Thus the Journey of the Longest Blog Entry Begins…
Back from Singapore… All I can say about the MUN conference is that it was fun, exciting, thrilling, funny, entertaining, tiring, and some bits of it, boring. Still, it was very interesting watching all these students from all over asia discussing world issues such as AIDS, Environmental problems, Human Trafficking, and Reconstruction of Iraq. Interesting the way they all came together and voted upon resolutions that they believe would solve that particular problem. Anyways, enough babbling, here are some of the quick highlights of each day (and the pics from each of those days). In all, the trip lasted for 5 days and 4 nights. So here’s a flashback of everything… NOTE: THERE ARE AT LEAST 145 PICTURES SO IT MAY TAKE TIME TO LOAD. Anyway, here we go…
Day 1 – Wednesday, November 17, 2004 – Land of the Lion, here we come!
Arrived at school carrying two luggages and struggled a little trying to carry them up the stairs into Mr. Way’s room. Finally got to Mr. Way’s room and left the luggages there. After listening to my tutor for a few minutes, skipped Math class with Raghav M., Won Jae, and Saneh to work on our speeches in the computer rooms. After the first two periods, we gathered our things and headed towards the bus taking us to Bangkok International Airport. Crammed into a tiny bus and we headed for the airport. When we arrived there, we discovered that ISB was already there. So we went to the check-in area and let Mr. Way handle everything. However, because Economy class was all filled up, we were bumped up to BUSINESS class (Hooray!) – and the money? Economy Price! (Oh yeah!) Feeling extremely blissed, we just wandered around and looked around the airport. My stupid (brand new and freshly bought) rechargable batteries ended up not working so I had to use the old pair of batteries, which lasts for an hour – two at the most, instead. So, we had a few things at KFC and by the time we were done, it was time to board the plane! Boarded the plane and Raghav M. and I found out that we were on the second floor of the plane and right behind the pilot! Wow, how lucky were we? So, the plane took off, we were in our comfy business class seats, ate delicious business class meals, and enjoyed the business class delights. Two to three hours later, we landed in at Changi Airport in Singapore and boarded the bus provided by Singapore American School (SAS) along with ISB, who were shocked that we got on Business class. After about a thirty minute drive, we reached the school and I we all stared up in wonder. Is this a school? It looks more like a shopping mall! Something like Emporium! Anyways, Won Jae and I met our host, Peck, and we went to his house. Arrived at Peck’s place and ate some McDonald’s – tasted the same as Thailand but seemed slightly bigger and there was “Curry sauce” for the french fries and nuggets… Odd… But it was really yummy! So, we decided to watch “The Day After Tomorrow” when Raghav S. rang up and asked us to go to Orchard Road. Took us awhile to get there since the taxi driver didn’t know the way to Raghav S.’s place. Our taxi driver for the first night was sort of weird but nice. He went on telling us about the famous attractions of Singapore and how Orchard road is preparing for Christmas. He also had a quick stop at the bathroom and was saying, “Oh wait, little uncle have to go! Little uncle hold for so long but really have to go now!” It didn’t occur to us that he was talking about his dick until he came back. Jeesh. After 40 minutes, we reached Raghav S.’s place and walked down to Orchard. Dazzling Christmas lights along with the happy tunes of Christmas carols, we wandered through the streets of Singapore and stopped by Subway for Saneh and Raghav S. who said they weer starving. After buying the food, we realised that we had to get home quick since we were getting close to curfew. Still, after ages of trying to get the taxis to stop for us, we decided to walk back to Saneh’s place and get a cab from there. About ten minutes later, we got a cab and headed straight for our home. Got there about 30 minutes late but we were lucky that Chris, who we called earlier to get our advisor’s phone number, informed Mr. Way, who called up on them. Thank you, Chris! So, we took a shower and snoozed. Here are pics of Day 1…
Waiting to get our bags checked in and to receive our tickets. This was before the “brand new” batteries went out.
A view from our seats in the plane.
A really quick shot of the pilot.
Bangkok – Smogville from above.
The sky… It looks really nice from up there.
Business Class food. One word: DEE-LI-CIOUS.
Clouds.
More clouds.
Some more clouds.
Just some more clouds.
Some island nearby Singapore.
