Wonderful Evening Before Exam

It was totally a relaxing evening to meet up with some old close friends. It has been quite some times since out last meet. Anyway, the meet proves that nothing much has changed in our close tied relation. Thanks for the great dinner, my dear friends.


Venue: 1U - Baskin Robin & Seoul Garden
Date: 31st Oct 2009
Presence: Henry, Chung Liang, Chin Kang, Chiak Kang, Jason, Shun Yi, Sylvester, Jing Kwong.

Ready?!

I officially declared that I am ready for a new relationship. My door is open, but I see no one on the other side. I am still waiting for your existence.

Yes I am!

I am a jerk JERK! I am sorry!

Does she make sense?

Yes, at last, I went to see dentist today. After minutes of checking, she told me that my gum is swollen. My bottom right wisdom tooth is growing out. So there will some sort of small operation few weeks from now, to remove my upper wisdom teeth. I mean, of course something have to be remove as I have been in great pain man! Oh my God, what is it? UPPER WISDOM TEETH? I thought she was telling me that my bottom teeth is growing, and what is it upper tooth that have to be removed? Anyone, tell me please!

Next, before I can really undergo the small operation, these are those colourful candies that I will have to eat. 3 times a day, each time the doses are as below illustration:

Am I stupid? Why do I need so many wisdom teeth?!

Fried Rice! Oh my LEG?!

So, let's talk about what is the best ingredient to be added when you are thinking of cooking a nice fried rice. Due to my severe toothache, I had decided to have a simple lunch - I don't really have mood to enjoy my meal. I ordered a plate of fried rice. Honestly, it was nothing special at all about that fried rice, at least not until I discovered the nightmare! Out of a sudden, I noticed something which was not supposed to be inside my fried rice. To add to my horror, it was something I HATE the most! I can never imagine having this kind of thing in my lunch. I was shocked and stunned for a few minutes. Furthermore, I can never further my imagination to think of what has entered into my mouth and was on the way down my throat towards my stomach?! Let's forget about this and just hope that I will have a good night sleep! Please do not hunt me in my dream - I did not eat you, you are just being cooked and was served to me. Hey, I did not ask for you to be included in my meal!

I just don't feel like telling what this is, I bet all of you must have known. If you don't, then the hint will be: It is something that I scared the most in this world! Another hint will be that it is part of Fear Factor. Is that meant that I can join Fear Factor already? Kill ME!

Is killing me again!

Gosh, wisdom is killing me again! I can no longer bear the pain. It has been like years just for four of them to completely develop into the position. This has caused a lot of difficulties to me. I will give them one last chance, if this happens again, I am going to get them off my mouth! Hate you wisdom tooth teeth. With not much choice, I have to take all these pain killer pills and those medication for swollen. I hope that will call an end now! I just hope to have a good night sleep and the next day I will be able to continue with my habit of eating whatever I like - nothing can stop my from doing that!

Tourism - why is African Region lacked behind as compared to Europe?

Brief introduction: This is a piece of work done by me in order to fulfill part of my task in Tourism course which I am taking now for this semester. Below is the question and answer.

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Why is Europe, in general, far more developed as a tourist destination region than Africa? What strategies could African countries implement to improve their status as destinations?

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A brief glance is necessary to understand the situation in both Europe and Africa. What are really the main factors that have departed both these nations far from each other in this tourism sector? First of all it will be worth to note that not only in term of tourism industry that Africa is lacked behind, there are several other sectors that Africa is still far left behind by most of these developed states in Europe. The infrastructures, economic stability, and the political stability are some of the aspects that Africa is far left behind, if to name a few. All these aspects have either directly or indirectly caused the gap between European Region and African Region in this particular issue. Europe as a region which consists of several well developed countries has been greatly visited by tourists globally all this while.

