SmallBell & Andry's Corner

Suggested 3 days 2 night Malacca tour

2009-11-05T05:16:00.000-08:00

Day 1:

Morning:

Visit Mini Malaysia in Ayer Keroh (near the Ayer keroh Toll plaza)

Afternoon:

Take lunch at Nyonya Food Restaurant at Malacca Raya (Suggested Ole Sayang)
Visit A Famosa, St Paul Hill, Museums Malacca, Stadthuys
Shopping at Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade

Night:

Visit Malacca famous Jonker Street and take dinner at this place. Along this street you can find malacca famous Laksa and Cendol.
Visit Malacca river (Eye's of Malacca)
Take Malacca famous satay celup as Supper

Day 2:

Morning and Afternoon:

Visit Malacca A'Famosa Water Park

Night:

Take Dinner at Malacca famous food court(Old Newton Food Court). Must try the Malacca style Ikan Bakar, Satay and etc. Else, you can also go to Portugese Village to try for Portugus food and seafood.
Visit Eye of Malaysia

Day 3:

Morning:

Visit Hang Li Poh's Well, Sam Po Kon Temple and also Bukit China Hill
Go to Malacca famous Tan Kim Hock to buy local souvenir. Don't forget to try the durian cendol here if you are durian lover.

Afternoon:

Take Lunch at Malacca famous Chicken Rice Ball Shop (Near Jonker Street)
You can visit Baba and Nyonya Heritage Musuem before you leave Malacca

~The End~

My 2009 Sipadan Mabul and Kapalai Trip (16th May till 24th May)

2009-10-29T07:41:00.000-07:00

It had been a long time i didn't update my blog. All these photos were taken during my last 6 days 5 night diving trip at Mabul, Sipadan and Kapalai Island Borneo Malaysia. It was a wonderfull trip and i'd try my best to capture all my underwater special moment with those unique creature using my Canon ixus 860.

In fact, Andry and me had spent a 9 days 8 night at Tawau, Semporna, Mabul, Sipadan and Kapalai. Although, i suffered for diarhoe problem at Tawau but i still got to eat the best in town seafood. Fresh and Delicious. And the most important thing it was cheap. Haha....

The diving experience in Mabul, Sipadan and Kapalai is Marvelous. Personally, i prefered mabul although it was not well known internationally. I missed the experience when we 1st jumped off from the boat at the bottom of oil rig and looked for the small pinky pigmy seahorse. Unfortunately, only one pigmy seahorse was spotted at this location. Where were others? I still remember the time where i make a special request to the dive master that i wanted to see mandarin fish. End up, he had to spent 15 minutes at a hard coral to look for the fish. This is because the mandarin fish was playing hide and seek with us. Naturally, it will only come out during sunset time. I still missed the experience where we were surrounded by thousand and thousand of Jack fish. It was really amazing. I've never seen such a big school of jack fish before. It was also the 1st time i saw crocodile fish. At 1st, i thought that crocodile fish must be very fierce. But in fact, it is a very tame fish. Slowly look at the eye of this special creature and i am sure you will like it. Never forget about the octopus. I've never encountered so many octopus in 1 dive, but we experience it in Mabul. Others than that, we saw school of pipefish, a lot of poisonous scorpion fish, the colorful banner eel, the small and soft Nudibranch and many more.

As for Sipadan, what i still remember was the big school of baracuda at the Barracuda Point. You need luck if you want to see school of them. A lot of divers envy at us when they browse through our photos. Haha.... Others then barracuda, we also saw a lot of turtles. Don't feel suprise if your buddy always point to your top for a turtle, then to your bottom, then left and sometime the turtles even suddenly swim out from a small cave. You will definitely get shock of it. And i did have an experience on this. Do make sure you have enough sleep the day before you dive in Sipadan as you need a pair of sharp eyes. Sometime you will saw something that others not. i saw a big school of shark swimming below us. Was really a big school but too bad i was the only one who spotted it. But, don't worry if you don't have a pair of sharp eyes as you can see white tip shark everywhere at Sipadan. Don't be panic and slowly swim near to it if you wish to take a nice photo. They aren't that scary.

The last dive spot is Kapalai house reef. It was a very shallow dive as only 8-10m below the water surface. Normally the diver who came here was looking for big grouper. Not kidding, a real huge grouper.

We're staying at Uncle Chang dive lodge during these 6 days. If you ask me how was my experiece with Uncle Chang, then i will say good. Nothing much to complain but a little bit expensive for the food and stayed they provided. but, luckly he did had some good and friendly dive master. We get to know a lot of diving friend from around the world at this dive lodge and it's such a wonderful moment chatting with them. Most of them were backpacker and backpacker always very friendly.

Photo 1: Andry and me at Barracuda Point with School of Barracuda as our background. It's Cool!!

Photo 2: The small pinky pigmy seahorse

Photo 3: The fish in shock. 1st time the the camera....

Photo 4: A nicely post fish.

Photo 5: Nudibranch

Photo 6: The Octopus. Look at it's body.

