Farewell

These few weeks, I have been attending a lot of farewells. Looks like I'm going to miss a bunch of people in Penang *sob sob*

Penang Japanese Language Society

SCM Team

ESG girls!
DnS Team
The 4 Cubes

Extended Team
Q1 B'day Celebration & Farewell
My Farewell Present
The Ballroom Dancing Gang!

Dinner @ Mizi

*Moving*

Dear friends,

It has been quite some time since I last blogged. Hem hem... a few announcements to make, some of you may have know:

1. I have resigned from Dell
2. I will be moving on to a new job in KL
3. I will be staying in PJ, just found a room.

It was a tough decision and I had a tough time finding a room to stay. Finally~ everything is on track.

Some FAQs:

1. Why KL?
Because better opportunity.

2. Competitor?
No.

3. Which company?
Let you all know later, when I settle down in my new company.

4. What job?
Will be doing pre-sales support.

5. Same field?
Yes.

6. When are you leaving Penang?
April 26, Saturday.

Trip to KL Feb/Mar ‘08

My recent visit to KL this weekend was a fruitful one. I was able to meet up with many of my old friends – my ex-roommate, ex-coursemates and some of the Malaysia 6. I haven’t seen some of them for up to more than 2 years already. It’s a great gathering; the feel was still the same as good old times.

The yummy beef noodle at Petaling Street

My favourite at Genki Sushi

Me and my ex-roommate
Gathering at Coffee Bean, Midvalley

Jun and I

WSS and Pak Yong

Dinner at OUG, special treat by WSS

Lam Mee at Old Town, Cyberjaya, big portion!

Me and Huwi Yin at KLIA Transit Station, Putrajaya

Waiting for my train to KLIA (not taking MAS, but AirAsia)

KLIA
I like this slogan

Level 2 - Passed!

I am happy to announce that, I have finally passed JLPT Level 2! *sob sob* After many attempts, finally... My heart was popping very fast when my teacher hanged over to me the envelop. I immediately looked for the tiny little paper, which is the result slip. After a while... Yes yes! I finally got it! It's like a dream come true!

2008 CNY

This year's CNY sure is a happening one: gatherings, "makan" etc. As the saying goes, a picture paint a thousand words. Below are some of the pics taken:

Deparment CNY celebration, team 168

God of Prosperity
Lion Head

Seafood at Hai Boey on the 7th Day

High School ex-Classmates Gathering

Primary School Gathering

The Road Not Taken

Those who's around my age would have known this poem, because it's in the school syllabus, by Robert Frost:

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there,
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost has taken the path not taken by many others and became a poet. Recently, I am at the crossroads too, deciding whether I should take the road which is more grassy. Every road leads to an unknown path, the future is not decided, unless we make our own decision and actions.

Chinese New Year Eve

Today is Chinese New Year Eve. I get to leave 1/2 day earlier for reunion dinner. Not many people come to work today, there's less traffic on the road but the atmosphere is there. As usual, there's police officers on standby near the Snake Temple. Luckily I didn't make an illegal U-turn.

After work, I spent most of the time cleaning. Th weather sure is very hot! It made me feel lazy and sweaty (no air-condition at home). My dad was busy washing cars; mum was doing housework; bro was occupying the PC and folding origami roses. Too bad, those roses are not for me. I did helped out too, by putting on the two "mousy" decos on the front door.

Recently I have being calling up my ex-classmates for gathering, but it seems that most of the phone numbers in the graduation magazine is no longer valid. I have being receiving voice messages that sounds like "The number that you have dialled is not in service. Nombor yang anda dial tiada dalam perkhidmatan kami." Gosh, these kind of numbers are increasing! Sooner or later, I may not be able to contact most of them via the graduation magazine. Many of them are unable to attend the gathering due to: -
(1) Not in Penang
(2) Family gathering

Hopefully I get more angpows this year, wahahaha! Wishing you all Happy Chinese Year!

Happy Chinese Year!

So fast, it's another year already. I still remember last year, around this time, I attended my relative's wedding, received JLPT results, received a fortune pocket, yummies from my colleagues etc. So many good things...

But, I hope that this year, all my wishes and resolutions can be fulfilled. Else, everything will be turned into nothing but a dream.

Do you remember any memorable dinner with your family and friends? Chinese New Year is always the time for gatherings, especially this year, when we can have 4 days holiday in a go. Make sure you make full use of it!

Short Trip to KL '08

Last weekend I made a short trip to KL and Cyberjaya. It's been around 3-4 months since I last been there. This time, it's to attend my close friend's wedding. I was shocked when Sylvia told me about her wedding. She's the first among my coursemates to get married. The wedding was held at night and at a multipurpose hall in Putrajaya. The stage is surprisingly grand. The hall was covered with wooden floors. Reminded me of a dancing studio.

