Last Of Our Break Days

The end of our working days are near, it was just the last working Sunday (24th of August) we will ever have and just another modest Wednesday to go before we are done. So it was on Sunday night after we were done working, the Ukrainians decided that they wanted to hold a belated celebration of their independence day and everyone of us were invited to their house. The celebration would then become one of the craziest night we have ever had in Walden Circle because after a meal with some vodka shots, we had a volleyball game and a football game afterwards in the middle of the night (or should I say morning?:) ) What made it even crazier was that after our football game, we then intruded the swimming pool (it was already closed) and had a dip. It was already 5am in the morning when we were done when the Ukrainians suggested the king of all foolish ideas, which was to see the sunrise at Walden Circle itself. Although it was foolish, we didn't hesitated (but only 2 Ukrainians joined us in the end) and we ended up staying up still 7.30am in the morning for the sunrise before we doze off in our respective beds.


A picture of us during the sunrise

On the next day itself, all of us got together for a fine dinner (sort of a farewell dinner too) at Hard Rock Cafe in Universal. This time, it was one big group of us (which even included the Taiwanese girls that joined us at SeaWorld) that made it a dinner of all dinners. It was close to a half an hour wait for a table but I guess it was worth every single second of waiting not only because of the food but also the feeling of getting together in one big group and have a meal.


A group picture of us which we took while we were waiting for a table


A picture of 4 of us (which we didn't had for quite some time already)


A picture of some of the food we had (steaks and cocktails:) )


A group picture of us while we were eating (since we had too many people, we were being divided into 2 tables)

On Tuesday, we didn't did much the whole day besides me getting a new camera (my old one got soaked and died on me) and Winson's friend paying a visit to our house for a chit chat. But I decided to cook up a good last dinner for the 5 of us (including the Wendy and Jessica) for one last time.


Food for thought (Marinated chickens, Sardine eggs, Cabbage with tomato sauce, and rice of course:) )

After our dinner, we then got together to prepare a gift for BK. We decided that we make a photo album with some pictures which we took and also throw some chocolates into a big nice box together with the album (hope the people at BK would like it). Well, it was suppose to be a gift from me, Damien, Dickson and Wendy but in the end, it was only me and Wendy doing all the work besides Dickson giving the idea of the gift itself.


Wendy with the photo album


A picture of the contents of the gift before we sealed the box

So it's a reality that we are about to leave everyone soon, time really had passed by so quickly and 3 months was like as if we had just arrived at Orlando a week ago. I really hope that I could bare the feeling on the day that we are suppose to part...

SeaWorld

Another week of work has passed and the clock is still ticking, so as of the 18th of August, we are another week of work away before we are done. Time passed by really quickly indeed and it seems like it was just last week that we arrived at the US.

Guess that most probably most of you guys have heard of the looming tropical storm Fay that is going to hit Florida (forecasted to be on Tuesday), plus the fact that we might need to go to work on Tuesday if the need arises (due to evacuation and there might be heavy traffic along the turnpike). We have decided that we should pay another theme park a visit, and this time, it’s the SeaWorld theme park in Orlando. Again, we got our entrance tickets for free, thanks to the Taiwanese connection (I wonder where are all the Malaysians? lol). As for this time, we will have 2 more Taiwanese girls joining us (Mila and Maggie), besides the 3 of us (Damien again not included) and the 2 Taiwanese girls (Wendy and Jessica). And the usual routine, wake up early-prepare-get on a bus, so it happened that Mila and Maggie got onto the same bus as us, and that made things even easier. This time, we made sure that we wouldn’t let our ticket sponsor to wait for us, and we were by the entrance of the park 15 minutes before 9am, which was the agreed time.


A picture at the entrance of SeaWorld

It was not long before we got hold of our tickets and we were lining up behind a crowd of people.


The queue at the entrance

It was a good 10 minutes wait at the queue before we managed to enter the park due to the usual security check and stuff. This time, another girl by the name of Elaina (who works in a park linked and neighbouring of SeaWorld) joined us and she was acting as our tour guide. Below are pictures of the 5 foot ways of the park.






A short walk then brought us to a dolphin nursery

After a few pictures, we continued our exploration of the park with the help of our tour guide.


A picture of the waterfront lake of the park

The next point of interest was the Pacific Point Preserve, where there were lots of sea lions hanging around.


A picture of the Pacific Point Preserve


A mother Seal feeding it’s pup, a catching sight indeed.

