Bangkok Trip, January 2010

On the last day of my Port Dickson -Malacca trip, I was scheduled to fly to Thailand on the same night. I know, it was a big rush. I had to admit that I was running a little bit late and that I drove fast to get home from Port Dickson, as soon as I could. Trust me, I haven't packed my stuff and the Bahts/USDs needed. And I was going to Thailand ALONE.

Oh well, in the end I actually boarded the flight 1 hour after I got home, with just a bag pack, filled with a t-shirt, a pair of pants and my gears. It was supposed to be a backpacking trip, so my dad said I shouldn't carry too much.

Upon reaching Survanabhumi Airport, I took a cab to the nearest hotel to spend the night. The cabs were all either Toyota Altis or Mercedes. The next morning, I took a cab to Khao San Road, and lodged there. Khao San Road is the most happening place in Bangkok City. There were more tourists than locals, I think. I was super cautious, as I was alone. LOL.

There's just too much to tell here. I'll just entrust this task to the photos that I took:

Oh oh oh. I like this. Business class dinner on board. Beef stew and Salmon salad. Plus white wine and dessert. Nais.

The first tourist attraction site I visited in my first morning in the city, The Grand Palace:

Thanks to an English couple who offered to take this photo for me, on the Grand Palace grounds:

I took this myself, with much effort.

This is Pratunam area, where supposedly you can find plenty of good imitations. There was a police raid before, so I didn't find anything worth buying. Saw a few LVs, but too fake to the eye.

Wat Bechamabophit. Also called the Marble Temple. The walls, floors and ceilings are all covered with marble.

This is what we don't have here in KL. Efficient traffic system.

I also visited the giant Sleeping Buddha. Clad in gold.

This is the famous Giant Swing, built right in between two main roads, just outside Wat Suthat.

Oh, and I didn't miss Chinatown. It's not a very big place but it sure was packed with people. And they don't speak chinese. So much for the name Chinatown. However, they serve chinese food. The restaurant I went to for lunch. Super big portion. And here I learnt that they like to do shabu-shabu (steamboat).

Oh Patpong Night Market. OMG, this place was scary. I only spent 15 minutes here. There were two long rows of stalls supposedly selling fake goods, and behind the two rows of stalls are brothels. I didn't notice it till I went to the back of the stalls to avoid the sea of people bargaining. They came up to me showing me catalogs of you-know-what. They even had tables and chairs set up for your comfort while you make your choice or bargain with the pimps. Sorry, no photos on that.

I actually walked 2 kilometres for this. McDonald's. Why, you asked? For their pork burger, nothing else. I was a little disappointed the last time when I went to the McD in Shanghai, only to learn that that outlet doesn't serve it. Yums. Bon appetite.

Pork burger. Tender and Juicy.

Actually I had a lot of Thai local food and delicacies during my trip there. There were too many to be posted. Anyways, this was what I wanted to eat before leaving Bangkok. Khao Neo Ma Muang, or Mango and Sticky Rice. I had this just 2 hours before my flight home. Yums.

Personally, it's been a very good experience travelling and backpacking alone to a foreign land at my age. I have to thank my parents for such a wonderful opportunity. I hope to do this again some time soon.

Bernard's Day cake.

I baked again today. And this time it is my birthday cake. I'm still keeping it as a secret till i finally reveal it on Thursday, at the dinner with friends. I'm just not in the mood today for fancy words. Well, the photo is below.

This is the actual cake, without the topping. Keep guessing, and good luck.

Cheesecake!!

Baking was listed in the To-Do list posted previously. I also mentioned that I would bake my own birthday cake this year. Haha. So far it went on quite well, I mean , the plans. What I intend to do this year is that, instead of treating friends to dinner or some meal, I planned to do something more meaningful. Something that involves my heart, my effort, time and enthusiasm. Rather than to simply fling a couple of bank notes over to the cashier.

Special, don't you think?

I'll be celebrating with three different groups of people this year. And that means I'm baking three birthday cakes. LOL. I chose cheese cake to be my B-day (Bernard-Day) cake this year as I had ice-cream cake last year.

I made something nice today! It's a Blueberry Cheesecake. Hahaha. Those seeing me on the 1st of July might think that this cake is what they are going to see, but that's not true! This was just for fun (actually to familiarise myself with cheese)! There's no way I will reveal what I'm going to bake for B-day.

Photos:

The crust.

The cake!

Haha. I don't think I want to reveal the method I used to make this cake. I used a different approach, that's all I can say. =)

Cheers!