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The accessibility in European Region is very high which includes access from other regions to European Region and access between states in European Regions. European states are easily accessed by using air, sea and land. One, from other region or continent can travel to Europe by using air. There are plenty of aviation services provided by several airlines companies which link directly to Europe. This in fact has increased the number of people flying in the region annually and this has contributed to the number of inbound tourists. We are also aware of the several sea ports in European Region. This, of course, has also contributed to the inbound of tourists across the globe. Europe which has been surrounded by several seas (e.g. North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Baltic Sea and Mediterranean Sea, to name a few) and also a big ocean i.e. Atlantic Ocean has a good seaway system which has been used since decades ago for the purposes of trade and business. This is further developed by several giant corporate which provide cruise services from a state to another in European Region. As we all know, the land transportation system has been well linked from each other in Europe. Most of the states have been linked with systematic railway system. This has made the accessibility among the states much easier. This has become one of the prime reason people across the globe have chosen European as their destinations. This includes the business and conferences. Let give a glance at the poor transportation system in African Region. How possible is it for tourists to travel around in one of the states in Africa. Even accessibility is already a problem, it will definitely cause a break down in the mobility of tourists when they are in Africa. Without a proper land transportation system, it will be hard to access from a place to another place. This has caused tourists to always ignore or rather reject this destination.

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Another pulling factor that has caused European to be a far more developed tourist destination region as compared to Africa can be seen from the aspect of peace, stability and safety. This has been a great point to really observe by other states if they would like to develop their tourism industry. As a fair comment, all have been quite relieved with the peace, stability and safety provided by European states. These states are well protected in term of civilians’ safety. Their police forces have been in well trained status and are always in duties to ensure the safety of the people in their states and this includes the tourists. The stability in Europe’s economy has caused its region to stay in harmony status. There are less riots or chaos in the cities throughout the region. This has formed the assurance deep in the heart of people throughout the world in the peace in European states. On the other hand, in the eyes of the people globally (majority if not all), African states have failed to give assurance in the aspect of peace, stability and safety. People feel reluctant to travel to Africa region due to this factor. It has been set in their minds that Africa is a third world region and thus far from developed status. A more critical thought would be that Africa is actually in the process of “Thirdworldization” – a new concept introduced by today’s publicists. This has caused the retreatment of many investors as they can see no economic stability in that region. Bear in mind that the aspect of stability is not only confined to economic sector per se, but the whole region in term of criminal. This has led to the retrenchment of more tourists from stepping into this region.

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A last important factor that I would like to touch on is the pro-tourism policies. This indeed has been much helpful to attract tourists worldwide. European states have been quite success in term of this. This again, is back to the government in the respective states to work with their own policy regarding this issue. With the help of several attractive destinations and the availability of services, the government plays an important role to promote its tourism industry to the other countries. This has been done by European states by introducing their tourism packages. From time to time, there are campaigns being held in different countries in order to attract people to visit to its state. The lacked of such policy has turned down the Africa in this industry. No one really knows of its attractive tourist destination. All we know is that it is a region filled with hunger, as one would comment on Africa. This has created an impression to other countries that Africa is a less friendly region.

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Moving to the next limb of the question, it is to think of what are the strategies that can be implemented by countries in African Region in order to improve their status as tourist destinations. My prime point is again the role of the government. Without a good pro-tourism policy, everything will remain as a thought. By setting a good pro-tourism policy, the whole world will be made known of this region, which is actually far better than the impression of the people globally. After all, the region is no longer out of control as before. The states in Africa should take the tourism industry seriously and formulate a good pro-tourism policy. Various aspects have to be looked into detail. To be frank, there are a lot of tourism industry’s resources in Africa. It is solely depending on the government to fully utilize them to develop this industry. Throughout the whole Africa, there are different sceneries which can be “commercialized” into tourist destinations. At the same time, the accessibility within the Africa should be done in a proper manner. In such, tourists can easily mobilize from a place to another. Or else there will be no point to spend in terms of monetary and time but only can visit limited places. It will be wise, too, if Africa can organize various global events to attract people into its region. Tourists who come to join the event at the same time can travel around the region or maybe a particular state in Africa. This can definitely burst up the market of Africa when people start to realize the wonderful land of Africa.

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In short, statistic shows that from year to year there has been decrease in people visiting More Developed Countries – MDCs, and this of course includes European states. On the other hand, there has been an increase in tourists visiting Less Developed Countries – LDCs. In my humble view, this is a great chance for countries in Africa to seriously look into this matter and take this time to burst up their tourism industry. Tourism sector is a sector that can help to generate a great income to the country and this can assist in building a better and stable economic status. That concludes my answer.

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Henry