yikai

one of the tasks we had to do was dig trenches in the ground, 10 ft x 3ft x 3ft if i remember correctly. this rectangular trench is to be used to grow mushrooms. a metal grame is then added after completion and then a blue poly cover is placed over. took us 10 days to dig 2 holes manually, with basic tools. the other 8 holes were machine dug.

then after lunch, we took the bus, overnight, to this place called ISS. aka, inba seva sangum. i think that's how it's spelt. we lived there for 10 days, and it is here where we did the most labourous, but fun work. the boys slept in a bunk with tatami mats and the girls slept in rooms with beds. typical

From chennai, we took a domestic flight to Madurai on a double propeller poker flight. no photos of that. too unglam to post. here's when we arrived at madurai, then we took a bus to this red coloured restaurant.

the flight from singapore to chennai was 4 hours+. here's another photo of us in chennai.

here's some photos from the 4000 that i took while away. by now i think most of you would know who i am, if not, i'm the one in the yellow nike shoes. here's a photo of some of us in changi airport. would like to request that all photos below must not be taken without my permission. of course i cannot control what you do, but if you want to use it for whatever reason, ask me first and i will let you have it. integrity please thank you

i did i wear it on every alternate days

then can lor. but some of my friends might not like their photos to be on an open website without their permission. in anycase, i will post some pictures later. not all 4000, but maybe 10-20

yeah. i took around 4000 photos lol. will post in kopi tiam one of these days. but alot of the photos show us wearing the singapore polytechnic T shirt. dunno if its ok to post these pictures. i think can? lol.

nope. didnt take SQ. no lah. don't have time to waste on such petty stuff.

i was wearing my singapore polytechnic T shirt. and no. haha.

naoko still doing fine haha

yes i miss local food alot. can't wait to eat my favourite ice kachang dont want kachang, only ice and gula. hate all the colours... but i miss india alot too so hard to say bye to the swarm local kids that really really love you. and the cooks and the villagers. they are so friendly and really lovely people. its really a contrast to singaporeans. most singaporeans on the streets are rude, unfriendly. when you say hi to them, they give you the "HUH?" look. but the people in india are just so friendly. they offer food and lodging even though they have so little. in fact.... just today at the airport on my way home... my phone ran out of batt and i needed to make a call. i asked 5 singaporeans if i could borrow the phone for 1-2 mins. all said no. One even gave me the "shoo" go away sign. like as if i'm some kind of beggar. in the end had to ask an air stewardess...

trip was freakin awesome man. digging 10x3x3 feet holes for mushroom cultivation, planting trees, playing with the local kids, experiencing the semi arid desert heat, but also the cool wintery weather of the mountains. it's awesome lah and i dont think i can explain everything here. will upload photos to fb one of the days. you can go take a look if you want. tank wise everything is still alive. all fishes except one or two. my wrasses all still accounted for. my favourite coral half melted though. but small price to pay considering the overall health of the tank.

thanks! happy to be back. hehe

yup lovely trip. i'm sad to leave India, and even more sad that i had a bad impression of it before i even went. it was super fun. the work they made me do there was awesome lah. and the places we stayed in. i have at least 5000 photos to filter through and facebook them. dun wanna talk about it here can chat about it on msn or facebook if u want.

main problem should be flow and alleleopathy (sp check). star polyps quite temperemental. but easy when acclimated. place in good flow and dont put other corals around it. they tend to be quite sensitive to certain corals if placed within close proximity.

dont need to think liao. CBB is very very reefsafe. its even more reefsafe than tangs. i heard more stories of tangs pecking on corals and clams, than copperband.

alot of those "corals" are actually algae!! beautiful right? algae can look like corals

Dendrophyllia ramea. currently unavailable and very rare.

yeah.

i'm more interested in the special flame. i hope its the true hawaii flame which is blood red with NO orange or yellow. and the rhomboids. if the standard keeps up the same as their aussy, we should see alot of alpha male rhomboids in good quality. but i don't need anymore. aussy shipment at LCK. my future lineatus, if any tinkeri is my 2nd least fav raops, burgess being my least fav. so i think i would not consider tinkeri. declivis and mitratus are lovely but my all time fav is flavicoronatus which i think is very hard to get. so for now devlicis and mitratus. but after reading up on them, might consider dropping the idea of raops all together.

the macroalgae in the second video is just awesome!

yeah have given a long think about it. maybe i think over it in india chelmon sp, i have copperband, but i would love a marginalis.. prognathode marcelle? looks beautiful too. ok will give the raops another think. have a 2ft tank but too small for it. sad

this video on C.declivis and C. tinkeri X burgessi is very very nice. i love the declivis.

yes. i would think so