Photos... some of it anyway

Finally managed to upload all my photos from my pre conference trip (12th to 15th Feb)

Adventures in Egypt (1)

Adventures in Egypt (2)

Order is a bit jumbled up cos my connection gets cranky sometimes and I have to re-upload...

Those after IPM will come later...

A promise is a promise

As I promised before IPM, I will harness the power of some MCPs to attempt to part the Red Sea...

as a refresher... this is the Red Sea before...


and this is our attempt


and the result


some slight receding of the shore line there... but definitely not enough to be considered as a parting...

time for some evaluation...

perhaps we should have worn shoes... or maybe it has something to do with the sand... Tabbee as photographer looks totally disappointed...

but well... it's alright that nothing happened to sea... otherwise... we won't be able to enjoy scenes like this...

Photos from AP Road Trip - Cairo, Egypt

View from our hotel room with Pyramids clearly visible in the distance

Khan Al Khalili Bazaar

Receipt after our short break in Khan Al Khalili Restaurant

Our Nile Cruise Boat

Travel mates part 1

Travel mates part 2 (missing Amzad)

Photos from AP Road Trip - Luxor, Egypt

One of those rare photos in my camera with me inside... thanks to Sandy for forcing me to do this... hahaha...

Valley of the Kings

AP gang hanging around at Karnak Temple

Ruins of Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt

Our trusty guide... the Lonely Planet!

Our home for 2 days

Road trip after IPM

IPM is over! but it doesn't yet mean that we don't get to see some of the people anymore...

and that is thanks to... the AP Road Trip!

14 of us (Beatrice and Mindy from Hong Kong, Amy from New Zealand, Anisha and Sandy from Malaysia, Sheana and Jessica from Taiwan, Sahan and Suchith from Sri Lanka, Satoshi from Japan, Amzad from Bangladesh, Aidy from Indonesia, Pui from Thailand and me from Singapore) made a self-arranged tour to travel around Egypt and spend some quality time together...

Armed with loads of left over snacks and drinks from IPM and Lonely Planets that speak different languages, we embarked on an amazing journey...

Now that I am sitting back in Singapore, I suddenly find it hard to describe those 3 days (I left earlier than the rest)...

but highlights definitely include

- a driver that speaks and understands limited english, who keeps asking for tips, and whom most of us find scary... oh and who seems to like Amzad, who is otherwise known as Mohammad in Egypt
- spending 2 nights sleeping in the van (we travelled from the resort to Luxor overnight, and then from Luxor to Cairo overnight also)... kind of like sleeping on the plane but with less leg room... not to mention lending my shoulder to become a pillow at some point while using other people's shoulders as pillow at other points...
- "gossiping" and discussing interesting stuff at the back of the van (me, Sheana, Mindy and Amy) were sitting together, and that was quite a good place for some interesting conversations
- getting to Luxor and having the driver refuse to drive us to the Valley of the Kings without us paying extra money... in the end, Amzad took him to the policeman on the streets and after long conversation, he had no choice but to bring us there...
- "borrowing" a hotel's showers so we could take a shower (3 days without showering!)... we paid 15 Egyptian Pounds, which is less than 5 SGD each.. not too bad an extra flexible service the hotel offered...
- feeling so relieved to reach Cairo and check into a decent hotel along the Nile..
- wandering the streets of Cairo and chilling out at a Cafe with Amy while the rest visited the Pyramids
- finally visiting the Tourist Bazaar, bumping into @ers here and there, watching in amusement as Amy haggles her way through her purchases...
- meeting up with some of the rest in a small cosy cafe that serves huge sandwiches
- getting back to the hotel to freshen up before our Nile Cruise
- finding ourselves sitting in the same dining hall as an Egyptian Wedding (we figured we were part of the entertainment, considering how diverse and exotic we look)
- enjoying an Eat All You Can buffet where guests only queue once.. enjoying dance performances, belly dancing performances, and special appearances by Pui and Amzad, and short un-noticed ones by Beatrice and Amy
- taking photos of the Nile scenary on the deck of the cruise boat and having our fingers nearly frozen off
- Surprise celebration for Anisha's birthday, complete with huge cake that was a combination of chocolate on one part and fruit cake on another part
- drinking games with Amy's vodka, 42 Below from New Zealand... watching people turn red and conk out...
- truth or drink punishment turning into truth or truth and then truth AND drink...
- those of us currents who were still awake and sober having sharing session till 4 or 5 am
- me taking a nap before getting breakfast and starting packing... going to rooms to hug and say goodbye to everyone else... feeling such a mix of emotions knowing that some of them I will see again for sure at IC and that some, I know we will meet again but just don't know when...
- taking a cab with Pui, Anisha and Sandy to the airport, saying goodbye to the Malaysians first (different terminal) and then to Pui...
- finding myself in a most busy check in hall... finding that my flight would be delayed by 1 hour plus, meeting the Kate and Ralph from Austra, John from Bahrain (Australian working there) and Nadia from Hong Kong (Ukrainian working there) in the waiting hall to find that we were on the same flight to Bahrain
- finally getting out at Changi Airport in Singapore and thinking to myself what an amazing experience it has been... and knowing that post conference nostalgia will be hitting soon.. but well.. it's worth it...

