Friday, September 29, 2006

Chicken pox!!!!

Boo hoo hoo!!!!!

Been having fever for the past few days with no flu or sore throat... Didn't suspect chicken pox at all, till today morning, I looked in the mirror and voila!! SPOTS!!!! Argh!! Ugly red spots... everywhere!!!

Now I'm kind of on "house arrest"... stuck here like a prisoner. And can't eat many foodstuff too. Had plans to celebrate bf's birthday tomorrow and was really looking forward to it. But now everything is ruined!!!

Boo hoo hoo!!!!!

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

As 5 for fighting said "I can't stand to fly"

Just flew back from Kuala Terengganu a couple of hours ago. And day after tomorrow, gotta fly to Penang pulak.

It seems every month I'd have to see KLIA... and it's soooooooooooo far away too. I really wonder why do some people'd wanna be an air steward/stewardess. I think flying is so tiring, funny though, it's not like it's physically exerting but nevertheless, tiring!!!

Don't get me wrong, I love travelling... whether within the country or out, whether for work or pleasure, I love travelling. Every place is different, the people are different. It really makes life interesting.

The only solution to travel without flying?


"Beam me up Soctty"

How I wish someone has invented it already. It may seem impossible now but years ago, people probably think telephones, computers, microwaves... etc were impossible too. So, I'll be patiently waiting... I hope it'll be invented during my lifetime.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Shasay???

Just went to Bodyjam at IOI Mall just now. The class was good but you know what? I've noticed that many of the Bodyjam instructors ALWAYS say "shasay" instead or "sashay". Isn't it supposed to be "sashay"? Does "shasay" exist in English?

Oh well, I'm no BJ instructor and not an expert on BJ terms. As long as I know what they mean when they go "Shasay forward class!!!"

Cambodia: Final Episode

After a full day of Angkor Wat, the next morning some of us had to be up early to go to church. Yup! This was as mini-mission trip as well as a holiday. Mother Hen, pIggy, Zwui, Evelyn, Christine and me went to visit a local church to sing a few praise and worship songs and share some testimonies.


Da road t da church, all dirt road so twas a bumpy ride


Da New Living Hope Center


Their own praise and worship team


Pastor Chhay

We sang and gave testimonies for both services, the Khmer service and English service. During the Khmer service, we had Pastor Chhay as our translater. The Khmer service was actually given by a missionary from the US. Imagine leaving all the comforts of a 1st world country to be there... I don't think I would be able to give up da comfort of my nice pink room here in KL.


Us, singing and praising da Lord!

After church, we went back to the guest house to eat, pack and wait for our bus back to Phnom Penh. Da bus was late and we waited about an hour for it. What we didn't know was that we were in for more surprises later.

About 80% into our journey, when we nearly arrived in Phnom Penh, the bus met with a minor accident. Apparently, a drunken motorcyclist hit the bus but accused the bus of hitting him. Since their law is such that the bigger vehicle is always at fault, the bus and its driver had to be arrested!!! What about us??

Well, we had to wait for another bus from the same company to come pick us up. We finally got to Phnom Penh safely but really late. There goes our massage plans.


Our room in Hotel Angkor International

The next morning, pIggy, Zwui and I walked out the the riverside for breakfast and a massage since we tak dapat go the night before.

Roadside barbers!


The riverside in daylight

We had a nice big breakfast at a restaurant at the riverside then off to the massage parlour!! We asked the hotel manager for recommendation of a proper, "clean" massage place with no "extra" service....hehehe


Us, at the massage place


The massage room is upstaire

Their massage is the gentle kind because they do not use oil but they used powder. pIggy likes strong painful massages so it wasn't really his type of massage. Nothing like the strong hands of the blind in Brickfields.

After the massage, we negotiated with a tuk tuk driver and went off to the shooting range. We didn't know it was pretty far from where we were. It was in the outskirts and the road... bumpy and dusty. We had to brave through a few sand storms.