During this short trip, I had met up with several friends: Travis, Ross, Huwi Yin, Sylvia and Jin. Huwi Yin is very nice to let this "free-loader" to stay in her room for 2 nights. I had met up some new friends, also get to know that "this world is very small". When she showed me the pictures taken with some Intel-ians, I noticed a few people whom I know through Toastmasters.

In addition, I had been to several places where I have always wanted to go - Ikea, The Curve, IOI Mall and Sepang F1 Circuit:-

Ikea - There's many nice furnitures at Ikea, even though I have heard from my friends so many times, it's my 1st time going there. Some of the furniture designs and ideas are really creative.

The Curve - A place with many luxurious restaurants.

IOI Mall - A place frequently visited by MMU Cyberjaya students. The nearest place to watch movie from Cyberjaya. But, the worst cinema that I had been to. Even though the movie ticket is cheaper by RM2, the seating is terrible and there's a smell in the cinema. Worst, I was seeing "rambutans" more than the movie screen.

Sepang F1 Circuit - Place for Formula F1 (racing cars). There's hardly any living creature when we visited. The whole place is very huge. There were several cars practicing at that time, we can hear the "voo" sound.

Dim Sum @ Happy Garden - According to Jin, it's a place famous for Dim Sum near Kuchai Lama. The taste - quite similar to Penang's. Haha... really much more better than I expected.

******

The last few moments of my KL trip, a photo with my "room and transport manager" in LCCT. Thanks a lot for bringing me around.

Happy New Year!

This year's xmas and new year celebration sure is a grand one. "Grand" as in there's a lot of party -> food. Too much of something is not good. I am beginning to suffer from these luxurious foods.

Today, I get to go home earlier. I departed from my office at 3pm but there are a lot of cars on the streets, which is something very unusual in a hot and sunny Monday afternoon. There’s a rumour that the petrol's price is going to increase again. Thus, petrol stations are packed with even more cars than ever. Phew~

Cheah Chee's Big Day

December 23 is Cheah Chee's wedding. The ESG gang was invited to become "chee mui" (sisters) during her wedding day. Here we were, all dressed up in white, anxiously waiting to see the bride.

The bride waiting for the bridegroom's arrival. She's so beautiful.
Too bad we didnt took a photo of all the "chee mui" together. It would have being a very nice one.

My New *Handphone*

I bought a new phone recently, to be exact 1 week ago. Time to say goodbye to my >3 yrs Nokia. After 3 Nokia phones, I decided to get a SE instead. Based on some online recommendations, I decided to go for this camera phone, with a nice camera:

The pictures taken are actually much clearer than I thought, it's like camera quality with auto focus. Wahahaha... next time I can take more photos without bringing along my camera :)

Merry Christmas

"Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!" The festive season is approaching. This year, I made my own e-Card. The background is taken in a gift shop and with some touch up:

For this year's xmas party, I got some soft toys:

Birthday Celebration

This year, I celebrated my birthday on Dec 7, instead of the actual date. I was surprised when my team leader called us for a dinner that morning. She said that she had something to announce. "Announce", what would that be? Almost everyone was gone before the meeting, and I didn’t feel suspicious. I was waiting for them and Cheah Chee was ushing me to come faster. Without a second thought, I followed Astina to the meeting room.

To my surprise, they were there with a huge chocolate cake!

They also give me and my mentee, Steph a birthday card so that we can write to each other (Steph's b'day is a week later but she'll be on leave). *ting ting* the cute teddy bear cards!

At night, I had a celebration with my lunchmates at TGI Friday, Queensbay (Queena is missing in this picture).

The crew sang me a very nice and "energetic" birthday song. Hmm... singing must be the first requirement in getting a job here. They also made me standed up and shouted. So paiseh... luckily Steph is there to accompany me. I like this brown tiny piece of cake, it's very chocolatie.

Last but not least, I would like to say "Happy Birthday" to my beloved senior, Huwi Yin who share the same birthday as I, and thanks my dear friends and family members who remembered my birthday.

Life after JLPT

The long waited JLPT had finally over. Days before the exam, I was feeling very nervous. I really didn’t feel like re-taking this exam next year. Next year’s exam will fall on the day before my birthday. Thus, I must strike for this exam! This year, my not-so-cute junior, Patrick was taking the exam with me. Surprisingly, the talkative Patrick is rather quiet on that day. Perhaps he’s too nervous to say anything or too concentrate reading his notes. He told me that he’ll be leaving to Singapore for a 1 week vacation after the exam. Student life…… how wonderful!

Last year I was having a terrible time with the listening paper. Due to the room setting, there’s a lot of noise and I was hardly able to hear anything “meaningful”. This year, on the side, it was very clear and I can hear each and every word of it. However, it was too tough for me. Yet, another obstacle for me to score in my listening paper.

