We Are Moving House...Finally!

This time, it's for real. What am I talking about? I am talking about updating my blog, and also about us shifting out of UniLodge Sydney. This time, it's for real. Ever since my last entry here which is probably about a month ago, I can hardly find time to breathe everyday. The exams was totally taking every joule of energy I have left in me. I had to juggle the exams, screwed up things in my life and the moving out of UniLodge. Well I'm just glad that the first 2 are out of the way now and I can fully concentrate on the shifting from UniLodge to our new house in Five Dock.

I had my past paper a few days ago and since then, we haven't stopped preparing for the shift. The shift is probably going to happen gradually over the next few days, bit by bit every night. We'll be having our farm practical from 9-5 everyday and we only can shift our stuffs at night. Today was probably the most fruitful day I have spent in Sydney this year. We got a lot of things accomplished today, mostly on the buying of new furniture. But I shall update you guys on the furniture buying in another entry. As for now, aren't you eager to see how our new house looks like? It's a little but PRETTY house in Five Dock, Sydney. 4 of us are going to be living in there. Kaartheg, Sherissa, Gen and I. All 4 Singaporean vet students. I am so looking forward to my new life in there. For now, make do with these pictures...for you will never get to see this house so neat and tidy and vacant ever again after today. *hahahahahahaha*


Welcome to my new crib in Five Dock. The huge shutter you see on the left is the entrance to the garage and the little door you see to the right is our main entrance.




This is the garage after we lifted the shutter. See what's missing? A car! Absolutely! Mum & Dad...that's a hint! *wink wink*




Now we're inside the house. The door on the right is the door to the main entrance (you saw in the first picture) while the doors to the left is the door to my room. Did I mention that I took the master bedroom of the house. Woo hoo!!




My room with the door opened. It's totally empty now because the furniture has not been delivered yet.




That is the only window in my room. I feel like chopping down the bush outside. It totally blocks all my view. Who wants to wake up, draw the blind and see a...BUSH?




Opposite my window is my walk-in wardrobe (left) and my ensuite toilet (right).




Here's a closer view of my walk-in wardrobe. I can totally use it as my store room as well. I don't have that many clothes anyways.




Needless to say, that is my bathroom + toilet.




This is the HUUUUUGE common area that we have. To the right is the dining area, to the left is our awesome kitchen, and in the background is our living room.




See our kitchen? It's the open-concept kind. We are so going to be great chefs after we move in!




This is our living room. Okay I know you totally can't tell it at all without the sofas and TV. Soon you will. Right in front of you is the glass sliding door which you can open to enter our backyard. Correction: HUGE backyard.




On the right is the glass sliding door which I was talking about in the previous picture. In the middle is the window from Kaartheg's room and on the left is the window from Sherissa's room. This picture is taken from the backyard.




Here's one side of our backyard with a huge clothes hanging rack.




This is the other side of the backyard. I am definitely going to have regular BBQs in this backyard. Definitely!!!




This is the side entrance to the house. That's also where the Garbage Bin and Recycling Bin is parked for weekly collection.




Ooops! I think I left out the laundry room. The washing machine is coming soon. We haven't decided which type of machine we want.



So did you enjoy the virtual tour I took you through? If you happen to come by Sydney, call me! I'm more than happy to be your host at my new house. Mum & Dad, thank you for approving the shift. =)

I Am A New Man

Dearest readers,

My biggest apologies for the almost month-long hiatus. It has been the worst month of my life and a lot of things happened to me. I am glad it is all over now. Unsolved, but all over. I am not planning blog about all the unhappy events cos' I don't think they are worth blogging on. All I shall say is this, "...Sometimes, we just need to learn to let go..."

The year is coming to an end. Most of our assignments and tests are well over. However, the scary thing is that the final exams are just around the corner. I'm a little scared cos' this time, I feel like I'm not prepared enough. I should start getting into a study mood, now that the first paper is less than a month away. Geez...

Through the mishaps that happened to me in the past month, I feel like I have grown as a person. I feel that I learn to cherish people more. I learn to be more grateful about things that I have taken for granted for. The unsolved problem may never be solved, but I always remember this saying, "...What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger..." and boy is it true. The new me, isn't going to see the world like the past anymore.

Now stop calling me "EMO". I'm not. Or at least, this is the last time I am going to sound scarily emo. I still have a long life to live. And no matter what shits on you, life has to go on. I have a mission in life. I have a dream that I must fulfill. And I will, and must go on. For those of you who already know what my problem is, I just want to say a big big big big big THANK YOU for all the support through this tough times. I don't need to mention names, you guys know who you are. Without you guys, I won't be here typing tonight. I promise to be strong, I promise to move on. I will be happy. So make sure you don't stop coming back here. Cos' I will be updating you guys with all that you've missed. :)

Stay tuned...

