A Visit Around The Historical City

I was back in M'cca for the diwali holiday and also due to the study break. I was back until the day after diwali. Stayed home, enjoyed home food, went out pooling with the guys, went Diwali visiting @ Rajesh's and Vigren's, met some friends that i haven't met for ages ( Jhen, Vik, Sath, Rajesh himself, Kenny ), and went touring around m'cca a little.
Hmm, I just love Diwali, those nice and delicious food which i craved for every year. I haven't been for Diwali visiting for few years cos usually it's during study week and I'm suppose to study, but luckily this year our papers were a little later so I've had 2 weeks break instead of one, so i manage to visit Raj and Vig this year. @ Raj's you'll be served with nice homemade puree with curry mutton + chicken + dhall + other side dishes. @ Vig's you'll expect homemade tosai which comes with curry mutton + chicken + others. ALL my favourites. I wish I could have those everyday. They are just so delicious that none of the mamak stalls that I've eaten could beat either.

Then Agnes came down with Nini + 1. So I sorta had to be a tour guide and plan the itenary. They reached on Sat evening and so we started of with the typical m'cca satay celup @ OngKimWee. Then we head on to Jonker for a stroll. The next day, we started of the day with Chicken riceball. I just hate queueing up. I only does this went bringing friends around. Or else, I will NEVER EVER step foot in that shop. The queue could last the whole day. Then we went around the Stadhuys' and went up St Paul's hill for some photo taking with Eugene's 400D. ( Thx for the cam dude ) Then we were hot and thirsty, so we walked back to Jonker to enjoy the cool cendol and try some local laksa. But first enjoy the sun, cause you'll need to QUEUE up LONG queue AGAIN. Malacca is just getting so crowded nowadays which makes me prefer staying at home rather than going out cause thinking of the massive jam. After that we went over to Dataran Pahlawan to enjoy the airconditioning. We were really tired of walking around, so we choose to go for a movie , Eagle Eye. The following day, we went breakfast at DimSumGarden which is just nearby my house. Then they stopped by at TanKimHock for some local product before heading back. Short sumary of the trip. Here are some pics.

The famous chicken riceball

Up at St Paul's hill

Jonker Street

waiting for cendol

Big Apple donuts b4 movie

evening view of dataran

another nice view

PIC2008 Update3

Last day of trip, we all slept late. Well not too late though. Get ourselves ready, packed all our stuff and took our breakfast. Then we had another beach cleaning activities to clear up the camp site and the surrounding area so as to have all our rubbish packed nicely so that the beach will still be clean. Then we had to break the tents and get everything back in place, waiting for the transfer back to the mainland.

Our camps

One last sight of the beautiful view

The beach clean up

Another one before leaving

We hopped on a ferry this time so it took us a little longer to get back compared to travelling in a speed boat. The seats were quite full, I ended up having a first class seat beside the captain. Hehe. nice view from the top. I see him handling the controls, GPS is one main component that plays an important role in navigation. Manage to chat with the nice friendly captain throughout the journey back.

View from the ferry

Co captain

The control panel

As we reached the jetty we went to enquire for direct bus transfer back to penang as we wouldn't want to travel down to kl and back to penang. Kinda redundant and also I wouldn't wanna sit upright back. We manage to get our tickets but we will need to get to Jerteh for the bus. So we took lunch at K.Besut and took a taxi ride to Jerteh. About 20 min ride. But our bus was at night. So we took our own sweet time just to pass sometime. We reached Jerteh at about 4pm. Nothing much there. It felt like Parit Buntar. No McD, only KFC, I wonder why. KFC seems to have wider coverage. And their shopping is EconJaya if i'm not mistaken just like our nice little Billion. We went into shopping to cool down for a while then we hang around at a hawker nearby. There's pretty much of local food there. They all looked tasty. So we grab some snack, little bit of this, little bit of that. And lekor is of course a not to be missed snack. I ended up having too much snack that I skipped dinner. We took a quick shower public toilet before getting on the bus. Little did i know that being at the last seat provided me with once again an upright seat. Damn!! Well had to bear with it. Lasted all the way till penang. My neck...

mouth watering

Well one hell of a challenge it was. We'll be back next year with a more well prepared condition.

PIC2008 Update2

Race Day. We were awaken by the morning call. I was a little early that morning as it was quite hard to get a nice sleep the night before as it was hot. Clean up myself and got ready for the big day. Vest, shorts, shoes, powerbar,powergel, sunblock, counterpain. Everything was ready to get going. We had our breakfast then headed on speedboat to the starting point which was at Kampung, on the other island. We could see everyone all geared up ready for the big race. We waited for about an hour for everyone to be transferred and waiting for VIPs to arrive and officiate the event.

