I was in Chia-Yi all last week visiting the grandfather and attempting some organizing of some of the boxes we have stored there. There was a box of goodies (as in memories from CDL and NEHS!) - found some old letters (heh ... heh ... ) and also photos. Oh, the memories. *Sigh* Didn't really get to sit there and read them, though, because my mom was in a hurry and was like, "Just throw the ones you don't want away!" Too bad. I also found my 9th grade diploma. Can't believe it still exists.

Anyway! Chia-Yi also means cats! And this time, Cookie actually made an appearance so that I was able to take some pictures of him. Normally he hides away in the attic or my cousin's room because he's a misanthrope like that. This time, though, maybe because he knew it was my last time in Chia-Yi for a while (hah, I wish), he actually came downstairs and chilled for a bit. I also re-realized why it's so damn hard to get a decent shot of him. He's just way too dark. Some of the more decent shots:

Nike also made an appearance, but he was too busy panting (waaaay noisily, I swear, there is something wrong with his air pipes. The aunt needs to take him to the vet, soon.) to actually be a nuisance to the cats. Poor thing. It's just way too hot for him for some reason. Can't cool down unless the a/c is blasting in his face. This is what he looked like most of the time he was down there:



When we first got there, the first typhoon this season had just hit. The rain was insane. Tried capturing the falling rain:




Nothing says family time like family group shots:

Lastly, this is my fantastic cousin asleep on the ride back to Taipei. I have no idea how sleeping with his mp3 player hooked on the hook and his earphones looking like it's choking him is even remotely comfy, but he was dead asleep, nonetheless. :P Wonder if he'll kill me if he finds out I took this pic and put it on my blog for all too see. Hah! Oh well. He doesn't have to know. ^^

I know, it's been a while since any decent post. What? Who cares about my hair and shoes, right? :P

Too bad, here's more updates on my life and what's been keeping me away from the blog.

- I watched WALL-E! It was fantastic. It was awesome. I need to rewatch the movie. I spent this time around crying more than anything else. *sigh* In the beginning it was because he was so lonely, but still making do with what he had yet you could totally tell he was feeling his loneliness. And then. Well, watch the movie, and if you know me, you'll know why I was leaking tears most of the time. Loved the Mac-references, though - the iPod (it looked like a 4th or 5th gen) and the startup chime. I think most of the Taiwanese audience didn't get the chime, though.

The love-story, the deeper meaning about environmentalism and stuff ... *sigh* Love it.

- Bought Guitar Hero for the DS. Fun! Fun galore! But really tiring on the wrist and thumb. Still trying to find a comfy position for my hand. Finished easy, on to medium! Need to buy an R4DS, so I can actually have more than 3 games for my DS. I feel like it's been neglected for far too long. And Mariokart's only fun the first 100 times. :P

- Maplestory obsession still going strong. It didn't help that they're having special promotions because it's their 3rd anniversary this month. Certain times of the day, the monsters' experience points double, so it's totally worth playing so I can level up faster. Other times of the weeks, they drop special weapons, but I'm not into that as much. Ahhh, well, at least the special promotions end on the 31st of July. Then maybe the obsession will die down.

- Typhoon. Not really doing anything to contribute to it (heh), but another one came and went today. Not sure what the damage is since I haven't really watched the news, but it didn't impact Taipei as much. The wind and rain was huge last night, but today was relatively calm. We even made it out to watch Wall-E, and there was no rain (barely) and wind. Just another humid day in Taipei, except everyone was out because there was no work or classes (wee!).

- Played mahjong and won lots of (fake) money. It was supposed to be of real money, but we used cards first. In the end, though, we decided to let it just ... be. Because it was ridiculous; I was totally on fire! It sure was 爽 - don't know how to say it in English. Let's just say fantastic to the extreme. ^^

- The End!

I don't know if it's just me or if other people are experiencing it, but there's been a lot of talk of engagements, weddings, marriages, etc. recently. Attended two previously, this past weekend my cousin attended her friend's engagement reception, and now there's talk of my cousin getting married.