After the exam, I should have feel very relax. But, I did not feel so. Instead, I feel a bit down and a lot of negative thinking are lingering in my mind. Perhaps, I am not confident with my exam or too much worry. Haiz…

10 days trip to Taiwan

Finally I’m back from Taiwan! I was getting bored with the hawker food there on my last few days there. Too much of anything is indeed not good. I spent most my days in Taipei. Some of the places that I like in Taiwan are, Ye Liu Geology Park, Alisan, Mei Nong Hakka Village, A Mei Cultural Village, Feng Jia Night Market, Longshan Temple, Fisherman’s Port, Dan Sui Old Street, Eslite Bookstore 诚品书局 and Ximenting.

In short, I will say that Taiwan is a shopping paradise for girls. Quality goods are selling at a cheaper price in Taiwan.

During my visit there, it was approaching winter. Most of the clothes that they’re selling are mostly thick and long sleeves, the “free” size there is a bit too big for a timid person like me. Thus, I only manage to get a few blouses. The clothes there are very fashionable; too bad it’s not suitable to wear in Malaysia as it’s too thick for the hot weather here. The Taiwanese are all very well-dressed. Everyone walking on the streets looks like they are a movie star.

The hawker food in Taiwan ranged from around 30 to 40 TWD. Currently, 100 TWD is around RM9.25. The portion is very big, it’s better to buy 1 and share out with friends. I especially like the “mee suah” at Ximenting. The bubble milk tea there is cheaper and nicer as well. For 40 TWD, you can get an extremely large cup, enough for 2 person. There’s a lot of small coffee shops in Taiwan, the coffee, milk tea, drinks and dessert that they’re selling are much cheaper compared to Starbucks (there’s a lot of Starbucks outlets there, do not worry if you miss Starbucks in Malaysia). A great place for those who wish to hang out for some chatting.

Personally, I like to collect small, light and nicely design umbrellas. Those kind of umbrellas are relatively cheap in Taiwan and even cheaper than in China. I bought 2 fancy, good quality, small and light umbrellas at 350 TWD. 1 umbrella is around RM19. Currently in Malaysia, for such an umbrella, you definitely won’t be able to get it at RM19. Perhaps you may get it at at least RM40.

Alisan is a very nice place to visit – fresh air, nice scenery, and many weird trees which reminded me fairy tale stories. But the journey up is a very long and scary one as the road is extremely narrow. I would say that drivers’ skill there is extremely good. They can drive on such roads even without any street lights and there’re hardly any cars or houses around the area.

Transport around Taipei is very convenient. You can take the MRT around easily. Taxi charges is by meter and very expensive. Minimum payment is 70 TWD. If you want to go to places like Taipei 101 and Mei Li Hua, you can take MRT and then take the FREE shuttle bus as you get off from the MRT station. There are signboards at the MRT station there indicating which exit and bas you should take.

The bas and MRT station here very much reminded me of those in Korea.

Good points of bas service in Taiwan:
- Got indicator (where is the current location, they’re about to make a turn or break). We can easily know where we are without asking the driver.
- Only 7 TWD per ride.

Good points of MRT service in Taiwan:
- There’s a gate forbidding passengers who are waiting for the train to go over the safety zone.
- At peak stations like Taipei Station, there are personnel around to direct the passengers when the train is full.
- There’s escalators and lift at all MRT stations.

But, I did prefer the MRT station design in Korea. You can easily differentiate the stations by the design itself as all of them are different.

There are many night markets in Taiwan. If you want to buy cheap stuff, night market is the place. The cheapest night market that I come across so far is Feng Jia Night Market 逢甲夜市. This night market is named after the university located beside the market, Feng Jia University. The things there are cheaper as they’re targeting mainly students. As the things there are cheap, it attracted a huge crowd, including tourist like me. It very much reminded me of the streets near Busan National University in Busan. Things there are cheap and nice! Things that is cheap in Taiwan: towel, variety of socks, soft toys, necklace and other accessories, umbrellas, bags.

There’s a lot of unique snack food in Taiwan, one of the popular ones is “mua chee”. A bit different from those in Malaysia, it comes in a variety of flavor – green tea, peanuts, yam, chee ma and so on.

For those who forget to pack in some of their things, fear not, 7-11 shops are almost everywhere and open 24 hours to serve you with all your needs. They are selling a variety of goods, from food, umbrellas and other stuff. You can get almost anything there. The size of the 7-11 shops there vary, some maybe as small as a normal shop, some maybe as big as a drive-in fast food outlet in Malaysia. The food packaging there is very nice. There’re selling a variety of coffee in 7-11, very much reminded me of the convenience shop in Korea.

I will keep you guys updated with more info on the interesting places in Taiwan in my next post.

