Penang-Langkawi Day 3: Langkawi

We had a ferry to catch that morning.. the ferry departs at 8.3oam so we had to be there by 8.. we decided to leave around 7.15 coz we were afraid there would be a jam...

But turns out there was no jam -.- .. so we arrived very early at the jetty..we had to queue up for quite a while before getting into the waiting hall.. it was really packed because there was an 8.15 ferry and those passengers were in the same area as we were...





I was still sleepy so i slept all the way on the ferry.. it takes approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes to get to Langkawi from Penang...
When we got to Langkawi we decided to rent a car after a bit of thinking.. We got a Vios coz though the Myvi would've been cheaper, it was a manual transmission one.. It costs RM130 for 24 hours and since we'd be using it until 2pm the next day it cost us RM150 (RM 10 for each additional hour) ..

Syn Joe being the most experienced driver was our driver for the trip.. We went back to the hotel first but we couldn't check in yet so we dumped our luggage and went for lunch at a Thai restaurant nearby Underwater World..




We had a lovely seafood tom yam soup, vegetables, sizzling chicken and i just realised that i didn't take a picture of the fish!!! ahh!! my food documentation is incomplete D: ... but anyways, it was a good lunch :)



We then walked over to underwater world and paid RM28 for admission.. Walked around, snapped some pictures, looked at penguins, looked at otter, touched a stingray, bought souvenirs and that's about it.. the only pictures that turned out ok were the jellyfish so i won't bother putting the pictures up here :p

Next stop, Black Sand Beach..
There is a reason why the sand is black... and unfortunately i don't know the reason -.- .. they do have a sign board there telling you why it is black but i didn't read it.. but if you dig at the sand you'll notice the bottom layers aren't black.. :/ .. i was thinking maybe they dyed the sand XD .. Syn Joe was saying something about petroleum?? ahh.. i'll google it later...
But the weather was pretty nice that day which resulted in nice pictures.. i love it when lighting is just right :D



We actually wanted to go for the cable car ride at Oriental Village earlier but it was raining.. so since it wasn't raining anymore we decided to go to Oriental Village after all..
Bought the cable car tickets (RM30 i think?) and there was still time to kill so we went to get some chocolates first :)



I'm quite afraid of heights but cable car rides aren't scary to me for some reason.. maybe i feel safe in that little capsule.. hmm..

After the cable car ride it was about time for dinner so we went to the Chenang Beach area for dinner.. it was another long stretch of road and we again had trouble deciding what to eat -.- .. we ended up in an indian restaurant and i had the worst maggie goreng ever! it was tasteless :( ..



We still had time so we decided to go to Eagle Square.. It's quite surprising that such a landmark has no roadsigns leading to it.. It was very near to the jetty but we went round and round for quite some time before we found it..



After taking pictures we went back to our hotel.. well it's not really a hotel.. it's more like an apartment..a 2 storey apartment :D ..

We flipped a coin to see if we should go see the sunrise by the beach the next day.. The coin said we should.. but DID we go and see the sunrise??

find out in the next installment of the Penang-Langkawi series! :)

-llen-

this ain't goodbye..

I think i've said this before but i'll say it again..i never imagined ever getting so close to the people i met in college..

It's not like secondary school where you get to see your friends since form 1 and grow up together with them.. well, form 4 and 5 friends are an exception coz we managed to be best buds even with 2 years of bonding :) ..

But in the past 1.5 years... well, when i look back at the pictures i sometimes go "what?? that was US??" I never knew looks could change so much in the span of 1.5 years... but anyways.. not here to talk about that today...

Today marks our last meet up with Elvina before she goes back to Kuching on Wednesday..

We ate at Pasta Zanmai and talked until the cows came home.. or rather, until we were the only customers left... and i enjoyed the company and the food :) .. only person missing was Syn Joe :( ..

I don't know when the next meet up will be.. how many months or years before we can all meet up like this but.. i'll be looking forward to it! :D



On a side note.. i notice i tend to blog more when i shouldn't be blogging and i blog less when i'm so free ..hmm...
oh.. and i decided to watch the Germany-England match yesterday.. i've sort of given up on England but i thought about my thousand year old jersey and decided i should catch the match and support England although i knew they weren't very good anymore...
At some points during the match.. they seemed to put in their very best and they still had that fighting spirit.. but as the match progressed it was clear they didn't stand a chance against them Germans :/ ..
And does anyone else think that the German team is filled with good-looking players? -.- ..


