1. Study very hard to fly. I really hope I can get 99.something for TER (full mark 100), but that’s not very realistic. So my actual target is >95.
2. Control my gaming time. I’ve just bought a computer game called Football Manager 2006 and it’s so addictive I just can’t stop playing. It’s really scary. I hope when the new sem starts I can reduce to 1 or 2 hours a day.
3. Study extremely hard to fly.
4. Be a better person.
5. Exercise at least 8 minutes a day. I’m getting fat.
6. Don’t online so much.
7. Beat Koay at least twice in Math, Specialist Math and Physics.
8. Get enough sleep. Average 7 hours a day. I hope.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Last Day in Ipoh
Tuesday, 13 December
Bowling can be very addictive sometimes, especially when you’re playing well. On the morning before we went back, we bowled again at Ipoh Parade...
Then we went to a second–hand bookshop where Yeam and I bought some comics to read in the bus.
It’s time to leave Ipoh…so sad :-(…Yee Hong’s mom gave us some buns to eat on our journey back (thank you Auntie!). Even the sky was crying as she drove us to the bus station at 2.50pm. Yeam and I wanted to take a Transnasional or Consortium bus, but the next Transnasional bus would leave at 4pm (so late) while the Consortium booth was facing technical problem so we walked around looking for other suitable bus to take. At 2.59 we found a Gunung Raya bus which was going to leave at 3. So lucky.
It was raining along the way back to KL, so the journey took a little longer than usual. We reached KL at 6.30pm. After saying good-bye to Yeam, I took LRT back to Ampang and reached home at around 7 o’clock.
That marked the end of my Ipoh trip.
I dedicate the 4 posts of my trip to Ipoh to Yee Hong, Christine, Jia Huei and their family who made this visit a truly memorable one, and to Yeam who shared every moment of it with me.
Bowling can be very addictive sometimes, especially when you’re playing well. On the morning before we went back, we bowled again at Ipoh Parade...
Then we went to a second–hand bookshop where Yeam and I bought some comics to read in the bus.
It’s time to leave Ipoh…so sad :-(…Yee Hong’s mom gave us some buns to eat on our journey back (thank you Auntie!). Even the sky was crying as she drove us to the bus station at 2.50pm. Yeam and I wanted to take a Transnasional or Consortium bus, but the next Transnasional bus would leave at 4pm (so late) while the Consortium booth was facing technical problem so we walked around looking for other suitable bus to take. At 2.59 we found a Gunung Raya bus which was going to leave at 3. So lucky.
It was raining along the way back to KL, so the journey took a little longer than usual. We reached KL at 6.30pm. After saying good-bye to Yeam, I took LRT back to Ampang and reached home at around 7 o’clock.
That marked the end of my Ipoh trip.
I dedicate the 4 posts of my trip to Ipoh to Yee Hong, Christine, Jia Huei and their family who made this visit a truly memorable one, and to Yeam who shared every moment of it with me.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
3rd Day in Ipoh
Monday, 12 December
Yeam and I were supposed to go back on this day, but up demand many(atas permintaan ramai) we extended our stay for 1 day. We were forced by the girls to get up early (7.30!!) to go somewhere called the polo ground to exercise. Oh, it's Jia Huei's turn to drive today (God save us).
The polo ground is something like a field + park + playground that covers a vast area. What you can find here are those things that you normally see in playgrounds/parks/fields: trees, flowers, see-saw, slide, exercising facilities, etc. but no goalposts, just a wide grassy area, and no pond either.The drain water, however, is surprisingly clear and has tadpoles and small fishes in it. A jogging path encircles all these to form the border of the polo ground (it's actually the drain that borders the polo ground, but that doesn't sound so nice).The local government clearly spent a lot of money on this park; a lot of taxpayers' money, that would be better spent on something more useful/entertaining like a pond, for example. We walked one round along the jogging path (taking pictures along the way) and played badminton.
Jia's father doesn't work on monday, so after breakfast he and his wife (that's Jia's mother) brought us to a cave called Kek Lok Tong. Just like other caves in Ipoh, there are some statues inside. Down a flight of stairs from the back of the cave is a picturesque garden, which view from the top of the stairs was simply breathtaking. There's also a very beautiful lotus pond in the garden. We didn't walk around for long, though cause it's very hot.
