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?