Malaysia Uncovered: Day 3 - The football field that aspired to be just like Kenyir when it grew up.

right before we left kenyir, the heavens decided to piss on our adventure once more. at one point while we were trying to while the time (and rain) away by playing cards, we contemplated on skipping Kota Bharu because the headlines of the morning's Star newspaper screamed '4 states awashed!'. neither of us wanted to be caught in a situation whereby our car was half consumed by water. calls were made eventually and it was confirmed that kota bharu town itself was relatively unaffected by floods so it was onward, ho.



and yet again, i am glad that we didn't miss kota bharu BECAUSE IT WAS SO NICE LAA!! (ok i'm not trying to make it out as though my trip was super nice and exciting because some times it wasn't due to constant rain). the rains stopped right after we left kenyir and it was bright sunshine all the way.

right now, the folks living in the northern east coast states get 100 points from me, whilst people from selangor get a big fat zero. all the makcik-makcik and pak-pak that i spoke to in kelantan were so nice and kind and helpful AND FRIENDLY. there was a night where we got lost in kota baru town (yes, i know. it wasn't my fault though) and i stopped to ask this malay uncle for directions. he was so nice, the directions he gave were so clear. and when we were walking down the road, he continued to keep watch and kept shouting at us the directions. where can you find such people in kl? NOWHERE, that's where.




anyway, we decided to drive to pantai cahaya bulan the evening we arrived and along the way, we passed some major flood zones. it's quite incredible, really, because never have i ever witnessed flooding to such devastating proportions. there was a football field that literally turned into a lake; the entire field was flooded all the way up to the top of the goal posts. houses became islands. little drains became rivers. there were boats where cars would usually pass.



the football field cum lake.

yet through it all, life for the kelantanese seemed to go on as though nothing had happened. kids were laughing and swimming in the flood waters evidently having the grandest time of their lives. a malay storekeeper selling dried keropok could still laugh and haggle with us while simultaneously telling us that the water level in Tumpat where she lived was rising and so she had to go home quickly SO PLEASE JUST BUY HER KEROPOK. after hearing that, we paid her the sum she wanted.



anyway, my verdict is this: kota baru is definitely worth another visit! so yun and evie, please invite me over next time ya?

I lost my phone that is not technically my phone but who cares about minute details in times of crisis..right?

So there was a slight issue last night involving a birthday party in Zouk and the availability of alcohol. As the night progressed and the drinks started to flow, I became less wary and as a result, my phone was stolen. But then again, it wasn’t really my phone, but rather, one loaned to me by my housemate. So, technically, my housemate’s phone was stolen and now I’m in a rather deep pile of warm, moist shit. Cue internal dialogue the moment I realized the pink phone was not with me.

Melanie: What the fuck, Mel?
Melanie: I didn’t realize.
Melanie: You didn’t realize? What is wrong with you? The phone is gone and you didn’t realize?
Melanie: Hello. If you didn’t drink that last glass of whisky thus resulting in you being so obsessed with taking photos, the phone would not be missing.
Melanie: I don’t believe this. You’re pushing the blame on my drinking a glass of rather-weak whisky and taking ONE freaking picture instead of admitting that your concentration lapsed. Besides, I was standing by the freaking table the whole freaking time!
Melanie: If you didn’t drink and wasn’t so trigger-happy, I wouldn’t have lapsed in my concentration. So what are you going to do about her phone?
Melanie: I’ll buy her a new one.
Melanie: You have no money.
Melanie: Oh, just shut up. Chinese New Year is in two days' time.

Besides the fact that the phone was my housemate’s, I think I was more heartbroken from losing the sim card rather than the phone. In truth I tell you that if the phone had been my battered Nokia 6610i, it would’ve been a cause for celebration because I would finally be handed an excuse to upgrade to a more ‘advanced’ phone. If you know what I mean...

However, it is the loss of my sim card that is killing me right now.

Reason #1: As an extremely nostalgic person, there are tons of memories stored in my Malaysian sim. I have messages going all the way back to 2005: birthday greetings, farewell quips, random crap that made me laugh and many miscellaneous others. Now, like a thief in the night, all these memories that I’ve carefully hoarded like Smaug the dragon and brought with me throughout these years have disappeared with a POOF and a Hey, presto! God damn you, Bilbo Baggins!

