Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The bus ride to Perlis was comfortable despite the cheap price of the ticket. Most of us slept the entire trip, I couldnt sleep for some reason. It wasnt that I was not tired, just too excited about seeing new scenery and new type of country. 2 lanes of highway, nothing but farms and plantations everywhere, so different.... Peaceful compared to what I was used to.
The bus went off the highway into Alor Star. I thought we were going for a rest stop at the bus station. I was wrong. We stopped at the bus station a total of 2 minutes before taking the small roads to Kuala Perlis. Its kinda like speeding through a neighbour at 100-110kph. Had a quick bread snack in knowledge that the next meal was at least 2 hours away. When we got off the bus, we walked around Kuala Perlis looking for the Ferry Terminal and a toilet.
What we did find was a tour agent who was offering us a car and other packages. We werent interested, so he got angry and called our Malaysian friend names. Since the Singaporeans were clueless about Bahasa Melayu, we were puzzled at what the guy was shouting at our friend, JK. In the end, it did not matter. We bought our tickets for the ferry to Langkawi, then went to the nearby food centre for a coffee. The coffee was drinkable but only barely....
The ferry ride was at best boring. So boring, I fell asleep with the full uncomfort of my barang on my lap. You can only watch Westlife and Britney MTVs for only some many times.....
When we disembarked at Langkawi Terminal, JK took over arranging our transport and tour packages. The rest of us just watched as JK secured a Nissan Vanette and the services of a tour agent for 70 RM per day. The next stop after getting our transport was to the petrol station to get some fuel for our adventure then went to the hotel to drop off our stuff then we explored the island.
The first stop on our tour of Langkawi was the southwest beach. There we saw the Underwater World but just the outside and strolled through the beach. The sand was so fine that when mixed with water could be used as a face mask for spa.
We went back to the van to go to our next stop: the place of seven wells and a waterfall. What we didnt know was it was a 45 minute drive from our location. When we arrived at the parking lot, we realised we were alone there, not a single other vehicle was there. We decided to see both the waterfall and the seven wells. Half way to the seven wells, we realised seeing both might be quite hard due to the fact that the seven wells was 300+ steps more from our location! We reached the top of the stairs to realised this: Seven Wells is the name of the place not a description of the number of wells. Being too tired to walk the trail, we did the next best thing: we took photos. The descent was a bit challenging due to the diminishing light and steepness of the incline but we made it!
The trip back was uneventful and we had dinner at Lavazza. I had a Fish and Chips while the rest had Steaks and Pastas. Yummy... The food was great but the company was fantastic. Its rare to actually have dinner with your team mates in a holiday setting.
Then it was back to the hotel for some rest and relaxation. Everyone slept by 2am and stayed asleep till 7am. I of course woke up a bit earlier to have a soak in the tub.
By the time we all woke up and were ready to go, it was close to 8am. We then decided to go for breakfast at the nearby food centre because we did not have enough breakfast tickets. In the end, the three guys ate their 32 RM's worth at the buffet. I would say the food was filler-type rather than quality but then again it is buffet...
After breakfast, we went window shopping. Didnt really buy anything but saw quite a few cool shirts and shorts. Oh well... The poor cant buy much... HAHA!!!
Island-hopping came next. I would say it was uneventful because we saw a lot things like the formation that looked like a pregnant woman, the inland lake which is bordering the sea and the eagles. The eagles were shy as we didnt have food for them so we waited for other boats to arrive to feed them. Nice to look but a bit too commercialised....
Snorkelling was fun though I didnt see much fish, mainly coral and Sea Urchins. We then went back to the mainland and our hotel. We changed into clean clothes before going for dinner at a Sze Chuan Resturant. The food was okay and the prices were reasonable. After dinner, we went around to look for a massage parlour at least the rest of them. We could not find any so we walked around the shopping mall till around 10pm.
We then returned to the hotel for a team bonding session. We talked about our lives and about each other in a frank manner. It was refreshing and enlightening. Then we went to sleep.
The last day was what I would call a slack day. We slept in till late before TM and Sin Yan went out to get breakfast from Mac's. I soaked in the tub as usual and then went to check my emails. Breakfast was a quick one and then we packed our stuff and checked out of the hotel. We left our stuff at the hotel before we went for the Cable car ride.
