drawing a closing to my undergraduate research...
my first very own poster, nicely summarizing the research in my undergraduate years...
Monday, April 30, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
and finally, wrapping up winter trip 2006 in mexico!
it's not too bad. finally the end of the steady stream of winter trip posts, just before summer starts! (at least it's less than half a year delayed... =P)
so from the mountains of the copper canyon, we went back to city life. next stop: Chihuahua, yes, Chihuahua! the dog was named after this state! (Wikipedia)
Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico, and i believe one of the richest states of Mexico as well. it is located at the end of the copper canyon, and thus our transit city before heading up north to Tijuana.
Musical fountains!! reminds me of sentosa, one of my childtime favs!
the pretty cathedral, lighted up at night in the central square of the city. there were also several lighted decorations all around during the festive season!
CHIHUAHUA! =D there were several of these statues along the street, each painted differently by various individuals. Just like the cows in Singapore! these doggies were for some Chihuahua parade thingy couple of years back, i think. (oops, caught on camera flirting with one!=P)
taco brunch for my taco-loving darling... the last few days/chances to eat authentic tacos right in mexico!
streets packed full of people, with stalls all along the streets, selling meat, clothes, fruits, food, etcetc. feel a little like a large-scale pasa malam! =P
woah!!! HUGE barrow of juicy grapes! yum-yum!
haha. thought this was hilarious. pistachios in these little ball-collectible kinda machines??!?!!? i wonder if anyone actually buys them... (they look pretty old).
HUGE pineapple!!! this was seriously the juiciest pineapple we've ever had! a huge chunk just cut across the fruit, stuck on an ice-cream stick at the bottom, dipped in chili powder, a bit of lime, and ta-da! a huge pineapple lolly!
at the chihuahua airport. tijuana is just way too far north, with nothing much in between, so we found a rather cheap flight (100bucks) and flew up to tijuana instead.
and touchdown into tijuana! the famous crazy party city which never sleeps!
our hotel room. very clean and nice place right in the center of the action for 35 bucks. both of us decided to stay in a slightly more comfy place, since we had saved quite a bit this trip. =)
and more splurging. indulged in a good (and very full) lunch at the pretty funky, lively seafood restaurant. music was playing everywhere along the streets, and people roaming around...
the food was yummy yummy too! fish tacos, shrimp cocktail, herbal-ish fish soup..... *drool*
an indian tribe was performing outside our hotel. and fm thinks this little girl was cute! (hmm...eh em...=P)
random shot of the moon in the day. nice.
we got bored, and found a pool place to play the rest of the afternoon away. haha. i like this shot that darling took. i look pretty professional eh?
more self-indulgence... nice after-dinner dessert at the famous chain restaurant-cum-bookstore.
*banana split~!*
at international borders: we crossed the border to get back into san diego on foot... it was a sunday evening, the end of the weekend, and just look at the pack of cars at the immigration as the party people head back to the states for the week!!!
final note: mexico was certainly exciting!! no planning, just whacking... and everything fell in place just perfectly. really inexpensive trip this time round, saving up lots of (much-needed) $$$! food was good and cheap, and culturally educational! ~highly recommended by the darlings!~
so from the mountains of the copper canyon, we went back to city life. next stop: Chihuahua, yes, Chihuahua! the dog was named after this state! (Wikipedia)
Chihuahua is the largest state in Mexico, and i believe one of the richest states of Mexico as well. it is located at the end of the copper canyon, and thus our transit city before heading up north to Tijuana.
Musical fountains!! reminds me of sentosa, one of my childtime favs!
the pretty cathedral, lighted up at night in the central square of the city. there were also several lighted decorations all around during the festive season!