Photo 7: Cleaner Shrimp

Photo 8: Crocodile Fish

Photo 9: The Mabul Island Children

Photo 10: Photo taken at Sipadan Island

2009-04-25T02:58:00.001-07:00

The Ratio

View more presentations from geno_33.

Definition of recession and depression

2009-03-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

To quote the old saying:

If your neighbor loses his job we are in recession.

If I lose my job, we are in a depression.

take care folks,

Andry

"Girls are like phones....."

2009-03-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

good quote from a friend,

"Girls are like phones. We love to be held, talked to, but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!"
(although sometimes we still wish you were still there on the other end of the line....)

so guys, the last thing that you wanna do is..................

to be on hands-free...

and press the "right" button....

Andry

Ultimate Quote of the Day

2009-02-06T01:39:00.000-08:00

Ultimate Quote of the Day:

"Whatever you give a woman, she will make it greater.
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby.
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home.
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal

If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart.
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her.
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit."

i found this quite true....

What do you think?

Financial Freedom 101 : Liability vs Asset

2008-12-24T03:53:00.000-08:00

A lot of people seems to misunderstood the meaning of liability and asset. Here's what I think of what is a LIABILITY and ASSET:

LIABILITY- something that you'll be held liable if you're not able to pay-up. (eg: house you're staying, car, credit, mortagages)

ASSET-something that would be able to self-sustain or increase in value, or in layman term, CASH MACHINE. (eg: rental yield from real estate properties like shophouses or residential, intellectual property rights, royalty from copyrights, self-sustaining business).

To gain financial freedom, one should always acquire as many asset as possible and reduce liability to minimum level.

A lot of ppl seems to think that the property they stay on is an asset. It is in fact a LIABILITY! Just imagine that if you got retrenched tomorrow, how're you gonna pay your mortgages?

An ASSET, (eg: a shophouse rented out) on the other hand is able to stand by itself even if you got retrenched as the rental fetched would be able to cover the monthly installments. Even if the shophouse's rental is just enough to cover for the monthly installments, the rental yield will certainly increase over the years and indirectly, your ASSET is working for you. This is a good example of how to make MONEY WORK FOR YOU!

In other words:
LIABILITY- You will never stop working for money, and it'll still be not enough.
ASSET-The money will work for you, the more you acquire an ASSET, the harder it works!

Friends, do ponder and challenge the thought...

A Lesson From Robert Frost

2008-12-20T22:31:00.000-08:00

The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And I sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it wa grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black,
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads onto way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence;
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost[1916]

Bumpy Road Ahead...

2008-12-15T05:28:00.000-08:00

Pals,
bumpy road ahead and the end is nowhere in sight...
be prudent and spend smart...

as my previous posts in Opportunities mention,
don't stop adding value and keep on looking out for opportunities...

Opportunities....

2008-12-03T02:17:00.001-08:00

In this hard time, i believe everybody feels depressed, questions like:
1. Will I still keep my job?
2. How bad will the economy goes?
3. How am I gonna afford a new car/house?
...... questions will remain questions. Nobody will know how bad will the economy goes,
nobody will know whether the company decides to retrench you or me....

In this uncertain time, I believe in looking out for opportunities and adding value to ourself. Instead of whining of how bad the economy is, why not think of building some small business as a supplementary income? If you've the talent and creativity that the market demands, there would sure be a demand for your product/service.

Adding value would include learning a new trade/skills that would make us more valuable and able to withstand any challenges that come along.

To all my friends, in this uncertain time, don't stop learning and looking out for new opportunities...just keep the passion of living and learning in you burning!

STAY STRONG!

Appreciate

2008-11-27T01:37:00.000-08:00

Everytime when i went back to my hometown, i would spend most of my time accompany my family. I would brought them out for food hunting and walked around. Since i worked in Penang, i had less time accompany them. So, everytime when i went back, i would appreciate every moment i spent together with them. I know that they do not need Gucci, Prada, Nike or Adidas.....What they want, is just a simple gathering time with their beloved children. As a reminder for all the children around the world, you can buy them an expensive Tag Heuer watch, but can you buy them the priceless time?

These photo was taken at portugis village. I brought my granpa, parent, brother and sister out for a simple dinner. Grandma was not following as she was a vegetarian.

This old man is my Grandpa. He was very sad when he knew i found a job in Penang. A state which was very far from my hometown Melaka. Haha...but after 2 years, he already accept.
A beautiful scene at Melaka river.

The product of my sister and brother in law

2008-11-24T17:16:00.000-08:00

After waiting for almost 8 months, at last she came to this lovely world today.

Singapore Trip

2008-10-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

26th October 2008

On the 2nd day, we went for a simple breakfast before we visited my sister parent in law.

After that we went to Singapore Famous China Town. It was really crowded there and attract a lot of tourists.

Singapore Trip

2008-10-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

25/10/2008

"Di Di Di Di, Di Di Di Di", it was 5am in the morning and i was waken up by my alarm clock. 5am in the morning, is always the best sleeping time for most of the people. But, i'd no choice...I forced myself to wake up as my friend would come and picked me and Andry up at 5.30am.

