So, I was fb-hopping when I stumbled upon this link:

http://www.ri.edu.sg/main/schoolinfo/general/rafflesexperience

I had expected it to be of a certain slant, and I think I was definitely proven right.

Okay, so I watched the entire video without even turning on my speakers to listen to the audio. But I doubt it makes a difference to my opinion either way.

Still, what would my raffles experience be?

1. the multiple attempts where we descended down the mysterious flight of stairs from room A67 at 1230 hrs, in search for the ever-elusive LT1, only to find that that flight of stairs somehow always leads to the back of the queue at the yong tau foo stall (or the wanton mee or mixed rice store, depending on your inclinations at that particular moment in time).

2. being at the back of the queue, only to find out that the person (or persons) in front of you are similarly infelicitous voyagers who were in search of that very same LT but were permanently detoured by a mysterious force (acting from a region within the abdomen) to the stalls (or so they claim).

3. the multiple occasions in the labs when the products of our rigorous scientific investigative endeavours somehow borne results which had an uncanny resemblance to our prescient insights, and our innate inclinations for (all too perfectly) linear curves.

4. or when our own Inner Eye was curbed by the unpredictability of the experiment, we sought the powers of corroboration which only required minuscule physical exertions, such as a all-so-minute shift of the hand, shift of a piece of paper, bat of an eyelid or glance of one’s right and/or left eyes before all was well and all was good (or bad, depending on how much time had elapsed in the particular situation).

5. or if all failed, we relied on the “preparatory” recipes that were dispensed to us, rattling off its instructions, procedures and limitations word-for-word to one another, always making that foolhardy (but surprisingly (?) judicious) decision that just because it was “preparatory”, the real thing would be 99.99999% similar.

6. the times we spent at that far-flung corner of school, surrounded by books that we hardly ever touched. Multiple pieces of paper with endless lists of questions printed, surrounded with annotation and scrawls, some of which, being smiley faces, crude language and explicit images, were supposedly part of an elaborate symbology for us to attain enlightenment in the conundrums which were presented to us.

7. when we brought in work from multiple subjects, envisioning a 3-hour horizon to knock-off time where we could accomplish much and complete much, yet culminating in a mere half-page worth of text or the untidy scribbles of solutions to a grand total of 2 or 3 part-questions, the result of intermittent bursts of laughter, gossip and exclamations.

8. harvard university foolscap. with an unlimited supply of base paper originating from the school printers.

9.endless soliloquies bout our futures, launching our persona so far through the stream of time, being fully paranoid that every step that we were going to make in the months to come were the butterflies that could result in our prosperity or our bust.

10. but now, having forgotten what exactly was said, was proposed, was rebutted, was expounded upon, was rebuffed, was poked fun at, was slammed, was criticised, was gossiped about, was swore upon, was envisioned, was hoped, especially when most of us, instead of riding on our projected trajectory straight to the shore of prosperity, achievement and self-satisfaction, now find ourselves wading through the murky marshland of NS which looks similarly homogenous, gloomy and expansive on all sides.

i hardly recall the vivid, dynamic images in glossy technicolor that the video so triumphantly present, adorned with punchy platitudes, awe-inspiring action and blanket bylines.

but sometimes, the best things are the ordinary.

We had a morning walk on Saturday to ends of Long Beach but it was cut short due to a sudden downpour. We were both soaking wet after the rain and went for a shower. We spent the rest of saturday relaxing at Elyce’s porch due to our worry about the rain – Elyce reading while I alternated between reading and watching the office on my PSP. Afterward we went to the market to get presents for our friends and went to eat at Trung Duong. We had squid with sa te and rice which was really nice. We went to Buddy’s for ice-cream again before settled down to chilling.

In the afternoon we had another walk down to the other end of the beach which we hadn’t been able to go to in the morning. It was quite pleasant and the sunset was stunning. I think this is one of the few reasons why summer can be super nice. The clouds and the sky are always beautiful no matter what time it is or what the weather is like. After taking a swim, we showered and prepared to go for dinner. We ate at Le Bistrot for our last night after playing pools at Oasis and doing my book exchange there (I got Sword of Shannara which I am reading!). The food was good for me (fried tuna with butter) but I expected it to be more French. We drove back to our places to pack.

On Sunday I paid my hotel fee and drove my suitcase to Elyce’s. We went to the airport and flew from Phu Quoc to HCMC. The view of Phu Quoc from the sky was so awesome (for both the to and fro trips). We then flew from HCMC to Hue and cabbed back to our place. What an awesome trip!

