New Year Travel Logs (Complete)

So, it was time for me to travel with my family...


2009.12.28 Monday

Plane was at 10.30 am, and the flight was to Taiwan. The final destination is Hawaii, but on the way we need to transfer plane 2 times: once at Taiwan and once at Tokyo. Surprisingly, the plane was small, but there were TV screens and controllers on every seat! Wow, I thought only SIA planes would have this kind of system. However, as I didn't sleep the previous night, I slept through the whole journey, and didn't get to enjoy the games or movies. But never mind. When I'm coming back, I will.

Anyway, arrived in Taiwan 桃园机场 at around 3 pm. After that took bus to our hotel, 国光大饭店, which was situated in 西门町. My mum picked this place because she knew this place was very popular and would be very crowded. I also always saw on Taiwan shows many mms walking around in these area. And I really found a lot! Almost 1 in 3 girls I saw on the streets were good looking or cute. Haha, I didn't do anything, though.

西门町

After we settled down in our small hotel, we took MRT to Taipei 101. I didn't know in Taiwai they also called it MRT. I thought the name was exclusive to Singapore. Actually Taipei 101 is just another big mall, just like ION. The goods sold inside are not meant for people like me. But it was nice to walk around the area and take pictures using my Canny. Unfortunately, when I wanted to take picture of the whole tall building, my Canny ran out of battery...ToT I should have brought my spare battery along...

Taipei 101

Beautiful buildings

We had dinner in a food court in the mall. The food court was very similar to Singapore's, just like Kopi Tiam! There were a lot of different stalls available, and they even had 海南鸡饭. But we wanted to eat some Taiwan specialties, so we chose the 担仔面. My set contained the noodle and 鲁肉饭. The rice was ok, but the noodle was quite nice, especially the soup! Recommended for those who come here~

From Taipei 101 we took MRT back to 台北车站. And after that walked back to 西门町. There were a lot of nice shops there, and a lot of illegal food stalls outside too. Even though they are illegal, the food they sell is not bad. I tried the 地瓜球, which was made from potatoes I think. And also a lot of different types of food bought in a famous 鲁肉 shop, and 煎饺. They were all not bad! Just when I wanted to buy the sausage, the police came, and all the stall-owners ran away with their stalls. The stall selling sausage, I don't know whether if it's because she couldn't run away in time, was made to show her ID to the police officer. Because of that we couldn't buy stuff from her anymore. Was it my fault that she got caught? I don't know... But I can see that they are leading quite a dangerous life.

At around 11 PM we went back to hotel, and because there was wireless we were all settling our stuff, and slept at 2 am. End of first day.



2009.12.29 Tuesday (Taipei Time)

Woke up at around 6 am. Travelled straight away to 桃圆机场 through bus. Had a few 小龙包 for breakfast. It was very nice! The taste of the meat and the soup inside was very delicious. Actually I could find food with similar taste in Singapore, but it's not so easy, I think. The plane was at 9.30 am. It was a bit pity to leave Taipei after such a short time. I hope I get a chance to come back again!

They served us food again at 10.30 am Taipei time. I was so full that I couldn't finish... And hence couldn't enjoy the meal. This time the plane was a bigger one, but they didn't have screens and controllers on every seat. I was wondering why, because even the smaller planes have them, why don't the bigger planes? Maybe it's a matter of old and new. Therefore I could only sleep through this plane trip. (Actually I slept through the previous one also, didn't I?)

Reached Tokyo at around 1.30 pm local time. Even though I say Tokyo it's only the Narita Airport. We never got a chance to visit the city. (ToT) After so many years since I have been there the last time, I'm going to leave just after 6 hours. That's so sad... Everything here is so nostalgic, even at the airport. The people, the words, and the services. It's so different from other countries. For example, because we were transferring to a plane to Hawaii, they even sent a lady with a signboard which have our names written on it to wait for us outside the plane from Taipei. The lady then kindly explained to us how we should go about doing our transfer procedures. I have never seen that happened before! Usually we need to go around asking around on our own, but here they send people to tell us! Maybe because we are going USA so they are being a bit more serious, but you can't deny that the Japanese do have a different way of doing things.