I Am Dead

On the 21st of September, the love of my life lay the bomb on me. And on this day, Ryan Leong is dead. He will recover, but I don't know when. Till then, he remains dead.

Day 06: Pulau Langkawi

I realise a pattern, the day always start with a meal and ends with one as well. We had curry noodles near the jetty at Kuala Perlis. Then we parked our car at a secured car park before queueing up at the jetty just in time for the 10.00am boat. Pulau Langkawi is a little island off Perlis and it's kind of like Sentosa except it's much bigger and its beach is 1000 times cleaner and nicer.


Darling, Ah Ma, PaPa, Mummy, See-Ee and Ji-Ee. I'lld admit, it isn't the best jetty in the world. And to quote Darling, "This jetty has the dirtiest and smelliest toilet in the world!". That's what makes us Malaysia!!




Our boat is Alaf Baru 1 and it's heading for Kuah. That's the main city in Pulau Langkawi where the jetty is.




And what did I say about Darling and her DS Lite? It's glued to her palms!! Ah Ma can only watch on...I don't even think she knows what that is. (so bad!!)



After about 45 minutes of boat ride we arrived in Kuah. PaPa rented a mini-van so we can commute within Langkawi. It is a pretty old vehicle, I'd say around 20 years old? It's a manual van and I believe it wasn't the easiest task trying to drive that van. Not forgetting, it doesn't have power steering. Therefore, I did not even attempt to snatch the steering wheel off PaPa. *hahahaha* We checked in to a little hotel called "CoCo Top". That was See-Ee's recommendation as she comes to Pulau Langkawi for her karaoke singing competition pretty often.


Right below the hotel was this bakery and my curious Darling decided to take a photo with this rack of bread which had came straight out of the oven. In Singapore if you want to grab a photo like that you'd probably need to go through lots of people from the Gardenia factory.



Once again, Mummy and PaPa booked a room for Darling and I while the rest of them shared a huge room. So nice... Oh I have to mention something. In that huge room of theirs, there were only 4 beds. Which meant that they have to ordered an extra bed which, needless to say, was for PaPa. The man who paid for all the rooms ended up having to sleep on the lousiest bed that night. I felt really bad. He's done so much, paid for everything, drive us around and in the end he had to take the "best" bed. I would have done the whole thing differently if I can turn back time. He deserves better.

After checking in, we all drove round the island. Stopping by several places for really really good and cheap food. There were many places of interests as well but we just couldn't seem to find them. We eventually found one though but that was after we stopped by a shopping centre there where Darling bought a RM800.00++ Gucci sunglass. Crikey!!

Next was the natural spring. Natural HOT spring to be exact. It's a small little "well" that is filled up with natural hot water. Tourists from all over the world come here to soak their feet into this water. Apparently it's good for them or something like that. I on the other hand, beg to differ. I think it is disgusting!!


That is the well I was talking about. Looks clean right? But the water's almost pale green!




That's Darling scooping water into the pail. That same pail which millions of people have used before, TO SOAK THEIR FEET IN! And she can still smile!!!




Look at these people...are they even enjoying this process? There were people who just removed their feet from these pails prior to our arrival. Good for health? Think again...




*hahahahahahaha* I cannot stop laughing at how we people think at times. Picture this, someone with foot rot or some incurable skin disease or an open-wound soak their feet in these pails. Then you come along and soak your feet in that same pail. How is this beneficial to us? I am glad I gave this a pass!




Pretending to scoop water isn't as bad as soaking my feet, I think.



Well since half the day was spent travelling and looking for places to visit, the day ended just like that. Our resolution for tomorrow, find those places of interest which at this moment, can only be seen on the map. We must find them or this Langkawi trip would be a waste! Oh dinner at this Chinese makan place was good. And we even made a surprising discovery...


A cat sleeping on the table top of a closed Wan Tan Mee stall. Can you imagine what people would be eating tomorrow morning when the stall opens for business. But I wasn't civic-minded enough to disturb that cat's sweet sleep. Sleep tight now kitty...

Day 05: Kedah/Perlis

The early morning rain didn't stop us from having breakfast at the market just outside Ji-Ee's house. We had roti canai (roti paratha in Singapore) and tonnes of nasi lemak! That's the joy about living in the kampung (village). Where else in the world can you find a huge packet of nasi lemak for 50 cents? We ate till we couldn't swallow anymore before returning home for the rain to stop. After laxing around, it was almost noon and we all decided to visit PaPa and Mummy's durian orchard. Before I forget, here are some pictures of Darling and 阿王 (Ah Wang).


阿王, say hi to everyone...




