batam

finally, another trip with the dear sec sch friends. with daniel busy with work and JR overseas, the 3 of us once again (after the cruise a few yrs back) went overseas for a nice bonding trip. as if we haven't alr bonded enough over the past 12 yrs. it'd better be gd, i thought, given tt the alternative was gg with the flaggers (a few) to penang.

took e ferry from tanah merah to nongsapura ferry terminal, after which we transited to batam view beach resort. started off with seasports - jetski and banana boat for the 1st day. the former was expectedly exciting and fast, esp being the passenger and having a higher propensity to get thrown off during sharp turns.

the latter was totally fun - us sittting in the normal position, then backwards, then me taking up 3 seats and lying faceup whilst the driver tried to throw us off as per norm. in the midst of our boat being bounced up and down by the oncoming waves, we shouted unspeakable phrases we had heard others use before in relation to our corresponding actions. tsk. guys.

our night programme after dinner was initially to just chill out at the beach or beside the pool then watch DVDs, but the latter was shelved in light of a wonderful new development. we were at the lobby listening to a (very good) singer performing with her pianist, taking requests from the audience. for some reason there wasn't much audience, only us, a few old beer guzzlers and the numerous staff.

so it was just us for the next few hrs (with some breaks of cos), and after realising that we could sing duets with her onstage, we fully made use of the opportunity. we all went onstage to sing our fave songs, complete with cheering from the audience (us) and cameraman (me).

john: finally, i fulfilled my dreams to sing onstage.

wormy: even got audience la. not bad man.

me: haha dun forget the cameraman! machiam star liddat la!

the experience was good. all of us were used to performing in front of an audience sports-wise, but stage-wise.. not really, even tho the audience was small. john did his "Love, Me", "Xiao Wei", wormy his "When You Say Nothing At All", "Fly Me To The Moon", whilst i sang "Sometimes When We Touch" and "Now and Forever".

the next day, we embarked on another seasports journey. this time purely wakeboarding and water-skiing. given john had cable-skiing experience and wormy did it in aussie b4, that left the poor pitiful me who expected to screw up and be mocked.

john started on it 1st whilst i took pictures from the boat. given that little instruction was given, he din do well, taking a few plunges before he finally managed to look like he was wakeboarding. and it only lasted for at most 3 seconds. but like i was telling him, 1 second's more than enough for me to capture a majestic shot of him.

next up was wormy. expecting him to stand long enough on the water for john to capture proper images, i left the boat and waited onshore. then secretly got one of the staff to instruct me in detail with demonstration in shallow water the proper procedures and techniques. asking never hurts, and i'd rather get it right earlier than thru trial and error.

after wormy came back, i tried for the very 1st time in my life. got up on the water, only to lose my balance half a sec later. i could see john's smug grin disappear with my decent progress (i think there's some kinda unspoken competition btw us guys in terms of sports-related matters). my success thereafter was palpable - i could even smile handsomely at the camera, and gesture with my right hand for long periods of time whilst my muscular left held on lonesomely to the grip.

then went to the restaurant near batu besar (forgot the name) where us flaggers went the prev yr. it was an unforgettable trip then and the memories just flowed back - making of honey lemon on the spot, eating standing up, jel the prawn peeler, yiwern the constant worker and etc. i miss them. some more than the others, obviously. hahaha. even took pictures of the table we sat at the last time. shall tag invisible pple in accordance to the seating arrangement then when i'm free.

then nagoya hill shopping centre for a bit of cheap shopping. the same one as that with the flaggers last yr! i really like to retread on old memories la. reminiscing is one of my hobbies i think. anyways i got some DVDs (pirated, of cos) and checked out the below shop which has really cheap tees and in which us flaggers spent alot of time in then.

yeah. enough of the reminiscing and flaggers thing, u say. hahaha.

all in all, a v eventful and memorable trip. enjoyed it immensely. now i shall have to focus my attentions to my career - NIE's starting soon. sigh. no more bumming ard. haha.