A familiar face! Didn't know she still did this CM

After going through all the procedures smoothly, it was free time until 7.30 pm. We first went to see the Akihabara shop that we found at the airport. Despite having the name Akihabara, it was nowhere near as crowdy and as 'otaku' as the real one. Though I have never been to the real one, I have a rough idea what it looks like. Here they only sell a lot of different items such as food, books and electronic equipments. I saw that the prices of some stuff such as cameras weren't so bad. I was even tempted to get an EF-S lens, haha. We decided we'll come back later and since there weren't other shops worth going in, we went to a Yahoo! Japan net cafe to surf net instead.

Pic of the airport taken from the net cafe (That's how all the lights came about...)

That's where I wrote my first part of this log. Browsing through my facebook, I saw my JC classmate posting a diary on his trip to Japan, and how be toured to places like Hokkaido. I also heard from one weiqi friend how she went back to Sapporo recently. I was sooooo envious. I want to go to all those places, but I just don't have the chance to. Hopefully, next year... Either for competition or other purposes, I hope I will get a chance to get there. My other hometown, Japan!

Interesting toy...

At around 5.30 pm went to an Asian Cafe to eat nice Japanese food. And after that we boarded onto the plane. I heard they have shower toilet here. I only heard of them, and never seen them before. I also didn't get a chance to use, because the cubicle was occupided... Next time then. Anyway, our plane was a bit late, and added on to that they actually did body and baggage check on everybody who boarded the plane, so it took us very long before all of us got onto the plane. The way they did the body check was very courteous, and they did the proper greetings. It was so different from how we did stuff during my NS time, haha. We were courteous too, but the level was different. The methods used was similar though. After the check I wondered, do they do that to all planes who go into the USA? If that's the case, they are going to take so long everytime? Wow, USA is so strict...

The flight was very long... About 6 hours. The time difference between Singapore and Hawaii is 18 hours! And since it was night time, we had to sleep. We will be reaching at 7.30 am Hawaii time, hence we will definitely be having jet-lag. Added onto the fact that they served us meals 2 times on the plane, so we couldn't really get a good sleep...



2009.12.29 Tuesday (Hawaii Time)

7.30 am Hawaii time. We reached Honolulu Airport. Let me just talk about the time difference a little bit. It's the first time I'm actually travelling so far, and it's the first time I'm experiencing such a big time difference. The time in Singapore is GMT+8, whereas the time in Hawaii is GMT-10. That's a almost 1 day! In actual fact the time in Hawaii is 1 day earlier than that in Singapore. That's why I felt as though I had gone back in time. Actually I did, as I'm supposed to be going through Wednesday right now but I'm going through Tuesday again. If I did this everyday I would be able to have 2 of everyday! (Who would be so free to do that, haha.)

Another important problem is Jet Lag. I always didn't know exactly what jet lag is. I'm assuming it's a kind of disruption to the body clock, making you unable to adapt to the time zone in the new country as you are already used to the time zone in the old country. This flight is also the same. Our plane left at 7.30 pm Tokyo time and reached Hawaii at 1.30 am Tokyo time. But the time in Hawaii was 7.30 am. By right we are supposed to be sleeping according to Tokyo time, but in Hawaii everybody has just woken up. That's the reason we couldn't get used to it. At first I thought it's a small matter, but it didn't turn out to be...

Back to topic. The checks at Hawaii was quite ok. The officer only asked us a few questions and asked us to leave our handprints as well as thumbprints. After that we successfully collected our luggage and left the airport. After a while, my aunt, who is my mum's bigger sister, and her husband, Michael, came to pick us up. He said "Aloha!" and gave us a flower loop on our necks. Haha, I heard people talk about it, but I never thought that I would actually be wearing it. I also saw a lot of Japanese as expected, including some nice looking ones. There was even a Japanese who was being interviewed just outside the airport, but I couldn't recognise who he was.

We reached Michael's house very fast. It was quite a small house with 1 room, but there were a lot of decorations, so many that I couldn't believe my eyes. It was almost like a museum! Everyone you could find some displays. I guess he likes to collect this kind of stuffs. He has been staying in Hawaii for 25 years.

Wearing the flower hoop Michael gave me...

All the small and big toys...

After a small rest and some talks, Michal drove us onto the streets. I suggested we get some sleep first, but my mum said it was okay. We went to many places, mainly big department stores. The stores here are really big. It's a bit like Ikea, but the range and the size of items are much bigger. The price of electronic items were also quite ok. In general, most of the items here were cheaper than that in Singapore, especially those on sale.