The cable car was fun. We saw a lot of fantastic scenery and the view was breath-taking. (Though I wonder whether it was just the altitude?) Took photos and walked around the summit before descending to the bottom and lunch. Lunch was a simple fare of Char Kway Teow and other local fares. We went back to Bayview Hotel to collect our bags and then stopping by the shops to buy some chocolates. We then returned the car and waited for our ferry.
The return ferry to Perlis was boring.... They were showing some lame Wong Fei Hung spinoff... Slept as usual.... We then walked to the bus station and boarded the bus after eating some bread. We chatted till we stopped at some weird station in Perlis/Kedah. The influx of new passengers changed our arrangements temporarily. We then talked about life and other things till midnight. Sleep overcame us and we slept till the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. I went out for a toilet break before going back to rest. I fell asleep at around 4am just as the bus exited KL. It was nice to see KLCC and Petaling Street again!
Woke up again at 6am to go have a quick breakfast at Yong Ping. We then all returned to the bus and slept till Johor. We past through customs and then took a bus to Kranji MRT. We said our goodbyes and went home.
Thus ends a holiday I would remember for a long time. The friendship strengthen during the trip, I pray will last till after our University days and into our working lives.
LANGKAWI GANG FOREVER!!!!!
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
As you all know, I went to Malaysia (again....). This time was for business then fun. The trip started at 9pm. I went to New Park Hotel to meet the rest of the team before we boarded the bus to Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. The bus ride there was uneventful and I slept or at least rested all the way. The rest stop was Yon Peng, the same place I ended up on my first trip to Malaysia 3 weeks earlier. The place looked more quiet but then again it was 12am in the morning.
I slept the rest of the journey. Woke up at 4am in the morning. Stoned till Chee Yen, Mun Joe and Sok Nee came with the 3 MPVs to bring us around Ipoh. We dropped our stuff at Fair Park Hotel, then went to Chee Yen's place to look at Nancy and her little friend whose name I do not remembe. Nancy is a tiger dog or lao hu gou. Not very appropriate name but not my dog so yeah.
Next stop was this dim sum place which served excellent dim sum and good pudding. Ate our fill and then went back to the hotel for a nap. The next stop was Jusco Shopping Centre where we caught this movie called Invisible Target.
The movie was okay, action packed with the necessary jocks and chicks to satisfy the average movie goer. I found the plot quite normal: bad guys kick the ass of the good guys till near the end where the good guys work together to kill the bad guys.
Shopped a bit for my daily needs and then we went to hit the pool. The pool was a bit lopsided. Too shallow on one end and too deep on one end. Its kinda like one end you dive and hit your head and the other you dive in and take 2 seconds to surface. Irritating.... Doesnt help that many events require diving into the water or going to the bottom of the pool to get the manikin.
We got chased out of the pool before we could go change because our coach wasnt with us and the time for warm up was much later. Our options were to either wait there or go somewhere else to chill. We went to Old Town White Coffeeshop. The food there was okay, the coffee was unique and we had loads of team bonding.
When we got to the pool and got changed, we realised that the changing rooms were terrible and the pool water wasnt very clean. Oh well... Nowhere is perfect. The warm up and practice runs went smoothly and we had tons of fun practicing our events.
We were once again kicked out of the pool, this time for dinner and then went back. Before dinner, the rest of the team arrived. Dinner was okay, not very good but edible.
We went back to bathe, change and then sleep.
Breakfast was simple the next day. We arrived at the pool for warm up. The warm up was in the diving pool so it was quite hard to touch the floor. After all it was only 5 metres from the surface.... Practised my obstacle swim and entry. Felt quite confident that I could improve my personal best for 200m obstacle (2min 58sec). I did my stretching and loosing of muscles before taking my place at the team area.
My first event was the 200m obstacle swim. I swam quite hard and my first 100m was close to perfect. The 2nd 100m was less than good, I hit the obstacles at least twice thus slowing myself down. The official timing was 2min 49sec!!! Improvement of 9 seconds. Still I have much to improve to make it to the top 8 in the upcoming National Inter-Varsity Lifesaving Championships.
The competition was exciting for me because I was cheering for my friends. The best event was the line throw event. Theen Mun and Yi Yang won Bronze for the guy's event while Sin Yan and Yen Ying won Silver for the women's event
My next event was the 4 X 25m Manikin Tow. I tried my best and so I have no regrets. Considering I only learnt how to tow a manikin 4 weeks ago and havent been training properly for the past month so I am quite satisified with my timings.
The final event was 4 X 50m Medley relay. I did a normal 29.17sec for my 50m free leg of the relay. Disappointing considering how much training I have put in for that event.... Oh well, better luck next time.
