Busy like a Apis mellifera.

....that means: I'm busy like a (honey) Bee.

This week onwards 'til end of December 2007 would be a stressful one for me as I am soooo not used to getting pumped up for writing and presentations. A whole lot of writing for me this year end for my research and one major test/interview. Because I'm soooo busy: I would like to say sorry to my dear friends: Ee Meng - for ffk all every year to your xmas choir in your Ipoh church; Beh - ffk your Aquaria visit although it brings me great interest; Chris - cannot come out yum cha at night because I'm on a diet (unless you can sponsor me HerbalLife)(Thanks for 'ada hati'); sorry for Myself - because I paid like soo much for my bloody gym but went only once this month; sorry to my labmates because I can never answer your entomology questions and pesticide calculations because I am actually not smart - I also google everything. Sorry to my parents because when they come KL, I make my mum cook my favourite petai belacan dish and forced my dad to service my car so that he pays for it :( And sorry Jon - because I wish I could change how things work here in Malaysia - bloody red tape. I love all you guys sooo much.

Bangkok - Day 3

I thought waking up late on our 3rd day in bangkok as the day before was an abuse on even my athletic legs. In wendy's guest house, we get free complimentary breakfast, but Jo woke up earlier than I to get in touch with her beau called 'boy-boy'. We didn't know where to go, but decided to go to the silk house called Jim Thompson. Well, we both do not know about the whole silk story that Jim was involved in and we didn't ask either. We plan to just wiki the whole story. The silk was rough. I guess Miss Wong from my early-days-geography teacher was right: Thai silk is actually not as smooth as China or Jap's silk.

Next to Jim's, we discovered a secret alley that led us to a part of Thai's biggest river/longkang and also the most polluted and black- coloured water I've ever seen. I love Klang River now!!! Is teh tarik colour (Klang River) better than the Chao Phyra river/longkang (black/grey)?? And this longkang ferries government (yellow-shirt locals- you will notice definitely) to work. While taking pics of the longkang, we managed to see a guy living by the longkang dumbed 4 bags of rubbish into the river without a blink of remorse. The river swallowed it immediately like as if it was its favourite lunch set.

Another river emerge faster than the Chao Phrya that Malaysia also got: flash floods in Bangkok!!! We managed to see the terrible floods around bangkok city because we were lucky??

Our tut-tut tried to avoid the huge banjir water all over the city. I love him. My tut-tut driver is cute and he's also 26 years old. And he said he would accept any amount we quote him, because he's already gotten gasoline subsidy from factory after we bought jewellery from the jewellery factory earlier! Of course, why shouldn't he?!

In Bangkok, there's organization in chaos. And in chaos, there's beauty - the beauty that is sooo hard to grasp in just one trip.

More pictures with captions and storyline: Click HERE.

Bangkok! - 13 and 14 Oct 2007

reporting from Bangkok!!! - from our ciplak hostel - wendy Guesthouse! see: www.wendyguesthouse.com near Rama Road I.

It's day 2 here in bangkok. weather is almost the same as malaysia, and it rains every evening too! well, it didn't spoil our trip to patpong in first day. we actually went to watch the ever talked about 'ping pong' naked act by those fat naked girls, and i am still wondering how they blew off those candles using air from their servical openings. we drank in the same pub that showed us the performance and got cheated by giving too much tips (we enjoyed the show, that's why!). Patpong was very happening - we ate authentic thai food by savouring hawker/stall food = phat thai, barbequed chicken liver and pork, and try to refrain from fast foods restaurant and starbucks as to maintain our primary purpose of learning only thai culture. The night crept in tooo quickly.

The tut-tut were crazy, drivers, and worst than me, so nuff said! :P

Chatuchak market was the best thing that ever happen in our lives! This weekend market is not for the faint hearted as it welcomes you with its spiciness and glaring heat, but slowly warms you down with the smiles of amazingly friendly thai people. EVERY local is basically friendlier than your door-to-door salesman in Malaysia. Yes, my ultimate aim was to purchase and bargain, but i finally gave up as haggling had caused me to lose my breath literally. I bought everything without reducing the price. Didn't buy much things, but bought much food instead.

