A blessed 2016

First half of the year was pretty slow in terms of works. Plenty of days off.

Did a hitch onboard NB2 drillship working for SHELL. Finished job and rigged down equipment.

Did a solo trip to Vietnam traveling from South to North. Simply amazing trip.

Spent some time working down in Labuan. Went KK - Kundasang in conjunction with Keamatan festival with a Rayner, my technician and is a Dusun.

Went Singapore a week for job training. Had a superstar Katong Laksa. A pleasant discovery.

Brexit took place. Market crashed momentarily.

Sent off sister to UK for furthering her studies in Edinburgh.

First time working down in Brunei. Was surprised at the sight of rigs and production donkeys in the middle of town. At the workshop, someone stopped me from continuing to work at mid-day on Friday. Worked on an average of 15hrs a day everyday onboard SKD Pelaut Tender rig. Pretty worn out. Surprisingly I had quite some porky meals there, thanks to the Chinese and the Philippine restaurants. Lol....

Trump won the US presidential election. Huge uncertainty thus arise on geo-politic, economy, trade deal, climate policy and etc.

Mila has repatriated back to town. In an unexplained odds, our path has crossed again. Wish her the very best of her future endeavors.

Went back onboard NB 2 drillship. It's drilling in such remote location, that we rode the crew boat for more than 15 hours. It's a pain in the ass! While being onboard, I was notified that my dad was in hospital. Requested for emergency leave. When I arrived in hospital to visit my dad, his vital signs had been stabilized. However, his recovery was excruciatingly slow, perhaps due to old age. Anyway, Count it a huge blessing that it's no chronic illness nor any complicated medical complications. Fortunately enough that he received the medical attention timely. It could easily be a life threatening case.

Dad's condition has improved enough and he was discharged from hospital. A planned family trip to Seoul and Jeju island went scrapped.

Market was still flooding with crude inventory. Finally, OPEC and Non OPEC have come together with deal whereby each will cut production in an attempt to push up oil price which I hope will go as far as 65 USD / bbl and sustain thereafter. We are so deprived of the well-deserved benefits and opportunities to make changes as we wish for. Anyway, we should expect significant recovery of oil price.

More investments down the pipeline and moving. Could only have faith they will work out alright in time to come. Hope things come to fruition and life will be great.

In a hindsight, it is a blessed year.

I do think that I am living like a nomad

The past few weeks I have been jumping around different places, although I'm not in the midst of backpacking or anything.

I finished my hitch working my ass off in Labuan at the end of May. I hopped to Kota Kinabalu to visit the Kadazandusun Cultural Association (KDCA). It was in conjunction with Hari Keamatan, for the Kadazan and Dusun. Stayed a night at KK town, and moved onto a road trip to Kundasang & Ranau. Stayed a night at the homestay at Kundasang, enjoying the greenery and fresh air, as it's rainy. Looking at the extent of damage to the Gunung Kinablau due to the quakes last year, it's frightening and saddening. Went visiting Kinabalu Park and feeding squirrels.

Flew back to KL, stayed a night or two, and made a road trip to Penang with hometown friends. Stayed two nights in Penang. Literally felt agonized having whacked up too many of food. Visit to a Thai temple, where there is a Buddha statue, to which you can ask for grant of wish from Buddha. More info. Drove back to KL and stayed a night.

Drove back to hometown. Drove my mom to Ipoh for a check up at KPJ hospital. Hope the treatment will get her better. So happened my brother was home too. Stayed three/four nights. Attended a wedding of a friend of my primary schoool, Li Qian or the flower of the class.

Drove parents to KL. Stopped by Sekinchan for lunch. Drove my brother to airport, from where he flew back Singapore. The next day, drove my parents to airport again, sending off my sister who is furthering her degree studies in Scotland. Pretty teary scene. Wakaka....

Drove parents to Bukit Tinggi French village, Colmar Tropicale. Luckily they found it fun there. Drove them to Genting Highland.

Next week, I'm heading to Singapore for a week of training.

and after next week...no idea.

So yea....This is definitely one of the an unprecedented level of mobility. I'm so mobile, that I haven't slept over the same bed for over a week. And yea, it's fun and I'm burned out....