Today would be a tiring day as we need to travel from Penang to Malacca(BY MY FRIEND CAR) and from Malacca to Singapore(SELF DRIVING). We reach Malacca at 12noon. It was a bit late due to traffic jam and we'd to drop one friend at KL. We took our lunch at my Masjid Tanah house and rest for a while before we departed to Singapore.

1.30pm, my mama start urged me to depart as she did not hope to reach Singapore late at night. So, from Masjis Tanah, we start our journey again. Luckly, the traffic was smooth and we reach JB around 3.45pm. Then my Mama said she need to buy something for my sister mother in law. Here come the problem...she should tell me earlier as we could buy everything at Malacca. Nobody in the car was familiar with the JB road and we had no choice but start searching around for any nearby shoping center. And luckly we found Giant. So, mama bought all she want and i asked my little sister to buy i packet of Nescafe as i afraid my sister did not keep any stock at her house. Hahah....sound funny buy it was really so important for me, mama and my little sister. "A cup of nescafe a day, keep the doctor away". :-P

At the Woodland custom, i need to apply auto pass for my car as this was the 1st time i drive my Little Kelisa to Singapore. It took us 10 minutes at the custom and proceed to BKE. From BKE, we turn to PIE and took the 8A exit to Bedok North. Thanks to Google Map as i can reach my sister door step easily without missing any junction. We reach my sister house at around 5pm and my aunts and my cousins were all there waiting for us.

These cute little fellow is my youngest cousin in the family and also the most energetic one. He was running here and there inside the housefor 2 hours non stop.

We did not go out except for dinner today as Andry and me were extremely tired.

Save the Turtle program

2008-10-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

It was 5.30am in the morning and i was waked up by my alarm clock. I was participate in the Save the Turtle program organize by company ECAC team. I joined as a leader for this program and became the guide for 10 primary school kids.

i was busy explained to the kids everything that i know about Pantai Kerachut.

And, these are all nature's lovers....Haha...

The coloring competition. The children are so creative.

They show us how to clear the nest. Can you see the baby turtles crawing out?

The baby turtles.

Personally, i would like to give this program 5 stars. Student get a chance to learn about turtle living cycle, we were tought to love our environment and save the turtles.

The Best of Penang National Park

2008-10-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

This was a latest activities run by company ECAC team. We went to Pantai Kerachut for trial run today and this was the first time i had real contact with an owl. We were really happy with what we saw today.

Perhentian Island Dive

2008-08-12T18:03:00.001-07:00

A lot of people think that diving is an expensive and dangerous sport. OK...i've to admit that it is really expensive sport for me as a medium income group. As for dangerous.....No no...i don't think so. As long as you follow the rules and instruction, it is safer than driving your car on the road. Last weekend, i've went to Perhentian Island to take my advance open water diver license while Andry went there for fun dive.

Before i went:

Somebody: Hey, it is month of 7(ghost month) in chinese Lunar calendar, you still want to go?
Me: Haha...i don't care. I want to dive. There is nothing to worry about.

To complete my Advance Open Water license, i need to pass 5 test.

1. Peak Performance Buoyancy

2. Night Diving

3. Wreck Diving

4. Navigation Dive

5. Deep Diving

My 1st day 1st lesson was about peak performance buoyancy. It was a hard time for me as this was my 1st dive after 1 year not diving and still need to play with Buoyancy Game underwater. My instructor was very strict and request me to redo and redo until he satisfied. However, it was really a good lesson as a good diver must have a good buoyancy control. So, being tortured for 45 minutes also nevermind la.....Haha..

As for my night diving, they brought me to Romantic Bay. I was requested to go down from the boat 1st by the instructor.

Instructor: Bell, you go down 1st.

Bell: Ha? Me?

Instructor: Why?

Bell: I scared....

Haih...really embarassing. Have to thanks to my colleague for keep on frightening me before i went. Scared was not a good excuse for them, so...without giving me any choice, i have to jump 1st. I can't say "You jump i jump" as night diving is part of my course. I just did not want them to find any chance to fail me(...thinking too much). After everyone reach the bottom, i tried to use my torch light to point around me....Too bad...no fish or coral was spotted. I only saw a lot of worm!!! Damn....So geli....I told myself that i was not going to do any mask cleaning down here although it became very foggy. But, when the intructor brought us swim around the coral, i already forgot about all those disgusting worm. What i seen, was a scenery that i've never seen before during day dive. It was a regret that we did not bring our camera together as those fish that was very active during day time was resting and hiding under the rock and coral. We saw 2 big size turtle hiding under the rock and we slowly approaching them and given them a gently touch. There was a lot of plankton this night. We could see the Sparkling Blue color shining like thousand and thousand of star when we moved our finger around. It was so beautiful.......

Second day, after complete my course review, i was out for my wreck diving. Our destination was Sugar Wreck and we was told that this wreck was sunk on year 2000. Now it had become a home for thousand of marine life. When we did our decent, we could feel that the visibility was getting bad and bad when you went deeper. There was a thermocline when we exceed 15m of depth and the visibilty was only 2-3 meter. But, with the guide of experience dive master, we still able to see a lot of things. We saw razor fish, scorpion fish, star puffer, map puffer, box fish, School of baraccuda, file fish, sea snack, nudibranch, scorpion fish, big eye snapper, cuttlefish and etc.