Then we both went to do something I considered 'constructive' - visiting tourisy places! Visited the grand palace. Very GRAND. Well, was hampered by GRAND heavy rain too. To shed ourselves from rain, bought some jewellery from an authentic jewellery factory. Then, sorta regret it. But it's for my parent's 30th year of anniversary this Dec. 2007, so can't blame my dire urge to get something for them. Spent RM1500 there!! Don't ask me. Ask Jonie the whole jewellery story. She was the lucky one.

Went shopping til our feet sore and our asses sitting on every bangku available in any area. But, my best purchases was the very cheap authentic Levi's jeans! Plus, their new shopping centre Paragon is super nice. Nicer than KLCC indeed.

Til, tomorrow. See you all......sob sob ...in Malaysia.

Surprises during hair cut

I went for a hair-trim to trim-off the ends of my hair and also to shorten my fringe. And the most amazing comment came out from the hair-dresser's mouth: "Girl, your hair is quite healthy". OMG, I can't believe what I've just heard but there's this instantaneous smile carved out of my face!!! Well, either she doesn't know what hair is all about, or she doesn't know these truths behind my unhealthy(??) hair:

1. Swimmer since...hell knows! I remembered swimming EVERYDAY in month January 2005. My hair is browning due to excessive chlorine exposure.
2. Teached swimming every alternate day for 2 years already.
3. Innately, my type of hair is categorized as DRY and frizzy.
4. Wash hair almost everyday because cannot tahan sweat from Aikido.
5. I don't use conditioner.
6. May use 4 different shampoos in one week - shampoo from gym (unknown cimplak brand), shampoo in UKM pool (Dove), shampoo in the main bathroom at home (Rejoice), shampoo from my parent's bathroom (Pantene).

So, here you go. I should visit this hair dresser next round just to boost my ego a bit from her compliments. I'm happy somebody actually complimented my hair when nobody has. Ever.

Birthday Potluck

For all those mahjong-ers out there, to me, nobody is comparable to Chris Thoo! As of now, you are a born walking mahjong calculator. Fipink's house on a night ago was a "swimmer's" paradise. But I won like soooo many rounds of mahjong that I deemed was SKILLS (ahem!) rather than LUCK. Chris must be eating his brains off trying to beat me , but I would like to thank first and foremost - my sifu of mahjong since secondary school - Fipink!

Those not playing mahjong resorted to watching DVD entitled "Host". It's about a GM-mutated, giant, absolutely carnivorous, walking fish (read:tadpole) eating up the whole Korean town. This movie reminded me of "Black Sheep" but in Host, the mutated tadpole was working singly in mutilating everyone in the town. It's a movie for the 'pure-entertainment' seekers. Verdict: Lame.

I brough my home made salad and coleslaw to Fipink's place. Some bought pizza, chicken, satay, etc. but the ultimate crowd puller was mahjong sifu Chris Thoo's rectangular lasagne (but Chris insisted it was NOT lasagne). Whatever it is, it was this powdery sprinklets on top of the lasagne that cause a lot of suspicion!! :P And we all girls protested it was THAT powder that caused our instant addiction to his dish. Chris, you've made all those women out there looked like they can't even cook half-boiled eggs.

Thanks Fipink & Kenny for opening their homes and messing their place. And hi to Ee Soon and gf.





Next up: Aquaria, sleep overs, Serendah, Chris' b'day (yeah, Chris is cooking) :P

For pictures of Fee Peng's b'day party, please click HERE .

Yes, YOU..reading my blog.

Thanks for the comments everyone! Sometimes I do wonder if people do read my blog :) but those comments are the very proof that someone does actually read all my crap! Hahaa, I have wrote about 50 blogs (and counting) and those comments are the very thing (or moment) that I hope for once I post anything online! I DO need all your support to keep myself blogging (i love it) and thanks for not minding the bad english and uncreative writings.

