Happietinks

DAY 2 MONDAY 27/08/07:
1st day of symposium. Cheng Leng got to wake me up in the morning. I didn't even hear the alarm ring..that showed how tired I was....tsk tsk

Realised that Associate Professor Tan Ngoh Tiong and John Ang were also there. Suzanne Anderson was there too. The Philippines and Japan sent the most number of delegates.

Spoke with a Malaysian Officer who had experience working in the Child Protection area over lunch and realised that their laws/acts were so much more liberal. She said that only 10% of the children who broke the law were committed to the Homes. Most of them could go back to their own homes. She also said that most of the social workers had a free hand in their work. They also did not follow their SOPs entirely and there was little supervision or consultation with senior officers on case management or on assuring that they complied with SOPs. Sounded scary right?..hmm..but they do have a good system of outreach programme and day care for children though.

*The ghost of AP Tan Ngoh Tiong* Anyway we decided to head down to Berjaya Times Sqaure and Sungei Wang after the symposium. We were waiting for cab when AP Tan and his daughter Faith saw us. They had wanted to go to Sungei Wang too so AP Tan volunteered themselves to go with us! Faint right?! He was also talking non-stop with the cab driver and us throughout the journey...we wondered where he got his stamina and energy from!! Luckily when we reached the shopping centre, the daughter was so sweet and she managed to drag the dad to go with her to do her manicure..haha well...not that he literally wanted to shop with us in the first place la...oh yes forgot to mention that the best thing to happen was that we got a free cab ride :)
*read on to find out what I meant by 'The ghost of AP Tan Ngoh Tiong!!'*

We had dinner at Berjaya Times Square Food Court. I ate the claypot kway tiao...not bad..but the food court was really deserted...only a handful or maybe 2 handfuls of people there..and most of the shops had ended their businesses...wondered how the remaining tenents could survive with such slow business. I wanted to get a white jacket from 'Motiva' but they did not have sizes anymore..so sad...but managed to get a polo-shirt for Marcus at another shop though...not cheap can!! I think he would like the design...had seen him in such shirts before...Now another uphill task..shopping for the gals...after the gals would be uncle Alvin Tan and uncle Swee Seng...sigh..really don't like shopping for people because don't know what they liked ma..I am sure I would end up buying the same thing for everyone :( *I was at one point of time so desperate that I thought of buying mooncakes!!*

We walked over to Sungei Wang after we were done with Berjaya Times Sqaure. The place was exactly like Far East Plaza...just that it had even more shops!! You guys won't believe what I bought there!! Haha..I bought RM$120 worth of products from The Skin Food!! The price was at least 10% cheaper than in Singapore!! I bought a mascara, the black bean nose peel, red wine peel off mask (they discontinued the red wine bourdeux face mask already so sad!!) and the black sesame face mask! Hmmm..and the salesgirl commented that I have beautiful eyes and lashes..hee hee...Anyway, Cheng Leng also bought the black bean nose peel and the peach sake pore minimiser... :) The rest of the night was uneventful (meaning I didn't buy anything else la!). Cheng Leng bought a pair of shoes I think..

We walked to Lot 10 and KL Plaza (I think!) and the shops were closed. We then decided to go back to the hotel. We waited for a cab at the taxi stand in front of the stretch of shops where Planet Hollywood was situated. There was a group of foreigners (don't know from where la!!) who treated us as if we were transparent and cut our queue!! Not only that..there were other locals at the taxi stand too and they didn't care any hoots about us!!! To make matter worse..it was raining and some cab drivers wanted to negotiate fare instead of going by the meter! Anyway, we managed to overcome our 'small hicup' and got back to the hotel. I made an imprint in my mind that I should not let this happen again! Nobody was to snatch my cab again!!

Later in the night, we wanted to watch TV but realised that there was no reception for Singapore channel! Grrrrrrr......

Day 3 to be continued............nodding off now...and my throat hurts :~~(