Zoo Excursion Photos

Elephant

Baby Elephants

Hungry Deers

Baby Bear

Naughty Monkey

Ostriches

Bigger Bear

Entrance

Malaysian Adventures (Part 2)

Day 3 Mentakab

1st day of CNY and only vegetarian meals were prepared. Everyone were probably weak from just eating the veggies and stayed at home for the whole day. My cousin had her operation late in the afternoon and needed to stay in the hospital for a coupla more days. At night we did go out and my Indian uncle treated us to a mobile steamboat stall.

Another partial blackout occurred just past midnight. Without the lights we had nothing to do so my bro and I went to the place where we slept the night before. Immediately after stepping out of the house, we noticed a commotion at the T-junction ahead. Being kaypoh we went to see.

It turned out to be the electrical cable caught fire and the fire engine was called in. My aunt and uncle came out as well and asked the firemen what happened. Since the fire was put out and there was nothing else to watch we went back to sleep. My brother was brushing his teeth when the all the lights went out. It was a total blackout.

We tried to get to sleep but it was too hot for us and we ended up chatting about our army experiences. Finally I went to sleep and the electricity was restored in the middle of night. I was too sleepy to wake up but my brother switched on the air-con.

Day 4 Mentakab/Lanchang/Karak/Mentakab

My aunt and her Indian husband wanted to make a trip to Karak to visit his parents. They asked their daughters whether they wanted to go visit their tata/tati or not but they didn't want to . In the end somebody (I dunno who) suggested going to the elephant conservation place about 45 minutes drive away and suddenly everybody was interested.

I was watching Wedding Crashers on HBO and didn't really want to go. I wanted to stay behind and admire Rachel McAdams but in the end got pulled along. The trip turned out to be quite interesting.

Visitors can visit the elephant conservation place for free and many ang moh tourists actually found their way there. All visitors can feed and feel the elephants and take all the pictures they want. Those who managed to get passes were allowed to take rides on the elephants' backs. It was very interesting as this was the first time that I was so close to these gigantic animals. The texture of their skin was very rough and they felt like toilet brushes.

After that we went to another place called Deerland. It was a privately-run farm with many different animals inside. There was an entrance fee of 5 ringgits for adults and we could really get up close with the animals inside. This place turned out to be owned by one of my aunt's (the one with Indian husband) student's family but we received no discount. My mother was saying the total cost for the 12 of us was probably lower than an adult ticket for the Singapore Zoo.

How do we define up close? Basically the animals were right in your face. We could go run up to the sun bear and touch its tummy. Its fur felt like the teddy bear's. Beside the bears, there were also ostriches (very smelly), monkey (very naughty), deers (very hungry) and many other animals. We spent around 45 minutes feeding the animals before finally making our way to Karak.

Karak is actually a small place not far from Genting. We went to my Indian uncle's parents' house and sat there for a while. My half-Indian cousins seemed to be unfamiliar with their grandparents and had to be coaxed to call them. We did not stay for very long and made our way back to Mentakab before the sun set.

My the other aunt had returned home and my brother and I had no place to sleep for the night. In the end we went to my grandmother's old house which was further up the road. The balcony where I used to play seemed to have shrunk. Perhaps it was more of me growing older.

My brother, me and two other cousins were sitting on the balcony feeling the night breeze, Me and my siblings were rather detached from our cousins but that day we did manage to say a few more words. We also caught up a bit with my eldest uncle who got his first tattoo at the age of 57. Interesting.

Day 5 Mentakab/Singapore

My family and I would be going home on that day. We left after the lion dance performance at my aunt's place at around 10 am. It would be a long journey mainly on those 2-lanes trunk roads. Our lunch was at Pizza Hut in Segamat and cost only 45 ringgit.

We finally got to the expressway where the car could travel much faster than the trunk roads. However we were locked in a 10 km traffic jam near the Simpang Rengam/Benut exit for an hour. Along the way we could see about 20 cars being whacked; 60% were Singapore-registered vehicles. Seemed to me Singaporeans are not that street-wise on Malaysian roads.

Crossing the 2nd link was surprisingly a breeze and I had to go back to reality. The mid-term break would turn out to be non-existent after all.

