Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Great Escape Part 2

Alright.. Day 2 of the Great Escape.. Woke up quite early in the morning cause I have arranged an outing with long time JC friend, Bryan Toh. He told me about these "Special Term" NUS was offering to all their fresh grads and was asking around for people to accompany him. But there were many reasons why I shouldnt have gone..
1. I do not take the same course as him, Chem Eng..
2. My time would have been used for missionaries and community work
3. I'm going to NTU!
But it has been a while since I last saw Bryan, and there is a chance for me to switch courses and uni, so why not be a little more kiasu than normal?

Well, the interesting part was that Bryan didnt really know where the talk was held at. So while we were hunting around the whole school for the location (1st we tried the office of admission, then office of maintanence, then office dept of chem eng, then...), we managed (and thankfully) stumbled upon one of Bryan's officer friends. He too was equally lost, but he had one thing Bryan didnt have. The venue. So we hurried down to Lecture Hall 27, amazingly, at the Science Faculty side of NUS..

The amount of time finding the place was about the same amount of time the lecturer took with his presentation. While 2/3 of the male students (a few girls, parents and plenty of nerds, making me one as well.. -_-) are officers in army, it was kinda embarrassing for the lecturer to settle the crowd down several times. Well, other than the redundant speech he gave, the reception outside was as appetizing as Sembawang Camp cookhouse food. So to prevent further collateral damage, we popped by NUS's famous Subway fastfood chain. Okay, its just a regular eatery, but for 20% off a NUS students, it makes a very big deal as in why young people from all over Singapore flock to this place just for their sandwiches :P We faked the staff successfully and woot, Cold Cut Trio, 2 cookies and a medium sized drink cost me $5.80..!

Had bible studies in the afternoon. Once that was over, the gals(Plin and Jess) and Pastor Alvin had to rush off for a function. The remaining group of us, which consisted of me, Zh and Eileen decided to have our own dinner. That was when Caleb called and wanted to join for dinner and any night activities after that. So the 3 guys and 1 gal had their sumptuous dinner at SinMing Area. It was a indo restaurant which served good fish-head curry. That was when the 1 gal met her brother's friend in the same restaurant. To further add to the awkwardness, another group of friends spotted the 1 gal outside of the restaurant. The group later left the place and decided to have dessert across the street which was recommended by the 1 gal. The 3 guys met the 1 gal's business friends while crossing the street. I feel for you, Eileen. And I could feel the Cheesecake Brownies, Oreo Cheesecake and truffles, awesome stuff there..! The place is called "The Baker's Story" and it certainly scores 2 thumbs up for their delicious and rich cakes they have for only $2.00.

To fruitfully spend whatever remaining time the guys had left, we decided to play pool at Orchid Country Club, Yishun. Open to the public, the pool arena is a perfect retreat with little crowds and good tables. Said to be used for the regional 9-ball tournament, perhaps for its inaccessibility, it was an ideal place to chill out and enjoy the balls dance on the table. Speaking of that, Caleb and ZH were excellent players, both complementing one another in skill. I, on the other hand, was not too skilled with sticks and balls, but the company was great, another day fulfilled and I continued to enjoy the night with the distant cheers of a rugby replay flashed on the tv in the pool room.
Orchid County Club
Rating: 4/5
Reason: A fresh aroma and dry toilet, even though it is frequently used by the public, it remains well-maintained. Lacks uniqueness though..