Then we visited Jia Huei uncle's pottery factory and were shown around by the boss himself. He explained to us the step-by-step process in producing charcoal stove (they make a lot of those). This picture was taken inside the furnace.
After lunch(Christine's treat) we 'visited' Christine's house, a single-storrey terrace which, according to them, is outside Ipoh. Only her brother and sister were home, but I never had the chance to meet her brother because he was in the room playing computer all the while we were there (shy, maybe). I didn't have the chance to meet Christine's parents in Ipoh, either.We didn't tour the house this time and only stayed for a while. Afterwards, we went to Jing Guo's house to give him his birthday present.
Next stop : Jusco. Nothing much to do here; only shopping and bowling. We bowled first, but only Yee Hong, his brother(Yoong), Yeam, Christine and I played. It's very cheap, only RM2 per person per game and the shoes are free of charge! In Ampang Point, it cost RM3.50 per game plus RM1 for the shoes. Surprisingly, Yeam can bowl very well. Then we went shopping. I bought a blue colour long sleeve shirt. Bowling was so fun that we decided to play again before we go back.However, when we were making our exit from the bowling centre, Yee Hong saw the karaoke booths and pleaded to have a song. At first, he chose a song called Beautiful, thinking that it's by Christina Aguilera but it turned out to be another song that he didn't know(HAHA). Frustrated, he paid for another song and this time sang I'll never break your heart by Backstreet Boys. For those of you that doesn't know, Yee Hong cannot just sing normally. He has to SHOUT. However plain, however ordinary the song is, Yee Hong must shout some of the words out. And this time, Yeam joined in the shouting. Even the people two booths away were looking at us. But it was fun, I even joined them at certain parts of the song that I like.
And those were all the activities for today.
Yeam and I were supposed to go back on this day, but up demand many(atas permintaan ramai) we extended our stay for 1 day. We were forced by the girls to get up early (7.30!!) to go somewhere called the polo ground to exercise. Oh, it's Jia Huei's turn to drive today (God save us).
The polo ground is something like a field + park + playground that covers a vast area. What you can find here are those things that you normally see in playgrounds/parks/fields: trees, flowers, see-saw, slide, exercising facilities, etc. but no goalposts, just a wide grassy area, and no pond either.The drain water, however, is surprisingly clear and has tadpoles and small fishes in it. A jogging path encircles all these to form the border of the polo ground (it's actually the drain that borders the polo ground, but that doesn't sound so nice).The local government clearly spent a lot of money on this park; a lot of taxpayers' money, that would be better spent on something more useful/entertaining like a pond, for example. We walked one round along the jogging path (taking pictures along the way) and played badminton.
Jia's father doesn't work on monday, so after breakfast he and his wife (that's Jia's mother) brought us to a cave called Kek Lok Tong. Just like other caves in Ipoh, there are some statues inside. Down a flight of stairs from the back of the cave is a picturesque garden, which view from the top of the stairs was simply breathtaking. There's also a very beautiful lotus pond in the garden. We didn't walk around for long, though cause it's very hot.
Then we visited Jia Huei uncle's pottery factory and were shown around by the boss himself. He explained to us the step-by-step process in producing charcoal stove (they make a lot of those). This picture was taken inside the furnace. After lunch(Christine's treat) we 'visited' Christine's house, a single-storrey terrace which, according to them, is outside Ipoh. Only her brother and sister were home, but I never had the chance to meet her brother because he was in the room playing computer all the while we were there (shy, maybe). I didn't have the chance to meet Christine's parents in Ipoh, either.We didn't tour the house this time and only stayed for a while. Afterwards, we went to Jing Guo's house to give him his birthday present.
