vince says:
So we've come to the end, la di da. As much as I miss the coyotes back home, I feel immensely fulfilled that I have managed to make it this far and this long on these beautiful islands. I have physically done a lot, and you have read about them on this blog. I would like to take a moment to thank the people that I've met (and there are many).
First and foremost, I want to thank my parents for footing the bill for this trip. It was a long time coming, I knew you took warnings for the trip since before I started army - no hint was missed out whenever I mentioned "Hawaii" or "...going with Ian". I am just especially grateful that Mom and Dad gave me their blessings for this trip, and sponsored me thus far. I promise you I'll get that darned scholarship so at least I can say I have done my part. I love you both. College is awaiting and I will not disappoint.
Ian you snarky ass thank you for putting the thought of this trip so early since the end of JC2 and thank you for letting me come with you and meeting your wonderful relatives. I know we've gotten really close during these 6 weeks, and the fact that you're leaving Singapore for US for your studies later this year fills me with dread because I will be losing one of my best friends. We've done almost everything together this trip and I will miss irritating you during pool games at John's house and together with your aunt insult you regarding your weight and farts. Oops I did it again. Sorry! (you know i'm not really, ha!)
Aunt Yen Yee and Uncle Paul - how shall I begin? Since the very first day when Uncle Paul slapped me on the back as I was gazing awestruck at the magnificent view of the Pacific Ocean from your patio and gave me an ice cold beer saying "Welcome to Hawaii" to the day when you mocked us whenever we did one of the many many chores around the house to this final day when we sat around the front lawn staring at the sunset... It has been a really surreal experience and you have opened your doors so graciously to me, a mere stranger, affording me a genuine friendship and hospitality that from now on I shall measure against. Every meal which you paid for me or cooked for me I have not forgotten, and I promise you I'll try to repay that debt somehow. Aunt Yen Yee you were like a mother to us when we're here, from waking us up in the mornings - "EH HELLO WHAT TIME ALREADY STILL SLEEPING" to bringing us to Costco and footing our bills upfront and everything up to the final day when you helped us both pack our stuff for travelling back to Singapore. Thank you for everything again, and you can bet I will be back again, this time when I'm more financially independent so I don't have to work those menial chores again!
John Ryan; Anne and Hal from next door - Thanks for opening your doors and welcoming two highly impressionable boys to your rather dramatic house. I will always be impressed with that Steinway and Sons grand piano and your personal observatory and your underground cellar. I will be treasuring that night we spent playing pool in your office and getting really drunk and high afterwards with Jim Schumacher downstairs and all that jokes. You have showed me that rich people can be really fun and down to earth, and maybe one day we will meet again. Personal note to Hal - you can bet we'll be in touch soon.
Uncle Fun and Aunt Mabel - thank you for allowing me into your family and again, showing me hospitality and I don't think I can forget the day you selflessly gave me "some" spending cash. Thanks for driving us around Oahu rather safely as well (inside joke with Ian).
And last but not least, thank you to the wonderful girl that spent the many long nights on the island with me. I know it will be hard for us to meet again, but you never know huh. I've always treasured your company, especially when we counted shooting stars and talked about everything under the sun. You made quite an impression on me, and I will miss you very much.
So thats that. Thanks to everyone who reads our blog, this shall be the last blog until the much distant future when we finally get off our asses and spare you a snapshot or two and the long-awaited video which I will finally get around to editing. See you all back in Singapore!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Lifechanging Experience - Devil Dance in the Sea of Dark
Fun says:
So far, I've been on many adventures on my longggg stay here. Mauna Kea, Cave Spelunking(read about it in vincent's post soon), close encounters with the whales, visits to beautiful valleys and some other cool stuff.
None however, came close to what i've experienced tonight first hand.
The night dive with one of the gentle giants of the pacific. The Manta Ray (aka Devil Ray)
Well im sure most people would know or at least heard of what a Manta Ray is. If not. Check wiki =D. Nah, ill just try and describe it. Its a fish, stemmming from that of the Shark family. It can attain incredible sizes over its long lifespan, 30ft is what i heard from our manta videographer. Thats 9meters long. We're not talking about tip of its head to the end of its tail. We're talking about wing tip to wing tip. Another good estimation of how huge these things are - for each foot of the manta, its a 100 pounds. An average adult female would be around 12-13ft long. What makes it the Devil Ray u may ask? Its the "horns" they have on the tip of their head which they unfurl when they are not feeding. So yea they look pretty mean with those.
Time for the main course.
Vincent and I took a boat out from the harbour and headed towards a small congregation of like 8 boats. All preparing to watch the mantas in the approaching night. After a quick briefing and education talks, we were told to suit up and jump in! While i was wearing my flippers, the captain of the boat pointed one manta out to me. It was huge. it was as wide as the platform i was on. This made me pretty apprehensive in entering the water lol. But i jumped in in the end.