-llen-

Penang-Langkawi Day 2

We booked a cab the previous day and we went to Georgetown..

We didn't exactly have a clear plan like what we were gonna do when.. when we should leave a place we were visitting.. So after breakfast we asked the cab driver to drop us off at Khoo Kongsi..
Apparently, the Khoo people were a rich lot and i think that's why Khoo Kongsi is one of those more popular cultural heritage places.. but do correct me if i'm wrong coz i'm not too sure :P ..




But at the end of the day.. if your surname had a kongsi there you'd probably go to your own surname's kongsi i guess..i would definitely have gone to the "zhang" kongsi if there were one in Penang! but alas, the "zhang"s have no significance in Penang -.- ..
Because i'm not a Khoo, i didn't really look too much into the whole place.. to me it was another building which was very ornamented and quite nice to take pictures of :) .. A possible reason for it to be such an attraction is also because it was a filming site for the movie Anna and the King..
I didn't take a look at all the info that they had on the walls so i can't say much about the place :S
Oh, if your surname is Khoo, you get free admission!! Otherwise, it costs RM5 if i remember correctly..

So after we were done with Khoo Kongsi, equipped with a map of Georgetown we walked to the Peranakan Mansion.. I didn't really mind the walking coz i thought it'd be good to burn off some fat.. and holidays to me have always had a fair bit of walking in them so it was ok.. But the sun+walking took half of Elvina's life away XD .. At the time of walking, there was no cab around and none of the free hop on-hop off buses that were supposed to exist in that area..



When we got to the Peranakan place we paid admission fee of RM10 (if i remember correctly).. they had water availabe so it was bliss :D .. after rehydrating we proceeded to sit around..take pictures of the place .. admire their stuff.. I think this peranakan mansion is one of the filming sites for The Little Nyonya ..which doesn't bring much significance to me coz i didn't watch the show -.- ..
But it was interesting to see how they live (though i'm not sure the place paints a true picture of their lifestyle) .. the kind of furniture they had.. their floor tiles.. the kind of camera they used.. the kind of makeup they used.. the kind of clothes they wore.. the kind of beds they slept in.. etc etc... Apparently the Nyonya culture in Penang is different from Malacca so i think i should check Malacca out.. hehe..

By the end of all our photo taking and walking around the mansion we decided to go get some lunch.. it was tough deciding where to go for our lunch.. so first we walked to the bus station (taking away another quarter of Elvina's life XD ) hoping to save cab money by taking the bus.. but there was no bus going the way we wanted.. and at first we decided to wait for a bit hoping a bus would come our way.. then we gave up and decided to look for a cab..
We got into a madman's cab -.- .. he was the kind that laughed at his own jokes, if you could call it a joke.. talked about stuff that made not much sense to us.. and he reminded me of some sort of gangster.. he was friendly, in a way coz he gave us a map but other than that.. he was the worst cabbie on our entire trip -.- ..

He dropped us off at Gurney Plaza and we walked back to our hotel stopping along the way to buy bottled water from 7 eleven (coz the kettle was rusty..) and also stopping for lunch at Song River..




We were pretty exhausted from the day and we got some rest before dinner time.. i read the papers and xingleng was playing with the macbook while synjoe and elvina snoozed away~

We asked the cabbie to suggest a good hawker place and he took us to New Lane.. he left us with a number to call in case we needed transport after our dinner.. This was the dinner that gave me foodstalgia (food+nostalgia=foodstalgia).... We ordered some stuff to share and Penang Har Mee was in the selection.. yay! well, actually xingleng and elvina went to order and were misled by the "hokkien mee" sign.. i don't think the rest of them liked it a lot but it's been a long long time since i had har mee so i chomped away :) .. it wasn't the best har mee but it was enough to satisfy my craving.. We had sotong+kangkung and duck with mee sua in herbal soup as well.. and for dessert, cendol.. I didn't really like the cendol.. Klang cendol is still the best :D .. but to be fair, this isn't one of the more famous cendol stalls .. apparently the most famous one is on Penang Road where we didn't manage to go to..



