It began innocently enough. It was during the break week, I was in school mugging and without an internship. I was walking through the school library to print some notes, when I met Sammy from my LTB (Leadership and Team Building) group. As usual I sat down to talk to him, about school work, projects and complain about how hard it is to find internships. I didn’t think much about it, until one or two weeks later, he messaged me on MSN if I would be interested in working in his uncle’s company in Vietnam. I decided to accept the offer immediately.
So here I am in Vietnam, blogging about my overseas internship again… one... final... time. YEAH!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Monday, September 22, 2008
Conculsion
Nearly one month has passed by since my India journey has ended, and as each day passed by, my internship seems more and more pleasant as the not-so-pleasant incidents filtered out of my mind. If I had to choose all over again whether to do this Internship all over again, I would be more than happy to oblige. With the same Smu interns, same roommate, same group of friends, same project and even the same project guide. I was with excellent terms with all the 6 Smu interns and even on speaking terms with the Indian and non-Indian friends I met in STC and Byrraju. I can say quite confidently that we will be friends for a long time, or as least until we graduate.
I think I would rather travel with the same group of people than constantly changing companion or worse still, alone. It is very unfortunate to have to make new friends just when you have grown close to a fellow companion. Also it feels very insecure to have to bunk in a hotel or train will some stranger who would care little about your fate. I would rather travel with the same 6 people even if they were bitchy, compliant-y, temperamental, and always say the wrong stuff than to suffer such fate.
I have learnt to treat STC as my home. Every time when I return to STC whether from work or from traveling outside Hyderabad all my cares, worry and tireness just melts away, for I know I’m home, and would feel safe, comfortable and clean again. I have no doubt that the other Hyderabad Interns would feel the same way, especially after coming back from Mumbai, Village visit or Golden Triangle. It’s very miserable and distressing to have to pack and unpack, to not bath for several days and to not have a bed for the night. I’m proud to never had to pack my luggage but twice, when I left Jurong West and when I returned to it.
And so my internship had finally ended after visiting Venkat yesterday. My memories of India and always remain with me, even though I know I would not be able to retain all the sights and sounds that I was fortunate to experience. However, my three months would be not have been wasted, thanks to the precious 25gig of pictures that we have taken. These pictures will always capture the moments we spent in India even after our memories had faded away.
I think I would rather travel with the same group of people than constantly changing companion or worse still, alone. It is very unfortunate to have to make new friends just when you have grown close to a fellow companion. Also it feels very insecure to have to bunk in a hotel or train will some stranger who would care little about your fate. I would rather travel with the same 6 people even if they were bitchy, compliant-y, temperamental, and always say the wrong stuff than to suffer such fate.
I have learnt to treat STC as my home. Every time when I return to STC whether from work or from traveling outside Hyderabad all my cares, worry and tireness just melts away, for I know I’m home, and would feel safe, comfortable and clean again. I have no doubt that the other Hyderabad Interns would feel the same way, especially after coming back from Mumbai, Village visit or Golden Triangle. It’s very miserable and distressing to have to pack and unpack, to not bath for several days and to not have a bed for the night. I’m proud to never had to pack my luggage but twice, when I left Jurong West and when I returned to it.
And so my internship had finally ended after visiting Venkat yesterday. My memories of India and always remain with me, even though I know I would not be able to retain all the sights and sounds that I was fortunate to experience. However, my three months would be not have been wasted, thanks to the precious 25gig of pictures that we have taken. These pictures will always capture the moments we spent in India even after our memories had faded away.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
After India
Ever since coming back I have been acquainting myself with all things Singaporean. Been eating lots of Singaporean food. Been eating noodles and Nasi Lemak. Been eating curry with coconut milk instead of the watery Indian curry. Ramesh will definitely scream blasphemy.
I have discovered the joy of holding conversations in Singlish and Mandarin. The rare happiness of understanding every word that is being said, and knowing every word you say will be understood as well!
I have not conquered Indian’s roads after 3 months. I doubt I will even come close to taming it even if I spend the rest of my natural life trying.