Okay, about how this works. The Manta's eat only plankton, microscopic little buggers in the ocean, which are attracted to light. So what these dive companies do is that they set a strong light box at the bottom of the reef, and have divers sit around in a circle and shine their torches up. The snorkelers on the other hand (like myself) had to float on the surface and shine our light DOWN. This creates a huge column of light for the manta's to take the stage and put on and awesome display. To be honest i was quite disappointed to be snorkeling cause i figured id get the shorter end of the stick coz i couldnt hold my breathe long enough and stuff like that. And that the show from below probably looked more spectacular.
But i was very fortunately wrong.
Shining a torch from the bottom up (divers), meant that the manta would swoop over your head in a huge loop/somersault and gape their huge mouths open and score some plankton. Pretty awesome you might think? Let me give you another scenario.
Shining a torch from the top down (Snorkelers), lead to the manta's doing a flip right underneath you. So its kinda like hes trying to belly touch your belly. The REALLY cool thing about this is. They are like. An inch away from you when they do this. And with each loop. They get closer. and closer. AND CLOSER. When his huge mouth gapes at you, its pretty intimidating. He cant process all the fat i have to offer anyway so that wasnt a biggie, he just goes for his plankton.
Each time a manta did that loop beneath us you could hear everyone exclaiming through their masks, causing only muffled yelps of excitement to be heard. It was pretty funny to hear people swearing each time they got too close for comfort.
Another amazing thing was how surreal everything looked at night in the open ocean. Schools of fish joined in the feeding frenzy, shimmering like opals and mirrors under all the light emitting from all around them. Rings and pockets of bubbles found their way to the surface from the masks and tanks of the divers beneath us. A whole myriad of glints and twinkles bounced off the bubbles and the silver bodied fish, creating a glorious spectacle. Just when you thought it doesnt get any better than that, a 13ft Manta glides out of the looming darkness and casts its silhouette on the light below, doing his graceful gluttonous dance. And more mantas join the party, from all directions, blocking out the lights and enjoying their meal.
A couple of close encounters would include vincent and myself swearing in every possible way we knew how as "Sugar Ray" (the name of that particular manta as the veteran divers endearingly call it.) a huge female manta did her dance right beneath us. The videographer lady was right beneath us with her very bright lights (hence very much more plankton), and the Sugar just kept going loops and loops and loops under us! Like 10 or more times in a row! Each time it seemed she was gonna end up kissing us! Vincent got grazed lightly on the chest by her tail and i was staring right into her eyes! No amount of words coming from this post can describe how we felt. I even bumped into one of them, ( well, she bumped into me.) I felt someone pushing my fins away, which did happen earlier coz there were so many people! so i looked back and instead of seeing some kid kicking me, i saw a manta doing a loop and pushing my fins back! It was a really really crazy feeling!
about 45mins later we were told to head back to our boat. ( MAJOR BUMMER. I felt i could have stayed there till dawn.) We changed out and enjoyed a nice star lit ride back to the harbour. And we bought the dvd of our little adventure and gotta go collect it tomorrow! So hopefully we can get that on the blog. But heres a lil video from youtube to give u guys a general idea!
P.S im sorry this post is kinda disoriented. I myself am still reeling in pure excitement today. so this is all kinda rambling hahahaha.
So far, I've been on many adventures on my longggg stay here. Mauna Kea, Cave Spelunking(read about it in vincent's post soon), close encounters with the whales, visits to beautiful valleys and some other cool stuff.
None however, came close to what i've experienced tonight first hand.
The night dive with one of the gentle giants of the pacific. The Manta Ray (aka Devil Ray)
Well im sure most people would know or at least heard of what a Manta Ray is. If not. Check wiki =D. Nah, ill just try and describe it. Its a fish, stemmming from that of the Shark family. It can attain incredible sizes over its long lifespan, 30ft is what i heard from our manta videographer. Thats 9meters long. We're not talking about tip of its head to the end of its tail. We're talking about wing tip to wing tip. Another good estimation of how huge these things are - for each foot of the manta, its a 100 pounds. An average adult female would be around 12-13ft long. What makes it the Devil Ray u may ask? Its the "horns" they have on the tip of their head which they unfurl when they are not feeding. So yea they look pretty mean with those.
Time for the main course.
Vincent and I took a boat out from the harbour and headed towards a small congregation of like 8 boats. All preparing to watch the mantas in the approaching night. After a quick briefing and education talks, we were told to suit up and jump in! While i was wearing my flippers, the captain of the boat pointed one manta out to me. It was huge. it was as wide as the platform i was on. This made me pretty apprehensive in entering the water lol. But i jumped in in the end.
Okay, about how this works. The Manta's eat only plankton, microscopic little buggers in the ocean, which are attracted to light. So what these dive companies do is that they set a strong light box at the bottom of the reef, and have divers sit around in a circle and shine their torches up. The snorkelers on the other hand (like myself) had to float on the surface and shine our light DOWN. This creates a huge column of light for the manta's to take the stage and put on and awesome display. To be honest i was quite disappointed to be snorkeling cause i figured id get the shorter end of the stick coz i couldnt hold my breathe long enough and stuff like that. And that the show from below probably looked more spectacular.
But i was very fortunately wrong.
Shining a torch from the bottom up (divers), meant that the manta would swoop over your head in a huge loop/somersault and gape their huge mouths open and score some plankton. Pretty awesome you might think? Let me give you another scenario.
