Chapter X

R.E.S.U.L.T.S

CS3215	Software Engineering Project	8.00	B+
CS4237	Systems Modelling and Simulation	4.00	A-
CS4243	Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition	4.00	B-

CAP: 3.93

Feeling Tired?

Read this article on MSN Today.. The little details in your life can actually cause you to feel tired. You can read the article here or just carry on reading! It's mainly copy and paste. A little paraphrasing here and there.

- All work, No play: Pushing yourself hard wears you out physically and emotionally.
Remedy: Build in pleasure throughout your day. Eg. Listening to music on the way home, play FB at work, etc.

- Shunning the Sun: Lack of natural lighting puts the body into sleep mode.
Remedy: Expose yourself to light by taking a walk in the sun or just outdoors.

- Barely breathing: Taking shallow breaths (we do that unconsciously) deprives the body of oxygen. Results in low level of oxygen in the blood which makes you feel tired.
Remedy: Breath from your diaphragm; Put your hand over your belly button. As you inhale, focus on making your stomach and chest move.

- Being a Desk Potato or a Sofa Spud: Sitting in one position for long periods of time can sap your energy. The body equates that stillness to going to sleep. Staring at a screen also tend to lead to dry eyes and eyestrain. The brain automatically wants to rest the eye.
Remedy: Get the body moving by taking breaks to the bathroom or just walking around. Look at a distant object to relieve eyestrain.

- Sleep Inconsistency: Having an inconsistent sleeping schedule can lead a hangover effect.
Remedy: Sleep at regular times.

- Mild Dehydration: Not enough water causes your blood volume to decrease which means there isnt enough blood to your brain and your heart has to pump harder.
Remedy: Hydrate yourself regularly. Aim for the recommended 2L of water.

- Bright Lights at Night: Normal levels of indoor lighting can disrupt your body's perception of night and day. Bright lights resets your internal clock making it harder to fall asleep.
Remedy: Dim the lights at night a few hours before you go to sleep.

- The Vitamins-Plus-Coffee Breakfast: As it implies, you take vitamins and coffee for breakfast. Neither are sources of energy. Equally bad or worse, is skipping breakfast. That's why they say the most important meal is breakfast.
Remedy: Ensure your breakfast combines protein and carbohydrates (Like bread and Nutella/peanut butter) for a long steady release of energy.

- Overdoing Exercise: Not recommended to workout (that means strenuous exercise) daily since your body needs rest to recover and repair the muscles.
Remedy: Take a rest on the very next day or do some light exercises if you have the habit of exercising daily.

- Toting Around Extra Pounds: Gaining as little as 5 pounds (about 2.5kg) can cause fatigue. Makes your heart work harder to carry that extra weight.
Remedy: Start losing those extra weight! That means losing what you gained. Nothing more, nothing less.

- Slouching: When joints are not aligned properly, it causes strain on the whole body. Poor posture places excess strain on your back and hips, which can make you feel tired and achy.
Remedy: Good posture.

- Too Much Noise: Noise is stress. You are not able to control it and that puts extra stress on your nervous system. Your body has to work harder to complete tasks because you're actively working to try to ignore the sound.
Remedy: Do whatever you can to negate the noise. (Like putting on ear plugs, asking co-workers to lower down their volume, closing the windows to decrease the noise from the outside world ,etc)

Stupid monkey

He asked for 3 english songs, I gave him 3 english artistes instead... and... the following conversation ensued..

y0nGzZz.....supPer !!! ..... [j!@n d@n @!] says:
wtf
yr service is f up
i wan complain
call yr manager here
[Asuki] | Happiness is not something which is granted by another. says:
no lor
excellent service
you wan 3 songs
i give you 3 artistes
each artiste got more than 3 songs
so you got more variety
y0nGzZz.....supPer !!! ..... [j!@n d@n @!] says:
wrong!!!!
i ask for chicken rice
u give mi recipe
[Asuki] | Happiness is not something which is granted by another. says:
beyond duty!
wrong!
y0nGzZz.....supPer !!! ..... [j!@n d@n @!] says:
the recipe cannot eat
[Asuki] | Happiness is not something which is granted by another. says:
u wan chicken rice, i give you places where got chicken rice

I don't know what's with his recent crave for chicken rice.

Dayang Dive Trip

Took a bus on fri evening (31/7) to Mersing Jetty. By the time we reached the jetty it was already midnight. The bus trip took about 4hours due to the 45mins stop along the way. Then, we waited very long for the boat ride to Dayang. I totally lost track of time. The boat ride itself was another 3hours i was told. So by the time we reached, it was already sat 4 or 5am. The place though quite small, was really beautiful. The bunks are actually located so near the shore that you can wake up to the crashing of the waves on the shore. It isnt a 5-star kind of thing, but all the basic necessaties were there already (imagine Lakuin Camp of Brunei). So it was really comfortable nonetheless.