Reason #2: My great archive of numbers and contacts which amounted in the several hundreds will now have to be rebuilt slowly and painfully. This, in my opinion, is the most inconvenient aspect of losing a phone. Now that my phone is gone, I have come to realize the evil that is the phonebook program. Since everything is stored in the phonebook, I no longer remember or memorize any numbers. The only numbers that I can recite off the top of my head are my parents’ numbers and my house telephone number – fucking pathetic, I know.

Anyway, all is not lost. Due to a small little ingenious piece of technology also known as Australian-sim-card, I have at least half of my numbers, and most importantly, the numbers that matter! So if I’m not calling you (that means you, Karen!), it means I’ve lost your number. This is especially true for the newer sets of numbers. So give me a ring or send me an sms and include your name within. I will not go down the path of setting up a ‘Mel’s phone got stolen and now this idiot of a marine biologist has lost all her numbers so PLEASE call her!’ group on Facebook.

At this point, all I can do is to fervently pray that the person who stole my phone will be inflicted with the worst of the worstest WORST kinds of syphilis. And when the syphilis is about to clear up, the person would be so sex-starved (of course la, syphilis ma who wants to have sex with him/her?!) that they will go on a sexual rampage and contract a cocktail of STDs.

Moral of the story is: Bad luck does not discriminate between English and Chinese Lunar years. Let's hope that the bad luck ends with the bull. I don't have anything left that I can afford to lose, damn it!

Malaysia Uncovered: Day 2 - Watching 1408 in a deserted spa resort is highly discouraged.

[Ed. note: guess where am i? starbucks metropoint, kajang OH MY GOD high-speed internet!]

it rained the whole day as we were driving to cherating. it rained the whole night. and when we woke up, we were greeted with swimming pools!




if you're malaysian, you should know that a couple of weeks back there were heavy and steady rains in the northern states which resulted in massive flooding everywhere! thankfully we just missed the floods in Kuantan by, i dare say, a couple of hours.



anyway, the next day we drove to Lake Kenyir, with a short stopover in Kuala Terengganu.




oil refineries such as these ensure that i will have a job for the next 20 years due to the massive amounts of CO2 they release on a daily basis. abnormal urchin development, here i come!

all throughout the journey it RAINED. i was beginning to wonder if i'd ever see the sun again - or even a patch of clear sky for the matter!



however, kenyir was wonderful. kenyir was so nice! SO NICE! it really surprised me because all these while, i thought kenyir was just a lake where tired bored old men went to to fish their hearts out. but it was really nice and calming and serene! and the lake is massive la! according to my cousin (quite a reputable source), the biggest island in the kenyir system is bigger than Singapore!



anyway i wouldn't mind going to kenyir again. i can think of so many things to do there. wake up in the morning, rent a boat and go out fishing. rent a boat and go over to the taman negara border to hike, trek and visit waterfalls. come back and jump into the spa. drink. gamble. party the night away in the individual chalets that they have. rinse and repeat. anyone out there who's interested, please let me know before 16 feb ok?

Broadband: The best invention EVER!

i am currently in starbucks, kajang metropoint and OH MY GOD high-speed internet! don't think i can afford the time to write a long post because my parking ticket ends approximately in 40 minutes' time (can't be fucked to add more coins because i don't have any left!) and there's still so much more that i haven't done i.e. facebook.

needless to say, i have just slightly under a month before i return to sydney and i won't lie...I AM TERRIFIED! and apprehensive la. i don't want to go back to sydney! i want to stay in kajang and lead the life of a lotus-eater! i want to be able to drive my car wherever and whenever (ok that's a lie because my father states where to and when i can drive) i want to!! i want to be able to just call up abby or nikki or weng yew and shout down the phone DUDE MAMAK/YUM CHA/MAMBO MOU!? i want to be able to watch endless hours of discovery channel on astro!

oh my god la why is time passing so fast!? nowadays i dread going to sleep because that means another day has just passed me and without warning i KNOW i'll find myself staring down the barrel of pack-your-bags-girl-it's-time-to-board-the-fucking-plane. OH MY GOD LA! why always like this wan?!

ok i will try to churn another post out.

Malaysia Uncovered: Day 1 - Who said Malaysia is losing its forests (and racial unity)!?

I am a bite victim of the travel bug. Ever since visiting Langkawi sans parents at the end of 2005, I’ve been lusting after the excitement and the thrill of adventure that comes with every road trip planned. This lust has become the parent of numerous trips which I have undertaken either by myself or with friends, most notably, the drive from Cairns. However, as much as I have (kind of) traveled, I’ve never really traveled around my own country. Which is why, when my cousin suggested we do something grand when she came to visit, I jumped at the idea of doing a trip around Malaysia.