That’s a speedboat down there…
Landing…
Arrived safely at Changi Airport.
The arrivals area… Really nice, eh?
A sky bus connecting the terminals?
A view of Singapore from the bus.
The sun isn’t as hot there as it is here in Thailand. (Odd, since it’s closer to the Equator… I don’t know, I don’t learn Geography…)
The bus transporting us from the airport to SAS along with ISB students.
The road…
Some of the Harrovian MUNers… From left to right: Raghav M., Raghav S., Chris, and Won Jae.
It’s getting a bit cloudy – look like it’s going to rain!
Some more road view.
Road view…
An example of the buildings seen all over Singapore.
Orchard Road at night.
Sorry that it’s blurry and a bit squigly… It’s Orchard road…
Some more of Orchard.
Shopping malls…
Inside one of the malls.
Some more of the mall… I still think that MBK and Discovery is much more crowded…
Nice tree over there.
Along the road.
“ARE YOU A SMOKER? This is the amount of tar in your lungs after 2 years.” Hahaha, I don’t know, just thought it was funny. It was a sign on the road where people were waiting at the traffic light area.
Day 2 – Thursday, November 18, 2004 – M.U.N. Begins
Day 2… We had to leave home and get down to SAS in order to enter the Opening Ceremony. Got there right on time but we had to wait for all the schools to have their photos taken. Well, their theatre is really nice – double deck, movie theatre type seats, etc… So, we had the chairs, parliamentarians, co-secretariats, and the staff introduced and we went on hearing about children in Cambodia by a person from Cambodia. After the ceremony, we had to go into the different committee rooms and the MUN Conference began. In my committee, Committee 4 – Political Committee (Reconstruction of Iraq), I heard point of views from many different countries that went on talking about whether they like Bush, hate him, their opinion of Iraq, and how they would like to solve it. After hearing all 36 countries’ speeches, we then had time to work on resolutions. Oh, by the way, I saw Rushav (remember him? 7th grade Mr. Steve’s class) at the conference too! He said he moved to Nagoya International School in Japan since his Dad move there, etc, etc. So, we went on with the conference and began discussing different resolutions. Resolutions after resolutions, some of them repeated the same ideas, some of them didn’t. Some of them had radical ideas, such as turning Iraq into a socialist country, and some were reasonable. We had lunch (my favorite time of the day) and we had to buy them. So I just had a hamburger along with Dr. Pepper (Hella good). After one hour of lunch, we returned to our meetings and continued to discuss the remaining resolutions. After passing one resolution, tabling one, and halfway through one, we decided to adjourn and leave. So we decided to meet up at Orchard Parade Hotel at eight to go around sight-seeing. Won Jae and I got home and had a delight dinner of Chinese dumplings and some really juicy and soft beef along with some bean sprouts. I have to admit, Peck’s mom is really good at cooking! So we left our host’s place and grabbed a cab and left for Orchard, again. This time, the taxi driver was quite nice and told us about all the places and tourist attractions in Singapore. He also told us where all the embassies are and told us to not to go to Orchard Tower. We arrived there but took awhile to find Saneh and Raghav S. After ten minutes, we found them but now we weren’t able to find Raghav M. and Chris. Finally, we found them at Burger King and so we went walking all over Orchard. After buying some snacks and candies, we sat down at a coffee shop where we just talked and talked and talked about numerous things – some really hilarious, some rather serious. So again, we were late for curfew because the stupid taxis wouldn’t stop for us. After wandering around, we found ourselves in front of Hilton hotel where the guy who calls the taxi thought we were Hilton visitors. Luckily, he got some taxis for us and Won Jae and I got in there first since we lived far away. The others said that they got taxis about 30 minutes later. Well, we arrived home and took a shower and snoozed. Oh, Peck was also working on an IASAS MUN website for his school… Check it out, it’s pretty cool. Here’s the URL: http://iasas.org/2004-2005/MUN/. Here are the pics…
That’s the theatre where the Opening Ceremony took place. That’s Saneh there.
That’s the stage.
The banner says: “SINGAPORE AMERICAN SCHOOL WELCOMES IASAS MODEL UNITED NATIONS PARTICIPANTS.”
Another view of the theatre.
Raghav S. and Chris.
This is the Middle School canteen.
Canteen again.
