Random-ness..

Randomness brings me here tonight...
i thought i have walked far enough...
to the point that even when i look back..
i can't see what is behind me...
but sometimes... it seems that i'm wrong...
i find myself retrieving my steps... going backwards...
looking back into the past...
and though it sometimes brings tears...
tonight... it brought a smile to my face effortlessly... =)

That aside. XD

Eve of the 1st day of Sem 4...
it has been a good break...
i guessed i've enjoyed to the max and it's time for the horrible, hectic schedule to start again...
yes... i dread sem 4...
actually... i dread the beginning of every semester... LOL
but in a weird way... i miss my batchmates... XD
so i was actually having a mixture of feelings on my way back to KL...
dreading to see IMU... yet looking forward to seeing everybody again... : )
we've survived 3 semesters...
we'll survive the rest right? =) * keeping my fingers crossed... until end of sem 8... LOL.. *
to b107.. CHEERS... all the best in sem 4... =D

-1 Ling-

Yay-ness. =D

Yay-ness. =D

I finally had the chance to go to the beach.

When yih yin suggested that we hiked to Pantai Kerachut as our annual visit..

i can't help but grin from ear to ear... : )

that's like one of my favourite place to visit...

though there's nothing much there besides the beautiful beach and memories...

The first time i set foot on kerachut was when i was in form 2...

when i went camping...

and there's a story behind me being able to camp there...

that's why... it's a place filled with memories for me... =)

and since then... i have visited that place annually...

from an isolated quiet beach.. it has now become a part of the Taman Negara in Penang.. with more visitors..

But still... i love it... : )

anyway... memories aside...

23122008

we hiked to Pantai Kerachut..

mum and han joined us for the hike this time...

Applause for mum... she hiked like us... and it didn't seem like she's 50 at all...

it was a one hour hike to the beach and a one and a half hour hike out cause we used another tougher route... with lotsa ants... =.=

after the hike.. han and mum headed home while we went chilling at Prangin and then headed off to steamboat for dinner...

one thing i have always loved about penang... we have lots of beaches... XD

and we went chilling at another beach at Jelutong after dinner...

from jokes to serious talk to silent moments when our thoughts wander...

i enjoyed every moment of the day.. : )

-1 Ling-

Silence. =)

Sometimes silence is something i enjoy...
When we stood together...
not saying anything...
Yet we felt comfortable in each others' company...
i enjoyed that quiet moment...
thank you. =)

to my besties: thank you for the wonderful day. for the memories. for everything else. =D

-1 Ling-

KL- Malacca. =D

11122008
It started with me asking yih yin and yin yin whether they wanna join me for my trip to KL to settle some stuffs in IMU and to see a friend... : )
i wasn't actually expecting a yes... but to my surprised they agreed... so...
the 3 of us headed down to KL and the girls went shopping at midvalley while i stayed back and settled my stuffs...
12122008
the next day... we conquered Bukit Bintang... XD
LOL... girls and shopping... they always come together right? what more there's SALES... XD
so from Sg. Wang to Pavillion and then to Times Square.. we shopped till we drop...

Christmas Deco at Sg. Wang..

" The Day The Earth stood Still " at Pavillion cause we could walk no more... I like the movie... but... i don't like the ending.. to me, the ending... terlalu chin chai la... =.=

Times Square... I sudah teramat tired... I just sat down stoning while they shopped...

13122008

The 3 of us headed to Petaling Street to meet up with the others who have traveled from Penang.. : )

And together we took a bus to PJ... Lx's place... : )

A simple dinner of tong shui and mamak... they have a wide variety of tong shui... and kononnya... its famous... i didn't try though...

then we headed to 1 utama...

they had this special christmas deco with the theme of "Alice in Wonderland"..

its the nicest one that i've seen so far... : )

White Christmas.

The view from top.

That is suppose to be part of a maze.

I like the way they line the path with "cards".. BIG cards... XD

14122008

We're on our way to Malacca. =D

Arrived in Malacca two hours later and took a cab to the hotel... cabs in malacca are rather pricey... considering that the distance is pretty short...

Anyway... the hotel that was recommended by a local, which is my brother's friend... turn out to be too far from all the tourist spots.. =.=

so... we with our "scouting" semangat... lol.. decided to walk to Jonkers Street from Jalan Gajah Behrang... which is a 20-30 minutes walk...

Last semester... we strolled the streets of Penang;

This semester... we strolled the streets of Malacca.

Navigating with the map.

Shopping for souvenirs at Jonkers Street. XD

Lunch was at this coffee shop at Jonkers Street. The tables of this coffee shop are special.. Look closer... they are made of sewing machines...

Lunch: The Nyonya Laksa with lotsa santan and the Cendol.

