Being Malaysian and proud of it

Merdeka Day 2010 is just around the corner.

This Merdeka, there isn't anything for me to prepare for. I used to have band practices for celebration in school. But *sigh* not anymore.

Now, I can choose to be really soppy and start talking about all the good ol' times, like seeing Amanda wearing cheongsam paired up with mini skirt or our Merdeka skit last year that went completely wrong (it ended up with all of us embarrassing ourselves on stage!) or the Merdeka sales that we did....

Or I can choose to simply digress.

Instead of sopping, I am going to talk about how proud I am to be a Malaysian.

Because frankly, I am.

Putting aside all the politics (and if possible, keeping only the StarTwo section of your newspaper), I think Malaysia has more merits than what is currently being advertised. Malaysia may not be able to compete with the rest of the world (yet) in terms of technology or new, awesome, high-tech building structures, but its variety of choices of food is definitely an epic win. Amen?

My father takes me out for breakfast sometimes and we'll end up in this shop somewhere in Ang Cheng Ho that serves "roti kiap". It's like toast but in a more Malaysian way. There is nothing fancy about this roti; it's just bread cut in half and served with kaya and butter. But oh, try it with coffee (Ipoh white coffee if you live in Ipoh!) and you can be sure you have started your day right.

I am a Malaysian so I'll say that I prefer this kiap to a ham sandwich any day (for breakfast, that is).

But that's not all, is it? Nothing really beats the hawker foods here. Kolo mee, laksa, char kueh tiaw... there are plenty of good and delicious food available around here at a reasonable prices.

Truthfully, one of the most interesting thing anyone can do in Malaysia is actually eat. The choices here are virtually unlimited and going from one state to another, the same type of food is cooked in a different version! They taste different too.

So you have to try everything. EVERYTHING.

Just make sure you end up at the right stall thought! There is still a scarcity of good foods, after all. :P

And I just love that I can never go hungry. :D There is always a risk of growing fat, but we only for so long... :P

Here, even at midnight, there are still shops serving food (and good food at that, provided you go to the right stall!).

Who doesn't like being able to go out for mamak mee goreng for supper? I bet those "ball legs" (kaki bola) just love Malaysia during World Cup season because they get to hang out at mamaks and be united in Satu Bola.

Sometimes, when things and places are so near to us, we take them for granted. I've never visited Gua Niah in my life. That's actually quite miserable considering how close I am to Gua Niah.

So anyway, my point is that there are plenty of places to go to in Malaysia. Some may not be much but hey, at least there is something!

Just spend a few hours in every tourist spot. I have no doubt you'll enjoy yourself.

We have mountains, highlands and rain forests. We have really hot seasides and cooling hills. We have a casino! We don't have a Disneyland but at least we have theme parks. We also have beaches and scuba diving here. We have pretty, pretty corals. We even have turtles!

And Damai Beach is actually quite clean. I'm not sure about the rest of the beaches but I'll stay positive. The only other thing local beaches seem to lack is perhaps the sight of people sunbathing in their mini swimsuits.... be honest now!

Going to a new place should always be exciting. Just because you've stayed Malaysia your whole life doesn't mean you've breathed in the same air!

The air is cleaner and fresher at different parts of the world. That said, tourists attractions are not concentrated in the city, alright? Shopping is different from travelling. Try visiting the hot springs or parks around here. Aha... now that's the type of affordable experience we can have.

Come to Kuching and take a sampan ride some time!

I am so proud to say I've been there, done that! xD

Or if sampan ride sounds too old-fashioned for you, we have go-kart too.

I have come to realise that a lot of activities are actually available here in Malaysia so there is no reason to think that Malaysia ain't enough to satisfy your need for extreme sports. Hey, we have jungles! What's tougher than living in a jungle huh!

And if even Kuching has Spring, it means that Malaysia is definitely advancing.

Sure, The Spring is now still just a hang out spot for kids like me, but give it time! Wait til the day when tourists swarms in with their posh LV bags!

Nothing is impossible. I used to think that I'd hang out in Kuching triangle my whole life... that (praise the Lord) managed to change, so I'll be patient and wait for more development.