Just to let you guys know, the SeaWorld theme park is more about performance and shows rather than rides. So it was decided that the Clyde & Seamore show held at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium that will be our first show of the day. When we arrived at the stadium, we were greeted by a clown and the clown did something behind our backs that got the whole stadium laughing, but well, it was the clown’s job to provide the entertainment before the show starts anyway, as we did enjoyed what did the clown did to the rest of the entering crowd. The show started and lasted for a good 30 minutes, and the show indeed wasn’t disappointing, with funny acts from the seals and otters, it was pretty entertaining and got us going. A really really good first impression in my opinion.


The seal and it’s human companion performing one of their trick.

Our next pick has got to be one of the main attractions of the park, the show named Believe held at the Shamu Stadium. And if you're wondering, the star or rather stars of the show were killer whales (yes, you read it). The stadium was already packed with people even though we were there 30 minutes before the show started (at 11.30am) and we had to get a seat at the soak zone of the stadium (and they really meant soak zone as they got the killer whales to deliberately splash water at us using their tails). The show lasted half an hour and it was a show of 2 thumbs up quality with a heart warming theme.


A picture of the Shamu Stadium


A group picture of us which we took while we were waiting for the show to start (Dickson didn't appeared inside because he was the camera man) From bottom right: Wendy, Mila, Winson, Me, Maggie. From top right: Jessica, Elaina.


A trainer and his whale friend soaring high up in the air.



A Killer Whale in the air!

Next up, we paid the park’s sole roller coaster (named the Kraken) a visit, and it didn’t disappoint us as well (although it is still isn’t as good as the ones in Busch Gardens) as we went up the ride for a 2nd time after the get-wet attraction (Journey to Atlantis) which we had.


The Kraken from afar

After an hour plus having lunch at a café (where most of the time was spent at the line due to the tremendously long queue), the weather again wasn’t pleasant to us as it was raining outside, but we braved the wind and rain just to make it for the next show (Blue Horizon) held in the Whale & Dolphin Theatre. We weren’t rewarded as to what we have expected after all our efforts as while we arrived at the theatre, the doors were not opened to the crowd yet, we have no choice but to wait under a shade. Soon the rain subsided and it was not long before the theatre doors were open to the crowd. Well, the Blue Horizon show was a musical performance starring both dolphins and human performers. And again, it was just so amazing to see the dolphins performing their routines and what intelligent animals they are.


A view of the Whale & Dolphin Theatre

There was still some time before the next show Sea Lions Tonight starts, so paid the Penguin Encounter a visit (which reminds me very much of Happy Feet, especially the Latino penguins in the show which I got to know that they are called Rock Hopper penguins :p). After the encounter with the penguins, we proceeded to our next show again held at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadiums. And again, we were greeted by the clown of the stadium when we entered and which eventually the clown played a part in the show itself, because the show that we were about to watch was a comedy relief or parody of all the other performances/attractions in the park starring Clyde & Seamore the Seals and a clumsy walrus thrown into the mix as well.


Remember the show Believe starring the Killer whales? :p


A group picture of us with the SeaWorld signboard

Guess what, the park even serves free beer at the Hospitality Deli (SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and a few other parks were owned by the Anheuser Busch Company, which at the same time produces the Budweiser brand of beers). But well, since the legal drinking age in America is 21 years and above, me and Dickson “couldn’t” get a fair share of our beer (but I bet that you guys won’t be surprised if the girls sneaked “some” for us :) ). After our drinking antics, we headed to the Atlantis Bayside Stadium for a show (Bayside Ski Jam) of water skiing and stuff. In truth, the show wasn’t really that interesting compared to the rest, but still it was good nevertheless.


A view of the Atlantis Bayside Stadium

We then headed to Wild Arctic for a lame simulation of a helicopter flying to a “Base Station in the Arctic” and landed there which we then get to see some Polar Bears and Walruses up close. After our freezing cold “adventure at the Arctic”, we then rushed to the next show which begins at 8.15pm, this time, it was Shamu Rocks held at the Shamu Stadium, and judging by the name, you all would have already guessed that it was a show of Rock and Roll starring Killer whales.


Shamu Rocks!!!!

After yet another impressive head banging show by the Killer whales, we then headed towards the Waterfront of SeaWorld for the last show (Demystify) of the day of water fountain, lights, and fireworks. The dazzling sights and roaring sounds of the show were indeed impressive (sorry that I didn’t had any pictures of this show, only videos which are too large in size to be uploaded).

We then had a look around in a souvenirs shop while waiting for 3 of Wendy’s friends working in Tampa which we promised to house them in our apartments since they were paying Orlando a visit. Just to let you guys know if you guys were wondering, the 3 girls were the ones that suppose to provide us with the free tickets for Busch Gardens, and it’s timely that we return them a favour :).


A picture of me with Maggie and Mila before we part ways (since we have no idea when we will be seeing each other again)

A late bus ride and soon, we were back home (which was around 11.30pm). After a make-our-guest-feel-at-home session, soon, we were already all snoring away after a tired but satisfying day. Again, another heartfelt gratitude to our Taiwanese friends.

