It's a Sign Board

Ever thought that a sign board would speak rude to you?

"Maa Ku" Gallery

It's a shop for baby stuffs. :D

Tea Time in Bintulu

Char Siew Pau from Medan Jaya, Bintulu

Custard bun, half eaten

A Preliminary View of My Bedroom

My bedroom, with my new picture

I have just received a new picture for my bedroom wall, and I am super excited!!!

Now all that I need is to frame the picture up, and hang it up right. It will be such bliss and wonder to look at my room now. ^.^

Could You Imagine?

I was having lunch with KS the other day, the day when she told me that she was pregnant :-), and we came across a really funny, if not totally mindless, incident.

KS and I had ordered food from one of the noodle stalls in the Boulevard area, Miri, and we were served with no chilli and soy sauce. As do most Malaysians, I had always liked to dip my food in a little bit of soy sauce with chilli while I eat. Without that, my food would taste as though something was missing. So, I decided to ask for some soy sauce.

I called out to the lady who worked for the stall, and she came to my table. She, in my opinion, was a native who might not understand my Malay quite as much as I might expect her to. I asked politely for my soy sauce, and she went back to her stall and brought me a whole small bottle of soy sauce.

Ok, now, one would expect their soy sauce to be delivered in a small serving dish, as would common practice. I was served with one bottle of soy sauce. For all my aprreciation of her generosity, I had only needed a small amount of the sauce. So, I asked again, politely, for a small serving dish.

It turned out, she might have thought that I was asking for an extra dish, and she brought me a normal plate for eating!

I looked at the plate, and looked at KS. KS was sniggering at my struggle in getting a proper serving dish for my soy sauce, and I told her that I would try for another time.

Again, I asked politely, can I have a small serving dish for my soy sauce, indicating the soy sauce in an imaginary dish while trying my darn best to explain myself to the lady. She looked at my hands, and her face lit up, as though she had finally gotten my idea.

So, she went back and brought me a BOWL!!!!

KS was laughing her head off now.

I had not given up in asking for the right thing, and therefore, I gave another shot, asking the lady by pointing the soy sauce and the bowl and asked for a SMALL SERVING DISH!!!

And she did this.

She put the f***ing soy sauce bottle into the bowl and walked away!!!

What in the world it this!!! Had common sense escaped one's mind so much that it bordered stupidity??

What a world of TOTAL MINDLESSNESS!!!

Stubborn or Hard-Willed?

I was back in school one Sunday morning, and I was mortified to find my old school's front block being torn into pieces, literally!

明德楼

I am not exaggerating. The school was actually being taken apart!

However, we all know what that is for. It has been months since that tragic day in December, 2008. The fire that took away the part of Kuching High that holds many a memory of our good old school days. What was left standing was the front door of the administrative building, which stood as the significant monument for the school. That part of the building was named "明德楼", for once upon a time this school was called "明德中学"。

There had been a lot of talk since years ago about the building of new buildings for the school, but that was never truly substantiated. I guessed from my part that it was out of the old reminiscent for the school building that had stood on the school grounds for more than a hundred years. Students had come into the school through these doors, and left from these doors. Whoever had the heart to bring down a piece of history that meant so dearly to so many of us?

But I guess that it is time to let go. There will be new buildings. But the old walls stand tall and still, as if to tell the world that nothing in this world can thwart the spirit of the school, not even a fire.

Kuching High will thrive!

Dr. Fish

After reading and hearing about the fish spa from so many sources, so many times, I have decided that it is high time that I try my feet out in the famous fish-nipping therapy, to clean away my dead skins, while doing the fish owner a favor in feeding his / her pets.

I went to a local spa saloon located in Jalan Song, Kuching, and found one that allowed you to dipped you scaly-skinned feet into her fish tank for half-an-hour, all for an easy RM19.00.

Well, you'd got a choice of big, medium and small fishes. I had no idea what the size would matter to my spa, and being an impatient one, I decided to go for the big fish.

And the fish went frenzied!

For one moment, the fish looked calm and relaxed in their temperature-regulated home. For the next moment, when my feet were in the tank, all that I knew was that I had all the alpha-males/females nipping bits of my skin from me!

The sensation was... unique, and ticklish. I squirmed and wriggled in my seat. And I am telling you, it was no fun during the first few moments. I mean, I am a sensitive girl! I have got some really sensitive nerves! And to have so many tiny fish lips kissing and scraping my calves and feet, that was no enjoyment.

It took me a while to really get use to that sensation. I was literally enduring torture on my part, while the fish was happily enjoying their meal out of me!