In the noon, i was brought to romantic bay sand area to perform my navigation lesson. I had did some stupid stuff due to too nervous and was question by my instructor underwater. I was really a bit down at that time. While we were on our way back, my instructor show us a lot of Nudibrach at this sandy area and we also spotted 1 seahorse cliging it's tail at the soft coral. It look like very shy and not moving when we look at it. It was my 1st time being so close to a seahorse.

I only left 1 last lesson on my 3rd day which was deep diving. We was brought to 30m depth and perform some simple task. Example, write my email in reverse direction underwater and it was time and compare it with the time we complete it on the ground.

Since i already complete my Advance Open Water Course, so in the afternoon i could join the fun diving team. We was again heading to the Sugar Wreck Dive Site as i really love this place very very much. It was really a amazing dive site.

My last day o the island, we'd did another 2 more dive at T3(Terumbu Tiga) and Temple of sea before we took our boat to go bk. At T3, we saw different type of shrimp and diffrent type of pipefish. Emperor Angel Fish can be spotted here as well. As for Temple of Sea(Tokong Laut), we saw a lot of brown bamboo shark, puffer fish, procupine fish and a school of trvalis and squid. This was the 1st time i saw squids underwater and i was very excited and tried to approaching them to take some picture. But the squid are just too smart that i don't even have change to get close to them.

We took our boat back at 4pm and went to Jerteh Town to take our dinner.

I wish to share all the photos here, but the line is just too slow...Too bad..

Malacca Historical Town- The world Heritage

2008-07-14T07:26:00.000-07:00

After 2 years waiting, finally we are able to meet each others at Malacca-The World Heritage. Malacca is a small state in South Malaysia and this small town was always rank the best town in Malaysia among my gang. We loved this place very much. The people here was nice, the traffic was not so terrible, the buildings(historical place) were so impressive, the foods were delicious and the most important thing was we'd left a lot of sweet memories at in historical place.

Something that we could not deny was Malacca government had done a very good job in preserving the world heritage and at the same time tried to beautify the environment.

This photo was taken near the Malacca river and from here we could see the Maritime Museum and the newly build Malacca Tower. The museum was built in a replica of a Portuguese ship, the 'Flo De La Mar' that sank off the coast of Malacca while on the way to Portugal. Here, visitors can view dioramas and intricately crafted models of ships on board. There are detailed descriptions of Malacca history and a map that features actual charts used by Portuguese sailors centuries ago. The Malacca Tower is also know as Menara Taming Sari. The unique feature is the revolving cabin ( inset) from which visitors can have a bird’s eye view of the city. The air-conditioned viewing cabin, which can accommodate up to 80 people at a time, revolves as it rises from ground level to the top of the tower. It also revolves on its downward journey. The operating hours of the tower will be from 10am to 10pm everyday. Admission fee for MyKad holders will be RM10 for adults and RM5 for children below 12 years old and senior citizens above 55 years old. Foreigners will be charged RM20.

Another tourist attraction is Jonker Walk. At this place, you could easily found different kind of antique, handmake souvenir and old chinese cultural. Don't miss this place out if you do have chance to come Malacca. I am sure you will like this place. Do take a chance to tried the famous Malacca Cendol and Laksa. Highly recommended by me~ haha...

If you are Hong Kong Movie Lover, have you seen this scene before? One of the scene in "夏日的日么么茶" was taken at this Geographer Cafe. Come here and check for your favorite artist Signature. This cafe is situated at jonker walk as well.

Somewhere near Mahkota Parade or Dataran Pahlawan, you could find a food court name Newton. Most of the best food in Malacca could be found at this corner.

This was the food that i like it most. It was actually a Hakka Food call "擂茶". A very healthy and delicious food.

"Layer Cake", I am not sure whether you can find this type of cake in other places but i am sure u could find it in Malacca. The best cake that i've ever tried so far. Must tried it, the shop is situated near Newton, and in front of Wok and Pan.

There are more and more nice place and nice foods in Malacca to be introduced in the future. Stay Tune...

Prom Night at E&O Hotel Penang

2008-07-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

The day had come!! It was the time for us to display all our hardwork for the passed 2 weeks. It was not an easy task to become the comittee for the SSD team building this time. Moreover, it was a dinner type team building. After numbers of meeting, at last we success. Still remembered the day when we had our 1st and 2nd meeting, we're arguing, yelling and shouting to each others, and some was even playing. It was really a hard time for me and the team to ensure we did not missed out anything and everything was under control. Thank you to the comittee team for your hardwork and contribution. It was a busy but a filling 2 weeks.

And to the dancer, thank you for willing to spend your time for the practices and for willing to perform on stage. It was really a great time having practices with you all. Instead of saying that the Prom night was a team building night, i would rather said that the process of preparing this special night was a great team building for us(from the MSs up to the management team).

On this special night, we managed to take a group photo for our SSD family. What a nice photo... Committee Group photo. ..

And the Lucky gal ...Haha..

