What a weekend !!

Last week started off really boring as I was just writing an essay that was due in today - somehow I managed to not get it finished in time for going away so after getting back last night about 1am I stayed up until half 6 writing, then slept for 3 hrs and finished it off promptly at midday when my class was starting Alh I got it done - I don't know how good or bad it is, I was in the lib making some changes and then some dude switched off my computer so I lost all the changes I had been making in the morning so it wasn't a completely ok'd version going in. Not. Amused.

But this weekend was SO worth it so I don't mind so long as I pass it i'm ok with that!

On Thursday I flew to Macau in the morning, met Daniel there who I'd never met before so we did the get to know chatting thang until the flight which I just slept through entirely - cause guess what I was up late working on that damned essay on the wednesday night as well!! Landed in Macau and met Ceri, Zak and Smail who had been travelling for a week before us and seemed to have had a lot of fun - I cant wait to see their pictures and videos from it! Macau is just basically full of casinos and european style buildings so we decided not to stay there for the night and just toured it. Went up the viewing tower and WOW the casinos were huge and many in number - they were really spectacular by night - this is bigger than LA in terms of revenue so you can imagine the insanity of it. Ceri did the world's biggest bungee jump which I would never in a million years do - I was happy to just watch but she seemed to really enjoy it! Taxi drivers are nutters over there and we had quite a few mishaps which ended in Mcdonalds and meeting each other at the ferry terminal cause we were all separated but such a laugh. I hate to say it but we kind of lived off mcdonalds (filet of fish as well - there is no halal KFC, BK, McDs, etc, etc like Singapore for alot of the holiday!!!

Got to Hong Kong about 10pm and set off to find our hostel which look uuuuuuuugly and scary and oh so ghetto from the outside but was really clean inside and the ladies who worked there were so sweet! Cosmic Guest House people - if you ever go to Hong Kong. Was in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong, which is very very close to Hong Kong island and also to the Mong Kok which had first class shopping, had a lovely promenade and easy to get to both disney land hong kong (which we totally did) and the airport!

So we eventually caught yet another McD’s before going to bed. Ceri and I didn’t sleep for ages cause our bathroom with 3 random slippers rather than 2 or 4 was very amusing given the fact the entire thing was a shower and we couldn’t really work out how to keep our clothes and towel dry whilst in there…its probably really simple but we were both so incredibly tired!

It sounds awful that we had so much fast food but a lot of Hong Kong food is pork based and there is very very few halal joints there so I felt sorry for Fadil who lives there permanently! I did manage to find a list of some of them and we checked it out – resulting in some wicked biryani and kebabs so I’m not complaining. Though the area with the most Muslim eating places was the strip club area!!! But still – good food man, good food!

On the Friday we did a lot of wandering around a sightseeing – Bank of China Tower was specatular, and just in the insanity of all sky scrapers – absolutely breath taking! Hong Kong rocked! And there were random wee parks everywhere which we took a wander around and later met up with Ceri’s friend from Hong Kong who works there in the IFC I think. Then we met up with Fadil and friends to go to this kebab place. It was good to see him, bit strange seeing him outside of Edinburgh but class as always an met some of his friends so I know they are cool and will take care of him!! After that we went up a cable car and saw out over Hong Kong late at night which was truly truly incredible. If ever in Hong Kong take a trip to Peak Tower most definitely! So that was yet another late night!!

On Saturday we took a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong – which although way smaller than Paris and definitely Orlando, we made our own fun and hung around there until late in the evening learning the lingo and having a riot J Awww I love Disney, reminded me of all my favourite movies and childhood. My first crush was blatently Aladdin…I can’t tell you how much fun we had there cause we are a random bunch of people who just like to do crazy things. I worked out that I had only known Zak and Ceri for less than a month – since Ramadhan starts, and Daniel for only a few days ( I knew smaily from classes) but its really great to have them as friends Alh :)

That night we sat on the promenade at Kowloon and looked over at Hong Kong island for hours just sitting and chatting until it started rainining! We’d missed a typhoon in Hong Kong only the day before thank God because that would have been awful!

Then on Sunday we toured and shopped Mong Kok to death – good fun, we split cause me and ceri didn’t like shopping as much as the guys (I know!) and after 2 hrs we were bored and started just having a wee walk around eventually ending up at the promenade and seeing that by day! Everything is just so kitsch and Japanese ( know!) its amusing to see…

So we were late for our flight, a mammoth gallop through the airport and found out that it was delayed so felt gutted that we’d run on full stomachs! And when I got back last night we ate together and went our ways to write essays and revise for mid terms the following day! Really fantastic weekend!

