The 1-ringgit-note Expedition

Having tonnes of assignments is like getting a mental tsunami- it hibernates all our wants and makes our daily routines no longer routine.

Luckily, it is all over. I passed up my last piece of work yesterday. I have no choice but to temporary ignore the fact that my exam is just around the corner. My armies need oxygen to restore my mind.
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Japanese Gelato, courtesy of Isetan newsletter

I'm still missing the gelato that I had yesterday night at the Isetan Hokkaido Fair. It tasted natural yet heavenly. Gonna get another one before the fair ends. I had two scoops (strawberry and green tea) yesterday, so my next one should be a three-scoop for sure. =p

My recent Sabah trip was a great one too. The beaches are so magnificent that I suppose they are on par with any of the great nude beaches in the world. We explored the Kinabalu Park- which is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and were thrilled to go for the canopy walk there. It feels good to leave our footprints on Mount Kinabalu, though we did not manage to climb to the peak. Heh.

Meet Mount Kinabalu

World Heritage Site- Kinabalu Park

Our jumping shot!

P.s.: More pics in my Facebook album. Btw, mind to give my weird swimming style a name?

Check out my video below -->

*Blush* =p

Blogging at war zone

Explosion of bombs, firing of guns, blah blah. I'm now at a cybercafe, people around me are so obsessed with all those games. A group of secondary students shouted at several hundreds decibels just now to celebrate their (typing) victory, louder that what American armies did when they successfully conquered Afganistan and Iraq.

This is a war zone without real bloodshed. We studied in History that Malaya gained independence without any bloodshed, too, right? Hm, I suppose our late Tunku and friends were some of the world's best gamers.

Singapore in shower.

My recent trip to Singapore brought me another familiar stamp on my passport. Well, I must say the trip did stimulate my tastebuds again. Neither my tougue nor eyes can forget the sexy dining experience at The Hooters. Their waitresses are so sexy that even the most pretentious innocent guy on earth would like to glimpse at them. Some sensitive boys, like primary kids, might even find its washroom orgasmic, as they have sexy waitresses watching over you near the urinals (just pictures la!). =p Anyway, till now I still couldn't believe that I had S$40 (S$160/4pax) dimsum at a famous-but-I-have-forgotten-what-its-name restaurant, near Orchard. The dimsum was great, but the taste was quite similar to Ipoh's famous... and I started to think Ipoh's dimsum is a bargain!

The crowd-puller. Queue to enter.

Some of the things we had.

Places visited were almost the same as my previous trips (didn't revisit Changi though), but it wasn't boring at all, as they always have lotsa new attractions to offer. (I've blogged about my recent trips over here, here, and here.)

Back home, we had a family raya gathering at KLCC Traders- a place I fell in love since my very first encounter with it sometimes ago. Our room, facing KLCC park, was truly awesome. DIY postcards can be made anytime, due to the magnificent view it has. Staying here has made me dream of owning a unit of Avare.

The view from our room. This gonna be the best postcard on earth.

The rooftop's Skybar is definitely the best bar in KL, offering the best view of the city centre, better than Luna Bar (though the latter has a greater washroom)!

Skybar.

The view from Skybar in the morning.

Thanks to nice coconuts during our buffet lunch at Jogoya Starhill, it made my urine smelled so good that reminded me of the best coconuts on earth that we had in Bangkok, last December. The buffet was really an ecstacy to my tastebuds, too much varieties and yummy. That night, we hopped into the hotel's buggy to Suria KLCC, to get a surprise birthday cake, and we celebrated mom's belated birthday together with relatives who visited us. :)

Ecstacy to the tastebuds. Her tongue proved it!

525 kilometres

It's time for tiger to be coached by lion.

Cause: Plenty to blog but not enthusiastic to write.
Effect: Nothing to read.

Cause: Plenty to blog but too enthusiastic to travel down south.
Effect: Nothing to read. More topics ought to be blogged.

Sigh, all these while I've been accumulating topics. I have been wondering what would happened if blogging is to be made compulsory by God.

Anyway, I'm having my three-minus-one weeks semester break right now. Instead of living 218 kilometres north of the capital, I'm now 307 kilometres south of it. Yesterday, I travelled 218+307=525 kilometres from Taiping to Singapore- by land.