After dinner we went to Batu Feringghi for the night market.. It was about a 30-45 minute drive from where we were to Batu Feringghi.. It's a slope-y, hilly path leading to Feringghi and along those hills were high-class apartments or hotels.. It costs a lot to stay there apparently.. They've been chopping off hills to make way for these buildings to cater to the rich people who can afford to stay there and love the place, mainly ang mohs...

The cab driver told us to look after our bags and to stop when we saw.. i forgot which hotel but the night market is quite a long stretch and he said it'd be too dark for our safety beyond that certain hotel.. i think it was bayview?? i can't remember...

But yea.. like the cab driver said.. it was a long stretch.. most of the things are pretty much the same along the whole stretch...you'll be walking and seeing the same things all over again... the only difference is the price i suppose..you're allowed to haggle if you feel the price is unreasonable.. i got a toy for Rachel and Nicole to share and i didn't bother haggling coz i thought the price was pretty reasonable..but i got 2 wristband thingys which i tried to bargain for and didn't work -.- .. though when i saw the exact same thing in midvalley going for double the price i didn't feel so bad :P

There's a good variety of stuff there.. fake bags, fake makeup, fake perfume, fake dvd, toys, souvenirs, shades, clothes..etc.. there was only one fruit stall though..haha.. we bought bananas there coz some of us had bowel problems..

Called for a cab to pick us up and we went back to the hotel.. xingleng the accountant calculated our debts and we paid each other, showered and slept.. it was a long and tiring day... and we had to be up early for tomorrow coz we had a ferry to catch in the morning..

The next installment to the Penang-Langkawi series: Penang-Langkawi Day 3 : Langkawi!

-llen-

Penang-Langkawi Day 1

First off.. i almost couldn't go for this trip -.- ..
We never really did sit down and talk through the trip but pushed it all to Syn Joe to settle so i felt really bad for pressuring her for stuff and so on the night before our departure when dad posed me some really important factors to consider i was speechless..i couldn't give him an answer.. to this day i still feel really guilty for causing so much distress :S ..
BUT.. with the internet and a few phone calls, thank goodness everything was settled..and i had to pack quickly and sleep quickly..

The very next day we met up at taylor's and my dad sent us to Corus Hotel where our Aeroline bus would be picking us up. There was barely any traffic jam so we arrived quite early.



I was pretty impressed with the bus... They provide you with stuff you'd get on long distance flights.. they give you food, pillow and entertainment (sega games, movies, music) .. their tagline is "the convenient way to fly" a rather misleading tagline i'd say..
Anyways, it was more or less a 5 hour journey.. We arrived in Queensbay Mall, took a cab back to Gurney Hotel, freshened up a bit and went hunting for lunch..

We had dim sum at a place called The Corner Club which was just down the street.. it was happy hour (if i'm not mistaken 3pm-5pm) -.- .. so half price on selected dim sum!!
To be honest, the dim sum was not very nice.. it looked dull and it tasted very average... but it was enough to fill me up..

After that we decided to take some pictures along the road.. coz the path opposite the hotel is a ..erm.. seaside?? i don't know how to describe it -.- .. anyways there were rocks and trees and the sun was shining and nobody knows us in Penang so we took many many pictures..hehe..



After all the photo taking we went back to the hotel to stone and play with Syn Joe's sister's macbook..hehehe..
Apart from that, we booked the ferry tickets for Langkawi and settled our transportation for the next day..

We met up with my dad's friend for dinner.. I know one of the aunties quite well (Auntie Anita) but the other auntie (Auntie Roslyn) was someone new..
We went to Pulau Tikus for a variety of food.. And after dinner Auntie Anita took us on a night tour of Georgetown and even bought us Ham Chin Peng (am i spelling this right??)..



