__________`` it has been a long time; * from past till now. ______* * " ________*`` ____

Friday, July 20, 2007

A Voyage of Songs, Pattaya, Thailand, 12-16 July 2oo7

i shall write in pt forms if not i ll most probably take a year to type everything down. i shall only elaborate on those i find memorable or funny.if u want details come to me n i ll try to fill u up!

12 july

~ met cicillia n colin at my hose there to take taxi with my mum down to airport
~did some last min shopping for the trip at the airport
~called py when waiting for checking in, missed u all so much already even before i m on the plane that i cried k?(peiyong must read this)
~then the usual check-in, take plane and all the usual stuff till we reach bangkok airport
~waiting for a long time to clear the customs cos it is not as efficient as changi
~got shuffled onto the a double-decked bus(so cool) and off we go to pattaya
~hungry n thirsty till we stopped at some petrol koisk at some ulu place and clear them out of their water supplies and food
~finally, much awaited, we reached ambassador city hotel, pattaya.
~aiyo, the bus didn t stop in front of the hotel and we need to climb this steep steep slope before we reach our hotel
~checked in.
~when we went up, apparently the j1 sops got stuck in a lift and someone just pushed open the lift door and everyone start jumping out of the lift with their luggages
~went to our rooms which were like full of problems like jammed door, no lights, eerie feelings etc..
~me n selene got a room right at the corner of the hotel and so isolated from everyone n what's more its lights were not working. then we went to report. apparently someone told us that we probably forgot the master switch, so we went back again. but this time, we were sure that light were spoilt k, not that the 2 of us were dumb. so we went to report again. so we got a change of rooms after sitting at the lobby for quite some time with ppl who got problems with their rooms. this time, our lights are working, we threw our things in and went to return the old key while leaving the new key inside the room 51009!!! so we were effectively locked out of our room. so we went down reception to get our door opened and i tried to report that the "wood broke off from the furniture" which the person was like totally oblivious to what i m saying. so anyway, we left it and waited outside our room,me sitting on right and selene on left waiting for the key. finally when the receptionist came up, our door was opened and we signaled to her to look at the broken wood. perhaps we were laughing like non-stop after the whole nonsensical night, when i pointed at the spoilt furntiture, the lady squatted down and laughed hysterically. what's more is that she wore skirt k and she exposed herself which made me laughed even more. aiyo. what a night of settling down!

13 july

~practices
~watched performances from the other categories
~more breaks to prevent us from over-practising
~a failed sops role-play of natsu to revise lyrics with me as the cloud, hazel as the lark, selene as the sun, but still lots of fun of making prank calls to some super late sops that end with explosive "come quickly lah" from selene and a whole outburst of high-pitched laughter in 51009.
~noisy meals
~exchange between aj,nus and mj after dinner outside the competition area to get a feel of singing in front of audience. all of us were sweating badly under the shelter. oh and apparently 3 judges walked past us when we were having the exchange n one of them even stopped to listen. anyway, its a good experience before the real thing the very next day.

14 july (Competition Day+Results)

finally, our big day. warm-ups and short practices before the real thing. lots of mental preparation before we go up and show them the AJ thing to rock pattaya! we sounded the best we can. though we started waternight with a sharp D flat, but we came back. and i must say i'm ever so proud of u sops. having come so far with u all together is probably something i might not get the chance to do it again( but i will pray for it). and we showed the world what ajchoir is capable of. making music as one. just singing together and enjoying each other's company. totally enjoyed the moment like i always do whenever ajchoir sings, be it in practices or on stage. our natsu was pretty great, despite a little off in the middle but we still come back as one! our kasar totally rock pattaya!!! kasar mie lagaji! kasar! leaves an impression on the judges n audiences cos we can hear "kasars" when we joined the audience. we felt good after our performance (i wouldn t call it a competition).

we went shopping. shopped till we came back late for the results show. we late but we still like walked directly to the front cos there's where there are available seats. mr kwei was like already on stage announcing results when we walked in. we kept our fingers crossed as our results were coming out real fast. GOLD C!!!! and we started screaming, jumping, hugging, crying. and of course, furiously msging to ajchoir ppl in singapore to inform them of the good news. though the feeling was not as intense as that in xiamen, i can feel it once again. the joy of a choir, this time with a whole different lot of ppl with a different touch to it. no importa la distancia. we sang n we cried, all the hard work and efforts over the months just for this one day which paid off. did a lot of cheers with hip hip hoorays for all of us and for mr toh!

a million thanks to mr toh for bringing us through this journey, for being with us not only as our teacher, our conductor, but also a mentor and a friend and the list goes on. for the time u have to stop marking econs essay to come for practices and while u were LSing during the trip. for all the effort that u have put into us. for ur peseverance and patience in guiding us. for giving us ur very best. and more importantly, for the faith and belief u have in us. thank you mr toh!

after the results,we did what we do best in ajchoir. Camwhoring. camwhoring with whoever we see around till my cam went out of memory. oh, click on the photoweb links at the left view to view the photos.

back to pt form:
~partied at guowei's room at night. playing heart attacks and heart attacks and heart attacks. till someone started the prank call which was like totally so funny. it definitely was not malicious, probably the person on the other line was enjoying it too cos the whole convo was just too out of the picture and it wouldn t take long for u to realise it.
~separated ways after 12.30 to keep the room quiet for the teachers cos it was just beside their rooms. ended up chatting with gw, zkai, kane, selene and my son yuhuai in the same room.talked till morn and me n selene had to come back. the lift was so freaky. when my son sent me and sel back we freaked out lah. one spoilt lift was wide opened. when we pressed the button for the lift, then door no. 3 opened and it was dark!! and the lights slowly flickered on. wah, we totally escaped back to gw room. sel n me finally reach our room after like the 3 remaining guys sent us back, but not without being trapped in the no. 3 lift for a brief moment.

15 july

bright n sunny day for a day on the beach.
~sandcastle-building which turns out to be a giant donut in the end due to sel's obsession with donuts during the trip
~photos n more photos at the beach!
~more shopping in the afternoon.
~closing ceremony at night. hmm, while other countries cheer for their own choirs, singaporean choirs show a stark difference in displaying our nationalism. shan't brood much into it.
~in the hotel room, i talked to rubbish. pls ask sel for more details cos up til now i don t really see what s so funny.

16 july

last day of the trip.
~days pass so quickly that we have come to the end of the trip. pretty reluctant to return to s'pore cos that would mean i have to clear my tutorials n assignments.
~took back a double-deck bus back to the airport. sleepy bumpy bus ride with a stop at a place which sells a lot of food.
~window-shopped at airport cos it s like so ex.
~back to singapore.

oh my, i was so so touched when i see u all at the airport waiting for us. jiahui, peiyong, xingying, huiting, xianhui and all the rest with the lovely banner!! how i missed the lot of u all and i m sure u all miss us too! no importa la distancia. friendship n love that goes the distance. we sang n we cried again. the love for music, the love for ajchoir and all the more, love among each and everyone of us. the ajchoir spirit lives on! it's u who make it happen! go ajchoir!!! i love you to bits n pieces!

leaving traces behind
7/20/2007 11:36:00 PM