CHIHUAHUA! =D there were several of these statues along the street, each painted differently by various individuals. Just like the cows in Singapore! these doggies were for some Chihuahua parade thingy couple of years back, i think. (oops, caught on camera flirting with one!=P)
taco brunch for my taco-loving darling... the last few days/chances to eat authentic tacos right in mexico!
streets packed full of people, with stalls all along the streets, selling meat, clothes, fruits, food, etcetc. feel a little like a large-scale pasa malam! =P
woah!!! HUGE barrow of juicy grapes! yum-yum!
haha. thought this was hilarious. pistachios in these little ball-collectible kinda machines??!?!!? i wonder if anyone actually buys them... (they look pretty old).
HUGE pineapple!!! this was seriously the juiciest pineapple we've ever had! a huge chunk just cut across the fruit, stuck on an ice-cream stick at the bottom, dipped in chili powder, a bit of lime, and ta-da! a huge pineapple lolly!
at the chihuahua airport. tijuana is just way too far north, with nothing much in between, so we found a rather cheap flight (100bucks) and flew up to tijuana instead.
and touchdown into tijuana! the famous crazy party city which never sleeps!
our hotel room. very clean and nice place right in the center of the action for 35 bucks. both of us decided to stay in a slightly more comfy place, since we had saved quite a bit this trip. =)
and more splurging. indulged in a good (and very full) lunch at the pretty funky, lively seafood restaurant. music was playing everywhere along the streets, and people roaming around...
the food was yummy yummy too! fish tacos, shrimp cocktail, herbal-ish fish soup..... *drool*
an indian tribe was performing outside our hotel. and fm thinks this little girl was cute! (hmm...eh em...=P)
random shot of the moon in the day. nice.
we got bored, and found a pool place to play the rest of the afternoon away. haha. i like this shot that darling took. i look pretty professional eh?
more self-indulgence... nice after-dinner dessert at the famous chain restaurant-cum-bookstore.
*banana split~!*
at international borders: we crossed the border to get back into san diego on foot... it was a sunday evening, the end of the weekend, and just look at the pack of cars at the immigration as the party people head back to the states for the week!!!
final note: mexico was certainly exciting!! no planning, just whacking... and everything fell in place just perfectly. really inexpensive trip this time round, saving up lots of (much-needed) $$$! food was good and cheap, and culturally educational! ~highly recommended by the darlings!~
Monday, April 23, 2007
serious bout of senioritis...
3 more days to LDOC (last day of classes)! woo-hoo! finally... i can count with 1 hand the things left to do! =P
week of 9-13 april was.. well, interesting. senior week it was, with a range of activities lined up just for graduating seniors. 'tis was the week to enjoy, meet up with friends, chill out... but unfortunately GRE was on the saturday at the end of the week.... bOO...
nevertheless, a defiant jasmine decided to take her chances and finely balance everything, and literally 'played hard' and 'worked hard'! heh. *grinz* well, everything kindly worked out (i think)... we'll see. =P
clubbing at the Library the saturday at the start of the week. small group we were, but lotsa fun!
chapel climb!! it was now or never that i'd get a chance to get to the rooftop of the chapel! so with a midterm the next day, i stood in line, notes in hand... trying to study. haha. the line was incredibly long... it was a 2 hours +++ wait, and we only managed to get up there when night had fallen... oh well. but the night scene was still rather pretty! =)
me and shiling with the duke blue devil!
after the lllooooonnnnggg wait, finally, the climb to the top! it was narrow, winding steps all the way....... *giddiness*
this was what the 2 hours wait was for... haha.
the group of us who bore the chilliness of the night, and made it to the top!
thursday: senior prom! (with GRE looming 2 days away... =P)
random shot of me and gen while waiting for the bus to come to take us to the millenium hotel just off campus.
the reception... yummy desserts! assortment of cheesecake, pound cakes, cookies, fudge brownies, cheese and crackers, fruits... etcetc.... =D
me, serena, pat and shiling
the bio205L seniors!