Since my father's handphone was not working, we also went to the AT&T company. Michael has some friends there, who recommended us some of the plans we could use. AT&T seemed to the largest telecom company in US, just like Singtel. Many phones were familiar, but there were many ones which I have never seen before. Of course there was the popular iPhone, and my aunt and Michael each owned one.

We had lunch at this place called Coscos. It was also a department store, but outside there was a food court, or rather a place where they sell food. They had pizzas, hot dogs, ice creams etc, just like any other western eating place. In the end I chose to eat Hot Dog. Actually it was just a sausage put on a bread, and we can choose to add onions and any sauce ourselves. I added some onions and a little of each of the sauce. It tasted quite good! I tasted some pizza also and it was also very nice. And the drinks were free flow! That was the first western meal I had, and was quite a nice one.

Coscos

In the afternoon Michael drove us around again, and we also bought some stuff for dinner. In the department stores, everything was sealed in a big container. It shows that the Americans have a very big appetite, because in Singapore you won't be able to find these things easily. Maybe that's why they have such a high obesity rate? I also saw many "big" people on the streets.

We went back to Michael's house to get some rest and cook dinner. I was surprised to know that the population of Asians in Hawaii was about 67%! That's more than half! And most of the Asians are actually Japanese, not Chinese. Some people actually said that the Japanese are almost taking ver Hawaii, haha. But that's nice also, because I like Japanese =).

After surfing the net I also slept for a while. Actually on the car I was the only one awake, and my parents both fell asleep. I was kind of tired also. Though the difference is just 6 hours (excluding the day difference), it does play a very big part. After the nap we woke up to eat our dinner which was cooked by aunt. It was not really western, but it was still very nice. After that we started preparing for the next day's trip to Kona, or rather the big island.



2009.12.30 Wednesday (Hawaii Time)

Since our flight was at 7.30 am, we had to wake up at 5.30 am. It was kind of a difficult task actually, considering we were still suffering from jet lag. But all of us seemed alright, and the four of us including my aunt boarded the plane together after bidding goodbye to Michael. Since it was inter-island flight, it wasn't as strict and we got onto the plane quite quickly. It was a Hawaiian plane, and it was quite small. The flight took less than 2 hours, and they only served a cup of drink.

Taken on the flight to Big Island

The plane that we took

The airport at Kona didn't look like an airport. It was more like a resort. Or rather the whole place looked like a resort, and looked like this place was made for people to enjoy. We had already booked our car online through a company called Avis, so we boarded the us to pick up our car. It was left-hand drive, (as in the steering wheel was on the left side of the vehicle), but my father managed to get used to it quite fast. Our first destination was the volcano, but it would take us some time to get there. The whole island was so big that it's almost impossible to tour around the whole island within 2 days, so we could only the places we wanted to go.

The car that we rented...

The drive was quite smooth. On the way we stopped many times everytime we saw some nice scenery. The view there was very very nice. And the weather was also very nice. It was almost as though using my Canny to shoot the pictures was a waste. Well, wait till I bet a better one.

A farm on the way

Horses eating

We had lunch at a western restaurant. the food we ordered was called loco moco, and basically it was eggs plus rice plus burger or pork plus gravy. The gravy was the most important part. Without it it wouldn't have been a decent dish. Our aunt also reminded us that we need to give some tips, which is usually 10 to 15% of the whole cost. My mum wouldn't really sure, so she asked the waitress. I think we are supposed to just give them a certain amount greater than the cost and ask them to keep the change. Tipping is so diffucult..

Outside the restaurant

Beautiful scenery

Along the way to the volcano we stopped several times to take great shots. At one moment, I don't know if I fell alseep or what, lost idea of what was happening around me. When I woke up, I think I was on the ground, and I saw our car being toppled onto it's side. The passers-by were asking us whether we were alright, and soon we were carried onto stretchers and onto the ambulance. Me and my father were sent to the same hospital while my mum and aunt were sent to another one which was further away.

Last pic of the day...

It seems that at at one point of time, our car hit a boulder on the side of the road, and flipped over as a result. I was having aches everywhere, especially my head and my lower back. My father seemed ok. After we reached the hospital, I forgot what kind of treatments we underwent, but the doctors said we were basically alright except for some superficial injuries. I wanted to get an X-ray because my head and my back hurt a lot, but the X-ray machine there was spoilt, so we decided to move over to the hospital where my mum was in through a nurses' car. It just happened that she was going there as well.