Tomorrow is the last day of Ramadhan. Its weird out here there is no build up or excitement at when is Ramadhan?? There is a public holiday on Wednesday, its settled that this is the designated day – its so Singaporean, if it was to be like anything else it would throw the spanner in the works and Singapore would be in crisis!! Despite it not being a family day over here I’ve had plenty of invites round to local people’s houses and the Pakistanis are having a BBQ at PGP where we stay and then there is apparently Bollywood movieness going on – but I’ll need to check it out after visiting all my invitations! Alhamdulillah people have been so kind over here!

Anyhoo now I shall sleep early tonight and get some work done tomorrow, maybe make one last trip to the bazaar if Ceri doesn’t find elastic tonight for our shalwar kameez for weds :) I want to go and get my hair cut tomorrow as well iA

Sooooo let me know how being back at uni is!

Salaams, and love to all my peeps reading my blog (that’s right, I’m so G)

bungle of everything

ellooo peeps its silly o'clock but i finds its much easier to concentrate at night which is weird and so unlike me cause i like my sleep!!

But thought I'd quickly blog before I jump into bed. Tis recess week now, and I get bored here by myself so like it when Farah hasn't gone home for the weekend, should just be doing work but I find it quite difficult to concentrate here or maybe its just cause I'm bored of my own company, either way its not been sooo productive a couple of days but its getting better cause I'm getting my teeth into interesting american cases on Guantanamo :) sooooo looking forward to Macau and Hong Kong - I leave Thursday so the blogs will have to wait until I get back. But looking forward to seeing Fadil studying out there, a bit of back in Edinburgh comfort about East!

Went to the most awesome restaurant eeeeever tonight - a two floor buffet. Oh man did we just eat until we couldn't move! Duck, scallops, EEL (its not that bad), steak (yum) and so the list goes on and on and on and on - I have no idea how I fit it all in all I know is that I looked like 3 months pregnant now hehehe had to walk it off back to campus, we got on the internal shuttle bus and maaaaaaaaan did he think he was in with a shot for the F1 this weekend. NUS has a lot of speed bumps. Combined with being pregnant with food it didnt aaaaaaaaalways feel too good there was alot of groaning coming from us hehehehe


hehe it doesnt look too yummy on camera phone but oaty prawns and pizza scallops and cheesey mussels....

Something even funnier than how full I still feel right now is apparently I'm tipped to be an SNP patsie :o :p
http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Inside-Holyrood-I39ve-seen-the.4513529.jp
I can not tell you how insulting and funny I find it being compared to Kezia Dugdale, Craig Wilson AND MARCO (hehe) being on the other side of the world at the moment :P its rather ironic given I have rants about idiots running around on campus playing politics with each other thinking they are big shots and then unf they end up in parl a few years later treating it this a playground all over again. I think you need to have those who go and experience life and the other side of the playing field first before letting it just take over your life, maturity counts for a lot, not that I'm saying its entirely wrong to start early if your good at it and can see the grander scheme of things rather than the next political battle on newsnight. I think the fact that parties care more about each other is what causes apathy, the average joe doesn't give 2 hoots that such and such was pish on newsnight - they just want you to do whats best for them guys :p which happens to be what your paid to do.

so yeah :p but I guess I should find it as a compliment really. Alh not many people can literally just hit 20 and become a patsie :) He works in weird ways

and I'm missing peeps again, maybe I only blog when I miss people, I dunno :p I guess I always just miss people, certain things can remind me of a person and then I miss that person for a bit and then something else happens which reminds me of someone else, its just the way it is though :) but keep in touch with me and let me know what you guys are up to cause everyones starting back up at uni now or parliament is back from recess or if your starting new jobs or winning by elections, I feels sad when I don't still feel a part of your life so tell me about the boring stuff please

take care :) salaams and love from Singapore lah!

ello

Salaam, peace dudes

Me got a spare half hour before I get up properly for classes...last one before recess week. I cant believe that! I'm half way through my term and now all the big things are going to start becoming due in! Eeep! Was planning to work the first half of the week and then dart off to Hong Kong and Macau to relax for a few days - its pretty cool that I can do that. Its still weird to lie in bed and realise I'm lying in a bed on the other side of the world, and studying at such a good university- if someone had asked me this time last year if I thought this was going to happen I'd have thought they were stupid!