Shining a torch from the top down (Snorkelers), lead to the manta's doing a flip right underneath you. So its kinda like hes trying to belly touch your belly. The REALLY cool thing about this is. They are like. An inch away from you when they do this. And with each loop. They get closer. and closer. AND CLOSER. When his huge mouth gapes at you, its pretty intimidating. He cant process all the fat i have to offer anyway so that wasnt a biggie, he just goes for his plankton.
Each time a manta did that loop beneath us you could hear everyone exclaiming through their masks, causing only muffled yelps of excitement to be heard. It was pretty funny to hear people swearing each time they got too close for comfort.
Another amazing thing was how surreal everything looked at night in the open ocean. Schools of fish joined in the feeding frenzy, shimmering like opals and mirrors under all the light emitting from all around them. Rings and pockets of bubbles found their way to the surface from the masks and tanks of the divers beneath us. A whole myriad of glints and twinkles bounced off the bubbles and the silver bodied fish, creating a glorious spectacle. Just when you thought it doesnt get any better than that, a 13ft Manta glides out of the looming darkness and casts its silhouette on the light below, doing his graceful gluttonous dance. And more mantas join the party, from all directions, blocking out the lights and enjoying their meal.
A couple of close encounters would include vincent and myself swearing in every possible way we knew how as "Sugar Ray" (the name of that particular manta as the veteran divers endearingly call it.) a huge female manta did her dance right beneath us. The videographer lady was right beneath us with her very bright lights (hence very much more plankton), and the Sugar just kept going loops and loops and loops under us! Like 10 or more times in a row! Each time it seemed she was gonna end up kissing us! Vincent got grazed lightly on the chest by her tail and i was staring right into her eyes! No amount of words coming from this post can describe how we felt. I even bumped into one of them, ( well, she bumped into me.) I felt someone pushing my fins away, which did happen earlier coz there were so many people! so i looked back and instead of seeing some kid kicking me, i saw a manta doing a loop and pushing my fins back! It was a really really crazy feeling!
about 45mins later we were told to head back to our boat. ( MAJOR BUMMER. I felt i could have stayed there till dawn.) We changed out and enjoyed a nice star lit ride back to the harbour. And we bought the dvd of our little adventure and gotta go collect it tomorrow! So hopefully we can get that on the blog. But heres a lil video from youtube to give u guys a general idea!
P.S im sorry this post is kinda disoriented. I myself am still reeling in pure excitement today. so this is all kinda rambling hahahaha.
Monday, April 20, 2009
nearing the end of a glorious trip
vince says:
hey all sorry for not been updating for quite some time. The truth of the matter is that I was simply too lazy or too tired to update, but here I am now! Sorry to my fans.
The first day I reached Hawaii from Singapore about a month plus back I bought a blue book called Hawaii The Big Island Revealed, The ULTIMATE Guidebook. So obviously for someone to call it the ULTIMATE guidebook it had to be something right? And on hindsight, it was. Hence, the latter was to be the starting point for many of the things that we did in the past 2 weeks.
I have been consistently reading this book to look up new and exciting places to explore, and it has been just amazing. As of today I have been to all four corners of the island... and more.
Four days ago we went to a place called Waipi'o Valley, which is this really beautiful picturesque location. Unfortunately, the valley road was SO steep it took us about an hour just to get down and another hour to get up. It had been raining pretty badly these days, so the rainforest ground was muddy and wet - which really was not a problem for my Timberlands, but Ian and his cousin Sandra were complaining a lot, because tennis shoes don't keep em dry. But it was not a failed trip. We saw another black sand beach and clambered over rocks to search for an elusive waterfall (which we didn't find, because the waterfall had dried up).
So that was four days ago. The next day we did something I would remember for the rest of my life. Cliff jumping was one of them, but this was something else altogether. My guidebook pointed out that a new lava tube cave (a lava tube cave is how lava or molten rock travels underground, through long caves beneath the surface of the ground) was found off the 23rd highway mile marker on Highway 11. With these few directions, Sandra rented a car (thanks Sandra) and we zoomed off in search of the new cave.
When we reached the spot it was raining. I got out and tried to find the trail which I was supposed to find, which really wasn't much. Remember in the army when you had to bash through a rainforest and walk on trodden grass the guy in front of you had trod on before? It was THAT kind of trail. No joke mate. For the first time in two months I was again reminded of that sinking feeling you get when you were walking through the jungles of Singapore. On a side note I really got to thank 3Guards for putting me through shit beforehand because honestly this was nothing compared to the stuff our unit had put us through. Anyways. With the other two trailing behind me I tried to find a way through the thick undergrowth. It was drizzling all these while. The ground was SUPER squished and talls ferns licked us from the side of the trail. I thought I had lost my way a few times but I kept on going. But when I finally saw it, it made everything worth it.
You know that scene in The Descent where the women lowered themselves off a fallen cave opening and into the blackness below? Same thing here. Where the cave ceiling had fallen through and the only way to enter was from the top. It looked like nothing you had seen on Earth. Well technically, this was below the Earth. We scrambled down the fallen rocks and entered a hole in the Earth.