gre was in the morning 9-12nn (we had to be there early at 830am... yawnz...) in fact, we had stayed over in a hotel room the night before cos we all got posted to wake forest university in winston-salem, which is 1.5-2 hours away from Duke!!!! arghz... so rather than waking at 5,6 am just to drive there to be early in case of any stupid traffic jams, losing our way etc. we went there the night before... well, it all worked out pretty nicely.
and FINALLY... freedom!!!
celebrations that night - clubbing at players! and i inherited a twin that night! haha. karen (girl on my right) and i were looked so alike, small-sized and dressed in white! heh.
senioritis is a very curious thing indeed... haha. but i survived senior week!
and now.... counting down to graduation!!! 3 more days of school, and 11 days to end of final!
week of 9-13 april was.. well, interesting. senior week it was, with a range of activities lined up just for graduating seniors. 'tis was the week to enjoy, meet up with friends, chill out... but unfortunately GRE was on the saturday at the end of the week.... bOO...
nevertheless, a defiant jasmine decided to take her chances and finely balance everything, and literally 'played hard' and 'worked hard'! heh. *grinz* well, everything kindly worked out (i think)... we'll see. =P
clubbing at the Library the saturday at the start of the week. small group we were, but lotsa fun!
chapel climb!! it was now or never that i'd get a chance to get to the rooftop of the chapel! so with a midterm the next day, i stood in line, notes in hand... trying to study. haha. the line was incredibly long... it was a 2 hours +++ wait, and we only managed to get up there when night had fallen... oh well. but the night scene was still rather pretty! =)
me and shiling with the duke blue devil!
after the lllooooonnnnggg wait, finally, the climb to the top! it was narrow, winding steps all the way....... *giddiness*
this was what the 2 hours wait was for... haha.
the group of us who bore the chilliness of the night, and made it to the top!
thursday: senior prom! (with GRE looming 2 days away... =P)
random shot of me and gen while waiting for the bus to come to take us to the millenium hotel just off campus.
the reception... yummy desserts! assortment of cheesecake, pound cakes, cookies, fudge brownies, cheese and crackers, fruits... etcetc.... =D
me, serena, pat and shiling
the bio205L seniors!
gre was in the morning 9-12nn (we had to be there early at 830am... yawnz...) in fact, we had stayed over in a hotel room the night before cos we all got posted to wake forest university in winston-salem, which is 1.5-2 hours away from Duke!!!! arghz... so rather than waking at 5,6 am just to drive there to be early in case of any stupid traffic jams, losing our way etc. we went there the night before... well, it all worked out pretty nicely.
and FINALLY... freedom!!!
celebrations that night - clubbing at players! and i inherited a twin that night! haha. karen (girl on my right) and i were looked so alike, small-sized and dressed in white! heh.
senioritis is a very curious thing indeed... haha. but i survived senior week!
and now.... counting down to graduation!!! 3 more days of school, and 11 days to end of final!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
sweet dreams...
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night
I wanna get into motion a better devotion
So I can make it through the night
So the music is playin' you know what
l'm saying
Now everything will be alright
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
Rhythm is a creation a better sensation
That willlead you through the night
When your body is movin' the music is groovin'
I wanna take you home tonight
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
Keep dancin' hard give this groove more feeling
Dance dance dance more feeling in out up
Down all around
On the dance floor gettin' down
Take time just to show them who
We can make your body move
Totally yes the party's started
Sweet Dreams keep comin' harder
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
- La Bouche
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night
I wanna get into motion a better devotion
So I can make it through the night
So the music is playin' you know what
l'm saying
Now everything will be alright
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
Rhythm is a creation a better sensation
That willlead you through the night
When your body is movin' the music is groovin'
I wanna take you home tonight
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
Keep dancin' hard give this groove more feeling
Dance dance dance more feeling in out up
Down all around
On the dance floor gettin' down
Take time just to show them who
We can make your body move
Totally yes the party's started
Sweet Dreams keep comin' harder
Sweet dreams of rhythm and dancing
Sweet dreams of passion through the night
Sweet dreams are taking over
Sweet dreams of dancing through the night ala ola eh ola ola eh (repeat)
- La Bouche
Monday, April 16, 2007
the adventures in copper canyon at creel!
at the end of the train journey, we dropped off at creel, this little town famous for having many little attractions for travellers to explore, such as waterfalls, lakes and other various landscapes. we spent the next 3/4 days exploring the sights in the copper canyon. nice and relaxing!