Meanwhile, here’s some photos:
http://flickr.com/photos/dellachew/sets/72157603141047523/

Leaving to Vacation Soon...

Dear Readers,

I'll be away to Taiwan for a vacation soon. This is strictly a self-sponsored trip and for 10 days! Thus, I am now very "pokkai". I'm currently very busy packing and completing my work. Hence, I may not be available to answer any of your chatting invitations. But, fear not, I'll be back soon.

Regards,
Your Beloved Blogger.

FY08 Q3 Birthday Celebration~

This quarter, we held our team’s birthday celebration at Kampachi, a Japanese restaurant in Equatorial Hotel. As its location implies, this is a expensive restaurant. We had our lunch there and the attendance was almost 100%. Unlike usual celebrations, this time, everyone got a goodie bag of Tupperware goodies. *Sob sob* a few of my team members will be leaving us after this quarter. Could the goodies be a farewell gift?

For photos: http://flickr.com/photos/dellachew/

Temporary Tour Guide

A few weeks ago, during the festive holiday, I became a temporary tour guide for my friend Christoph who visited Penang. It was his first time in Malaysia. He said that he's more interested food. So, I brought him to several "hotspots" for some local delicacies. He's surprisingly a small eater!

We visited several tourist attractions where I haven't been there for perhaps about 10 years ago. I always refuse to bring my local friends to Penang Hill because I feel that there's nothing much to see there. But, my recent visit there makes me change my mind. We arrived there at 8am in the morning. There weren't many people and the air was fresh and cooling as we arrived at the top station by cable car. I like the view of the clouds and mist. To my surprise, there's a canopy walk there, of course at the price of RM5 per pax if you want to try out. It was very scary especially when the "bridge" is shaking!

During this period, I had visited the butterfly farm and the Lantern Fest at Autocity, Butterworth as well.

You can find some of the photos here:
http://flickr.com/photos/dellachew/

Enjoy!

Lantern Festival

At my age, lantern festival is no longer about “tanglung” and free food. In my office, there are lanterns, but we do not light it (for safety purpose). We have celebrations, but we do it during daytime. Although the fun is not the same anymore, it’s another day of celebration. This year, we had a short celebration again in the cafeteria.

Ups and Downs

Today, super duper early in the morning, I received mails, not of compliments but complains. Later on, I found out that it was due to my mistake. Even, my director came over and asked me about it - this is something new. I feel sorry for my boss for letting her to answer so many calls regarding the issue. I guess this is part of the downs of life. The whole day I was trying to make myself "move on" as there were many pending tasks to do. I am glad that I have supporters and friends who are there to brighten up my day.

Recently, I received a shocking news from Sylvia. Aizura aka Yuya will be engaging this October and her wedding ceremony will be in January next year. She'll be the first among my coursemates to get married! Congratulations girl! Please help to spread good news if you happen to know someone who knows her.

Tired

Recently I was very exhausted. I guess many people are tense up as well. My JLPT exam is approaching yet I feel that I am not putting in enough effort on this. I am feeling a bit guilty for myself. However, after a tiring work during the day, I would prefer to enjoy myself with anime or drama series rather than revising. This kind of mix feeling, is it a signal that I am getting lazy?

Team Dinner @ G Hotel

To keep things short, yesterday night we have our team dinner at a new hotel in Gurney Drive - G Hotel. Before this there have been forward mails spreading around about the buffet of this hotel. Its dessert is especially tempting (outlooks).

Overall the food is eatable. Not much choice on the food. A lot of dessert was served. The food taste is so-so. Some are better though, but yet to reach my definition of “delicious”.

"Secret"

Yesterday, I joined my colleagues for a movie titled “Secret” by Jay Chou. This film is also directed by him. Initially, I didn’t plan to go for this movie. After hearing good comments and recommendations from my other colleagues, I decided to give it a try. The beginning of the story is rather plain and the paste is quite slow. There’s some twist and turn in the story. What I like most about the movie is the piano playing and the school uniforms. I like the design of the music room as well, very classic.

Overall, I won’t say that it’s an extremely good movie but worth watching.

Short Trip to KL

Last weekend I took a short trip to KL. It was a sudden decision make up by my crazy mind because I wanted to see fireworks! Long long time ago, I do not like fireworks. This is because there will be a huge crowd rushing to the same place, looking at the firework for 5-10 minutes. The firework wasn’t impressing at all, at least for a primary school kid like me back then. However, this has changed after an unanticipated firework during Bon Odori back in 2000. The firework was so beautiful. It was alive! However, the firework during MIFC is even nicer! I am really glad that I made an effort to go there. I really enjoy the 20 minutes firework display by the lake side in Putrajaya. Last year, when I saw Yushu’s pictures taken in Korea on the fireworks, I really feel like flying there immediately and join them with the display. Well, looks like I don’t need to do so anymore in the future as I can see them in Malaysia as well :)

During this short trip, I met up with several old friends. It’s really great to catch up with them and *update* myself. Each and every one of us is taking different paths now. But, they are all very interesting.