I am not sure if I would go back to this fish spa or not. But knowing myself, and my spirit, I bet myself that I would always take the other chance to dip my legs into those skin-eating-fish-manifested tanks again, squirm-ish or not. I will get use to it. :D

But, it's RM19.00 for only half-an-hour!!!

Survival Kit

So, what if one day I were to go into the wilderness?

I wonder what I should be bringing with me?

Here are some suggestions from a friend.

A torch, a Swiss army knife and a blue flame light stick.

Hmmm.....

This blue flame light stick is suppose to be non-toxic and non-radioactive.
This should be very useful in dark places, such as the insides of caves.

More suggestions came in...

Tea leaves for tea breaks, safety clips to hold stuffs, and a deck of cards to pass time...

On top of that, one could still add in...

A cap for sun protection, some pills for flu and a bottle of tiger balm, that works miracles for itch and stuffy nose.

This should keep one safe enough from the terrain...

Mean Rat

People has always being saying that the older one gets, the more backwards they are from their age. This holds true for my grandmother, who actually got a little black rubber rat and placed it under my bed one day.

It so happened that I was looking under my bed while cleaning the room, and I saw this black little monster staring back at me in the dark.

I was so damn scared just by looking at its size (which looked huge enough to bite), that I went over to the next house to ask for help.

My uncle, a burly big man, came over to my room with a huge staff, and stared under my bed. It took him also some time to decide whether it was real or not.

Finally, he extended his staff under the bed and swept the ugly little thing out from under the bed.

It was just a little rubber toy. But, it did kinda scare the shit out of me. I was afraid that it would bite!!! And imagine the bacterias growing on all its teeth!!!

Nah!!! I'm a mean little creature!!!! Ha ha ha ha!!!!

Learning Material

How do you remember all the muscles on your arm?

Write it on your arm!!!

The live learning material for biology.

Picture

I found a very beautiful picture the other day.

It was drawn by an Indonesian artist, and it was hung on the wall of one certain living room.

I thought I might just get a picture like that for my living room too. But, that was just me thinking.

Bad Table Service

I hated it when the people in the restaurants were careless in their service.

It was considered ill manners to serve food with chipped utensils, to stack the plates up before the guests leave. Recently, I found a new example of ill table-utensil-service.

Giving your guest two chopsticks of different length!!!

Geez, if this was the way a restaurant treated their guest, imagine how they treated the food that was served?

Sze Jun's Wedding

SJ is getting married this Saturday, but there was a reception dinner on Thursday for all her friends and family back home.

I had the honour of being invited to her wedding dinner that night, and the hen's night the night before.

SJ had been a part of my troop when I was leading it at that time. It still amazes me to see them all grown up with careers and families of their own. I guess I would always consider them like I did so many years ago. :)

Congratulations!!! SJ!!!

May your days of married life be a loving and eternal one.

Me Underwater

I believe that many people who know me know that I love diving. Well, that could be an understatement. Diving has become a part of my life, something that I do whenever I had the chance, even if it is in the pool.

Wanna see how I looked like underwater?

Ta-da~~~!!!

Guess which one is me?

I came across this old picture while browsing through my archives. This was taken during my trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in December, 2006. I had a great time there. I guess every experience is unique, and this trip especially, since it was the first time that I really did some hard-core diving, to the extend that I was looking more like a worn-out rag than a diving diva at the end of the trip. :P

That was a trip that I was supposed to blog a long time ago. But given the magnitude of it, the greediness in me to try to put everything into my blog, the whole thing got so huge that I finally gave up the whole project.

Well, not really. I decided that if the pictures did not go in my blog, at least they would be displayed to the public to view, at least for my friends, in Facebook. For those who are interested, you can find me in Facebook using my full name. :)

Or, to a lesser extent, in my Friendster's photo album.

For those who had waited for my blog on this trip, please forgive me. I apologize for the delay of nearly two years. :P I hope it could still bring back some good memories of wonderful times back then. It was really a fun time. :)

A New Friend

I met a new friend when I was in Miri. Cindy introduced us, and I was amused by her name.

Her name is, " Lulu Lu"

Cindy and Lulu Lu

Great name, eh? Never would one have to crack one's head to remember a name like that.

Simple and easy to remember. Her dad is a genius!!!

I was in Miri

I was in Miri city the week after the Merdeka day (Independence day of Malaysia) to do my first round of calls after joining my new company. It was a week of new exploration and also a time to meet up with my mate from Kuching, who had moved to Miri a while ago.

My Area Supervisor came down with me to show me the ropes and the ins and outs of the place. I was glad that he could make it this trip with me. If not, I was afraid that I would have wasted so much time just trying to figure out who to see and where to go in a very limited period of time.