The whole competition was an eye opening experience. I learnt a lot about Lifesaving as a sport and how widespread it is in the world. Competing against Singapore and Malaysia's best helped me to form a good idea on how much improvement I have ahead of me. The only damper to the whole event was the lunch time entertainment.
The entertainment was mainly for the Guest of Honour and his fellow dignitries and not for the competitors. In fact, the whole post-lunch break was for the entertainment of the guest of honour. I have nothing against a 2 hour break for the food to digest but I do have something against holding a demonstration in a language in which only the locals understand and the guest just stare blankly into space trying to figure what is happening. The demonstration was, I think, a simulation of how the divers recover a drown victim. I would say, it was impressive though they seem rather lacking in urgency. Then again, it was a demonstration....
We got changed and bathed before cleaning up the area and leaving for dinner. Dinner was delicious abeit too much food. We ate at least a ten course dinner and then had desserts. Never felt so full for quite some time... Took a few funny photos and played funny games till it was time to say good bye to the team.
Six of us: Sin Yan, Theen Mun, JK, Meiling, Simin and myself stayed back at the eating place while the rest of the team went to the bus station to go back to Singapore. We then took Chee Yen's car to the bus station to bid them goodbye and go for Ipoh Hor Fun.
Ipoh Hor Fun is different in Ipoh than it is in Singapore. It is more soupy and more split up into its individual parts. The meal was good but I guessed it would have tasted a lot better if we weren't so full.
After that we went back to our hotel to rest and bathe..... I repacked my stuff so I could decide which stuff I needed for Langkawi and which stuff would see the light of day only in Singapore.
Woke up the next day around 6am to enjoy a quick shower and then changed for breakfast. Packed up whatever stuff I left around for use that night. Waited for everyone else to wake up and get changed. Mun Joe arrived to pick us up for breakfast.
Breakfast was Dim Sum again. This time, I wasnt very hungry due to physiological reasons I do not understand. The food was great and I drank at least 7 cups of tea. After breakfast, we went to the bus station to purchease the tickets to Langkawi.
Thus began our Langkawi adventure!
Monday, July 16, 2007
The oddest thing struck me in a very appropriate time. I wanted to go and eat beef in clementi. Later, I wanted to drink Coca Cola.... Such things struck me as odd, sure I feel hungry and thirsty but for such foodstuffs? Weird. Firstly, I was in Sentosa training when I felt like going to eat beef in Clementi. Secondly, I hate Coke.
The lesson I felt was underneath this craving is that its fine and dandy to involve yourself in activities whether church, tour guiding, CCA or whatever, but remember to find time for yourself. To just sit down and read a book or listen to music.
Finally, after 2 weeks of intense activity, I am free to do what I want.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
On the 2nd of July 2007, Selene, Jon and myself went to KL for a short retail therapy trip. The day started like any other, I was awaken by my grandma to go eat my breakfast and get ready to go out with my friends. The only exception is that it was at 4.30 am. Took an hour to get ready to leave, before leaving, I called my bro Jon to check if he was awake, he was though grumpy....
Took a leisurely stroll to the T-junction near his place (1.3km away from my place). Waited for 10 mins while reading John Connolly's Every Dead Thing. We walked for 5 mins to the bus stop then ran like maniacs to chase the Service 7 bus. Got on, chatted, watched TV Mobile and then realised we were way too early....
We arrived at our stop at ard 7am. Decided for a light breakfast at the coffeeshop opposite Golden Mile Complex. Slacked around the area till 7.20 am then Jon went to get the tickets while I called the Lin Residence to discover Sel was still at home....
Thank God, she arrived in time to catch the bus and we were on our merry way to KL. The bus trip was largely uneventful except for the 1 hour plus pit stop for the bus to fix a tyre and the onboard movie (Pirates of The Carribean: At World's End).
We arrived at the Federal Hotel will little trouble if you consider the 1 hour wasted weaving through traffic as a minor thing. Min Chiee, our host wasnt too pleased to see that we were late but that wasnt important because we dumped our stuff at the hotel room. Locked the safe without creating a counter code so had to ask for help. We went for a quick lunch at a roadside stall near our hotel.
We went shopping after the escapades of the day. Got myself a new bag and travel phone at Sungi Wang and Lau Yat respectively, while Jon and Sel bought new accessories. The shopping there wasnt exactly fantastic but cheaper than Singapore so I guess it was okay. Dinner was at this place called Kim Gary's. Food there was imba good. Like the french toast was heavenly, peanut butter with lotsa maple syrup and butter... Delicious.