The Malaysian government may be slowly withdrawing the subsidies, but all in all, the price of things here are still relatively affordable.

And we still have SALE!

So what if some things are China-made!

We got these soft slippers for RM 4!

Some may complain about the education system. I don't have much against it except for the fact that PPSMI was abolished.

I am, however, still glad that it has not yet turned into this really rigid, stressful system that will force students to the brink of frustration.

I did learn a lot of things in my high school days. Iamalsosecretlyprayingthatmissengwon'tmurderme. I did a blood test on myself and my friends - found out I'm blood type O. I helped dissect a frog. I've cut through a cow's heart.

I done experiments that I'm probably never going to do again in my life. And I'll always remember that fermented banana smells really bad.

Through school, we have also been to other cities. See, it's all so fun.

We've also built a double helix model so you can't say we're a rigid bunch no more.

We've learnt how to appreciate our teachers too.

We've bought cakes, made cards and even recite a modified oral speaking script for teachers' farewells and birthdays.

But the reason why I really love Malaysia is because.... well, that is where all the memories are isn't it?

Here is the place where a lot of silly things have occurred.

I grow up here.

I've met many, many friends here.

Friends who like to do silly things as well.

I have had many laughs here.

Remember this?

Chloe's Japanese bowing! :P

So I was on the plane back to Kuching on MAS 3 days ago. I read about an airplane experience in the US from their in-flight magazine. The guy in the article was saying that airplane experience isn't as nice as it used to be. They had rude passengers and rude air stewards and stewardess. It wasn't the kind of privileged experience people used to get when travelling by air.

I took a pause and looked around me at the stewardess giving dinner to people. They were a bit slow that evening but they only had one tray going round. I requested for extra guava juice, milk and plain water. I watched how they treat the guy at the opposite aisle who requested for a lot of guava juice.

And I decided that airplane experience through Malaysian Hospitality is still top-notch.

So if you ask me, I'll tell you that I am proud to be a Malaysian.

I enjoy saying my lahs, mahs, lors and lehs.

I still see young people getting up from their seats to offer their seats to the old.

Hope is still present for Malaysia.

Tomorrow, I am going to wake up for another dose of roti kiap.

Ain't it great to be a Malaysian?

Happy Merdeka Day. :)

Cabbage story

Overheard in church,

A: Watch Inception! It's soooo good!

B: Really ah? You should watch Constipation - It's not out yet.

LOL!

I am finally back in Kuching! I've had my share of kolo mee so life is more or less complete. I'm still waiting for my dose of laksa.

Went to visit the band this morning. :) They look okay. The paint on the sousaphone is cracking, one of the screws got loose, the knob on the bass guitar is missing, the dent I caused on Stupid is still there... yup. Things are still normal and well. But today's gonna be the last time I visit them until next year. My inception didn't work~!

I don't understand why holidays are so few. I'm missing 3 classes next week. Was only supposed to only miss one but the time table just had to change the day before I left.

Anyway, I want to tell the story of when my house decided to cook steamboat a few weeks ago.

I don't know why but I constantly find myself tangled up hilarious and embarrassing incidents (like travelling the wrong way in LRT). But never mind. I live and I learn.

So, my house decided to cook steamboat this one lovely weekend. We went to shop at Mydin (which is something like Giant) for ingredients. My housemates bought two large cabbage, 300g of meatballs, some chicken and hot dogs. Sound reasonable?

Sure thing!

Except for the two large cabbage part.

So we went home and got the cabbage ready. We peeled and washed. We cut and boiled. We borrowed a steamboat set from another house and got ready our bowls.

Btw, did I mention that we ran out of places to store the cabbage? We peeled like one HUGE bag of cabbage leaves. And we expect ourselves to finish all that because we rarely cook.

Torture, I tell you. No joke!

To my fellow juniors who are about as smart as me: Just remember that nobody in their right mind will finish even one whole cabbage in one meal, okay!

We cooked for at least 4 rounds of cabbage with the steamboat set and a rice cooker (so you can add up and conclude that we cook for a minimum of 8 rounds). And I'll tell you that the bag of cabbage is so magical like Mary Poppin's bag - it never seemed to have a bottom!