There was a lot of gorgeous gal on this special night. "You look wonderful tonight" special dedicate too all of them!! Cheers~

Balik Pulau Hua Hee Lai Herbal Sauna

2008-06-23T02:30:00.000-07:00

I said i will come back!! After a small gathering with Mouse, Soon, Li Soo and Andry, we went to Hua Hee Lai Herbal Sauna. It was a rainy day and i just couldn't wait to jump into the Sauna Room. It was so warm inside there. The herbal smell make me feel very relaxing. After a Sauna, we took a bowl of Bubur Chacha to fill our stomach.

Nice picture taken on that day. After cut down the three, the boss further separate the trunk into few pieces and the big one was use as a table(This table had been used for some time). This newly put forty leaves was found on one of this table. Wow, really strong vitality!! 生命力超强!!

Balik Pulau Durian & Herbal Sauna

2008-06-21T05:20:00.000-07:00

Oh yes!! It's Durian season again. In a gang of 5, today our mission were looking for cheap and nice durian. Somebody suggested us to try at the durian stall near the Penang Airport. When we reached there, we saw there were only 2 opened stall. After parked our car near the roadside, immediately we headed towards 1 of the stall and asked asked for "ANG HEH"(red prawn) but he didn't have. So, we just asked him opened any nice durian will do. Basically, we just ate 2 durian as the quality of the durian of this stall was not so nice. Choo Pui and me were very dissapointed.

Luckly, Andry decided to continue our mission at Balik Pulau. At 1st, we did not know where to go as nobody in the car knew any Durian farmer at Balik Pulau. Suddenly, we saw one partially hidden durian stall opened at the main gate of the durian farm. So, again Andry decided to have a try here. When we reached the stall, we told the Aunty that we wanted to eat durian. Aunty had recommended few durian type to us which were Kung Poh, 600, Ang Heh, Durian Kampung. Most of the people loved 600 very much but i still prefered Ang Heh. They said eating Ang Heh make their nose feel like eating WASABI so they didn't like it.

After our Durian Lunch, we asked for Aunty permission to visit her durian farm. Without thinking much, the aunty said OK.

Look what did i found!! A lot of big durian hanging on the tree. It was not the 1st time i visited durian farm but i still feel very excited. Durian= King of the fruit!!

After the farm visit, we went to one of the Balik Pulau Recreation Spot(Not so sure about the name) to view the scenery of Balik Pulau town from top of the hill. Due to monsoon season, Penang was a bit hazy at this time. When we're about to leave, we saw a sign board showing a direction toward Herbal Sauna House.

Young man always curious about something new. So, we decided to take a look. 1st we saw a restaurant. When we went deeper, we saw a lot of timbers. We believed it was used to cook the herbal.

This was the entrance to the sauna room. One thing really suprised us was this herbal sauna facility was free of charge. You just need to pay for your will. According to a lady there, it was opened from 11am till 9pm. I had went in to to sauna room to have a look and the whole room really full of herbal smell. Too bad, i did not bring any clothes to exchange so i could not have a try this time. But i was sure, I WILL BE BACK!! Haha....

There was a restaurant next to this sauna house and the boss was trying to set up a prawn jigging(fishing) pond.

The concept of this restaunrant really attracting us. It was something like "Back to natural". The whole restaurant was made of timber(wood) except the simen floor and the pond. The fence, the chair, the table and decoration items were mainly made of timber and Bamboo. Really a nice and relaxing place.

Overall, we had met today mission and WHAT A NICE AND NEW DISCOVERY!! Balik Pulau, a Mysterious place. There are more and more to be discovered here.

Some old photo

2008-06-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

I was flipping through some of my department old photo today. Some of the team building was held before I joined this company. Suddenly, some of the old memory flashing in my mind…..

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

26^th June 2006

Today was my 1^st day in work and my boss told me that tomorrow was our company team building day. So, what was team building? What did it stand for? My boss told me that tomorrow we did not need to come company, just need to gather at the Jerejak Jetty. We would have some games and lunch on the island. I was extremely blur at that time because I did not know why did we have team building, where was Pulau Jerejak and the worse thing was I did not know everyone here. I only knew who was my menthor. So, could I enjoy the games? What happen if I did not join this time? I was planning not to join but I was just too new and I did not dare to do so. Haha…

27^th June 2006

I woke up very early today and requested my housemate to send me to the Jetty. Once I reached the jetty, I tried to look for any familiar faces. Haih…It was not a comfortable moment for me as the place was crowded with people and I do not know everyone here. At last, I had found some familiar faces and decided to stick with them for this whole day. Do you know what was my first thought of my division people? Not so helpful and did not know how to take care of freshly. They seems not understand how freshly feel when we did not know everyone here. Just so lonely~~ However, I am playful person. I had no problem playing games with somebody I did not know when came to game session. “When I play, I play with my heart. I don’t care who you are or where am I ”. And, I was just so lucky cause my team get 1^st place in the competition. We were the CHAMPION team!!!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………This photo was taken 2 years ago but this was the 1st time i saw this photo. I really did not know most of the people inside this photo at that time. What i remembered was someone called me to take picture together. Only today i realized, we were all from the same department. Haha.....really "SAP HA SAP HA".