The three months internship has been very productive. I now know that the Rajasthan Royals won the IPL, that Aishwarya is indeed very beautiful, and that Tata owns everything. I will not forget the Taj, one too many forts and the experiences that we shared. I have found my favourite Limca and the most hated gulab jamun. I have rode on Autos and doorless trains. I have witnessed both extreme proverty and hope in the form of Byrraju Foundation.
The interns had 2 more reunions before school starts. Claire is having her exchange in Chicago. CK is in the same FIIM as class with me. Ramesh still refuses to collect my external hard disk with all the photos. Trina pesters me to lend her the hard disk which I do not have. The other two are still alive, I think.
I came to India out of a desire to experience India. I have experienced much during the three months there, and although I failed to understand much of what I have experienced, I have made this record for the present and future batches of Byrraju or SMU interns to study and entertain themselves.
-Yeehong of Jurong
I have discovered the joy of holding conversations in Singlish and Mandarin. The rare happiness of understanding every word that is being said, and knowing every word you say will be understood as well!
I have not conquered Indian’s roads after 3 months. I doubt I will even come close to taming it even if I spend the rest of my natural life trying.
The three months internship has been very productive. I now know that the Rajasthan Royals won the IPL, that Aishwarya is indeed very beautiful, and that Tata owns everything. I will not forget the Taj, one too many forts and the experiences that we shared. I have found my favourite Limca and the most hated gulab jamun. I have rode on Autos and doorless trains. I have witnessed both extreme proverty and hope in the form of Byrraju Foundation.
The interns had 2 more reunions before school starts. Claire is having her exchange in Chicago. CK is in the same FIIM as class with me. Ramesh still refuses to collect my external hard disk with all the photos. Trina pesters me to lend her the hard disk which I do not have. The other two are still alive, I think.
I came to India out of a desire to experience India. I have experienced much during the three months there, and although I failed to understand much of what I have experienced, I have made this record for the present and future batches of Byrraju or SMU interns to study and entertain themselves.
-Yeehong of Jurong
Friday, July 25, 2008
24-25 July- Golden Triangle 8, New Delhi
We moved out of Hotel Blue the next morning and into the loving embrace of York Hotel.
From Lonely planet,
“Plain but presentable rooms…”
Lonely Planet didn’t warn us the chui-ness (run-down) of the Hotel Blue, but this time Lonely Planet completely understated York Hotel. The rooms are clean and homely. The television and remote control works. The staff was polite, courteous and well-mannered.
On our first day in New Delhi, we decided to take it easy and to allow our weary bodies to recover from the tiring travelling we had done. Eugene of Mumbai joined us in New Delhi for half a day before continuing his travels alone. We spend the entire day exploring the Connaught Place Area. The entire place is one big shopping district. I bought a couple of books that I haven’t read yet, and a small toy Auto. Trina bough a hat that was too small for her. Kenny bough a white cowboy hat that I strongly disapprove of. I bough a strawhat that reminds me of Luffy. Hazel bough no hat at all.
On our second day, Trina used her contacts to secure a driver for the day. We took a quick tour of Delhi. We went to the Old Delhi city. The old city is how Delhi was like hundreds of years ago. The streets of the old city is too cramp for car or auto-(rickshaw) to pass through, so we had to hire a bicycle rickshaw to tour the old city. From what I saw, the old city is cramp, dark and claustrophobic. People wash vegetables on the stone roads and monkeys swing on the roof tops. I prefer Delhi new.
We saw Mosque and Temples, although we didn’t enter this time. I though it to be rude to turn a place of worship into a tourist attraction again. More importantly, I was running out of Rupees.
Of course we had to see the Amber fort. We went pass the Amber fort but didn’t when in. This was the third Amber fort in India that we saw, and it wasn’t as majestic as the one we saw in Jaipur. Someone needs to come up with new names for these forts.
Of course we had to take false perspective photographs of the 45m high India Gate. We were hounded by ‘professional photographer’ wanting to take our photographs for money again. Trina managed to play those ‘professional photographer’ against each other to drive down prices.