It was beautiful, stunning for words. The floor of the cave was a mess of rubble from fallen lava stalactites and where the roof had fallen through, extremely rocky. The ceiling was agog with formations the likes I have never seen before. Zillions of portruding nipples from where the water above had percolated through to the cave below, now hung from each and every stalactite. The sides however, took the cake. Solid rock walls on each side of the lava tube had horizontal lines cut into the rock, where you can imagine a hundred or so years ago, molten rock had flowed through this cave, cutting the sides as it gushed out in a fury of hellfire and brimstone. We tried taking photographs and videos, but it was so dark it was just not possible. It was very lucky we bought the Mag-lite (extremely powerful flashlight).
The tube stretched for about one and a half miles (a mile is about 1.6km) We only walked a part of it, and I'll tell you why. At certain points of the tube the ceiling had dipped so low that there was no way of proceeding without taking everything off our backs and crawling through the crawlspace. It was no joke, and I'm not kidding when I say that the ceiling and the floor at some of these points were the height of my knees. Plus the fact that the surfaces of the tube was so rough and sharp, all of us suffered some form of scratches on our limbs. Sandra who was pint-size (private joke: you're no jug hahahahahaha!) usually went ahead first, to see whether the tube would open up, and when that was confirmed we went on. Ian kept grumbling though, because he wasn't so amused by the cave as I was, and fallen rocks made him a little nervous.
When the cave opened up, it was at least 20 feet high, and comfortable to walk. We had treked for at least two hours in the darkness of the cave, before we finally headed back. This was definitely the highlight of my time here, this and the cliff jump.
That night I had an interesting conversation with Uncle Paul and Fred. Apparently the day before there was an earthquake of 5.0 magnitude which was felt all around the island. For some reason over at Kailua-Kona (which is the town we were residing in, but don't get fooled we were in no town, but the Four Seasons resort) we did not feel it. Uncle Paul then asked: What do you think would happen if we were in the tube when the earthquake had occurred? It then dawned on me how dangerous today's spelunking trip really was. The cave we saw today was the result of many year's earthquakes and tremors. What we saw today could not be seen by anyone else tomorrow. It might not even be accessible tomorrow if the cave ceiling had fallen through and closed up the tube. As we were off the grid and not in any national park or classified lava tube, being such a new cave, no one would be able to find us if we were trapped inside the tube. Uncle Paul and Aunt Yen Yee don't even know about the tube we were exploring that day - they've never even heard of it! On hindsight hence, it was an extremely dangerous activity which gives me the shivers just thinking about it. But I love it. I love it so much that I ever return back to Hawaii's Big Island, you can bet your ass I'm running over to this tube and the next to explore.
hey all sorry for not been updating for quite some time. The truth of the matter is that I was simply too lazy or too tired to update, but here I am now! Sorry to my fans.
The first day I reached Hawaii from Singapore about a month plus back I bought a blue book called Hawaii The Big Island Revealed, The ULTIMATE Guidebook. So obviously for someone to call it the ULTIMATE guidebook it had to be something right? And on hindsight, it was. Hence, the latter was to be the starting point for many of the things that we did in the past 2 weeks.
I have been consistently reading this book to look up new and exciting places to explore, and it has been just amazing. As of today I have been to all four corners of the island... and more.
Four days ago we went to a place called Waipi'o Valley, which is this really beautiful picturesque location. Unfortunately, the valley road was SO steep it took us about an hour just to get down and another hour to get up. It had been raining pretty badly these days, so the rainforest ground was muddy and wet - which really was not a problem for my Timberlands, but Ian and his cousin Sandra were complaining a lot, because tennis shoes don't keep em dry. But it was not a failed trip. We saw another black sand beach and clambered over rocks to search for an elusive waterfall (which we didn't find, because the waterfall had dried up).
So that was four days ago. The next day we did something I would remember for the rest of my life. Cliff jumping was one of them, but this was something else altogether. My guidebook pointed out that a new lava tube cave (a lava tube cave is how lava or molten rock travels underground, through long caves beneath the surface of the ground) was found off the 23rd highway mile marker on Highway 11. With these few directions, Sandra rented a car (thanks Sandra) and we zoomed off in search of the new cave.
When we reached the spot it was raining. I got out and tried to find the trail which I was supposed to find, which really wasn't much. Remember in the army when you had to bash through a rainforest and walk on trodden grass the guy in front of you had trod on before? It was THAT kind of trail. No joke mate. For the first time in two months I was again reminded of that sinking feeling you get when you were walking through the jungles of Singapore. On a side note I really got to thank 3Guards for putting me through shit beforehand because honestly this was nothing compared to the stuff our unit had put us through. Anyways. With the other two trailing behind me I tried to find a way through the thick undergrowth. It was drizzling all these while. The ground was SUPER squished and talls ferns licked us from the side of the trail. I thought I had lost my way a few times but I kept on going. But when I finally saw it, it made everything worth it.
You know that scene in The Descent where the women lowered themselves off a fallen cave opening and into the blackness below? Same thing here. Where the cave ceiling had fallen through and the only way to enter was from the top. It looked like nothing you had seen on Earth. Well technically, this was below the Earth. We scrambled down the fallen rocks and entered a hole in the Earth.