Busch Gardens

Work, work, work and work, it's starting to get really really boring and it seems that all of us are counting down to the last day of our work, but for a good reason though, because I'm really sick of spending most of my time with buns, patties, lettuce.......

But after a makes-you-wanna-press-the-lifeline-button day of work on a busy Sunday, we were glad that our day off came again. On the first of our 2 break days, we had planned that we pay the SSN office another visit after last week's visit to change our mailing address, this time, it was for the same reason too, because we got the zip code wrong. This was our 4th visit to the office until that the attendant even recognised our faces and I can imagine him thinking "for what reasons are these guys here again". Anyways, we didn't got to change our address because our cards were already sent out and are being processed. Then, it was shopping and only shopping right after that. First, we were at Orlando's Premium Outlet till around 8, then we headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in Universal Orlando and got ourselves some Hard Rock memorabilia. It was already 11.30pm when we reached home and looking at the fact that we need to depart at 6.45am the next morning to Busch Gardens, I just hope that I get the sleep that I need so that the same thing that happened in Universal wouldn't happen again. A little bit on Busch Gardens: It is a African-ly themed park located in Tampa.

It felt like as if before I could get enough sleep, I could already hear my alarm calling at 5.45am and I reluctantly woke up to get ready for the most awaited day of the week. By 8am after a 35 minutes bus ride, we were already at the car rental outlet and were among their first customers of the day. And as usual, the paperwork and stuff set us back for another 20 minutes before we could get our car which was a Kia Spectra (an asian car finally :))


A picture of the car we rented.

After a journey which was roughly around 2 hours, we had finally arrived at our destination (which was around 10.30). But in truth, we were an hour late compared to the original plan that we had, and it matters because we managed to get 5 free tickets from a friend of Wendy and we were suppose to meet her (Wendy's pal) at the entrance of Busch Gardens about an hour ago. Well, I wouldn't want to continue on this :p, but in the end, we managed to get another 5 free tickets from Jessica's friend (by the name of Elaine) instead, and guess what, she even agreed to be our tour guide for the day until her work starts. Words can't explain how thankful we are, but it was just plain kindness and we were really grateful for all these favours.


A picture of the 5 foot way of the Busch Garden's entrance


Look at the queue at the entrance!

Once we were in at the entrance, all of us were so excited by the prospect of roller coaster rides for the rest of the day. And armed with the map that were given to us at the entrance and the advice of Elaine, we decided that the Montu roller coaster ride will be the first and warm-up ride for us. I'm really sorry for the lack of pictures, since we didn't had much time for them. In truth, the Montu ride was indeed a warm-up ride and we were just a tad dizzy after the ride, that's all :). And did i mentioned that Jessica has phobias for coaster rides? As after the Montu ride, she was already half dead..lol (ok, I was just joking). Since Jessica needed some time before the her next encounter with a coaster ride, we then opted for a musical theatrics by the name of Katonga which was about musical tales from the jungle.


On our way to the theater


Inside the theater


The performers

Well, honestly, musical theatrics was never my kind of 'thing' and it seems that it still stays the same as half way through the performance, I actually fell asleep :p (No disrespect for the performance though). But what I could say was it was a colourful performance with lots of pretty sights and sounds. Next up was the Gwazi coaster ride. What made this coaster so special is that it's wooden (a classic!) and is one of the main attraction of the theme park.


The Gwazi ride!


Look at the tracks, they are wooden!

The Gwazi attraction is made up of 2 coaster rides, one the Tiger and Lion the another. We took the Lion ride and in truth, I clearly underestimated the true colours of wooden coasters and I paid the price for it. Although there weren't any 360 turns or cockscrews, it was still a hell-of-a ride with it's speed and vibration of the coaster car, and that combination of both was enough for me (and maybe the rest too) to give the ride a 5-star rating! Well the weather wasn't really too good to us as it rained shortly before and after our Gwazi ride, but thankfully, both were just short downpours with no lightning. Below are more pictures of what's inside Busch Gardens.




A flop of pink Flamingos


A picture of the girls which I took while we were waiting for the rain to stop in a gift shop. From left: Jessica, Wendy and Elaine.

After the rain stopped, we immediately headed to the Shiekra ride, and it was around this time that Elaine had to go and prepare for her work. For your information, what made this Shiekra ride so special is that it has 2 very close to 90 degrees fall!


The Shiekra ride


One of the 2 close to 90 degrees fall

What could you expect of a coaster ride with 90 degrees falls? Adrenaline pumping action of course! During the falls, the feeling was just out of the world, and at both falls, we were suspended in mid air before we were released down both falls, what suspense!