Georgetown at night is quite a dead town... it's dark and the only slightly more happening place is Little India coz they always have those indian songs playing and indian movies being shown on TV..But then again it may also be because it was a Monday night...
Nevertheless, i concluded that Auntie Anita is a very good tour guide :) ..
I thought i ought to be ashamed of myself coz i don't think i could take anyone around Klang and explain stuff to them about each place ._. .. heck, i don't even know where Klang starts and ends.. i think i can only take people around Taman Eng Ann and to some nice places to eat... XD

After our night tour, Auntie Anita dropped us off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes~

The next update:
Penang Day 2 : Georgetown, where Elvina apparently lost 3/4 of her life -.- ..

stay tuned~

-llen-

Holiday objective no.1 accomplished!

Came back from my trip on Friday afternoon..

It was the first time going on a trip with just friends since i missed my form 5 class trip..

I felt like chronicling the whole trip here but I'm feeling kinda lazy to do that now -.- .. so i shall do it SOON..

I had a lot of fun with the 3 of them and it was a very gay (happy) trip :) ... Next trip, Kuching? ;)



-llen-

Holidays day 1

I woke up today feeling like "what am i supposed to study today ah?" and when i realise i don't have to study for anything anymore i felt "really meh... i got nothing to study...?" -.- ..

While it was exam season my notes were everywhere.. on the table.. by my bed side.. on top of my bed.. on my bed (coz i thought if i left it on the bed and slept near to the notes they'd go into my brain faster.. )
Guess it's time to clear it all up!

So.. today has been a very normal saturday.. -.- .. i must remind myself to get things done constantly else i'll become even roundier than i've already become.. and we're going to Penang on Monday which means potentially even roundier i will become.. urghh...

So i've got exactly 2 months before results are released and here is my list of stuff i need to get done!

1. pack for and go to Penang and Langkawi and come home..
2. get my driving license so i can terrorise the streets..yes, i've waited very long to bring terror to Malaysian roads..
3. pass piano exam.. and this is a must because it's my 2nd attempt :( which leads to
3a. practise piano daily and not at the very last minute..
4. exercise so i am less round and can actually fit comfortably into my trousers.. i suspect i'm damaging my internal organs by squeezing into them..
5. rekindle my love for basketball (i still love it but now i got no skills anymore -.- .. i used to be like Iverson..haha..same name mah)
6. learn to use and maximise the DSLR's potential
7. hopefully go for pilates/yoga classes..
8. must meet up with Kwang Hua gang, sakamoto gang, literature gang
9. learn how to sew...
10. read my unread bunch of books -.- ..
11. continue violin lessons..gahh.. i almost forgot this one!
12. Bake and cook and let my family be the guinea pigs..ngiek ngiek..

i think 10 11 12 is enough :) .. hmm.. or have i missed out anything?

-llen-

Freedom!

11th June 2010 marks the day we are freed from A levels.. after 1.5 years.. finally, it has come to an end..

Right after my last paper i got an sms from Chin Li.. saying it's all over.. at that moment, i felt like skipping and hopping (which i obviously did not do -.-) so instead i was able to walk faster than usual XD .. Mum was tapau-ing Uncle Seng noodles so i walked there just in time!

Anyways.. today is also the first time i'm attending a prom.. and i didn't get a new dress.. i think i looked more like i was going to the beach (dresscode wasn't according to theme but the theme was Atlantis Odyssey so beach look should be acceptable!! XD) but anyways.. i have now learnt some valuable lessons from this -.- ..

No.1 Make up is no easy job.. i should've heeded the advice of Vianni and get someone to do it for me.. -.- .. hopefully with practice, i will be a more skilled female.. not to say i like makeup but with the proper techniques it could come in handy...

No.2 Pictures taken in normal light and with flash will have VERY different effects if makeup is applied.. and that's the reason why in the pictures with flash.. i kinda look like a devil.. :/ .. maybe it's best to test out the makeup with flash turned on before heading out..

No. 3 It is best to test out the contact lenses maybe a day beforehand?
Well, what happened was.. mum got me those contact lenses when she ordered for my bro so i decided to use them today.. but when i put it on.. i felt like i was partially blind..and my eyes were stinging almost all the time.. everything was so blurry.. either my power has increased or mum got the wrong power -.- ..