Afterwards I went around on my bike to search for food and ended up at a place selling bun ca loc which was rather bland at first; however, when I added the chili and the fish sauce to it, the broth was soooo delicious. I’m going for banh canh cha tomorrow and if it sucks I can always go back to this place.

I went to pick Elyce up at 8 but she was still skyping so I waited for her to finish and to have breakfast then we went to Ong Lan beach. It was a very long drive in which we were misled many times by our lack of attention and by our bad senses of direction. So we went out of Duong Dong town and then turned back after learning that it was the wrong way. After much riding and asking, we got to the beach in the end. We were just chilling and drinking at the beach before settling under a pine tree to chill some more and to swim after that. The water was very very warm. The beaches in Phu Quoc are really nice though with super clear water (much litter on the shore though; we saw like 4-5 dead jellyfish and 3 dead fishes).  Afterwards we went back for lunch at the restaurant on the beach. The food is a bit overpriced but it’s really good. We had fried crab rice and sautéed morning glory.

Then we wanted to drive to the northern cape of Phu Quoc but the boss of the restaurant warned us against it because it might take very long. He suggested us going there for a full day and going to a spring instead. So he showed us some direction. We followed them and kinda got lost in the middle of nowhere until we saw a group of construction workers who pointed us the way to the spring at a junction. Now we drove like super long on a very muddy/ sandy road. It was so muddy that my bike fell down once and some guy rode past us saying to me: you suck. Thank you very much, bastard. The red dirt on the road caught onto us and we were like red Indians. Elyce is like super pale but she appeared tan after the trip. So when we drove to the place we realized that we were going back to Duong Dong and not to the north like I thought. And there were still some more getting lost before we finally arrived at the spring. After crossing a treacherous bridge and hiking for 10 minutes. We arrived at the spring to find out that it was dry because there was no rain. FOL. After resting for a while we went back to the city, only to realize we have gone one big fat round around phu quoc. Great.

We went to buddy ice-cream to eat ice cream and chill for a while. I had peach ice-cream which was awesome while Elyce got raspberry ice-cream. After some grocery shopping we came back to our rooms to shower and we are heading out for dinner soon.

We had salad (greek for elyce and tuna for me) and fruit shakes (lemon for elyce and mango for me) at pepper’s. The salad was really great for me. Then we picked some stuff at my place and hung out at Elyce’s place which had aircon (awesome!). At 9 she was tired so I went back to my place to sit on the beach for a while. Spending my time looking at stars and listening to the sounds of the waves is an awesome way to relax for me. I just love it so much. Okay I’m off to watch some movie now. Probably.

We are at HCMC airport now. It’s 10 mins till we board. We reached at 9.10 and went to CT mall to hang out. Pringles with laughing cow cheese is soooo awesome. I had a superb nap on the bench at the airport too. Poor Elyce had to stay awake to look after the stuff. Sorry!

I’m in Elyce’s room now. We just came back from one hell of a trip. We went to the market to get tanktops and beach towels (which in my opinion are a waste because they are just like my hotel towels) Then we drove to a minimart to get like 20kg of liquid (water, beer and coke). Elyce had such a hard time balancing it at the back. It was definitely fun though. and super hot. we were sweating like mad the whole time. My hotel was okay until a leg broke. My bed leg broke so it was like tilted. I was sitting on it with my laptop and I suddenly lunged forward and heard a cracking sound. between saying oh shit and panicking, I put my laptop onto the bed which totally stressed it and the bed leg completely gave way. So I was moved to another room with 2 fans instead of 1, which is awesome! The walk from my place to elyce’s is not really long but it’s hot and makes me sweat. I lugged some of my stuff over there and will be spending lots of time there. We are chilling and waiting for the night time. There’s a mute guy at my hotel who is a room service guy. He is so friendly and nice to me that he makes my stay here even more enjoyable.

I had a swim which was okay though the water was really warm. Then we chilled and took pictures of the crazily nice sunset. When it’s dark we went to the night market to eat seafood fried rice and seafood noodle which were really great at Thanh Tuyen. We might come back there. We walked around the market a bit then toured the city at night on my bike (an Exciter! it’s so awesomely strong!) then we sat at the sun chairs (that’s how they call the beach chair here) and star-gazed. It was really serene there with the waves crashing in and the warm breeze (everything about phu quoc weather is either hot or warm). It was just a perfect moment for me there, sitting in on a beach chair listening to the sound of the waves while talking with my friend and just totally relaxing. After that I went back to my room and bathed. I forgot my earphones at elyce’s though so I had to walk back to get them in order to watch something tonight. I’m gonna watch a movie and go to sleep soon. Night world!