It was beautiful, stunning for words. The floor of the cave was a mess of rubble from fallen lava stalactites and where the roof had fallen through, extremely rocky. The ceiling was agog with formations the likes I have never seen before. Zillions of portruding nipples from where the water above had percolated through to the cave below, now hung from each and every stalactite. The sides however, took the cake. Solid rock walls on each side of the lava tube had horizontal lines cut into the rock, where you can imagine a hundred or so years ago, molten rock had flowed through this cave, cutting the sides as it gushed out in a fury of hellfire and brimstone. We tried taking photographs and videos, but it was so dark it was just not possible. It was very lucky we bought the Mag-lite (extremely powerful flashlight).
The tube stretched for about one and a half miles (a mile is about 1.6km) We only walked a part of it, and I'll tell you why. At certain points of the tube the ceiling had dipped so low that there was no way of proceeding without taking everything off our backs and crawling through the crawlspace. It was no joke, and I'm not kidding when I say that the ceiling and the floor at some of these points were the height of my knees. Plus the fact that the surfaces of the tube was so rough and sharp, all of us suffered some form of scratches on our limbs. Sandra who was pint-size (private joke: you're no jug hahahahahaha!) usually went ahead first, to see whether the tube would open up, and when that was confirmed we went on. Ian kept grumbling though, because he wasn't so amused by the cave as I was, and fallen rocks made him a little nervous.
When the cave opened up, it was at least 20 feet high, and comfortable to walk. We had treked for at least two hours in the darkness of the cave, before we finally headed back. This was definitely the highlight of my time here, this and the cliff jump.
That night I had an interesting conversation with Uncle Paul and Fred. Apparently the day before there was an earthquake of 5.0 magnitude which was felt all around the island. For some reason over at Kailua-Kona (which is the town we were residing in, but don't get fooled we were in no town, but the Four Seasons resort) we did not feel it. Uncle Paul then asked: What do you think would happen if we were in the tube when the earthquake had occurred? It then dawned on me how dangerous today's spelunking trip really was. The cave we saw today was the result of many year's earthquakes and tremors. What we saw today could not be seen by anyone else tomorrow. It might not even be accessible tomorrow if the cave ceiling had fallen through and closed up the tube. As we were off the grid and not in any national park or classified lava tube, being such a new cave, no one would be able to find us if we were trapped inside the tube. Uncle Paul and Aunt Yen Yee don't even know about the tube we were exploring that day - they've never even heard of it! On hindsight hence, it was an extremely dangerous activity which gives me the shivers just thinking about it. But I love it. I love it so much that I ever return back to Hawaii's Big Island, you can bet your ass I'm running over to this tube and the next to explore.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Playground of the Gods!
Fun says:
Hello all, today i bring to you pictures from atop the aptly named "White Mountain" - Mauna Kea!
[Observatory atop Mauna Kea]
[Sandra]
[Vincent and I]
[Dad and I]
All these pictures were taken at the top of Mauna Kea. The largest Mountain on our planet. Although not as high up as Mt Everest, Mauna Kea however starts from below sea level, a great deal below sea level in fact. I cant remember the numbers right now, but if the entire Mauna Kea was above the ground, it would be the biggest and tallest. It can fit a few Mt Everests into itself. Huge huh?
Apart from the snowy terrain, the fluffy things you see are really in fact clouds and not more snow. We were up THAT high. Higher than the clouds! As depraved of oxygen as i was, we managed to get quite a few pics before running back to the warm toastiness of our tour bus.
Most of the World's most expensive and largest observatories are also on top of Mauna Kea, as seen in one of the pics above. There were ALOT of them. Some satellites dishes though. All of them were owned by different countires, Uk, USA, Japan, Canada to name a few.
After watching the amazing sunset from here, we headed to a lower altitude for some cookies and a hot chocolate and the guide proceeded from there with a lesson on astronomy. A practical lesson in the field with a big-ass telescope lol. The stars were out in full force that night, and the guide pointed out with his mega-amazingly-powerful green laser pointer into the heavens to point out the different zodiacal constellations and planets like Saturn. To call it beautiful would be an understatment.
This was really a worthwhile trip with images and memories that will remain etched in my mind. Anyone who decides to come to the Big Island for a vacation absolutely have to go check this out.
Hello all, today i bring to you pictures from atop the aptly named "White Mountain" - Mauna Kea!
[Observatory atop Mauna Kea]
[Sandra]
[Vincent and I]
[Dad and I]
All these pictures were taken at the top of Mauna Kea. The largest Mountain on our planet. Although not as high up as Mt Everest, Mauna Kea however starts from below sea level, a great deal below sea level in fact. I cant remember the numbers right now, but if the entire Mauna Kea was above the ground, it would be the biggest and tallest. It can fit a few Mt Everests into itself. Huge huh?
Apart from the snowy terrain, the fluffy things you see are really in fact clouds and not more snow. We were up THAT high. Higher than the clouds! As depraved of oxygen as i was, we managed to get quite a few pics before running back to the warm toastiness of our tour bus.