It was drizzling outside.. so we headed into the museum (Stadthuys Complex) .. NO.. i should say... museumS.. cause you pay once and you can enter all five museums... which are interconnected... it's SO SO SO big...

The museumS... have a lot to offer.. ranging from weapons to means of transport to literature to a replica of the inside of the Yang Dipertua's Mansion to the route to independence.

A view of Malacca from the top of the museum.

LOL.. I'm just TOO tired to move another inch... I decided to become part of the museum. XD

This canggih mirror is found inside the DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT MUSEUM.

St. Paul's Church.

It was after the rain and there was a cool breeze. They played and sang song after song.. And I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere. Reminds me of campfires. XD

A view from the top of St. Paul's Hill. The tower at the back is the observatory tower of Malacca.

The famous chicken rice ball for dinner. To be honest... I don't like the rice ball... it tastes more like kuih than rice... hehe... XD

Walking back to the hotel.. I'm damn tired.. i think the last time i felt so was during IMU cup training... LOL

Malacca at night.. I don't know why.. but the buildings on this street seem to share one common thing... they all have lights framing the front of the building..

15122008

Since the hotel we were staying in was so far from where we wanted to visit..

we decided to switch to another hotel which is situated next to Jonkers Street near to the Quayside...

It's one of the old houses converted into a hotel... cosy it is... : )

Nasi lemak rendang for breakfast. It's cheap.

p/s : joni, they give you one whole egg for one plate of nasi lemak. XD

Christ Church and the Queen Victoria's Fountain.

You can see trishaws like this everywhere near the tourist spots.. rm40 per ride around some tourist spots with a local guide introducing you to the popular sites.

Porta de Santiago. The gate of the A Famosa (it means the famous in Portuguese) fortress.

The Maritime Museum. Built in the shape of a huge ship, a replica of "Flor de La Mar", a Portuguese ship that sank off the coast of Malacca. Situated at the Quayside and overlooking the mouth of the Malacca River.

TLDM Museum. Losta cool gadgets. You only need to pay once for both the Maritime Museum and the TLDM Museum. And it's worth every penny of it... only rm3.00 and you get to see a whole damn lot... wakalukong... ranging from aircrafts, submarines to all kinds of marine uniform.

A view at the Quayside. That's the Eye on Malaysia.

After shopping for more stuffs to bring home... we posed for a photo in front of this water mill... the sign says that its " Kincir Air Kesultanan Melayu Melaka ".

One last stop for the day. We walked all the way from Bandar Hilir to Bukit Cina to look at this well.. LOL.. The Hang Li Poh well.. it seems that the water in the well has been poisoned for a few times during the war. and the water from this area has a higher surface tension cause of the minerals present in the water.. as explained by the guide... that's why it forms a rounded surface if the cup is filled to the brim.

We ended the day by walking to the jetty and treated ourselves to a session of karaoke until midnight. : )

16122008

Time to say bah bye to Malacca.

After a light breakfast, we boarded a bus to Malacca Central.

and... it only cost us rm1 each... when the cab actually cost us rm12 for one cab... @#$%$@@%

It was way too early when we reached Malacca Central. So while waiting for the bus back to KL.. we started calculating our expenses.. and i spent rm200 for my 3 days in Malacca with shopping, food, accomodation, transport and COFFEEBEAN included... XD

Upon reaching kl.. we spent the night in PJ.

17122008

Heading home... back to Penang.

All in all.. i would say that this trip is a fun one...

and thanks to Lx and Cs.. for being the host in PJ... : )

thanks to Lx's housemates for letting us stay at their place..

thanks to my besties for being there to calm me down when things didn't turn out right...

Lx and yih yin... thank you for your words... : )

thanks to everyone who made this trip possible... even my parents and cedric... : )

-1 Ling-

I'm Home.. =)

=D i'm back in Penang again... home sweet home... LOL...
have been away from home for the last one week...
Penang-KL-PJ-Malacca-PJ-Penang

And all i've been doing is...
1. EAT
KL- Pan Mee for breakfast... Tong shui for dinner.. Nasi Lemak for supper..
Malacca- Nasi Lemak for breakfast... Nyonya Laksa for lunch... Chicken rice ball for dinner... mashed potatoes for supper...