And inevitably, the talk gets linked to money. It costs a lot of $$ to have a decent wedding, I guess, and our families aren't the richest of families, so it's always an issue. Worried about paying for the rings, the location, and other traditions that require money (I dunno, Taiwanese people have a lot of traditions that I don't even understand when they're talking about them. The names they have are so out there it kind of just passes me by whenever I hear it. Until they mention the amount of $$ - million of NTD?! Holy crap! What's the money for?!). Thankfully (I think), in the Taiwanese tradition, it's the guy who pays for the wedding - reception and all. My mom's like, you guys better marry a Taiwanese guy! Because it seems that the western tradition is to have the girl's side pay for the weddings (not sure if that's the case), and my mom's like, we have no money! Your dowry will just be the degrees you've earned (since that's where all their money's gone too. Hah.)

Anyway, why this sudden influx of wedding talk?! Are we at that age?! Or maybe I'm just surrounded by people who are at that age. But all this talk about money and weddings makes me not want to have one. Or if I do, I want it to be really small. Not a reception of 20~30 tables, and just a simple gown, no bridesmaid necessary. Eh, maybe I'll just elope. That's the cheapest option, no? :P Anyway, ugh, marriage?! I don't even have a boyfriend yet ... Sigh. At least there's no pressure for me to get married yet - got too many people in front of me who needs to get married first. Muaha, the joys of being the youngest on my mom's side.

After sitting on my ass for 3 and a half hours and having saran wrap plastered to my face, my hair is finally straight again! No more frizzing whenever I sweat or it rains! And I can finally leave my hair down again! Whoever invented the chemicals required for straightening the hair semi-permanently is a genius ... Genius, I say! I am always thankful for low maintenance hair that can still look decent, unlike my natural curly hair that just makes me want to shave off all my hair. :) The hairdresser wanted to give me bangs, but I was like no-no-no-no. I'm too scared to try new hairstyles just in case it turns out horrible. I've had bangs before, and they kinda made me look like crap. Hah! Besides, having face in hair is too annoying.

I love shoes! or rather, I love buying shoes! Even though I always end up wearing the same pair (Converse or Rainbows) 90% of the time. But I love shoes nonetheless, shopping for shoes especially.

So today we went out in search of a nice pair of sandals to go with my skirts. Me mother has forbidden me from wearing flip flops with my skirts. She says the top looks so nice, and then you see the shoes. =( Nothing wrong with my Rainbows! At least I don't think so. But eh, it's an excuse to get a new pair of shoes, so I went out.

OMG! Shoes! Ahhhh!! I saw rows after rows of shoes and it was faaaaantastic! Pumps, heels, flats, sandals, boots, you name it! I'm totally attracted to pointy pumps and flats. I tend to stay away from shoes with super high heels, though, because I can't walk in them and they hurt my feet. I also tried on a couple of gladiator shoes. They look nice! But my legs are too short to actually look good in them. Sadness.

Even with my love of shoes, though, it took me three Shingkong Mitsukoshi stores to find THE pair of sandals. Well, I think I just settled for it in the end because I was tired of looking. A lot of sandals had heels on them, which is a no no because then I couldn't wear it on an everyday outing. Then there were others that looked just plain ugly on me or way too freaking expensive! (100+ USD .... uhhhh, pass).

Finally found THE pair - it's flat, leather, and strappy. AND BROWN! Did I mention it had to be brown because that's probably the only colored shoes that will match with ALL my skirts (well, most)? Yes. But, bottom line, I LOVE SHOES!!!! (need to stop buying them. Sigh. Still missing a pair of Converse, though, MUAHAHA :P)

Guess where I got my title from? :P

These past few days have been spent hanging out with old high school friends, some who I haven't seen since we graduated. Wow! It was fun, but I also feel old, not because we've all graduated college and are doing different things. Instead, it's because three days of fun have made me super tired and not feeling so well. I don't know if it's because of the heat or what, but physically I'm rebounding slower and slower. Ugh. It sucks.

The heat just sucks the energy out of you, though. The first day, I pretty much walked around Taipei - first we were at Taipei Main Station eating lunch, then we walked around Gong Guan, then around Shi Da, and then finally around Ximenting. I mean, it doesn't sound so bad, but the heat was insane. I was so tired at the end of the day that I felt like I couldn't breathe. But even though I was super tired, I still didn't get a good night's sleep. Sigh. And the energy just went down from there, especially after staying up till 5 am and then waking up at 10 the next day. Have to remember that I'm not 16 anymore. Hah!