Most of the World's most expensive and largest observatories are also on top of Mauna Kea, as seen in one of the pics above. There were ALOT of them. Some satellites dishes though. All of them were owned by different countires, Uk, USA, Japan, Canada to name a few.
After watching the amazing sunset from here, we headed to a lower altitude for some cookies and a hot chocolate and the guide proceeded from there with a lesson on astronomy. A practical lesson in the field with a big-ass telescope lol. The stars were out in full force that night, and the guide pointed out with his mega-amazingly-powerful green laser pointer into the heavens to point out the different zodiacal constellations and planets like Saturn. To call it beautiful would be an understatment.
This was really a worthwhile trip with images and memories that will remain etched in my mind. Anyone who decides to come to the Big Island for a vacation absolutely have to go check this out.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
More to come!
Fun says:
Hi guys, i know its been a pretty long time since we updated anything haha. Not because we havent been doing anything cool. but quite the opposite! After coming back from Honolulu with my Dad, stepmom and cousin Sandra, we went to the volcanoes, hiked down a rainforesty area and across the caldera (word for a crater bigger than a mile across). More details on this when i finally load all the damn photos on photobucket. Ive been lazy. im SORRY.
My other cousin, Shannon also came over from Honolulu over the weekend despite his busy university schedule to join in my 21st Bday celebration!! 11th of April! So it was great having bday wishes coming in on the 10th here and on the 11th too! Im sorry if i didnt reply your smses to those who might have sent me some greetings. My handphone went totally dead. it wont charge even. So all the msges BOUNCED. so.. EMAIL ME THE CONTENTS YA?! Heh heh.
- Im sorry Vincent i need to hijack the blog for a personal vendetta-
Here goes!
Im very happy i managed to spend my coming-of-age here, (and hence avoid getting drunk), but part of me really wished to be back home with all you guys. From P9 to the JC clique to the slacker clerks in Kranji camp. Heres a shout out to you for having always been a phonecall or a msn away for me to bug the hell out of you. I apologise for all that i might have done to piss any of you off at any one point in time and you guys have no idea how much your friendship means to me. And here is a big, huge, GI-NORMOUS thank you to all you people who has made my life as beautiful as it is today. Especially family, on both sides. Your support and love has bolstered me through much of my *unseemingly* tough times and rough patches.
And ABOVE ALLLLLLLLL!!!! Thank you Dad. I heard somewhere that a son watches his father's back as he grows up, and will always strive to shadow him *in most cases anyway* and live to be another excellent example of Life to his child. Well, im not as hardworking or dilligent as my dad, but hey, i turned out alright, in some aspects. I hope. I love you Dad, and im sorry to have disappointed you long enough. It wont happen anymore.
To Mom, who is pleasantly residing somewhere around me (i can feel you all the time!), and hopefully you have access to the internet..hehe. You may not have walked alongside me on Earth long enough, alive. but even to this very day, i can still feel your hand on my shoulder when im in need of comfort, the prodding of your fingers on the edge of my lips when im sad and your warm embrace on each of these long lonely nights. I could really go on and on forever with this really.
Forever you will live on inside of me. Thank you for the life you breathed into me.
and
I love all of you. Thank you.
Well..er..okay..i didnt think i'd get that emotional.
ANYWAY! i digress, this has become a birthday speech and i shan't invade my holiday blog with anymore of my own vain feelings. HAHA. Just remember my presents kay?
- okay back to real holidaying! -
Another really exciting thing we did..was to go all the way up to Mauna Kea. White Mountain in english. Mauna meaning Mountaing and Kea, White. It deserves so much more then a passing mention like so in this crummy lacklustre post, but the pictures are being uploaded as we speak. It was absolutely.....Well. THATS for another post =D
Just dropping this post to whet ur appetite for posts to come! Cheers all! We will be back soon! Sooooooooooo START DATING US SOON! hahahah!
BUHBYE TILL THE NXT "FUN SAYS"
P.S
I nearly forgot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY STANLEY GOH. i hope you get this! This is the only year we didnt celebrate our bday tgt since 2001(I think)?! ZOMGGG. Love you MAN. HAHA. My treat when we get back alright?! Take care till then!
Hi guys, i know its been a pretty long time since we updated anything haha. Not because we havent been doing anything cool. but quite the opposite! After coming back from Honolulu with my Dad, stepmom and cousin Sandra, we went to the volcanoes, hiked down a rainforesty area and across the caldera (word for a crater bigger than a mile across). More details on this when i finally load all the damn photos on photobucket. Ive been lazy. im SORRY.
My other cousin, Shannon also came over from Honolulu over the weekend despite his busy university schedule to join in my 21st Bday celebration!! 11th of April! So it was great having bday wishes coming in on the 10th here and on the 11th too! Im sorry if i didnt reply your smses to those who might have sent me some greetings. My handphone went totally dead. it wont charge even. So all the msges BOUNCED. so.. EMAIL ME THE CONTENTS YA?! Heh heh.
- Im sorry Vincent i need to hijack the blog for a personal vendetta-
Here goes!
