Ra-Fiesta!!!!

The highly anticipated event of the year....

"The inaugural festive bash is approaching and wont fail to impress all party-lovers who are seeking for a ride of a lifetime and endless food that can satisfy people with gargantuan stomachs. Be sure to attend the Ra-Fiesta. In conjunction with the in-house racoon geomancer, it is now held on the weekend prior to the birthday with a proper balance of yin & yang and alignment of the stars, a day suitable for "safety boat rides" or endless gulping of food."

- reliable source

Of course, all six must be present for such a major event. First stop for us is lunch @Subway. As we were planning to save our stomach space for the grand feast later, we opted for something light.

Subway @ Central (look at Ra at the background, scrutinizing the menu)

After the quick bite, we proceeded to Settler's Cafe, where the fun and games begin... tried out several games, some were quick boring and definitely the most enjoyable game is "Taboo", especially when it is Raymond's turn(and poor Kelvin had to partner with him)...

J's turn

Ra's turn, with roars of laughter

Where's my muse???

group photo @ Settler's

After the games, we travelled to Royal Plaza on Scotts for dinner buffet @ Carousel. It was definitely expensive and classy enough to suit Ra's status as "tai tai" aka Big Spender of the group, and anything lesser will be an insult to him.

The buffet spread was so big that even though we spent four hours there, we could not try out all the dishes( Ra went for 4 rounds at the seafood section). It was obvious he ruined the delicate ecosystem of the marine creatures by gulping countless shellfishes.

let the feast begins

Ra, with a disgusted Eugene

extreme measures to ask Ra to stop(just joking...)

freshness... peel on the spot

finally, it's time for dessert


Of course, last activity of the day is the present presentation to Raymond, by Aaron... As we noticed that Ra's yellow radioactive/bio hazard bag was worn out, it was natural for us to buy him a new and much more fashionable bag...lol... It was like sure like the M16 rifle presentation

no more bio hazard...

the crowning ceremony

group photo @ Carousel

---------------Quotes of the Day---------------

" I feel like a cow."

Aaron @ Subway/ Jay @ Carousel

"Hiny Hiny..."

Aaron, during Taboo for the word "pony"

"Monkey"

Ra, clue for Nicole Kidman

"I don't listen to her song"

Aaron

"What do you say when you are surprised?"

Ra, mistaken the word "Vow" for "Wow"

"Where...where...I said WHERE!!!"

Ra, pressing for answer during Taboo

Editor's note: Ra - fiesta is aka Raymond's 21st Birthday Celebration

When the racoons meet the hippo....

19 May 2008 (Mon)

okay...what are the odds???? All six of us are free once again(not actually)... Anyway, we took the opportunity to visit Eugene at the Hippo Tour. It was a first for most of us as 23 bucks per pax is way too expensive for our budget lifestyle(except Ra who has been living like a tai tai ironically).
Took the city tour route. It was fun, especially gossiping on board with the breeze blowing at us. And we had a excellent guide... lol.

oops... no tips from us...

topless...

kiddo language? there was a monkey face on it, monkey=kids??

Be Hip! Yes, vomiting is allowed.

our guide, Eugene

views...

scenery...

more...

and more....

enough....

already.

Hippo

Not to forget, Ra & Jay had a gd laugh when we saw a SBST bus ad about the unlawful act of smuggling cigarettes, about a person carrying a giant cigarette and a huge phrase stating, "dont carry the burden". The ad just reminded us of the smoke addict, Mr Da-Wang, the infamous top smoker for relief teaching, who doesnt believe in cancers & all the health hazards. "Im as fit as a fiddle", is his favorite phrase translated in mandarin. Of course, the joke was that he would be more than happy to carry the burden and smoke that huge cigarette that can last him the entire year with a loadful of tobacco enough to satisfy his cravings.

After the tour, we went to Changing Appetites for dinner. It was filling. Ra, being the Resident Slut, decided to make life difficult for one of the trainee there with his confusing order. The supervisor had to interfere to see whats Ra up to. Poor guy...his language was bad enough and he became one of the targets for Ra to meet his daily quota.

Golden Blossom, but wait till u see the roots, which was thrown into the pot of oil as well.

Barbarian Burger

Quote of the Trip...

"We should go to Sushi Tei... they have superb salad there!"