Our little comfy room for the next 3 nights. This was such a GREAT deal! i think it was 20-25 per night only!!! the room was super clean, everything looks brand new and the showers were nice and hot! perfecto!
At the hotel, there was a couple who were arranging for trip out the next day to go to all the various sites, and so we conveniently joined in!
the visit to the indian tribal dwellings. These indians traditionally lived in these stone caves...
the valley of the mushrooms! the natural rock formations somehow created this bed of mushrooms! cuteness!
haha... i LOVE my ADORABLE darling!!!
and next, the valley of the frogs... well, it kinda looks like one. but fm and i were discussing: "haha. so any rock which seems like some kinda animal can be named, and become a tourist attraction!" hmmm...
The stalls where these tribal ladies were selling decor stuff.
staring out into the open, my darling's in deep thoughts.....
the areas that were shaded by the trees had unmelted snow... just enough to get a snowball fight going! =P (this one was actually a little too well aimed and hit my darling right on. oops, sorry dear!)
visited this little waterfall... there wasn much water running thru cos everything was trapped in snow/ice during winter... but still, quite a pretty little waterfall. =)
made our way down to the bottom of the waterfall!
rainbow!!! me trying to climb towards it... who said one cant touch the end of the rainbow!!! the rainbow ended right on the face of the rock, and i touched it!!!
success! i got the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
shuai ge posing... =P looking out towards to vast calm waters...
our tour guide also brought us to the train tracks, timing it perfectly so that we could catch the train (only runs once every day) coming! choo-choo!
AHHHHH!!!! Dr. Evil got my darling tied up at the tracks!!! HeLP!
Lunch stop: yummy yummy quesos and tacos!
more views of the beautiful canyons...
isn this amazing? this place was called the balancing rock or something like that. the place that the 2 people are sitting on is actually a rock that is wobbly! and beyond that, the cliff plummets straight down into the depths of the canyon... woah, exciting!!!
this is such an amazing place to get a picture..... the moment of standing at the edge of the cliff - captured! and of cos, the darlings would never miss out on things like this!
but................ =( arghz. too bad we couldn take the picture ourselves (of cos)... and sometimes..... the picture just doesn turn out as u expected..... oh well.
a long and fruitful day, covering many many places! such a great deal!
this is THE most amazing food stall ever!! amongst the tourist-targetting expensive restaurants in creel, this stall was nested in this little corner off the main street. certainly a hit amongst the youngsters, and those searching for good, cheap food! dee-lic-ious corn dogs, fruit cocktail (cut fruits with this milky syrup, topped with nuts and chocolate rice!), chips (served in the packet, cut open, with avocado, nuts, tomato, salsa, cucumber, etcetc. innovative!), nachos.... also, they had yummy desserts! chocolate/vanilla cake, custardy tarts, carrot cake.... yum yum!
bought the food home, and had a cosy little dinner in our nice warm comfy room! itadakimasu!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thankfully, we went around the previous day..... when we woke up the next morning, the whole place was covered in white! pretty snow indeed, but ruin our plans to explore more of creel that day. so it was a slow day, lazed in bed, bum around... and went around vandalizing on the snow-buried cars!! heh.
i like this picture. the quaint little town kinda cosy feeling... grinz
escaping the cold, getting a warm comforting dinner!
more playing in the snow... by night time, the snow that had accumulated was thick!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The snow was simply too thick and we couldn possibly go out to the surrounding places in the day... the roads were closed and we even heard that the train tracks were frozen!
the frozen tracks...
although the snow ruined our plans of going around creel somemore, but still, the snow was quite welcomed. =) got to slow down on the hectic travelling, bum around and chill... and the snow made the place pretty! feels like winter wonderland!