At around 4.30 pm we reached the other hospital, and we quickly went to take a look at mum and aunt. Mum seemed ok, except the fact that she was bedridden and couldn't move around. Aunt was in a bad shape. She seemed to have a few bones broken at the shouder and legs, and needed to be moved to a hospital in Honolulu. Poor her. I doubt none of us expected this to happen. We were all expecting to enjoy a happy holiday, and ended up in a car accident. This is my first car accident as well, and I'm glad that all of us survived. It could have been worse... Maybe we really should have rested for a few days before we came to the Big Island.

Since X-ray was available here, I requested to take a few pictures of my head and my lower back. My mum also did some X-rays but the doctor said everything was alright. She was just beaten up, that's all. After a while 1 police officer came to take our statements, and after he left another person from another organisation came. They said that they were there to help us in exchange for our medical information, and we gladly accepted their help. There were simply too many things to settle, and we couldn't have achieved it by ourselves.

At around 11 pm all the check-ups had finished, and my results came back as well. They said there was nothing wrong with my bones, but if I wanted some medicines I could get it from the pharmacy. Thank god. Though I was still in pain, if everything's alright then that's ok. I just don't want to get any permanent injuries because of this. Since we lost our car, one of the nurses helped us call a taxi to the nearest hotel, Hilo Hawaiian. Hilo is basically another part of the Big Island which is quite far from Kona. They even have another airport in Hilo. After taking a quick shower, we quickly fell asleep as we were all tired from the day's happenings...



2009.12.31 Thursday

I didn't really have a good sleep. It's not because of the accident. It was just because I have difficulty sleeping. Maybe the effects of the jet lag were still there, as all of us felt sleepy in the afternoon. When I woke up, my body aches were still there but they were much better. My headache was still quite serious, so serious that I couldn't fall asleep. In the end I took a Panadol and decided to buy some medicine from any stall nearby.

The day was New Year's Eve. Me and my father went down to eat breakfast first, as my mum still had difficulty moving. My father also couldn't move his head and could only face one direction. I really hope all these effects are only temporary, and hope everyone will get well soon. The breakfast was quite nice, just that we were not in a condition to enjoy it. For me, there was another problem, which was that it seems like my teeth had been moved and I can't seem to bite hard food. It would be a big problem if the teeth start dropping off...

After breakfast my father went up to call mum to come down to eat, while I went to a nearby store to get some Tylenol, whose effects were similar to that of Panadol. After that we went back to the room and decided to call the person from that particular organisation to help us solve our problems. A lady called Jenny (I don't know whether this is the correct spelling...) picked up, and she said she couldn't come over and preferred to solve the problem through phone. In the end we manage to convince her to come, and many issues (mainly the issue of getting back to the airport) were settled. She also brought us to the car rental company nearby and got us to take a look at the crashed car. It was still in one piece, though it has lost it's shape already. We took back some of our belongings which were still inside, took some pictures, did some paper work, and went back to hotel.

Looking at the car one more time, I really can't imagine how I survived. The car was tilted to its left, and I was sitting in the right back seat. I don't know how I managed to escape with only minor injuries. (Well, maybe some prolonged injuries...) I also feel that it's a good thing I don't remember what happened exactly, because if I did it may end up being a trauma for me. Currently I have no problem getting on the car. As for driving I don't know yet.

What our car looked like after the accident...

How did I even survive this?

Bought some miscellaneous stuff from a nearby department store before going back to the hotel. The lady, Jenny was really nice. She even directed us when inside the supermarket. After we went back to the room and had our lunch, it seemed as though it was time to sleep again. It seems that aunt had to go through an operation before she can be released. The most important thing is that she can recover back to normal. Nothing else matters.

After an afternoon nap (or maybe evening nap) we decided to go out and walk. Our hotel was just situated by a beach, so the view was really nice. And it was full moon on that day also, hence I took some pics of the moon. In the end we couldn't find any restaurants that were open, so decided to go back and eat the stuff that we bought in the afternoon. After shower and some internet, it was bed time, the one which we were not accustomed to...

Moon in btw the leaves

2010.01.01 Friday (Hawaiian Time)

It's first day of the new year. Everyone is wishing everybody Happy New Year. But somehow, my family doesn't feel so happy...

I have to apologise to all those who happen to read this post... It's becoming less and less like a travel log, and it's becoming more and more boring... But since I already started this I don't want to end this so fast... So please bear with me for a while...