Overall, i guess it could be due to my discomfort but prom wasn't that big of a deal.. the performances i couldn't really see and the singing performances were not too impressive.. But it was nice seeing everyone dressed up and dolled up.. :) ..

Definitely gonna miss my college buddies :') ..


Oh.. and to add on to my beach look.. i wanted my hair a little wavy but it couldn't be done the way i wanted due to the quality of my hair (dry and straight -.- ) .. so the lady gave me curls which she said would loosen up after a while so i guess it was fine.. Mum took me to the salon my cousin always gets her hair done and as i was getting it curled mum said "wahh.. the more you curl the more you look like your cousin! " gee.. if even mum says that then the resemblance must be quite strong -.- ..

So cous,


do we really look alike??? -.-

-llen-

just one more....

tomorrow is the last day ... and A levels will be totally over..
question is.. will i be happy with it being done and over with?

I doubt so..too many mistakes.. all that regret will be boiling and bubbling in me.. will have to do my best to stop thinking about it i suppose.. and look forward to 2 more things i need to pass..

Today's paper.. hmmm.. well i wished i had listened to my gut feeling more.. guess i didn't have the guts to listen to my gut? i dunno why i thought those topics would be there but i felt it would and thankfully i revised it.. one of it is a topic i was absolutely clueless about so.. yea.. feels as though god is helping me .. but i still didn't pwn the paper coz my brain was telling me to broaden my study topics..anyways, it's over..

Bro picked me up after my paper coz he was hungry and i was too since i hadn't had lunch.. and then i realised.. if i wanna eat at SS15 i'll have to purposely come and it won't be like now.. gahh.. i get kinda sentimental at times like these :( .. but i plan to take some pictures of the area.. maybe not tomorrow.. just come out to SS15 one day for photo taking :) .. maybe when SS15 is deserted during school holidays :) ..

we've gotten this far.. let's end it with a bang! .. i hope..

-llen-

If i don't make it to law school..

I could be a pretty good exterminator, i reckon..

Left my door open while i went down to fill up my water bottle and on the way down the stairs, a lizard went upstairs against the wall..

After filling up my bottle i went up and went into my room and continued studying.. While resting a bit i saw the lizard on my ceiling at the corner of my room where i put my toothbrush and stuff.. so i thought.. at least i have to get the lizard out of my room for sanitation purposes..

So.. conveniently lying on the floor was the newspaper which i took 2 pages out and rolled up to act as my weapon against the pesky lizard.. I have a mini stool thingy so i used that to give me extra height to reach the lizard.. and i hadn't thrown away the box that used to contain my soap so i thought it could come in handy..
Well, before i could even try to tickle the fella, it fell down on to the ground with a "piak" sound XD .. and it tried to hide around and i moved the stuff to get it to come out.. And it's the first time i've seen a lizard react that way.. it really looked like it was afraid.. i feel the adrenaline course through my veins, anticipating its movements and planning my next move.. at one instant it ran out from its hiding spot which really shocked me a bit..

After a few minutes it stopped and i placed the box in front of it.. it was reluctant to go in at first but it went in at last.. and then i checked with dad if i could open the window to throw the lizard out..

Me: Can i open the window? I caught a lizard.. it's in the box ..
Dad: Ohh.. open lah.. you so good wan ah can catch lizard..?
Me: *opens window and shakes box to let lizard out* Ok.. it's out, close the window!
Dad: *scare lizard away coz lizard was still on the ledge and closes window* It was in your room ahh??
Me: Ya...
Dad: Too much hor, the lizard... *disgusted by the lizard*

See, dad HATES lizards.. they poop around the ledges outside the house and it pisses dad off.. So he made his own contraption to kill them lizards.. it's like a broomstick (without the broom head) and attached on is.. i think it's a toilet cleaner or a water bottle cleaner.. And somedays he'll be running around outside whacking the lizards or trying to get them to come out from their hiding spots and killing them..
I did try to tell dad to be more peaceful by saying scaring them away should do but dad said "If they don't shit around my house i won't kill them!" and the funny thing is, no matter how many dad kills there'll still be lizards here and there pooping -.- ..

i guess now i know which genes i got from dad......... in a few years time i'll probably be the one running around whacking lizards... ugh..