This is the apartment where we stayed at with our host. Sorry if it’s hazy since it was taken in the dark and it took awhile to dodge the pic.
Here are the other buildings around it with the tiny moon at the top.
Back to Orchard!
Orchard Parade Hotel. We planned to meet at Starbucks here until somebody (looks at Saneh and Raghav S.) told the others to meet at Burger King without notifying us.
That’s odd, the walls didn’t look this nice when I was actually there…
Raghav S. popping his head up.
Raghav S. acting as a tour guide.
Orchard Road or at least part of it…
From left to right: Raghav M., Raghav S., Saneh, Chris, and Won Jae.
Decorations for Christmas.
A Christmas Tree!
A gigantic Christmas Tree shape glass dome that we later found out was “Borders“. (You’ll read more about it later…)
Another mall.
Raghav S. and Won Jae consult the SINGAPORE INSIGHT book while Saneh, Chris, and Raghav M. are staring at the giant screen.
Saneh is still captured by the visuals in the screen. You can’t see it here but it was a video clip of Indian girls dancing around. You picture it…
This is just the road where that big arc was… The arc was shown earlier, oh, but you’ll see it again soon…
I feel like I’m Alice in Wonderland next to that mushroom…
A really nice pic of Chris and the Raghavs… but notice Chris’s left hand… See where it’s at?
By the way, we met Renee Zellwegger, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant, too!
Yup, it was the Bridget Jones’ poster that we met…
Sigh… Look at them… (Hahaha…)
Inside a mall.
This was an escalator outside of the mall – it has lights flashing around it!
Chris and the Raghavs with a lion statue. We were going to let Chris ride it but we didn’t dare to.
We just went window shopping around this place…
Just another Louis Vuiton bag… It was the tree-like thing that caught our attention.
I forgot what the drink Chris was pointing at was called… But it was really good. Oh, under that top row, they’re all beer underneath. (We were drooling over them.)
A little angel.
The name of this mall made us think that it was called “SEX AND THE CITY” from far away… Well, there’s the “city” bit but I don’t know how the rest came in…
GIVE A HAND!
Drools.. Look at all that candy and junk food!
Chris: JOHNNY’S GOING TO LOVE ME!
Johnny’s his little brother… This was the last pic we took in that store since they told us to not to take pictures…
Wonderful and delicious Doritos.
Here’s that arc I mentioned earlier… Nice, eh?
The two Raghavs and the rest of us are behind them as we go through and underground tunnel that cuts through the road to the other side.
Day 3 – Friday, November 19, 2004 – Borders Raiders
Second day of the conference. Same routine, woke up at around 6 or so, brushed teeth, dressed up, ate breakfast, and went to SAS in a cab. When we got to school, we arranged with Peck to meet in front of the school after the annual Peace Concert that SAS has (a rock concert and stuff). So Won Jae and I split up and went into our committees. By then, we had to continue and finish our third resolution, which passed. After that, we debated the forth resolution handed in by Cuba and some other countries. After a long back and forth debate, it was closed and we took a vote. Passed. Finally, we went to the fifth and final resolution handed in by UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Norway, Ecuador, Turkey, Lebanon, some other countries, and myself. It was a good resolution but several countries said that it didn’t have enough details… Resolution to the resolution? Failed. Oh well, it’s ok. Then we lunch where Chris introduced the rest of us to some of his friends from his committee (Committee 3 – Human Trafficking), who were Dexter and Yuri. They were really funny and really nice. When asked where we were from and we said Thailand, they went on talking about how nice Thailand is with all the shopping areas and the cheap prices. Well, we went on comparing Thailand, Japan (they were from Yokohama International School in Japan), and Singapore. Oh, and after we ate some food in the canteen, we (the Harrovians, Norrapat (BPS), Daniel K. (a guy from BPS – not the singer), Yuri, and Dexter went down to Subway (the restaurant – not an actual subway) around the High School area. Once we got there, Chris, Yuri, and Dexter decided to go somewhere else and so the rest of us just stayed around the Subway area. After spending ten minutes in line waiting to eat, we decided to give up and just leave since it was getting closer to the General Assembly time. We returned to the canteen building but this time, we went into the Elementary Theatre. One word – big. The theatre was so big and really nice that it actually looked like a real UN conference room! So, the General Assembly began and we went on debating different resolutions that were passed from each of the committees. Well, while some of the delegates were taking things very seriously and having their fingers glued to the microphone button with their other hand stuck to their placard, Chris, Raghav M., Won Jae, and I were kind of just passing notes to each other. (Chris and Raghav were “Botswana” and Won Jae and I were “Finland” so we were just behind each other.) At one point, the Co-Secretariat actually glared at us when we were passing our notes. (Hahaha, we just continued to pass them.) You see, not that we were fooling around (well, we did) but it was because they were discussing about the first two committees, which were about AIDS and the Environment. But we weren’t in AIDS and for the Environment bit, the only thing that we know is that Finland signed the Kyoto Protocol and wants other countries to sign it too. That’s it! So we didn’t really have much to say in regards to the resolutions. (The next day is when we actually started firing questions like pros 