Adventures in Malaysia (Part 1)

I went with my family to Malaysia over the Chinese New Year Holidays. I thought initially it would be boring but it turned out to be not too bad after all.

Day 1 Singapore - Malacca

I was the last to reach home at 3+ due to my econs test last Friday. We set off at 4pm and to our surprise there wasn't much cars on the Causeway. Instead we were held up by the heavy JB traffic. We reached my paternal grandmother's house at about 7.30pm. After unloading our stuff, my family went out for dinner and did some shopping at Tesco's. I bought 2 new ties and a pair of shoes for my upcoming presentations.

Day 2 Malacca/Mentakab

That day was the Chinese New Year's Eve and my family had reunion brunch together with my father's extended family. Actually beside my family there were only four other people around; my grandmother, my uncle and his two unmarried daughters.

Time always pass very slowly whenever I go to my grandmother's place. It really felt like the whole day had passed when my family set out at 12.30pm for our next destination: Mentakab, my mother's hometown.

Where exactly is Mentakab? Well it is a medium-sized town located in Pahang, roughly halfway between KL and Kuantan. There is really nothing exciting there and I probably would not know of it if not of my mother's connection.

This year's CNY was rather special because all my mother's siblings went back to Mentakab with their families during CNY. Out of the 7 siblings only 3 still stayed locally; one of her unmarried elder brother and both her married sisters. Two brothers are residing in Sabah now and only go back once a year during CNY. My mom's youngest brother is running a restaurant in Terengganu, roughly another 4 hours' drive away.

It was also the first time in many years that I met many of my relatives. All of us are busy and hardly have time to get together. I also saw my youngest cousin for the first time even though he is already 2 and a half years old.

He actually has Down's Syndrome and is different from normal kids. He is very small for his age and still cannot talk or walk yet. It has not been easy for his parents to take care of him and the road ahead is only going to get tougher. Despite his handicap I can feel the love that everyone showers on him. Our love will probably be the most important thing for him in his entire life.

One of my uncles married a Kadazan (natives of Sabah) and his children looked more like Malay than Chinese. My mother's youngest sister married an Indian and hence the CNY celebration was a multiracial affair for our extended family.

After the reunion dinner, one of my cousins complained of pain in the right side of her abdomen. We suspected that she had acute appendicitis and was rushed to the clinic by her father. In the clinic the tests were inconclusive and she was advised to go to the nearest hospital, which is located in the next town 10km away. She was admitted there and had to undergo further tests.

Meanwhile an explosion happened in the main street of Mentakab. A bag of explosives was placed beside a car and exploded when the owner tried to kick it out of his way. The injured guy was sent to the clinic and my uncle saw the extent of his injuries.

The area got cordoned off by police and my initial reaction was that even small towns also have terrorists. In the end the most likely version that I had heard was that a group was planning to rob the bank. They panicked when they saw the police patrolling and just disposed of the explosives by the roadside. The casualty was simply unlucky for parking his car at the wrong place at the wrong time. Although he's a Malay, it would be a painful and unforgettable Chinese New Year for him.

At the stroke of midnight fireworks filled the skies and sounds of firecrackers were unmistakable despite the ban. Some rich Chinese don't seem to care about the fines and just carried on playing with their fireworks and firecrackers. I do not really mind though because I was treated to a free show of fireworks which was really nice.

As my aunt's house was too cramped my brother and I had to go over to another aunt's place to sleep. Her family had went to over to their relatives' place and would not be back for a few days. Strange things occurred at her house.

Some switches worked but most did not. It turned out to be a partial black-out. We had no choice but to use the only room whose air-con could still be switched on. Mysteriously the air con shut down by itself at night. Hopefully it was the timer which we did not notice in the first place.

A Nicely Wrapped CNY Present

I was shopping at the Tesco near the Melaka bus station on the eve of the CNY's eve when my handphone received a message from an unidentified number.

When I saw the first word of the message, I immediately knew what it was about. "Mindef" requires me to go back for my first In-Camp Training from May 28 - June 2. That one week will be one of three low-key trainings that I need to serve out.

Great... What a nicely wrapped CNY present... Think need to go down to Beach Road and get a new field pack soon...

