for a month:

i really have no complaints about the service apartment they booked for me.. the word "condo" doesn't exist there, so it can be rather misleading to a sporean if i said that i stayed in an apartment.. it's more like a condo than an apartmnet lah haha. my room is rather well equipped, u can see a stove in the background, there's a fridge hidden in the biggest cupboard, an attached bathroom..

.. tv, sofa, a double bed (was it the company's intention for me to..? =P). i later checked out the website of the apartment i was staying in, and to my shock, i found out there were four types of rooms, and i happened to stay in the most expensive type, with a rent of hk$9,600! (approx s$1 = hk$4.60, rm1 = hk$2) in comparison, my pay for a month's work wasn't even half of that!

view out of my window.. sort of proves my "1 apartment, 1 aircon" theory =) btw, my room didn't have a fan, so basically my aircon was on whenever i was in my room.. that's why i didn't find it surprising to know that hk is #4 in the world's in terms of electricity consumption per capita.

the reception area downstairs. btw, i found out that service apartments are rather common.. the way to differentiate between a normal apartment for residents and a service apartment is the presence of this reception area (i think) haha.

view of chun yeong street, where my apartment is located. it's actually an outdoor market in the morning haha, that's why i am greeted with a distinctive fishy smell whenever i leave my apartment for work =)

this is how it looks in the evening, pic taken from the upper deck of a tram =)

i can assure you that trams is part of the unique hk experience - it's not only popular among tourists, but even more among the locals! the trams charge a flat fare of hk$2 per ride, very much cheaper than taking the mtr! (a ride on the mtr for one stop costs hk$3.80, i know that cos my working place is one mtr stop away from the mtr stop near my place haha) needless to say, after taking the mtr for 2 wks, i switched to trams entirely to travel to work after i realised how -cheap- they were haha. tramlines are only found on the northern regions of hong kong island, so when traveling in kowloon / new territories / lantau island, i had to find other means of cheap transport haha.

some pics of trams:

taken outside central mtr station (central is the cbd of hk, so whenever you see pics of tall tall hk buildings, chances are these buildings are in central)

pic of tram at the tram stop. the tram stop is similar to a bus stop, only elongated and much narrower cos these stops are built ON roads. sometimes cars are allowed to travel on tramlines - in parts of wan chai, the main road only has one lane for both cars and trams.. as trams are rather slow, i wonder how it feels like driving behind a tram - must be quite exasperating haha.

akan datang: pics from my weekly excursions haha, this is just a prologue mar =P

i had a rather interesting trip back to ipoh =)

after lunch, i quickly went to collect my paycheck, but what i thought was a hit-and-run errand became a rather protracted one cos i ended up chatting to the person who gave me the paycheck, cos she was asking me abt what i felt abt my work attachment (and she was rather friendly too haha).. it was rather troublesome cashing my cheque - not only i had to walk to a hsbc branch which was like 10 mins walk from my office, i had to queue up for another 10. not cashing the cheque wasn't an option (for obvious reasons) so i had to wait patiently..

and then after reaching my apartment, i had a quick shower and packed shoved all my stuff - i had to help import lion dance paraphernelia back to camb, so on top of my own stuff i had to somehow (miraculously) shove in 20 t-shirts and 800 cards..

as it was raining cats and dogs - typhoon warning 3 and amber rainstorm warning (hk has this system of classifying how heavy their thunderstorms were.. typhoon warnings have a max of 10, and rainstorms come in three colours - yellow, amber and black, in order of severity. dun ask me how there can be a yellowish/reddish rainstorm) - it was no wonder that traffic progressed much slower than normal.. so the trip to the airport, which i thought would take an hour, took an hour and a half. i rushed to the check-in counter upon arrival, but it turned out i wasn't that late cos the flight was delayed by 30 mins. erps.

and thanks to the weather, when we eventually seated ourselves in the plane at 7pm, we were told our departure would be further delayed by 30 mins. grr. but nvm, they compensated by screening x-men 3, which i haven't watched previously haha.