To be honest, I don’t really know a lot about this place which I fervently call home as I have yet to set foot into Perlis, Kelantan or Sabah even though I am now 22 years of age. In my opinion, there is just so much left to see, so many treasures yet to discover and so many places left to love. And what better time to do it than now, right before I enter into the work force (ok la, not really the work force la cos I’ll be working in the lab – but that’s a story for another day)? It can be my sort-of last hurrah before I sell my soul to paychecks and a 9-to-5 schedule.

Anyway, on the first day we made our way to Cherating, with a stopover in Kuantan.




The drive to Kuantan gave me a false impression that Malaysia was a big and vast country filled with acres and acres of palm oil and rubber trees as far as the eye can see (actually, Malaysia is puny). No photos of the greenery that I'm talking about because there is no time for photography when you're driving.


It rained the whole damn way to Cherating - which accounted for the gloomy atmosphere outside.


For dinner that night, I had stuffed crabs in a little chinese seafood shop in Kemaman. The moment I sat down, I noticed that there were Malay families eating at the same restaurant! Now, as someone from Kajang and used to the various vicinities of greater KL/PJ, I have to admit that I've never seen Malay families mingling and eating in a chinese restaurant. When I was eating my incredibly over-priced mini stuffed crab, I came to the conclusion that East Coast Malay folks were probably more tolerant and open-minded than West Coast Malay folks.

Hey, I'm just sayin' that it's nice to see both races sitting down in the same chinese restaurant having a meal. Sure, the Chinese and the Malays have eaten from the same restaurants numerous times, but they're usually mamaks, malay eateries or fastfood joints, no? I could've gladly eaten another over-priced mini stuffed crab to celebrate this joyous occasion if only it wasn't so fucking expensive (RM7.50/crab the size of my palm...and I have small hands).

Big great roadtrip.

SORRY!

i did some travelling recently and i've been meaning to write about it like a show-and-tell complete with pictures but i'm a bit lazy! ok la, not a bit - a lot. summore, haih, dial-up....enough said. i'll try to go over to starbucks tomorrow.

anyway, just ONE photo for the meantime!

Pantai Cahaya Bulan, Kelantan - 5 January 2008.

The third day.

Hello there. Another year has drawn to an end and little did you know that you’ve been reading my thoughts for nigh on 4 years now. All this while, I’ve tried to be as frank as I could with my writing. If I am happy, troubled or angry, you would surely be able to tell. However, in the past year I have not been as forthcoming about my feelings as I used to be. I know I’ve been blogging less – a large part of it by will, mainly because I was reluctant and wary as to how much of me I should be exposing to public scrutiny. However, it was also mostly due to time constraints as well as an inadequacy to appropriately put to words and sentences the exact emotions I was going through.

I'm not gonna lie: I am actually quite glad to put 2008 behind me. Never have I ever felt so eager to see the end of a particular year; to close and seal under lock and key yet another chapter of my life.

Was 2008 bad to me? No, not really. It wasn't as though the stars, signs and the entire cosmos ganged up upon me to ensure that I had bad luck all year round. Rather, it was more my own actions and the decisions I made and the choices accepted and the roads I chose to take that led me to where I am now: Happy to forget it all and to start a new year with a new outlook and a fresh beginning.

If I were to sum up last year, I would say that I oscillated between manic frenzy and despair, with the occasional rare bursts of cheery happiness. I think I bit off more than I could chew. I think I heaped too much on my plate than it could contain. I think I placed too much faith into something that, deep down inside, I knew was futile. I think my judgment was completely out of whack. I think I should've taken some time off to just breathe and THINK instead of constantly being in a state of pedal-to-the-metal-and-go-go-GO. I think I should have stopped when I had the chance.

I think last year would have been infinitely less stressful and painful for me if a sequence of events didn't happen and if I hadn't done what I chose to do. But I did, and at the end of the day, that's all that it comes to: accepting the consequences of your actions.

Maybe I'll be smarter in 2009. I hope you guys had a good year and a good new year's eve celebration. Someone once told me that the person whom you saw the old year out and the new year in with would be around with you for the rest of the year. It didn't work for me but I hope it works for you! Let me know when December '09 rolls in.