I suppose the border between Singapore and Malaysia is among the most active in the world. Every weekdays, a huge number of people, including students, travel accross the border as early as predawn. Most of the students who cross the border every early morning are Johoreans who want a much much much better education system (no typo, mind you). But still, I found the situation rather amusing when it comes to this way:

One day, in a certain part of Johore,

5.45am

Neighbour : Hi, Mrs. Singa. Where are you going?
Mrs. Singa : Ohh, I'm sending my kids to another country to study.

2.00pm

Neighbour : Hi, Mrs. Singa. Where are you going?
Mrs. Singa : Ohh, I'm leaving this country to fetch my schooling kids back from another country.

Initially, the above situation seems weird but the current state of Malaysian education system has made it not-at-all.

Shall update more, soon.

I wasn't even nominated...

I was anticipating the award of 'Best Procrastinating Blogger of the Year'. Unfortunately, I found that this is an unexpectedly competitive award as procrastinating is the norm for many bloggers that practice hibernation. Anyway, here goes the summary of the various things that I've wanted to (but didn't) blog. =p

A) Semester break

Aw, my recent semester break gotta be the longest break i've ever had. It was supposed to be a usual three weeks, but i had five. Thanks to my examination which ended a week earlier and the 'skip-able' first week of Semester 4 with my 'P' licence ('P' for 'ponteng').

Five weeks at home? For some, it might be darn boring, but not for me, especially the weekends. All of my weekends, except one, were spent in outstations. Being a patriot, I cuti-cuti locally. We have set foot on Penang, Ipoh and Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, KL and KL, again. Guess what, I was the one who drove for most of the journeys. The most enjoyable one was the route that leads all the way up to Cameron Highlands. :)

A great place to film 'Cameron' Drift.

As correctly pointed out by my friend who blogs at hiddenmcky, there isn't much 'oomph!' in Cameron Highlands. Nevertheless, it's always fun for me to revisit a place where I've been absent for years.

The Smoke House at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.

Cameron Highlands is more than just tea leaves, it also supplies fresh vegetables and fruits for the country. I especially like their unique pearl corns and strawberries. Unlike the strawberry farm which I visited in Paignton, the growers in Cameron Highlands use the hydroponics-way of planting, rather than growing them on earth. Besides that, it also grows flowers for overseas market, which made Malaysia one of the largest exporters of flowers. Hm, I guess these are all the 'oomph' of the highlands. Anymore? I guess no. Sigh, how pathetic. =p
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B) Being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate
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I've been watching Cantonese soap dramas since I was a small kid. So I expect myself to converse reasonably well in the dialect. Besides, mixing around with my KL friends has also improved my Cantonese vocabulary in some ways. I know 'Petpet' isn't merely a disposable diapers' brand. I also know that what's the meaning of 'tiu', though I've problem understanding what 'nia seng' means. Despite that, I still found my proficiency below the 'pre-beginner' level. Sigh, here are some of my embarrassing moments of being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate:

i) A few months ago, I thought of ordering a glass of soya bean milk in a food court near my college. Since he asked for order in Cantonese, so I answered "tao sui". He (apparently a foreign immigrant) said "mou!". Then my roomate corrected me that I should call it as "tau ziong". I thought "ziong" means "glue"... Anyway I was wrong. Cantonese is as complex as Mandarin.

ii) Recently, we were having dimsum as dinner in Ipoh, and I asked the waiter for a "zi kan (tissue)", and he gave me a spoon. I thought he was stupid, but he wasn't. I then realised that tissue and spoon have almost the same pronunciation. Maybe I as a Cantonese-stupid pronounced it misleadingly. tsk tsk tsk.

Dimsum at Leong Sin Nam Street.

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C) May 23rd, the day I became a senior.
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Time flies and it has been a year since I started my college on the same date, last year. College life has been fulfilling and fun. The things that I've learnt over here are possibly something that I wouldn't have learnt if I studied elsewhere - simply priceless and made me happy with the path that I've chosen.

On the May 23rd this year, I, together with other Course Committees hosted part of the Mass Call orientation programme for our juniors. The enrollment for my course, Finance & Investment, has increased from last year's 92 students to 120 students, but the number of juniors in the lecture hall during the 'Get-To-Know-You Session' that we hosted was far more than that as the students from the course of Banking & Finance were joining us too. The best part? We were the speakers!