thanks to all of the AP family for being such great people... I love our trip, I love each of you, and I can't wait to see you all again some day some time...

IPM 2007 - coming to an end

Today is 26th February 2007... tomorrow is 27th February 2007... tomorrow is the last day of IPM 2007...

and it is always from this point on that the emotions start flowing in... yes we realised that this is the last AIESEC conference that will see most (unfortunately not all) of us from 0607 in the same place... it is something we are consciously aware of and you can definitely see it in the way we value the time we can have to hang out with each other...

2 weeks... is that enough time? to catch up on the 6 months gap of not seeing each other physically since IC... to catch up beyond the MSN and email conversations that in their own little ways sustained us throughout our term...

we have 4 more months of 0607 term to go... yes it should be a celebration point, that we have made it so far... it should be a point of focus, that we have that bit left to go to leave that impact we are aiming for... but at the end of it, it is the slow closure of a story that started in the Netherlands one year back, with a bunch of fresh and anticipating elects... a story of amazing individuals that grew to love each other, to support each other and that today, can't bear to say "See you again"

Gosh I'm having such mixed feelings now... the 0607 term is coming to a close... the 070 term is coming to a start...

I'm gonna miss my family like crazy...

At the pyramids

Update from IPM 2007, Egypt

24 Feb 2007, IPM

Hey guys!

Sorry for the long delay in updating here... I've been having a good time at IPM, getting into the 'culture' of the conference... hehehe

It has been great so far... it's great to be able to meet my fellow current MCPs and also to see the eager and passionate MCP elects from all around the world... some of these people I have met at IC 2006, some of them I have never met them before... but it is the power of the network that we can get along and have great conversations as if we have known each other for so long... I think such opportunities are what show the power of AIESEC, that young people of such diversity can connect nonetheless...

Our conference site is an amazing resort hotel next to a beach along the Red Sea.. It is 2 hours from Cairo so it's really peaceful and away from the hustle and bustle of the city... Perhaps because of that but it seems colder here... I never expected that my first visit to Egypt will see me walking around permanently in a jumper or windbreaker... but that aside, the food and venue is fantastic and really works to building a conducive environment for conversations and reflections and thinking...

In terms of sessions, so far we have had 2 intense days of speeces and Q&A sessions for the 4 PAI candidates and the 19 Director candidates... it's inspiring to see people setting up to the role, and to hear their perspectives on what motivated them, and what they think the organisation needs to continue growing and unleashing our potential... do check out http://live.myaiesec.net for videos of all their speeches... I

have been having a bit of identity crisis since I am both the elect and the current so I have been attending a mix of both tracks... and it's been great in terms of questions and discussions on what is to come, and also in terms of taking time off to be myself and re-find my centre...

In case you haven't heard the news, Gabiza is the newly elected President of AIESEC International 2007/2008. She's the first female PAI since 1998 and we are excited of what the new term will bring.. tonight (it is 7.05pm right now) we will be finding out who has been selected to be AI Directors...

anyhow, I must confess that I am still having mixed feelings about this IPM... I think it's because this is the last IPM I can spend with my current MCPs, especially those from the APGNs. They have been a great support network and have taught me so much over the months, and I know that I will miss them so much... at the same time, there is the excitement of bonding with a new group of MCP elects, from which I will gain support across the next few months just as I did with the currents...

but well... I don't think I will dwell too much on that... they tell us here... "When it starts, it starts. When it's over it's over. Whatever happens is the best that can happen"

So... it's just time for me to enjoy the moment and these precious days...