KL International Marathon 2010 part 2!

Woooohoooo! Ouch. My back is aching, so are my hamstrings and calves. Just yesterday, Jason, Zhi Sheng and I, and many others that I know of had participated in the annual KL Marathon! I must say that it was a challenging thing to do, but we managed to cross the finishing line on time!

Our run was scheduled at 6.15 am (42km at 5.00 am, 10 km at 7 am, and the rest were later in the morning) and as they sounded the horn (or something like that), all the runners took their very first pace, looking forward to the finishing line. What some didn't know was that, the finishing line was still far ahead (actually it was just right behind us as the starting line was also the finishing line for all the runs).

The run took us from Dataran Merdeka (Merdeka Square) to Brickfields, then to the National Palace (passed by the palace) to Loke Yew, Cheras, then to Bukit Bintang (Starhill), up the Bukit Bintang road, then down to Istana Hotel, to Jalan Ampang, passing by KLCC, then towards Jalan Sultan Ismail, and turned off to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, and finally to the finishing line. Well, it may seem that we've run a very short distance from my brief description here, but trust me, you won't want to do the actual thing.

Anyhow, we all made it to the finishing line in 3 hours. That's a lot of running to us. We basically pushed our limits. It was really tiring at the end of the day, but we sure had a lot of fun. And we sure had created a stronger bond in our friendship.

Photos:

Are we ready?? LOL. This was taken at 6.10 am, just minutes before the race began.

The Cool Zone, located at Bukit Bintang to chill runners down.

My finisher's medal!

Zhi Sheng posing with his finisher's medal:

Jason with his finisher's medal:

The rest of the day was filled with hot rubs and cool patches on our bodies. Haha. But we had fun. Did you?

#Note: Someone passed away in the 10km run, it is indeed a sad thing for such an event.

KL International Marathon 2010!

Wooohooo! I'll be running with Zhi Sheng and Jason Chan this Sunday (tomorrow) in one of the events in the annual KL International Marathon, sponsored by Standard Chartered, at 6.15 am! Also joining are my high school friends, Wai Loon and Loh Eu Jin.

Consider the three of us daring and crazy for choosing to run the 21 km event, as we are not runners to begin with.

What happened was that, when we filled up the form, we had four choices of run to choose from. They were 5 km fun run, 10 km, 21 km and 42 km. 42 km was definitely out of reach for us amateurs. We didn't want to do the fun run, so we were left with 10 km and 21 km. I think one of us (or may be two) said that it won't be fun if we just signed up for the 10 km run, so we promptly checked the 21 km box.

I don't know what we are getting ourselves into. But i'm sure it'll be fun as we will be running together supporting one another. Wish us luck!

The run pack (I removed certain things, like the bag):

Ipoh-Penang Trip '10!

About a week before going down south with Hsien Hooi, Li Jia, Jacqueline and my sis to Malacca and Port Dickson, I actually traveled north to Ipoh and Penang with Eu-Juin, Chris, Zhi Sheng and Sara. This was another great getaway from the city. We went hunting for food and had a great time bonding. LOL.

Most of the photos were taken in Penang, but there is one photo I took in Ipoh that I feel is worthy of its appearance here. The cendol guy. We had roadside cendol which, according to Zhi Sheng is famous in the neighbourhood. He makes his own cendol from pandan leaves. It's all natural, but I didn't quite like the taste. It's really an acquired taste.

We spent one night at Zhi Sheng's house and headed to Penang the next morning with a few stops for photography. The following photos were all taken in Penang:

We went to the famous Kek Lok Si Temple:

Tortoises spending their precious time under the sun at the pond (Wishing Pond?):

At the beach. This poor starfish must have been a victim of pollution and got drifted to the shore.

We also spent time at the Penang Butterfly Farm. It was a little uncomfortable in there with live reptiles and insects on display and butterflies flying around, but it was colourful and a good place for photography. This butterfly was curious about Chris' camera and it smiled for my camera.

City view from Penang Hilltop. Different gases and dust blended together to give an interesting colour to the city atmosphere.

Malacca-Port Dickson Trip, January 2010

I promised to post photos, and here they are! Earlier this year 5 of us, Hsien Hooi, Li Jia, Jacqueline, my sis and I headed south to Port Dickson for a one night stay at the Legend Water Chalets, Port Dickson. En route to Port Dickson, we actually dropped by Malacca for our Nyonya lunch and some (plenty!) of desserts. Yum!