The whole session went on pretty smoothly, except for the campus tour, which we were required by the organizer to bring hundreds of them for a tour around the darn huge 186-acre campus! Anyway, it's really sweet knowing that many of them will be reading the map and asking for directions to the lecture halls, tutorial rooms and so on in this transition period of theirs. =p

Lecturer gotta face this if his students couldn't locate the lecture hall.

He lectures alone. He listens alone.
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New Year & Barbecue

Hey peeps!

Guess what. I just escaped from a frightening Chemistry test – in my dreamland, again. I was really anxious prior to the test. Nevertheless, I received a nature’s call to wake up and pee! Thanks to the large amount of water that I drank earlier.

I’ve been really busy doing a lot of stuff throughout the Chinese New Year celebration, such as: decorating, greeting guests, visiting relatives, receiving red packets, barbecuing... Also, I was doing some hectic calculations to get my net profit for the past few days after deducting the losses incurred from you-know-what.

Aite, lets back to main topic. Living in a small town where tolerance between neighbours is a... erm, tradition. It was supposed to be a wild and noisy bbq party. Good for our neighbours, it didn’t turn out what it supposed to be. Instead we had a nice, sweet and innocent lil party.

The bbq started at about 6pm and ended at midnight with a huge turnout of about forty people. It rained for quite a while, but it didn't wash away our enthusiasm of barbecuing. We grilled, talked and indulged our tummies repeatedly the whole evening. As correctly pointed out by one of my friend, it was an evening with lotsa of classic questions popped out and answered, such as: how’s work or college or school or kindergarten? Some talked about the bullish stock market, while housewives definitely did some talking about recipes and compared their kids. Hmm, as I can see, it was an enjoyable night for all of us, albeit plenty of chickens are now flying without wings. Hopefully, those generous chickens could have their wings grown back by having some extra doses of vitamins. ;p

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What's your BBQ moment?

A misleading pic. Hehe, we grilled chicken wings, not my lovely cousin.

An 'innocent' outdoor game. ;p

I’m so fortunate that my semester break coincides with the 15-days festival. On the fifth day of the New Year, we went to Penang for the following reasons:

i . To reactivate our tastebuds.

ii. To check out the newly-opened huge Queensbay Mall.

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A small kid that dwarfed its historical seniors in George Town.

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Yea, Penang is famous with its own version of Laksa, Prawn Mee, Char Kueh Teow... (I’m sure the list goes on though I couldn’t think of anything else). What I didn’t know was it’s famous for its Ais Kacang as well. *gasp* We had our lunch at a damn crowded coffee shop, Kafe Sin Se Kai (Direct translation: A Whole New World Café). Obviously, it sounds awful. But as long as it serves good food, who cares? =) We stimulated our tastebuds by indulging ourselves with its specialties. The fruity Ais Kacang costs a McFlurry, but three times tastier.

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The weirdly-named famous Chinese café in Swatow Lane, near Penang Sheraton.

Its splendid Ais Kacang (I think they should have named it Ais Buah-buahan instead).

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Like many others, we celebrated the Birthday of Jade Emperor on the ninth day of CNY. Oh... btw, I’ve posted some pictures below about that event:

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With the offerings to the Jade Emperor. ;)

A small gathering in the wee hours after that celebration.

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That's all for now. Let's hope it's the beginning of a year of happier days for everyone!

Cheers!

Outta dreamland...

I was supposed to submit an essay to my dreamland’s tutor yesterday, but I didn’t. I was like: Hey, why not I just wake up and blog rather than doing something unrealistic?
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I’m currently backed to a place where I don’t have to worry about my three meals, where I could sleep with the air-conditioned, without any unwanted interruption. It’s also a place where I could… yadda yadda yadda, the list goes on. In short, it’s the only place where I could call home- it’s a simple word with a complex lovey-dovey definition. :)
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Few days ago, I’ve visited my great-aunt of rural Bagan Serai together with my parents. It’s a small village located about 30 kilometres away from my hometown, Taiping. Btw, I have posted some pictures below!

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I'm now anticipating the return of my sisters to celebrate the in-coming Chinese New Year together as a family. At the meantime, we're planning a barbecue for over 40 relatives on the second night of the New Year at our home. Whee~

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Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!

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Snapshots of rural Bagan Serai, by an amateur photographer:

My great-aunt's house.