I didn't lie to you did I? She's the most gorgeous mongrel around. Darling gave a little belly rub.




After many many many attempts, we finally managed to get her to sit. She sprung up to action again as soon as I was done taking this photo. Althought she's already 18 months old, she's as playful as a little puppy.



Next stop, the durian orchard. PaPa and Mummy bought this piece of land before I was even born. They planted each and every tree from seedlings and today, all the trees have already tower over us. Because we all reside in Singapore, PaPa had to get a caretaker to manage the orchard for us. Each and every year when PaPa call his caretaker to enquire about the durian harvest, the caretaker would brush us aside and claim that there are no fruits due to bad weather and so on... Load of rubbish! See how many durians we saw when we conducted this surprise spot check.


PaPa and Darling were the durian models for the day. You really have to be extra careful when walking within the orchard because durians drop from the tree whenever they are riped. No warnings, no signs. They just drop. This durian that PaPa and Darling were holding dropped as soon as this photo was taken. Coincidence? Or destruction? *haha* I don't know.




Mummy was determined to bring home as many durians as the car can take. Afterall, they belong to us. Luckily the caretaker wasn't there or he'll probably get it from PaPa. And when I said Mummy was determine to bring home the durians, I mean LOOOOTTTSSS of durians. The entire car boot was filled!




Hey this tree doesn't belong to us! PaPa, what are you doing stealing people's fruit!!!




After that, PaPa brought us to eat this Hakka noodles not far away from the orchard. I know it looks very simple but boy was it delicious. Even the low-carb Darling gave in. I told you, she wouldn't last long with that low-carb rubbish.




Darling, Mummy, PaPa, Ji-Ee and Ah Ma. According to PaPa, he always come here for lunch with the orchard's caretaker when we used to stay in Perlis. That was decades ago when I was still a toddler.



With the boot full of durians, we drove to Gor-Ee's house to distribute some to them before returning to Ji-Ee's place. I shall share an interesting incident with you guys here and hopefully you can draw from here a lesson or two about dogs you're not familiar with. So here we were, in Ji-Ee's house opening up the durians one by one. We had so much durian in our guts and Darling (AS USUAL) wanted to save some durians for her best friend 阿王. She removed the seeds from a few durians and held all the durian flesh in her hand and went into 阿王's kennel. 阿王 obviously leaped with joy at the smell of durian. Darling hand-fed 阿王 thinking that she will nibble the durian from her hands like how my Dino always does. She was so wrong. 阿王 isn't used to being hand-fed and she mistook Darling's hand for the entire durian flesh. Opened her muzzle and sank her canine tooth right into Darling's finger. An ouch, some tears and blood was oozing out of her finger profusely. It swelled almost immediately and we have to rush her to the nearest clinic for a Tetanus jab. And as soon as her jab was done, she was back in 阿王's kennel playing with her again. This is extreme dog lover in action here. *shakes head...*

In the evening, we packed our bags and relocated to See-Ee's house in Perlis. She prepared Penang Laksa for us. Although I do appreciate her efforts but I have to say that Mummy's Laksa tastes heaps better! Tonight we'll all be sleeping in my cousin's room. They are all abroad. Guess what Darling found on Pit Kean's (my cousin) bed?


Her childhood doll! She used to own one of these.



Once again, there is a slight change to the itenary. We planned to go to Hat Yai, Thailand initially but because of the recent bombings over there, we've decided to go to Pulau Langkawi instead. It has been 10 years since I went there. Hope it's going to be a nice trip. Time to sleep now...Langkawi awaits us.

Day 04: Kedah

The day started like yesterday with us having breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. Same food, equally bad. *haha* Today is the day we're going to leave Penang and head towards Kedah where we will be staying in Ji-Ee's (2nd Auntie) place. After stopping by for one last dose of Penang Street's cendol, we went to get boxes of Tau Sar Peah for our relatives whom we will bump into this trip. We got about 5 boxes. One for each family.

To the ferry terminal we go. And like the way we came, we drove up the huge ferry which takes us on a 20-minute ride from Penang to George Town.


Good-bye Penang, till we meet again...which wouldn't be very far away I'd imagine.




On this return trip, we got out of the car and enjoyed the sea breeze, which most people do actually. Here's Mummy, PaPa and I.




Guess who's out of the car as well? My Darling finally broke free from her Nintendo DS Lite and came out of the car. *hahahaha*



Kedah isn't very far away from Penang. Roughly an hour and a half of drive and we were in Alor Setar, the capital city of Kedah. We went straight to Ji-Ee's place. Gosh the weather in Kedah is scorching hot. If you think Singapore is hot, wait till you get to Kedah on a typical afternoon. As if the heat alone wasn't bad enough, the humidity made things worse. Darling had a tough time adjusting into this heat but she managed to take an afternoon nap nonetheless.

