What I did

Well, as I said, I went to my aunt’s house so that I can stay with my grandma for a week b4 I fly. She’s taking care of my super duper extremely tremendously cute 2-year-old cousin. Obviously, the cuteness runs in the family.

my cousin

me

I even celebrated my birthday there.

Then on the 24^th, I came back.

On the 26^th, I went to Intec to take my cert.

On the 27^th, I went to a friend’s house. His name is Bak Jit Chang. This is him.

Last time in secondary school I used to go to his house to play on Friday. Then in Form 4, he moved to Cheras and changed school to St John Institution. He just finished STPM there. Now, b4 I fly off, he invited me to go to his house again.

He’s the one that introduced me to the wonders of Football Manager and blogging. So for all the things I did when I should be studying, he is to be held responsible. His blog is http://www.cognition87.blogspot.com. He had another 1 but stopped after a while. This is a new 1.

On the 1^st day I was there, we played computer games the whole day. He’s far ahead of me in Football Manager, but I’m better than him in Fifa.

Then the next day we went out to Mid Valley with his brother, his sister, his girlfriend Caerrie and his friends Khasturi and Tommy. He already booked tickets for Eragon, but because I watched it already he changed the tickets to Curse of the Golden Flower. Currently I am in no mood to write review for the movie.

I had a conversation with his gf Caerrie which goes like this:

Me: Caerrie you were from Ipoh?

Caerrie : Yeah.

Me : Which school?

Caerrie : Convent.

Me: Oh Convent!

Caerrie : Why? You know anyone there?

Me : You know Kok Jia Huei?

Caerrie: Yeah I know Jia Huei!

Me : Oh wow! How bout Christine? Christine Tan Hui Wen?

Caerrie : Yeah I know Christine also.

What a small world.

Exam Result

I get 99.1 for TER. It's nothing to be proud of, but nothing to be disappointed of either. Nothing to be proud, of coz a lot of the ppl that I asked got better result than me, all of them non-medic student (congrats to Quanyie, Koay, Audrey and Daphne). Nothing to be disappointed of, coz even though I dont know wats the TER requirement for my course, I'm sure this meets it. Now I dont need to celebrate my bday in a bad mood.

Hope everybody gets to fly.

And hope everybody remembers my Bday! Which is today!

(This post suddenly disappeared so I have to re-type. Must be blogger's fault)

Map of waterfront

Behold! My artistic talent unleashed!

Those small black dots on the river are sampans

I went out today

The Kuching posts are interrupted to bring you this short post that I suddenly feel like writing.

Earlier today at PJ Hilton Hotel there was an education fair. Representatives from some Australia and UK universities were coming, one of them the University of Sydney. That’s why I decided to go. I didn’t know what I wanted to ask but I was sure I’d think of something. I didn’t want to go alone but now that everyone had gone back home it’s quite hard to find anyone to go with me. After pondering for awhile I decided to drag Pei Fei along. Rep from University of Queensland coming also. She said yes, and would even bring a friend along. According to her, her friend is very pretty J … but she’s a Punjabi. Too bad Nat’s not here.

So off I went this afternoon to Taman Jaya Putra station where I would meet Pei Fei and her friend at 3pm. When I reached KL it was still quite early so I went to Popular 1^st. While I was happily reading Pei Fei suddenly messaged me and asked if I want to meet at Masjid Jamek station. I told her I’m already in Popular and she replied nvr mind. I told her it’s ok I can go to Masjid Jamek and she replied that she’s already on the Putra coz she’s scared she’d be late. Late? But she’s meeting me? I looked at the clock and OMG IT’S 2.45!!! And so I rushed.

As the train reached Tasik Jaya station I checked my handphone clock. 3 o’clock sharp. I couldn’t help but to marvel at my time management skill. Then I saw Pei Fei sitting on a bench alone. Turned out her friend ffk her, so only the two of us would be going today. Well, what to do. I just hope I wont be abducted by a green UFO tonight. But the last time I checked, the UFO landed in Kedah so I should be safe. For now.

We took a taxi to Hilton hotel. The driver charged (robbed) us RM3 for a ride that would take less than 5 minutes have we been on foot.