Blah. I feel really sick right now, like physically sick. I'm also breaking out thanks to the lack of sleep. *Sigh*

Growing old(er) sucks!! Ahhh!!! But! Seeing old high school mates is always fun. Hopefully we can have another semi-reunion in five years. By that time, there'll be lots of doctors around. :P

Reminiscing is also fun. Gossip gossip! haha. The only thing is I think I've forgotten pretty much everything I was told. Ahhh, the memory deteriorates as well with aging! Noo, oh well, at least I'll be surprised again in five years since I won't remember anything that was said these past three days. :P

Good times, good times!

Some days you wonder how people from the same parents can end up so different. The genes are somewhat the same, the upbringing as well. Well, I guess in Asian society, the boys end up getting the better deal during the good old days. But doesn't that mean they should be the ones showing more sympathy/empathy towards their parents?

Why is it the girls (well, not all the girls) that show the most care towards their parents? Why are they the ones that rush back from another country or another city and at least spend four to five days with him (rather than just one or two days)?

Why is it some of the daughters will care more than the others?

It's so sad watching my grandfather lay in that hospital bed with oxygen tubes coming from his nose. It's so sad thinking about how his children are fighting with each other, especially during this time. It's so sad hearing about how stingy some of them are being with their father's money, it's not even their own. It's so sad to think that some of them are so selfish.

What's the point of having kids if they end up just thinking of themselves constantly?

Lackinginsanity: heehee. guess what?!
Governor Lin: you're......
Governor Lin: done with school alrieady...
Lackinginsanity: getting married!
Governor Lin: HOLY SHIT
Lackinginsanity: just kidding
Lackinginsanity: hahahahahaahaha
Governor Lin: damn you

This had me cracking up/smiling randomly for the rest of the day. (I'm sorry Peter, but it's just too good!)

Tired, sunburned, but overall a good time. I had fun and learned quite a bit of new things about old people. But I guess that's what happens when you go out with high school friends who hung out with different people; you learn things you never knew. Blackmail material! Heh, just kidding. Although, I do have some fantastic pictures that could potentially be used as blackmail material .... :P

Anyway, it was a good trip even though things weren't planned down to the very last minute. Actually, our plans were formulated the day of, or more like the minute before. The general idea was to get to our place of abode, drop stuff off, go to beach, and go from there, and that's pretty much what happened. There was a lot of indecisiveness - what to do now? I dunno, what do you want to do? I don't care. Oh, neither do I. :P But that didn't spoil the fun, at least not for me. It's how I do things. Hah!

Still, reality intruded a couple of times on this vacation. Well, here I'm speaking for my sister and I. On our trip down to Kenting, we were bombarded with phone calls and making quite a few of them ourselves regarding family matters. Then, on the third day, my mom calls me and drops the "we're getting transferred to D.C." bomb. UGH. Talk about bummers, but it helped that we were vacationing and having a good time. It puts things outta the mind, except now it's like whiplash - I'm having constantly to think about it and wonder about the future.

Time to recap our trip ....

Day One

After the sister got out of tutoring, we took the HSR down to Zuoying. My first time on the super fast train! And it was super fast because it took less than 2 hours to reach our destination. The station at Zuoying is actually pretty snazzy looking - reminded us of an airport, and since it was a weekday, there was barely anyone there.





Getting outta the station, we went in search of the bus that would take us to Kenting. Instead, we found a taxi, which we would share with two other strangers that would take us to our hotel and be one hour shorter in travel time (the bus takes three hours because it has to stop at all these other stops and also go to Kaoshiung first). The price wasn't that much more than the bus, so we figured it'd be worth it. It was. The view, once we got off the high way, was so pretty - you could see the ocean!!! Super exciting. When we got to Kenting, it took a bit longer to find our hotel because it was located in a small alleyway that cars don't have access to. We ended up just getting off in front of KFC and had Picker come out to find us. She and Dan had arrived two hours before us (since they came from Taichung and left way earlier). Phew! Thankfully they were already there. Otherwise we'd probably be super lost and confused.