2. VISIT MALLS
KL- from mid valley to sungai wang to pavillion to times square to 1 utama... =.= though not much real shopping was done... but those were the malls we visited when we were in KL..
Malacca- from Jonkers Street to Malacca Megamall to Mahkota Parade... Malls and more malls... =.=

3. WALK
KL- we stroll bukit bintang and Petaling Street
Malacca- we stroll the streets of Malacca... from Jalan Gajah Behrang to Bandar Hilir... and Jonkers Street. =.=

4. TAKE PHOTOS
KL- we take photos of christmas deco
Malacca... we take pictures of the heritage sites?? XD

5. SHOP
KL- we shop for clothes, shoes, bags...
Malacca- we shop for souvenirs and stuff to bring home... XD

will update more about my trip later...
not in the mood to do so now... : )

-1 Ling-

Picture Talk.

i visited a bird's nest processing factory... somewhere at Jawi..
it is considered to be something very "bu"...
but... to me... "ewwww..." XD
anyway... some pictures taken at the bird's nest processing factory...
a small scale one... where people rear birds to make bird's nest...
thus the quality is not as good as those found in caves... kononnya...

Bird's nest with feathers... LOL.. unprocessed bird's nest... the black stuff-feathers...

Picking feathers... this is tough people... even the fine fine hair need to be gotten rid off... i kesian the aunty... takes a lot of eye power... XD

They said this is to mould the bird's nest into the intended shape so it's easier for packaging... and it has higher aesthetic value if it has a nicer shape... =.=

Bird's nests... after disinfection...

=Random Pictures=

My lil cousin... who has a huge temper... and a wide vocab... she told the salesgirl: "i FANCY those pair of pink shoes..." when she was 4... who the hell says that??

Octopus... =D A famous dish in Nibung Tebal... Cheang Kee restaurant...

Souvenirs from Australia... thankew... : ) there were like 20 bars... all with different flavour... i didn't know there's such a wide variety of cadbury available...

Bernie... Happy Bday... : )

A very canggih lock... for prisoners... at Fort Cornwallies...

Nice goat... LOL... at Fort Cornwallies also...

The famous Penang Road cendol... to me... bo ho jiak... i still prefer the one in BM... =)

-1 Ling-

What's Life but Our Stories?

I've finished reading Patterson.
A really good novel which got me stuck to it...
short. with twists and turns every now and then...
sweet and filled with love... touching and warm...
And i like one particular quote from the novel...
"what's life but our stories?"
it made me think.. and it's true...
life is nothing but our own stories...
told in a unique and fascinating way...
you never know what every story holds until you come to it...
and after reading every story...
you learn something new about yourself...
as you wander down the path of life...
your collection of stories builds up...
and perhaps one day...
you will narrate your own story...
no matter who the audience...
to let yourself stay alive...
to allow memories of you to linger...
long after you're gone... : )

-1 Ling-

Emotions. Novels. Linda C. Mou Liu-ness. XD

I'm feeling empty... but to come and think of it...
no... i'm not exactly feeling empty... i'm full of emotions and feelings now...
all kind of different weird feelings which i don't know how to put into words... jumbled up...
people can really annoy the hell out of me sometimes...
people can really let me down sometimes...
people can just bring a smile to my face effortlessly sometimes...
some people know fairly well i hate to be ignored and yet they choose to ignore me when i am actually asking them something important...
some people know me well enough to know that i hate to be taken for granted and yet they like to do that again and again... WHY oh WHY?? =.=

anyway... i've finished reading another one of Cecilia Ahern's novels... "Where Rainbow Ends"
its a really nice novel of how two best friends growing up together...
harbouring feelings for each other over 50 years...
and yet never have the "right time" or the guts to confess...
a novel written in the form of letters... chatlogs... text messages...
Its a bit lengthy towards the end... until i got impatient and read the ending first... hehe...
i know i've spoilt everything by doing that but then bey tahan ma... XD
good thing it's a happy ending... =p

i saw another novel by Ahern at the bookstore today... "The Gift". its beautiful..
the packaging is REALLY NICE... they made it look like a gift wrapped in silver wrapper with a piece of red ribbon tied over it...
The perfect gift for christmas... XD but its too pricey... WAY TOO PRICEY...
i think i'll go back to the old bookstore to hunt for it after sometime and see whether i can get it at a cheaper price...

besides the occasional yum cha's with my friends.. brother.. and parents...
i haven't been up to anything really interesting...
OWH... actually... there is... LOL...
i was at Sunway Carnival Mall today... cause somebody was so keen to see Linda Chung in a dress...
i was talking to a friend while everyone else was waiting for her arrival...
and the next thing i know i saw this group of people walking towards me...
and Linda Chung was right in the middle... she's sweet... : )
i'm currently reading James Patterson's... " Sam's letters to Jennifer "
i think after finishing this one... i need to read something else that doesnt involve LETTERS or ROMANCE or LOVE... LOL.. XD

i'm currently thinking of BEACH. KERACHUT.
i'm currently craving for LAKSA.
i'm currently listening to FALL FOR YOU.
i'm currently planning for the trip to MALACCA.
i'm currently GLAD because all my BESTIES are HOME.
i'm currently feeling a teeny weeny bit EMO-ish.
ok... i'm just being a bit wu liao...
signing off... Nitez..