I did not know who snap this picture, but it was me. This was one of the tele match we played at that time. I just couldn't do rabbit jump and this made me moving very slow in this game. Maybe this was the reason the camera man could had a good snap on me. I hate this game!!

This was the second team building at Park Royal Hotel and my team became the CHAMPION again!!

Penang National Park

2008-06-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

14th June 2008

We had a mission today. In a group of 10 natural lovers, we were planning to explore Teluk Kampi, Penang National Park. Penang National Park was not a new location for us as we had been hiking to Muka Head Light House and Pantai Kerachut before. This time, we have decided to challenge ourself for another small mount toward our destination Teluk Kampi. I have heard from my friend before that it was not an easy task and not recommended for a beginner.

8.30am: After register ourself, we begin our hiking journey.
10.00am: Reach Pantai Kerachut whithout facing any problems as everyone was full of energy.

10.30am: Heading towards our next challenges, "TELUK KAMPI".

11.15am: Too bad, we were lost. Andry and me were leading the group and both of us get trap by some stingy plants. Immediately, we gave signal to others not to come nearer as we did not hope more and more people get trap. Luckly, Andry had a mulipurpose knife with him and we successfully removed ourself from that dangerous place. After some discussion, we had decided to "Patah Balik" as Choo Pui said there was another road that can lead us to top of the hill(according to some online source, we need to reach top of the hill then only hike towards Teluk Kampi). So, the rest of the journey was lead by Choo Pui as they said we were bringing them to "Holland" just now. Haha...
12.00pm: We reached top of the hill and everyone was very happy as we believed we were on the right track.

12.35pm: Hooray!!! We reached Teluk Kampi.

There was a lot of stingy plant along the hiking track and we keep on remind everyone whenever we spot this dangerous plant.

Some nice pictures taken by Andry and me using our IXUS 860 while we were on our way to Pantai Kerachut.

Photos taken at Teluk Kampi.

暖暖的棕子

2008-06-11T03:04:00.000-07:00

真的好想吃妈妈裹的棕子。我想，大部分的游子都有相同的心愿。我工作的地方真的太远了，再加上现在油价上涨，所有的物价也必定会跟着起价。看来未来想回家也得想想裤袋有没有钱，好残酷啊！我亲爱的马来西亚政府，请您为我们想想吧！“吃”了那么多年，也总该“吃”饱了吧！为什么我们不在你那人民生活水准提高的数字后面产生共鸣呢？为什么在父亲的年代一个人工作能养活一家六口而现今两个人工作要让一家四口生活好一些都那么难？（叹息）

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俗语说得对，有失必有得。虽然今年不能回家和家人一起过端午节，但我在这特别的日子里收到了朋友送来的棕子。就这么暖暖的几粒小棕子，里面包涵了朋友的真心，吃进口里还有那浓浓情谊的味道。真的太棒了，谢谢你 SIM 和老鼠。还好在这陌生的城市里还有你们这班知己相伴，感谢上天有这么的一个安排。愿我们在忙碌的同时也不忘彼此问候，互相打打气，加加油！

Dumpling Festival : Bak Chang!

2008-06-08T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today is the dumpling(also known as Bak Chang@ZongZi) festival day. In Chinese, known as Duan Wu Jie. Smallbell has been chipping in to help in making the bak chang since last year's festival. Before I go into the process of making dumpling, here's a brief history on it.

I'll refer the dumpling as Chang. Chang is traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This day also commemorates the death of Qu Yuan, a famous Chinese poet from kingdom of Chu who lives during the "three country wars period". Qu Yuan tried unsuccessfully to warn his king and countrymen against the expansion of their Qin neighbors. When Qin Dynasty took over Chu Capital, Qu Yuan was so disappointed that he drowned himself in the Miluo river. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the river to prevent fish from eaeting Qu Yuan's body. However, there was another version which states that Chang were given to a dragon that lived in the river.

So much bout the story, let's talk bout the process of making Chang. Chang are wrapped in bamboo leaves because it imparts its own unique smell and flavour to the rice. The rice will be lightly precooked by stir-frying. Ingredients include red bean paste, chinese black mushrooms, salted duck eggs, chesnuts, cooked peanuts. The ingredients are prepared separately or mixed together depending on the practice of the family. Once all the ingredients are prepared, here comes the process of wrapping the Chang. Wrapping the Chang will takes a lot of patience and practice for a new beginner.

As for Smallbell, wrapping the Chang is as easy as eating the Chang(btw, she can really eat A LOT of it, trust me). She's so well trained in it and that makes me really proud and glad that I found the perfect gal(At least i won't have to buy Chang in the future..hehe).

Not to be missed is also the Jianshui Zong(Kee Chang in Hokkien)(碱水粽) where the glutinous rice is treated with lye water which gives them a distinctive yellow colour. It usually contain no filling and are often eaten with sugar or light syrup or kaya.

That's so much on Duan Wu Jie, we'll be back with more updates.