Adventures in Cairo - Day 2

Hi everyone... Just to say I'm safely in Cairo... was posting the previous post on Bahrain in Cairo actually... but was too exhausted to post an update on Cairo itself... I was so majorly jetlagged after landing...

anyhow, things are quite amazing here in Cairo... it's really crowded here, and traffic always seems to be busy... it takes guts and great skill to drive here... and also to cross the roads... I haven't mastered that bit yet... I get scared looking at the cars zooming all over by and honking now and then... so I end up having to walk more by taking the underpass.. haha.. well of course if I'm with Yasmine or someone Egyptian then I just take cue from them... I consider this a major weakness of being Singaporean… we’re so used to orderly queues and traffic that we lose our survival skills outside of Singapore..

Today, I went to Coptic Cairo... ok before I go on, let me attempt to explain… Because Egypt has such a looong history and they got colonised by pretty much lots of people, you can essentially split their history into 3 parts: pharonic (which is linked to the Pharoahs and pyramids), Copthic (which is when the Romans were around bringing Christianity into Egypt) and Islamic (with the Ottoman Empire having it’s base hub in Cairo before shifting to Turkey).. So Copthic Cairo was about a lot of churches and synagogues… it was also called Old Cairo, with the old “fort” walls and the kind of houses you see in the Prince of Egypt movie… it was quite amazing, and definitely humbling to see the architectures and paintings depicting Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary and the various Saints… it felt quite strange as well because today, we know Egypt as an Islamic state and yet, there I was looking at all these Christian monuments... it’s hard to imagine how history has evolved…

I was traveling alone with my trusty Lonely Planet guide (thanks to Yasmine’s mom) so at least I got some explanations off the book…at the same time, I managed to leech off some of the tour groups there. The place was crawling with tour groups… I saw tourists from Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China, USA and more which I couldn’t really identify. It was quite amusing also in that many of the locals around the area simply assumed that I’m Japanese or Korean. So they greet me with “Konichiwa” and a few said “Gamsa Hamidas”. When I simply smile, they ask where I am from… so I say Singapore and they usually smile back and say “Welcome!” I’m quite sure they don’t know where or what Singapore is but nevertheless, I guess the hospitality and warmth is definitely impressive…

Anyhow, I spent the whole morning there in Coptic Cairo, before heading to downtown… I traveled by Metro, which is another interesting experience because the moment I board, everyone just looks at me… being Asian is so exotic here in Egypt… haha.. oh and about the metro here, the 1st one or two carriages are actually all-women carriages… females can travel in the same carriages as males just that like Yasmine said, when it gets packed during peak hours, it’s better to be squashed with females then with some weird guy you don’t know.. so yeah…

Downtown was quite an experience, simply because it was so so crowded.. did I mention already that there are 22 million people in Cairo itself? Yeah so imagine how much vehicle and human traffic that translates into.. I had to keep going down into the underpass because I simply couldn’t cross the roads with so many cars… I managed to get lunch on my own in a café-like place.. had a chicken panne and it was quite uneventful except for the fact that I messed up the order of getting food… I went straight to the food counter and placed an order, and attempted to pay there as well.. what I should have done was to order at the cashier, pay there and bring the receipt to the food counter to get my food.. oh well…

After lunch, I headed down to the Egyptian Museum, which as expected was swarming with tourists as well… so yes I managed to leech off some tour groups again… the stuff in there varies from huge statues and building structures to tiny, exquisitely handcrafted jewellery, from gold plated sarcophagus (Tutankhamen’s) to plain wooden play dolls… unfortunately not all exhibits had an explanation and there was so many things in the entire museum (which wasn’t placed in any particular order of Egypt history) making the whole experience somewhat educational yes but overwhelming and confusing also… oh and things are quite pricey here when it comes to tourist stuff… I didn’t know that entry to see the actual mummies cost money (100 Egyptian Pounds or about 35 SGD) and I didn’t have enough cash on me… so I had to give that a miss… settled for looking at animal mummies, which is still not something you get to do all the time… hahah

