London and New York with the Bro

Hung out with the brother in NY and London.

We were kinda excited doing all the shopping in New York... London was much of a "sians".

Anyway, we did little sight-seeing... and a LOT of shopping. I think Jeremy went home really really happy with his shopping bargains (especially at Banana Rep), and will be coming back again within the coming years to do a round 2.

At least we went to Liberty Island. I've been to NY so many times, yet not to the statue of liberty...

That's one of my facourite pictues!!! NYC from Liberty Island

My yearly catch up with Ting Ting!! Always with super duper good food. This Japanese restaurant is amazing. Literally.

Not much to write about London... it was too cold to do much, and too expensive. Stupid pounds...

At least there were christmasy stuff like the market around... so that giave a different taste to just simple boring old london. *yawn*.

Cologne Christmas Market in London. Haha

It was a nice day to shoot the eye.

It's the 30th! The year is ending

Yay! Zhi Cheng is arriving today!
And we're heading down to London for a few days over New Year (err not quite...)

White Cambridge!!!

Exciting times!!! It snowed in Cambridge!!!
It's not like I've never been in snow... but it's whole new experience each time snow falls!!

The snow storm was gee... heavy!!! You bet it was freezing

View from my bedroom window!!

College - Fitz

Kings College

Jeremy @ Fitz

Cambridge is way prettier. More pictures here >> CAMBRIDGE IN WHITE

Trippin Back to Dubai! Nostalgic! and Surprisingly Surprising

It feels good to be back... different. This time I mad a camera with me at the Dubai Mall Fountain and manage to shoot some nice pictures.

Now that I'm a poor student again.... Dubai is indeed an expensive place to live in. Not so bad if you earn the stupid tax free dollars...



Yes and the boy is what you are thinking.


I managed to see the AD UPC lady, and got to catch up with Samy and Milan. Nice... I think I have an idea on where my dissertation is going!!! Wheee.....

Formals and more Formals

My first formal of the academic year!!
Lucy Cavendish with a 1960s theme.... with the ESD Group

And the Second Formal of the year @ Wolfson again with the ESDers!

 And my Third Michaelmas Term Formal  @ Clare - CUMSA

Settling Down

Day 1 and 2 was a bit of a panic. Trying to get the right key for my college room was a little challenging. The porter sent me running up and down 3 times before i managed to get a key that could properly fit into the door! Great. Then trying to buy minimal things was a challenge. It seem that every "want" became a "need".

Finally... Moved into my room last night... got everything up and sorted.

My "dorm" room in Cambridge

Did a walk through the small city of Cambridge.

Streets on a Saturday afternoon

My Tea Shop

Haha, i laughed when I saw this tea shop!!! It's so ME!!!

Small Talk

Eew. I hate making small talk. But I guess it's the thing that will help me make some new friends here.

Top (and only) 5 questions:
1. Where are you from
2. What are you studying
3. Which college
4. Where do you live
5. When did you arrive

Then I'm stuck. Sum... I finally understand what you are going through.

I think as we all grow older, we (rather, I) start to suck at the small talk business.

Hello Cambridge

Singapore - the familiarity kicks in.
Melbourne - in blocks, and the directory (Melways) is excellent.
Dubai - just one main street (SZR), everything else is just along the coast and easy to figure out.
London - Speechless.
Cambridge - to be decided.

Speechless. Let's start with...
1. the Roads. Tiny streets fill the city. I think there's probably about 10mm between cars. Almost impossible for a fat person (like me) to walk in between two cars.
2. the Traffic. If you think Dubai has bad traffic... try central london traffic. Annoying. Abosolutely.
3. the People. Met so many strange people doing strange things. Why like this?

Hello Cambridge...
Finally - got to Cambridge today.
Nice small little town. I think I'm gonna like this place! More post to come...

Immigration Card - I can finally call myself a student (AGAIN!)

Side Street...

Good Bye Dubai

Finally, my time in Dubai is up...

The plane went up up and away, and flew passed almost the whole of Dubai. It felt as if someone was laughing at me... like "see what you are missing" kinda thing.. Here are some pictures I managed to snap from my camera

The World Islands...

Another one of the World Islands

Burj Dubai from the sky

Sheikh Zayed Road from the Sky

Emirates Towers and SZR!

