Vesak Day Slack...

A public holiday is a day to kick back, lay back, and slack off. There's no other explanation for it.

I went to a chalet that my relatives booked, about 10 minutes walk away from Downtown east. Pretty ulu chalet, right at the end of the road, after leaving the bustle of people going into DE. Which is good, because then it's quiet and peaceful and you won't hear screams of terror from Escape while you're barbequeing.

Anyway, I always thought that my dad's side of the family was the crappy one. Turns out I inherited a fair amount of crappiness from this side too. Nibblets:

1>
DuaYi [loosely translated as "Big Auntie". the following takes place in a mixture of very animated English, Malay and Hokkien]:
"We go to jacuzzi, wearing our t-shirts, and the jaga there tell us cannot like that. I tell her, then those Malay boys wearing shorts neh? How come their home clothes are clean and ours not meh? Don see us orang tua orang kecil then bully us ok!" while gesticulating wildly and slapping her palms.

Uncle to Aunt and Cousin:
"We're going now. This place, full of gangsters."

DuaYi:
"I tell you, we not happy, pee in your pool then you know! See whether clean or hygienic or not like that!"

Dad, muttering:
"I don't think I'm going swimming today."

2>
JeeYi [loosely translated as 2nd Aunt] to me:
"You going swimming?"

Me:
"No, I didn't bring a costume."

Jeeyi:
"Never mind lah, just jump in in your bra and panties and tell them it's a bikini."

Me:
"........."

Anyway, I was saved from the potentially polluted pool by going skating with my dad. And let me tell you, the guy who designed Pasir Ris Park? Hates rollerbladers. I'm convinced. Horrible, rough road for bladers, with those irritating breaks in the road, and then come to a bridge with a 40deg slope, struggle up, clawing like crazy over the speed stripes, [speed stripes on the upward incline?? what the heck for???] and then pray to Lord Jesus Christ to keep your ass safe on the slope on the way there, zoom down screaming, and then thank His Goodness that you didn't break your neck zooming down.

Ok, I exaggerate... hee.....

But I did land on my bum again. Ow.

So after that, all hot and sweaty, Dad n I take a walk to Downtown East. We saw the new Water Park! It was open to the public, though not all the facilities were fully complete.



but dammit, it's EX! Admission for adults, if you rent a float and a locker, comes up to almost $18!!! Wah freak!

I'd rather go for a cheap, simple form of entertainment, like slacking on a beach mat facing the beach like this:



aaaahhh......... suang..... and ignore the hairy-looking legs. I haven't installed Photoshop on this PC yet.

Look up and you see this:



But no, I didn't spend the whole day slacking. Walked to the end of the beach and found a mangrove swamp hidden away, and at its entrance, a fenced off... tree?



If you can see the words, this is why:



The amazing part about it is that it looks like any old ordinary tree, until you see the sign and then you realise there's something special about it. Otherwise you could just walk by n not notice anything.

And the sad part is that the mangrove swamp became a sorta trash grounds for people. Durian husk, plastic bottles and bags, food, and misc types of trash littered the entire area. Like geez people. Just because a mangrove swamp isn't the picture-perfect scenery you think all nature should be doesn't mean you have to treat it as trash as well.

So largely spent the whole day just being one heck of a bum, which felt good. My mind went blank of everything that could possibly worry me, concentrating instead on the cool sea breeze, the warm sunshine, the palm trees swaying, the kids playing in the sand, and the best camera angle for snapping these shots. In a way, therapeutic, after all the crap I've been going through these past few weeks.

A horoscopic thing? Pisceans and water? Or a pleasant change from the cityscape?

Whatever. It worked. That's the main thing. Next stop: East Coast or Sentosa. Mwahahahaha......

I can't believe I'll be flying off to London in less than 2 weeks. It seems... surreal? Unreal? The guys and I have been talking about this for about 4 years odd now, and to think it's less than 2 weeks away. I almost can't believe it's happening. I've been out of Singapore before, but always to Asian countries, discounting Australia to visit grandparents when I was in primary school. Once I hit adult age, my parents couldn't bring us overseas anymore, cos they'd have to pay for 3 adults, so the only trips I took were to Malaysia.

And this time, I'm going to another continent, another culture, almost 180deg away from ours. I almost can't believe I'm actually pulling this off. That my flight is booked, my accomo is done, and that I have to worry about packing for a long haul trip and all the stuff I need. I'm constantly confirming with Juls about whether the transport is booked, about whether the accomo is done, about the insurance, about the stuff we'd need, about, about about...... hoping and praying that nothing screws up before then, hoping all goes well, hoping we don't get kidnapped over there or blown to bits by terrorists....

Ok, banging my head with block of wood now. *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

So the final date of departure is Sunday, 13th June, 11pm and the date back is the 5th July. I'm hoping that means by the 6th I'll be fully recovered from the jet lag...

In Stockholm I'll also be staying in Turtle's hostel room, so I'll try to update the blog then.

*sigh* Almost there, almost there...