MIFC - Fireworks Competition

The fireworks competition is now on from August 18-September 2. Nations from Australia, Japan, Italy and Malaysia will be competing for the Merdeka trophy. Venue: PICC (Putrajaya International Convention Center).

From the photos posted in the forums, it's really really beautiful! How I wish I can fly there now! How I wish I could have a high-end camera for all these photo shooting...

Here is the schedule of the competition:
http://www.mifc.com.my/test/mc/information.html

Here are some links with photos:
http://www.photomalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30835
http://www.photomalaysia.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30940
http://flickr.com/photos/tags/mifc/

Thanks!

Thanks for those who have been supporting me for my speech contest:
- My dear couch for the contest - Kelly/Gan-san. Thanks for spending your time to rehearse with me. It has helped me a lot.
- Kevin and PJiuan for the support.
- Pateriku-san for leaving comment at my blog.
- and those names not mention here.

It's great to have friends like you all. I really miss those times back in MMU!

The Sad Rice Cooker

Today, I attempted my first public speech contest - Japanese Speech Contest, Penang preliminary. I was quite confident that I will do well for this contest. However, things didn't turn out to be the way that I expected. I was quite disappointed when the MC announced that I won the 4th prize. Anyway, I brought home with 3 presents - a non-functionable calculator and mousepad combo, a Japanese conversation book and a Panasonic rice cooker.

My mum has always wanted to buy a new rice cooker, a more advance one since our current rice cooker is rather "old". However, since it's still functionable, we didn't buy a new one as replacement. Finally, it's time to change to a new rice cooker, with non-stick features and a special holder to steam food. For me, this is a sad rice cooker. It reminded me that I have got the 4th prize and fail to get into the finalist.

Anyway, I feel that I should join the next competition. Hopefully, I do not get another rice cooker the next time. Somehow, rice cooker now has a new meaning for me - rice cooker = failure.

Muka Head

Yesterday, I joined my colleagues for an expedition to Muka Head! It was a rather tiring journey but it's adventurous! It's great to see the monkeys and little crabs by the beach. I like the cool breeze, it's so refreshing... I sprained my ankle a bit *ouch* but thank god it's nothing serious :) My mother warned me not to go the night before as I was not feeling well, but I am glad that I make it there. It's another great experience with friends!

Here are some of the photos taken:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellachew/

I have included photos of some of the yummy dishes taken the appreciation dinner at Kirishima, a Japanese food restaurant in Cititel Hotel, Penang.

July Events

Recently I have been rather busy. You may wonder, “busy with what?” - friends’ birthdays, attending events and meetings, meeting old friends and going for trip. Events are such as MATTA fair, recycling programme, Bon Odori and farewell.

One of my counterparts has decided to move on to another position in my company. He was a loud person and we used to talk about the way he talked and his behavior. However, after he leaves, I sort of miss the times when he makes a lot of noise. It kills the silence and tension here. Whenever I moved to a new cubicle, I will feel that something is missing - voices of people surrounding me, their phone conversations and their laughter. Last time, I used to complain about an Indian fellow sitting near my cube. He always talks loudly. Every single word he said, we were able to hear it clearly. The situation got worse after office hours as his volume increased. But now, I would like to thank this “speaker phone” for his noisiness. Without his “voice”, it would be very quiet and scary in the office if I staying back for extra work.

During MATTA fair, I registered for a trip to Taiwan in November with my colleagues and some friends. Hopefully everything turns out well. A short trip to MATTA fair turns out to be a lengthy one. We had gone thru almost each and every booth. I predicated that we can go home at around lunch time, but it ended up to be supper time instead. My mum was calling my handphone for more than 10 times. As it was quite noisy in the stadium, I didn’t notice the calls at all. Or perhaps, I was too excited over the brochures and handouts. I was extremely hungry as I reached home, but it seemed that I had lost the appetite to eat as it was already more than 10pm.

It’s great to meet up friends once in a while. Recently, I met up with my lecturer and 2 secondary school friends. I have never gone out with my lecturer for a tea before that. After graduating, I got this “push” to meet up my lecturers. Dr Andrew was back in Penang for a few days, a de-tour for his business trip in Singapore. It was a small gathering between Khai, Wee How, Dr Andrew and I. Wee How turned out unexpectedly and that was the first time I talked to him even though we were course mates. Sir treated us the drinks in Starbucks and it was the first time I ordered Hot Chocolate Caramel. I grew to love this drink very much and was looking forward for another cup of hot choco in Starbucks soon!