Of course the driver had to bring us to those “government approved” handicraft village. I didn’t buy anything there though. The weather was too hot to do any shopping. I was drinking Limca to prevent getting heat-stroke. Was feeling dizzy at the end.
We had lunch with Trina’s contact, the boss of a travel agency. After the lunch we took the one day train ride back to Hyderabad for our last days in India.
From Lonely planet,
“Plain but presentable rooms…”
Lonely Planet didn’t warn us the chui-ness (run-down) of the Hotel Blue, but this time Lonely Planet completely understated York Hotel. The rooms are clean and homely. The television and remote control works. The staff was polite, courteous and well-mannered.
On our first day in New Delhi, we decided to take it easy and to allow our weary bodies to recover from the tiring travelling we had done. Eugene of Mumbai joined us in New Delhi for half a day before continuing his travels alone. We spend the entire day exploring the Connaught Place Area. The entire place is one big shopping district. I bought a couple of books that I haven’t read yet, and a small toy Auto. Trina bough a hat that was too small for her. Kenny bough a white cowboy hat that I strongly disapprove of. I bough a strawhat that reminds me of Luffy. Hazel bough no hat at all.
On our second day, Trina used her contacts to secure a driver for the day. We took a quick tour of Delhi. We went to the Old Delhi city. The old city is how Delhi was like hundreds of years ago. The streets of the old city is too cramp for car or auto-(rickshaw) to pass through, so we had to hire a bicycle rickshaw to tour the old city. From what I saw, the old city is cramp, dark and claustrophobic. People wash vegetables on the stone roads and monkeys swing on the roof tops. I prefer Delhi new.
We saw Mosque and Temples, although we didn’t enter this time. I though it to be rude to turn a place of worship into a tourist attraction again. More importantly, I was running out of Rupees.
Of course we had to see the Amber fort. We went pass the Amber fort but didn’t when in. This was the third Amber fort in India that we saw, and it wasn’t as majestic as the one we saw in Jaipur. Someone needs to come up with new names for these forts.
Of course we had to take false perspective photographs of the 45m high India Gate. We were hounded by ‘professional photographer’ wanting to take our photographs for money again. Trina managed to play those ‘professional photographer’ against each other to drive down prices.
Of course the driver had to bring us to those “government approved” handicraft village. I didn’t buy anything there though. The weather was too hot to do any shopping. I was drinking Limca to prevent getting heat-stroke. Was feeling dizzy at the end.
We had lunch with Trina’s contact, the boss of a travel agency. After the lunch we took the one day train ride back to Hyderabad for our last days in India.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
23 July- Golden Triangle 7, Back to Jaipur and Train to Delhi
So, I am back in my beloved Jaipur once again. I’ve noticed that unlike in Hyderabad and Mumbia where security guards will search you whenever you enter a departmental store, no such nonsense in Jaipur.
Claire and Ck went back to Hyderabad first. Kenny, Hazel, Trina and me decided to complete the golden triangle by travelling to New Delhi. We four were the first to arrive in India, and we were the last to leave.
We took a sleeper class train to New Delhi. Trains are a good way to have conversations with the natives. Both of us are held captive to our seat for a few hours at least, and with nothing to do but talk. I talk to my train neighbour about many things. I instructed him on the finer points of Singlish, and from him, I learnt that Singapore in Hindi means Lion City, and the other aspects of India, like attitudes of western tourist etc.
As we got nearer to New Delhi, we went pass what seemed to me like endless row of slums. We were in a sleeper class and I can see and smell the filth and fumes. It was the same situation in Mumbai, but unlike that time I didn’t flitch away. Three months in India can harden you to such sights.
We arrived in New Delhi in the evening. We booked a room in Hotel Blue beforehand. At Trina, the worrywart, insistence, we requested Hotel Blue to send someone to pick us up. We meet the representative for Hotel Blue at the train station. We hired a van which just happened to be outside the station, which the representative just happened to be bargaining for us and which the price just happened to be very expensive. It was all very coincidental. Three days of not sleeping properly have taken a toil on me and I couldn’t think properly. Only the next day, when we saw the same van, suspiciously outside the hotel that we released that we have been conned by Hotel Blue.