.) So, after sending useless notes saying things like “Buttswana”, “Fins”, “Saucy Arabia” (Saneh and Raghav S. were Saudi Arabia), “Farting Finns”, “Snoozin Saudis”, and etc, we finally started planning out what we were going to do that night. Originally, we were planning to go to the Peace Concert (where we got the tickets for free [the tickets are 10 Singaporean Dollars = 240 Baht!]) but after a long note-passing argument between three countries, we finally had three different ideas. One was that we would go down to “Little India”. Another was that we would go and watch a movie, either “Alexander” or “Bridget Jones’ Diary – The Edge of Reason”. Or we would go to the Peace Concert for the first half hour and then leave for Orchard (again…). Well, after the conference, we continued to debate each of the solutions and we finally settled on one answer – return to Orchard. After about ten minutes of finding Peck and telling him that we are going to go to Orchard instead of the concert, we went out to grab a taxi. While attempting to fit SIX of us into one taxi, the driver began shouting something in Chinese and later said in English that only four can be in one taxi at once or it’s against the law. So divided ourselves up – Saneh, Raghav S., and I were going in one taxi and Chris, Raghav M., and Won Jae were going in the next. After waiting for a taxi for the other guys, we told the taxi to take us to the MRT… Or was it the sky train? Uh, whatever it’s called, it was the sky train area. And after ages of trying to figure out how the ticket machine works, we finally got our tickets and headed up to the platform. Running up the escalator, we saw on sky train arriving and Raghav M. asked one old lady if that train would lead us to Orchard. She nodded and we quickly got onto the train. Relaxing, we then heard the next station. WTF? It’s going the opposite direction! Oh shoot. We quickly got off at the next station, which took only 2 minutes. Then we got onto the next sky train, which took 10 minutes to arrive. So we just took our time and relaxed since we had another twenty-five stations to go. While waiting on the never-ending ride, we began discussing the topics that will be discussed the next day – Human Trafficking and Reconstructing Iraq. The “easy” topics. (I guess you realised how nerdy we are.) Still, we still found time to laugh at some kid, who was sleeping with his eyes half open and his drooling mouth wide open against the glass. (Still sparks laughter now that I think about it.) Anyways, we finally arrived at Orchard station (after forty minutes) and went down to return the ticket. Did you know, when you pay for the ticket at the machine, you pay $2.50. And when you return the ticket at the machine, you get two dollars back! How cool! (But it kept 50 cents from the amount that we paid – $2.50… Still, we got the other 4/5ths back!) Continuing, we went into that “Sex and the City” mall, which was connected to the sky train and we were walking in circles until we found our way out. We stopped by Burger King and decided to enjoy some food. I had the turkey and fried bacons burger (hell effing good!) along with fries and coke. Raghav M. had the “Shark’s Tale” set and Chris had some burger while Saneh had the chicken sandwich. Raghav S., who was vegetarian, had some burger without any meat. However, poor Won Jae got a burger and accidentally supersized it. Results? He had a really big bag of fries along with a really big glass of coke the size of Empire State! After stuffing ourselves up, we decided to go into Borders, which is said to be the “biggest bookstore in Singapore” (hey, it rhymes!). All I have to say about this bookstore is that it is BIG. Really big. Freakin big. Mother effing big. (It’s way bigger than Asia Books or Kinokuniya.) Get the idea? It goes all around the first floor of the building and it has loads and loads of piles of books. Comedy, Romance, Drama, Sci-Fi, Adventure, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Biography, Religious, Self-Help, Cooking, EVERYTHING! They were all there! While Chris, Won Jae, and the two Raghavs were spellbounded by the Guiness Book of World Records 2005, I decided to give a call home. Luckily, Lynn picked up the phone so I was able to say Happy Birthday to her! After a quick conversation, we Harrovians just took some pictures (before the guard stopped us) and we ran into an MUN person. She was from Hong Kong International School and we just introduced ourselves and went on complaining about how boring the General Assembly was and how the Chairs were. By then, we had to leave because it was getting nearer and nearer to curfew (again…). So we returned to the Hilton where the guy remembered us but still got us a cab. Raghav S. and Saneh already got one before us and Chris and Raghav M. told us to go first. Here’s how the conversation went with the taxi driver…
Taxi Driver: So… Where are you from?
