Top Of The World... =D

wow. never ever thought that i would want to pen my thoughts down in a blog... but have sm really precious memories that are constantly on my mind, and that i want to be able to look back and reflect on... guess what?? i've fallen in love!!! deeply. with a country, and its people. Myanmar... =)

13th june'2004, sunday. the day we set off for myanmar. nothing whispered in my ears, nothing in the skies that hint of the impact this trip will have on my life, and my entire perspective on my current life. in fact, i was actually quite sceptical and scared that i will bring trouble to my team-mates, cos i'm well-known for being the fav target of all flying scary eekies and infamous for falling sick during trips like this when i'm out of my comfort zone. hoo boy hahah this is embarassing yep i'm actually quite a spoilt brat i guess!! =P oh yar was feeling rather sad too to be away from my family for 2 whole wks!! but i was feeling REALLY excited too!! especially since we've all been working really hard preparing for the trips, endless burmese lessons and boiling hard-as-rocks paint and whats-nots... haha not to mention learning origami and memorising really "cool" actions for our english songs!!! yayayay always can bully xinyi and yuyang (lao ban) who always turn pale at the mention of testing them hee *evil grin* after frantically taking grp photos and waving madly to cheewai, wee khoon etc who came to send us off, we were off!!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!



after an uneventful flight whereby my hand was beaten like a carpet by Yew Sen the maniac card-player (oopsy daisy cant remember the name of the game we were playing) and various gossip sessions were conducted, we touched down in Myanmar! caught my first look of the famous Soe Thiha(hahahahahhaha) =D and alot of new faces... Aung Hein shaved off his goatee!! haha almost couldnt recognise the young chap who jumped at me =P after much frowning and puckering of foreheads in deep concentration, our zillion boxes of stuff were declared accounted for by our *applause pls* hardworking logistics i/cs MAVIS &... (er i dunno who die lah. sorry!!!) we then promptly packed ourselves into the cars while the more garung guys (kok wee, enhao, soe thiha, aung phyo) bravely sat in the back of the smoking-like-a-dragon lorry!!! haha was quite a funny sight to watch their expressions changing with the smoke blowing in their faces teehee. while me, sijin, huiting, laoban were safely ensconced in john's car, we received news tt one of the cars have been stopped by the police due to extreme overloading!!! wow so exciting!! ahah we promptly skipped out of the car (me n ting) to snap pics like mad... the direction of the roads were opp to tt in S'pore and the ppl in the public buses were packed like sardines... sm were simply hanging out of the door!! looked really fun to me tho... two girls waved to me!! i was really super happy =D

we soon reached aung hein's new 7-STOREY hse!! (green with the sigh "Lucky Brothers") haha as huiting said, there were aunties waving to us from almost evry storey... it was a very comforting sight, sort of like we were accepted without question before they even know us you know? we spent the afternoon getting to know aung hein's family... and evryone was sooo very nice!! huiting and later sijin too became the aunties' favourites! haha erm ting was named ng nae lei (meaning small lady) while sijin was lar lar cho (pretty pretty sweet)... my chinese name was translated into ah lei ma (intelligent!! ahah) dinner was served, a scrumptious spread eaten by candlelight (whoa so romantic!!!!) alas too bad i wasn't with jay chou darn! =P after dinner, zoom!! we went off again in lin tun's car, this time to SHOP!!!! woohoo!! (note: there were more than 10 ppl in lin tun;s car... guiness bk of world record man!!) ah but after walking ard the mall, we realised tt the shops selling longyis (traditional burmese costumes) were closed... fret not!!! we dashed into the supermarket and proceeded to amuse ourselves by running around in it... ting n jin bought ice-cream!!!! *swoon* yep i stole a bite teehee slurp yum drool... after tt, we packed ourselves like sardines into various cars and went to the teashop!!! it was raining cats and dogs, but tt did not deter us from sprinting from the cars into the teashop! ahhh... the teashop marked the 1st phase of metamorphosis of Huili The City Girl into Huili The Burmese-Wannabe.... taadaaaa!!!! i ordered and loved my cup of myanmar tea!! me, who ONLY drink coffee in S'pore! *proud* and it's really super super nice, v unlike local tea... sweet, strong, just right! and with tt i proceeded to bug kaung zaw (AH's cousin), asking truckloads of questions even tho there was a language barrier... but hey! it was really fun! and i discovered my knack (hidden talent hoho!) of deciphering what he's trying to convey to us... was very challenging and xinyi almost couldnt take the stress haha =D turns out tt kaung zaw is a law student but his teachers do not seem to be v good... yay new friend found! dunno why but i was hyper in the teashop... must be the excitement of being in a new country =)



*yawn* time for beddy! there was a mad rush for toilets n we were all blind as mice in the total darkness... candles were lighted, torches were dug out... it was a looooooooooonnnnng time b4 we were ready to tuck into beds! alas but i juz cldnt slp! cos there was a really determined mosquito who's intent on biting my eyelid i think... it kept buzzing in my ear and in my fear of having swollen eyelids i decided to go stand in the balcony. sijin couldnt slp too! she had burrowed into her slping bag to escape the bugs but found it to hot to slp... so there we were, two solitary figures staring out into the calming peacefulness of the sleeping Yangon, breathing in the cool bracing air. soon rita joined us! another person whom the sandman has forgotten to visit... after sijin decided to try n slp, me n rita chatted, gossiped loooong into the night. learned alot abt rita, really fun to talk to her!!! ehhehe realised she's a really... erm. unique girl who likes sadistic friends!!! muahahaha =D very rfreshing talking to her, n wow we lasted until 5 am! we can see flocks of birds gathering on their own favourite satellite dish, and in the distance the sound of temple gongs can be heard... the sky turned a pretty pink hue, and the moon gradually disappeared behind a fluff of clouds. packs of dogs were barking like mad!!! quite scary =P it was then we decided to take a short nap to prevent total malfunction... zzz. WAH I WOKE UP HALF AN HOUR LATER TO DISCOVER THAT MY POOR LEFT EYELID HAD BEEN BITTEN!!! sigh. it's fate =P