The hotel looked pretty ghetto. I use the term "hotel" very loosely. I don't know what else to call the places we stayed at. Kinda like hostels, I guess. Anyway, the outside looked sketchy, but the room was decently nice. Wooden floors, big beds, TV with cable, our own bathroom ... meh, what more could you ask for?


The only two complaints I had of the place - 1. Pillows were too high; 2. Stupid a/c making alternating noises throughout the night that made my sleep not so good. If it was a constant sound, it'd have been ok because you can get used to it, but nope, it alternated between sounds. So just as you get used to one sound, it changes! to another sound! so you have to get used to that sound! and then it changes! .... ok so, I did not get a good night's rest. I don't think Dan did either because he went to bed after us, and he woke up way earlier than the rest of us and played on his PSP. We all woke up before the original planned wake up time, though. Aih, stupid air conditioner that we were still grateful to have because it was so freakishly hot outside.

After we got to the hotel, changed into shorts and tanks, we went out in search of a beach. We still had an hour or two left of daylight and just wanted to see a beach. The hotel was located on the edge of the night market area, so when we walked out, we saw people starting to set up their stands. We ended up at Xiao Wan, which was a relatively short walk from the hotel, but it felt like a long walk in the heat. It was a relatively small beach, and the bar located on the edge of it was blasting Backstreet Boys as we walked down. Intereeeeesting.




Then it was dinner time - we walked along the night market road in search of a place to eat. We saw a Taiwanese celebrity dude handing out fliers for a Bao Zi store that's owned by another Taiwanese celeb. At first I didn't even notice it was him until Picker was like, isn't that someone famous? After staring at him a couple more times, we decided it was. :P We were even surer when some random chicks asked to take pictures with him.



Finally ended up, sweaty, at a pizza/pasta restaurant. The food was decent - yummy sour cream chicken pasta. :)

Prior to coming on this trip, we'd decided that we'd get around Kenting via bicycles. That was before we arrived and saw how far each place was from each other (we were staying at three different locations - night market area, Fan Chaun Shi, and Nan Wan). Picker decided to sacrifice herself for the greater good and rented a motorcycle along with Dan, so we could travel via motorcycle. Thankfully we did. I cannot imagine us having to carry our backpacks in the hot, hot mid-day sun, biking to each location. The reason we say Picker sacrificed herself is because she doesn't really know how to ride a (motor)bike. Nor did she have her driver's license with her, so we had to find a place who'd be willing to rent us two bikes on one license (Dan's).

Because of Picker's inexperience with the bike, she (carrying my sister) sped along at a constant 30 km/hr, and it required three (some times four) people to park the bike, u-turn the bike, and basically move the bike when the motor wasn't running (which was often). Thankfully Dan was there to help out with sticky situations (like crossing the bike to the other side of the busy street or parking the bike in squishy places). It was a sight to see, too bad I didn't get to take pictures as I was often times busy helping with the bike.

After getting the bikes, we went in search of a restaurant/bar/pub to get some cocktails. Another general theme of the vacation - cocktails! There were quite a few places with cocktails, but somehow we ended up at a restaurant/bar with scantily clad girls and a guy pole dancing and lap dancing. Mmmmyah, awkward!!! There were even kids in there - not too sure what the parents were thinking when they brought them in for dinner.

When we walked in, it was this guy in tight, tight underwear doing some very, um, sexual moves on a girl seated in a chair in front of him. Then he was pole dancing, and yah, I had my back towards him, so I don't really know what else he did. Picker recognized the dancer as someone she'd seen/met the last time she was in Kenting. Hah ... interesting. Then after the guy, there were a couple of bikini-clad girls trying to give guys lap dances for tips. One approached Dan, but Dan was too cool for her. But there was this chick shaking her butt right next to my face as she was dancing for this other guy who was seated at the table next to us. Yah, awkward. And even more awkward was when these obasan and ojisan showed up and the ojisans started pole dancing! And one of the bikini-clad girls went up to dance with him. Aaaaaand the guy started taking his shirt off. Aaaaand, the guy's wife was there cheering him on .... =.= Not my cup of tea. It was just too awkward that we got our drinks, drank, left. Don't think I want to go there ever again.




