Monday, January 28, 2008

Wherever you will go

On Saturday night:


Furious . Raged . Disappointed

Today:


Empty . Melancholic . Broken? (yet to be determined)
__________________________________________________

This is one song that never fail to cause a hint of sadness whenever I listen to it. It's a nice song though...

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Indo-chine Travel Log (Part I)

I've finally managed to sort out photos from the not-so-recent trip to Cambodia and Vietnam although am still waiting for some more from the rest of the '4R' gang. The trip was a blast but I am too lazy to describe it in great details so here's a short log of it and let the photos do the rest of the talking..

Day 1-3: Siem Reap

Since we have booked our accommodation through the net before we arrived, we had a free airport pick-up and were taken straight to Bou Savy Guesthouse where we stayed for 2 nights. At USD5 per person, it was such a good bargain since the rooms were spacious and clean with own bathrooms, satellite TV and inclusive of breakfast. The downside was, we were stuck with the same driver who picked us up from the airport (his name was Bovan) throughout the stay, who was the slowest driver I've ever met...he didn't even went past 40km/hr, not even once!

Anyway, after checking-in, we went to visit Tonle Sap, which is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia, a journey which took as about 1/2 hour by car from where we were staying (it would take much shorter time if we had a 'normal' driver!)















Tonle Sap from the sky

The first half of the lake especially where we boarded the boat was very dirty but it got cleaner as we moved away.















Business as usual

From Tonle sap, we hit the city centre for a late lunch and some shoppings.















Where the shopping madness started. Who said guys hate shopping? They can shop till they drop!


Supposed to go to Angkor Wat for sunset after that but it was raining so we went to Angkor Wat Miniature instead and that was a bad move... You should give it a miss!















The miniature

The next morning, we started the day early and headed to Angkor Wat with our moody driver, Bovan. We started with Bayon where we 'befriended' a local police guide who was more than happy to show us around. He also 'took charge' of my camera and for about 1/2 hour or so, I became the 'victim' of his clever photography tricks.















Bayon















Lingam in Bayon




















One of the photo tricks.. Oh, I was so impressed! (not)

From Bayon, we moved on to Preah Khan. The temple was built for King Jayavarman VII in the late 12th century on the site of Jayavarman VII's victory over the invading Chams in 1181. As you can see from the next photo, the temple is hardly restored and has been taken over by nature, which nevertheless, adds to the beauty of the ruined temple.




















Yours truly at Preah Khan

From Preah Khan, we wanted to go straight to Ta Prohm first but our moody driver complained of hunger instead and dropped us at Angkor Wat so that he could get lunch nearby. Grrrr...















Yours truly in front of Angkor Wat (please excuse the pose!)


Personally to me, Angkor Wat was a huge disappointment. It was just a huge temple complex but nothing much in it, unlike Bayon, Preah Khan or even Ta Prohm. So, after a couple of hours in the complex (and after getting soaked by sudden bouts of rain), off we went to Ta Prohm.




















Ta Prohm

As the final stop, we climbed up Bakheng Hill to view the sunset but sadly, the weather was not on our side that evening. So, tired and hungry, we left the city of Angkor, went back to the city and had TWO rounds of dinner at the same cham restaurant that we went on the first day. The owner couldn't contained his smile looking at the amount of food that we consumed that night! Before bidding goodbye to Siem Reap, we had another walk-a-round in the city and even checked out its lovely (but slightly expensive) night market.















The night market


Next stop: Phnom Penh.
More photos of Siem Reap and the city of Angkor can be found here.

Promise ain't enough



Yup, actions definitely speak louder than words, would you agree?

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Age is just a number

And that's my mantra for today :)

I turned 32 today. I don't feel any different, no grey hairs, no extra wrinkles...so, no big deal. Except that I've been coughing for the past 3 days and it doesn't look like it's going to disappear that soon. Thank god the temperature is back to normal or I have to shop for more 'Air Cap Badak'. Yup, I am a pharmacist but I have to resort to the unproven 'Air Cap Badak' whenever I am down with fever since I'm allergic to all those modern drugs which are normally used to reduce body temperature (also known as anti-pyretics). This is the exact reason why I became a pharmacist anyway. At least I have found an alternative drug for pain-relief (since those common pain-relievers are also in the same groups as anti-pyretics hence a big no-no for me) through my 'experimental' studying years, but not one for temperature yet.. maybe one day when I own a pharmaceutical company, I will invent one. As if.

Anyway, back to today... A big thank you straight from the bottom of my heart to all friends and loved ones for all the birthday messages, calls, cards, songs, pressies and even a blog post... I am truly touched by all your kind words and thoughts. You guys really make my day!




The birthday cake (and I received it 3 days before the real day!)






The birthday toast
















The second birthday cake (well..sort of!)