- Aaron aka Blondie

" I want to change my beef patties to chicken... hmmm... nope... one chicken one fish... ask your supervisor over!"

- Ra aka Resident's Slut

"The birthday celebration will last one week. It will be a carnival!!! RA-fiesta!"

-unknown sources

"Are you guys free on the Friday 13th???"

-Ra, oblivious of the inauspicious dates that most Asians try to avoid in this society

"how unglam"

- Aaron, on why he never order ribs for dinner

and of course, not to forget.....the infamous Quote that has been resurfacing every meetings:

"The ship has sailed", with the hand symbols showing how a boat on rough seas travelling horizontally

Movie Outing: Iron Man

Finally the planets and stars aligned (lol…), all six of us present for this gathering. It was difficult trying to get all of us down, as we were all busy with our own work and what not. The main purpose of this gathering was of course Iron man, though it was fun updating each other on the latest happenings. We were suppose to meet at 630pm at City Hall MRT but as usual, Ra and Leong was late, they were still in Seng Kang at 610pm (thou the fault lies with Leong... tsk tsk).

Lesson Learnt: When Ra is late, never trust what he says about his location. When he say he is at XXX station, most likely he is two/three stations behind from the destination. For example, if he says he is at Boon Keng, most likely he is at Kovan/Serangoon.

Personnel Racoon Updates:

Jay - Came back from Japan, still stuck at a travel agent

Aaron - signed a bond to the SAF, sold his soul to the "devil"

Eugene - still hippo-ing around

Ra - terrorising innocent children @ SKPS

Kel - ended his internship

Leong - Assisting Ra in giving horror to the kids.

Some random pics from the gathering: -

gathering our 'resources'

let the feast begins!

dinner @ Carls Jr

waiting patiently...

The hand of Ra, i do not want unglam moments

LATE! the sulky face after terrorizing a few kinds earlier on

mountain of fries..yes, all the carbo

till we meet again....

Gathering@YumCha

Things that made our gathering enjoyable....

The food....

The people....

Jay's 21st Birthday Celebration

Today, the gang met up at Vivo City to celebrate Jay's 21st birthday, as well as Chinese New Year. As usual, Raymond was the last to arrive at 3:40pm(late for nearly half an hour).

Our first stop was of course Golden Village. Once again, due to Raymond's so-called busy schedule, we were not able to experience the GVmax show at 3:00pm. Instead, we had to settle for the 3:50pm show at the small theatre(Hall 10). Due to CNY, we had the all the CNY blockbusters (or maybe not...) to choose from, namely, Ah Long Pte Ltd, CJ7, KungFu Dunk. We certainly did not want to catch Ah Long Pte Ltd due to the inferior reviews it had received from the media. Our final choice were KungFu Dunk. Lol... Most of us got a shock when we saw the Raintree Pictures logo appearing, as though we went into the wrong hall.

Carnivore, Brazilian Churrascaria

After the movie, it is time for our feast at Carnivore and we had a special guest to join us for dinner, Yiyang. Carnivore, as the name suggests, was not a place for people who do not enjoy meat to dine in. There is a variety of different cuts of beef, chicken (even the heart), fish served there. Of course, there is appetizer and salad bar and a fondue(Aaron's favourite).

eugene, aaron, leong

ra, jay, kel

As mentioned above, a lot of beef was served, and Raymond, who is not suppose to consume beef, broke the taboo and was feasting on all the beef shoulders, thigh etc as if there is no tomorrow.(He reportedly suffered from nauseousness that night)

Ja! More meat please.. let the feast begins

burning in sin....

Of course, no birthday celebration should be without a cake. Thanks to Kel and Aaron for providing us with a tiramisu cake.


the birthday boy, shou xing

group photo, Carnivore @ Vivo

taking photo with the star of the night, and the special guest.

no one is missed

The group was very satisfied with the meal and of course, our stomach was filled to the maximum. It was time to end the night...

gift presentation

Highlight of the day:

Determined to maintain his position as the Resident Blonde, Aaron made the most quotable quote of the day. When he was tasting the highly coveted grilled pineapple, he exclaimed:" It is like mango!!!!" in which he was shot down immediately with a plain reply from the side," Aye... it is PINEAPPLE.... 10 Bp awarded".

Of course, without fail, Ra will not want Aaron to steal all the limelight. He followed up with a series of "sampan quotes" when Aaron was briefing us about the fishing trip on boat(Aaron got a boat driving license which he had not put into practical use).

