Saturday, September 3, 2011

New Zealand - Been There, Done That!

Kia Ora! (that means hello in kiwi-speak)

Kia Ora!
Long, long overdue post, i know.

Hereby offering my sincere-st apology to my readers who have been through with me thick and thin, high and low. We've travelled so far, and we will go further together, so don't leave me yet!
=)

So.... what have I been up to?

On 25th July, I boarded an SIA plane for the first time (at least in my memory), destined for NZ, alone.

It has been an experience of many firsts.

First time...

  • on SIA
  • travelling alone
  • I paid $18 for bee hoon goreng..
  • ..which was cooked with curry powder...
  • ..and totally sucked

never cook bee hoon goreng with curry powder
  • I dined in restaurants (not fastfood) alone
  • I experienced winter!
  • I had a diary (yes the real physical one)

"dear diary"
  • I thought I was Superman (twice), and survived
  • I wore long johns
  • I understood the beauty of nature

Te Puia
Taken while on the ferry from North to South Island

  • on a helicopter

It was supposed to be a 3-week trip, but i decided to come back after 2 weeks. 

Many factors contributed to that decision actually - boredom, cost, weather, travelling time, desire to work, food, and National Day. Mix and match these factors in different proportions (okay maybe discount the nation's birthday) and I found myself calling SIA to ask for the next earliest flight back home.

If I had stayed on, I'd have travelled further south (Queenstown, Franz Josef) to explore the glaciers and snow. Oh well, at least I know where I will visit the next time I go back to NZ!

It was meant to be a trip to find my 'inner peace', so naturally when I came back, the big question on everyone's mind was - Did I manage to find it? Haha

It's a tough question really!

It's easy for me to say yes, but I'd prefer to let observation speak for itself.
All I know is that the trip was definitely good.
It kept my mind away from unhappy things, and I got to know myself better too.

When you are alone overseas, you tend to do things that you won't back home.. trust me on that. Immerse yourself in a different environment, and you will begin to see things about yourself that you never knew.

I don't camwhore in Singapore
You think the current world you're living in is the world, but that can't be further from the truth. Kinda like the more you know, the more you realize you don't know.

Okay I made some interesting observations in NZ, so I'm gonna share them with you:
  • NZers love kebabs. There are kebab restaurants everywhere
  • They love eating ice-cream in freezing cold winter
  • Vampires/Bloodsuckers moonlight as cab drivers. My 20-minute cab ride cost 80-freaking-dollars!
  • Auckland is overpopulated with Chinese and Koreans
  • NZers are very friendly people - they smile to strangers on the road all the time!
    (or maybe they just like me)
  • Young NZers dont like asians. They make all kinds of weird gestures and sounds whenever I pass by. (I guess it's the same with many Singaporeans' unhappiness with PRCs here)
  • All Blacks (their national rugby team) are like gods
  • Every chinese restaurant is fully packed with customers. Regardless of how bad the food tastes. 
And I leave the most unbelievable and the best for last...
  • NZers only eat salty popcorn. Seriously. (i discovered this to my horror only after I entered the cinema, happily thinking that popcorn by default should be sweet)
Can you imagine my horror when I popped the first morsel of popcorn into my mouth, expecting to savour the sweetness that is to be expected of all popcorn, only to be let down deeply?!

Clearly, someone needs to tell them that they have been getting the short end of the stick all the while. Life, and popcorn, can be so much sweeter!

Anyway, all in all, it was an enlightening trip. Next stop, im thinking of Philippines but nothing's concrete. Now, the most important thing is to focus on my work, and make my way to where I belong!

=)

Not gonna post many pictures here. If you wanna take a look, just go through my photos on Facebook!

---

After such a long time out, it's not easy to pick up momentum for sure. I'm encouraged by the progress I've made so far, and I know for certain that as long as I keep moving in the same direction, I will conquer my destination! 

I know where I want to go, I know what I want, and I know what I should be doing. 
I just haven't been thinking about it hard and long enough.

Act only

Now I will. 

And you should too.

=)

Cheerios!




2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i love this caption most.

"I don't camwhore in Singapore."

Wanling

Anonymous said...

haha succinct travelogue - i like! ;)

angie