We cooked and cooked. We ate and ate in a seemingly never-ending cycle. Pit Yung went to cook mee sedap at one point because she got so sick of cabbage but that didn't help much besides making us more full than we already were.

When Kim came to visit, we practically forced her down to eat and gave the remaining cabbage for her unit to cook. Her statement was:

Wah. You are all so li hai! My house can't even finish half a cabbage for dinner!

=____="

(we know, Kim, we know - we just learnt it the hard way!)

PAL Debate

Yesterday, I witnessed two of the funniest debates in my life. I have never enjoyed myself so much in a debate before.

We had debates for our Politics and Law class. The first debate was between Lee Weei, Elian and Olivia (proposing) and Vani, Hetish and Raul (opposing). Motion was “The war on terror, far from creating a safer place, has made the situation more dangerous by curtailing human rights, undermining international laws and government scrutiny.” (or something like that because it was really long)

Here are some of the epic win moments:

Hetish: *speaking halfway*

Olivia: *raises hand* Excuse me! Your shoelace. I scared you trip!

Moments later:

Hetish: Remember *I forgot the name he mentioned*? No? Well how about now? *takes off shoe and mimic the guy who threw his shoe at President Bush*

Us and Olivia: OOohhhh! (so that’s why he untied his shoe!)

Olivia’s speech: Thank you to the opposition for a good demonstration of throwing shoe!

Raul: *sees Miss Angela saying there was only 1 or 2 mins left* Oh shit!

The next debate was on “The Rule of Law is an exceedingly elusive notion: Long live the Rule of Man!”. That was a debate between my group and Ashley’s group. Speakers were Ramia, Amirul and Joel (proposing) against Ihsan, Nazeef and Ashley (oppose).

Here are the epic wins:

Nazeef: To quote from my friend, Ah Lung *looks for Ah Lung in class* Oh shit, he’s sleeping!

Ashley: *after a giggling fit* Control Z! Control Z! (keyboard shortcut for undo fyi!)

Last Tuesday, SCSF (Sunway Catholic Students Fellowship) had their welcoming night. We have this really cool teacher who doesn't mind playing games. I mean, how often do you come across teachers who would actually like to join in playing games! And it was the name-whacking game some more. Really funny when we actually have the chance to whack a teacher. Haha. But of course she never lost because she was so super alert.

We also had some form of charades. Evelyn's act of Lady Gaga completely failed. She was like waving her arms in front like Lady Gaga but we were all like, "Tiger ah?" Epic fail that one. Haha!

Wednesday, 20 of us went to watch Salt. Not as good as I expected it to be but it was ok. Angelina Jolie is so handsome. Lol! Before that, I was having my debate preparation with Keefe, Pauline and Joel. The three of us tricked Pauline to play the Scary Maze game. =D

The AUSMAT kids also had a party yesterday at the 1st floor of Casa Subang. Fun la. We had games and junk food. Plus some random performances: Nazeef and Joel singing, Jagdeep dancing, some limbo game.... super hilarious.

K. That's all. iTired.

MSLS 2010

For the past weekend, I took the trouble and the risk to travel to Ampang Park alone via public transport in KL in the earlier hours of the morning and the later hours at night to attend the 4th Malaysian Student Leaders Summit in Nikko Hotel.

Yes, I was hesitant to attend, especially after Louis told me that he couldn't make it due to some UEM camp. So I did some deliberation until I saw in Facebook one day that Tian Feng was going. So I asked around some more and ultimately I figured that I wouldn't end up looking like a lost sheep there. So I went.

And a whole lot of trouble I went through as well. My first day of travelling alone was actually quite dramatic.

I walked to take a bus from Summit at about 7.00 a.m. After waiting for about 10 minutes, Rapid KL U63 that was going to take me to KL Sentral finally arrived. So I hopped on and asked for my ticket.

Guess what the driver told me?

"Pergi Sentral kena naik bas di stesen seberang jalan. Ini sudah lepas Sentral."

Say what!

I thought I was going to diserang heart attack.