Me: Oh, Thailand, sir.
Taxi Driver: (In a scary tone) Southern Thailand?
Me: (Quickly thought why his tone was like that then realised immediately of what happened there.) Oh no, sir, not southern Thailand. We’re from Bangkok…
Taxi Driver: Ahh… Bangkok… Never been there… (about slight pause) So, you out here looking for girls?
Me: No sir! We’re only fifteen!
Taxi Driver: Ha?! FIFTEEN? You look like college students! (Another slight pause) Oh, you know the main groups of Thai people living in Singapore?
Me: No, sir, what are they?
Taxi Driver: Uhh, let’s see… The number one Thai people here are the Thai pros… The hookers!
Me: (Thinks to self – Oh great…) Oh, and second? (Hoping it’s nothing bad.)
Taxi Driver: Second is the… uh… men change to women. What are they called?
Me: Uh… transvestites?
Taxi Driver: Yeh – them!
Me: (Thinks to self – Joy…) Oh… and after that?
Taxi Driver: After that are mainly those uh… labour workers… like construction…
Me: Oh… (Thinks to self – Sigh…)
Won Jae didn’t have to speak with any of the taxi drivers because he was fast asleep and left me alone to answer the taxi drivers’ questions and listen to them talk and tell me all the different road names. It was nice of them but it got kind of tiring after awhile. Well, we arrived home safely and when we were getting off, we ran into Peck, who just got there too! What a coincidence! So, we went up to the house and rested… It’s been a really tiring day. Here are the pics…
Inside my committee room.
Another bit of my committee room… It looks kinda small because I was in the middle row, so I wasn’t able to get the whole picture of the room. Still, this room was small itself because there were only 36 delegates. But in the other committees, there were at least 40 to 50 delegates, so the rooms were bigger.
Just a little souvenir that we got – an MUN folder. We also got an MUN pen and an MUN thermos. Pretty neat, eh?
Norrapat – the Delegate of Turkey – doing his Right to Statement speech. Will tell more about him later along with the other odd events at the conference.
Norrapat again and that’s the Subway restaurant behind him.
That’s a view of the SAS outdoor field – it is really nice. Too bad it was raining and we were in a hurry so I didn’t get more pics of it.
Do you believe me when I said their High School building looks like Emporium??
More of the HS building.
Just some of the waklway between the buildings…
Heading towards the Elementary School Theatre where the General Assembly will be held.
That’s a bit of their walkway…
Part of the General Assembly.
Just where I was sitting with Won Jae…
Raghav M. trying to figure out how the ticket machine at the sky train actually works.
Going up the escalator to the platform.
Going up the escalator from the platform. Sorry I didn’t get a pic of the platform or the sky train, but it was because I didn’t dare to since people were staring at us in our suits and we were too busy talking about our agenda tomorrow (and laughing at the sleeping kid)
Leaving the platform…
Inside the gigantic Christmas tree I mentioned earlier… This is where Borders is…
Inside the entrance of Borders.
Some more shelves of books.
From left to right: Won Jae, Raghav M., Chris, and Raghav S.. Chris seems like he’s trying really hard to make his eyes as big as the ones in the book Won Jae’s holding.
A quick pic at our host’s place. Me, Won Jae, and Peck.
Day 4 – Saturday, November 20, 2004 – The End of the M.U.N.