At night, besides mingling around with the other divers, there isnt anything else to do.

Our accomodation for the next 2 days. As you can see, it's practically on the beach.

The area where we our meals are served.

Just one of the views you get to see as you rest and eat

This wooden path that we have to walk for and from our dives

Distinct shades of blue that is very obvious unlike in SG

At night, nothing to do. So we just walked on the beach and taking random stuffs.

This is the only 合照 we had.. haha

Somehow, my footprint is clearer.

The one on the right is Sing, our asst dive instructor.

Dive log and dive table

Divers just mingling around..

The guy on the left is Joe, our dive instructor for the trip.

Dive equipment

That's her in the water

This would be me doing the giant stride.

Our dive group (we were split into 2 groups)

The entire dive group

Because we spent most of our time underwater, and we didnt have any underwater camera.. hence the lack of photos. If there's a next dive, definitely going to buy the underwater camera.

Updates!!

Begin with the most recent...

11 Aug - School Starts..
10 Aug - G.I Joe movie with the guys
9 Aug - National Day!! Steamboat at my place with the guys. Da Vinci the Genius Exhibit at Sci Center
8 Aug - UP Movie with the guys
4 Aug - Gathering for ah boon! Location: Old Town @ JP.
1 Aug - Open Water Diving Course at Dayang with ah gong [pics to be up soon]
Late July - Received 2 letters from MINDEF. 1st - Posting notice! 788 SIR A Coy PC. 2nd - Reminder for 24hrs overseas notification. (I forgot to notify when I went to Vietnam. Get out of jail free card has been used.)

Pics are up! I've disabled the song to allow more space for your cache. It's a long entry with quite alot of pics so it might take a while to load them all. Advisable to clear your cache first.

More pics can be viewed here.

Back from Vietnam!

It was an interesting cultural experience. The roads there are like full of motorcycles! Ratio of motorcycles to other vehicles ir probably 50:1 or more. No, i'm not exaggerating. That's just how it is. Motorcycles are their main mode of transport. Even if it is just across the street, they drive their motorcycles. Be it shopping at the street side or night market, they drive their motorcycles as well.

The local guide told us that Vietnam has 2 乱: 电线乱, 车乱. Vietnam also has some 没: 没有麦当劳，没有肥的人，没有雨伞，没有人走路，没有狗，斑马线没有用. The diet there isnt very fattening. Good place to be at if you want to slim down. Nobody uses umbrella there, only ponchos. Why? Becos their main mode of transport is motorcycles, you can't ride a motorcycle while holding an umbrella when it rains. You can't really see any stray dogs on the street as eating dog meat is legal there. The zebra crossings no use at all, everytime you cross the road, you are making a gamble with your life. The trick to crossing the road there is to never take a step back and avoid the vehicles. The motorcyclists will avoid you.

The language there has 6 拼音 and they use the english alphabets. However, they do not use the alphabets F, J, W and Z. The missing alphabets are replaced by combinations of alphabets. Like F is replaced by PH. The Vietnamese used to use chinese characters prior to the invention of the Vietnamese language. The Vietnamese language was invented by the French.

Boarding Pass

Arrival

First Stop - Govt House. No permission to enter. So just took photos from outside the gate

Next - A very old Cathedral. Built in 1880 to be exact.

Next to it was the old colonial post office.

The spring rolls which the local tour guide said was well known. Shop is located in Diamond Plaza, which is also beside the old colonial post office, behind the cathedral. Basically, before you eat, dip it into the fish sauce.

My mum said he looked like chong

电线乱

Insane, imba amount of motorbikes

Dinner!

Apparently, they have the habit of using common chopsticks to take the food. Eating was a chore since we do not have the habit. The meals after this, i decided to not use common chopsticks.

After dinner, it was down to watch the water puppets. And we were told that it is rather famous. I've never heard of it though. Very interesting show to watch. It's in vietnamese though, so i have no clue what they were performing about. No subtitles.

They can blow smoke..

Breathe fire.. I have no idea such sparklers can be lit underwater.

Nice smoky effect.. using dry ice.

The puppeteers.

Day 2.
Breakfast buffet.

First Stop - Some chinese temple. I forgot the name.

八仙

Water guns.. Very old ones.

Next was a long drive to the Mekong river.

Doesnt this remind you of SG in the late 70s. Market by the roadside.

The highway built by the taiwanese..

Our pitstop after a long drive.

Lots of this kind of shops along the roads. This is where the locals take a break after long hours of driving. The hammock is there for them to take a nap.

After a few hours of driving, we finally reached our destination.

That's our local guide.

Took the boat and arrived on a small island..

Bees! The local product there was the honey. About 2 or 3 small teaspoon of it, some hot water. Add something like chrysanthenum into it and finally the lime juice. The taste is quite... different. It's not hard to drink though.

They even keep a pet python. -.-

Local candies..

They make and wrap on the spot.