Some friends told me that my writings are cool to read, but I guess you can't just compare any blogs per se. It's incomparative. While you throw your craziest thoughts in it, you tend to be YOURSELF. And because YOU are YOU, so are your blogs :) Get it?

Support my blog and Burmese monks! Pity those monks....sob! sob!

I woke up early to get ready for school and work। I suddenly came to my conscience that my car has exceeded it's 5000 mileage. Went to my fav. car workshop to get it service. They claimed the timing belt needed a change since it's never been change before. Anyway, got it changed with a price of RM350. Plus service: RM450. Goodness! sigh sigh sigh....

Then, went to pick up a stand fan that has exceeded it's lifespan too! Paid RM35 for the repair। Return home with the so-called-fixed-fan. Came back home - put it to test - works really well. But, not even 15 minutes, the fan went dead again! sigh sigh sigh...What's the damn problem with this fan?!?

As I was preparing to leave for UPM, a phone call came: Maxis broadband wants to come this afternoon to install the whole set of whatever! Sigh....afternoon????!!!! I asked if they could do it some other time, but of course, I wanted a broadband connection ASAP too। "Tomorrow", he said. Nah, today will be better. Just throw everything to me TODAY.

When do I ever get the chance to go to the lab?!

Another phone call came। Yes, never had soo many calls in one day in my entire life. A good friend from Sabah plans to come this November. I love her!!! She's coming for a week with his son to KL and Singapore as a vacation for her son who would have finished his PMR by then. Okay, another long conversation on the phone. Bla bla bla bla.....til' i lost track of time. I do admire her 'matriachal air' or aura. You can actually sense her aura from the phone {shiver}.

Not to forget, just spend a little over RM1000 (*#!$*&) for a return ticket to Bangkok Peak period. No discount. No RM8.00 goodie. The coming month and November will be pretty busy for me in the lab, but I can't help myself from travelling if the time permits. And when the opportunity arrives, I'll jump onto it without much thought. It's totally backpacking for us both. And yes, we don't have an itinerary (yet). No place to stay (yet). I'm basically googling everything! Nope, I don't believe in Lonely Planet guides. Makes it tooo tourisy. Not really going shopping, so please, please, please (esp. mum & dad and aunties & uncles, neighbours & labmates) - I don't take requests on souvenirs or Zebra stainless steal woks and pans, jeans, or bedsheets or Wacoal bras or underwears. A BIG CRIME for backpackers. I hate souvenirs so I might only bring back photos, postcards and memories :P

Souvenirs are only for once-and-for-alls. I promise to return to Bangkok as I would for Sabah, Perth and London.

Death by frying...!

My body was heating up like a cake baking in an oven without a timer. Burned! I was a walking time-bomb at that moment. When my supervisor told me this, his tone was a pity one. Yes, you do know why I hate it here. My feet are on the ground of one of the most absurb places on earth - Malaysia! I reckon this was the deciding juncture that made me a quitter AS WELL AS a leaver (hint: Singapore 2002 national day). Nevermind what the problem was (and is to come). I am not going to absorb all this s**t like a piece of sponge. Naive I was, but not anymore. 2 more years and I am gone from my so-called country that does not love me in return.

On a lighter note...whew...(take a deep breath)....Ratatouille was the most hillarious, absurd (I had to used this word again), most entertaining cartoony movie of the year. Those rats and their habits reminds me of Pooi's story about her resident rat in Wangsa Maju. I used to have ONE rat (a resident?) back in my house in Ipoh. Guess what? It even dig and ate our powdered detergent (there were poo). My mum passed the death sentence by frying the poor fry under the fiery sun. It screamed pleading innocence for a crime it was born to do: steal.

I recommend not Ratatouille but Black Sheep to everyone that needs a piece of cheap entertainment. I give it 4 stars (out of 5) for their (good) slapstick jokes. Sheeps are not considered pest even if they are multiplying like rats in NZ.

My first concert (does Disney On Ice count?)