"Very soon the boat and its engines will become 2 separate entities in the middle of the water."

"Oh my, if the boat goes bump bump bump on the waves, we will soon need to do a headcount."

"What??!! What inferior lifejackets! Looks like we need to bring our floats onboard."

"Our lives are dependant on the engines."

'If we are stranded in the sea, we may have to do a Giselle 'Ahh, Ahhh, Ahhhhhhh!' to summon creatures of the sea for help.'

'Can we dock before sunset? I don't want the red light to be the last thing I see on Earth.'

'We can tie the extra floats to the side of the boat for precautionary measure.'

'We need extra oars and paddles for the sampans in case the engine fails.'

All in all, a joyful event with all the recollections of memories as well as planning for upcoming activities....

Korea Winter Discovery --- Finale

Highlights throughout the trip

======================

FOOD

The exotic....

1. Blood Sausage(aka the lumen)
2. Preserved Radish(aka Golden Coins)

The worst....

1. Burgers from Burger Cafe(Everland)

LODGING

The good...

1. Phoenix Hanwha Resort
2. Lotte World Hotel - Jamsil

The worst...

1. Seorak Hanwha Resort (aka Cold Palace)

DESTINATIONs

For photo taking....

1. Tangerine Farm
2. Rape Seed Flower Farm
3. Nami island
4. Seongsan Sunrise Peak
5. Mount Seorak

For thrills....

1. Lotte World Amusement Park
2. Everland
3. Horse riding

For sightseeing...

1. Teddy Bear Museum
2. Submarine Ride
3. Gyeongbok Palace
4. Yongduam

For new experiences...

1. Seorak Waterpia
2. Phoenix Ski Resort

For shopping...

1. Dongdaemun
2. Sinchon Fashion Street

Total Waste of time...

1. tong-cong-xia-cao shop (best place for mdm show-off)
2. ginseng shop (another place for ms celia to show off, but an embrassment later after turning out that the cc limit has been reached)
3. mysterious road

NOTABLE PEOPLE

1. Davin (aka Mr. Sour Plum)
2. Cash-eater/ Mdm Visa Cash (aka Mrs. Sour Plum)
3. Innocent Women
4. Celia (aka Pill-popper)
5. Ignorant old Lady(who forgot to eat her sea sick pills before the ferry ride to submarine)
6. Chris (aka David Gan/Lady Butterfly)
7. Ah Ming (aka Nan-yong)
8. Mdm Show-off
9. Kim Myung-Ja (our inaccurate weather predictor cum chambermaid)

======================================

QUOTES

• Jay (aka Navigator Racoon) on 31 Dec - "The airport departure hall simply looks like another mini little india with all the banglas hanging around"

Venue: Changi Airport T1, Singapore***No ill-intentions here, just pure jokes****

• Raymond (aka Resident Slut/Ra/Shopping Racoon) on 01 Jan - "The lady boss will give you a earful for not eating the EAR"

Venue: At an unidentified restuarant that proclaims to sell noodles opp Namseoul Plaza Hotel, Jeju City, Korea

• Raymond (01 Jan) - "The circles, squares and strokes are making me dizzy!"
• Raymond (01 Jan) - "It's safe to cross now.", words he said to Eugene (aka Minime) after which a car just dash into Eugene's path.
• Raymond (01 Jan)-"I thought I saw a prata house.", only to discover it's 'proto'.
• Raymond (01 Jan) - "I feel like we are filming National treasure when we are deciphering what the circles and strokes represent."
• Raymond(01 Jan): " a circle plus a stroke respresents noodle"-since then we noticed this appearing everywhere even in the toilets

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

• Aaron*Winner of Blonde Challenge Korea* on 02 Jan-"Everything here is Bear -rified"

Venue: Teddy Bear Museum, Jeju Island, Korea

• Aaron (aka Resident Blonde) on 02 Jan - "Are we late?" - when he open the door of his room with sleepy eyes, and in his pj, with only less than 15 min to meeting time

Venue: Namseoul Plaza Hotel, Jeju City, Korea

• Chris on 02 Jan - "Too late to pop pills already, you are supposed to pop them a nite before, now you juz have to pray nothing tragic happens and happy sailing on the rocky boat" (translated from mandarin)

