banking ops off-site.

the one and only gathering of the whole department without any work related issues. there are actually a few areas whereby there are no contacts with other sections within the department at all and hence this is a very good activity to bond the entire department. however, it was a bit disappointing that not everyone took part in it.

we were then asked to sit in a circle and like the blow wind blow, we are supposed to run around and change seats. the game was called "do you love me". the person in the centre will go up to one person and ask that person "do you love me". if the person said "yes", then every one will have to start running and look for a different seat. if the person said "no", then the person in the centre will have to ask "then who do you love?" the person will reply something like " those wearing red" and those wearing red will have to start changing places.

it was a more of a morning exercise kind of game where we run about. smart ass will just shift 2-3 seats away from their original seats. sabotagers will choose not to say yes and sabo those who with limited people to run around.

anyway, i was one of the few who had to be forfeited and hence we had to do pole dance. haha. which was just moving around somebody. haha.

after that we had a section whereby we shared the most humorous thing that happened to us. both wai leong and i were nominated for our event which occured to us. both of us had the same incident, which occured in the toilet.

what happened to me was that i actually went into the wrong toilet, the toilet which was a male toilet. i went into the cubicle though seeing the urinal areas, i assumed that was for the kids. after that i heard male voices and realised that i could be in the wrong toilet but still continued to be defensive and insisted that i was right.

play the longest-line game, whereby we need to use all that we have with us to form the longest line. we lost this as there were people who went to their bags to get more jackets etc. boo~~

we also played the hula-hoop whereby the hula hoop is supposed to pass through everyone with out using any hand.

there was another activity where by all will be making the same action with someone initiating the change, so the opponent team is supposed to guess the person who initiated the change. a person will start a certain action and after which, the other person will then follow.

we lost to another team who managed to form the longest line. but we managed to gather around and met people who are usually not within my working scope

went to batam for a short trip as one of our 1 and a half year anniversary celebration.

arrived at harbourfront centre where they provide ferry terminal to batam and other ports in indonesia. bought the tickets and go through stricter immigration check perhaps due to the mas selamat case.

took the ferry and soon we arrived at the batam area of which there is a small shuttle bus which came to fetch us to the area where we are staying - KTM resort. got to know this place through this web page - http://batamspavilla.com/index.html =) we took package A for a 2Day 1 Night package, which includes 2-way ferry tickets (Sin-Batam-Sin), Meet & Greet services at Sekupang Ferry Terminal, Land transfer (Terminal-Resort-Terminal), 1 Night Accommodation at KTM Resort with Breakfast, 90mins Ocean View Spa (foot bath, hydro bath & full body massage),Batam City / Shopping Tour with local guide on 2nd Day & Seafood lunch on 2nd Day.

reached there in the afternoon and hence we headed into our rooms to rest. was very tired and hence fell asleep in the room while eugene went out to explore the place. he told me that he saw a tornado at the sea which was coming towards our direction and then headed out into the sea again. such a phenomenon. luckily, no one seemed to be injured and the people around there seemed to take this as a common thing happening. too bad my phone was with me and hence eugene didnt managed to catch a picture of this small tornado. we were lucky that we arent impacted by it as it moved off to another area and slowly dies off.

wake up around 4 for the 90 mins massage session which we had booked for the day. it was pretty shiok i will say. it involves a 30 min soaking in the spa water with the bubbles, which fascinated me and it was like jacuzzi. after which there was this massage all around the body. and there was one part when the person start swinging the top part of your body and crack, you have relaxed your neck area. haha.


batam: water spa


trying to be funny.lol

anyway, after the massage, we headed for a early dinner where we ordered black pepper crabs (crabs are much more cheaper there - perhaps due to the conversion rates), chicken wings and hot plate tau foo. i also ordered fresh coconut. quite a sumptious dish which both of us enjoyed.


feast we had

my favourite drink: coconut


sun setting


sun set

intended to go and sing KTV but it cost SGD 30 to book the entire room!! which was like freaking not worth it since there was only the 2 of us and hence we headed back to our room, of which is very dark as the sun set and there isnt any lightings around, unlike in singapore.

the next morning, we wake up for breakfast which is some mee and beehoon and then we headed to wait for the bus to bring us around for citytour. afterwhich the bus will fetch us to the ferry terminal and hence we had to carry everything with us. while waiting for the bus, we took the following pictures of the place we stayed in.


stairs to where we stay


KTM resort


rows of silt houses


we can even see singapore from there!

the city tour involved bringing us to a bridge which connect the small islands, heading to the indonesian chinese temples, eat the seafood lunch, spa and shopping.


view from one of their famous bridge


their famous bridge


both of us on the bridge


me and eugene again on the bridge


da xiong bao dian


temple we went to


polo ralph lauren


performance


their lion dance


peeling coconut using their teeth..


indo thai massage centre


while waiting for the person to massage us. aiyoh, i am wearing something lar.. duh..


ferry terminal.. home..

happy national day in advance!!!

suppose today is also a good number day for people to go and regster in ROM - 080808. haha. what an auspicious number.

celebrating national day at SOC (Singapore Operations Centre) involves some activities and games. and i received a packet of things which are some child-hood games, such as the paper aeroplane which you had to fixed yourself, paper balloons, marbles, chap-tek, 5 stones and something like helicopter top where you spin and it will fly. there is also this ice water with flavouring (i love grape flavour) in the tube form and candy-floss.



and we also got our august freebies - healthy eating snacks - Macadamia nuts and pumpkin seed with yogurt and cranberry with yogurt coating. it taste funny to some. but i like it. =)



anyway, i was involved in one of the games which our SRC (SOC Recreational Club) hosted. my team consist of yurreny, eugene, norliyana and rozita.



the game i was involved in revolved around the familiarity of the different national day theme related songs and related pictures. the main aim of this game is not to win but instead to have fun.

the 1st section of the game involved charade where you will have to act out the song. the 2nd section of the game involved the playing the beginning portion of the song and you will have to blow balloons til it burst for each team to be able to guess it. and the last and final section of the game is to guess the different pictures displayed, eg. sir stamford raffles face, etc. and of course, balloons are supposed to be blown til it burst before we can have the chance to blow the balloon.


waiting for the result.

other than this game, we also have another game which i wasnt involved in. all i know is that this involves some funny food - such as chillis, bittergourds and they all score different points according to the difficulties of the food being eaten.

national day was as per usual, nothing special, just another additional day of leave which we can take any time we like since it falls on a saturday.

p/s: pictures are proudly taken by Samantha. =)