A Day trip to Legoland Malaysia

January 30, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. - AYLE 2014 has come to an end, and everyone needed to go back home and to go back to their normal lives. When I woke up and left the hostel at around 9:00 am, almost everyone is still on their bed and still recovering from hangover from our last night's party. So I haven't say my good bye to every one except to few delegates who have their flights that morning. Since I have a one more day to travel,I decided to have a day trip in Legoland, Malaysia. Before I went to Malaysia, my friend and I still hang out in the Merlion and Raffles place. We took pictures around the place, and parted ways after since his flight is on the same day. I dropped him off in the nearest subway station and went directly to the Singapore Flyer for the shuttle going directly to Lego Land. Unfortunately, the bus has already left and I was 10 minutes late. I asked the ticketing staff for other route and she advised me to take the subway then take the bus going to Johor Bahru.  

I took  her advise and hoping not to get lost in Malaysia. Well, the bus ticket from Singapore to Johor costs only 5SGD. After I arrived to the drop off station in JB, I looked for a money changer since I only have Singapore dollars with me. After I got my Malaysian Ringgit, I bought Nasi Goreng for lunch in a local eatery there. It taste so good and so new for me since we have curry almost all the time we were at Singapore. It just cost me 5RM for my full meal which is way way cheaper than any of my meals in Singapore. 

I went back to the bus station after I have eaten my lunch. I needed to wait for an hour for the next bus going to Legoland according to the bus ticket staff. So I took the cab going to Legoland since I can not contain my excitement anymore. It cost me 25RM for the cab fare which would have been cheaper if I haggle with the driver but anyway, what is important that I did get there safe and sound. I bought an entrance ticket and it cost me 69SGD. You can pay the entrance fee in Singapore dollars if you do not have enough Malaysian Ringgit on hand. After I got my ticket, it seems that all my tiredness has wash off and I felt so rejuvenated and so enthusiastic to go inside the park.  

The theme park is actually built for children and children alike (like me) so most of the rides are really for children and family. But still the moment I got into the park, it seems that I became a child again who wants to play Lego once again. I only got to ride few attractions in the park, and the ones I tried and the ones that I can are Dino Island, Lego 4D Studios, The Dragon, Lost Kingdom Adventure, and Project X. Project X in Lego Technic is my favorite since it is the most exciting ride in the park, ever. One should also not skipped the Lego Miniland when visiting Legoland. It is a collection of Lego miniature replica of different cities and places around the world like the Marina Bays of Singapore, the Angkor Wat of Cambodia,the Taj Mahal of India, and ,of course, Kuala Lumpur complete with its KL Tower and Petronas Tower. 

The park closed at 6:00pm. I went back to Singapore and got all my things in the hostel and went directly to the airport. My Legoland experience was so memorable since it is "technically" my first travel alone. It seems that I was a child again when I get there and my dream of a Lego world did really come true. *off to my bucket list* Also it was both an experience and a struggle coming to Legoland Malaysia. I went Malaysia alone and did everything on my own. My trip to Malaysia has also made me realize that Malaysians are one of the most friendliest people in the world. Thanks again to the university student who helped me with directions in Johor Bahru who even waited me up in the gates of immigration center just to have the same bus with me, to the old lady who helped me find the money changer even I sounded like "I money exchange dollar where?" and to the one who took a picture of me in the gates of Legoland, it just so candid. Thank you very much! I was so happy that I really did give up Universal Studios Singapore just for Legoland Malaysia. I love Lego and will always be a Lego fan.  Everything happened in Johor Bahru will all be charged to experience. And Malaysia, we shall meet again soon! 

Day 5: The AYLE Judgement Day

 January 29, NUS Central Library - It is now time for us to sum up all our ideas and learning from the past four days. It is the day everyone has prepared for and stayed up all night for. It is our judgement day, the Business Idea Competition. 

After we had our breakfast, we went to the NUS Library to continue making our presentation and also to buy some NUS souvenirs. When we had bought our things, it seemed that were all do not know each other since no one is talking and it was silent all over the place. When the allotted time has passed, we all went have our lunch in the dining hall nearby. Everyone was still nervous that time and adrenaline rush has really been running through our blood doing our last minute preparation and slides. We then proceed to conference hall where we have our Business Idea Competition. 

