I've been away for about a month to south africa... with three other lovely people, namely hei, tammy and jonathon!  It was a great trip! We worked at Rietvlei Hospital for two weeks and then travelled for the remaining two weeks. Arrived back in HK yesterday.. watched 5 movies on the plane and slept for only 2 hours... which kinda explains why i was practically dying of tiredness when i arrived to HK! Only today, after celebrating mother's day, did i get a chance to actually sit in front of the computer and procastinate and update my xanga!... Hooray!! I kinda missed doing that!

So at the hospital.... 

Our schedule was kinda free! Lots n lots of spare time to muck around, cook, go to the doctor's house to play with their children... and last but not least, to play NDS!!!! I totally fell in love with this music game where u have to follow the beats to the music!

Very fustrated Tammy looks in the first pic... but yes she indeed is playing with her NDS!!
And then there's our cheif chef HEI!!!  We really dunno what we would have eaten if u weren't there! We had great food to eat always... especially the Hei's Special Home Recipe COKE CHICKEN and CHICKEN RICE!! Absolutely delicious it was! I've already taught my mom and helper how to make it, and hopefully i will be eating it again in the future! =]

Of course we did do some work at the hospital.... the numerous times we tried to put drips into patients, in which their skin was so dark that u could hardly see their veins at all! We also had the chance to deliver babies, of course with the help from the midwives.  Then there were times we gave people injections.... or once where we put a plaster of paris on someone's foot.... or when Hei had to take out stitches from a patient that the nurses couldn't take out... or when Jonathan tried to remove a cochcroach from someone's ear (tho' i wasn't there to see it, it does sound very disgusting.. ughh yuck!)

Then there was a time where this patient came in with DKA... all the nurses seemed calm about it, and it kinda felt like they were depending on us to take care of it... well more like depending on Hei to take care of it!!! hahaha I think the atmosphere was more like us three watching and listening whilst Hei always coming up with something!! Man, so glad u were here on this trip with us!!! (Which makes me think i really wish i had the brains of a smart person.. then life would be so much easier!!) But neways.... at least we all did try and put in a drip for the patient... although we still failed after trying for like half an hour, until the doctor finally came! ............ Phewwff!!

But in general, the doctors and nurses were REALLY nice, always taking care of us, chatting with us and letting us help them in the OPD's... unlike SOME other staffs in HK in the hospitals that we are very familiar with.  Sigh.... if only they were like that.

I enjoyed my stay at the hospital, altho i must say that I was quite lazy... i could have worked harder or did more stuff... but oh well...
   
So here's a pic of what the casualty ward looks like.  All the procedures are done here...
Then there's one of me with all the midwives/staff at the labour ward!  A very friendly bunch they were... one was even interested in our lab gowns.. and Hei kindly gave it to them! ( I would have too.. but i didn't wanna go round the hospital without one on... all the germs n bacteria n everything u can possibly think of.. ughh yucckkk!!)

 So then to our TRAVELLING bit... it was  a.m.a.z.i.n.g. 

We rented a car and drove along the coast line from a place called Port Elizabeth all the way to Cape Town!

Many many thanks to our drivers Hei and Jonathan who did an equal amount of driving from one place to another... it must have been very tiring! I think the fastest they drove was 160km/hr... haha scary.. but weird enuf it didn't seem like we were going that fast anyway.  ( i woulda drove too... but i think my driving skills suc too much.. i still need to practise more before even going out to causewaybay by myself... hahaha)

Our hostels were cheap and nice and the people there were friendly!  We did lotsa awesome things like surfing (in which i managed to stand up ONCE for like 2 seconds hehe), touching the lions n cheetahs.. and even crocodile cage diving (which i only decided to do in the last minute cuz i was too scared to do it !! haha)  We also watched a late-night movie at the cinemas... guess wat movie we watched--- SPIDER-MAN 3!! haha Hilarious!

We even poked the crocodile!! hehe

We had a few amazing dinners... mainly one lunch in which we ate about 50 oysters between the four of us! We had so much that the table next to ours were watching us and the waiter serving us was laughing... but man were they delicious.  And one dinner at a "high-class" restaurant in which we all wore shorts n t-shirts n flip-flops to! It was meant to be one of Africa's top 100 restaurants! it had pretty good food.. and we had a good laugh about things too =]

We visited many beautiful scenary sites in which i'm sure we will remember for the rest of our lives (haha sounds a bit exagerating.. but i mean it!!) Absolutely amazing.... scenaries that u would neva eva imagine or see in HK! 
(I guess the pics i took below look like nothing compared to the ones of Howard or michael's .. but hey.. i tried my best to capture wat i saw and show u guys! hehhe )











Special thanks to Hei for planning nearly the whole trip for us, and for choosing and booking all the hostels and everything (hmm.. i think us three did only 20% of everything haha.. better than nothing!!).  I'm sure a lot of people knew who Hei was at the end of our trip cuz she made so many phone calls in which they always said "Ahh hello it's you again!". I think the whole trip wouldn;t have worked out so smoothly if u weren;t there organizing things for us.. and also, the hardest thing... for making nearly ALL the decisions for us... yes a very undecisive bunch we are! hehe.  Probabaly wouldn;t have gotten anywhere without you! =] thanx a bunch!!

Thanks to Jonathon and Tammy for booking the car for us... it was a very nice and comfy car! (Tho' not too nice when we returned it at the end of our trip... could barely even see the car plate number cuz it was so dirty!) And the cup noodles sure did help when there was no electricity during one of our nights stay at this place called Montagu! So thanx to you too

And thanx to me... for ..errr.....hmmmmm.... nothing! hahaha

Anything to remember on this trip?... yes!...
- Jonathan's lost watch and flip-flops
- Hei's lost water bottle.
- Tammy nearly loosing her whole backpack, cuz she left it at a hostel in which we had already left to the next city..
- Me nearly loosing my wallet.. left it at a restaurant.. tho luckily i didn;t loose anything when i went to get it back the next morning. 
-  and everyone just spending mad loads of money on shopping....wet-suits, oakleys, CLOTHES, stones, wooden girrafes, SLIPPERS.. and lots more!!

Not only undecisive.. but a careless bunch we are too!!! yeahhhaaa!! haha



But it was a great trip overall... I'm sure much better than the ones the travel companies in HK take you on, where they make u eat chinese food at a crap chinese restaurant and where they take u to all these places to rip you off like ostrich leather goods, or other "tourist" shops!!  We went to local markets and it was just fine.. much better than the expensive shops! haha  


But of course it's the people on the trip that make the difference to everything! Thank you all.. to Hei, Tammy, and Jon for making things work out and for making it sucha great trip for me! That's them above!!

Of course i missed all the people who were else-where doing their attachments...yes I MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!! hehehehe

I've sorta learnt many things on this trip.. . And it's made me think deeply on many different things,  issues and on life.. It's funny and amazing when you look back on a trip that u've just been on... 

What things have i been thinking about? Good try, but i shan't tell you..........

Okiee doke.....This has taken me a very long time to write this entry, so i must stop now!! Hope you guyz are well.. TAke CaRE!!


    

Halloween @ Shooters 52 ... luved it!!