From Lonely planet,
“This area’s hotels won’t exactly make you jump for joy- you’re essentially paying for the central location, not the room quality or service, which is, frankly, so-so.” “Hotel Blue’s room are looking distinctly tired…”
Simply put, Hotel Blue’s room is very, very bad. The paint is peeling off from the room and walls, the AC stops working in the middle of the night, there are holes in the wall and some of lamps have fallen off. The Hotel uses incandescent light bulb, which is very energy inefficient and produces a lot of heat. The room service is equally bad. The Hotel demanded that we pay the room rate two days in advance. Naturally we checked out the next day.
Claire and Ck went back to Hyderabad first. Kenny, Hazel, Trina and me decided to complete the golden triangle by travelling to New Delhi. We four were the first to arrive in India, and we were the last to leave.
We took a sleeper class train to New Delhi. Trains are a good way to have conversations with the natives. Both of us are held captive to our seat for a few hours at least, and with nothing to do but talk. I talk to my train neighbour about many things. I instructed him on the finer points of Singlish, and from him, I learnt that Singapore in Hindi means Lion City, and the other aspects of India, like attitudes of western tourist etc.
As we got nearer to New Delhi, we went pass what seemed to me like endless row of slums. We were in a sleeper class and I can see and smell the filth and fumes. It was the same situation in Mumbai, but unlike that time I didn’t flitch away. Three months in India can harden you to such sights.
We arrived in New Delhi in the evening. We booked a room in Hotel Blue beforehand. At Trina, the worrywart, insistence, we requested Hotel Blue to send someone to pick us up. We meet the representative for Hotel Blue at the train station. We hired a van which just happened to be outside the station, which the representative just happened to be bargaining for us and which the price just happened to be very expensive. It was all very coincidental. Three days of not sleeping properly have taken a toil on me and I couldn’t think properly. Only the next day, when we saw the same van, suspiciously outside the hotel that we released that we have been conned by Hotel Blue.
From Lonely planet,
“This area’s hotels won’t exactly make you jump for joy- you’re essentially paying for the central location, not the room quality or service, which is, frankly, so-so.” “Hotel Blue’s room are looking distinctly tired…”
Simply put, Hotel Blue’s room is very, very bad. The paint is peeling off from the room and walls, the AC stops working in the middle of the night, there are holes in the wall and some of lamps have fallen off. The Hotel uses incandescent light bulb, which is very energy inefficient and produces a lot of heat. The room service is equally bad. The Hotel demanded that we pay the room rate two days in advance. Naturally we checked out the next day.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
22 July- Golden Triangle 6, Udaipur and Little Wave
I shall remember my trip to the Golden Triangle for a long time, partly because of beautiful sights and mainly because of the tiredness.
After the movie, we took a detour from the golden triangle (Delhi, Jaipur, Agar) and went to Udaipur for a one day trip. Little Wave (our driver) drove us through the night all the way from Jaipur to Udaipur. We didn’t get a good sleep that night as the vehicle is quite cramp with seven people (including Little Wave) and all of our luggage. Moreover we had to keep an eye on Little Wave to make sure he didn’t fall asleep. Our life depends on it.
In the morning, we went to see the Udaipur City Palace, and we were already tired due to the lack of sleep and from climbing too many forts.
From Wikipedia,
“massive series of palaces built at different times… The way now leads to a series of courtyards, overlapping parations, terraces, corridors and gardens - a harmonic profusion hard to describe”
In my humble opinion, the Udaipur City Palace is rather messy. You can go through corridors to another room without knowing what to expect. One of the courtyards (to my untrained eye) is even decorated with white, blue Chinese porcelain tile. Also, even though the Udaipur City Palace is smaller, than the other forts and palaces we have seen, but due to its winding, cramp and maze-like nature, we were bring made to march through what seems like an endless corridors and rooms. Truly exhausting.