Next stop : Jusco. Nothing much to do here; only shopping and bowling. We bowled first, but only Yee Hong, his brother(Yoong), Yeam, Christine and I played. It's very cheap, only RM2 per person per game and the shoes are free of charge! In Ampang Point, it cost RM3.50 per game plus RM1 for the shoes. Surprisingly, Yeam can bowl very well. Then we went shopping. I bought a blue colour long sleeve shirt. Bowling was so fun that we decided to play again before we go back.However, when we were making our exit from the bowling centre, Yee Hong saw the karaoke booths and pleaded to have a song. At first, he chose a song called Beautiful, thinking that it's by Christina Aguilera but it turned out to be another song that he didn't know(HAHA). Frustrated, he paid for another song and this time sang I'll never break your heart by Backstreet Boys. For those of you that doesn't know, Yee Hong cannot just sing normally. He has to SHOUT. However plain, however ordinary the song is, Yee Hong must shout some of the words out. And this time, Yeam joined in the shouting. Even the people two booths away were looking at us. But it was fun, I even joined them at certain parts of the song that I like.
And those were all the activities for today.
Friday, December 16, 2005
Sunday, 11 December
We went to a famous old restaurant to have dried curry noodles for breakfast. Quite spicy…After that, Yee Hong’s mom drove us around sight-seeing again. This time, we went to more places: Sam Tet (a famous school), St. Micheal, the state library, a fountain that is ‘haunted’ (according to Yee Hong), Yee Hong’s secondary school (forgot the name), and Jia Huei and Christine’s secondary school (forgot the name also, but it’s beside Ipoh Parade). After the tour around Old Town and New Town, we went back and rested for awhile.
Christine and Jia Huei arrived in the afternoon (Christine driving again) and we went for lunch. They brought us to Tin Chan Restaurant where we had another famous, mouth-watering food of Ipoh, kueyteow sup. It’s something like prawn noodles, and the sup really has the sweet taste of prawn. We also ordered a tableful of side-dishes: popiah and a plate of sotong (cuttlefish) with kangkung and something like satay kuah. But what I enjoyed the most was the white coffee! WOOOW!! I’m an avid coffee-drinker, so believe me; it was good, really good. If you go to Ipoh, you must try it.
With so much food stuffed down our throat, we understandably left the restaurant very full. However, upon seeing the words ‘fried ice-cream’ across the street, Yeam and I just couldn’t stop ourselves. And it was very good, too (I had a strawberry flavoured one).
In the evening, as planned, we went to Jia Huei’s house. (Christine drove us there, and thanks to a series of miracles, we somehow survived.) It’s a double storey terrace near Jusco with a playground in front (in front here means the house is facing the playground, i.e. the playground is outside the house’s gate, and not in front of the door inside the gate). The playground has a beautiful rocket-shaped structure with no realistic use. When we went inside, we were introduced to Jia Huei’s grandma. She couldn’t hear us when we called her, so we counted 1,2,3 before we shouted “Po Po!” together. (*Po Po = Grandma in Cantonese) Jia Huei’s parents and brother were not at home. She gave us a tour of her house, and showed us 
some photos of her visit to Australia. Her brother has a box full of self-burned CDs! When we ‘toured’ the extended balcony at the back of her house, she shouted “Copycat!” at her neighbour who also extended their balcony. Yeam was busy taking pictures and videos around the house. I even took a photo with Jia Huei’s Ausmat Idol trophy and a doll of a character in Pocahontas. After that, we watched ‘David Tao live in Hong Kong’, which I really enjoyed.
For dinner Yee Hong’s father brought us to a Chinese restaurant near Ipoh Parade. Again, we were stuffed with wonderful food. We then walked to Ipoh Parade and wander around for a while. There was a pc fair being held there, which was a little smaller than the one I attended at KL Convention Centre. I shared with Yee Hong 100 CD-Rs that cost RM43 (I think it’s quite cheap).
Since Yee Hong’s house is not far from Parade, we walked back. Good for digestion anyway. It took about 8 minutes. At night, we sang karaoke. Or rather, Yee Hong and Yeam sang karaoke while I read. However, I did manage a mediocre version of ‘Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.
We went to a famous old restaurant to have dried curry noodles for breakfast. Quite spicy…After that, Yee Hong’s mom drove us around sight-seeing again. This time, we went to more places: Sam Tet (a famous school), St. Micheal, the state library, a fountain that is ‘haunted’ (according to Yee Hong), Yee Hong’s secondary school (forgot the name), and Jia Huei and Christine’s secondary school (forgot the name also, but it’s beside Ipoh Parade). After the tour around Old Town and New Town, we went back and rested for awhile.
