Last Day in Orlando

This is the last day in Orlando before i take that ordeal flight back to my dear country, Singapore. Today is Saturday, so it is my free day. No work, and none of my colleagues can take me around - good and bad. Good is i can explore on my own without feeling imposing on my colleagues and go here & there as i pleased. Bad is that im of bad direction sense. I am so afraid i will get lost!! anyway, i surfed on the net to check on some of the places i shld go and wat bus i shld take before i ventured on my own.

I have decided to go on a bus ride to anywhere, that is, just take any bus and let it give me an overview of Orlando. then i will move down to International Lane... it is a stretch at Orlando which has most of the places where tourists will go. is a long stretch full of difft things... Ripley's Believe it or not! museum, Universal Studios, etc...


The traffic junction of US..big and sparse and spacious... one driver thought im funnie to take a photo of the junction..haha



So i was a bit lost in the beginning and at the end..but all things work together for good! haha...
The Ripley's believe it or not has a very interesting infrastructure. i did not go in cos my destination was Universal Studios. The building is upside down and lopesided.. interesting design. it is like defying gravity and it looks real from the outside. should have taken photos of it!

Before i can reach Universal Studios, i came to this place that looks like Big Splash and Wild Wild Wet from the outside.

Heated pools for the cold weather!


looks fun!



Then i got to universal studios. i didnt go in cos it was too ex i thought and im alone. would have went in if i have someone with me.


walking..walking...


and reaching!




Citywalk...


and im inside! the trademark of Universal Studios..


the famous car@ Hard Rock cafes...


the cute store where i bought my gingerbread man from the animation, Shrek!




and i saw them: the Scooby doo!


then i head to Disneyland which is on the other side of the island... and i got lost. i didnt get to Disneyland in the end, but i got to this place called the Premium Outlets... and all the malls there are branded stuff..it is the factory outlet area! woo.. i walked around.. they are worth buying cos many of them are on sale. i din buy much as i was on a budget. bought a pair of pants and a watch. would have buy a coach too but did not find anything i liked. i got on a direct bus service back to the hotel. and it was then i realised i have a direct service to Universal Studios too! i wasted much time to go there...




some panaromic views of the Universal Studios...


anyway, i packed my bags and was all ready to fly back to my homeland... my flight was an early one i remember.. i left 5am from the hotel. the flight itself was another memorable one...

3rd, 4th, 5th days at work in Orlando...

got to lump them together cos i cldnt recall anything very interesting...cant blame me since this trip was taken in 2007. only remembered i got a bit jet lag on wed... was v sleepy at work. i was ok on mon n tue..wat happened to wed? i duno..anyway, Rob managed to come into the office and we had another mtg. of cos, since he is the one who requested me to be in the US office for a look. other than that..hmm.. nothing much. i think everyday was v leisure and everybody knocked off 5pm sharp. nobody did OT. nice! and again, i have much time..so i walked around the mall and bought somethings. i bought many toiletries from bath & shower. i bought a wacom tablet from the Apple shop. was cheaper there due to the exchange rate then. is even cheaper now cos of the exchange rate now! but then, i think the model that i bought is now discontinued. is either u buy a high-end one or a consumer one. the consumer one is horrible, and the high-end one is too expensive. im glad i got to buy a consumer one which is good for professional use. :)

wat else? i tried walking out of the hotel..but it got dark too quickly cos is near winter time. cold wind kept blowing too..so i didnt reali go out of the hotel that long... here are the photos...


the most impt place in the office... the pantry! looks like a canteen to me though


the big n long panoramic crusade shot greets u when u come in by the front door


the shops near the hotel when i ventured out in the night...
Michaels - like the Spotlight we have in Singapore...DIY stuff..
and Americans love it.

a pet shop..i went in..but weird it is... it doesnt have the usual pets we see like dogs or cats.
it has a lot of different types of mouse... white mouse, hamsters, rats!, chinchillas and birds...