Stacy

If you guys who have been reading my blog didn't know this by now, I'm actually learning Korean at the Tampines Central CC on Sundays.

You all must be thinking I'm some Korean-crazy nut now... Actually I don't think I'm qualified to be one. I just watch a few Korean dramas (the popular ones) and except for the few famous ones all the Korean actresses look the same to me. So why do I sign up for the course?

Reason 1: Shahid wants to learn Korean and asked me to join the class with him.

Reason 2: Learning a foreign language seems cool.

Reason 3: This is the probably the most important reason; we deduce that we will have cute girls as classmates in the class.

Lesson 1

Both of us were late for the first lesson and only single seats were left. Shahid got to sit with a Chinese auntie and I had to sit with a Malay makcik. Ironic isn't it? The size of the class surprised us; we didn't expect that there would be about 25 students altogether.

Most students are females and they come in all sorts of forms from early teens to probably grandmothers. I suspect that most of them are fans of either Rain or Bae Yong Jun or whoever whoever. There are only a few guys around and perhaps they are fans of Chang Jin? LOL

The teacher April taught us the Korean alphabets and how to pronounce them. She made us play Bingo where we had to cross off the Korean alphabet which she read out. The first person who crossed out 5 in a row will shout 'Bingo' and win the game.

The alphabets seem to sound all the same and I gave up on the game almost immediately after it started. After about 12 alphabets, finally someone 'Bingo'. My instinct was to look around the class for the genius.

The genius turned out to be a girl named Stacy. Up till now, she is the only person in the Korean class whom I can remember the name. (Beside Shahid and April of course...)

So why do I remember her name? Is it because she is super stunning? Or her voice is super sweet? Haha... Neither is correct...

Her name stayed in our minds because of her attitude. She played it so cool when she told April her name and immediately we knew that she's kind of different. She has this 'aura' which gives me the feeling that she is some big shot somewhere and not someone we like to mess with.

It's like... if you are her boyfriend and she finds out that you cheat on her, she will most probably castrate you without a second thought.... Well these are all first impressions but I think Shahid will probably agree with me.

Lesson 2

The class happened to be on the same day as Rain's concert and Stacy did not turn up. Hmmm... Probably she is a fan of Rain and bought the $688 ticket. Anyway we spotted another girl who is quite cute but I don't know her name yet. Shahid, do you know?

Lesson 3 & 4

I did not turn up for both lessons; I was terribly sick for the lesson 3 and Thailand-Singapore match on TV was more important than lesson 4. My Korean is getting really rusty by then.

Lesson 5

Finally I returned to the class. I found myself lagging behind and didn't even know that we had homework. However I'm naturally talented and should be able to catch up in no time.

Stacy was sitting in front of me, beside an auntie who missed April's English most of the time. Stacy was quite helpful and translated for the auntie throughout the one and a half hour. Perhaps our first impressions were not that accurate after all.

After the class Shahid and I were chatting. He will not be going for the next lesson because he is going for the NUS Choir concert. I told him that I will sit beside Stacy for the next lesson. LOL...

Shahid's reply was funnier... Stacy is not be going for the next class as well because she will be sitting beside him during the choir concert... HAHAHAHA...

Stacy... Both of us are infatuated with you now!!

Beating Monday Blues

The past weekend has not been too good.

The LTB group went down to Kinderland again to take a closer look on the rabbit's enclosure. After the visit, I can only say that I still have not much idea on how to improve the place. And we are supposed to complete the physical work by next week. Great...

Saturday night was horrible. I decided to use Liverpool against Newcastle on Winning Eleven. No matter how hard I tried, the best result that I could get was 0-0. Perhaps it was an indicator of my prowess on WE but hey at least it was six -stars difficulty. This was sort of a random predictor thing for me (ala Nokia Football Crazy) and most of time it was uncannily accurate. After about 5 tries I had to stop because the real thing was going to start on TV.

It got off to a perfect start when Bellamy scored early. However the sinking feeling took over me when Reina hit the clearance against Agger and all Martins needed to do was to tap the ball into the unguarded net. Bellamy, Zenden and Kuyt were all guilty of glaring misses and Harper made some unbelievable saves. Pretty soon it was rather obvious that it was not going to be our day.