Post-awkward-drinking experience, we went to 7-11 and got ourselves a deck of cards and some smirnoff and went back to the hotel. Played some Chinese poker with Picker struggling along ("Nobody else got a three of clubs?!" - Picker). It was so funny! (Sorry Picker). But we were all tired, so basically we were in bed by 12 (at least the girls were). Another overarching theme of the trip - back to the hotel and in bed relatively early-ish (nobody stayed up past 3 am).

Day Two

We woke up at 9:30ish due to the frustrating sound of the air conditioning and checked out. We went in search of breakfast and a 7-11 because my sister needed to do some insurance stuff for my cousin, so she needed a fax machine. Found breakfast next to 7-11, got the insurance stuff done, and planned what to do for the next coupla hours.






After breakfast we headed to our next location and hotel at Fan Chuan Shi (I'm still so grateful for the bikes). Dropped off our stuff at the hotel, which, by the way, was decent except for the fact that there was a naked girl painted on the wall in our room who resembled the daughter of the owner. Mmmmyah, it was kind of scary waking up in the middle of the night and seeing her.




Went to the beach, which was right across from our hotel (sweet!!!!). Except it was 12 pm. And it was blue skies, bright sun, no clouds. That was kind of dumb. We got an umbrella and chilled under it for a bit, but then some people (ahem) got bored, so we went to the water's edge. While Picker and Cathy were in the water, Picker thought she kicked a limb because it felt like a body part. That freaked them out enough to get outta the water and stay out. Hah. I think we ended up deciding that it was a buoy ... =.= Picker has an overactive imagination. We then tanned for a bit on the beach. Dumb. We got the tans that we wanted (after only like half an hour under the sun), but we also all got sunburned. Yah. Ouchie.

After we had enough of the sun and the burning, t'was time for lunch. Fan Chuan Shi is pretty empty, in terms of restaurants (and people - there really weren't that many around). The thought of going to the beach again after lunch wasn't that appealing, so we decided to go go-karting (thankful for bikes, yet again)! It was fun, but hard. I can't control those things and turns were difficult. I was also afraid of going too fast. I think I got passed by Picker and Dan at least 5 times ... so I didn't make the 25 laps that we paid for. Hah! It's times like these that make me doubt that I'd make a good driver (sniff).



Then it was off to the most southern point of Taiwan - Er Luan Bi. We got lost and separated on the way there. Dan and I went up the wrong hill, and Picker and Cathy went up the same hill as us at first, but after not seeing us for a bit, they thought they'd gone up the wrong hill, so they went up the right hill. After staying at the top of the wrong hill for a while and not seeing Picker and sister, Dan and I decided to head back down and see if we'd run into them. We did. Thankfully. But this also taught us to make sure each bike has at least one cell phone instead of one bike having all the damn phones. Anyway, I'll let the pictures of the place speak for itself (except for one thing - there were a lot of damn mosquitoes at the wooden platform. We were eaten alive!!).

We decided to get outta there before we were truly eaten alive. Ended up in New Port (mall-ish place) and getting our (well, more my) daily fix of caffeine (can't ever leave Starbucks behind) while Dan went and bought himself Naruto (mmhmm, can never escape mangas either). And also enjoyed the blasting a/c - it's so hot in Kenting. So. Hot.




We were all pretty pooped, so we went back to the hotel to rest. Dan stayed in the room to sleep while us girls went to the beach to nap. It's nice listening to the waves as you fall asleep. As it got darker, the clouds dissipated and the stars came out. With the lights in the distance, there was no light pollution, so the stars shone brightly. It was gorgeous. Living in cities, it's rare that you get to see a sky filled with stars thanks to the constant glowing lights. Down by the beach, it was fantastic. We saw the Big Dipper, we think. Decided to head back to the room before it got too dark that we couldn't see anything (and accidentally step in dog poo).

We went back to the night market area to have dinner. A flying cockroach landed on me during our search for a restaurant (ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ew ... I had the heebeejeebies for a while after that. ew!!!). Decided on a Thai restaurant that had spicy food (duh). Decided to walk off the food and see the night market (it wasn't as crowded as Tuesday night for some strange reason). We actually ran into a whole group of Picker's relative. That was, um, unexpected. Picker had to go do her duty of saying hello to everyone while we stood by feeling awkward. :P

There was a roadside bar - the drinks were weak. That's all I can say.