Anyway, on this day, we woke up at around 10 am. Apparently we were still not used to the time zone, otherwise my parents couldn't have woken up so late. Went out to take a walk and take pictures of the nice scenery at the same time, but couldn't find any restaurants that were open. All seemed to be on holiday. Hence we could only walk back to our hotel and buy some snacks at the convenience store nearby. I realised that I had a hard time eating bread, or rather all sorts of hard stuff. My tongue hurt, and my teeth also seemed to reject hard stuff. Looks like I need to stick to soft stuff for the time being...

Those people there were seemed to be having a party

Nice park

Took an afternoon nap until 2.30 pm before we checked out. By right we were supposed to check out at 12 pm, but the organisation helped us bring it later to 2.30 pm. After we went down to the lobby a tour bus came to pick us up and bring us to Kona. Even though there were a lot of other people on the bus, it was good enough. We just needed a transport back to Kona Airport. Of course all these was arranged by the organisation.

On the way we stopped by at several locations such as Rainbow Falls. The view was also beautiful, especially the sunset, but I didn't take a lot as I was afraid of getting carsick. We reached Kona at around 6.30 pm, and another driver came to bring us to a nearby restaurant to eat. We chose a Japanese restaurant. Though it wasn't very authentic, I think it would be better than a Western meal.

Rainbow falls

Our flight was at 10.45 pm. As usual the plane reached Honolulu very fast. Michael came to pick us up. We went to pay aunt a visit first. She was bed-ridden, but her condition was better than we had expected. We would go visit her again the next day.

When we reached Michael's home, I was simply too tired, and just fell asleep on the bed...



2010.01.02 Saturday

This post is getting rather long and boring, so I'll try to cut to the point instead of wasting so much space (which may be impossible to achieve though).

Well, basically nothing much was done on this day. We woke up quite late, as I assume all of us were quite tired. At noon we went to visit aunt in her hospital again. We stayed there until about 6 pm, and talked about quite a lot of things. Looking at my mother, I really felt sorry for her, because it was her close sibling. But I must remain strong. Otherwise there wouldn't be anybody to protect her. I'm a man!

After we left the hospital, my father decided that he will cook the dinner for that night, hence we went to Sam's Place to get some meat and vegetables. Sam's Place is just another big department store where they sell big stores. I really wonder, since all these food in big quantity are relatively cheaper, is that the reason why the obesity rate in US is so high?

The dinner was just like what I had everyday at my house in Singapore. Michael seemed to like it as well, even though he usually doesn't eat Chinese food. After dinner we discussed a bit about the next day's plans, and then it was bed time again. Not much travel done on this day.



2010.01.03 Sunday

Visited 3 main places today. First one is a place near a stadium. It was called something like a "Swamp Meet", and it's sort of a flea market, where everybody simply displays their stuff and sell. I used to go to this kind of market a lot back in Japan. And what I bought the most was of course toys and SNES cartridges. Things here would definitely be cheaper than those found in shopping malls, but the quality cannot be guaranteed. If you are an expert, you may even be able to find gold here. Anyway, for this day, we only bought some sovenirs and Aloha shirts.

The Swamp Meet

The next place was the church. It was an United Church. I'm not a Christian, but my parents wanted to pray for my aunt, therefore we went there. Talked a bit to the people there too. I could feel that my parents were really worried about my aunt. This trip really took a turn for the worst. I just hope it will get better.

People using their 'spiritual power' to heal others

After visiting the hospital in the afternoon, we went to the Ala Moana shopping centre. It was a very big place, just like Orchard Road. Most of the things sold were branded. There was a store dedicated to the Japanese as well, but the things were rather expensive. In the end we only bought one doll and some Japanese snacks.

The view outside the hospital was quite beautiful

One bird spotted on the signboard

The car park outside Ala Moana shopping centre

The busy streets

A river on the way back

Since this is a travel log, I guess I shouldn't be talking about all the personal stuffs. So today's entry ends here. (I also wouldn't want to talk about the KGS games I played at night, lol~)



2010.01.04 Monday

As I've said, this is supposed to be a travel log, so I shouldn't be talking about personal issues.

This day was basically a tour around the island. From the city of Waikiki (the one which I stayed in), we went anti-clockwise around the whole island of Oahu. It's quite hard to describe, so I guess I'll use pictures instead (when they are ready...). We went to mountains, agricultural areas, beaches (a lot!), and the rural streets. Had lunch at a restaurant beside the beach.