Unpredictable weather

The weather now is really unpredictable. It’s raining in Penang almost everyday when the weather is supposed to be hot and sunny. Today it’s raining again and the rain is very heavy. From the glass in my office, I can see the trees moving from one way to another in a fast and heavy movements.

For those who are not in Malaysia, 端午节 is falls on tomorrow. It’s a season of Chinese dumplings and dragon boats.

Yummy Food #1

Here's some of the yummy food in my recommendation list, of course it's mainly based on the restaurants in Penang:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellachew/sets/72157600389899953/

Tasik Temenggor

2 weeks ago, I had a family trip to Tasik Temenggor in Perak. It was a last minute trip. As Tasik Temenggor is not a well-known tourist spot and my parents scared to be cheated by the marketing agent of the resort, we decided to check out the place first. We got to know about the place as they had setup a booth during the Floral Fest in Botanical Gardens, Penang. Tasik Temenggor is one of the few places popular for fishing fresh water fish. It is an extremely huge lake located in the mountains with many islands inside of it. It is the main source of water for many rivers in Perak.

Before we departed, we had decided that if the resort does not exist, then it will be a free and easy trip. It turned out that the resort does exist and we even met the owner of the resort. We loaded our belongings into the speed boat and headed towards the resort.

We took the 3 Days 2 Nights package. The resort is very new, around 8 months old. Many of the chalets are still under renovation. They are not very luxurious but decent. There’s only a few person in the crew and all of them are multitasking. Some of the highlights of this resort is:
- Water basketball
- Nice scenery (sunrise, sunset, moonlight)
- Steamboat dinner while the weather is cold
- Free flow of instant coffee and tea

Activities:
- Water sports (basketball, canoeing, swimming)
- Jungle trekking
- Visiting the orang asli village
- Fishing
- Water drifting (provided if the water is good)

Unless the usual islands trips, everything here is very relaxing. There is no rush between trips. If you do not want to do activities, you can lay around by the lake and do some reading, play card games and/or mahjong or watch TV (astro installed with some channels).

Below are some of the photos taken:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellachew/sets/72157600378931689/

Perhentian Photos

Hi girls and guys,

I have uploaded my Perhentian Island trip photos. Have a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dellachew/sets/72157600286203741/

Perhentian Island

May 11, 2007 (Friday) – I departed to Pulau Perhentian with 14 people – my colleagues, and colleagues’ friends. The journey started off with some familiar faces and some strangers. However, we all mixed up well at the end of the trip. The bus departed at 9pm.

May 12, 2007 (Saturday) – We arrived at Jerteh, Terengganu at around 3.30am. Everyone was sleepy and surprised as the bus arrived much early than we expected. The van driver was still sleeping when we called up. We spent around 5 hours at a small shop near the jetty while waiting for the speed boat to Pulau Perhentian. It was a very long wait. At around 9am, we walked to the agent’s office. The speed boat to Pulau Perhentian departed from Kuala Merang at 9.30am. The speed boat was indeed very speedy. I felt wonderful as I rode on the boat; it feels like as if I was riding on a wild house.

The water in Perhentian is cleaner than the ones in Redang, even though the sea color is not as nice as Redang’s. The resort that we stayed was Cocohut. At first, we thought that it was a typo in the quotation and the correct spelling should be “Coconut”. But, Cocohut is the correct. I like the dining place and lobby. It looks a bit like Hawaii style. Our rooms were at the upper level of a 2 storey wooden building. Somehow, I felt that the building is not very solid. Our rooms are either dime or rather dark. There were 2 queen size beds for each bed, regardless of the number of people for each room. It was a better place compared to the resort that I last went in Redang.

The meals here were better too. Food was served according to the group of visitors instead of buffet style. We don’t need “fight” for our share of food. We had a snorkeling trip on the same day, shortly after lunch. As it was the first snorkeling trip, everyone was very excited. We putted on our sun block lotion even before the lunch and put more after lunch!

We went to 3 places for snorkeling. I was “too active” for the first round as I thought that that will be our only place for snorkeling. I used up almost all my energy, without any reservation. I was “half-dead” when reaching the second place. I was very excited to see the gigantic turtles that I swam with all my energy towards it.

Advise: Remember to make sure that you have enough energy for all the trips.

May 13, 2007 (Sunday) – We went to 2 islands for snorkeling – Pulau Rawa and Susu Dara. The second island has a lot of huge rocks and almost near sea level. Thus, it’s very hard to swim around without getting hurt. Things got worse when the waves were strong. After the rocky island, we stopped by at the light house before heading to the fresh water water spring. The sea is very deep at the light house and there are many corals and fish. It was fun jumping from the first level of the light house into the sea! Some of them scream with the all their might while we were waiting in the water.

