The six men under me were an astounding bunch. I saw them in a different light and I appreciated their every effort. They allowed me to lead. They courageously fought with me when shrubs and lalang stood in their way. They gave me strength with their loud response to my commands and their agile movement deserves nothing but the utmost compliment. I am proud of them and I am humbled by the faith they have entrusted onto me. All were equally good… All special in their own way. (Future entries will have in-depth description of them)

A Formosan Experience: R&R (Rest & Relax)

I wish I had planned my R & R better. Should have included Bhas* into my plans. But nonetheless I bonded fine with Naeem*. (Refer to glossary)

Ximending, Shilin, Wufenpu, LeoFoo Safari Park, Windows On China
What’s new? In fact, there is nothing.

As I shuffled through the streets of all those places, I reminisced my trainee days with my bunch of friends. I remembered how I breezed through the shops with my ‘boleh-tahan’ mandarin. You don’t know how much I have improved ok! Still recount a moment I had with a ‘xiao-jie’ who asked me how am I able to speak mandarin. I simply answered, “I’m Singaporean. My dad is Malay and my mum is Chinese. I can understand mandarin but I can only speak a few phrases in Mandarin” She was amazed and I purposely said all that to get some sort of compliment. Obviously it worked. Haha!

I didn’t shop much. I just wanted to explore. Taipei 101, I would say, was a dream come true. During those SISPEC days we weren’t allowed to even enter the building. Naeem and I paid $450 NT to take the fastest lift in the world only to get a splitting headache from the speed.

But that was not going to stop me from the experience.

It was not new to me. I’ve been up the Petronas Twin Towers and Eiffel Tower. I’m numb to the height. What I enjoy was the wind, the strong forceful wind that hindered me from moving forward. It was a great photo opportunity!

I felt so free. It was as if the wind carried all my troubles away. I wanted to enjoy every moment of it, so when no one else was watching me I imagined as if I was doing a music video. Haha! Thank God no one saw me. It could have been in Gotcha! for all I know. Bhas should have been there! We could have relived the ‘Titanic’ experience.

I really can’t say which Formosan experience was the best. Both experiences were beautiful… both worth a space in my cluttered mind. :)