the worst thing was that i missed the 1230am bus to ipoh >< other methods of transporting myself 300km north of where i landed were rather pricey, so i had to wait for the morning bus..

with 9 hours to burn, i devoured half of the jinyong novel that i brought with me, which i haven't touched at all previously (i love my foresight) =); attempted to sleep for four hours and getting bit by bedbugs (yes, i learnt through the hard way that there are bedbugs in the cushioned seats at klia, ouch); was frozen by the aircon arnd 5am cos i was sleeping a few paces from the outlet; and then eating breakfast at a shop near the bus terminal arnd 8am.

it was a smooth ride back to ipoh, with the exception of having the bus stopped by a police officer and seeing the bus driver getting fined (dunno for what reason, cos i was sleeping during most of the ride haha).

better make the best of my time in ipoh.. 10 days only before i fly back to camb!

everything that has a start must end sometime (not sure about the universe though haha)..

after working for 4.5 weeks here, i'll be jobless again in half an hour's time; getting my paycheck in three; flying back to kl in six and a half; and eventually reaching back home in about fourteen.

time to go around the office and give out small presents to my co-workers..

haha after watching one month of hk's tv, i feel i'm at least qualified to pass comment on it =)

for tvb pearl, they have an odd way of proclaiming which company was the main sponsor of a particular show. for instance, sony bmg is the sponsor of "play it loud", hence the announcement goes like this:

"sony bmg's 'play it loud' is brought to you by..
*pause*
*announcer catches his breath*
*pindrop silence*
..sony bmg." (duh! who else, pfizer?)

and the main sponsorships do fairly accurately reflect the interests of the sponsors. for instance, "countdown to beijing olympics" is sponsored by omega, "science minutes" by delia memorial school (taikoo shing branch) and "alias" is proudly sponsored by.. bmw =P

(btw, am i the only one who think it's weird when SCHOOLS advertise themselves on tv? there were students proudly proclaiming that it's fun going to school in the advert - how convincing is that? haha)

also, the prevalence of one certain marketing technique is rather obvious.

how to sell face makeup? maybelline uses zhang ziyi as their selling point.

how to sell hair dye? l'oreal, gong li.

what about office space? no problem, pacific place happens to have a few models who prance around the office - does that mean blue-collared workers have a chance to bump into these beautiful ladies on their way to work if their benevolent employers decide to set up office in that place?

even luxury apartments? yep, the grand waterfront hires the 2004 miss universe, jennifer hawkins, as the ambassador for the project.. does the advert portray what high class living is about? erm, nope. but it does make good eye candy for a minute, though. (btw, the media blitz is not just limited to tv - buses and trams are painted with larger-than-life ms hawkins smiling.. who wouldn't if they're getting a big cheque for it?)

nonetheless, i still like hk's tv hahaha.

visited four museums - hk heritage museum, museum of art, space museum and science museum - over the past weekend.. wanted to visit a fifth (museum of history) but it was closed at 6pm, haiz. the museum of history is actually just beside the science museum, which closes at 9pm, so if i had planned correctly, i would have visited the museum of history before the science museum..

overall the museums were okay, but i always felt that the museums were very small - any one section of the louvre is bigger than most of the museums that i visited. but precisely because of the compact-ness and the diversity of subject matter, i didn't get bored that quickly (anyone who tried reading all the inscriptions of the paintings in the louvre for an hour will get what i mean).

i noticed that most of the exhibits were from rather recent times - most exhibits come from the past few centuries, so unlike european museums where art galleries sport paintings from the renaissance. what i saw in the hk art museum was quite different from european museums - the former had a mix of european and "chinese" stuff (eg calligraphy, jade pieces), while the latter almost always focused on european stuff. i do admit that i haven't been to that many museums to draw such a definite conclusion, but that's just what i feel lah..

