heys :) i think i havent posted for a long time. so much so that yang has noticed and reminded me to post! well well. feel quite good today. it's one of those less stony days i've had since finishing my work in hwachong. lets see, went for council outing, had great attendance, few activities, but i'd say it was pleasant and v comforting to see familiar faces :) hmm no pics to post but maybe u guys wont be interested anyway?

i've been feelin sadder and sadder as the days go by, as im reminded of how i'm gonna leave my friends, family and everything behind 3 mths fr now. going into the unknown. seriously, its as little known as it can get huh.. few singaporeans there, not to mention seniors, or even hwachongians. think in any uni i choose, i'd be one of the less-than-5 s'porean students there. quite scary at times, but i shall believe that i'll either a) find some friends i can relate to real soon, b) keep in contact so well that i dont realise im away (hmm?) , or c) be so busy and happy that i dont run into problems. well well. better to be optimistic yeah. :)

lets see. havent really talked abt mongolia yeah? it was qt eye-opening, had quite some thoughts seeing how mongolia has developed. basically some facts abt mongolia - area's 1.56million km² (comparing w s'pore - its 2200 times that of us) while the population's 2.8million. its landlocked, between china & russia. has only 3 real cities, and the only international airport there has 2 berths for planes.

was in ulaan baatar (capital city) for 2+ days and erdenet (where we built, the 3rd biggest city) for 7-8 days. not very developed, sort of stuck halfway between being developed & not. most stayed in houses, some apartment blocks abt 7 storeys high at most. grasslands were everywhere, hills as well. u dont haf to move far away fr the city centre to be in the grasslands. yups. i just felt that it was in a terrible phase (or has it been there and stagnating?) - its sort-of developed but everything wasnt working well, inefficient, half-done.

had some exciting (?) incidents along the way. for one, my fone got lost (pple! if u msg me PLS leave ur name behind or i'll waste a msg going - who's this?) , other fones, an ipod, a passport, a whole backpack went missing or got stolen as well. had to do problem-solving along to way :) our van also very unfortunately knocked down a lady in erdenet. shes okay now thankfully but it just made me appreciate singapore so much. basically in mongolia e roads are just free for all, no markings at all, anyone can drive anywhere (with a general direction on each side but well u dont really hafta care or follow), at any speed. the drivers swerve ard alot, drive fast, and almost always hit another vehicle. at times we marvelled at their skill but at other times, we really feared for ours and other road-users' safety. :/ its like when i came baq to singapore, got onto the roads i felt so super safe! tts just one aspect yeah.

oh mutton is the foodstuff in mongolia. every (or almost every) meal had mutton. vegetables are rare, and leafy veg are impossible to find. oil seems to be in abundance, as is salt. well, u get the picture. some of us werent used to the food. i just took less of it and came out alright, but some of e kids got pretty sick. :/

what else? hmmm.. i realise its a give and take between natural beauty, innocence, pure & simple joy, and development, materialism. felt that mongolia, in the process of development, had built factories, learnt to do meaner business, become less simple, driven roads into the grasslands, and lost that bit of special-ness abt it. the openness of the place was lovely, but when i saw all the tracks of vehicles in the grasslands or hills, allowing tourists to visit or wadeva.. i just feel qt sad :/ yeahh. maybe one day i'll see somewhere i feel can really haf e best of both worlds. balancing both nicely.