The front view from the house.

Um, a jetty, I suppose.

Sunset in the back yard.

Craving for more? My next trip perhaps. :)

P.S.: I've blogged something and you've read something. Hmm... I wonder if my dreamland's tutor would ask me to write an essay again. Yawn.

My Bangkok moments :)

My recent Bangkok trip was indeed the best family trip ever. It was my very first time boarding AirAsia to Bangkok. We were quite fortunate to be seated on the new Airbus A320. The plane was new and comfortable, but the limited legroom was among some of the things that let some us down. Unlike my previous long haul flight experience with MAS, there were no magazines available or complimentary snacks given onboard and no in-flight interactive services. Besides, they used the garbage bag to collect rubbish along the aisle directly from their passengers. Of course, it’s unfair to compare a budget carrier with a commercial carrier. At least, they did try their best to provide us a pleasant in-flight experience, which is commendable. :)

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The new Airbus A320 at LCCT, KLIA.

Day 1: Friday, Dec 15th, 2006.

We landed on the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Dec 15th, 3pm. Soon after we collected our luggage, we eagerly checked out to the arrival hall to meet sister Lisa who arrived few hours earlier from Singapore. Thereafter, our family vacation officially started on a foreign soil. Whee~

We were picked up from the airport to our hotel in Bangkok City with a private van. From there we faced our very first communication breakdown with the Thai. The driver didn’t understand any of our languages, not even English! So we just took some pictures throughout the journey. We saw lotsa cars in the congested metropolitan Bangkok, but not even a single Proton! Unlike the inferior taxis in Malaysia, they use the superiorly new Toyota Corolla as their taxis! Oh my gosh!

We checked in our hotel rooms in Asia Hotel and had a quick rest before exploring its surrounding. The second floor of our hotel is linked to the Ratchathewi BTS (Bangkok Transit Systems) Station. Literally, that means most of the attractions of the city were just situated at our doorstep. We had our dinner at a nearby restaurant, Siam House. The food was fantastically yummy and cheap. But we did have some problems communicating with its waiter. In Bangkok, their Tom Yam is heavenly; their coconuts are so aromatic that manage to make you an addict!

That night, our whole family indulged ourselves with the full-body traditional Thai massage. Dad, mum and sister Lisa signed up for a 2 hours session, while sister Marine and I opted for an 80 minutes session. Traditional Thai massage is lotsa pressing on the body. Frankly, it was quite ticklish to me at the beginning. :) Late at night, I did some random exploration near the hotel, while waiting for my sisters who were having a manicure at a shop.

The Bangkok Transit Systems (BTS)

Day 2: Saturday, Dec 16th, 2006.

Since we had signed up for a day tour, the travel agency picked us up from the hotel lobby at 8.30am and brought us to some famous landmarks of the city. They brought us to two famous temples and gave us a commentary ride around the city. In the afternoon, they dropped us in Bangkok famous’ Jatujak Weekend Market - an open-air shopping heaven for bargain hunters. By the time we were at Jatujak, it was already 2pm and the sun wasn’t merciful. The heat was trapped by the aluminium roof hanging over thousands of stalls. The market is literally mind-boggling to make tourists lost inside and desperately looking for exits under the Bangkok’s hot and dry weather. Fortunately, plenty of coconuts, mouth-wateringly refreshing desserts and local delicacies could be found easily in the market. We spent about 3 hours in the market before going back to our hotel rooms to dump all our shopping bags.

That night, we had buffet sushi with steamboat as dinner at Shabushi Restaurant for about 200 baht each person. What a bargain! Then, we spent the rest of our night exploring Pat-pong, a red-light district. Most of the street vendors in that area were very rude and moody. Walking down the streets, you could see pole-dancers dancing seductively inside the pubs. There were also people promoting x-rated shows along the streets but we just ignored them. We returned to our hotel quite late at night. I explored the surrounding of our hotel and tried their local food, Hoitord (which turned out to be fried oysters) at a roadside stall, while sister Marine and Lisa were having a body massage and foot massage, respectively in a massage parlor.

Part of the red-light district.

Dare to eat? Fried Grasshoppers, worms and other insects. 20 baht for a full packet. Creepy!

Thai's version of Fried Oysters, Hoitord. Yummy!

Day 3: Sunday, Dec 17th, 2006.

