2008 April | this lush garden within

First Day in NYC (Day 114)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

I bought a ticket for a hop-on-hop-off open top bus ride today, and hopped on, intending to take one whole round without hopping off. However, traffic was extremely, painfully slow, and so I got off at Chinatown to have lunch… fishball noodles! I had it at one of the HK-style cafes there, and it was [...]

Montreal – NYC (Day 113)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 27, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

I took the road less traveled today by taking the Amtrak train from Montreal to NYC. I chose this mode of transport because having experienced the excellent service on Amtrak’s service between Vancouver and Seattle I thought it’d be just as good. However, this time round the train kind of suck (poor ventilation, and less [...]

Walking around in Montreal (Day 112)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 25, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

I spent the entire day walking around Montreal today, following the suggested itinerary from Frommer’s travel guide. Took lots of photos, of which a selection can be found below. For lunch I had Chinese food in Montreal’s Chinatown. This is totally different from the Chinese food in Vancouver. Apparently here the clientele is mainly westerners [...]

Day trip to Quebec City (Day 111)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 25, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

Today I went for a day trip to Quebec City. The shuttle bus arrived to pick me up at 7.30 am, bringing me to the office to check-in for the tour and then boarding the tour bus there (troublesome eh?). That began a 4 hour or so ride to Quebec City, with a breakfast stop [...]

Singaporeans have to be given ‘Family Day Out’ to enjoy family life

By mrbiao ⋅ April 24, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

Article at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/343445/1/.html That’s quite sad, eh? Singaporeans actually have to look to the government to allocate them a ‘family day out’ so that they can spend more time with their family. I understand the premise is to ‘encourage’ Singaporeans to spend more time with family, however, I believe this is not addressing the root [...]

Toronto – Montreal (Day 110)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 24, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

I only planned for a half day layover in Toronto, and I’m glad I planned it that way – there’s nothing much to do in Toronto – not much sightseeing besides the CN Tower (another one of those tourist traps where you pay $20+ to take an elevator up, wow at the view from the [...]

Last day in Vancouver & first day of travel (Days 108 – 109)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 22, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment

My last day in Vancouver was spent doing last minute packing for the stuff I’ll be bringing along on my trip… then went for a Macdonald’s dinner with a roommate… returned my keys and said goodbye to the roommates. Then went on my way to the airport. I was booked on a WestJet flight to [...]

All my bags are packed and I’m ready to go… (Days 106 – 107 in Vancouver)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 20, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

Exams are finally over! With this my stint at UBC is over. Yesterday night I went partying with my roommates… the first time all four of us went out together, and definitely the last time since I won’t be here anymore. It was fun, thoughm and especially memorable since it snowed – yes, in mid-Spring! [...]

PhD jokes (Day 105 in Vancouver)

By mrbiao ⋅ April 18, 2008 ⋅ 2 comments

Ok… I am not going for a PhD anymore… after reading these: http://www.nigels.com/jokes/phd1.pdf (I think the first few reasons seem very legitimate and are probably quite true for many PhD candidates who eventually drop out) http://www.nigels.com/jokes/phd2.pdf (The part on the 2nd (unofficial) field is so true! “Internet studies”… haha!) http://www.nigels.com/jokes/phd3.pdf (Again, highlights the realities in [...]