Despite Liverpool dominating, Riise conceded a penalty against the run of play in the 2nd half. Solano tucked it away with Reina diving the wrong side and St. James' Park erupted. The scenes of Magpies' fans cheering reminisced the celebrations after Singapore's penalty shootout victory against Malaysia. The celebration was quite nice with the Newcastle fans all waving their black and white scarves in unison. (The significance was different from the white hankies waved by the Madridista crowd after the defeat to Gimnastic at Bernabeu.)

The match ended 2-1 and Roeder and the fans celebrated as if they won the League. Well, I can't really blame them because they hadn't won anything over the last 30+ years and had nothing much to cheer about except for the sacking of Graeme Souness. Sir Bobby who was recovering from his illness and in the stand that day should be very happy with the result.

So we are now 10 points behind Chelsea and 16 behind Man Utd. Arsenal could overtake us if they won their game in hand. Our next match will be against Barcelona in front of 98,000 fans at Nou Camp. It was hard not to be negative but I have trust in Rafa's ability. The money available would hopefully propel us into proper challengers next season.

I got a bad headache after playing football at Thomson on Sunday morning. The whole day was effectively wasted and I was supposed to start reading up for my Econs mid-term. Oh well... I offered myself the lame excuse of " I always rise up on big occasions". Hopefully I can pull it off again.

Today's Monday Blues was particular bad because I had not much interest in the HP Singapore discussion during TWC class. I desperately needed something to pick myself up. Searching for "Liverpool Champions' League" on Youtube will probably help.

It was still quite early and the videos loaded up in an acceptable amount of time. Despite not being able to turn on the volume, watching the video clips still gave me goosebumps. The memories from 25th May 2005 were all brought back. That was one night that I would never forget.

The shock early goal, the bloody massacre by half-time, the despair and fear of an even humiliating final score, the emotional rendition of You Will Never Walk Alone by the traveling Kop, Gerrard urging the team on after scoring, Smicer's goal that just eluded Dida, Alonso's penalty miss and subsequent equalizer, Dudek's incredible double saves and wobbly legs during the shoot-out, Shevchenko's miss and the wild celebrations immediately after that. I'm so tempted to borrow the DVD from Chiang again right now.

This is one sure way to cure my Monday blues.

King of Asean Football

Congratulations to Singapore, King of Asean Football.

Who cares if the Thais refuse to play?

Who cares if half of the First XI are foreign-born?

Who cares if we are not going to play in the Asian Cup later this year?

We are the Champions and we are going to celebrate.

Why I Dislike Clerks

I have many friends who were clerks in NS but in reality I really thought lowly of them. I understand that some of the clerks are posted because of their medical conditions but many of them actually 'keng' their ways there.

While I admit that I'm nowhere near being a good soldier, I make sure that other people do not suffer because I was slack or try to 'keng'. If you try to 'keng' your way in the army, wouldn't you try to 'keng' your way again later in your life? That speak so much of a person's mentality.

Many of these 'keng'sters usually end up as clerks. Yet complaints never cease from them. How much of physical work do clerks actually have to do? Minimal or none at all. Most probably the most physical stuff they need to do is walking to the other offices to get signatures. Most offices have aircon and they hardly need to break a sweat.

Do they need to put on camouflage and go 'cheong sua' in the sun or rain? They just sit inside offices and answer phone calls while the combatants were out sweating in the jungle. They often complain about mental stress as they have to dodge arrows and play office politics. It is as if the combat side people don't have these problems at all. Combatants also need to 'siam' the saikang that the Enciks prepare for them and play the politics game as well.

Sometimes you will get angry when you hear their clerks' complaints. "Wah lau, why you come to the office now? I need to go for my canteen break leh...." After hearing this definitely feel like punching the guy. You think you some big shot ah... Think I so free whole day then wait for you to finish your canteen break....You dare to say this to a captain or not.... Fucker... Only know how to bully corporal....

Well I know that SAF cannot function without these clerks but I don't rate them at all. In fact I'm sure that they will be grateful being a clerk if they tried to do my job during NS for a day.

I'm sure those clerks reading this will know this best.