Venue: On a bus ride journey towards Jeju Submarine tour

• Raymond on 02 Jan - "I saw someone walking down the Lumen Bar"- When nobody recall seeing a single soul on the steps of the bar

--------------------------------------------------------------------

• Innocent Lady on 03 Jan - "What role does he play? Is he a male servant (nan-yong)?" with the innocent looks, oblivious of the different role-plays in korea tourism industry. (translated from mandarin)

Venue: At the 1st restaurant in Seoul

• Chris (aka David Gan) on 03 Jan - "Wahhhh....You all are VIP ar? What time i say we are meeting?? I was telling the other members that I abandoned one of the tour member in my previous trip and he/she had to pay a few hundred bucks for taxi back to hotel"

Venue: Everland Buspark, Kyonggi-do, Korea

• Chris on 03 Jan - "Ehh, wear simple inside can already...(referring to the ski suit dressing), ahh...wear short pants, underwear inside, thats it...dun need to wear long pants, longjohns..i tell you ar, my previous customer, 1 ah-kong who din took my advise & was complaining tis & tat.

Venue: On the way to Pheonix Hanhwa Ski Resort, Gangwon-do, Korea

---------------------------------------------------------------------

• Chris on 04 Jan - "You all must try the spa ar, sauna ar, hot springs ar. I tell you the feeling is sooo good. Yeah lahz, you must go in naked, just like Japanese style. okok...you go and try yourself, i must go now"

Venue: Waterpia, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do

-----------------------------------------------------------------

• Chris on 05 Jan - "Remember, dun waste one ticket to sit the hot air balloon..very boring lahz"

Venue: Lotte World, Jamsil, Seoul

• The Gyro Swing operator on 05 Jan: " blah blah blah (in Korean) ..., Go, Go, Swing"

Venue: Lotte World

• Eugene(aka Minime) on 05 Jan:"I love you, raymond"-when the gyro drop is at its peak and going to drop any moment

Venue: Lotte World, Jasmil, Seoul

-------------------------------------------------------------------

• Chris on 06 Jan - "ahh ahh! yes, the faceshop! remember the collagen facemasks are good! collagen! then after you finish, still got some remnants, dont waste it, rub it around your neck, liddat lor"

Venue: Unknown place in Seoul city

• Jay on 06 Jan:" is this the real faceshop?... Where are all the exotic masks?"

Venue: The Face Shop

• Raymond on 06 Jan - "OOOOO!!! Just buy! There's no time to browse, never see it before means it is foreign, grab it. We've got no time to lose"

Venue: Lotte Mart, Jamsil, Seoul

• Raymond on 06 Jan - "Jay, i need the bathroom scale now!", throtting towards Room 1008 across his room, oblivious that he's only in his longjohn...shortly later, exclaming "YES!!!! YES!!!!" upon seeing a lovely 16kg+ numerical on the digital board.

Venue: Lotte Hotel, Jamsil, Seoul

• Raymond on 06 Jan - "Liar!"

Words written on Kim Myung Ja's weather prediction of the day, which always hover around the positive centigrade and perpetually having a 10c interval between the highs & lows.

Venue: Lotte Hotel, Jamsil, Seoul

• Jay on 6 Jan:" Ra... No matter what u do, don't marry a casheater..."

Venue: Ginseng Herbal Shop, Seoul

-------------------------------------------------------------------

• Chris on 07 Jan - " Aiyah, you want US$50 to buy tungchungxiachao (cordceyps) ar? more like the money will get you chao (grass) only"- translated from mandarin

Venue: Tungchungxiachao shop, Seoul

• Chris on 07 Jan - "Use your brains!"- after mdm pill-popper ask david whether the evlauation/feedbk form will affect his performance grading.

Venue: Incheon, Seoul

=============================================

DETAILS & STATISTICS

TITLE: 8D Korea Winter Discovery + Jeju Island
TOUR AGENCY: ASA
DEPARTURE DATE: 31 DEC 2007
RETURN DATE: 07 JAN 2008

GROUP SIZE: 24

Number of video clip: 57

Number of photo:

Day1: 124 Day2: 603 Day3: 1365 Day4: 883 Day5: 488 Day6: 905 Day7: 575 Day8: 702

subtotal: 5645

photo by Ah Ming: 17

GRAND TOTAL: 5662