-1 Ling-

My What-have-I-been-up-to List. XD

1. I burnt mum's kettle... XD

how did i do it? i left the water boiling for too long... apparently there's no water left... only the kettle is left sitting on the stove... so... it got burnt at the bottom... XD but it wasn't exactly my fault... i was occupied entertaining my uncle.. helping him book flight tickets... =p and yeah... mum stared in disbelief and was speechless when she got back from bali and saw the poor kettle... hehe...

2. I spoke quite a lot of teowchew recently.

mum and dad are not around the first few days when i came back to penang. so i have to fetch my little cousins and grandma around... for errands and meals... and the only way for me to communicate with gramps is to speak in teowchew... and i tried my best to tell her stuffs about myself... updating her... in teowchew... just so she won't feel neglected when my cousins are talking among themselves... so yeah... i've been speaking a lot of teochew... but it's still cacat in a way... XD

3. I met up with a gang of my closest FRIENDS.

We met up and tried planning a trip to malacca.. i hope everything works out.. : ) And chen sin is coming back soon... :D and i shall see chin soon soon... he has disappeared into thin air for some time... =.=

4. Mum and Dad are back from Bali.

And they bought lotsa souvenirs. XD and bali is one cool place... they have lotsa temples... lol... but that's not what that's cool... the cool thing is the beach and the scenery... fantabulous... XD

5. I went shopping with mum.

it's been ages since the last time we shopped together. both mum and i don't really like shopping so... it's really hard to see us walking in a mall together... : )

6. I've tried out the new toffee nut frappucino at SB but i haven't been drinking coffee daily.

um... let's jz say that i don't quite like it... i still prefer green tea frap. XD i'm beginning to miss the ultimate from CB. =p and i haven't been drinking coffee daily. :D but i've been drinking strawberry tea quite often... XD

7. I've finished reading p/s I Love You. =)

Nice book... and guess what... everytime i read a note written by Gerry to Holly... the last line always makes my tears fall... haha.. and the ones that made me really touched were the one that Gerry arranged a holiday for Holly... and the last one... quoting the author...

Don't be afraid to fall in love again. Open your heart and follow where it leads you...

hmm... guess that's true huh? : ) and people... the movie is nothing compared to the book... plus the movie has been editted... as in the storyline in the movie is different from the book... so forget about the movie... READ THE BOOK... =D

8. I re-watched Made of Honour. :D

i don't know why... but i just wanted to watch it at that moment... and it was 1am then...

9. I am on my mission to fill my glass bottle with paper cranes.

small cranes... purple. light purple. blue. light blue. :) i'm halfway through... A belated birthday present for a friend... for what you've been through earlier on... sending you my warmest wishes... and hopefully... everything goes well for you...

10. I went hiking with my family.

It was drizzling. I just woke up from my nap... so reluctant to leave my bed... =p and han was reluctant as well... he's busy studying for his SAT.. but mum had nothing of that... we eventually agreed to going after her nagging non stop for 10 minutes... =.= but i guess it was good that i went... it's been so long since the last time i hiked... : ) mum and i chatted while we hiked... secrets were shared.. views were exchanged... ; ) and papa... for once seems interested in whatever we were talking about... haha...

11. I've watched Quantum of Solace.

AND IT WAS BORING... i'm not kidding you... i mean the action and all was OWHKAY.. but it didn't really impress me... XD i mean... it gets more and more lao yiah... really... how can a person be beaten up like that and not die? how can he jump onto a bus hitting the top flat, face down and still stand up and run like nothing has happened?? how come when the bond boat hits the enemy boat... it is the bad guys that were thrown overboard and not him?? it is just so UNREAL... and just before the roll of credits... all four of us... wei ping, kp, joni and me... asked the same question... " who is vesper? " LOL... XD and walking out from the cinema... none of us truly understand what was the movie about... are we slow or what? oklahar... maybe we're like david... run on DOS... XD and kp suggested we watch the movie again to TRULY UNDERSTAND it... hahaha...

12. We had steamboat. : )

yup... after movie we had steamboat for dinner... and it was a pleasant one... : ) and i've learnt lotsa LAME theories...

kp: do you know why the peeing prawn and the prawn are of the same species? cause... when you catch a prawn and its scared... it'll start to pee... so... that's where peeing prawn comes from... =.=

kp: if you wanna know whether a prawn is fresh or not... when you eat it... if you can feel the POWER... then its fresh... =.=

n owh... when we were at the mall... wei ping wanted to show us some phone that he is interested in... but when i asked... he insisted that its a remote control that he wants to buy... so wei ping... when are you buying your remote control?

-1 Ling-