PHUK ET.

Phuket.

We were discussing about joey’s rantings over challenge week.

rowland. BUSY ;] says:
ah. now, je comprends.
.rowland. BUSY ;] says:
it is ok, my deer.
[Lin³] joey says:
DER
.rowland. BUSY ;] says:
oh sorry
[Lin³] joey says:
DEER
.rowland. BUSY ;] says:
my dear
[Lin³] joey says:
HAHAHA
[Lin³] joey says:
Deer.
[Lin³] joey says:
You are my COW!

See what challenge week does to people.

If challenge week is a challenge, then the challenge week proposal would be more or so in the ranks of what we can aptly describe as insane. A few months have already gone into waste and my group is still merely on the verge of typing our title page. Add to the fact that we had people coming in and out of our group, Celine’s embassy problems, Tanya’s dilemma, the Nalaka-John-Rowland financial crisis, and Amanda’s last-minute inclusion into the NLK fraternity.

We have encountered so many problems along the way, while the rest of the other groups have started dialing agencies, typing itineraries, pressing calculators, booking airline tickets, reserving rooms in orphanages, twittering about orangutan sanctuaries, dreaming about mountain climbing, thinking of the dangers of Cambodian landmines, rejecting my lovely country – the Philippines – because of a capsized ship vessel. No, I’m not criticizing them. When it comes to traveling, I also value safety above all else. Although I would say that whichever place you go, if you’re meant to be in danger, you will be in danger, if you’re meant to be kidnapped, you will be kidnapped, no matter where you are. If you are in a dangerous place, let’s say Iraq, if you’re not meant to get shot by some terrorist, or some uncanny extremist, or some drunk American soldier, you won’t get shot. Even places like Singapore, where danger and crime are as ubiquitous as chewing gums, these places are not 100% safe. But, don’t get me wrong – I’m not being a lunatic, crime-freak patriot who worships the idea of people getting hurt. I don’t even play GTA or any other violent computer games. I love war movies though. haha. Like I said earlier, when it comes to traveling, I value safety above all else. Let’s all stay in Singapore for Challenge Week then. (:

And I’m not going to say that my country is a better destination. I’m not going to say that it has more beautiful coastlines than Thailand, or more talented people and prettier faces than anywhere else in Southeast Asia, (too bad the Pinoy government is just as bad as Nalaka trying to keep himself awake during Sunday masses) or jungles as marvelous as Borneo, or mountains as prestigious as Kota Kinabalu, or food that spells VERY DELICIOUS (with the absence of intolerable spiciness) – No, I’m not going to say them – haha – I’m just.. um… being biassedly patronizing?

See? This is just as nice as Phuket.

Ok, never mind.

Anyway, our group -FINALLY- without my presence, made up its mind. When I was told that we’re going Phuket, Thailand, I was initially o.k. with it. But as soon as I heard of the estimated budget, my eyes exponentially enlarged, shivering, shocked. I enlarged my eyes some more in the hopes of getting a clearer picture of the current situation. I resigned to the proposal because I had no choice. After a discombobulating litany of probable destinations,

from Bali, Indonesia

to Miri, East Malaysia

to Bali again,

then to Sabah, East Malaysia

to Cambodia

to Vietnam

to Laos

to Sabah again

we finally fnally finally agreed on Phuket, Thailand.

Yes, we’re going to Phuket.

And the trip will be outrageously extravagant and expensive.

We have no choice. Time is running out.

I just really hope it’s worth the money.

I so badly wanted to go to Laos though.

School shooter? I’m too fucking busy to be a school shooter!

Ok I’m not vulgar by nature. I promise. Hahaha. The title is actually Quote #515 from this website!

Gaaaahhh. IB is eating my year 2008 really really fast. IB’s like this discombobulating Pac-Man dude in this time labyrinth of mine, voraciously eating up all the seconds, minutes, days, weeks and months. And I’m really getting nervous. My heart palpitates everytime I remember my unfinished English essay which has been collecting dust under my study table. My brain freezes everytime I see a French word in the internet. There have been occasions where I suddenly hear a stream of undecipherable French words inside my head, as if someone is talking to me in French. Creepy. And I haven’t revised my French yet. It seems that I have forgotten almost all the French stuff I’ve learnt for the past five months. And I can’t decide on what proposal to submit to Monsieur Heusdens in order to improve our French lessons every Mondays and Tuesdays. Maybe he has realised that the lessons have stagnated and have become quite boring at times. I even caught myself on the verge of drooling over my foolscap paper at one time. Yuck!! Good thing Amanda is such a busybody.

And the title of this blog entry does not really fit into my current life; I have been incessantly stoning inside the house; in fact, I have been sleeping 12-13 hours a day. You can actually imagine that if I counted the number of days that I have been here in the Philippines, I have spent half of that duration sleeping, let alone those moments when the sun is up and shining brightly, and there I am sitting by the window daydreaming about weird stuff. Talk about being a lazy bum in the house.

Not like the other schoolmates of mine who have been lavishly spending their holidays in faraway places around the world, like the USA, Japan, Spain, Iceland, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Malaysia (well HK and M’sia are not really considered far away). Argh, I really wish I could have a holiday getaway to some ulu place!! Me and me alone.

I’ve been wanting – dying – to visit some places in the world, places that people usually hardly know or, in case they know a lot, hardly give a shit about it. There’s one place which calls itself Ushuaia. Sounds pretty gay, actually, *Ushuaia* but I actually discovered this name when I was watching Discovery Channel a few years back. It was a given title of a show, if I’m not mistaken, and I never knew that it’s also a name of a town smacked right the tip of South America, until I have learnt how to search stuff in the Internet in Primary six.

Ushuaia is actually the sothernmost town in the world, the capital of Tierra del Fuego Province in Argentina. If you ask me, I think it would really be interesting to find out how it feels to live in the “southernmost town”. Singapore actually brags one of its microscopic Sentosa islands as the southernmost point in continental Asia, when in fact, it’s merely connected to mainland Sentosa by a little bridge; Sentosa to mainland Singapore by that Sentosa bridge (you can count the cable car and the monorail as well); mainland Singapore to mainland Asia by the Causeway. Hmph. So if I connect a bridge from that little island in Sentosa to Batam, then Batam would be the southernmost point in continental Asia. -.-

You must be kidding me.

There’s another interesting place in the world which sometimes appears in my dreams. Mongolia.

I don’t know. After watching some documentaries about this country, I just felt that this should be worth visiting. With a landlocked area of about 1.6 million sq. km., there’s plenty of land to explore. With a population density of two people per sq. km, there’s a lot of room for yourself to do some tomfoolery around. Imagine, if the Mongolian population would actually be evenly distributed, a family of six would occupy three square kilometers of Mongolia and they can have it all to themselves. Cool. And I want to experience how it feels to be a nomad in the rural areas of Mongolia. I think it’s a wonderful diversion from the stagnant and busy urban life in the Philippines and in Singapore.

Of course, if you ask the nationalistic fragment of my existence, I would want to go in an all-out expedition in Palawan, Philippines.

Regraded by renowned underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau as the most beautiful place he had ever explored. Oooh.. It think it’s actually true! Although I haven’t been there yet. It is home to one of the world’s most diverse flora and fauna, breathtaking mountains and rain forests, the world’s longest subterranean river, and some of the best beaches in the world, scattered in this vast expanse of 1768 islands that comprise the entire province.

Okay, this would be the last one, since I believe this entry’s going really boring.

I want to go to Spain.

I want to see how much this country has progressed after it has left this impoverished country of mine with a SPAIN without the S.

Hahaha this entry seemed like a travel blog.