As the afternoon passed SLOWLY, Gor-Ee (5th Auntie) and her family came. Ah Ma (my grandmother) came over as well. Oh, so did See-Eee (4th Auntie), who was the joker throughout this trip. When she opens her mouth, you'd burst into laughter usually way before she ends her sentence. WHat an entertainer. Well I guess it's just the way people are, some people like me is just a natural entertainer. *wahahahahah* No shame!

Then at night we went to have dinner at a little hawker centre that boasted many of their local delights. I wouldn't exactly say they have the best sanitation around the hawker centre but...if you eat without looking at how they wash their plates and what goes in the drains...it shouldn't be too tough to swallow your food. For some strange reasons, Darling decided to start her low-carb diet today and she barely ate anything. She is so going to regret this. No worries, I have ways to make her eat again. It's all about temptations. There really isn't much to do in Kedah at night. Kedah's like Perth except it's hotter. So when everyone were fast asleep, Darling and I were watching movies on her laptop.

I probably didn't mention that Ji-Ee has a dog called "Ah Wang", 阿王. She's a one and a half year old Labrador cross. Whatever she was crossed with, none of us could decipher. She's a very good dog with a great temperament. I'd probably post some pictures of her in tomorrow's entry. Between 阿王 and Darling, it was almost love at first sight. Darling couldn't stop playing with 阿王.

Day 03: Still In Penang

I couldn't emphasize enough on how lousy the hotel food was. Nevertheless we ate a lot. That's the joy about holidays like these, you eat and eat and eat and eat and never have to feel guilty. Afterall, it's the holidays! Since it was a free and easy day, I suggested going to the Kek Lok See temple. This is a temple which almost every Penang visitor will visit and it sits on top of a hill. Getting to the foot of the hill wasn't so much an issue but it is getting to the top of it that was challenging. Think about it, none of us looked like we were in the perfect shape for mountain climbing, let alone after a heavy, albeit lousy, breakfast. Of course we didn't give up. We gave our all, despite the steep steps. Some of the locals there make us look stupid as they easily breeze past us on our way up. And mind you they are old folks. *hahahaha* We can't help but laugh at our weakness. After a bit of the hike, we reached the entrance to Kek Lok See temple. First to greet us was this old man asking us if we wanted to buy kang kong which he had tied up in bunches. He told us there were lots of turtles in the pond and they love kang kongs. Needless to guess, my Darling was the first to say okay. She is always okay as long as it involves animals.


And the old man was right. Look at how the turtles swam towards us when we waved the kang kong above the turtles. I can imagine how starved they were.




Mummy and PaPa joined in the fun as well. *haha*




That is about 10% of the total number of hungry turtles there.




And who says that pigeons and turtles cannot co-hibit?




Darling and I at the main entrance of Kek Lok See temple.




That's Darling praying to the "Thousand-Hand Goddess of Mercy".




And then we found out that that was not all. To reach the summit of the hill, we had to take a "lift" that runs 45 degrees upslope to the other part of the temple. Darling, PaPa and Mummy as we were queueing up to enter the "lift".




That's the view from inside the lift. Now you know how steep I was talking about?




At the top of the hill, there were more places to visit. Here's my family including myself standing beside our individual totem. *haha* It was a pity my brother couldn't be there. The picture would have been otherwise complete. Oh he's born in the year of the Ox by the way.




Darling, feeding her Rat whatever she was drinking. Gosh...




Mummy and PaPa in front of the huge temple that sits atop the hill.




Now a little history about Kek Lok See... At the summit of this hill sits a huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy. A few years ago, the Malaysian government ordered the temple to demolish the statue as it is standing way above the height of the tallest mosque in Malaysia. Therefore, renovations have to be made to that statue in order to preserve it. In short, lower the height of the statue so that the tallest mosque is taller than this statue. Now you know why I dislike my own country at times! As the renovation project requires a lot of money, the temple is seeking donations from the public and one way to do that is to get us to buy slabs of the roof coverings which will shelter the statue of the Goddess of Mercy. On each slab of roof tile we can inscribe our family's name and well-wishes. When the renovation is complete, our family's names will sit on top of the statue and overlook Penang from on top the hill. RM100.00 for this tile that PaPa selected and he wrote all these words himself. Impressive?




I love this background.



And that sort of concludes our day. Oh not forgetting the Indian rice we had for lunch and the most awesome cendol in Penang Street. At night we went to Mc Callister Street for dinner where we had MORE local delights. Like I said, holiday's all about eat eat eat eat eat eat. I'm not keeping count about the number of pounds I've gained. We can talk about that later. Tomorrow, we'll be leaving Penang.