At exactly 10am. The novice racers were being flagged off. Another half hour to go or less. We had our last briefing just before the race. Then right at half past ten, off we go. As we were being flagged off, everyone headed to their kayaks, which was our first event.

finding for our kayaks

We had to kayak to the other island. When HL and I got into the water I could see some of the racers were already way pass us. Damn I gotta catch up. An initial burst of energy with our good coordinations *grins* we manage to glide across the water catching up with the others. As soon as we landed on the other island, we jumped out, hauled our kayak up to the beach, grabbed a can of cold RedBull and proceeded with our race. It was a hike up one of the peak of the island. Little did I know that hiking was way much tougher than running of flat land. I've already start feeling the tiredness and strain in the muscles. Probably I've over exerted during the kayak, and also the little knowledge of me towards kayaking got me sitted there still got my legs all numb as we jumped out of it lead to the strain in the leg muscles. However, the race must go on.
Slowly we hiked our way through. I had to make several stops just to catch my breath. It was quite a struggle through the first loop up the hill.
As soon as we see the beach, how glad i was to be back on flat land. We were back at the point where we left our kayak. We grab some water and proceed on foot to the other side of the beach. A less straineous route but still taxing my both legs leads us back to our campsite area where we were required to get wet and do some task. The first was getting a 20kg sandbag from the sea ( about 5 ft deep i guess ) and a short swim to and fro the marked position. We did that easily as it was suppose to give us a short break to relax. Then we grabbed some 100plus and water and proceeded. On our way we met some participants we were having cramps and the little counterpain i brought along actually helped. We need to hike to the otherside of the beach at Awana and hike back to our kayak point. That was one hell of a hike. I had several cramps along the way but still manage to make it back to the kayak.
Without wasting much time, we got on the kayak and make our way back across the sea to the other island. As we landed yet again, we had to do some obstacle crossing before continuing. Another hike all the way up to the windmills. The view up the windmill was just breathe taking. We stopped for a few moment to catch our breath and enjoy the wonderful scenary. When we reach back to the beach we had to run in flippers along the beach. *giggles* It was funny doing that but I was already out of energy just to laugh at it. Then we proceed our way back to the starting line which was also the finishing line. The sight of it immediately give us an extra burst of energy. We came back in about five and a half hours. What a relieve it was, tired we were but satisfied with our completion. Another achievement to be added into the list.
We waited for the boat transfer back to campsite. Although we may be tired but as we reach back we headed directly to the water. Relax and enjoying the cool clear water till about 6 when we had to clean up and get ready for dinner at Kampung.

cool..

...clear water, see the fishes?

We were served with bbq dinner. That's fantastic, but having few hundreds of people bbqueing over 3 fire could be a pain in the S. We were already starved since lunch. Yet we need to queue for dinner. Yet, we still manage to fill our grumbling tummy at bout 9. Then there were prize giving ceremony and some entertainment by local artist and cultural dance. And the whole event finished with a 5mins long fireworks display which was just perfect. It was right above us, simply beautiful.

after a tiring day

we feast.. hmm which is my chicken i wonder

PIC2008 Update 1

Well, just wanna update my trip to Perhentian. What can i say? Extremely tired but satisfied.

Here goes. Me, HL, and Tim took a bus from Parit Buntar to KL at 3pm. Due to some accident on the way, we were caught in traffic and ended up in KL 8something. It was like a long long trip. Well, packed in our backpacks, as we arrived in Pudu, we make our way to MTC ( Malaysian Tourism Centre ). It wasn't to hard to locate it though. Hungry we were at that moment since we were rushing our way to MTC to make sure we don't miss the bus. On arrival we just look for some mamak stall nearby and grab some food just to fill our empty tummy.

Then we gathered back in MTC, many people were already there. Some were newbies like us, first timers, while some were all fully equipped. Later we can categorize the participants into 2 categories. Category one are those who were have been training for month, and are fighting for the finishing line. Category two are people like us, little training just wanna get pass the finishing line, and enjoy. Hehe. That night was a little havoc among the organisers, as there were lots of restless people waiting eagerly to be registed, get on the bus as we were tired, wet, and cold. After some hassle here and there, finally we got our bus number and hurried to the bus to get a comfy seat. There were like 10 buses, nice and brand new by the Terengganu gov. Very nice indeed the buses, but little did we know when we were about to enjoy our nice sleep we found out that the seat of the buses CANNOT be adjusted. Not even a little. Try imagine that, a nice comfy looking bus turned out to be the most dreaded bus anyone would ever wanna travel in. The buses were flagged of by the organisers at about midnight.

Horrible journey it was, having to sit upright for the whole 8 hours or so. Even before the race, I already had a terrible ache on the neck. As we arrived in Kuala Terengganu, the sun had risen. We could see the seaside and the some local views of KT. My first trip to the east coast, so a bit "sua ku". Everything seems fascinating even if it was just a sign "Keropok Lekor". We arrived at seaside which has a nicely built park. Toilet is what everyone was rushing for as the bus stopped. We were welcomed by big banners by the state gov and were provided with "wonderful" breakfast. Felt so honoured, like some sort of VIPs. We hanged around for breakfast for an hour or so. Then there were some speech by some BIG people of the authorities to welcome us. Then we were brought around to have a short tour around KT. We visited the Taman Tamadun Islam which has a variety of mosque followed by the State Museum.