Let’s see, one of the worst things is that we had to wake up at around 7 on a Saturday morning (Note: Singapore is an hour ahead of Thailand – so we were waking up at SIX A.M. on a Saturday morning! How cruel can it get??). So, we ate and went to SAS. Returned to the General Assembly and by then, Won Jae and I were acting all pro (yeah right) by asking questions (if we were actually picked…). Still, we got to ask some questions and some were answered back really well, some weren’t even answered. We continued with the Human Trafficking resolutions where one of them was sort of outrageous since it states that it wants to legalize prostitution… Odd… After that, we had the Political Committee resolutions and this one was going on back and forth between all of the delegates. Well, we had lunch, thankfully. Lunch was pretty good and Chris also introduced us to another person from his committee, Chris. (It got confusing later on who’s calling who.) After eating and enjoying, we returned to the General Assembly. However, by now, all the delegates were just getting lazy and really tired so we weren’t really listening to the chairs at all. (By the way, remember “Cyprus” from my previous MUN conference at NIST? Well, she was there too, but she’s “Japan” now. Chris and I ran into her and we went on talking about how serious this conference is and how the Harrovians were luckily bumped up the Business class. It was fun meeting her again…) We had the Emergency issue where a quick emergency event was created and we had to think of a resolution. The emergency issue was that there was a dirty bomb in New York and it is dangerous so they want us to find out a way to prevent nuclear weapons. We divided into our bloc groups where Won Jae and I joined all the other countries in Europe. After a very limitted amount of time, we finally got a resolution printed out against nuclear weapons and we returned to the General Assembly. Three resolutions later, none of them passed and it was time to end the General Assembly. After the closing of the General Assembly, it was the banquet and we Harrovians were finally able to relax and enjoy our food. After a delicious meal, we returned to the Auditorium to have the Closing Ceremony. The Closing Ceremony went by quite well but it would have been better if Vrutika, the co-chair of the Security Council who was the MC, didn’t pronounce “Harrow” as “Horrow”. (Sounds very much like “horror”, eh?)… What I found weird was that they asked the schools to go up and introduce their students after the conference during the Closing Ceremony. I mean, shouldn’t the students be introduced at the beginning of the conference? Odd… We had a short list of superlatives from each of the committees and some were just really funny. Chris was “The Butler”. Was it because of his “politeness” or did they just give it to him because he had a British accent? (As to all butlers in the movies.) The conference ended smoothly and we were told to go home. For once, we got home early! Yeah… Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention (thanks for reminding me, Chris)… In the General Assembly, there was this “frivolous” note that the Chair read out. Apparently, that note was written by… nobody else but – CHRIS! He said he was writing it to “Zambia” and they were apparently discussing about “Human Trafficking” but I don’t know how it got into the topic of breasts… And he asked “What about yours?” Hahaha, I laughed my head off when I found out. And he just had to write in the “FROM” area: “BOTSWANA – THE ENGLISH ONE”. Now the Chairs know exactly who wrote it! But luckily, they didn’t get a warning. Anyways, here are some pics…
Yuri – Nigeria – from Yokohama International School.
Chris just before he took the camera.
Chris is taking Yuri’s pic without her knowing it since he covered the flash.
(The camera is still in Chris’ hands) Yuri again staring at the camera since she didn’t know that Chris was taking her picture.
Yuri when she found out what Chris was doing.
The other Chris – Jordan – Also from Yokohama International School.
Saneh, Raghav M., and Dexter – Bangladesh – Yokohama International School.
We were wondering why do they have giant statues of “jing-joaks” on the walls of the canteen… And they were tiny, they were HUMAN SIZE!
Just before the General Assembly continued after lunch.
Norrapata giving another really funny Right to Statement.
Chris.
Won Jae and Raghav M.
Going clockwise from the left: Chris G. (YIS), Dexter (YIS), Raghav S. (HIS), Won Jae (HIS), Raghav M. (HIS), Chris B. (HIS), Pruek (ISB), and Yuri (YIS). This was about 20 minutes before the banquet ended… Do you think that Dexter and Chris look slightly similar?
A D-zoomed pic of Chris – looks kinda scary, dude…
Won Jae (D-zoomed).
Settling down in the Auditorium.
The Closing Ceremony will be starting soon.
The stage.