Our little comfy room for the next 3 nights. This was such a GREAT deal! i think it was 20-25 per night only!!! the room was super clean, everything looks brand new and the showers were nice and hot! perfecto!
At the hotel, there was a couple who were arranging for trip out the next day to go to all the various sites, and so we conveniently joined in!
the visit to the indian tribal dwellings. These indians traditionally lived in these stone caves...
the valley of the mushrooms! the natural rock formations somehow created this bed of mushrooms! cuteness!
haha... i LOVE my ADORABLE darling!!!
and next, the valley of the frogs... well, it kinda looks like one. but fm and i were discussing: "haha. so any rock which seems like some kinda animal can be named, and become a tourist attraction!" hmmm...
The stalls where these tribal ladies were selling decor stuff.
staring out into the open, my darling's in deep thoughts.....
the areas that were shaded by the trees had unmelted snow... just enough to get a snowball fight going! =P (this one was actually a little too well aimed and hit my darling right on. oops, sorry dear!)
visited this little waterfall... there wasn much water running thru cos everything was trapped in snow/ice during winter... but still, quite a pretty little waterfall. =)
made our way down to the bottom of the waterfall!
rainbow!!! me trying to climb towards it... who said one cant touch the end of the rainbow!!! the rainbow ended right on the face of the rock, and i touched it!!!
success! i got the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
shuai ge posing... =P looking out towards to vast calm waters...
our tour guide also brought us to the train tracks, timing it perfectly so that we could catch the train (only runs once every day) coming! choo-choo!
AHHHHH!!!! Dr. Evil got my darling tied up at the tracks!!! HeLP!
Lunch stop: yummy yummy quesos and tacos!
more views of the beautiful canyons...
isn this amazing? this place was called the balancing rock or something like that. the place that the 2 people are sitting on is actually a rock that is wobbly! and beyond that, the cliff plummets straight down into the depths of the canyon... woah, exciting!!!
this is such an amazing place to get a picture..... the moment of standing at the edge of the cliff - captured! and of cos, the darlings would never miss out on things like this!
but................ =( arghz. too bad we couldn take the picture ourselves (of cos)... and sometimes..... the picture just doesn turn out as u expected..... oh well.
a long and fruitful day, covering many many places! such a great deal!
this is THE most amazing food stall ever!! amongst the tourist-targetting expensive restaurants in creel, this stall was nested in this little corner off the main street. certainly a hit amongst the youngsters, and those searching for good, cheap food! dee-lic-ious corn dogs, fruit cocktail (cut fruits with this milky syrup, topped with nuts and chocolate rice!), chips (served in the packet, cut open, with avocado, nuts, tomato, salsa, cucumber, etcetc. innovative!), nachos.... also, they had yummy desserts! chocolate/vanilla cake, custardy tarts, carrot cake.... yum yum!
bought the food home, and had a cosy little dinner in our nice warm comfy room! itadakimasu!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thankfully, we went around the previous day..... when we woke up the next morning, the whole place was covered in white! pretty snow indeed, but ruin our plans to explore more of creel that day. so it was a slow day, lazed in bed, bum around... and went around vandalizing on the snow-buried cars!! heh.
i like this picture. the quaint little town kinda cosy feeling... grinz
escaping the cold, getting a warm comforting dinner!
more playing in the snow... by night time, the snow that had accumulated was thick!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The snow was simply too thick and we couldn possibly go out to the surrounding places in the day... the roads were closed and we even heard that the train tracks were frozen!
the frozen tracks...
although the snow ruined our plans of going around creel somemore, but still, the snow was quite welcomed. =) got to slow down on the hectic travelling, bum around and chill... and the snow made the place pretty! feels like winter wonderland!