It took us a while to find the ballroom but we eventually did. It was quite small, but there were many ppl there. We looked around and couldn’t find any UQ representatives! I looked around and couldn’t find any Uni of Sydney reps either! What the heck! We asked a worker there and he said both UQ and Uni of Sydney couldn’t make it. Sigh… Came here for nothing. But the guy said we can try asking the counselor there if we have any questions. Since we’re there already, might as well lah.

The counselor is a she. She is quite fat and makes jokes then laugh very hard at them. And she didn’t know Intec, as did the taxi driver @ daylight robber just now. You can tell from the way they say “Intec? Ooohh…” But she’s a kind lady. She was really helpful and tried to tell us as much as she could about what we wanted to know. Pei Fei can take ferry to campus! Beside the counselor sat a young man, an engineering student from Monash who has just completed his 1^st year and was there to tell people of the living condition in Australia. From him we learnt more. He said he doesn’t know about the weather in Sydney, but since it’s not that far from Melbourne the climate should almost be the same. Summer in Sydney and Melbourne are definitely hotter than the weather here, but according to him we’ll be there during colder times (due to summer holiday I guess). The coldest it gets in Melbourne is about 3 Celcius, but thats in winter mornings. Wearing a cardigan over a normal shirt should be sufficient. He also didn’t encourage us to open an account with international banks as they will charge us everytime we withdraw money from the ATM. He said we can open accounts with local Australian banks and money can be transferred from the bank here, no problem. The fee for transaction is quite small. Personally, he’s using the services of Commonwealth Bank and Westpac Bank.

We were out of there in less than 20 minutes. Just so that this trip wont be such a big disappointment, we agreed to go to Amcorp Mall. Walking around aimlessly, we saw the cinema and, guess what, Eragon was showing!! It was 4.20pm, we bought 6pm tickets and walked around (aimlessly) again.

Pei Fei is a bit abnormal when it comes to shopping. She doesn’t check out clothes, she doesn’t check out accessories, she doesn’t check out books, she doesn’t check out techno stuff and she doesn’t check out games. She did check out CD’s though. It feels more like she was accompanying me shopping. I wonder how my sister can not feel guilty when I have to follow her here and there when we went shopping.

We had dinner at Kenny Rogers and off to the cinema we went. As we stepped inside the commercials just ended and the movie was just going to start. “Wah so punctual!” Pei Fei exclaimed but she didn’t know my time management skill played a big part in this. Somehow.

Movie review: It wasn’t as bad as I expected after watching the trailer, maybe because I could hear Pei Fei enjoying it. True, the lead actor still look very yong sui, but the dragon wasn’t as thin as she looked in the trailer. I couldn’t say that it was excellent, but it’s above average. Not many pros, but quite a lot of cons. As you might’ve already seen from the trailer, King Galbatorix showed his face. Murtagh’s scar was very small. Saphira didn’t grow big gradually; she flew into the clouds the first time she learnt to fly and Puff! Puff! Puff! she magically turned big and can suddenly speak English. Arya doesn’t have pointed ears and Pei Fei didn’t even know Arya’s an elf until I told her (for those of you that haven’t read the book but going to watch the movie, Arya is an elf). The Urgals don’t have horns, they’re just normal humans. Well, barbaric normal humans with painting on their faces. There’s no mention of mind-reading. Roran’s girlfriend doesn’t even exist. Ok, now I’m not so sure that it’s not bad anymore. I can understand that certain parts of the book being excluded when the story is filmed, but not making Arya’s ears pointed is inexplicable. And he movie ends in less than 2 hours! It’s not like they have not enough time, why do they need to exclude so much? They could have made it 3 hours and put in so much more. Having said that, I’m sure you’ll find the movie better than the trailer implies.

Today turns out to be fun after all. After the movie we went back and I wrote this.

Note from author: The Kuching posts will resume in about a week’s time as I’m going to my auntie’s house. Therefore, I will not be blogging unless there’s something important to blog about, like my exam result or my Bday. Which is why u should wish me happy bday by sms n not through my blog :-)

2nd Day in Kuching

After waking up, we had breakfast and waited for Boon to arrive. He was to be our driver for the next few days. The waiting process took so long that by the time he came, he’s already taking us for lunch. I later learnt from him that punctuality is not to be expected of Kuchingite.