-llen-

Good things are meant to be shared :)

So that's why I'm here to share a new product! I've never seen it before in the stores over here but I've seen videos about similar styles of hair accessories.. I think over in the US it's called the EZ-comb..

Beaded2gather focuses more on hair combs with beads.. And you can get a personalised one done as well. Like if you've got a niece or a daughter or a little sister you can even personalise one with her name on it too! And apart from hair combs, they do beaded accessories as well..



They're running a promotional price on their products at the moment but only for facebook fans.. so hop on over and if you like their stuff, you can still join their facebook fan page and get your combs at that promotional price.

There are a few styles you can create with the comb and they have step by step guides for 3 of the more basic styles on their website..

So, check them out :)

-llen-

They don't make movies like they used to..

Good and bad actually BUT..

I'm here to introduce an old movie featuring Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas and Kirsten Dunst!

It's called Interview with the Vampire.. and i think it was a movie released in 1994. It was originally a book by Anne Rice and it's the first book in one of her series of books called The Vampire Chronicles..

I would love to say it beats Twilight all the way but that wouldn't be a fair statement to make since they are of different genres.. Twilight is more of a lovey dovey teen movie whereas Interview with the Vampire is more suited for an adult audience. There are scenes with nudity in it but it makes sense and is appropriate to the scenes..

The movie is about a vampire, Louis who tells his life story to a reporter from the day he was born a vampire to the time of his story telling (which amounts to about 200 years).. It's about his struggle to accept and understand what he has become..and some of the stuff that happened along the way..
I haven't read the book and i'm no expert on vampires but it seems in the vampire world there is somewhat a blur in their relationships.. like the kid vampire, Claudia who calls Louis her lover and her father.. and male vampires seek companionship in other male vampires.. and this is also one of the reasons why i guess kids shouldn't watch this show.. kids don't need these complexities in their lives at such a young age :)
And the movie isn't scary.. it's quite funny at some parts in fact..

And also.. Louis is so much better looking than Edward Cullen..! :D ..
Though when i showed the movie to Yi Min and Antonio Banderas appeared she was kinda :/ ..haha...

On a side note, ever since Joe Ann introduced David Choi's song to me i was really impressed.. and i thought bro might've heard of him but seems he hadn't -.- .. so i went to youtube and clicked on his song to buffer and told my bro "Let you listen to David Choi lahh" then bro said "I don't know who is he lahh..*bla bla bla* " So i just ignored him and clicked play..
And a few minutes into the song bro said:

"Can download ah?"

XD

-llen-

If death were a person..

He'd strike at any time..
He'd be blind to age, colour, wealth, beauty, gender..
When he feels like it, he takes a person away..
Ruthless, unsympathetic, unfeeling.

As quick as Death comes, Death leaves
And what is left for the living but memories?
Only memories of the voice, touch and smell remain
And an unquenchable thirst for the flesh and blood of the deceased.

But Death is a teacher no less..
He teaches us of appreciation, of love, of feeling.
He teaches us to carry on, to live,
And so we must, before Death takes us.


-llen-

self reminder..

While the thought of maybe doing medicine has indeed crossed my mind.. (since i am able to diagnose some of my own problems accurately, with the help of google, and on one occasion diagnosed mum accurately) I have just reminded myself why i cannot ever be a doctor...

I was washing my hands a while ago and looked up and saw that my eyes had some redness.. and i suspected it was an eye infection so as usual i googled it.. basically i google these things because i'm interested in what's going on and sometimes you don't have to go to the doctor.. you could just do some home remedy thing (of course for minor stuff..)

So i read a bit about the eye infection thingy.. and after that i clicked on google IMAGES... the first image that appeared was really scary.... but thank goodness after checking it was a photoshop job. *phew* .. but still.. imagine all the other weird/scary/freaky symptoms/conditions/situations you'd have to deal with if you were a doctor.. though not very common, did you know that some people shove things up their asses and when they can't get it out they go to the hospital to get a doctor to do it for them??

Maybe if i decide to step into the medical field i'm more suited towards being a tabib cina (chinese traditional medicine) -.- ..

-llen-