Selling petrol in tong besar by the roadside!
Once we reached the driving range, it rained. Oh well, at least no more sand storm and eating sand on our way back.
We chose to shoot the M16, just like in the movies. The fella there said that M16s are easier to aim too and very accurate.

G.I. Karynn...hehehe

The target was quite far away... that speck of white thingy at the end

Lotsa shells on the floor but can't take back or will be stopped at the airport.

We each hit the man twice so he kinda died 6 times!
Pretty accurate for amateurs, imagine if a professional wanted to assasinate u with an M16, sure bullseye. Can't run.
You can swab my hands now and get GSRs (gun shot residue) just like in CSI!
On the way back although no sandstorm, because the road has become soft and muddy from the rain. The tuk tuk couldn't move on some parts that we had to come down and help push it!! Yikes! Just look at our shoes...
Before

After
That evening we went back to the hotel to mandi and clean up all that mud. Then we went a walking outside. We stumbled upon a dessert stall and decided to try the desserts they sell.
Looks funny but taste pretty good.

The Khmer leng lui selling the dessert and me
Then we went back to the riverside for dinner at this restaurant
The Khmer Borane Restaurant

Us syok sendiri with the camera timer

The food was good there too!! Loved the fish soup!
The next morning, we went to the Central Market for some last minute shopping to finish up our cash and help boost the Cambodian economy. After that was lunch then airport.
Da whole gang at the airport
Then it's goodbye Cambodia... although it was an interesting trip but we all couldn't wait to get back to the comforts of home in KL.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Cambodia: Episode 2 - Tomb raiders

The next day was Angkor Wat day. You may think it is awfully silly to allocate 1 whole day to see just a stupid temple but it was HUGE!!! But nevertheless, still just a stupid temple la... heheheh

The entrance to the area... from the looks of this, you won't know how big it is inside


Guards outside d temple entrance... eh? missing a head?


Maybe I can help?


Me in front of the Bayon... one of the many temples in there


Carvings on the wall... less violent-looking compared to those I saw in Thailand. These people look peaceful


Zwui and I


Terrace of the elephants


The temple where trees grew right through the walls, or rather around it
Reminds me of Davy Jones...


Some more trees...

After walking through many temples, all starts to look the same. Until we came to the main course of temples. Angkor Wat...

Has its own moat... cantik kan?


As you enter, this is wat you'll see... also the sky was full of dragonflies


Inside the corridors where Lara Croft walked...


The middle part was a taller building... with steep stairs
The black shadow kat tengah tu aku la


Me climbing up the scary steep stairs in scorching hot sun.
If you ask me to do things like this right here in KL, I'll ask you back "Siao ah?!!" It's Angkor Wat baru la I give face.


View from the top


The other view from the top. Yikes! How to go down?

But we managed anyway... then we waited for sunset. They said that the sunset gives Angkor Wat a orange glow.

Betul pun



The sky looks pretty as the sun sets doesn't it?

Later that night we decided to split out from Mother Hen's group and go lepakking just the 3 of us: Zwui, pIggy and me. We went to this Khmer restaurant for dinner.

Nice ambience




Check out the food presentation! A+!

The taste? A+ also. I loved the eggplant (the big dish in the middle).

Anyway, probably have to really squeeze time to finish up the Camobia blog this week as big boss has just given me lotsa work, due on Monday!!! Yikes!! Dunno how I'll manage to do 3 marketing plans in 5 days. But it's my own fault jugak... the task was something I promised to do and had already set my own deadline after my Korea training. I just thought nobody remembered. Now, I gotta finish up what I promised to do!!

Monday, September 18, 2006

Cambodia: Episode I - Journey to a new world

Have finally uploaded some pics from half d Cambodia Trip!! And can finally blog it!!

Twas a very interesting trip!! Not a single dull moment to spare... from the moment we arrive at the airport.