My steak spagetti was good so was everyone else's food though I ended up finishing everything up due to poor planning. Not to say it was anyone's fault, just that we were not used to the richness and quantity of Kim Gary's food.
Thus ended the first day.
The second day started with Jon waking all of us up to prepare ourselves for the day ahead. We got ready, took a monorail to some place called Dang Wangi then took LRT to Wangsa Maju. There we met Min Chiee, got into the car and went for a delicious breakfast. Our breakfast was curry noodles, fishball noodles and some other types of noodles.
The next stop was this place called Royal Selangor Pewter. Nice place. Lots of metal. The things they made were also cool. Beer mugs, shot glasses, souvniers, etc... All quite expensive but yet nice to look at and almost all screaming: 'buy me,buy me'. I bought a something to show I had been there before.
Pewter was nice but then we went to Batu Caves. The place was a bit too overcommercialised with people trying to sell religious trinkets and food stuffs from the bottom of the steps to the top. People asking us to read our fortunes, etc.... The caves were good. Cool and clean which was better than I expected for a cave.
After that, we went some shopping centre outside the KL city limits. Shopping there was not bad, got myself a new set of swimming gear. Walked around the shopping and got myself a lovely detox drink from Juice Works. Worked out the kinks in next few days' plans and ended the day eating a good nasi lemak and slacking in the hotel.
The third day was much more rushed in the morning, I woke up at 6am to wash off the sleepness from my body and soak in the tub for 1/2 an hour. Did the necessary preparations, went down to the streets to get a soya milk before, we all went to Wangsa Maju. Originally, we intended to take taxi to Wangsa Maju, but when Jon said the place we wanted to go, he nearly got dragged off his feet by the taxi driver driving off. Kinda funny but yet sad. The trains/monorail were crowded which wasnt so bad because it was smaller than Singapore's LRT/MRT trains so sama sama.
Arrived at Min Chiee's place to pick up her sis then went to a nice place to eat pig's bone tea or bak kut teh (in Cantonese). The food there was fantastic and the meat was delicious. Thanks to Min Chiee's Dad, we got to enjoy this great meal. The difference between Singaporean and KL bak kut teh is the thickness of the soup and the pepper in the soup. Needless to say, Singaporean bak kut teh has more cheap pepper and less thick soup.
The next stop was KLCC or Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The place was huge and very cool. We split up to go shop for our own stuff. Met up with Li Yen and Li Shan for lunch and more shopping. We wondered around with the girls till around 3pm before going to catch Transformers the movie. The movie was great though my bladder decided to be cute and I ended up in another theatre for the last 30 mins of the movie....
Went to the aquarium in the basement which cost around 38 RM per entry. Kinda satisfied my need for animals and see an araprimia up close. Kinda rushed through the place because we made reservations at Madam Kwan's at 7pm. I enjoyed the aquarium and then rushed to meet Sel, Jon and Min Chiee at Madam Kwan's.
Madam Kwan's is a nonya resturant where they serve good food at decent prices. The Beef Rendang, Nasi Lemak, Achar and Assam Prawns were oh so delicious. The Bubu Char Char was rich and sweet. The third day ended with me arranging with Min Chiee to go swimming while Jon and Sel would meet us later.
A change in plans meant I was to go swimming in the hotel pool while the rest slept. I had my morning swim, trained a bit of lifesaving techniques, did 5 'majesty' runs. For those who are blur about this, its a lifesaving event. Quite a killer for those with poor lungs.
Went back to the room, had a quick bath, got changed and then, with the help of Jon, roused Sel from her beauty sleep so we all would be on time to meet up with Min Chiee and go Time Square.
We arrived at Time Square at around 11am, so decided to go have lunch at the food court. Of course, on the way there, we stopped by the shops to do some shopping. I got 2 new shirts at 50RM, while the rest window shopped. The food at the food court was not exactly fantastic but hey in Singapore, food courts are not really that nice either....
After lunch, we went to look at accessories and other stuffs. Nothing really interesting to me.... That might have something to do with my lack of money and slightly stoned mental state(lack of sleep, not drugs!) . Interestingly, Time Square is huge but yet I found it kinda boring, so much shops but not much to buy..... HAHA!!!!