Since Elaine had left, we were required to store our belongings and loose articles in lockers provided which weren't free! So for the following rides, I didn't had any pictures of them (apologies). Next we had was the Kumba coaster ride, which was pretty decent, since it was all about speed. Then, we had a pirate ship kind of ride, where they start swinging the ships till it goes 360, nothing special but still fun nevertheless. Again, we headed back to Gwazi and this time, we took the Tiger ride instead and Jessica came along with us this time around since she skipped the Lion one. Both rides were as crazy as each other with the only difference were the tracks each ride had. And it turn our that the Gwazi Tiger ride will be last of our dry attractions as the 2 following rides that we had next were water attractions (Tidal Wave and Congo River Rapids). After the rides, we were all soaking wet and I was shivering like nobody's business (fine fine, I'm afraid of cold :( ).

Well, as you might know, we’re not going to continue with our soaking clothes, so we got ourselves changed and were ready to roll again. Lol, but in truth, we were all exhausted already after 9 rides of action. So we decided that we should take a more relaxing ride instead and so it was the sky ride that we had next (remember Genting highlands? :) ). While waiting at the queue for the sky ride, we met 3 Korean girls which happened to be from Walden Circle too, and what coincidence it was. We struck up a chat and soon it was our turn to board the sky ride, the long queue of the sky ride seems not be so long after all. Below are a few pictures which were taken before and during the sky ride.


A group picture of us while waiting at the line for the sky ride.


A view from the sky ride


The Montu roller coaster


Shiekra and the Pirate ship (or whatever you want to call it)


Shiekra close up (look at the fall again :p )


A view of the animal park

The end of the sky ride brought us to the animal park of Busch Gardens. Well, there weren’t nothing much to talk about here, besides that there were elephants, tigers, fishes and bla bla bla (usual stuff that you get to see in a zoo). But here, there were a few pictures of interest :)


A hippo in water behind the glass


A Lion chilling under a tree (it really knows how to relax)

It was already around 7.30pm when we were done with the animal park, so it was time to say goodbye to Busch Garden as we headed for the exit. Along the way, we passed by the Marakesh street (does that remind you guys of Sunway Pyramid? ) which has rows of shops selling souveniers. But well, we weren’t in a mood for souvenirs as all of our stomachs were already calling for food.


A picture of the Marakesh street


A group picture of us at the Exit (or rather Entrance too)

Of course, we left the theme park with heavy hearts, because we just had so much fun and excitement there. Well, it was time for food and we drove along the street outside the park and in the end (after a few stops and discussions), we decided that we pay an American Pizza Hut a visit.


A picture of the Pizza Hut restaurant where we dined in

After a satisfying meal (we even had extras to be packed back for our breakfast the next morning), we then had GPS set to return to Walden Circle. It was really an exhausting day for everyone as not long we were on the road, most of them were already asleep. It was already half past eleven when we arrived at Walden Circle. We bid the girls good night as we dropped them at their place while we headed back ours.

What an experience we had at Busch Gardens, and the best part was, we got to enter the park with free tickets. It was indeed just great to have the Chinese connection :). Again great thanks to the girls and their friends for all the troubles they had.

20 Years Ago On The Day I Was Borned

It was 08/08/08 on Friday and yes it was my birthday :) The day before, which was during Thursday night, we (me, Dickson and Winson) had a little celebration among ourselves after the clock ticked past 12. It was just a small but meaningful celebration with some chickens and a bottle of beer (which Winson bought, thanks :)).


Here's the meal which were bound to go into our stomachs.

On Friday itself, I had many birthday wishes from friends and colleagues alike, through all means. In fact, i already had some from Malaysia since Thursday (thanks to my family and those who had wished me, I really appreciate it) :) But the surprise of the day was i received a little birthday card from Wendy (for those who doesn't know, Wendy is our beloved colleague from Taiwan). What was written in the card will only be between me and Wendy, but what i could say was, what she had written was very meaningful and i'm starting to wonder how it's gonna be like when we were to part in about 20 day's time. To Wendy if you were to read this post: "You're really a thoughtful and sweet girl, I can't and don't want to imagine the moment when we're about to part, but knowing you was indeed a blessing and worth this very trip alone.. :) and thanks again for that birthday card". By the way, after work during Friday night, we had a little party with some chickens and beer again, this time, the Taiwanese girls were invited and so as Damien and his girlfriend. Well, at least it felt like a little party.. :p


A picture of the little party

By the way, this 20th birthday of mine was indeed a very special one, for the fact that it was celebrated away from Malaysia with people from different country. I would like to thank everyone for their wishes and you guys are just great :)