Im very happy i managed to spend my coming-of-age here, (and hence avoid getting drunk), but part of me really wished to be back home with all you guys. From P9 to the JC clique to the slacker clerks in Kranji camp. Heres a shout out to you for having always been a phonecall or a msn away for me to bug the hell out of you. I apologise for all that i might have done to piss any of you off at any one point in time and you guys have no idea how much your friendship means to me. And here is a big, huge, GI-NORMOUS thank you to all you people who has made my life as beautiful as it is today. Especially family, on both sides. Your support and love has bolstered me through much of my *unseemingly* tough times and rough patches.
And ABOVE ALLLLLLLLL!!!! Thank you Dad. I heard somewhere that a son watches his father's back as he grows up, and will always strive to shadow him *in most cases anyway* and live to be another excellent example of Life to his child. Well, im not as hardworking or dilligent as my dad, but hey, i turned out alright, in some aspects. I hope. I love you Dad, and im sorry to have disappointed you long enough. It wont happen anymore.
To Mom, who is pleasantly residing somewhere around me (i can feel you all the time!), and hopefully you have access to the internet..hehe. You may not have walked alongside me on Earth long enough, alive. but even to this very day, i can still feel your hand on my shoulder when im in need of comfort, the prodding of your fingers on the edge of my lips when im sad and your warm embrace on each of these long lonely nights. I could really go on and on forever with this really.
Forever you will live on inside of me. Thank you for the life you breathed into me.
and
I love all of you. Thank you.
Well..er..okay..i didnt think i'd get that emotional.
ANYWAY! i digress, this has become a birthday speech and i shan't invade my holiday blog with anymore of my own vain feelings. HAHA. Just remember my presents kay?
- okay back to real holidaying! -
Another really exciting thing we did..was to go all the way up to Mauna Kea. White Mountain in english. Mauna meaning Mountaing and Kea, White. It deserves so much more then a passing mention like so in this crummy lacklustre post, but the pictures are being uploaded as we speak. It was absolutely.....Well. THATS for another post =D
Just dropping this post to whet ur appetite for posts to come! Cheers all! We will be back soon! Sooooooooooo START DATING US SOON! hahahah!
BUHBYE TILL THE NXT "FUN SAYS"
P.S
I nearly forgot. HAPPY BIRTHDAY STANLEY GOH. i hope you get this! This is the only year we didnt celebrate our bday tgt since 2001(I think)?! ZOMGGG. Love you MAN. HAHA. My treat when we get back alright?! Take care till then!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Back from Honolulu!~
Fun says:
Hello all! Im gonna have first dibs on blogging on our Honolulu trip ( neh neh ni boo boo @ vincent).
Anyways. We just got back from a 3 day trip in Honolulu to meet up with my parents who arrived on Saturday. The amount of luggage they had was damn scary. All full of food! Hurray for chinese food in insta-packs like Prima.
Well there isnt really much to blog about apart from shopping..SHOPping..AND MORE SHOPPING. Vincent unloaded like all his cash on cds!! I bought a couple of T-shirts and stuff for people. Nothing much really.
There was a funny incident at the hotel we were staying at though. I forgot to bring an extra shirt to sleep in, so i had to go walk across the hall to my dads room in my used shirt and glorious boxers and get one from him. While i was waiting helplessly outside the door knocking for a long time. The lift bell rang and 3 girls walked and started teasing and cat-calling me the ENTIREEEEEE time i was out there till i grabbed the shirt and ran back to my room. Easily the most embarassing incident ever.
Anyway, what we did the next day was pretty cool, we all got into the rental car ( a cool blue jeep) and set off with my jet-lagged Dad at the wheel to make a round island trip around Honolulu. Its really much smaller then u would imagine. It only took us about half a day, and we did make a few stops. To look around at the beaches and to grab food. But the highlight of the trip was driving around the rock formations all covered in lush greenery, the hilly formation looked so cleanly formed as if some great entity clawed away at it mercilessly over the many long years. Like ridges running all the way from top to bottom. The clouds hovered just high enough to cover the peaks (or rather the clouds weres just very low -.-). To top it all off as we cleared that part of the island, a huge, vivid rainbow painted the sky in front of us, we could see the start (or end) of it as the arc raced off into the clouds. As we all know, Life a Bitch, and when it rains, it pours. But hey.
No Rain. No Rainbows!!
Sadly i didnt get pics of the damn rainbow coz my batt had to die at that exact moment. !@&#!@()#* I did however, get pics of Pearl Harbour! Vincent and I headed down to the USS Arizona State Memorial, where the sunken battleship served as a watery tomb to the 1177 (i think) navy/army personnel. All of them perished in the attack on Pearl Harbour by a Japanese surprise attack on December 7th 1941. A japanese bomber released a armor-penatrating torpedo which barrelled into the ship and ignited the super load of ammunition and other explosives, resulting in a massive explosion. Well thats just the gist of it. Walking around the exhibits they had while waiting for our turn to watch a short film and take a boat ride to the memorial itself, reading the stories of all these brave and at that time, young men, made the trip a very solemn one. Stories of valor and heroism one after another, each with their own story. Some more pleasant then others.
Everyone has at least heard of this historical moment in detail or in passing, but there were a few interesting things that came to my attention about the whole ordeal.