Sel and Jon decided that they wanted to try the indoor amusement park in Time Square. I did not really mind since it was 25RM for infinite rides. The place wasnt too crowded or too empty so there was little waste time waiting for rides. The rides were fun, a bit scary and really painful. Mainly out of my own stupidity and tiredness, I chose to take the painful rides which due to physics cause my/other people's body weight to crush parts of my body for short periods of time. Oh well.... No pain, no gain.
After completing the grand tour of the amusement park, we decided to go look for Min Chiee who didnt go with us. We found her at this shop called Ninchi or something. (The funny part was I asked Jon: "Where Min Chiee?", his answer was "Ninchi", "Where?", "Ninchi!", "Yes, Min Chiee!", you know where this is going....)
We found her with Li Shan, Li Yen and Ben. Now this group of people combined with me, Min Chiee, Selene and Jon D equals havoc and barrels of fun. Went around the shop looking at clothes and making fun of each other. Selene and I decided we wanted to have a second run at the amusement park, so went there, had fun, rushed back to meet Jon and Min Chiee before going back to the hotel to change for dinner.
Me and Jon changed into our more formal attire, Jon wearing a tie and me, a long sleeved shirt. Then we took the train to Wangsa Maju before meeting up with Min Chiee's mum and bro. We went to the nice resturant for dinner. Min Chiee's dad treated us to a fine dinner where we ate good fish, braised pork and yong tau foo. We had lots of fun chatting with her family before we went to Petaling Street to go shopping (again...).
I found Petaling Street kinda dodgy but Min Chiee and her sister were professional bargainers. We got a lot of stuff for ridiculously low prices including 6 shirts for 15RM each. The food there was very tasty and the clothes there were of decent quality and design.
The last day of our Malaysian adventure started on a more morose note. I woke up, had a long soak in the bathtub, freshened up and got ready to go for a good mamak breakfast. Mamak it seems is Indian Muslim food. I guess I slept earlier than the other 2 so was not so tired when the waking time came. Lets just say, plans changed and we took a taxi to Mid Valley Shopping complex. Mid Valley was kinda different from Time Square. It felt more like a Singaporean shopping mall, with a cinema and bowling alley and lots of overpriced goods on sale.
Went with Min Chiee, her sis, Li Yen, Li Shan, Dinesh, Kimberley and Ben for 2 rounds of bowling. Needless to say I got beaten. The 1st round, I lost to Dinesh by 1 point. The second round, Jon came by and jinxed my game. Actually, it wasnt his fault. I let him play and I got tired trying to catch up. Made a few mistakes. Oh well... Its only a game.
After we played bowling, we went shopping and then bade our farewells to Dinesh, Ben and the Li Sisters (actually Wong Sisters, but you get my drift...). Read my book while the rest were shopping. Met them up later before getting into the car to go for dinner.
Dinner was yummy, curry noodles, Kway Teow, Chicken Rice and Satay! Malaysian food is really nice and rather cheap. I miss the food but not the traffic. HAHA!!!!
Went back to the hotel, played cards for a while then hit the sack. I have no idea what the other 2 were doing but when it was time to wake up, they were rather tired....
The final day was just rushing to the bus station and realising we were way too early for Sel's bus so we had our breakfast, lazed around and then sent Selene off. Me and Jon wandered around the bus station before settling down in the lounge.
The bus journey back to Singapore was uneventful and upon reaching Singapore, I drove Jon and my dad home.
Thus ends my recount of my Malaysia trip. I might have missed facts or events so feel free to correct me. Thanks! (Thats if you know what they were!)
Disclaimer: This report was written under great fatigue so I do not claim responisbility for making myself or others look like fools.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Much has happened.... Most of it good... Some bad. Seems to me people who go down the path of self destruction will continue to do so and then justify it by saying its normal.... That is kinda like saying pedophlia is ok or murder is a passing phase..... Man, since when has Singapore become Sin City? Never mind those unusual people....
The past week has been spent more or less on my favourite activity: training or more specifically swimming training. I have been training quite hard to drag myself back to 80-90% of my past glory. I feel it wasnt the will to succeed that drove me to train hard, but the friendship and team camadarie that made me want to train hard with the team.
As for yesterday's competition, I felt I made a few mistakes in my individual events and my team events went smoothly. A under 30sec performance for 50m free is a good sign since I havent trained that event specially. Kinda tired after the competition. Some words of encouragement from my seniors spurs me to want to achieve greater things.
I'll be going to Malaysia soon so any requests please sms or email me by today! Though I doubt there will be anyone smsing me.
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