Day 3 at Orlando & 2nd Day at work

We met as usual at 9.30am..she again brought me to a breakfast place. this time we packed instead of eating in. so, i was doing my own stuff in the design department. just see see look look, not much things to be done. quite a boring day i remember... was suppose to be a workshop with the designers i think. but they thought i was busy and didnt ask me... i was actuali very free..:P

then lunch came, i had lunch with Vanessa Birkbeck, the publications head cum COO's wife. very nice person. oh, btw, i forgot to mention that Brad Bradland, i later found out was the worship leader of the church which i had the service on sunday in the hotel. no wonder i found his red hair familiar..haha.. but i was afar so i didnt reali got to see clearly until we chatted during lunch yesterday. Jacqueline joined us too yesterday. today was vanessa and brad.

nothing much after that except i had a very frutiful time with Alex. i learned a lot from him. very knowledgeable.


a photo of myself outside the office

introducing the graphics department...


the coolest office: striking pink wall, dimmed lights


only a light that shines on this photo... cool...


the artist's working desk...


my working desk... check out the 2 monitors...


and this is the printer room with printers...


cool.. and they have a large format printer too!

oh.. the most interesting that day i think is that i learned from Vanessa that Rob's (the COO) flight was delayed cos he missed his flight! cos of the daylight saving thingy too... he got his time wrong.. is so so confusing... and he has to spend a night at the airport...oh poor thing...

Orlando Official Day 2 - first day at the Orlando office

[note: wow..i reali took way too long to update this travelogue of mine... i must up my gear!! before i forget all i have done. :P ]

I woke up suddenly thinking of wat the time is! i looked into my mobile phone and there it appears 9.30am! arrgghz, i jumped and i thought to myself: oh no! im late..im suppose to meet MK at 8.30am at the hotel lobby! how come she did not contact me, i thought. nvm about that, i just got up and get changed as fast as i could and quickly went to the hotel lobby to meet up with her... but, when i got to the hotel lobby, she wasnt there.. nobody was waiting there. surprised... i smsed her to say that im at the hotel lobby waiting for her. after a while, she replied. she will be there about 20 to 30min's time. oh man, i thought, she's even later than me and she didnt even bother to sms me that she will be late... oh well...

abt half an hour later, i saw her and i got into her car. while on the car, she suddenly said," oh, do u noe that ydae was the starting of our daylight saving?" i was like.. whats that? never heard that in my whole life. she said, the clock sort of went back an hour yesterday cos is winter time in Orlando now. and she said, "no wonder u texted me so early.. i was thinking maybe u r just excited.. " it was then that i realised. ha.. so no wonder she din reach on time and no wonder she din tell me she's cmg late. cos she wasnt at all. so i wasnt late too. haha.. so confusing...

anyway, she brought me to a breakfast place to have breakfast. we chatted a little bit. im not sure if she reali understood me with my kind of Singapore-accented English... i think we missed each other a bit here n there, and ended up with polite giggles and such.

i went into the office about 10am their time... was introduced around in the office. it is huge! the whole office is more like a factory size kind of office. i guessed all offices in america is lidat, or at least in orlando. nice & spacious and simply furnished.


The Orlando Office


was greeted by this when i entered by the back door

i was introduced to many people and walked around the building and departments. those more related to me were:-

Brad Bradland - the person in charge of the mailout and impact magazine designs.
Alex - the person in charge of all the CfaN photos. also the photo editor.
Chris Coleman - not reali reali related but someone i will work with - he is in charge of the web area
MK - the one who picked me up from work - she's the copywriter and DonorOne systems person
and the designers of cos - Jacqueline, and 2 more whom i suddenly forgot their names... v cool ppl with v cool office.


MK, the pretty ger, and me...


Jacqueline, one of the designers and me


Brad, the red head guy and me...

the office is huge and i nearly got lost the 1st few times i was walking around. haha. will post up the photos as the days go by...

so, the whole day was mtg with Brad. he talked to me about the mailouts and the Impact Magazines.. some history and some SOP.

after lunch, it was mtg with MK whom spoke to me about taglines and the copywriting stuff. she wrote most the things in the office. reviews and all.

and then, it was introducing myself again in the designer's office and intro to some of the stuff they did... well, thats about the day and i got chauffeured back to hotel which is only abt 15min drive away. their operatng hours as which i found out was 8.30am to 5pm. quite nice timing.

anyway, night came.. rested, dined, bathed, watch youtube and then i found myself hvg so much free time! is only like 8pm... so went to the florida mall connected to the hotel.. and walked till abt 9pm. so early... i hv no idea wat i shld do too... haha...