By around this time we have seen so much forts, palaces, temples and historical sites that we are worn out and refused to find any interest. Even the famous Lake Palace that we travelled all the way to Udaipur for, failed to interest us. From what I saw, the Lake of the Lake Palace seems to have either dried up or filled with alga. And the fee to visit the Lake Palace is rather expensive and we were running out of rupees. Needless to say, the Lake Palace wasn’t too appealing, and we decided not to go there.
That afternoon, we allowed Little Wave to catch some sleep so he won’t fall sleep on the drive back. But on the drive back that night, Little Wave stopped by a stop-over and told us that he need to sleep for a couple of hours. What did you do that afternoon! Not only that, he almost felt asleep several times while driving. Then after having his supper at a stop-over he called us to pay for him. This Little Wave is clearly taking advantage of our Singaporean kindness and patience. To the gentle readers, if you are going to India, by no means do you hire a driver named Nemichan.
P.S. On hindsight, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to visit the beautiful Taj Mahal first. I have been bashing the other places of interest as they seem ugly by comparison.
After the movie, we took a detour from the golden triangle (Delhi, Jaipur, Agar) and went to Udaipur for a one day trip. Little Wave (our driver) drove us through the night all the way from Jaipur to Udaipur. We didn’t get a good sleep that night as the vehicle is quite cramp with seven people (including Little Wave) and all of our luggage. Moreover we had to keep an eye on Little Wave to make sure he didn’t fall asleep. Our life depends on it.
In the morning, we went to see the Udaipur City Palace, and we were already tired due to the lack of sleep and from climbing too many forts.
From Wikipedia,
“massive series of palaces built at different times… The way now leads to a series of courtyards, overlapping parations, terraces, corridors and gardens - a harmonic profusion hard to describe”
In my humble opinion, the Udaipur City Palace is rather messy. You can go through corridors to another room without knowing what to expect. One of the courtyards (to my untrained eye) is even decorated with white, blue Chinese porcelain tile. Also, even though the Udaipur City Palace is smaller, than the other forts and palaces we have seen, but due to its winding, cramp and maze-like nature, we were bring made to march through what seems like an endless corridors and rooms. Truly exhausting.
By around this time we have seen so much forts, palaces, temples and historical sites that we are worn out and refused to find any interest. Even the famous Lake Palace that we travelled all the way to Udaipur for, failed to interest us. From what I saw, the Lake of the Lake Palace seems to have either dried up or filled with alga. And the fee to visit the Lake Palace is rather expensive and we were running out of rupees. Needless to say, the Lake Palace wasn’t too appealing, and we decided not to go there.
That afternoon, we allowed Little Wave to catch some sleep so he won’t fall sleep on the drive back. But on the drive back that night, Little Wave stopped by a stop-over and told us that he need to sleep for a couple of hours. What did you do that afternoon! Not only that, he almost felt asleep several times while driving. Then after having his supper at a stop-over he called us to pay for him. This Little Wave is clearly taking advantage of our Singaporean kindness and patience. To the gentle readers, if you are going to India, by no means do you hire a driver named Nemichan.
P.S. On hindsight, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to visit the beautiful Taj Mahal first. I have been bashing the other places of interest as they seem ugly by comparison.
Monday, July 21, 2008
21 July- Golden Triangle 5, Jaipur and Movie review
Of course we visited Amber Fort. I think people who named the places in Jaipur must be rather colour-blind, since Jaipur the pink city is definitely not pink, and the Amber Fort is not amber, crimson, red, or scarlet, or any variations of those colours. Instead, Amber Fort is more yellowish-beigey. Amber Fort is located on top of a hill and is very huge, much larger than the Amber Fort in Agra and the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad.
We spent the whole day exploring the ruins of the massive fort. It was truly tiring. We even meet the mythical Indian snake charmers. This was the first time, we saw snake charmers busking in the 3 months we been here, and were naturally intrigued.