Sitting in the car, I get to see Kuching for the 1^st time. Last night it was too dark to see clearly. Not that they are so uncivilized that they don’t have lampposts, don’t misunderstand. They have lots of them. It’s just that even with lampposts, I cant get a good view of the city at night. So this was what I noticed about Kuching:

1. They don’t live on trees there, unlike what Yee Hong thinks. In fact, their houses are even bigger generally than peninsula houses. They also do not eat from banana leaves.
2. Kuching looks like Ipoh. It even feels like Ipoh.
3. Kuching is VERY clean. So clean, in fact, that you will be inclined to litter just to make it feel more Malaysian.

After a while, we arrived in a Chinese restaurant in the town. The others were already there, sitting around at least 4 tables combines together. The restaurant was like any normal Chinese restaurant in KL, with a lot of stalls selling different kinds of food. The foods are not Kuching-specialty-cant-find-anywhere-else-in-the-world foods. Except for the Kolo mee. But the noodles that I ordered was not bad.

After finishing our meal the usual chit-chat started. Suddenly, Yeam asked, “Sze Ching, can you help me take a group picture?”

Being such a nice guy, of course I said ok. But right after I said, “Ok everybody look here!” cries of “Wait!” came from a lot of people and I stared in dismay as more than 10 cameras were passed to me. Oh well.

Pre-Ka Shin group picture

Half-way through taking pictures, Boon who disappeared mysteriously after we got here reappeared with Ka Shin and Ka Shin came to the rescue. Ka Shin is a friend whom Boon dragged along to be a driver. (Boon: Don’t say drag along to be a driver la make me sound so bad. I ask him out to have fun together…)

Ka Shin

So, Ka Shin took over. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed shouting “1,2,3” and have people in the restaurant staring at him. Pity the guy.

Post-Ka Shin group picture

Next stop: Waterfront. This is supposedly a famous place in Kuching. Its called waterfront coz its located in front of water, that is, the Sarawak River. The river isn’t clean (water is brown in colour) but its not as dirty as Klang River. At least there’s no rubbish clogging it up. There were a few sampans with roofs to bring passengers across to Fort Margarita (I don’t know how to spell). I found the advertisements on the roofs of these sampans amusing and wondered how much we need to pay to advertise there. We walked around, took pictures and took more pictures coz that’s all there is to do there.

Group picture. Whenever there's a group picture we'll have to pose for berbelas-belas camera.

Then, surprise! Daphne came with her friends, Gloria and Jodie (I think). Gloria is Hannah Tan’s sister. Guess Daphne wasn’t exaggerating when she said she knows Hannah Tan’s sister personally. We took more pictures.

We went across the road to Main Bazaar, which is a row of shops selling souvenirs to us tourists. While other people went hunting for souvenirs straightaway, smart people like Chao Wang and I searched for icy-cold beverages to drink while we walk. It was a really hot afternoon. We found this bakery that sell drinks. Some are quite unique. Besides ice shake, they also have snow shake. Intrigued, I ordered 1. It turned out to be something like ABC but with much much finer ice and no other stuff but juice on ice. But the ice has a milky flavour to it and taste like ice cream. Together with the thick strawberry juice on top and the hot weather, the snow shake taste excellent. Only RM2.50.

As I stepped out of the bakery, others looked at my snow shake jealously.

Next mission: souvenirs. After spending a few hours at the shops, I bought a few bracelets, a whistle and an ashtray for my friends and family. We took more pictures.

We stayed till the evening and crossed the river in those sampans to fort Margarita. Like every other historical fort in Malaysia it has a gate, statues, cannons and watchtowers. However, it also has jails and one of the statues had been sexually harassed.

The river

The Fort

The sexually-harrassed statue

We then went to Boon’s house to rest before going out for dinner. Boon’s house is a corner lot terrace with PS2. The keyword here is PS2. That means fun.

At around 8, Ka Shin came and we went out for dinner at a steamboat restaurant called Hornbill’s Corner. I’ve only been as full as I was then after the McD buffet last year.

Then we went back and watched DVD and slept.

1st Day in Kuching

WARNING : This post of my trip to Kuching and those to follow are mainly meant for me to record my memories in words so that I can read back about them in the future, so I may just put down the facts here rather than tell the story. It may be quite boring. Read if you want, skip at will.