Oud Metha

I think this is Business Bay & Parts of Sharjah??

Good Bye Dubai, and Hello Cambridge!!

iJustWannaBeGreen

A few days ago, I set up another blog called iJustWannaBeGreen

http://ijustwannabegreen.blogspot.com

It'll be random stuff on all the green issues I read on the news and thoughts about sustainability and the world....

Using the Singapore way on Dubai cheats.

Describe Singaporeans.
The first thing that comes to people who know them well is that they always complain.
You get complains about good and bad government, hot and cold weather, stupid and smart idiots etc. Anything under the sun, we all complain about it some way or other. Some good, some not so good.

I believe that is the skill I have picked up (only to use selectively) when I live in Dubai. Forget about complaining about the bad side of Dubai. It'll make you pissed off and drive you up the wall. Inefficiencies, annoyance, idiotics... blah blah - these, I still can deal with. No one is perfect.

Then comes the scam artist. I'm proud to say (maybe not so proud) that my Singapore way of complaining to the world worked.

4 months ago, I moved out of my apartment in Dubai, and was meant to get my cheque deposit back. At that time, I was told I'd get my rental deposit back in full within 2 weeks. Week after week, I chased for my money (this is not a small sum... AED4000 equiv to USD$1087).

One week i was given a brand new excuse... such as my final DEWA (electricity) bill, Gas Connection charge bill, scanned copy of the cheque etc... They needed a copy of these requested documents. FINE. I sent it to them (with absolute no acknowledgement of receipt of document).

The final straw came when I had a phone call that said "Madam, you have the wrong rental receipt, we cannot pay you your money back". What the... And there goes the click button.

Using my skill set learnt - ie. the Art of Complaining - I wrote to every body that I thought could assist me in getting my money back - such as... Dubai Police, Dubai Real Estate Regulatory Authority, the newspapers, the real estate agent, the company itself, their parent company, their local sponsors etc etc.

After 6 weeks, I got my money back. When I picked the cheque up, in my file, I saw my complaint email. I'm satisfied that Singapore has equipped us well.

Complaining is not a bad thing. It's a matter of when you complain, and what you complain about!

Very proud to be Singaporean

It's our policy - Citibank

Here's my little encounter with Citibank UAE - which in my personal opinion is probably one of the worst bank I've dealt with.

Me: You have doubled charge one of my transaction for AED154 (equiv to USD$42)

CB: Are you sure?

Me: You should have my statement, why not you check

CB: OK so what do you want to do?

Me: Lodge a complain?

CB: OK, that will cost you AED100 (USD$27)

Me: I've been double charged, and I have to pay for it?

CB: Sometimes it's not our fault

Me: So it's mine?

CB: I didn't say that

Me: Then why do I have to pay AED 100 for the double transaction.

CB: It's our policy

Me: OK (thinking i still could get back AED 54)

CB: Oh, and if we cannot find any fault with your complain, we will charge you another AED 100.

Me: You mean if you screw up your investigations?

CB: It's our policy

Me: Whatever, just put the complain through.

CB: Oh, and we also have to cancel your credit card, and re-issue you a new card. That will take about 7 working days.

Me: WHY? It's just a double charge

CB: It's our policy

Me: Great, I'll cancelling my credit card now.

Last 10 Months Updates...

This post is to update friends whom I have not met over the past year... (Thanks David for reminding me to constantly update this blog - Will promise to keep going when I get to the UK)

I've got gold fish memory. 3 seconds. Gone. So the following is what I remember of my last 10 months. Using my facebook uploads as a basis... so here's a little more words and a few random pictures. For more pictures, check my FB pictures. If you are not on facebook... then JOIN!

Oh... for those who I have lost touch for a loooong time, I will be leaving Dubai this September (on the 30th) and up to UK... So if anyone is stopping by London, or visiting Cambridge... drop me a note!!

JUL 09
I reckon, it's one of the best month of my working life. 1 whole month of holiday!! Whee... But it never seems long enough. Currently in Melbourne writing this, but I reckon by the time I click on "Publish Post", I'd be back in Singapore... or even back in Dubai

Over the last 3 days, I was down in Tassie with my 2 cousins and housemate. The 3 days felt sooo long. Took another visit to see Dave & Jackie's home and 3 dogs - Brooke, Bella & Piper... Ooo, love it there! (and Dave, if you are reading this, remind Jackie I'm coming back for the book classes!).