i liked the science museum because of the abundance of hands-on exhibits, but i was kind of annoyed by the large noisy crowd in there.. parents seem to equate science museums to playgrounds - i often see kids streaking around me and screaming their lungs out, and their parents seem oblivious to the din their kids are causing. yes, i know kids are excited easily, but at least teach them how to behave themselves in a museum laaaaa.. and some kids can be plain rude - when i was playing some of the hands-on exhibitions (hey, that's why i was there in the first place =) some kids just walk up and start messing around with what i was playing, and their parents were just a few steps away! these kids are of course few and far between, but it's enough to make me lament the dearth of etiquette in today's kids (man, i do sound old haha). grr.

oh ya, i had a shock in the space museum, something which is not related to the crowd there. i tried out the moon-walk exhibit there (the machinery is similar to that used in rock-climbing, but it supports only 5/6 of ur weight), and as it can be used by pple within 40-80kg, i had to weigh myself on an electronic balance.. and i was stunned when i saw the first digit to be a SEVEN. i always thought i was abt 65kg! ><

nonetheless, museums in hk are worth going, but not when there's a big crowd in those places..

work's been so-so these days, am in the midst of doing quite a number of ad-hoc stuff.. completed a write-up on how my company was supporting the clean air charter in hk, and before that, reviewed and suggested improvements to the company's websites - not just the hk one but also the china one (apparently they have two different websites "to cater for the different business cultures of both places". okay lor). just finished helping my supervisor guess-timate the budget for the cdo's travels haha.

there was a guy who replaced my cpu today (long story about why he did so), but when i requested that he install firefox into my workstation, he promptly made me a super-user with administrator rights. my eyes nearly popped out when i saw him doing that - i couldn't believe that my simple request automatically made me that trustworthy! (*cough* OF COURSE i am trustworthy la).. this happened just when i was grumbling inwardly about my inability to change basic settings, for instance changing the amount of time elapsed for my monitor to automatically switch off =) and before that, all the icons and menu options were all in traditional chinese (grr), and now it's back to english.. woohoo =D think it's something significant when you spend nearly 7.5 hrs on the pc everyday - simple stuff like language settings do actually make my life a whole lot simpler =)

can't believe i get happy that easily hahaha.. one more week to go!

the past two days had been rather.. eventful haha.

on sunday, i went with a group of friends to macau.. the five of us met at 9am, and then proceeded to buy ferry tickets.. the ferry used in carrying passengers to macau isn't the normal, rock-until-you-feel-nauseous type of ferries - it's a hoverferry, which is much more stable and faster than the normal ferry. of course, such a luxury comes at a price (of hk$150).

on landing, we made a beeline to the most famous tourist attraction - the 大三巴 (ruins of st paul's cathedral).. which turned out to be "like that lor". seriously, there's nothing that special about it, besides it being a delicately ornamented wall. it's amazing how a burned down cathedral could still pull the crowds that other intact cathedrals couldn't..

there were so many biscuit shops and bak kwa shops in the vicinity of the 大三巴, and we couldn't resist buying something from the shops around there.. they were pretty generous in giving out free samples of their biscuits, which acted as a crowd puller cos i bet no one could resist freebies haha =) however, i got rather pissed with the bak kwa sellers who would cut a small piece of the bak kwa they were holding to, offer it to you, while serenading you with "special offers" from their shops (unlike the biscuit shops, which you could just take a free sample without getting saliva in your ear).. needless to say, i avoided them like the plague.

after that, we went to have a meal at one of the more famous restaurants in macau (can't remember the name though haha).. ordered 猪扒包, 蟹粥, beef noodles and fried wantons and then shared it amongst us.. some were easy to share, but it got rather tricky when it came to dividing the noodles. the meal was quite delicious without being exceedingly expensive. btw, the shops in macau (at least those situated at touristy area) accept hkd in place of mop (macau pataca), which was good cos mop$1 is slightly more expensive in value than hk$1.