The special pressie :)
(What can I say...I am a hopeless romantic afterall!)



I am looking forward to the family dinner outing tonight as well as the 'sisters' get-together next week... more food and (probably) more pressies! Birthdays are just lovely, aren't they? I am blessed and thankful...

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Counting sheep

This post was actually done on Monday.. But I was too busy caroling Ba Ba Black Sheep in between trying to get Mix FM to support my cause that I forgot to post it altogether ;)

___________________________________________________

I am in such a foul mood today. I just cannot tolerate stupid people...I will not even bother to try. They always piss me off and boy, they did it big time this afternoon. Why are they at the positions they hold now when they have brains as small as peanuts is beyond my comprehension. Sheesh!

So, I am now going to take up Mix FM's challenge to 'count the sheep' and calm myself out of this foul mood before I snap at people..definitely not to those who don't deserve my tantrums. It will be totally unfair on them right? So, let me start counting the sheep now...

One, two, three, four, five......... twenty-one, twenty-two....


Mix FM

Yup, that's my favourite radio station and I always listen to their breakfast show on my way to work. As its name suggests, it is a radio station with a mix of everything and it suits a person with mixed (or messed up) personality like me well. What I love most is the Phua Chu Kang (from MediaCorp, Singapore) segment.. Although they kept playing the same recorded slots again and again nowdays, I still laugh out loud whenever I listened to one since Phua Chu Kang is so funny and original. He even make sense at times and some of his funny quotes bring good message too. A recent one that I can still remember is 'Those who don't flush, do not blush!' Make sense eh? And I wonder what would he say about those who on top of not flushing, even take photos of their own excretions and uploaded them onto their blogs for public viewing. Emmmm....What say you PCK?

Back to Mix FM. Of all the days, Mix FM managed to piss me off this morning. Ada ka they played on air friday's news this morning?? Worst, it was the exact word by word till the end! Hello!! It is called news for a good reason...if we want to hear old stories, we would have called it 'olds' instead of 'news' right? The producer must have dozed off in the studio since Friday for not realising the obvious error. Sheesh!

Oh...and Liverpool managed to piss me off today too... ada ka only managed a draw with Luton last night.. Luton? Luton?????? Sheesh!

Ok... take a deep breath and continue counting ryzah...

Emm..On the second thought, maybe I should sing Ba Ba Black Sheep over and over again instead. It is more exciting than counting and I am bad at maths anyway..

A note to Mix FM: You want to modify your anger management campaign now? I can be your campaign manager..

Ba ba black sheep
Have you any wool...
Yes sir, yes sir
Three bags full...
(take a deep breath and repeat..)

Goodbye Girl

One of my all-time favourites.



I love Martin Nievera's version more but unfortunately, the embed was disabled. You can still view it here though.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

A blessing in disguise

A renewed faith.

Over the years, I slowly began to believe that there are always good reasons behind everything that happened, be it better things to come or even simply lesson to be learned.

For example, I didn't get to go to Luthania in 2006 (purely my own doings, for sticking to my stupid 'principles'!) but because of that, I had the chance to go to Bordeaux the following year and off I went. It was a good trip and a surprise meet with a long-known friend at the edge of Eiffel Towel led to another level of relationship. A blessing in disguise. Must be the air in Paris eh?

2007 was a relative good year for me. If 2005 and 2006 were the years of healing, 2007 was the year of discovering...and adventures. A few holidays, a number of new friends, a new (added) job, a new promotion and most importantly, a new relationship. Yes, there were road-blocks here and there but we now have an action plan and we will see through it. we will get to know the outcome sooner or later. If it doesn't favour us, no worries.. I am sure, it is just another blessing in disguise for us both. Life must go on right?

I was supposed to go to Kuantan today to send this fella back to his basecamp but my car pulled out on me yesterday. Ended up having to pay RM1.2k for the repair which include 3 new tyres, a whole new set of brakes and a few other things that I don't even want to remember. No worries, a blessing in disguise. At least,I managed to postpone the Kuantan trip to this coming weekend, totally avoided the end-of-holiday traffic madness and we got to go to Zoo Negara instead. The lil' fella definitely had fun although he looked overwhelmed at times especially when both of us got totally drenched up during the elephant show when one of the elephants sprayed a bucketful of water towards us with his trunk. My mum and my sister were saved only by my mum's quick thinking...she opened up her umbrella just a few seconds before the incident!

Oh well, how many of you can stand up and be proud that you've been 'showered' by an elephant right? A blessing in disguise.

Happy new year everyone!

The culprit is the one at the top I think..

End of an era (and the beginning of a new one)

So, I turned 48 a few days ago. Instead of having the day off to celebrate, it was a busy day instead starting with a virtual viva session f...