That evening we went to watch a movie in the Raj Mandir Cinema. I read in a review that the Raj Mandir Cinema is the place to see a Hindi film in not just Jaipur but The whole of India. The Raj Mandir is a tourist attraction in itself; because it is so opulently built that it looks like a palace. It certainly lived up to its reputation.
We bought tickets for a Hindi movie, Kismat Konnection. Now, I don’t hate Bollywood movies. I enjoyed watching Lagaan. And I don’t hate romantic comedies. However I found Kismat Konnection very boring and torturing. This may partly due to the fact that the movie is in Hindi and I don’t understand Hindi. However, I understand enough to be able to follow the plot, and the characters like to use some English phrases which greatly aided my understanding. The other interns may also protest my review of this movie, since I felt asleep half-way through the movie. Me falling asleep is because the movie is too boring and torturing, and not the movie is boring and torturing because I fell asleep.
Thus with great pain, I bring you the review of Kismat Konnection.
This poor Indian guy, Raj Malhotra, and his best friend (forgot his name) lives together in Toronto. His best friend has a girlfriend, which assures the gentle viewers that Raj is not gay. Everywhere they go, they only meet Indians who happened to be fluent in Hindi. Raj lives a very good lifestyle, with stylish suits, a car and a good house, even though he is not working. Raj randomly meet the feisty Priya (she may have a last name, but it was not mentioned), and immediately found out they don’t like each other. I need to mention that all this happen very slowly.
Raj is very unlucky until he meets this gypsy (she’s more beautiful than the lead actress) who told him that his luck will change when he is with his lucky star, who just happened to be Priya. Raj start to woo Priya because she makes him lucky, and Priya has a boyfriend. Yes, he has no ethics or morals. In the midst of all this, the usual Bollywood songs are sung, and at least one has no connection to the plot. The scene switches from a port to a Bollywood song in a night club, and back, so I’m very sure it has no connection. At about this time, I have already fallen asleep and was thus spared from further torture.
We spent the whole day exploring the ruins of the massive fort. It was truly tiring. We even meet the mythical Indian snake charmers. This was the first time, we saw snake charmers busking in the 3 months we been here, and were naturally intrigued.
That evening we went to watch a movie in the Raj Mandir Cinema. I read in a review that the Raj Mandir Cinema is the place to see a Hindi film in not just Jaipur but The whole of India. The Raj Mandir is a tourist attraction in itself; because it is so opulently built that it looks like a palace. It certainly lived up to its reputation.
We bought tickets for a Hindi movie, Kismat Konnection. Now, I don’t hate Bollywood movies. I enjoyed watching Lagaan. And I don’t hate romantic comedies. However I found Kismat Konnection very boring and torturing. This may partly due to the fact that the movie is in Hindi and I don’t understand Hindi. However, I understand enough to be able to follow the plot, and the characters like to use some English phrases which greatly aided my understanding. The other interns may also protest my review of this movie, since I felt asleep half-way through the movie. Me falling asleep is because the movie is too boring and torturing, and not the movie is boring and torturing because I fell asleep.
Thus with great pain, I bring you the review of Kismat Konnection.
This poor Indian guy, Raj Malhotra, and his best friend (forgot his name) lives together in Toronto. His best friend has a girlfriend, which assures the gentle viewers that Raj is not gay. Everywhere they go, they only meet Indians who happened to be fluent in Hindi. Raj lives a very good lifestyle, with stylish suits, a car and a good house, even though he is not working. Raj randomly meet the feisty Priya (she may have a last name, but it was not mentioned), and immediately found out they don’t like each other. I need to mention that all this happen very slowly.
Raj is very unlucky until he meets this gypsy (she’s more beautiful than the lead actress) who told him that his luck will change when he is with his lucky star, who just happened to be Priya. Raj start to woo Priya because she makes him lucky, and Priya has a boyfriend. Yes, he has no ethics or morals. In the midst of all this, the usual Bollywood songs are sung, and at least one has no connection to the plot. The scene switches from a port to a Bollywood song in a night club, and back, so I’m very sure it has no connection. At about this time, I have already fallen asleep and was thus spared from further torture.
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