It was a nice getaway! Too bad Kristine, Penny, Karam and Chee Kien weren't able to join, but i'm sure we'll have another round soon!

Photos:

A souvenir for Li Jia, Jacq and Hsien Hooi. Haha guys, don't scratch your head, we didn't actually take this picture. I completely photoshopped it and my sis doesn't want to be in there.

(Note: Everyone in this photo are taken from different photos, including the background. So there are actually 5 photos involved. And the shadows, lol i made them.)

On our way to Malacca:

At Jonker Street, Malacca. Cendols, souvenirs and trishaws:

Li Jia was having a good laugh at something taken on her camera. That remains a secret between us. LOL. Good one, Li Jia! She was blushing like a strawberry. LOL!

I didn't know it until I saw this photo! Jacq was browsing through God knows what in my phone. She must be reading my messages. Hahaha.. bad bad girl.. LOL! Never mind 'cos she's a bestie anyway, and I have nothing to hide. See the red circle? That's my old phone, SE Xperia X1. Busybody Jacq:

And.. two panoramas taken at Legend Water Chalets. I've actually posted them on Facebook, but I post them here for the benefit of those who do not have a Facebook account and for those who did not see them on Facebook.

Legend Water Chalets:

Legend Water Homes. I hope we'll all be going to this resort the next time round. It's expensive by the way. LOL. I like the concept, and the patios!

It's finally over!

Exams are finally over for Monash electrical engineering students! Freedom, finally. But now that it's over i feel that there's so much to do during the holidays and I just don't know where to begin! =P

The first hour of freedom was spent driving back home and jumping around with my dogs. They looked extremely happy today. I think they could sense that freedom for their best friend means that more time and attention will be allocated for them. lol

Anyways, the exam was so-so, not too bad and not too good. Well, I've given my best, we'll just see how it turns out to be. If you're reading this, try and guess what's on my mind. I'm thinking of watching Shrek Forever After! Hmm. I wonder whether it is still in the cinemas. And I want a karaoke session. Oh well. sighy.

I think I'll just stay home today. Exam was very energy-demanding. May be I should take a nap now. Will be posting photos soon. Stay tuned!

Last Battle! Whistle-controlled-switch in my room?

There's just one more paper to go and the electrical engineering students in Monash will be free! MERDEKA! (translates to Freedom or Independence in english).

The freedom won't be long though. In another 3 weeks we'll be back in university again for the coming semester. I'm actually looking forward to that, despite the fact that there'll be a lot of stress and work. BRING IT ON! Haha. I'm just excited that we'll be designing our own stuff in one of the units called Engineering Design. It's a super cool unit I guess.

Speaking of design, I just noticed that I didn't include something in the To-Do list posted earlier. I wanted and planned to build a Whistle-Controlled-Switch in my room! Dad said yes. He's my Hero, as always.

Technically, there are plenty of things to build and precautions to take, due to the high voltage power supply coming from the wall sockets. Generally, what this switch does is, upon sensing a whistle, it turns on the lights or the fan in the room. Whistling again at a different frequency turns off all the lights or the fan. Cool eh?

Anyways, I intend to enhance this design by using micro-controllers (microchips), that's coming soon to my doorstep. Instead of using whistle, I plan to use voice command, or even better, smart voice detection that only the room owner could give the commands to turn off or on the lights. LOL. My mum's going to scream.

Looks like there's a lot to do after the exams. As for now, I want to concentrate on my last paper, scheduled tomorrow at 8.30 am! All the best to everyone!

A Soldier Without His Weapon

What is a soldier without his weapon? Will he die in the battle or is there another way to keep him alive? Which would I be? LOL. I left my whole stack of Telecommunication notes at home! And i'm only armed with a laptop and a book.

Oh my. The paper starts at 1.30 pm, in roughly about 4 hours time. AAAHHH!

**************

10.00 am: Dad took the notes all the way from home to Monash. Dad, you're my Hero! =P

Dear Daddy... p/s: I LOVE YOU.

Exams have been more than cruel to me. It's daddy's day today! Everyone else in the country and perhaps in some corner of the world is spending quality time with their dads and granddads and I'm stuck to my chair trying to do last minute revision for my paper tomorrow. Haha.

But it didn't stop me from jumping on my dad from the back this morning, giving him his first peck of the day and wishing him 'Happy Dad's Day' and telling him what a superstar he has been all along. I really love that man. I do. LOL. (Sorry, i just can't help but to express what i feel).