Orlando Official Day 1

Woke up rather early i think... is Sunday meaning i will be quite free to explore on my own... first thought that came to me was to get change and look around and see if i can get to a church somewhere. im sure God will something in store for me. ya..im always quite sure God will look after me when im overseas... :) got changed. rather casually and went out. look around at the lobby and i saw there's a church having their service there.. oh.. yes, mayb i can attend, i said to myself. went to take a look at their stuff in case it is a cult..haha... hmm.. not bad. at least the books they sell there are authors i know...ok.. after looking at their service time, i reckon i could grab my breakfast before coming down again... well, i can explore further after i finished the svc i thought. so, ya..back to my hotel room...

ordered my room svc... [in case u thought why i ordered room svc instead of eating out, well, it will be charged to the card u see... not that i cant claimed, but cos i didnt change a lot of USD..so is wiser..haha]


my breakfast or lunch? couldnt remember. think is the only food i taken when i was there. i only remember to take it after finishing one piece of it. nice...






photos of the various parts of my hotel room...

my king size bed! all by myself! i tried to roll around but got tired after awhile..haha.. i still prefer sleeping one side of it.


the dressing area...


the most spacious bathroom i ever had... regardless is hotel or my own house...


the welcome titbit basket from my beloved company...


a look outside from the window...

note: u can see the photos better by double clicking them.

anyway, i went for the service... i think i was a little late. they were around the end of their worship already. they were rather charismatic and free flow i think... worship leader sang spontaneously... 2 or 3 adults went on stage and jump up and down... well, the worship leader was singing something on jump into the river of God.. so i guess thats it... they were doing that prophetically i guessed. then the pastor came on the pulpit and preached something on being a "river walker" as like Peter who got out of the boat and walked on water. "Get out of the boat", "Be courageous"... it did speak something to me... :) not a bad svc i thought.

after the svc, i went to take a walk round the mall thats attached to the hotel. a very very big mall. after walking for abt 2h, i realised i have only finished 2 wings of the mall! it still has another 2 wings!! and that 2h was that i only stroll around, i did not even walk into the shops! well, i thought the mall will be enough for me to explore since it is so BIG. i went back to my hotel room... rather tired after walking around for 2h...

i think i went to the gym after that... and work out on the treadmill.. cldnt remember much after that... think nothing special happened then.. haha...

tomorrow will be my 1st day at work in the headquarter... looking forward to wats in store for me and visit the "original" office of my work place :)

Trip to Orlando

Singapore - Japan - Minneapolis - Orlando

[this entry will be one without photos as i did not take any that day... busy transiting and travelling... might be boring with all the details.. but who cares, this is for me! haha]

slept at 2am that day. have to wake up at 4.30am to go to the airport. my flight was 7am. was staying overnite at nathanael's home that day cos is nearer to the airport. is wiser that i go from there since cell group is till 11plus... than to having go all the way back to my dear old Jurong where birds dun lay eggs... haha... and Ezel offered to drive me to the airport too as she will staying overnite at nat's hse too...so why not??

anyway, i was really daring to plan to check-in only 1h before the flight... cos usually have to be at least 1.5h and nat was saying that going to the States need at least 2h cos of all the safety check and procedures... well, but i have to say i started to panic when i thought i really might be too late to check in only 1h before that :P

i woke Ezel up at around 4plus, 5am... and she said i should hv woke her earlier cos she still has to bathe and all... well, since we only slept like 2am, i reali would feel quite embarassed to wake her at such unearthly hour...

anyway, we reached at 6am at changi airport... to tell u the truth, i was reali praying all the way, hoping 1h is reali not too late... anyhow, i was the last to check in, the person said that the counter was closing about 5 min time, so im reali "lucky"..haha... and i even had time to have a quick breakfast with Ezel. she said she's going back to brag to nat that we only check-in 1h before and even have time to have breakfast..haha...well, she prayed for me before we departed. i was reali touched at her gesture and service. a true friend indeed. :)

tis was my 1st time travelling alone... and travelling to a country thats so far away... to the States... i was anxious, tired and excited all at the same time... i din really sleep from Singapore to Japan... suppose to transit there before taking another flight to Minneapolis to transit to a domestic flight... i was watching movies i think... i cld not reali remember wat i watched... i was a little restless...