My 25th Birthday

2008-06-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

The time passed so fast, and it's my birthday again. As usual, Andry will brought me out for dinner before we had a small birthday celebration with my gang. I still remember that last year Andry brought me to "The Ship" and we took our dinner inside the ship. And this year, he brought me to "Victoria Station" and we took our dinner inside the train. Haha....I am wondering what will be his plan next year? Probably need to celebrate inside a plane.. :-P. Overall, the food in Victoria station was very delicious, and the environment was quiet romantic as well. Andry had order a main course which served with lobster and another side dishes
"Escargot"(something like snails), the food really thumb up!!!

After taking the romantic dinner with Andry, i had another gathering with others friend on the next day. And this time, we went to Chili's Penang. We'd met up around 7pm and start ordering for our food. Thanks to Sim, Mouse, Soon and Li Soo for coming.

And these were the dishes that we'd order.

After the dinner with my gang, Amy gave me another suprise when i reached home(Another suprise after the Fuel Price went up). She bought me a 250g birthday cake. I had remind everyone not to buy me a birthday cake but left out Amy. She did not know i don't eat cake. Haha....However, have to thanks Amy for the tiny black forrest cake. Since we'd birthday cake, i force Amy to sing birthday song for me. Ha.......

Thanks to everyone who had given me a call and all the sms......

Tioman Island Family Trip 2008-3rd Update

2008-06-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

Day 3:

No special activities on day 3 because we need to depart from Tekek town at 11am today. Before we leave, we had taken our last group photo for this Tioman Trip.

Nice view near Tekek Village Jetty

Andry and me at Tekek Village Jetty

Tioman Island Family Trip 2008 -2nd Update

2008-06-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

Day 2

Today activitie was mainly snorkeling and island hoping. Everyone woke up around 7.30am today and our breakfast was ready at 8.10am. The breakfast was simple(friend mee, toast bread, Pau , coffee and tea). After taken our breakfast, we wait for our boat to come and pick us up in front of Babura Seaview Resort. While waiting, we'd decide to take a photo before everyone getting darker.

~Everyone with their excited looking face~

9:30am, the boat finally come to pick us up. Since we had enough people to book for 1 whole boat, so we did not need to share the boat with others that we did not know. THE BOAT WAS OURS FOR THE WHOLE DAY..haha.....

Photo taken while we are on our way to our first destination Tulai Island (Coral Island)

They were looking at the sea cucumber

Some photo taken in Tulai Island using out IXUS 860IS with Underwater Housing WP-DC17. No external strobe was used as the Sunlight was enough to produce nice picture.

After Tulai Island, the boat man brought us to the next destination Malang Rock.

Conversation:

Me: Bang, kat sini tengok ikan ke tengok coral?

Boat man: Sini tengok coral, tapi coral banyak dah Mati.

Boat man: Tengok ikan saja la...

Me: ......(Speechless)

The boat man was correct. Most of the coral here had died but the water was crystal clear. I am not sure what could be the reason but i was sure it was an extremely beautiful place if they were still alive. No wonder Tioman Island had their ranking in the world once upon a time.

At around 11.30am, the boat man brought us to Salang Village to settle our lunch. The lunch was simple, just some fried chicken with fried rice. After lunch, we went sight seeing around Salang Village. Salang Village was a bit crowded if compare with Tekek Village.

Around 12.30pm, we continued our journey to Tioman Marine Park near Tekek Village. According to the boat man, the depth here was around 30 meter. So, we could not see the sea bed from the top. The fishes in Marine park were bigger in size if compare with others location.

Two main species that we could found in Marine Park

Some happy moment at Marine Park.

At 2.30pm, we had decided to move to our last destination of today which was Renggis Island. This was a very small island but suprisingly, this island was surrounded by rich marine life(Coral and Fishes). And this was the only place that we could find crown fish.

Go to this link for the movie we had taken.

Around 3.30pm, everyone was tired and hungry, so we decided to go back to our resort.

(11 hungry fellows with their Maggie Mee cup)

Tioman Island Family Trip 2008

2008-06-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Oh, yes!! I had came back from my Tioman Island Family Trip and and it was just so great. These were some updates for the 3 day 2 night trip. I had start planning since last week for the Itenerary, route map, must bring lists and checked for the Tioman Island weather forecast.

Day 1

Andry and me reached Melaka Central around 6.00am in the morning. While waiting for others to pick us up, i started playing with my IXUS 860 IS.

Path Way to Melaka Central

The flowers at the Melaka Central Main Entrance.

After 45 minutes waiting, at last everyone came. We were moving in 3 cars and started heading toward our first destination "Kluang Railway Station" to have our ordinary breakfast.

This map was provided by my friend See Voon. With this map, we had no problem finding our way to Kluang Railway Station. Thanks for See Voon.

At 8:15am, we reached Kluang Railway Station. The coffee shop was full of people. We had no choice but to break into few small groups and sit separately. After 10 minutes waiting, at last everyone found our seat and start ordered our breakfast. We had taken Kluang famous Coffee,teh tarik, Roti Bakar, Half boiled eggs, Nasi Lemak and Bee Hoon as our breakfast. I guessed everyone was very hungry by that time as i could see they just graped whatever food on the table and put into their mouth exspecially the 4 oldies(My parent and Flora Parent)...Haha...

Kluang Rail Coffee(The original)

"Look at their mouth....They're just too hungry"

9:00am, we depart from Kluang and heading to our next destination Mersing. Thanks to See Voon again for the clear direction.