We woke up early for a buffet breakfast at the hotel. Then we went off to the city center by BTS. We spent plenty of hours in MBK Shopping Mall. Both of my sisters became shopaholics at MBK. From there, I bought a 30x explorer’s binoculars for 600 baht. We had our lunch at Fifth Avenue, which is quite similar to our Marché at The Curve. Next, we went to Siam Paragon (a KLCC equivalent) for some shopping, though sister Marine decided to remain in MBK for her exciting shopping expedition. We had our dinner at delicious Siam House again (we ordered different dishes, of course!).

Christmas tree at Siam Paragon.

Day 4: Monday, Dec 18th, 2006.

Packing desperately, trying to squeeze everything into our luggage. We had our lunch at Siam House. The boss gave us a sweet smile when were leaving, knowing that it was our third time there and I showed her my thumbs up before I left. We were fetched to the airport by a private van in the afternoon. We spent hours in the huge and modern Suvarnabhumi International Airport. My sister’s flight to Singapore was delayed to the same time as our flight to KL. All in all, it was such a fabulously fun trip. Bangkok, we are definitely anticipating our next trip to catch up the attractions that we have yet to explore!!!

Siam House Restaurant, near Asia Hotel. - Picture taken by a loyal patron. :)

Pictorial obligatory posting :)

There are lotsa things that I would like to blog about, but I have plenty of excuses for not doing so. Anyway, for the sake of my blog, I guess I have to post something here at least once a month in order to maintain its visitorship.

I’ve just started my second semester of college. Apparently, it’s quite a busy semester. Having no class on Friday is a little consolation for me as the rest of my weekdays are packed with lectures and tutorials. I’m having four core subjects – Quantitative Studies, Fundamentals of Accounting, Macroeconomics, Business Information Systems and Applications. Besides that, It’s compulsory for us to take languages in this semester. I have also enrolled myself in the Gym Workout to claim two credit hours for my co-curricular activity after being pissed off by the First Aid Unit in the first semester. Entering a new semester is something interesting. On the other side, being unable to spend my full time at home for months is something that started to make me feeling unexpectedly homesick. I started to envy my local friends in KL as most of them get to enjoy home-cooked meals and so.

Fortunately, the strong bonds that we have built between family members started to pay off in many ways. We reunite regularly whenever and wherever. Recently, we had a great time as we gathered in KL for several nights during the festive season. I’m now anticipating our family trip in Bangkok next month. :)

Alright, now let me share with you my very first gambling experience at Genting Highlands recently. Um, you don’t have to reread my previous sentence as I’m sure that you didn’t read wrongly. For the very first time, I as an underage entered both of the casinos at Genting Highlands. I’m not sure if I should say I was lucky on that day as I came out from both casinos with my wallet slightly lighter. Although I unintentionally generated some income to both casinos, I would still say it worth the experience that I’ve gained.

Again, something interesting happened unintentionally - I unintentionally attended the ending part of the MNG Fashion Show in KL Convention Centre recently and I saw Amber Chia and several top models in that event. On the same day, someone in the lrt approached me and told me about Iraqis dinar, he said if I invest RM 700+ in the dinar, I would get about RM 150,000 in few years time. If that was real, President Bush, PM Blair and their colleagues would definitely grabbed the deals. There’s no free lunch in this world, especially for man in the street like us. Furthermore, the dinar that he was saying isn’t in metal form or gold. Apparently, he’s a scammer.

Nowadays, reading newspaper could be defined as an action that leads to disappointment on the country. Among the things that I have learnt is that we must never be surprise if a gate-keeper becomes a millionaire locally because of you-know-how. tsk tsk.

I might upload some pictures for this posting soon. Fyi, I’m yawning now. -_-

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Update: Here you are... I've posted some pictures over here, as an effort to reduce your frequency of yawning while reading my blog. Have some fun. :)

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A crowd of 'sardines' at Wangsa Maju LRT Station, 7.48am on November 10th. I waited for about 15 minutes in order to squeeze myself into the crowded third train.

Garden landscaping at home.

See, I've added a slice of cheddar cheese into this inferior yet tasty noodle.

Um... just to prove to you that I, as an un-invited guest, really saw Amber Chia in the most recent MNG Fashion Show.

Uh-uh, the cat wasn't up for sale. Apparently, it was shopping for some groceries!