My Area Supervisor noting down in a map all the important people to see.

Besides my work, I guess the next fruitful event during this trip would be to meet up with my good friend, Cindy, from Kuching.

Cindy has moved to Miri since the middle of last year after having decided that she would come and work for an oil and gas company as an accountant. And, being a true accountant, she is very good with figures.

We had spent many nights with other friends in karaokes and happy hours in pubs before she moved here. Since she left us, the gang soon dissipated and continued on with our own lifes. None of us was really sure whether this was due to her leaving, or us having our own ways to go in life. I guess both played a part.

My first night in Miri Cindy came and pick me up in her new silver Citra. I was surprise to see her in her new car. I had known that she was looking for a car back in December last year, but it failed to register in my mind that she could have bought a car months ago.

Cindy and I went to Halo cafe for dinner. I did not even know that there was one in Miri. Frankly speaking, I was both surprised and not. Surprised because I never thought that Halo would actually thought about investing in a city like Miri and not Kuching. Not surprised because I had always thought of Miri for being more productive in terms of singing cultures and bands.

I ordered spaghetti and Cindy ordered something that looked like nachos, but not entirely a nacho. I was quite doubtful about the food, and hesitated in putting them into my mouth.

Cindy with the spaghetti from Halo cafe, Miri.

There was a stage where young people, mostly students, would come by and sing for the night. There is a romantic notion to the idea of singing in one of the cafes like Halo. It is something that a student would think of doing to be romantic while earning some bucks for the semester.

That night, three boys performed on stage. They looked like they were in their late teens. One of them can actually sing very well. The guitarist seemed to like to echo whatever his other mates had just said. It was rather amusing to listen to them talk.

Cindy and I started to send in our dedications after dinner. It was fun seeing them trying to fish out the lyrics for some of the songs that we had asked for, and others they had to cover with other similar songs, since none of them knew how to sing it. I liked the voice of the percussionist. I thought that he had a better voice.

Cindy and I talked about our friends back home, and how each of us had fared since our departures. She is doing pretty well now, and I am simply glad and happy for her.

Johnny's Going-Away Dinner

L to R: Ai Fern, Nick K., Wesley, Teresa, Johnny, Edward, Ah Nong, Edward's wife, Lucas, C. S., Valerie, Henry, Kim Leng

28 August 2008, Thursday

Johnny has finally graduated from Swinburne University of Technology from his engineering course.

In celebration of his graduation, and for his time with us in Kuching, the gang met up in Koreana for a joyful dinner.

It was a fun night, and Mrs. Kim, the owner of the restaurant, joined us for a chat too. She is a very wise woman, with deep insight with regards to the current Malaysian society and government. The young ones left the place that night with renewed respect for the lady.

But, at the end of the night, Johnny was still the main character. :) Therefore, Johnny, we wish you a great journey ahead, and don't forget to come pay us a visit anytime soon. ;)

Adios, amigo!!! Best wishes for all!!!

Happy Birthday, ML!!!

It is ML's birthday, and divers all around celebrated it with her on her birthday's eve.

Happy Birthday, ML!!!

The Gang, Bunch of Crazy Divers

The Master and the Protege, same dark skin...

Have a good one this year!!!

Monks in Coffee Bean

This was in the Kuching International Airport, when I was sitting idly waiting to board my flight. MAS was delaying my flight, and I was rewarded with another two hours of boredom.

I saw two monks walking in my direction and into Coffee Bean.

They have clean and well-shaved head, and spoke Mandarin in an accent which indicated that they were not local.

The waitress serving their customers.

They ordered in English spoken in words and phrases, and their voices were loud and clear. It made me smile, for only those with a bright and open heart would speak with voices like that.

The monk with a white cap was tall and humble. The short monk was a female (forgive me for not knowing how to address a female monk). She was the bold one. :) I knew that from the manner of their speech.

What Is New In LCCT, Kuala Lumpur?

In LCCT, KL, you get to...

Rest and Relax...

In the new Plaza Premium Lounge

with the welcome and services of a star VIP

At a charge of RM80.00 for three hours per pax.

Hey, you get free food and internet services in there. They even provide you with massage chairs.

Oh, and I think you can get a discount of RM 20.00, if your flight was scheduled at less than three hours away.

Money Changer in LCCT, Kuala Lumpur

Friends and I were wondering the other day if they had any money changers in the LCCT (Low Cost Cargo Terminal) for Air Asia in Kuala Lumpur.

Apparently, they do, under the operation of Hong Leong bank.

Money Changer in the LCCT, Kuala Lumpur