From front to back: Won Jae, Raghav S., Chris, (Raghav M. is covered), Mr. Way, and Saneh.
The stage again.
Vrutika – our MC…
Day 5 – Sunday, November 21, 2004 – Homeward Bound…
Sunday… Had to wake up a little later than usual but right before we left, Won Jae and I gave the host our gifts. So we went to SAS to meet board the bus but the problem was that the stupid taxi driver was driving really slow. We ended up ten minutes late but luckily, the bus wasn’t even there yet. So we finally boarded the bus and went back to Changi Airport. By then, I started having this sore throat… And was coughing whenever I spoke. Luckily, it ain’t bird flu… Got to the airport and we had to wait forever to check-in and everything. There was a bookstore nearby the waiting area so we decided to go and look around. After a tough long decision, I decided to buy a birthday present for Lynn – the new Sophie Kinsella book – “Shopaholic and Her Sister”. Unluckily, I regret that I bought the book there because it was $25.20 when at Borders, it was $24 with 15% discount! Why didn’t I buy it there? I was wondering whether I should have or not… And I decided not to. Now I regret it. So… We didn’t get Business Class this time but it was ok. So we went around buying some candies and chocolates and snacks… After awhile, we boarded the plane and I was the unlucky person who was separated from the group. Well, Won Jae and Raghav M. were separated too. After about 2 to 3 hours, we arrived at Bangkok and we were back home! It took me a long time to find my dad though because he was at Terminal 1 while I was at Terminal 2… Still, we found each other and went to Siam for a second to do my teeth and went straight home… Here are the pics…
Chris while we were getting on the bus… He looks like a little rabbit (or it could be a deer) when it’s caught in the headlights when the car’s about it hit and its eyes go really big… Hahaha… Could that be what he was in his last life?
Okay, this pic came out rather scary… You can probably guess who that is…
Saneh taking a rest after the long hard days.
Chris and his infamous toothbrush. Don’t really understand why it got so black but he said something about leaving it in his bag for too long and the black stuff (likely to be mold or fungus) just wouldn’t come off… You don’t put that in your mouth, eh, Chris?
The bus we were on with ISB to the airport.
A monument just nearby the airport.
Inside the airport.
Look at that long list of flights!
More of the airport…
Saneh, Chris, and Raghav S. while we wait for Mr. Way.
The famous Singaporean lion with the fish tail… This was in the candy store.
The Economy Class ticket.
The bookstore… Loads of books there.
Just took a pic while the others were buying stuff.
Just a shot of the little TV screen on the plane showing that we’re getting closer to Bangkok. You can probably tell how bored I was since I was isolated…
Back at Smogville, Traffic Land, BKK. Home Sweet Home. I have to admit, nowhere is better than Thailand.
So, you’ve heard me babble about the trip and the conference, but I haven’t got into any details about the conference… Well, here’s just a quick recap of the Top 10 Delegates who really entertained and kept the conference fun (mainly from Political Committee and some from General Assembly)…
Number 10 – The Delegate of Israel: This delegate knows every single thing related to the United Nations. This is an example when he asks a question… “Delegate, according to Paper 1234, Section 423, Article 999, Line 897, it states that Iraq blah blah blah should not be blah blah blah… What do you think of this?”… Sometimes I wonder whether he’s out of breath or not when he finishes since he speaks so fast. But he was good.
Number 9 – The Delegate of Kiribati: This delegate was supposed to come from a poor country that’s made up of four islands. He said that he doesn’t know how he even got there, neither how he’ll get back. So in my committee, he sent the MUN thermos around the room with a sign saying “Please give a little bit of money to send the Delegate of Kiribati back to his country!”. Very funny, Delegate!
Number 8 – The Delegates of Turkey: These delegates were really funny in the General Assembly since they kept on voting differently (they were separated on the first General Assembly day because there was the sound system between them) and would always disagree with each other. They were really funny.
Number 7 – The Delegate of UAE: This delegate can literally finish a two minutes speech into 30 seconds. I don’t know how he does it but he could! Usually, when you speak fast, people won’t even understand you. But for him, everybody (or at least I could) were able to understand him even though he was speaking at light speed!