First off, the Japanese guys here are the main baddies right? But its more screwed up of them to attack Oahu, Honululu, which has a population of which 45% were of Japanese ancestry. Reading the names of the civilian casualties, all these Japanese names pop up, and their ages. I cant remember the names clearly. but the age.. something like..3 months? 3 years? Its really horrible. To me at least, the war had clearly transcended any racial or ethnic backgrounds. Vincent did mention that he would have hated to be a Japanese right now lest people should start bashing us up, but there were super lot of japanese tourists there. Alike the ang mohs there, the same solemn expression glazed over them as well.
[List of casaulties, war personnel and civilians]
Another interesting and sad fact was that there were 75 sets of brothers on the USS Arizona. Of which only 14 survived. On the wall of remembrance where their names were engraved, you would see many of them with the same last names. Some brothers survived while their kin perished in the flaming oil and watery prisons.
The memorial itself was like a huge white bridge built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. Looking down over it, you can stil see oil seeping out of the wreckage even till this day. Little splashes of oil slowly dissipitating into the blue.
Here are the pics!
That enough of my really long crap, but that was what 3 days in honolulu was like! Its about 12 midnight here and im tired as balls.
Hello all! Im gonna have first dibs on blogging on our Honolulu trip ( neh neh ni boo boo @ vincent).
Anyways. We just got back from a 3 day trip in Honolulu to meet up with my parents who arrived on Saturday. The amount of luggage they had was damn scary. All full of food! Hurray for chinese food in insta-packs like Prima.
Well there isnt really much to blog about apart from shopping..SHOPping..AND MORE SHOPPING. Vincent unloaded like all his cash on cds!! I bought a couple of T-shirts and stuff for people. Nothing much really.
There was a funny incident at the hotel we were staying at though. I forgot to bring an extra shirt to sleep in, so i had to go walk across the hall to my dads room in my used shirt and glorious boxers and get one from him. While i was waiting helplessly outside the door knocking for a long time. The lift bell rang and 3 girls walked and started teasing and cat-calling me the ENTIREEEEEE time i was out there till i grabbed the shirt and ran back to my room. Easily the most embarassing incident ever.
Anyway, what we did the next day was pretty cool, we all got into the rental car ( a cool blue jeep) and set off with my jet-lagged Dad at the wheel to make a round island trip around Honolulu. Its really much smaller then u would imagine. It only took us about half a day, and we did make a few stops. To look around at the beaches and to grab food. But the highlight of the trip was driving around the rock formations all covered in lush greenery, the hilly formation looked so cleanly formed as if some great entity clawed away at it mercilessly over the many long years. Like ridges running all the way from top to bottom. The clouds hovered just high enough to cover the peaks (or rather the clouds weres just very low -.-). To top it all off as we cleared that part of the island, a huge, vivid rainbow painted the sky in front of us, we could see the start (or end) of it as the arc raced off into the clouds. As we all know, Life a Bitch, and when it rains, it pours. But hey.
No Rain. No Rainbows!!
Sadly i didnt get pics of the damn rainbow coz my batt had to die at that exact moment. !@&#!@()#* I did however, get pics of Pearl Harbour! Vincent and I headed down to the USS Arizona State Memorial, where the sunken battleship served as a watery tomb to the 1177 (i think) navy/army personnel. All of them perished in the attack on Pearl Harbour by a Japanese surprise attack on December 7th 1941. A japanese bomber released a armor-penatrating torpedo which barrelled into the ship and ignited the super load of ammunition and other explosives, resulting in a massive explosion. Well thats just the gist of it. Walking around the exhibits they had while waiting for our turn to watch a short film and take a boat ride to the memorial itself, reading the stories of all these brave and at that time, young men, made the trip a very solemn one. Stories of valor and heroism one after another, each with their own story. Some more pleasant then others.
Everyone has at least heard of this historical moment in detail or in passing, but there were a few interesting things that came to my attention about the whole ordeal.
First off, the Japanese guys here are the main baddies right? But its more screwed up of them to attack Oahu, Honululu, which has a population of which 45% were of Japanese ancestry. Reading the names of the civilian casualties, all these Japanese names pop up, and their ages. I cant remember the names clearly. but the age.. something like..3 months? 3 years? Its really horrible. To me at least, the war had clearly transcended any racial or ethnic backgrounds. Vincent did mention that he would have hated to be a Japanese right now lest people should start bashing us up, but there were super lot of japanese tourists there. Alike the ang mohs there, the same solemn expression glazed over them as well.
[List of casaulties, war personnel and civilians]
Another interesting and sad fact was that there were 75 sets of brothers on the USS Arizona. Of which only 14 survived. On the wall of remembrance where their names were engraved, you would see many of them with the same last names. Some brothers survived while their kin perished in the flaming oil and watery prisons.
The memorial itself was like a huge white bridge built over the sunken wreckage of the USS Arizona. Looking down over it, you can stil see oil seeping out of the wreckage even till this day. Little splashes of oil slowly dissipitating into the blue.
Here are the pics!
That enough of my really long crap, but that was what 3 days in honolulu was like! Its about 12 midnight here and im tired as balls.
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