Walk to... some place where they serve fruits. o.O

The fruits in question.

They do performances for tourists who come.

A wandering 豆花 seller. Classic.

After that is a litle boat trip back to our boat.

My dad having fun rowing the boat

Coconut drinks as refreshments for the hot day.

Buddhism is their main religion.

Lunch!

Of course there were more dishes than shown. Busy eating ah..

The prawns there are those type u catch when prawning. Makes you feel like going prawning.

The new housings in the new district.

War museum. Which war? The Vietnam war.

Various pics and items on display.

Little explanations for the pics on display.

Dragging of dead bodies.. blown up viet soldier..

Water torture.

They even have statistics!

The aftermath of using the infamous Agent Orange.

Deformed foetuses from the result of using Agent Orange.

Pics of victims of napalm and white phosphorous. Serious burns.

This famous pic is there too. The photo on the bottom right is the young girl in the picture.

Aerial photograph after the bombing run of B-52s.

A real gullotine.. the blade is 50kg. Dropped from that height.. shd be a smooth slice.. i hope.

A prisoner in a cell

After the museum, we visited this shop that sold crafts made by the victims of the war.

Explanation of the process

Workshop

The Last Supper

The works on sale.. lots of them.

Dinner!

This prawn paste noodle is nice!

The way they cut the watermelon and serve is great. Idea.

Day 3.

A real Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) site.

After a few hours of driving we reached this site which was preserved. It was once a battlefield during the vietnam war.

Feels like travelling back in time.

Brochure.

The little shed where we watched a video and had our guide give us explanations.

One of the staff there demostrating.

Entrance to the network of tunnels.

It's really small.. the bigger size americans would have difficulties using this tunnel.

One of the many traps..

Tank that was destroyed

Traps that were used

They forged their own weapons

Time to fire the AK-47! The bullet is expensive la.. chop tourist one. 10 bullets $SGD16. -.- My dad and I shot 3 rounds each. My bro shot 4 rounds.

If I could, I would have bought some of these as souveneir. But I dun think SG customs will allow.

Another demonstration by the staff there. That' how they make the rice paper during the war.

This is how they dug the ventilation for the tunnels. This hole will be covered up but with a pipe connected to the surface.

Another demonstration. They make slippers from the tires of vehicles.

It comes in various sizes..

One of the craters from the B52 bombs. It's actually smaller then it used to be.

This is the tunnel they made for the tourists. It's bigger so that tourists with bigger built can crawl through it smoothly.

Field hospital

Meeting room

Field kitchen

The smoke from the kitchen is channeled away so as not to give away their positions. The large amount of smoke from the kitchen is managed in a way such that only a little at a time is being released. It's managed so well that it is comparable to the smoke given off when smoking.

Lunch! It's held at this garden where alot of soon-to-wed couples will come to have their wedding photos taken.

When the local guide said that we would have to drive in, i tot it was very deep in. But it was only 5mins walk max.

This is the restaurant.

The brides..

This is their traditional costume.

After lunch, it was a long drive to the coast.. 3hours drive. South China Sea.

Our hotel for the night

The room with a view

Seafood Dinner!

Big prawns.

After that, it was night shopping in the nearby area.

After which we returned to our hotel. But some of us went to the stalls by the beach to take a look.

It felt like it was going to rain with all the lightning and thunder in the distance. Then my bro asked me to try to take a picture of lightning which is near impossible.

Day 4.

Drove to this white villa where the last emperor stayed.

The first floor housed all the various pottery salvaged from a shipwreck.

The second floor just has the furnitures used at that time. Nothing interesting there except for the fabulous sea view.

Next was the 观音庙

More birds, more luck

Mother Mary was just beside the temple.

But the main highlight is this. Climb to the top of the hill into the Jesus monument.

Steps...

after steps...

and more steps...

Finally reaching there...

Inside the monument..

Very narrow stairway

After a long wait, finally reached the arms. They installed nails to prevent any daredevils from climbing too far out.

The view is great

The little island which is only accessible at low tide.

Names of exiles engraved on the benches.

Various statues

After the climb and descent, went to this whale temple. Legend has it that this whale saved people who were in danger at sea. So a temple has been built in its honor.

The bones of the whale.

Lunch

Then it was back to the hotel for an hour rest before the 3 hour drive back to Ho Chih Minh City. The amusement park which we were told that Cambodian tourists love.

Then it was a stop at this shop for buying local goods.. prices in USD. Feels like 黑店

After visiting the shop, went for a little sight seeing..

It looks better at night with the lights.

After that, we went to the night market. The market is mainly catered to female shoppers.

Motorbikes driving through.. scary.

Food..

Dresses and accessories..

Footwear.. they make a pair for you on the spot.

Fruits as well

In the vicinity is this shop where in 2000, then US president Bill Clinton patronised this shop. The beef noodle here is said to be good. But I can't eat beef in the presence of my dad. =/ The 红豆冰 there is nice though.