On the 28^th of November, I departed to Kuching for a week long holiday there. The flight being at 4pm, I thought that I’d have plenty of time to get ready. And so I procrastinated, leaving all the packing to be done on the day itself. Not that I had much things to pack anyway. I already cleared all my stuff in cemara and only brought my luggage for the Sarawak trip, my clothes for Ausmat Grand Dinner and my bed sheet and blanket to spend the night in the room. Without all our stuff, the room felt so empty.

Oh, about having lots of time to pack, I was soooooooooooooo wrong. In the morning we had to do our room clearance. I had to go to Intec at 9am, go to room V108, go to library to clear my debt and go back to V108. Then back to Cemara, reached at around 11.

12pm, Chean Yeaw’s supposedly ‘surprise’ b’day party in McD (planned by Chia Ling). Nice way to mark the last meal in Seksyen 18 McD. I think I’ll miss the place very much coz I have so much memory there.

Chean Yeaw with his bday present - a cute Barney doll

1+pm, went back to cemara and continue packing. Taxi was gonna arrive at 2, so I had to rush like mad. By that time my excitement almost couldn’t be contained any longer. Even the thought of flying together in such a large group is exciting enough. The 4.30pm-flight batch consisted of Nat, Yeam, Yoke Heng, Jia Huei, Christine, Wen Jun, Chao Wang, Doreen, Michelle, Josephine, Pei Fei, Pui Ting (who will be meeting us at the airport) and myself. We thought that 3 taxis were enough for 12 ppl, but we 4got to take into account the Kuching ppl’s luggage. So, I ended up hugging Michelle’s huge luggage bag all the way to LCCT, which stands for LCC-Terminal. What d hell’s LCC then? I have no idea.

We were supposed to check in 2 hours before departure so we were considered a bit late when we reach b4 3pm. But typical, flight was delayed. After checking in we have a great time wasting time until boarding time. I was wheeled around in one of those luggage trolleys by Christine while ppl around us gave me weird looks. Some of us visited the toilet, some took pics and some went to a shop there. Chocolate filled half the shop.

At 5-something we boarded the plane. Before 8 we reached Kuching. There’s not much to write about what happened on the plane coz I was sleeping most of the time. Due to lack of books to read. Ah now I remember something worth writing. The view of Kuching + Sarawak River from the air was breathtaking.

On the plane

Sarawak River

After claiming our luggage, we need to pass the immigration counter. Here we were each given a piece of paper with our details on it that we have to sign. Then the immigration officer let us keep the paper.

Immigration counter

Next, our procession of 13 ppl moved towards the arrival hall, where Amanda, Boon, Chao Tung, Terrence, (Roger?) Michelle’s parents and Amanda’s father were waiting for us. Chao Tung, Terrence, Yee Hong, Nooi Hoay, Yi Chiann, Yijia and Sarah already arrived earlier. So that sums up to (*counts*) 18 of us holidaying in Kuching now. From here, we separated. Boon and Amanda’s dad drove Terrence, Chao Tung, Nat, Yeam, Yoke Heng and myself to Amanda’s humble abode while the others went back to Michelle’s house. These shall be our ‘hotel’ for the next week. Free of charge :P

On the way to Amanda’s house, I got a brief geography lesson from Boon. Kuching is divided into areas called miles. The 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd miles are town area. The bigger the number of a mile, the farther away from town area it is. Amanda’s house is located in Kota Samarahan, 12^th mile. From the airport in 8^th mile, the ride took less than 10 minutes.

She lives in a neighbourhood in Kuching with a lot of anjing. She has one herself called Doggie. Her house is a single storey terrace, and her family has 4 cars. A Wira, a Waja, a Kembara and 1 more I cant remember what.

Interacting with Doggie

Amanda’s family consists of Amanda’s daddy, Amanda’s mommy, Amanda’s younger brother (Aaron) and Amanda. A very very kind family that made our stay there so much more enjoyable. Her brother isn’t those shy small brothers that you often meet when you go to your friends’ house. He’s super friendly and super talkative. A very nice guy. Their father works in a bank and their mother gave up a job in the bank to teach kindergarden.

So after having dinner Boon, Chao Tung and Terrence went back to Boon’s house. The rest of us rest and then slept.

To be continued…