Crystal Mosque at the back

Another view

us in the mosque in potter like robes

inner view

just another one

some other structures there

Terengganu state museum

Went travelling in the bus, i found out something interesting. The bus seems to be on the move all the time. I realised they didn't stop at traffic lights. Then i found out that there were several policemen escorting our convoy. They were there stopping all the traffic while we make our way through. Wow. People on the road were like staring at us like some sort of VIP. That's way cool. After the short tour we headed to Kuala Besut where we will be transferred to P.Perhentian.

Lunched was ready on arrival at the jetty.

After lunched, we waited for our turn to be transferred to the island. We went on speedboat which was fast as we could see them sort of floating in the air.

Speeding all the way

In the speedboat

The sight of the island were more and more visible. The sea water looked very clear. We can't wait to jump into the water. As soon as we step down on the island, registered for our tent, settle down and immediately we headed for the clear cool water. It was amazing. We could see lots of fishes swimming around.

Welcome to Perhentian

Our kayak destination

Kayaking with HL

At 4pm, we were served with some food, and briefed on the schedule. We had a little beach cleaning session just after tea. Then me, HL and some new found friends whom we met along the trip, went exploring the island a little. We went over to the other side of the island where there were more people. Then we rented kayak and went kayaking, just a little warm up before the race. Haha. It feels harder to kayak here probably due to the stronger wave here. We headed back to our campsite just in time for dinner and briefing for the race. We had Uncle Chan to reveal the race course and brief us on it. After dinner we sat by the beach chatting a little and enjoying the cool breeze as it was very hot in the tent. We jumped in to bed early that to get more rest and to prepare for the race day.

Some views of Perhentian

Back Home Again..

Glad to enjoy a short break just before the exams. I didn't expect to be back this early, thanks to our lecturer who cancelled the test, I immediately went to buy tickets on weds nite for thurs nite bus home. And happy I am, to get a ticket back home. And here I am, back home. Been resting the whole day, just enjoying the feeling of lazing at home, without any worries, workload or just anything. Hehe, however there's still an urgent task waiting to be done. Something related to my FYP, which will due next weds. So by hook or by crook i'll need to force myself to start working on it. But i need solidworks, so hunting for the installer. Anyway, hoping for a great break before getting back to work.


Looking forward Deepavali, be going over to Vigren's. Haven't been there for few years. anyone care to join? looking forward those nice food.

Discovering my limits!!

Here I am, blogging again. hmm. i wonder where all my luxurious free time went. Sneaking in in the middle of the night. I'm just rushing of some assignments and task before leaving tomorrow. I won't be around for the weekends. That's the whole idea. Getting away to Perhentian Island. Partially for the fun and relaxation, the rest of it is for the PIC2008 ( Perhentian Island Challenge ). It's a sort of physical challenges and brainteaser type questions to complete i think. But mainly the physical challenge may consist of swimming, kayaking, running, a little mountclimbing. The route is yet to be known. Will be revealed on that day itself or probably during the briefing. Something like that. The total time of completion 5 hours. I'll be partnering with HL in the team event. At least if i'm to tired to swimming, i can just float around and he pulls me along. And when i'm too tired to run, i can just hang on to him and he carries me along. I think that's a pretty good plan ain't it? Then during kayaking, I'll be sitting at the back taking some photos and giving him some morale support. Or will it be the other way round? Will find out when we comes back. Haha.

Training?? erm. that's a very good question. We did sports, mainly squash and some gym. I hope that's good enough. Fitness level ? not so to the max. I have a feeling i injured my knee during gym. and he injured his ankle during basketball. I hope it gets better on that day. Pray hard for miracle to happen. Hope our injury gets recovers fast if can give us extra boost of energy and speed and whatever it needs to win the competition. Gosh, I must be getting dreamy, I hear the bed calling to me. Well, just hope we complete within the required time, being in the top 10 would be a bonus.

Checklist : Hand gloves- checked

Cap- checked

Sun lotion- checked ( does it make any different? I wonders )

Swimming googles- checked

Water container, water carrying bag - hmm. just a bottle of water will do i guess.

Power Bar, Energy Bar, Power Gel, Chocolate- yup, got some of those power bar ( i just need those power coming in )

Sleeping bag - checked

neccessary personal belongings.... there's just so many things to bring, wondering what to leave behind.

Very well then. All set ready to go. Be taking the 3pm bus to kl, and from kl they provide transport there. PIC2008 here i come!

ponders over the theme, wondering if i discover my upper or lower limits

Best Of Luck!!

Here I am again blogging in front of my comp when i should be studying for my A/C Test in 8 hours time. I tried to restrain myself from doing so but I think there's something that I should scribble a little.

PMR will officially begins tomorrow ( i think ). I just found out while chatting with my dear sister just now. She seems a little scared that's what she told me. Well I guess there will be some fear when facing these major exams. Even I myself does trembles during the finals which will soon be haunting. These are all pre exam syndromes i guess. I could still remember some moments when being in her place years ago. Hmm.. time really flies i guess. period. I better not start more topics, at least not now. So just wanna wish my dear sister all the best and good luck.

Do not worry too much. Stay focus and avoid any carelessness. I think carelessness sometime makes you feel like banging your head on the wall.

Once again, put in your best effort and a trail of good lucks to all taking PMR out there.

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12:00PM Wednesday, October 15th





Some pics to kickstart with