Christine and Jia Huei arrived in the afternoon (Christine driving again) and we went for lunch. They brought us to Tin Chan Restaurant where we had another famous, mouth-watering food of Ipoh, kueyteow sup. It’s something like prawn noodles, and the sup really has the sweet taste of prawn. We also ordered a tableful of side-dishes: popiah and a plate of sotong (cuttlefish) with kangkung and something like satay kuah. But what I enjoyed the most was the white coffee! WOOOW!! I’m an avid coffee-drinker, so believe me; it was good, really good. If you go to Ipoh, you must try it.
With so much food stuffed down our throat, we understandably left the restaurant very full. However, upon seeing the words ‘fried ice-cream’ across the street, Yeam and I just couldn’t stop ourselves. And it was very good, too (I had a strawberry flavoured one).
In the evening, as planned, we went to Jia Huei’s house. (Christine drove us there, and thanks to a series of miracles, we somehow survived.) It’s a double storey terrace near Jusco with a playground in front (in front here means the house is facing the playground, i.e. the playground is outside the house’s gate, and not in front of the door inside the gate). The playground has a beautiful rocket-shaped structure with no realistic use. When we went inside, we were introduced to Jia Huei’s grandma. She couldn’t hear us when we called her, so we counted 1,2,3 before we shouted “Po Po!” together. (*Po Po = Grandma in Cantonese) Jia Huei’s parents and brother were not at home. She gave us a tour of her house, and showed us 
some photos of her visit to Australia. Her brother has a box full of self-burned CDs! When we ‘toured’ the extended balcony at the back of her house, she shouted “Copycat!” at her neighbour who also extended their balcony. Yeam was busy taking pictures and videos around the house. I even took a photo with Jia Huei’s Ausmat Idol trophy and a doll of a character in Pocahontas. After that, we watched ‘David Tao live in Hong Kong’, which I really enjoyed.For dinner Yee Hong’s father brought us to a Chinese restaurant near Ipoh Parade. Again, we were stuffed with wonderful food. We then walked to Ipoh Parade and wander around for a while. There was a pc fair being held there, which was a little smaller than the one I attended at KL Convention Centre. I shared with Yee Hong 100 CD-Rs that cost RM43 (I think it’s quite cheap).
Since Yee Hong’s house is not far from Parade, we walked back. Good for digestion anyway. It took about 8 minutes. At night, we sang karaoke. Or rather, Yee Hong and Yeam sang karaoke while I read. However, I did manage a mediocre version of ‘Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
1st Day in Ipoh
Sorry for not posting anything for so long. I had exams last month, final and IELTS, so I was busy studying. I don’t think I did well for final, can’t finish a few papers. But IELTS was ok…I guess
Anyway, it’s my living rule not to think about exams after I did them and before I get the results, so I’m trying very hard to enjoy myself right now. I couldn’t wait to watch Harry Potter right after IELTS, I wanted to watch it so much. But the problem is everybody seemed to have watched it already. Luckily, Teo haven’t watched it yet so we’re going to watch together next week. I was counting the days eagerly when suddenly, on one very fine Wednesday, Teo messaged me and told me he just watched the movie! That BLOODY B………..!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fortunately, he still agreed to go with me. But he’ll be watching another movie…
So that Saturday, as planned, we went to KLCC. Even though it was only 12 when we went to buy the tickets, the next few screenings for Harry Potter were already sold out. I have to watch the 5.15pm one. After buying tickets, we went to the pc fair in KL Convention Centre. It was so crowded. Spent quite some time there.
For lunch, Teo said he wants to try Madam Kwan’s, so we went there. It was full; we had to wait outside for a few minutes before we were served. I ordered chicken mushroom noodles and sprite. Guess how much it cost? RM18. But never mind, I just got my jpa money...
After that we went to kinokuniya and saw Brandon working there. We just looked around until the time for movie. The movie was not bad, but maybe because I anticipated it so much it didn’t quite live up to my expectation.