Business Idea Competition is a friendly competition between the delegates applying all the learning, and experiences throughout the conferences. Each group must come up with a feasible business idea in the Singapore setting and sell the idea in front of the angel investor judges: Mr. Shankar and Mr. Loh hoping to be fully funded by them. The most creative and feasible idea will win the AYLE Business Idea Competition 2014. Each group was given exactly ten minutes to pitch their idea to the angel investors as concise and as complete as possible, and another five minutes for the question and answer.

The competition has started and each grouped has pitched their own idea.Silence could really be observe the whole BIC competition since everyone is nervous with the competition. We were the last group to pitch our ideas. Our presentation was all about the BIC Smart Projector. Our presentation went as good as planned . After all group has pitched their idea, the angel investors then decided on which group has the most feasible idea. 

We all went back to the hostel after the competition to prepare for our closing night. Everyone wore their cultural clothes during the closing night. Certificates were handed to delegates, and winners. After the cultural night, we decided to continue our party in Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a long stretch of club and pubs along the Singapore river. We ended up partying until 2:00 AM before we went back to our hostel at 4:00 AM. It was a great experience anyway even I spent SGD16 just for the club entrance. 

Day 1: The Beginning

January 25, Plug-In@Blk71, NUS - It is our first day of AYLE 2014. We all woke up early morning and have our breakfast in the hostel before we went to our first agenda for the day. Our bus picked us up at around 7:00 AM, and drove us going to Plug-In@Blk71 at National University of Singapore. Plug-In@Blk71 is a co-working, and community space jointly launched by NUS Enterprise, MDA and Singtel Singapore. It is where almost all start-ups in Singapore has been created and started. When we got there, we first played Human Bingo to get to know more of our co-delegates. Each of us has our own Human Bingo game card with 25 blocks, and each blocks has a specific description which we need to find with our co-delegates. Specific description such as someone who has a tattoo, someone who can speak three languages, and more. After our first fun interaction with our co-delegates, we had our first workshop.

Our first workshop was a personality workshop by Mr. Douglas Ng. He is the founder of Thrive Now, a transformation-based education business. He facilitated our first personality workshop. He divided us into six different groups and was awarded by $100 poker chips. He let us played a game which is almost the same as what is happening outside our class room. Our main goal is to earn as much chips as we can in one hour, by figuring things out all ourselves. All we had is a training room,a bank, and a market, and all came with a price. The game actually is learning how to make a balloon and selling it in the market to earn profit. At the start of the game, all the group went crazy at pumping and twisting flower balloons, buying raw materials in the market, selling the pumped flower balloons to the market and to the other group, and thinking of how to earn money more. Some groups bought information in the market, some observed the market, and some just gave up in the middle of the game. Some also borrowed money in the bank, some paid back their credit line, and some forgot. At the end of the game, our group has earned the most chips which was almost $17,000. The lesson of the game was that each of us our own potential and if we have the information which we can have through proper training and education then we start to make money and run our own business as what we have shown in the game.And it also showed us the reality that demand-supply will not always stay at it is and it will change through time, so the price will change, the demand will change, and everything will change. So it is better to start up early and not delayed yourself. 

After we had our first workshop, we have our networking lunch also in Plug-In@Blk71. Then, we had our second workshop which is all about creating and formulation idea by Mr. Ramesh Raghavan, co-founder and partner of Tenshi Peak Ventures, a Singapore-based global angel investment, mentorship, and business development platform. After his informational lecture, we had our highlight for the day, Amazing Race.

Our bus dropped us in Civilian War Memorial near the Singapore City Hall, which become our starting point to our amazing race. The aim of the race is to visit five different pit stops in Singapore and to complete the challenge heading to the next pit stop. We presented first our group cheer before starting the race. Our group went first to the Youth Olympic Park which is just across the famous Marina Bay Sand Hotel and the Helix Bridge. When we got there, we needed to name five Olympics sports and took a group picture showing one sport. 

Before we head to our next stop, we bought the famous Singapore's SGD1 Icecream then we headed to the Singapore flyer, which is our second pit stop. Our challenge is to ask any tourist to took a picture of us. Luckily there where three kind Hispanic guys who granted our request. Since it was getting late, we had to skipped one of the pit stop, and head to the last pit stop where we will have our dinner. We walked all way through to the Gardens by Bay from the Singapore Flyer. When we got there, we were all amazed by the beauty of the Supertree Grove. It seems like we were in the world of avatar with those large illuminated Supertrees. We had our dinner in a nearby hawker in the Gardens by the Bay and had our free time to roam around the garden. 

