Are you busy rushing your PW proposals such as EoM and WR? Is “conservation” your chosen topic? Well then, you should take a short break and look at these awesome pictures. Instead of concentrating on conserving things that even you yourself may think are rather pointless (it is only for the sake of A’level results),  we should focus on a more crucial topic – the conservation of environment, nature and wildlife.

These are the National Geographic BEST pictures for the year.

Some thoughts after seeing these photos:

Yes, we all know the hard facts about how globalisation and industrialisation is adversely affecting our precious earth, but come to think of it, have you ever really played a part in protecting our world? Have you even heard about Project Gaia? Well, after seeing the magnificent photos above, I do hope that you will start to pay attention to more of such topics, and not just the conservation topics in PW.

Just imagine after 30 to 50 years, when it reaches the time which the scientists predict as “the end of the world” and there will be rapid increase of occurrence of natural disasters, such beautiful scenes of nature, flora and fauna will not be present anymore. I doubt we can even live to see “the end of the world”, as we may have perished in some major environmental disaster. Of course, our future generations will not be able to witness these too. I cannot bear to picture children of the future generations asking how do penguins or polar bears look like, because they no longer exist. (Penguins and polar bears are my favourite animals by the way.)

You may be reading articles or watching news broadcasts everyday, but have you ever wondered why, for the past few years, the weather disasters are getting worse? Well, it’s mainly our fault. The change in global temperature is one main factor why the weather all over the world is so unpredictable and disastrous. Numerous books and movies have been warning us about the future when nature takes its revenge on us. We are conscious about these things, however, due to nonchalant attitude, we seem to belittle all these information because the disasters are not occurring near us, or at least definitely not in Singapore. The effects of our pollution are shown all over the world, and to minimize these effects (though we cannot really see its effects in the short run), we should all play our parts in saving the earth. We all know about reduce, reuse and recycle, so why aren’t you doing so? Make it the latest trend if it is possible!

Start now, and please do not think that your effort is insignificant as every effort counts.

(P.S. The photos are not photo-shopped. )

Ah. The hallowed Overseas IndiEventure; THE “excursion” every IP student looks forward to during their tenture in the VIP programme. Obviously my batch was no exception, especially since our lackluster IP1 Beyond Borders trip to Pahang, Malaysia. (In all fairness, our Pahang trip was fun and our level got to know each other better and bond. However, we did feel a teeny bit of indignation as our seniors had been to places such as Korea for their Beyong Borders trip.) With destinations such as Berlin, Dubai, India and Thailand, it was no wonder the entire level was hyped up with anticipation for our trip. Alas, good fortune seemed to elude us! One week into the prepatory programme for our trip, H1N1 reared its ugly head. The Berlin, Dubai and Thailand trips due to take place on the first week of term3 were put on hold till the situation could be assessed, while the India trip which was in November was to take place according to plan. However, as the situation worsened, the India trip too was cancelled. This news was greeted with much dismay from disappointed batch mates. Resigned to our fates, we could only sigh and hope for another opportunity to gather as a cohort and go overseas. (OCIP maybe?)

Date: Friday 13th- Tuesday 17th march

Venue: Kuantan- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

People invovled: VJ geog students + their ultra hip teachers

This year, the annual geography trip took place in Malaysia! We left immediately after VOG on Friday and headed to the Causeway. After a long long long journey (approx 7 hours!!!) , we finally arrived in Kuantan, a small town in Malaysia, where we feasted on seafood (!!!) before heading to our uber nice hotel to rest. The next day, we woke up bright and early and headed down to a granite quarry, which was located RIGHT NEXT TO A ROAD! Our wonderful guide/teacher for the day, Miss Suriani, then led us in a series of activities and discussions, which included breaking chunks of rock with our bare hands, and of course cam-whoring!:)

Our next activity was at Gua Cheras, a towerkarst (also known as a mountain to non-geogers) with a limestone cave! Climbing up the steep steps cut into the rock was definitely more tiring than climbing up to V45, and many of us were soon tired out. However, we were rewarded at the top, when we finally reached the cool darkness of the cave. Although the cave was indeed beautiful, it saddened many of us to see the works of vandals on the walls, mostly left over from the 50’s and 60’s.

After a quick lunch at a chinese restaurant where Mr Josef tried to sing karaoke, we headed down to Telok Cempedak (Jackfruit) beach. There, we saw many rocks shaped by the action of waves and numerous monkeys climbing on them. The wind was super strong and before long, it started to rain, thus cutting our trip short:(

The next day, we were headed for Kuala Lumpur! Our first stop was at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) and Petronas Twin Towers. After viewing exhibitions of the Twins at KLCC, we went up the tower itself! From the bridge, we had a magnificant view of the city below. Lunch was followed by a quick shopping trip around KLCC. However, as many of the shops were too high-end ( eg Prada, Gucci), many of us left empty-handed:( Our discussion at the KLCC park was also marred by the inteference of the security guards, who insisted we needed a license to gather in such a large group. However, thanks to Mr Nadjip, the guards were chased away and we continued our discussions in peace:) We then headed down to Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) to watch a magic-cum-comedic show, titled Wicked Wizards, by Scottish magician-comedians, Barry and Stuart. The 2 hour show was full of excitement and intensity and our very own Miss Audrey Ngerng was invited to participate in a trick! Mr Josef also won for himself one hundred ringgit! After the show and dinner, we headed to our hotel Dynasty. Unfortunately, the night wasn’t peaceful as the spooky aura of the hotel scared many of us and we did not manage to sleep well:(

Somehow, we managed to get through the night and the next day, we went for an early morning walk in Sentul, an inner city of KL. It was truly refreshing to see a different, more dilapidated side of KL. Also, the early morning traffic was quite heavy, making it difficult for us inexperienced jay-walkers to cross the road. We took a full 15 mins to cross a short stretch of road! After returning to the hotel, we headed back to KLPac, where our tour guide, Ian, introduced us to the local arts scene in Malaysia. We then explored the building, which used to be part of a train station, before leaving for Putrajaya. On the way, we stopped at Mr Josef’s wife’s uncle’s german restaurant named ” TJ Haus” in Subang Jaya. After filling our stomachs with yummy german food, we took the Kuala Lumpur International Airport  (KLIA) express train, and headed downt to the airport. The trip was certainly scenic as it fully displayed the lush greenery of  KL.  Once we reached Putrajaya, we were given more shopping time (!!!) at the Alamanda shopping centre. Unfortunately though, the prices there were almost comparable to Singapore’s, but we were able to feast on yummy Baskin’ Robbins ice cream:)  We then had a night tour of Putrajaya, which is very quiet at night, but still brightly lit. Furthermore, it looked almost similar to some parts of Singapore ( eg Esplanade area), and this amazed most of us who were not expecting Malaysia to look so sophisticated.

After another quick trip around Putrajaya the next day, we were set to leave Malaysia:( After another 4-5 hour bus ride to Singapore, we finally reached home! Although we were disappointed that the trip had come to an end, we were heartened by the many friends we had made and experiences we had gained during the trip. VJC Geog- we rock!:)