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Before the holiday, we planned to go to Genting. (We being Yeam, Yee Hong, Christine(Tan), Jia Huei and myself.) The initial plan was that Yeam and I will go to Yee Hong’s house in Ipoh for a few days and he, Christine and Jia Huei will show us around(the 2 girls live in Ipoh also). After that, we shall go to genting together and Yeam and I will come back to KL straight away. However, the girls later said they couldn’t go, but Yeam and I decided to carry on with our Ipoh trip anyway. The trip would be from Saturday, 10 December till Monday,12 December. Here’s a brief account of my Ipoh trip:-
Saturday, 10 December
I woke up early at 9.15am to get ready (yes, 9.15 is considered very early for me during the holidays). I bought the ticket for a 10.30 Transnasional bus but just to be safe I got up so much earlier to get ready. My father drove me to the LRT station which train I took to Puduraya. Wow, it’s been so long since I’d been to Puduraya, I’d forgotten how it’s like in there. I mean, I’d been around the area a lot (believe me, really a lot) but the last time I actually went into Puduraya was when I was just a kid. I really couldn’t believe how long it’s been. I reached there at 10.15 and immediately went in search of the Transnasional booth to check the platform number of my bus and its plat number. It wasn’t hard; they had a big one in the middle while others only had counters along the wall. Oh great, my bus wasn’t here yet. I knew I shouldn’t have come so early. Ok just kidding, I was actually feeling a bit guilty for arriving so late.
So now I have nothing to do but to wait for my bus’s arrival. I moved aside to lean on the wall and killed time by rating other people’s clothes. After 10 min, the booth finally announced the arrival of my much-anticipated bus. As I got on the bus, and waited for it to move, I wondered who will sit beside me. I hope it’ll be a girl. A teenage girl(beautiful) that is traveling to Ipoh alone like me. When she wants to put her luggage into the bag compartment on top I will quickly stand up and very gentlemanly help her. Then she’ll smile at me and I’ll smile back, just a small and polite smile. Then we’ll both sit down. I’ll say hi and she’ll say hi back, and then I’ll ask her if she’s traveling alone(rubbish, but it’s necessary to start a conversation) and she’ll say yes and ask me back how about me?(also rubbish but necessary coz it’s polite) I’ll pretend to be very surprised and answered, “Really, me too…..
I was rudely awakened from my daydream when someone sat down beside me. I eagerly turned my head around and….
Oh great, it’s a middle-aged man. A balding middle-aged man.
Wearing a perfume that smelled like rotten egg. Oh well, at least it’ll repel mosquitoes…
So at 1pm that day, I arrived at Medan Gopeng bus station safely and without mosquitoe bites. I had nasi goreng Cina for lunch at 1 of the malay stalls at the bus station(so afterwards, when Yee Hong asked me if I had Chinese food or Malay food for lunch, I really don’t know how to answer him) before Yee Hong came with his father to pick me up.Yeam’s bus got delayed and will be arriving later.
Yee Hong lives in a condo at the 11th floor of the 14 floors Prima Condo that is a few minutes’ drive from Ipoh town area. I rested in his house for a while before we went to fetch Yeam. Yee Hong’s mom then drove us around Ipoh for sight-seeing. Ipoh town is separated by a river into 2, the New Town and the Old Town, with 2 bridges connecting them. The roads are quite wide. The buildings are quite old (sorry, I’m not very good in describing things). Yee Hong’s mom is quite beautiful, very friendly and capable, and nothing like what I’d pictured her to be (I thought she’ll be fierce, for some unknown reasons) Then in the evening, we swam in the condo’s swimming pool. Christine a
rrived at 5.30pm with her sister, Joyce. She drove here and, amazingly, did not crash into anything! Wow! Then all of us helped Yee Hong prepare dinner. It was quite a disaster. I suspected it was the girls’ first cooking experience-Christine even cut and burned her finger. And Yee Hong wasn’t a pro either. Luckily, the food turned out fine. Oh, and Jia Huei came before dinner. We had spaghetti, meat loaf (which meat I minced with knife and not blender), lemon chicken, and baked potato. After that, we went downstairs and toured the condo’s ground for lack of better things to do.At 10pm, Jia Huei’s parents came to bring us to supper. Her mom is exactly like what she said – strict-, but treated us very politely. Her father is very nice. They drove us to the Old Town to eat the famous Tauge Chicken, which was quite good.
Then Yeam and I went back to Yee Hong’s house (together with Yee Hong, of course) and watched ‘The Village’ before we sleep.
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