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.