After going back to the room, went out to star gaze some more with my sister. I swear I saw the Milky Way. I swear! (maybe) But then little boys (ok, maybe middle or high school boys) started setting off firecrackers and fireworks which freak my sister out. So we headed back into the room and watched Get Rich or Die Trying (erg. boring.) and a couple episodes of Las Vegas (Josh Duhamel - yum!) before falling asleep.

(half way there!)

Day Three

Woke up a bit later (since we went to bed later ... heehee). Checked out, headed back to night market area to find brunch. Went into a pretty nice looking little restaurant which ended up being Thai again. There are quite a few Thai restaurants along that street. Got my daily dosage of caffeine and headed to next hotel, which was supposed to be the best one since it was the most expensive.



It was nice, but very minimalistic, and the owner is really laid back. When we got there, he wasn't there, and we had to find his wai lao (maid) to drop off our stuff since the room wasn't ready. When the room was ready, there was only one bed and the owner said he'd bring the floor mat by later that night. At night, we saw him bringing plants and asked if we could have the mat yet, and he said he'd bring it by later after we came back. Later, after we came back, we called him, and he wasn't at the hotel, so he said he'd bring it by after he came back. =.= So yah, for lack of a better word, very laid back owner.



When we arrived at the hotel after Starbucks, we realized that Picker had forgotten her VERY IMPORTANT bag on a motorcycle in the lot we'd parked at. =.= How important is very important? Well, her DSLR, cell, and wallet were all in there ......... YAAAAH. So she hopped on Dan's bike and they sped back to the lot, finding it, thankfully, stil on the bike. Phew! Close call!



We then went to the beach across from our hotel. It's supposed to be one of the nicer ones, but there were a lot of people, and according to Picker and Cathy, lots of trash in the water (sadness). I didn't go in the water this time because my period decided to grace me with its presence. Yes, talk about bad timing. So Dan and I just sat under our 300nt umbrella in silence. :P After they came back, we gossiped for a bit and tried to figure out what various NEHSers were doing now. This was also when I learned some of the interesting things about the old peoples. Muahaha. We talked and snacked until we could check into our room. T'was fun talking about the good old days.



We went a little bit crazy in the room. Some choice quotes:

Dan: "What's the best hotel in Kenting?"
Picker: "水世界" (Water World - ghetto looking place)

Cathy: "We should leave the light on so the 抽油煙機 can run"
Dan: "You mean 抽風機?"

Lisa: "I have sunglasses tan!! Ahhhh!"
Picker: "You'll look like a panda."
Cathy: "You mean a reverse panda."
Picker: laughs for 10 minutes straight to the point she's keeled over with laughter. Why? I have no idea, but it was contagious and I was bent over the sink in the bathroom laughing my ass off too.

Finally, we calmed down enough and headed out to go to Bai Sha (another beach). We got lost on the way there. But after getting directions from 7-11 (thank goodness for 7-11 man), we finally arrived at the beach, and it was a pretty darn nice beach. There were a lot of people, but the water was clean, the sand was relatively white, and it was just a fantastic view, especially during the sunset. Pictures!







As we were leaving the beach, I got a call from my mom with the bomb. I think I screamed, "什麼" really loudly. Aih. But the ride back to the room calmed me down. It was nice. For me anyway. Apparently Dan and Picker had fireflies hitting their faces as they rode along. I didn't see any, but then again I was too absorbed in the enjoyment of a the nice night breeze in my face. Thankfully the fireflies were blocked by Dan (HEEHEE, sorry Dan).

Had dinner at Bossa Nova, another hotel-ish place a couple of doors down. The decor's really nice and the food was good, too. Had me some chicken burritos although they weren't really burritos, but they were good nonetheless.



After dinner we stopped by the hotel to drop off our stuff with plans to head back out to walk and digest dinner and find something to do. Made sure Dan didn't watch TV and Picker didn't go to sleep. After walking around, we realized that everything was pretty much closed, except for Bossa Nova, so we went there for cocktails. It's actually weird because during the research of Kenting before our trip, one of the sites said that Nan Wan has a good night life, but restaurants/bars were closed at like 9 pm! Where's the night life?!