Well after an eventful day of Coptic Cairo and the Egypt Museum, I went to meet Yasmine and we headed home to pick up the car so we could pick up Tabbee (MCP Philippines)… she was supposed to arrive 12th Feb but her flight from Manila to Doha got delayed and she missed her connecting flight from Doha to Cairo… which explains why I was buddy-less for a day… but anyhow she arrived alright (aside from being slightly jetlagged) and excited about Cairo…

And that pretty much rounds up Day 2 in Cairo for me… tomorrow, we’re planning to go to Islamic Cairo and then to the Khan Al Khalili market, which is a HUGE bazaar… so I’ll post updates on that soon

p.s. it’s awfully slow to upload photos within the text so I’m going to do just text, and then just photos…

Places visited in Coptic Cairo

Coptic Museum

Roman Towers

Hanging Church

Convent of St George

Monastery & Church of St George

Churches of St Sergius & St Barbara

Ben Ezra Synagogue

Egypt here I come!

I'm leaving for the airport in another 1 hour plus I think...

Can't belive the countdown is almost ending...

I promise to update as frequently as I can about all the stuff happening there =)

See you all on March 3rd!

Ironic Day

Today, I was a good girl and dutifully attended school... Only had 2 lectures today with a 4 hours break in between... so I thought well I can do work in those 4 hours while being a good student who actually attends the lecture..

ironically.. the lecturer for 10.30 am class.. DID NOT TURN UP TODAY!!!! and he didn't post a notice beforehand, nor did he send someone to inform the students... what a waste of our time!! in waiting and forsaking that few more hours of sleep!!

and the lecture at 3.30pm... well we spent that whole hour watching a video of an experiment the lecturer did... and that video is available on school intranet also... man... I could have watched it at home...

how sad... the day I decided to be a good student, the lecturers didn't seem to want to help...

oh well.. at least I used that 4 hours to settle some AIESEC stuff and print some school notes.. I think I spent at least $8.50 on printing today... printing lecture notes, readings, and of course AIESEC documents for IPM... considering that each printed page costs $0.03 (or was it $0.05?), you can imagine how many trees I killed today...

I'm making up for that by making sure I recycle all the paper in my room... yes if paper is printed only on one-side, it ends up in my rough paper stack.. for paper printed double-sided but is not needed, it ends up in to-be-recycled stack... at the end of 2 or 3 days, this stack gets brought downstairs to the Recycle Bin... (when I start clearing my year 1 and 2 notes after graduation, this stack is going to be huge...)

I think I am rambling now... hahaha...

I am going to Egypt in 4 more days!!


and I will grab a few MCPs to see if we can possibly part the Red Sea (where our resort is)

from this...

Into this...

Probably we should get the newly elected AI 07/08 team to try as well... Lead us to freedom! and AIESEC 2010!!!

I am going to Egypt!

Yes I am going to Egypt! In a bit less than 2 weeks time!!

Flight is at 5am on 12th Feb, and I reach Cairo on 12th Feb 11 plus am...

That gives me 12 - 15 Feb and 28 Feb - 1 March to walk around, see loads of things and take loads of pictures... (this is the 1st time I spend Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year outside of Singapore in such an exotic country)

Not to forget that I get to meet up with our dear Mummy, Yasmine! (I'll be staying at her place... she's so nice.. thanks Yasmine!!)

And not forgetting my dear MCP buddies that I get to meet again after a 6 months (already?? gosh) absence! Will be travelling around Egypt with Tabbee from the Philippines, who reaches on 12th too! And I think Pui from Thailand is reaching on 13th!! and all the rest of you who arrive later and who I will meet at the Pre Meeting itself! (I miss all of you so much!)

and from there, it will be an intensive 2 weeks of International Presidents Meeting, complete with
- AI 07/08 elections (4 PAI and 20 Director candidates to sit through!)
- GN parties and random parties every night
- Global Village (on 18 Feb which happens to be 1st Day of Chinese New Year)
- more on AIESEC 2010 and lots more of AIESEC stuff
- a cosy number of fellow MCPs to get to know, to catch up with, to have fun with (yes it's definitely a lot easier to network with people at IPM than at IC... seeing how there are SOOO many people at IC)

So the countdown begins...

and till then, it's more of sorting out stuff for my Final Year Project, making sure things are alright with my 06/07 kids (they've grown from babies) and my 07/08 babies... and living out a busy busy schedule...

Looking forward to Egypt and all those old friends...