Singapore roars again!

Whee~ I just came back from Singapore and it was an extremely enjoyable trip. Here are some of the highlights of my one week trip to be shared with you:

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24th September 2006:

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My sister and I reached Woodlands at 7.30pm. The traffic was okay though it was quite congested in JB. We headed back to Boon Lay by MRT and had our dinner in a nearby McD.

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25th September 2006:

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We went for river cruising after having our buffet lunch at Grand Copthorne Waterfront. The lunch was great and the scenery along Singapore River was magnificent. We boarded the train and alighted at City Hall station and walked through the 350 metres underground CityLink Mall to Marina Square and Suntec City. We did some shopping and indulged ourselves with some cheesecakes and ice cream at Andersen’s and had our dinner together with Reddy at Marina Square.

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Spectacular night view of Singapore skyscrapers.

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26th September 2006:

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I boarded the train to City Hall and did some random explorations after having my lunch at a nearby food village. I visited the Singapore Management University and Chijmes and saw several Government buildings, such as The Treasury and Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) when I walked down to the Clarke Quay MRT station. I snapped some nice pictures of beautiful Clarke Quay and walked along New Bridge Road to the Chinatown MRT station to meet my sister and Reddy for dinner. Dinner was great and the Mid-Autumn Festival’s lightings in Chinatown were superb.

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27th September 2006:

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I spent my day exploring Orchard Road and met my sister and Reddy for dinner at Jurong Point. I had a kakiage rice burger as dinner and had an express hair cut in ecHouse. At night, I watched ‘The Terminal’ again on Starhub satellite television. The urge to explore Changi International Airport appeared suddenly on my mind soon after the movie. :)

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28th September 2006:

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As expected, I spent my whole day in Changi International Airport after having an ebi rice burger as my lunch at Mos Burger. The train passed through a total of 25 MRT stations to reach the Changi International Airport. The journey took about 40 minutes. Fortunately, I was accompanied by my loyal MP3 player. I alighted at the Changi International Airport MRT station at Terminal 2 (T2) and boarded a skytrain to Terminal 1 (T1) and returned. Interestingly, I saw lotsa students doing their revisions and assignments at coffee bars and fast food outlets of T1 and T2. Apparently, they like that specific atmosphere very much. Soon after my exploration at both terminals, I hopped a shuttle bus to the new Budget Terminal (BT) to have a look (nothing spectacular though). I completed my ‘Changi exploration’ at 7.30pm. That night, my cousin brother Andy came from KL to join my ‘unique tour’. We had ikan bakar as the main dish for our dinner.

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29th September 2006:

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It was my cousin's first trip to Singapore. Therefore I decided to bring him to the great Changi International Airport in the morning. We spent about 2 hours sightseeing in the airport and had our lunch at Burger King of Tampines Shopping Mall in East Singapore. The rest of our day was spent on Orchard Road, again. Unlike Starbucks in Malaysia, the mocha Frappuccino comes together with whipped cream on top in Singapore (a venti mocha Frappuccino priced at S$6.70). All in all, it was an interesting day, albeit I’ve already visited those places few days back. We had our dinner together with sister Lisa and Reddy at Clementi’s New Lucky Claypot Rice. We spent our night at a carnival of the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Chinese Garden. The carnival displayed all sorta fancy light decorations and displays. Supper: Singapore’s famous Boon Lay Power Nasi Lemak. ;p

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30th September 2006:

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Initially, we planned to spend our day at Bugis but the weather wasn’t good enough. So we decided to visit the Suntec City again. We boarded the train to City Hall and walked through the underground CityLink Mall to the Suntec City. We visited an impressive art fair, ArtSingapore 2006 at Suntec Convention Centre. We went to the Suntec Shopping Mall and spent some time near the Fountain of Wealth, which is the world’s largest fountain. We had our dinner with sister Lisa at Sakae Sushi in Citylink Mall. At night, we went to the Marina Bay. We snapped some great pictures with the Merlion plus the Esplanade and did some midnight shopping at Marina Square.