I guess daddy really understands what I'm going through (don't get me wrong, it's EXAMS, and not other things that might have crossed your mind) because he is just so cool when he told me that having us around (actually me, only ME. LOL just joking.) makes everyday a Father's Day to him. Awww that's just so sweet.

And for that, I want to honour him for the role he played in my life. Here. Ever since i was born I've been a part of everything he does. He was my driver (before i got my driving license), my gourmet cook (he always makes sure that i eat, even when he's busy with work), my drink buddy (we drink a lot) , my mentor in work, my work partner, my best friend (he talks to me about girls and well, anything and everything a teen goes through in life), occasionally my shoulder to lean on when i have problems, my ATM and mobile bank (LOL), a provider; he is much more than what a Father has been created for.

Bonus points for my dad: He gives me surprises all the time, especially on special days. What else could i asked for, sometimes i question myself.

To everyone reading this and all out there,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

p/s: Daddy, I Love You.

2 DOWN, 2 MORE TO GO!

Exam fever has started hitting all Monashians (all campuses, M'sia, AUS and South Africa) students and lecturers alike, since 10th of June! Even the 'kakaks' (means sisters in English, crude translation for female general workers) who kept the campus clean felt the heat wave breezing through the edges of their orange uniforms. 10th June marked the day where students start to camp in tutorial rooms and every quiet corner they could find around the campus, with food and rough papers (lots of them!), and orange workers would have to hunt them down. Not the guys of course, but the leftovers of food and used papers. Armed with only a pair of tired legs, a broom and a mop, these orange soldiers sure have a lot to do.

Okay. Enough emphasis on the workers. The whole institution was dragged into this frenzy, this unavoidable 'zombification' period. Some read with mouths wide open, some had bubbles overflowing the oral cavity (just exaggerating) and some are just emotionless (all emotions drained by the notes right before their eyes). Even the security guards are stressed up. I think it's not due to the exams. In fact they look as though they haven't got much to do during this period. I saw new recruits. I think that's the source of their stress.

No doubts, us students and our 'beloved' (okay fine, i understand that not everyone agrees with me on this) lecturers are tied to our chairs, chained by the syllabus, head bombarded with right and wrong answers, and dread the all-of-a-sudden slow moving time. On the contrary, i know some who are not enslaved by the exams. Lol.

As for me, half the battle was fought. Two more papers to go on Monday and Wednesday and I will be free busy with other things. haha. I just notice that my To-Do list is as long as my Wish-list. And i want to list it down here so that i will remember to do all the things i promised I would do, and so that you guys can check if i missed out your name. LOL.

TO-DO List:

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1. KL Marathon

2. Movie Marathon

3. Steamboat with Marilyn, Natalie and the gang

4. Bake B-day (Birthday, also Bernard Day) cake

5. Celebrate B-day with different groups of peeps

6. Hang out with my best friend, Hsien Hooi

7. Buy B-day present

8. Hang out with Alvin Kok

9. Hang out with Marilyn and Nat

10. Fix my neighbour's internet problem

11. Fix my aunt's Garmin

12. Re-enrol (I JUST REMEMBERED, OMG)

13. Meet up with co-author and continue to pen the books

14. Research work

15. Year-end competition preparation

16. My own work

17. Buy photo frames (many of them)

18. Edit all the panoramas i have abandoned and some other shots

I think that's all. LOL. Note that there're no holiday vacations being planned ahead. Oh my. The question is, could i even do all the things listed above, within the short break period of 3 weeks?

Unwrapping HP Mini 210!

The long awaited HP Mini promised by TM has finally arrived! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO! There's no need for lengthy descriptions, just... feast your eyes!

The Box:

Top View:

Closer look:

The Computer is Personal Again!

Checking out the contents:

The baby, carefully placed and protected:

Surprise! The gang:

Sleekness. YUM.

Prior to removing the keyboard protective sheet:

Keyboard, naked.

Closer look at the keys.

And powering it up!

We still haven't found a use for the netbook yet lol since all of us have our own lappies at home. Specs aren't extremely good for any specific use, but good enough for its size. The specs:

10.1 " Anti-glare widescreen display

250 GB Hard Drive

1024 MB DDR2 SDRAM

802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth

3-cell Lithium-Ion Battery

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 with shared graphics memory

5-in-1 Digital Media Reader

Intel Atom N450 Processor (1.66 GHz)

Webcam

Windows 7 (32 bit) =P

LOL. What do you think? It's totally free.