Number 6 – The Delegate of Brazil: His Right to Statement was HILARIOUS! He went into talking about the Brazilian Bananas and how long, juicy, hard, firm, thick, and delicious they are… Those were his exact words… And it was hilarious! He really ignited the audience then. Again, it was funny, hahaha…
Number 5 – The Delegate of Morocco: This delegate was just funny. He broke his placard (I’m serious…) because he put it on his head and pulled it so it broke. So what did he do? He used it to compare what shape Iraq was in. He said, “This…is Iraq…” And he showed it broken into two pieces. Then, “And we must make Iraq into this…” And he taped the pieces together. Odd and dumb, but it was funny to see how his imagination is.
Number 4 – The Delegates of Palestine: They did their Right to Statement in the General Assembly. However, it was different from others. Theirs was a moment of silence for Yasser Arafat where they spoke (and sniffing and crying) about how great he was. They were making all these crying sounds. It was sort of funny but they kept the audience entertained.
Number 3 – The Chairs: The chairs, even though they were strict, they were funny. Especially the committee 4 chairs (Even though they were so friggin strict and aggressive and anal in the committee) during the closing ceremony where they gave an example of how the chairs of the General Assembly will be proposed to. For the girl, they said that she would let her boyfriend propose to her in NOTE FORM (Note: She always told the delegates to write to her in notes about their inquiries and constraints – but she never replied back). As for the guy, they said that he would propose to his girlfriend without giving her the right to reply! (Note: Ne never gave anyone the right to reply during the conference even though their country was badly offended.) Good one, chairs!
Number 2 – The Delegates of the Holy See: The delegates of the Holy See (Vatican) were REALLY good and REALLY funny. They stuck to their role really well (heard they were catholics in real life) and they actually dressed up as a pope and a nun! In addition, they would always relate their speeches to the bible (it received lots of constraints from the Arab countries though), such as Noah’s Ark on the subject of Global Warming. When asked about how to prevent STD/STI’s when condoms or contraceptives aren’t used, she said abstinance. When asked about what the prostitutes would do if prostititution was illegalized, she said that there is always work for them at the convent! And the nun actually called all of the delegates “her children”! They were really good.
NUMBER 1 – THE DELEGATE OF TURKEY (MALE): Delegate of Turkey – or Norrapat – was really funny. He really kept everybody entertained. Not only did he entertained us in the committee, he also made everybody in the General Assembly enjoy the conference. He made a speech of overthrowing the chair and how injustice is shown in the committee. He also asked for a SECOND warning! (He got a third later and was kicked out of the committee on his first day.) He was also at the NIST conference – he was the Delegate of USA who went around singing the U.S. National Anthem. Hilarious and funny – He’ll be at the RIS conference in March! Can’t wait to see him again (Heard he’ll bring superglue…)!
Here are just some random pics of the MUN stuff…
All the notes that Won Jae and I passed and received…
All the resolutions that we discussed in the committee and in the General Assembly. A lot, eh?
Some of the paper we got to write for notes and resolutions…
The picture of the Harrow MUNers and an IASAS MUN badge.
Sorry that it’s kinda blurry but my scanner isn’t working so I had to take a pic of it… It’s the Harrow MUN pic.
The IASAS MUN badge that we received… Pretty neat, huh?
Here’s the Peace Concert ticket… I know I said I didn’t go to the concert so you’re probably wondering why it’s cut… Well, it’s because I had to go in there to tell Peck that I’m not going there anymore, so they had to cut it. And the string around the ticket was accidentally ripped off…
Here’s the thermos we got from the conference…
Here’s a map of SAS… It’s really big… You can get lost in there, seriously.
The MUN handbook that we got with all the information of the rules, delegates, and schools.
So I think I’ve talked too much now and have overloaded your heads with all the pictures. I think I’ll post about the Loy Kratong day at Harrow and the Harrow Fair in another two or three weeks since this entry is just too long… Well, hope you had fun reading it and good bye! This is the longest blog entry so you better be happy with it… Right, it’s 2:45 AM and I better go and sleep now… See you guys later…
Currently Listening: Qing Tian by Jay Chou
Currently Watching: Shrek 2 starring Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, et al.
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… So, I’ll see you guys later when I’m back from Singapore. If lucky, I might get to go on MSN while I’m there and will leave some comments on how the trip is and stuff. Got to go now, it’s 2 AM right now. See you guys later, bye!