Day 0: The Start of Everything (AYLE 2014)

 April 24, Bunc@Radius, Little India - This is the day, the day where my TRAVEL 2014 has all started. I arrived at Changi International Airport around 10:00 am. We met  the organizers at Starbucks Terminal 3 together with some other delegates from Cambodia and Indonesia. After some of us have their breakfast, our bus brought us to our accommodation at Bunc@Radius and met some of the other delegates there from Thailand. Since the official opening ceremony starts at 7:00 pm, we got to have a free time around Little India.

One of the organizer walked us at a nearby hawker in Little India to have our lunch. I have seafood Laksa for lunch that time since I am not in the mood to have a heavy lunch. After we all have our lunch, we all went back to the student hostel to settle down and prepare for the black and white party. While at the hostel, we also met some of the organizer from National University Singapore, NUS Entrepreneurship Society. 

Our bus picked us up at the hostel at around 5:00 pm and brought us up to the NUS administrative building where we have the official opening of ASEANpreneurs Youth Leaders Exchange*. There we met more of the organizing committee and delegates. The programme started by the official address of the NES Managing Directors: Aashvi Bana and Nureen Damia, and followed by short talks about Entrepreneuship in the ASEAN by Mr. Subhra Shankar, and Importance of Self-Leadership by Mr. Andrew Bryant. Mr Subhra Shankar is also one of the angel investor in Singapore and will also be one of our judge in the Business Idea Competition. After the official programme, we got to have our first networking dinner where we got to know more of the other delegates and have some photo opportunity with the Philippine embassy's representative during the ceremony. After we have our dinner, we all went back to the hostel to take a rest and prepare for the five days fun filled activities waiting for us.

Carpe Diem. Seize the day.

"ASEANpreneurs Youth Leaders Exchange (AYLE) is a week long conference that brings together youth leader across ASEAN to collaboratively learn about entrepreneurship. AYLE has gained substantial popularity in the past few years. The highlights of the program include: seminar on Entrepreneurship, inspirational talks, workshops, company visits, social networking sessions, recreational trips, entrepreneurial activities and discussion between delegates. Previous AYLEs were held in countries across ASEAN including Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. "

MY SUDDEN URGE TO TRAVEL

Many have been asking me why sudden urged to travel the world. Well, yeah they are right, I can travel when I graduated college. But why not do things now when I have lots of free time and not only 10 days of allowable leave when I start working. Life is shorter than what you think. And this is the reason why I want to travel. 

I have been labeling years since I got back from my short study in South Korea. With now a better me fresh from South Korea, I am now more open to face challenges and to really find my true self. With all those people that I have met and challenges I have been through alone in a foreign land, it has taught me to a lot of things and not settle for less.

2011 has been a friendly year for me. Fresh from South Korea where every night is party, I live almost the same lifestyle as my Korean friends. I study, I drink, and I party. My life revolved just on those three things. I spent most of my time outside with my best friends and meeting new friends. I have met a lot of people whom now I don’t even talked with. I spent the year as if I am really enjoying my last teen years. 

With all the time and efforts I have given to others, 2012 has been a transforming year for me. I contained myself inside a box and enjoying things on my own. This year I learn to love myself and learn more about me. I started working out, and gave up my other vices. I give out things and forget people which I think would not help me. The year has been a selfish year for me. I think being on my 20’s has been a transition of my childish/ lively lifestyle to an adult one. They said that you need to be selfish when you reach your 20’s. 

30.03.2013 - Bato Springs, Philippines

07.08.2013 - Baguio, Philippines

Enough with my selfish year, 2013 has been a family year for me. On 2013 alone, I have spent dinner or lunch out together with my family more than all my teenage life years combined. Here, I have realized that my parents and I are not getting any younger, life is short and I should spend it wisely.  This year has been a challenging year for my family, but we all have been through it together. We have regained back our closeness and openness which I think we have not experience for more than a decade.

 With all my experiments and realization in life for the past years, I think its time for me to introduce myself to the world. Since 2011 has been friend year, 2012 as my selfish year, 2013 as my family year, and now it’s my travel year. It is time for me to learn, and to experience new things. Its also time for me to go out of my comfort zone and do things differently. It is me now ready to face and to explore the world.

Well, I hope to see you in the road!