after visiting the city hall, we decided to pay the good ol' lisboa casino a visit.. was greeted with a gust of cigarette smoke upon entering the betting grounds. as most of the games there require minimum bids of hk$50 (yes, all bets are in hkd and not mop) and hkd$100, so we proceeded to the slot machines (which were really inaccessible, mebbe cos it's not that lucrative?).. i changed hk$20 into 10 hk$2 coins, and then proceeded to lose all of them in one go (out of my 10 tries, i actually won only once - a measly sum of hk$2).. one of my friends was luckier - she was at one time hk$10 up, but proceeded to lose her winnings and stopped betting when she lost her winnings.. another friend of mine stopped when he lost hk$10. haha i wonder how the casino would profit if most of their clients were people like us.

after the casino trip, we went over to the fisherman's wharf, and was greeted with a man-made monstrosity.. from the name, one would imagine a peaceful harbour with boats rocking gently amongst rolling waves, but no. it's a collection of buildings which try to imitate famous sights around the world, for instance the roman amphitheatre and 唐城. was really disgusted by the utter fakeness ><

went to eat at a icecream shop selling new zealand icecream nearby, 6 scoops came up to hk$70. not bad.

as some of my friends had dinner plans, we took the 630pm ferry back to hk.. had the feeling of getting cheated out of my money - not just the hk$20 at the casino (grr), but most importantly the utter fakeness of macau. what's so nice about their attractions anyway? the only salvagable point is their food, which i must say is quite affordable (by hk standards) and nice.

we planned to meet after dinner to sing at a ktv.. initially apprehensive cos i never had such an experience, but peer pressure works wonders haha. i have to say it was a rather pleasant experience, even though i actually SANG in the company of others (cos usually i try to spare my friends from my not-exactly-very-melodious singing).. however, the hidden costs for fruits and drinks were quite scary - we never expected it to be pretty expensive! ouch.

as mtrs stop running past 1am, i was eventually driven home by my friend.. at 245am. didn't realise time passed faster when one belted songs out.

needless to say, i left my bed with great reluctance that morning, in the end reaching my office slightly *cough* late. but since my supervisor was off on leave, i was less *cough* productive that day haha.

then after work, i met up with a friend to visit a colleague of ours who had just given birth to a pretty tiny girl.. never realised how tiny a newborn is. as i decided to cook cos i felt bad about my spending spree on the previous day, i had my dinner at 9pm.. and plopped into bed shortly after.

back to my usual productivity today, even managing to cram in 45 mins of blogging time in my working hours =) hey, i finished what i was supposed to do and wasn't assigned extra stuff, to be fair..

lalala working hours over, will be heading back soon..

was feeling rather bored this morning, so i randomly decided to travel to tai o, a place at lantau island, cos it was featured in the hk brochure that i had, and oso cos it was rather far and ulu-ated - i wanted to see the other face of hong kong..

i didn't expect the traveling time to be that #!*@% long, but it was really worth it.. took a tram (cheap but really slow) to the ferry pier at central, and then took a ferry to lantau island.. there was an alternative way - take the mtr - but i wanted to see the sights of hk and save money, hence the longer, indirect route haha.

i wasn't disappointed. it was a nice change of scenery, where green is the dominant colour instead of the concrete grey i see daily during weekdays. the air was distinctly cleaner - makes me realise how serious the air pollution situation is on hk island (recently it was reported in the news that more than half of the expat population here considered leaving hk bcos of the dirty air), and i got to see houses on stilts, obscured temples; and i experienced a very adrenaline-inducing bus ride (cos tai o wasn't exactly near the jetty i landed) - lantau island is rather hilly, and the width of the roads there do remind me of camb, where buses perform their miraculous cornerings with good tyres and a dose of luck. initially i thought the hk$10 bus fare was kind of steep, but since it was 30 mins long and as exciting as a rollercoaster ride (saves me a trip to disneyland haha), it was really worth it =D

however, i feel it's kinda ironic when a fishing village is designated as a tourist attraction, but if it wasn't one, i wouldn't have known about it from the brochure.

going to macau tmr, whee =) and am leaving the central library now - my stomach's grumbling, and apprentice is on at 830pm later on tvb pearl haha.