We' d reached Mersing at 11am and started looking for car park and moved our luggage to the Jetty. Andry was busy making the Ferry arrangement while i was heading the the counter to pay for Marine Park conservation fees(RM5 for adult and RM2 for Child). After settled everything, everyone was just too exited waiting for our Ferry to come. While waiting, we'd never forget to take some nice picture here.

Man's Talk..Bla Bla Bla..

All Gals...

The guys...........

After 1 hour waiting, at last we were on the Ferry. The ferry that we took was not so big(i think is the smallest one among all) and everyone was complaining when the Ferry came(Fast Ferry). However, when the ferry start moving, everyone seems to be satisfied as it was moving quiet fast. It tooks around 2 hours to reach Tekek Village but everyone still very energetic.

We'd book package for 8 persons but they were total 11 of us due to 3 persons making last minute decision to join the trip. So, Andry and me had to busy doing last minute arrangement for them. And luckly, everything was just so smooth, and we did not face much problem. After reached Babura Seaview resort, we immediately put our luggage into the room and rush to the restaurant to take our lunch.

After the lunch, we went to our room to unpack our luggage and changed our attire to swimming wear. My parent was hanging out at the beach side while Flora parent went to the room to sleep. We'd start swimming in front of our resort until my mama asked us to come out when she saw the wave was getting stronger and stronger.

Since we'd nothing to do after that, we went to the duty free shop to buy Beers and chocolate. Andry had bought a kite so that we could play at the seaside later. When we came back from shopping, we're suprise to see this...refer to next photo....One uncle and one aunty played in the water after taking enough rest.

While the 2 oldies playing in the water, Andry and Wise Lee start fixing their new kite. As for others, we're admiring the beauty of Sunset.

8:00pm, we gathered together to enjoy our seafood dinner. Total 9 dishes were served to us which include Fish, Prawn, Squid, Lala(Clam), Crab, Tauhu, Vege and etc. What we can said about the dinner was "GREAT". Thank you to the Chinese Restaurant Boss beside Babura Seaview Resort.

After the dinner, we continued with our beer drinking session.

-The End for Day 1 Update-

Tioman Island!! I am coming!!

2008-05-28T01:23:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago..
(Conversation with Mama)
Mama: Why do you choose to go Tioman?
Me: Why? Anything wrong with Tioman?
Mama: Why not Langkawi?
Me: You prefer Langkawi?
Mama: Haha...If go Langkawi, then i can go shopping.
Me: (Luckly i did not choose to go Langkawi. If not, the good daugther will pokkai. haha..) Oh, you had been to Langkawi before. Nothing special there. Let's go Tioman this time. In Tioman, you will know what is crystal clear water. I will bring you go snorkelling.

(Conversation with Baba)
Baba: Can we cancel the trip and get back all out deposit?
Me: Why we need to cancel?
Baba: Did you see China(he was refering to Si Chuan Earth Quake)? We do not know what will happen in Malaysia. You still dare to go beach?
Me: Haha...You just think too much. If the god have decide that is our journey, then we can't avoid it.
Baba: ......

Obviously, my parent do not think Tioman island is a suitable place for them to spend their holiday. But, i asked them to go by promised that they will love the sea there. Hopefully, i will not dissapoint them.

3 more days from now, if everything smooth, we should have reach Tioman island and relaxing at Babura Beach Resort.

I am start planning for my Tioman Trip now. This is the initial draft.

Day 1: Pick Andry and me up at Melaka Central around 6am. Then, we will drive towards Kluang and take our breakfast there. Continue our journey to Mersing then take fast ferry to Tioman. We will stay in Tekek Town(then my mom and dad can buy something there. Tioman is free tax zone). No special activity for day 1.

Day 2: Island hoping and snorkeling.

Day 3: Jalan-jalan at town to buy some souvenir. We will bk to Mersing after lunch. Then, we will drive back to Kluang to eat Asam fish head as highly recommended by my Kluang friend See Voon.

I have even come out with a "MUST BRING LIST" and the list include my parent high blood medicine. We can forgot everything, but not this. I have remind my mom everytime i called back until my mom can't "TAHAN" with my "LONG GAS". Haha....

I just hope everyone enjoy the trip.

Melaka Gadek Air Panas with my family

2008-05-22T02:22:00.001-07:00

This was my recent activity when i went back to my beloved hometown Melaka last weekend. I had decided to bring my family to Gadek Air Panas(Gadek Hot Spring). When we talk about hot spring, people may tend to relate with Taiwan or Japan Hot Spring where we need to be naked if we want to bath inside the hot water, but not in Malaysia.

Haha, these are my parent. My mother was not dancing, but she just not used to, the temperature of the hot water. They just looks so happy right. Nice captured!!
And, these two are my sister and cousin.
And here you go, my mom, my aunty, sister and me.

It's really hot. If you don't believe me, then go and have a try. You just need to pay RM4 for the entrance fees.

And, the old man and old lady sitting in the middle are my Grandpa and Grandma. They just enjoyed so much.

And lastly, my dearest boy friend and me.