We sat around and talked some more. I got drunk off my long island iced tea and felt very much alone because the others seemed all sober. Never get the stronger drink when everyone else gets wimpy drinks. Sigh. :P But there was a lot of laughing and giggling and planning for the next weekend. ^^ There were also cockroaches on the floor (ew) and cute happa kids that Picker couldn't keep her eyes off. Went back to the room, and my sister prevented Picker from going under the covers until she showered since the three of us girls were sleeping on the bed while Dan slept on the floor. Picker, in response, curled up into a ball.



Lucky Dan got to sleep shirtless while us girls had to keep our tops on even though we were all sunburned in the same places. Ouchie to the chafing of our shirts on our shoulders. Sigh. Stayed up until 3 am watching Numb3rs - bad idea. Super tired the next day.

This trip though, there was a lot of late night TV watching. First night was X-Files and CSI; second night was Las Vegas, and third night was Numb3rs. Yay for AXN. :D

Day Four

Last day in Kenting! Hotel provided breakfast at a cute restaurant down the street, so we woke up early to take advantage of it (early as in 9:30). Day 4 and we all look ... tired.






But hey, we need a group picture (that took three tries to get right) ....



Funny story: While in the room, Dan tells Picker to turn on the lights ("Picker, GO!") since she's closest to the switch. Picker reaches ... for the can of Pringles. =.= We see where her priorities are.

After we finished packing, we headed back to night market area to return the bikes. Picker overshot the store, so we had to push the bike back to the store. The lady was like, is it out of gas?! We were like, nah, just didn't want to ride bike on the wrong side of the road (pshhhh, yah rite. More like couldn't ... :P). Our taxi was picking us up at KFC, so we thought we'd just sit there and wait till it was time. Got bored. Went out walking with our heavy bags. Dumb. Hot. So hot. Sweat like crazy. Went into stores trying to find relief from the heat, but most of them didn't have a/c on. CRAZY! One of the stores was selling t-shirts that said "幹！我怕老婆". Heh. Played rhyming game that Dan kept losing at. Took sweaty pictures. Realized that sister and Dan were wearing matching shirts (情侶裝!!) ....




Finally, we couldn't stand the heat anymore, so we went back into KFC and played Chinese poker (Picker, you need to utilize strategy! strategy!!!) until the taxi came. And it was finally time to head back to the HSR station and go our separate ways. But before arriving at the station, there's one more fantastic picture of Picker:

Some overall quotes, comments, thoughts about the trip:

- Dan and his orange juice - while the rest of us were ordering coke, sprite, etc. at restaurants, Dan always ordered orange juice. We finally found out it was coz he was making up for the lack of fruits in his normal diet. Mmmm, we were confused about his healthiness for a while.

- "You have such clean (toe)nails!" Picker referring to my toe nails. I still don't get it. Didn't everyone have clean toe nails?!

- "That's what friends are for" - what I said after every insult to Picker. :D

- Bathrooms filled with girls' underwear and bikinis ... poor Dan.

- "Ooooh! Cocktails!" - Picker and her cocktails, even at 10 in the morning :P

- Sand constantly getting into Picker's eyes while she rode the bike.

- Sunburn and bras don't go well together; neither do sunburns and backpacks.

- Lots of sunblock reapplication to the point that we're nearly out of sunblock. But even then, we got sunburned and super tanned. Thankfully we brought some aloe vera to soothe the pain and decrease the amount of peeling.

- There were still people wearing long sleeves down there ... what. the. heck?!

- People seem to be really trusting down there. The second place we stayed at, the owners just left their front doors open without anyone sitting at the front desk. They had their computer and other electronic gadgets lying around too!

- Dan's the definition of packing lightly; my sister and I had the most stuff. Dan only had a small back pack and it wasn't even bulging. My sister and I both had two bags (one big backpack and one smaller bag), which were both bulging. Aih.

... Can't think of anymore. Feel free to add more if you think of stuff (points to Picker and Cathy since Dan doesn't read the blog).

Phew! That was a long entry. I think it took me like two hours to type and post ... And if you actually read the whole thing, well, thanks! :D I want to do this again next year, if I come back during the summer. Who wants to go?! Let's gooooo!!!!

More pictures at Flickr ...