all was well for the transition...till i reached Minneapolis... it was 2am (Singapore time) at that time. my flight was 8pm (US time). meaning i still have 6h to kill... and i was beginning to feel drowsy. thoughts of going to explore Minneapolis came, but when the thought of having to go through all the security checks again and also having to lug around a super heavy bag stopped me. i decided to stay in the airport... i smsed Vanessa who will arrange all the details while i will be at Orlando that i have reached Minneapolis safely. she asked me to go and ask the counter if it was possible for me to change my flight to an earlier one... to my dismay, that 8pm flight was the only flight to Orlando that day... sighz.. she informed me that since i will only reach Orlando at 10pm, no one will be there to receive me as it was too late. i was asked take a cab from the airport to the hotel. i agreed.

after walking around with my heavy bag and unable to walk around anymore, i sat down at a bench. after lunch it was only like 3 or 4pm... arrghh! a state of misery came over me. sleepiness and drowsiness grabbed me. but i could not sleep. how can i? there wasnt any place i can sleep in.. i was alone... how? i thought to myself. in the end, i decide to succumb to the Zzz... monster. i fell asleep at one of the couch in the waiting area, not forgetting to set alarm for myself in case i overslept and missed my flight.

at 5.30pm, my alarm rang. i was so irritated. i was in the state of drowsiness... dragging myself to the toilet to wash my face... argghh... i walked around again before settling down to have dinner. afterwards, i checked-in for my domestic flight. and there's no need to guess, the moment i sat in my seat to Orlando, i slept all the way through! i have no awareness of anything around me at all...

reached Orlando finally. woohoo~~! around 10plus i think... went to take a cab to the hotel. it was an hour's journey to the hotel i remebered. checked-in. the ppl at the concierge was friendly. they helped me with my luggage together with the hamper given by my company. was a snack basket with various titbits inside. thats nice of them i thought. haha. that short nap in the flight freshened me up a lot. i wasnt irritable or very tired then. when i got to my room, i was rather pleased. quite a big room with a king size bed. not bad sia.. haha... is like my own home. i settled down. took a bath and went to bed. will post up the photos of my room for the next entry. hohoho!...

it was a looonnngg day for me... but i was glad i reached my destination!

recounting the trips taken so far

this year...

yep. this year i had travelled to a few countries. more than i have taken so far in a single year... have been wanting to blog about my trips but didnt want to do it due to busyness and also i thought not really suitable for my current blog, hence i decide to open another blog, just dedicated for my travels... i will be starting with my trip to US last year...hohoho... quite long hor... since now is already oct liao... another year is coming soon.. anyway, as promised in my first entry, this blog will contain more pictures than words... and is supposed to be more "easy reading".

ok.. recounting my trips in chronological order...

1. Orlando, Florida, USA (Nov 2007)
2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Batam, Indonesia ( Feb 2008)
3. Kyoto, Osaka, Kawaguchiko, Tokyo, Japan ( March 2008)
3. Cochin, Kerala, India (April 2008)
4. Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India (Jun/July 2008)
5. Bangalore, India ( Sep 2008)
there is supposed to be a trip to Bangalore... but due to some unforeseen circumstances, it was cancelled last min... few hours we flew! ha...

anyway, yesterday i went to Johor Bahru, Malaysia with a few friends... i think i will skip this as going overseas bah...

yes, so i will try to blog each destination as soon as i can... :)

reason for this blog

this blog is specially dedicated to the more "external" part of my life... haha... realised i have been travelling quite a lot this year and believed there will be more to come... so, i decided to start this blog that devotes to my travelling, hence i call it my "travelogue"... a physical travelling on the earth... haha... while the other blog of mine dedicates to the "inner" and "deeper" side of me... with not much photos and illustration but only words, words, words, WORDS!, i have decided to make this one a more "superficial" one peppered with lots of photos... and few words... err... mayb a lot of words too... i duno... haha... anyway... this i think will start with my latest trip to India..again! and then mayb will go back and tok about my other trips this year... and hopefully i will remember! :)