Taken from the top of the mountain. It was kind of hazy...

Btw, it was this lady Jenny who brought us around the island. I realised that all who live here are very open and very friendly. They can literally talk to anybody on the street. I like that, and I hope I can be like one of them too.

A real volcano

The city, beaches, seas and mountains were very very beautiful. Actually we could have just spent our days on this island. Even though it was small, it was about the size of Singapore, and there were a lot of things to explore. Watching those people on the beach, I wished I could be like one of them, lying there and enjoying the waves and everything.

Nice beach, but too bad it wasn't free. The mountain behind it is part of a volcano, and to me it looks like a sleeping dinosaur...

Another beautiful beach with many people

Nice 'sun-rays'

The beach nearest to Michael's house

Taken from the rooftop

2010.01.05 Tuesday

Was supposed to visit Pearl Harbour today but due to some last minute reasons it was changed. In the end nothing much was done during the day. At night, however, we went out to take a walk on the streets. It was much more lively than Singapore's. The busy part of the street was like Orchard, but there were many more interesting things. One of them is the number of people performing on the streets. In Singapore you almost won't see anybody doing that, but here they have no restriction hence anybody can just set up a stall and do anything on the streets. We saw all sorts of people, from drummers, musicians, artists and performers. There were even people who disguised themselves as statues and waited for people to donate money. And when they donate they will move a little bit. It was really hard to tell that they were real people!

A drummer playing with kids

You can only tell he's a real person by looking at what's under him...

We didn't buy a lot of things though, as they were quite expensive. So only window shopping was done. But it was definitely an interesting night. US is indeed an interesting country.



2010.01.06 Wednesday

Paid a visit to the famous Pearl Harbour on this day. I was told that it was the no. 1 tourist attraction there, but the scale disappointed me a little bit. There were only a few ships and museums, nothing much actually. The displays were interesting though. I even went into one of the ships to take a look. It reminded me of my Navy days...

USS Bowfin

The most important part of Pearl Harbour must be the Arizona Memorial. It was a memorial created for those ships which couldn't be retrieved after they were sunk and all those people who have died. I don't really know the history very well, but I can see that the Americans are all quite patriotic.

Arizona Memorial

Flowers dedicated to those heroes who died

Torpedoes

Went to Coscos, one of the huge department stores, to buy some gifts to bring back after we left Pearl Harbour. The fast food there was also really cheap. $1.99 for a huge slice of pizza, and $1.50 for a hotdog plus free flow of drink! I don't remember finding any place cheaper than that.

In the afternoon went to the hospital to say goodbye to my aunt. She was feeling much better and seemed much more lively. They say they will take her X-rays the next day to determine whether she needs to go through Operation or not. I definitely hope she will get better.

Sunset seen from the hospital. That was actually the best place in town to view sunset

At night I decided to go to McDonalds and Burger King to take a look, because I wanted to see what they looked like in the US. Well these fast food restaurants there were not very well decorated, but the food was quite nice. I tried something which can only be found there, and it tasted quite good. As for the burger, I preferred the McDonald one to the Burger King one, haha~

BK and McDonalds burgers...

Went to this ABC Store to buy some sovenirs. After that went back to pack our stuff. That was our last night in Hawaii. Even though it was sad, when the time comes we had to leave...

2010.01.07 Thursday (Hawaii Time)

Finally it was time to leave this island... Our flight was at 7 am, so we had to wake up at 4 am and reach the airport at 5 am. As usual Michael sent us there. We passed through all the checks quite fast, and ended up waiting for around 1 hour though. The flight to Taiwan took 11 hours. After that stayed in Taiwai for 3 hours, and then flew back to Singapore.

Hawaii was really a cool place with cool people. I seriously can't see this place as a place to work in. To me this place is for people to enjoy and have fun. Michael also told me about this Hawaiian time which roughly means to work and have fun at the same time. Michael was really a cool guy. At first I thought he was only 40 something, and I was surprised when he said he's more than 60 years old! He said he's a kid who refused to grow up, and it was really true. I hope I can see him again.

Even though without the accident we could have had a better stay, but what's done cannot be undone. Let me wish my aunt good luck again, and hope she gets well soon. And with that I shall end this travel log here. Thanks to all those who read everything. (Or are there any? Lol)