It was already more than 2pm when we had our lunch. Most of us haven’t even bath. We were all very hungry! 2 of the girls joined another trip before the lunch. They were really too active! We took a nice and long bath after the lunch. Then, it’s photo session! We made a lot of weird and funny poses. It’s enjoyable.

We spent most of our free time playing Uno. Some of the beach boys even show us “magic”. The television in the lobby aka dining area is only available at 9.30pm. One of the guys was having a hard time catching up with his football games.

May 14, 2007 (Monday) – La Hotspring and Lata Tembakah, those are the 2 places that we went to after our Perhentian trip, while waiting for our bus back to Penang at 9pm. Those 2 places are far away from Jerteh, especially La Hotspring which it is located deep inside the jungle. It was named as La Hotsping because it is located in a village called La. It is a natural hotspring.

Before reaching there, we planned to hop into the hotspring and have a nice bath. However, the water was so hot that eventually, we only put our legs into the pond. Even though the hotspring is in then open air, we felt very hot after dipping our legs into hotspring. Our next destination is Lata Tembakah, which is located very near to La Hotspring. The highlight of this place is its waterfall. I was amazed to see such a tall waterfall up close. It’s a really wonderful scene! The place is not well maintained. Even though there’s a few changing rooms, some of the doors cannot be closed and some are too dirty. There’s hardly anyone inside the park. Leaves are all over the place. But, I like the scene of the tall trees, truly a tropical forest.

2 Nice But Sad Drama Series

Recently, I have been watching 2 sad Japanese drama series. I haven’t really being watching any Japanese drama series for quite some time already.

1. Karei naru Ichizouku is a tragic story between a father and son. The story is set shortly after World War 2. Japan’s economy was focusing on heavy industries such as metal. Economy was not stable and there had been a lot of changes for all the industries. Teppei grew up in a wealthy family. His grandfather established the first family business which is metal. After the success of the metal industry, his grandfather founded the banking business. Teppei who has great interest in metal succeeded the metal business while his father succeeded the banking business. Teppei and his father had never been in good terms. There were a lot of family secrets and tragedy inside of this wealthy family, unknown to the public. What is the main reason causing Teppei’s father to dislike him so much to the extend that he wanted his son to disappear?

(Spoilers will not be provided. Go watch yourself!)

Throughout the story, Teppei has shown great values of a true leader. He never gives up while his company was facing obstacles. He fought until the very end. In addition, he is a kind person who helped out his subordinates regardless of the danger. Despite his status, he mixed around with his subordinates like normal friends. Because of this, he has gained a lot of respect and trust from his subordinates. This great spirit has inspire the people around him to work harder despite facing difficulties.

2. 1 Litre of Tears (1リットルの涙, Ichi Rittoru no Namida?) is about a girl who was diagnosed with a disease called Spinocerebellar Degeneration when she was 15 years old, and was able to continue her life until her death at the age of 25 years old.
The plot is based on the true story of a Japanese girl named Aya Kito, who died in 1988. She kept writing in her diary to remember her experiences until she could no longer hold a pen. Aya simply wished to live until the end of her life, and the purpose of writing in the diary was to remind herself to not give up. She shed tears many times, at the same time encompassed by the rich love and support from her family and friends. Her diary titled 1 Litre of Tears was published shortly after her death. It encouraged many people, healthy or diseased, because of its inspiring and courageous messages. As Aya wrote, "Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing."
– adapted from Wikipedia

From this drama, we can see the healthy and active Aya getting weaker and weaker, and eventually passed away. She has been struggling a lot after getting the disease. She has to give up her favorite sports, leave her school and friends, getting strange glance from people around her etc. However, despite all the struggles, she wanted to help others facing the same disease. Her diary has touches the hearts of the other patients, encouraging them to live on the remaining of their lives to the fullest.

Bukit Hijau

Recently I have been “adventurous”. 3 weeks ago, I went to Bukit Hijau with a few colleagues. It’s my first trip with most of them. Bukit Hijau is famous for its waterfall, it is located in Kedah. I haven’t been there for more than 10 years. I only have pieces of memories of the place when I was young. I still remember that I was very lazy to climb up to the top and my dad nearly drowned near the waterfall back then. We had a great time there even though I didn’t join in for the “water-fun”. Lunas is a small place, well known for its roasted duck. However, I was disappointed when I heard that they are not selling “pi pa” duck anymore, which is the one that I miss the most.

Click below to view some of the photos taken:
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a146/dellachew06/BktHijau/

Public Holidays

Today is a “supposing” public holiday declared by my company as a replacement for the Wesak Day that fell on the same day as Labour Day. Yet, I was working on both days. Many of colleagues came to work as well. After all, it’s month end and also quarter end. Thus, working extra hours is unavoidable (meaning working OT is not something optional as the workload is heavy and we need to meet the dateline).