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1st October 2006:
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My sister brought us to Queenstown after having our lunch at Hong Kong Street. On our way back, we dropped by Jurong Point again. At 9pm, I travelled hundreds of kilometre back to my hometown to spend the remaining weeks of my semester break.
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I recalled some of my memories about my alma maters during the approximately 8 hours’ journey back to my hometown. My life at primary school was sorta mundane. I hardly achieve anything remarkable during my six years of schooling in my primary school despite having made lotsa friends to play with. When I was in Secondary 1, I started to gain recognition from my teachers. During the very beginning of my Secondary 1, our teacher asked us to form a facial expression with squares, circles and triangles. She said she could judge our personality by looking at the quantities of squares, circles and triangles that we used. A few days later I was chosen by her as the class treasurer. About a month later, our teacher decided to have another class election and I was voted by my classmates as the class monitor with kinda big majority. A few months later, our Disciplinary Teacher approached me and asked me to join the Prefectorial Board (perhaps I gained a good impression from him – I found a wallet of a Secondary 5’s student and I returned :p). So I did and I never regret. The best thing in my life is getting recognition and trust from others. I appreciate that but sometime I tend to disappoint some of them (perhaps I should make sure it won’t happen again). I found that my childhood was really fun. I appreciate my priceless bonds with people around me, especially my family and relatives as they really made my life much better-off. :)

On September 15th, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew made a statement about Malaysian Chinese being systematically marginalised. It seems to be an undoubted truth to me, albeit he apologised in a letter to our PM recently. Well, Singapore and Malaysia had just celebrated their 41st and 49th National Day respectively. They are geographically proximate but the latter is far less-developed both physically and mentally (older though). The NEP was necessary in the 1970s but it seems that the Government implemented it in a wrong way. Nowadays, the rich Malays are getting richer but the real income of the poor are getting lesser. Having refused the poor (regardless of race) what is necessary, they give the rich Malays what is superfluous. The plights of the poor kampung Malays are often highlighted by various bodies although it seems that many of the Malays in major cities and suburbs are filthy rich. tsk tsk. What we need now is a way to make our economies both efficient and fair.

The Bougainvillea City

Yesterday, I went to Ipoh with both of my parents. What we had for lunch then? Okay, it was 'mee rebus' at Ramli Mee Rebus Restaurant, Jalan Kuala Kangsar in Ipoh. Some of you might think: wtf, 'mee rebus' also wanna mention, yadda yadda yadda. Fine! Anyhow, I gotta admit that it tastes much better compared to those in Taiping. We spent the whole day in Ipoh Parade, Kinta City and Tesco. Although it was Mother's Day but we've postponed the official celebration to a later date as both of my sisters are now working in outstations. By the way, we had Colonel Harland Sanders' creations as Mother's Day dinner. Well, I was looking for a new phone in Ipoh. Initially, I wanted to buy either Samsung X700 or Sony Ericsson K700i. I compared their prices and functionalities. Ironically, I ended up buying Sony Ericsson K750i. Daddy subsidized my purchase. If not, I'm broke. It's a great phone indeed. I reckon the most impressive feature of SE K750i is the two mega pixels built-in camera which means I could enjoy photographing anytime and anywhere. I'm loving it. All in all, it was a good trip, albeit we’ve forgotten to re-taste its yummy local specialties such as ‘dim sum’ and ‘chicken beansprouts’.

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Singapore roars!

Hi. I’m back from our prosperous neigbour few days ago. This time, I’ve toured around Singapore with a slightly different perspective. I visited several landmarks where most of the typical tourists won’t be visiting. I travelled around the city-state by using their efficient and affordable transportation system. I observed the entire General Election process of the First World nation. I’ve also tasted several kinds of good food. Last but not least, I spent some of my time there comparing Singapore with Malaysia. It seems that Singapore is multiplying the size of their economic pie aggressively while Malaysia is merely focusing on the way of dividing its economic pie rather than multiplying it. Therefore, the latter has various types of inefficient national policies and still remained as one of the Third World nations. Anyway, Singapore roars while Malaysia purrs. LOL!

Some highlights of my trip:

2nd May 2006:
I reached the causeway at 5.30am. At that moment, around 5,000 Malaysian students were crossing the causeway to attend schools in Singapore while an infinity of working adults from both countries were crossing the strait as well. Definitely no kidding! I had my lunch at Hong Kong Street, BLSC. During the night, I had my dinner together with Reddy and sister Lisa at Fish & Co. Later, I went for an express hair cut in ecHouse, Jurong Point.