We took a cab to our guest house and look at d traffic in Phnom Penh!!!

and we thought Malaysia was bad???

There, there's no such thing as a one way street, every piece of land is an all-way street. Traffic was pretty much in a total chaos all d way till we reached our "hotel". It was a back-packers' guest house.




We got a room with a balcony!! :-)
Not that it was much of a view but still balcony balcony!!



We, meaning my trustee roommate Zwui and me!

We were roommates through out the trip as we have specifically requested it so to our beloved mother hen aka Mei Kee. After we unpacked and got settled in, we went out for dinner. Foooooood!!!


Me eating some pork pau. Yum!! And coming from someone who tak suka makan pork!


This was the restaurant we ate in, Orussey Restaurant


Main course, beef noodle
Actually this taste very Malaysian. I still prefer Seremban's... hehehe

After dinner, we took a stroll along the street where we had dinner and saw some stalls selling food. Some looked funny so we didn't try them at the time... except for this stall selling sausages with pickled vegetables.

Cambodian Satay???
The sausages are abit chewy, I think it's full of pork intestines and other pig insides, yuck! But the pickled vegetables were yummy!! So I just had d vege and left d yucky sausage behind. After that, we took tuk-tuks to the river front.


taking pics of each other's tuk-tuks


Da riverfront
It's quite a dirty area. Although it was already dark and we couldn't see the yucky coloured water, we could still see the big fat rats running about near the waterbank. Actually, the whole town has a very enchanting feel to it despite the mess and dirt. It feels kinda like what I imagine Thailand would've been like several decades ago. Nothing metropolitan, no 7-eleven, no McDonalds, no Citibank towers... just all Phnom Penh things and all Phnom Penh people.


Lotsa Cambodian people lepak along the riverside


Balancing act!

The next morning, we had to be up early to catch a bus to Siem Reap. Mana tau, dunno why both my roomie and I got the time wrong and we were both late. Lucky we didn't miss da bus!


The bus journey was about 6 hours but of course there were stops in between.

We had some Cambodian "bak chang" as snacks!


Mother Hen (in yellow) distributing goodies to her chickies


Lunch venue...


Fried rice saje... not much different from the Malaysian kind.


But their stray mongrels ARE cuter than Malaysian ones.

When we arrived in Siem Reap, we were harassed greeted by a whole crowd of tuk-tuk cab drivers. But the one from our guest house was smart enough to hold up a big signage for us! :-)


Zwui and I in da tuk tuk


Our guesthouse: Skyway Guest House

It was quite a decent place. The owner speaks Mandarin. Made communication so much easier for us.


Me in da room. Zwui and I take turns to take each other's photo... we syok sendiri...heheh

Later that day, we head out to Tonle Sap.

along the way was a long charming rural roads with many rumah kampung...
These are REAL kampungs ok? Kampung Attap, Kampung Pandan, itu tak main!


We got on to one of their kampung boat.
Look at the little kid, he's really young but working real hard already. At that age, we were probably playing our game of teng-teng, getah or batu seremban still, not knowing what is the meaning of "work".


The houses on d water. There's a whole village!


A little boy comes a begging.
Our kind hearted Mother Hen gave him a pack of chocolate. Suddenly we see a few others pedalling ASAP towards our boat. We gave out all the snacks we had. I really wonder if these kids have ever tasted chocolate? Kesian kan?


Da gang at d front of da boat


They also brought us to da place d rear crocs...eeeww


More water village people


They even rear Iggy piggy on water!

After Tonle Sap, we went out for some grub. Some authentic Khmer grub...

Me, Zwui & pIggy


The view from d restaurant... on the 1st floor only. No tall buildings there


Green curry... like Thailand's! Yum!



Actually, Malaysians should be all fine and dandy with Khmer food as it is very typical South East Asian, spicy, full-flavoured, coconut milk... Yummy!!!

Coming up...
Angkor Wat
Massage
Shooting with a live M16!!!