Also visited Tim and Lauren at Otago. Home with an extremely nice night view... The picture below is of Mt Wellington from Otago. Twas freezing up at Mt Wellington. Blizzard. But we still made it.
Within the 3 days and with only 9 hours of daylight (sun sets at 4:30pm, complete darkness by 5-ish)... and dinners at 6pm, pubs shutting at 8pm... all we could do was the Freycinet National Park - Wineglass Bay and its surrounds.


Earlier in the month, my cousin Rachel got married.. This world is too small. Her husband's cousin happens to be a classmate from Trinity College in Melbourne... and another cousin is Jeremy's best friend. It was a simple and elaborate wedding. Nice.


Jun 09

One of my worst nightmare months... It was days and nights of stressful packing to get out of the apartment.... and selling the car.

Yes I will be in Dubai till end September, but my lease on the apartment was up, and the landlord wasn't willing to extend it for another 3 months. He said I should renew my lease for a year and break the lease... Hence the early move. As for the toyota... annual registration and insurance was coming up. Did the sums, didn't seem quite right. So I sold it, and renting till I leave.


May 09

May was a quiet month... except for a short 5 day trip to Maldives... and down to one of the island called Maalhos. Went there with a few friends for some English lesson teaching - something which I don't think I'm good at!! Living on the island was quite an adventure... with the cockroaches, crabs, and mosquitoes.

Apr 09
This was another month of long-ish holiday... Was back in Singapore (no not specifically for my bday - though Yujun always seems to think so). Did the usual celebration with the girls - Cheryl & Jun. And also had a surprise (too much of a surprise) from the Melbourne gang. Thanks!

Travelled up to Siem Reap with the family. Short holiday, and another chance for me to play with my new toy - the 10-22mm wide angle lens! Did the whole Angkor Wat thing... Tonle Sap and the surrounds.



Jan - Mar 09
No recollection of what happened. I guess I was stuck in Dubai... doing the routine thing. Work, Eat and Sleep... and the occassional picnic in the park...




Dec 08
Was in Melbourne. Didn't do much except for entertaining some of dad and mum's friends. Oh yes, it was my little brother's graduation (a graduation i missed - just by 2 days... at least we did take some family photos!). Finally... after 3 long years.

I did get some nice shots of Melbourne whilst playing with the 450D. Was experimenting with my new (at that time) camera.

North Bank, Melbourne (Opposite Southbank - duh)

Federation Square, Melbourne

Flinders Street Station

iMiss Marples, Dandenong

Oh, and I couldn't resist uploading this picture. Liming has got a hungry hippo site... so I shall not compete with her. Below: Ibuki @ East Bentleigh. They're opening a legal one along Lonsdale St. So this illegal join will shut for a while.

Nov 08
Hiaks, could not remember much... except that I went to New York and Boston. Caught up with Joy, EeMing and her friend in New York... and the three of us trotted together on Jet Blue to Boston. Man, there were airport dramas. We nearly missed our Super Shuttle bus to JFK. Why? All because we were busily admiring Grand Central Station... What fun. Literally had to run after the van to stop it from leaving. Like olympic sprint... RUN! (Actually, it's probably one of the first time I see Joy running).

New York - Love it each time i go there. Can't remember how many times... but it's never enough.

From Empire State - Twas freezing....


Times Sq

Central Park

Boston - Oooo I love this city. It's like the Melbourne of Australia. No offense to New York.

Joy and her "hate Yale" T-Shite

Seriously, there is a starbucks at every corner - AND... it's not even good coffee

In Boston, Joy and I went to some super atas (meaning really high-class, up market - you get the gist) high tea. Pay peanuts, get monkeys... so we decided to fish out our Macadamia nuts, so this was what we got... Not bad... not my cup of tea.




Earlier in the month, we had our season opening of desert camping.... This is what I will miss when I leave Dubai.

The starry starry camping night


The night when we play "Star Wars" with the torch

The Sunrise over the Dunes

And.... the Camels