3rd May 2006:
I travelled around some nearby landmarks such as National University of Singapore and Singapore Polytechnic by utilizing their efficient transportation system. Obviously, it’s impossible for me to deny that they have better systems in both education and transportation. Lunch: 7-Eleven sandwiches. Dinner: Fried Prawn Noodles at a nearby hawker center.

4th May 2006:
I spent my whole day exploring Changi International Airport. I was like Tom Hanks for a day in his movie ‘The Terminal’. You’re discouraged to laugh at me as I’ve learnt something priceless in the airport! Anyway, believe it or not, the airport is actually one of the preferred destinations for their students to complete their assignments and revisions!!! At night, I watched Mission Impossible III together with sister Lisa at Golden Village of Jurong Point (the movie? highly recommended!). We had our dinner at Mos Burger.

5th May 2006:
I spent my whole day exploring Shenton Way and Tanjong Pagar area. A distinguishing characteristic of that area is the large numbers of tall skyscrapers that help form its beautiful skyline. They are the Monetary Authority of Singapore Building, Central Provident Fund Building, Development Bank of Singapore Building, Temasek Tower, Capital Tower, SIA Building, Springleaf Tower, International Plaza, etc. During the night, I had my dinner together with Reddy and sister Lisa at Crystal Jade of Jurong Point.

6th May 2006:
Singapore’s Election Day. I accompanied my sister for several hours in Tanjong Katong Complex, Geylang. She purposely went there to shop for kebaya and sarong batik to match the theme of her company’s Dinner & Dance event. At night, we went to super-duper Marina Square for some serious shopping. We had our dinner at Sakae Sushi in Marina Square. Then, we walk around the scenic Marina City Park. During our journey back, we got the General Election result: The People’s Action Party (PAP) romped home with 82 of the 84 Parliamentary seats while The Worker’s Party (WP) and Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) retained their seats in Hougang and Potong Pasir respectively. Overall, the ruling party PAP gathered 66.6 per cent of the valid votes cast, compared to 75.3 per cent in the previous election.

7th May 2006:
I spent my day at Jurong Point together with sister Lisa. We had both meals at a nearby hawker center. At 9.00pm, I travelled hundreds of kilometer heading to my hometown, situated in a country where various races live peacefully - but separately.

Final Post of Year 2005

I proudly present you my final post for the year 2005. Since mine is actually more like a quarterly updated weblog, so I would like to cover most of the events that happened in this period of time. Let’s start with October: the month that I digested all the books and tried some workbooks. November: SPM Examination. December: A relaxing month for me to drive around my hometown and observe everything in my lovely neighborhood plus other places such as Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. I’m not sure whether it’s my hundredth trip to the Penang or maybe KL, but one thing for sure, it’s my second trip to Singapore!

I arrived in KL mid-December, and spent a week there. I experienced many types of delicious food and activated my taste buds by visiting some of the famous eateries in the capital KL and its suburbs. Besides, I also shopped around for some stuffs there and observed some of the Christmas and New Year decorations in the capital. That was a great trip, but my Singapore trip was even greater. I spent a week in Singapore together with my family at the end of the month. We explored some of the main attractions of the city state, such as Sentosa Island, Singapore Zoo, Singapore Night Safari, the central shopping area on Orchard Road, Chinatown, etc. The Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari were the absolute highlights of our one week trip to Singapore. Both of the parks are stunningly beautiful and well organized. I managed to chat with some of the tourists and met a pretty girl which asked me to help her take some snaps in the Singapore Zoo! Exploring the trails of the Night Safari with hundreds of multinationals tourists was truly fascinating and exciting. I reckon none of you can imagine that I spent the whole afternoon in the Singapore Zoo and the whole night in the Night Safari. Unlike the local favorite zoo in my hometown Taiping, the Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari are two different places (entrance fees for the zoo and Night Safari are S$19 and S$20 respectively).

My dear friends, if you think the Christmas and New Year decorations in Malaysia are great, then you are probably wrong. Singapore is always adorned with the most beautiful decorations in the whole Southeast Asia during the festive season. I also managed to witness the Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s impressive ‘Earth from Above’ outdoor photographic exhibition along the Orchard Road (visit this: http://www.yannarthusbertrand.org/ ). I’m back to Malaysia on the 31st of December to celebrate the New Year in KL and will be in Taiping on the 3rd of January 2006! That’s all for now. Happy New Year!