So I ran down from the bus, up the overhead bridge and ran to the bus stop across the road and waited for another 5 minutes. I decided that I couldn't risk wasting anymore time so I took a bus down to Subang KTM instead (because that bus came first).

I got down at Subang Carrefour because everyone else was going down. But right after I asked for directions to walk to the KTM, the bus driver called me back up because the bus would eventually stop at KTM. So nice of the guy, huh?

Reached the KTM. I bought my ticket to KL Sentral. Although the train had little delay, it arrived at 7.50 a.m. Did I mention that the event start at 8.00 a.m.?

I reached KL Sentral at 8.05 a.m.

Panicked.

Decided that I would take a cab from then on to save some time.

Then guess what?

I couldn't find the taxi stand.

I know, right!

I surprised myself too, with my complete lack of sense of direction despite having taken taxis from KL Sentral countless of times with my family. -.-"

SO! I asked this MAS guy. Now, either he was really trying to help me by advising that I take the LRT or he also didn't know where the taxi stand was. Or perhaps, on a more optimistic and more reasonable and one that I would like to believe view, God was trying to help me find the best way without having to spend a lot of money. KL at 8.00 something in the morning can be super jammed even on a Saturday, I suppose.

So I ran back to the LRT line (which I left just 8 minutes ago!). It was a loooonnnggg line. So I took a shot the machine. Luckily I had enough coins in my pocket to purchase a RM 2 ticket to Ampang Park (compare that with RM 20+ of taxi fare!).

I quickly ran up the stairs, following the sign that says "Kelana Jaya" (coz that's the line I was supposed to be taking). The moment I reached the top, I saw that the LRT was already there. So, being completely panicky and completely new to this whole concept of "there-are-actually-two-platforms-and-you-may-be-standing-at-the-wrong-one", I ran in.

It was the wrong one.

After 3 minutes, when the train reached Bangsar, I looked at the travel route - Why was I travelling backwards to Subang!

I could have sworn I was going to diserang heart attack again.

Asked a lady about the line to Ampang Park and she told me get down at the next station to change platforms. -.-" So I got down at Abdullah Hukum and changed LRT. Took 8 stops from there to Ampang Park instead of 6 from KL Sentral. =__="

So by the time I reached Ampang Park, it was already 8.45 a.m. <-- SUPER LATE.

Thankfully Nikko Hotel was right across the street so I made it there at 8.50 a.m., before 9.00. Hey, at least I wasn't an hour late! And the opening address is by a VIP. So I ought to be fine unless in the unlikely event, a VIP actually decided to turn up early.

The event was scheduled to start at 9.00 a.m. anyways when I got there. Haha. Thank God. So I registered myself and met Hon Yen, Tian Feng, Wen Huei, Jia Ming, Munes, Wen Zhen as well as Tian Feng's friend, Josephine and Jia Ming's junior, Joshua.

So what have I profited from the summit?

Lots of free gifts for one, including a universal adapter from Axiata, a 4 gb pendrive from MCC and an Adidas bagpack from British American Tobacco (not that I support smoking).

I also met some of our ministers in the flesh, including our Trade Minister (Datuk Mustapa), our UMNO Youth Chief (Khairy), our Home Minister (Datuk Seri Hishammuddin) and even our Deputy Prime Minister. I also met the founder of Nuff Nang (Timonthy Tiah), the editors of NST, Malaysia Kini, Malaysian Insider and Malay Mail as well as Jason Lo (Munes calls him J.Lo! Haha!).

I also learnt some lame jokes from Jia Ming along the way. But that's besides the point.

We had free lunch and breakfast from the hotel so it was good. We also had group discussions and at the end of the day, a cert. I didn't win the free AirAsia tickets to Phuket and Bali. Dang. Some KY super seniors currently studying in the UK won though.

At the end of the day, I sort of wondered if I would ever catch up with those people again, especially after they leave to UK. So it was a little sad.

But erm... no regrets for missing out on the 15th Malaysian Law Conference (which the Bar Council so kindly sent me an invitation).

Or MTV World Stage.

Ok la. Sad a bit la I missed out World Stage.

A bit. It was in Sunway some more!!

But oh wells. At least I have all that free stuff. =)