In Malaysia, Labour Day is almost equivalent to supermarket sales. Many department stores will be having discounts on a variety of items. I brought my mum for a dinner at Secret Recipe and shopping in Sunshine Supermarket. It can be considered as an early Mothers’ Day celebration as well.

I will *try* to keep this blog up-to-date :)

Yunnan - Day 8

Day 8, Saturday – It’s the last day of my Yunnan trip. It’s also shopping day! Our first destination of the day is a bazaar selling a variety of things, except food. It is called the Luo Si Wan Bazaar. It’s the whole sale market for other places in Yunnan. Things here are cheap even without bargaining. I bought some clothes and umbrellas. I was very excited to the huge soft toys hanging outside of some shops (taller and bigger than I).

Next, we went to the local food shop to buy some local specialties. The price of the food here is not cheap. It is advisable to shop at the normal supermarkets, such as Parkson. I bought a lot of tidbits, especially 乌梅 (“Wu Mei”). It’s a type of “asam-asam”, huge and black but not soul.

We had our lunch at a shop specializing in mushrooms. The supposing “nice” meal turned out to be bad. The wrong mixture of mushrooms caused me to have a bad appetite. Things became worse when I had a stomachache.

After lunch, we headed to the silk shop. The cheapest blanket cost around RM180, without the silk covers. The whole set of silk covers actually cost more than RMB 2K. There are other silk products such as clothes and handbags.

Our last destination is the flower market. In the market, there’re fresh and dry flowers. The flowers are very beautiful. After shopping in the flower market, we said goodbye to our local tour guide and flew back to KL.

Yunnan - Day 7

Day 7, Friday – Today we headed back to Kunming after breakfast. Our highlight of the day is West Mountain Dragon Gate. We went up there by cable car and came down by a “small car”. Things sold there are cheaper as there are fewer tourists. From the top of this mountain, we will be able to have an overview of Kunming city. The locals here will hike up this mountain on the 3rd day of CNY. I find it not very fascinating. I will just give an average rate for this spot.

After the mountain trip, we headed to a medical shop selling honey and different types of Chinese medicine. We have a trial on a special medicine for cueing sickness related to our legs. There’s free massage service for the leg as well. I feel much more after the massage. According to one of the massager, there are Chinese medical students. Of course, when there’s special service, we tend to give up to the sales person and bought some of their products.

We had our last dinner at a shop specializing in herb soups and wine. We had 4 pots of soups and I really feel a bit drunk after the meal. My face was red, luckily not as red as a tomato.

Yunnan - Day 6

Day 6, Thursday – It was cold in the morning as I reached the Yulong Snow Mountain station to take the bus and then the cable car. I can some rain drops falling onto my face when I got out of the bus. To be exact, those were not rain drops but tiny little snow flakes! I was very excited as it shouldn’t be snowing at this season. There are jackets for rent at the station for 30 RMB. The view along the way to the mountain is very beautiful. This was my first time seeing real snow! The queue for the cable car was very long as the wind was strong. I waited there for more than an hour. There were many tourists, both local and foreign, queuing up for the cable car. We had prepared some oxygen tanks with us, just in case we need them. Every cable car can only fit in max 6 person. We were enjoying the beautiful view of the mountain in the cable car, shooting photos of here and there. There are different types of trees as we went higher and higher. As we reached the park, there is nothing but snow, rocks and the mountain. But, the view up there sure is simply marvelous. However, this mountain is not suitable for skiing due to its landscape.

Our next destination was Bai Sui River (“Bai Sui" means white water). After the snow of the mountain melts, it will flow down to this river. Its water is crystal clear. The reflection of the sky on the water makes it even irresistible. It looks like a perfect picture, with the snow mountain as the background and clear blue water. “Gan Hai Zi” (sweet sea) is not a sea as its name implies, it is actually a meadow. When it rains heavily, it looks like as if it is a sea. Long long time ago, this meadow used to be covered by water.

We were all very hungry after the snow mountain trip. We had lunch at “Yu Sui Zai”. It is the holly land of the Dong Ba Culture. This place has a very nice view of the rivers and mountains. (In short, I can say that in Lijiang you can see many nice views of water and mountains.) There is a small museum for stones here. In this museum, there’s exhibitions of natural stones that looks like food. The stones all look so yummy.

Our next stop is the Spirulina shop. Lijiang is one of the 3 major places in the world producing natural Spirulina. After this, we said goodbye to our Lijiang tour guide and headed back to Dali. After lunch, we did some shopping at night in the old town. There are a few bookshops there, selling only Chinese books. There are a lot of books there which you cannot find them in Malaysia, especially books on the different minorities in Yunnan. I managed to buy a book at less than RM20, which is price at more than RM80 in Malaysia.

p/s: Your bargaining power must be really good if you want to buy things at a cheap price in China. It’s better to make some surveys around first before purchasing.