Never would I thought of going to any gwen’s concert. As many of you have known, I have fewer likings for female singers. As a female myself, innately, male singer seemed more appealing. My preference lies on hot bodes like Justin with his slick moves and hip-hop stuff, Kanye, or any rock band for that matter. I am also not girly enough to sing-along to a Gwen’s say…Four In The Morning :P.

Gwen concert started with a nice little queue at Putra Indoor Staidum. The queue gradually turned into a hideous snake-like formation (there were confusions at the start of the queue!). Quite inevitable. Hey, even those paying for RM340++ seats had to queue darn long too! Gwen was ‘practically Malaysian’ so she followed Malaysian time too. She started half an hour late, but I believed she was waiting for Beh to arrive before she starts her show. No kidding - Gwen turned out the lights right after Beh sat his ass on the seat!! Hah..!

It’s hard to believe that our seats turn out to be amazing because our tics were comparatively cheap. We could see her quite clear from our angle. Thanks Kenny - you’re the real genius here. And the concert begins – all songs from her ‘Sweet Escape’ album were amazing. Never would thought buying an album from Gwen, but errrrr…yaa, I am beginning to download her songs now that I love her. In the concert, I sang a long though I think I did forgot her lyrics a little (embarrassing!). Some songs are even unheard of :P Flashback: Hitz.fm was virtually a Gwen.fm (you’re right, Fipink - on that Tuesday!), so I did some practicing on the lyrics (sing along with my car radio) before the concert so that I wouldn’t be accused of being a bad ‘fan’ in the concert. Her songs are quite rap-py, so it’s difficult to follow her the whole time despite my effort to learn some songs. Plus those screaming crazy fans, I realized my voice actually didn’t matter.
Hey, try singing to a Hollaback Girl song for instance….bet even a fan of Gwen can’t remember those wordy-lyrics (I may be wrong) – All I could remember from that song was ‘ba-na-nas na-nanas” and ‘ain’t no hollaback girl’. If I were to go another concert of anybody, I think learning the chorus would be sufficient. I am sure to remember any of Justin’s lyrics though.

No regrets for the concert and because I did have a great time, it felt short. Still had some voice left for next day’s swimming class to scream at those kids. I thought those Japanese harajuku dancers were excellent. I didn’t feel short changed at all. Gwen also had a good rapport with her fans. She was still very sexy even she wore black tight leggings. The word here is ‘tight’. Nahhh, not even an issue! - the media had made a huge buzz about nothing.

Justin’s next. NO cameras allowed?

Minneapolis Bridge collapse.

When the news broke thru' CNN, wooohh (sweat), I thought it was from some hollywood film or some Steven Speilberg behind it. It was exactly like Die Hard 4.0! Collapsing bridges! After I've read the accounts from survivors, I guess it's really too bad something like that happens in a place I thought was generally safe when we speak about engineering and science. This bridge over the Mississippi River was under construction when the collapse occurred. The bridge couldn't hold the weight of the many vehicle on top of it, but wouldn't the engineers have calculated that?!

There's this bridge over Bandar Utama, as you come from BU 11 and 10 towards Centre Point and Sunway Damanasara just in front of Sony building. Before it's under its current construction to widen it, I have never felt save on top ot it while waiting for the lights to turn green. All the cars are bumper to bumper crawl towards Damansara uptown.... it just feels scary and unsave, dunno why. Then the controversial, cracked highway in Kepong (I thought would have collaspe one day - touchwood!!!) is also scary because you can totally feel the vibration of the road (and my car) when any large trucks/lorry passes you.

Anyway, speaking about cars...I thought my bloody small Kelisa couldn't conquer Camerons, but I was wrong. Though at certain inclination I had to change to 3rd or 2nd gear, I guess my car could take it quite well. Hey, with extra weight behind (we girls bought tonnes of stuffs back to Ipoh) and someone sitting behind (no mentioning names here!), my car felt draggy but managed to pull through the whole journey. I think the trip to Sg. Palas BOH plantation was the most interesting as there were swearing involved and some exciting manuveres too!

We should do this more often. Next year maybe: more trips. Next time I'm not driving :P I can't drive airplanes, u know.... (hint hint: Bangkok!)