Ramadhan is flying past and have met alot of people and done alot since it started. There has been chinese lantern festival to mark a Chinese moon festival (too much Hello Kitty EVERYWHERE despoiling the lovely chinese gardens; Geylang Ramadhan market (where I shopped too much, it was fun :p so I have an Eid suit for this year yaay); and lots and lots of Iftari's which has been fantastic for meeting new folk! Funnily enough most of the Muslims I've meet at PGP have been Pakistani's and some random Brits and Malays here and there

but for the all fun times I'm having here I miss home life and family and friends back home, there is no way I could do this for longer than 4 months at a time, and I'm so so grateful I can come back for a month in between, I do feel sad sometimes when I miss out on the little things in peoples lives and whats happening, even though I'm doing fantastic things here and living it to the max possible

ps I cant get away from press I have to do an interview for a Malay newspaper about what I'll be doing for Eid! BBQ!!

Now because that telephone interview this post has to get cut short because I have to get ready for public int'l class (snooooze) well this one is on terrorism and torture so could have the chance of being slightly interesting

salaams and lots of love

Ramadhan Mubarak

my bad, I will start updating this more often now - I havent had time recently because Karen was over for so long and then Ramadhan started which just takes away your energy to be doing extracurricular things like blogging but you can start reading this more often now!

To start back from long time ago...

After our Islamic Law class was done we went out for some sheesha
- which was amazingly great fun and really good because it meant I met way more local students and some more Muslims around the law campus as well, and our Islamic law class really was class, and I rather miss them and our professor. I can't tell you how inspiring or engaging he was, but everyone fell in love with the subject because of him! He told me not to worry that I didn't know what to do after uni because he never knows but always seems to do what he loves and this gig is something he loves, aaah words of wisdom from the prof


and then Karen and I did a lot of noseying things in Singapore and around. Karen seemed to enjoy KL and even met a random guy from Giffnock there! Karen was advised to go to Sentosa so we went. Sentosa is a little island off Singapore which you can reach by monorail, bus or CAbLE CAR! So naturally we went for cable car even though heights are not my thing but this was fiiine, face the fear and aw that! But was suprised how easy it was


Sentosa is a very built island now that forces itself to be idyllic, with so many rides and big signs and silly colours and fonts like it tries to be disney land plus everyone goes there on a sunny day at the weekend which Alh it was that day but thankfully not a weekend.

We also had our first KFC - which really isn't that good, McDonalds is waaay better! Its weird so many lazy students have McDonalds for Iftari which is baaaaaaaaaad, I will try as much as I can not be there those days cause you need some sort of nutrition after all day fasting :p but its not really that long here - well only 2 or 3 hours shorter than back home but the heat mostly gets to you unless your in aircon all day...

So anyway after that we went to Indonesia and Tanjung Panang which is on the island of Bintan which was so Indonesian and so different to Singapore. We stayed in a hotel and splashed out of a Deluxe suite (S$33 only lol) and walked around town the first day - strange to see somewhere sooo different and to us relative poverty but everyone there was quite happy how they were living methinks, although they kept having powercuts which would turn off the aircon!

Went to the most beautiful beach either of us had ever seen on the Sunday, the water was so clear and it really was an amazing day as well. Only bad point about it was that no one would leave us alone, we thought we had left the car honking and "hey miss" behind but even at the beach so many people came up to us to take pictures with the whitey folk! V. irritating and tiring after a while because you had to pay attention to everything going on and everyone and could never fully chill out. If guys spoke to us we began to only be able to speak German :p but some nice girls who were about 11 or 12 wanted to come up and practice their English and learn more about the UK with us which we didn't mind. Plus they gave us homemade doughnuts which were yummeeeeee


and then Karen went home and is safe and sound in Scotland as of Wednesday - I kinda wished I was going back with her and I really miss having her around cause it was good fun and we got on so well! But its only 3 more months until I go back home, everyone else is doing some travelling first which is a really good idea but I also kinda just wanna get back and see people, I might make a stop over on my way back, plus I intend doing some travelling later on around here iA

And since then been fasting and working, I find I am way more productive and do more work during Ramadhan so I'm getting things out the way Alh, everyone is away to Bintan this weekend after I enjoyed it to much last weekend so not as many people are on campus. Although my neighbour Farah is around and we tend to have iftari and sehri and stuff together - she's pretty cool, Singaporeans are nuts, and met lots of other Muslims coming out the woodwork, most are Pakistani, Malay or British (well one other Brit!) and I met a guy from Khazakhstan which was soo interesting! I'm looking forward to going to the bizarres that are set up for this month in arab street and at gelang which is the Malay area so I should have plenty more to tell you iA,

and so now I will go and do some work for mondaaay, take care guys, please keep me up to date with whats been going on at home, if I dont email back for a while prod me because its usually that I've forgotten :p I'm SO rubbish I know but whatever :p