My first 18

I know I should resume blogging about my Greece trip ... but I have gotten lazy ... sorry! Will try to resume when I feel like it lah ...

Anyway, I'm back to tennis lessons ... my first lesson on Sunday promptly demolished all the confidence I had in the sport. Going back to the intricacies behind the forehand and backhand was like learning how to drive a manual car ... too many things to look out for!

Didn't realise that I have been getting the basics wrong all this time. While I can hit past the net and rally sufficiently after a warm-up ... its not the 'correct' way to play tennis ... argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And on to golf ...

Did my first 18 holes today .... one word ... STRESSFUL!!! Definitely not leisurely ...

It was our first 18 holes game ... and on hindsight ... it was way too ambitious. We should have perhaps stuck to a 9 holes game instead ... cos by the time we reached the 9th hole, we were already tired out. Besides, MBGC is a tough course to manouvere, even for experienced golfers.

We were so slow at the initial stage that the golf marshall had to repeatedly hurry us to complete each hole. We even had to skip one hole to make way for the group behind us. If you see anyone running across the greens ... its probably us. With balls going haywire, time spent looking for missing balls, buggies going off course (cos' we weren't sure when the buggy was allowed on the fairways) and a near buggy accident, we wasted a fair bit of time.

All in all, it took us 4.5 hours to complete the course. Thankfully, the weather was perfect.

Can't wait for the next 9 holes ... at an easier course that is.

Greece : Olympia

After a terrible first night at our shabby tourist class hotel where we could feel the creaky bed springs each time we tossed and turned and where we tasted food that was the most awful ever, we made our way to Olympia, the site of the first ancient Olympic games. It is also the place which houses the Temple of Apollo, the Sun God.

:: after a terrible night at Ilis Hotel ... ::

:: Wrestling at the grounds ::

:: Claudine & Jerry from Wisconsin, the more haps couple in the group of oldies.

They even got the bus driver pretty drunk on one night which got us rather worried on the downslopes the morning after. ::

:: Jerry on his 'throne' ::

Greece : Mycenae

Ok, I don't have much to elaborate on cos' I just returned my overdue library books as soon as I could. So no boring commentary here ... just some cam-whoring pictures.

This is Day 1 of our land tour with our American fuddy-duddy travel mates at Mycenea which houses a fortified hill and some ancient tombs. The first of several archeological sites to come.

:: stop-over at Epidarus to check out the amazing acoustics at the outdoor theatre ::

:: The Lion Gate ::

:: Ms Universe wannabes ::

:: and of course the irristible and irrepressible Xena ::

Greece : Athens

So, we departed Singapore on 16 September for a cool 13 days in Greece.

Our itinerary started with Athens as a base. After which, we joined a 4 days 3 nights tour comprising some *ahem* old American tourists and travelled up north-west to the Peloponnese area to cover Olympia (where the first ancient Olympic games were first held), Delphi & Mycenae (2 other archeologicals site similar to Olympia except that they were on higher ground). We then moved onto to central Greece to visit magnificent Meteora (hanging monastries perched on huge rocks/boulders).

Thereafter, we were left on our own to explore the rest of Athens and island hopping! Our trip to Mykonos was delayed by a day due to strong winds. As such, we had a day less in Santorini ... bummer! We took a vote on whether to shell out some extra S$250 per pax for another day at Santorini ... the result? Wait for the video which will be uploaded in due course!

To start, here let me introduce the travellers who assumed Greek monikers for the trip. Starting clockwise from left to right :

The God Hadrian - who according to Greek mythology took on a gay lover Antionoos (who happens to be damn cute in sculptures!)

The Goddess Loukia - a distant cousin of Finnish Goddess Nokia.

The Goddess Thessaloniki - a pasta addict, very distantly related to the Italians Linguine, Fettucine etc.

The Goddess Oochi - which incidentally means 'no' in Greek, and is very adverse to 'koo-chis' i.e. tickles.

:: streets of Athens, with lots of grafitti and cool wall art ::

:: at the hotel rooftop, with the Acropolis in the background ::

Life's a beach!

To spread environmental awareness, the gang took part in the beach clean-up at East Coast Park ... a perfect excuse to chill-out at Max, enjoy the day at the beach + BBQ and a lil chill out session at Dempsey thereafter ...

The new mantra ... Refuse, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

:: tee, j-mee, @loy at work ::

:: and mua! ::