Touring Penang with DanDan

Started my working life last Wed and all I could say is...life ends when you start working. =.= Work-eat-sleep...same boring routine everyday. Been trying to spend some time editing my pictures after work but always end up falling asleep with my lappie on...this is definitely not a good sign. So I guess I'd better start blogging about our 'winter' trip before I get buried by work.

Those who have been kaypo-ing on fb should know that I had a vip guest who came all the way from US to visit last December. =) Yup...my boo took a month off work and flew all the way to the other side of the world to visit me. Since this was his first trip abroad, we took the opportunity to travel around Southeast Asia as well. It was kinda a bad timing to be away from home after everything that happened but all these have been planned and booked in advance so cancelling the trip wasn't really an option...and thanks to my 'good' planning skills, we had a jam-packed schedule for an entire month! Luckily big bro was able to take leave and stay home while I was away. {Dec 6-9: Penang   9-13: Bangkok   13-17: Phuket   17-23: Penang   23-27: Siem Reap   27-31: Kuala Lumpur   31-Jan 3: Singapore}

Dec 8 (Wed): Georgetown, Penang (UNESCO World Heritage Site)

This was my 2nd time bringing people around Penang...and I admit I'm quite a lousy 'tour guide' coz I'm not good in explaining or telling stories, especially when it comes to history. :p So to make things easier, I asked him to pick the places that he wanted to go and I be the driver. =D

 One thing you can't miss in Penang is FOOD!! Had ice kacang, cendol and mee goreng at New World Park. His description for cendol is the 'green worm thing'...lol!

Kuan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) Temple...one of the oldest Chinese temple in Penang.

Some old houses behind the temple. He wanted to take a pic of the drain coz they don't have  this kinda drainage system in US. =.=

King Street Temples. Dad used to live in King Street when he was a kid (not in the temple la of course) but I didn't know bout these clan temples before this. :p That colorful thingy is some sort of candle...no idea what it's called.

Sri Mahamariamman Hindu Temple.

Teo Chew Temple.

Rice+dishes for every meal was new to him. We eat with spoon & fork but he used only fork to eat rice. I asked him to try using both but he can't coordinate...haha...lousy! :p We eat rice & dishes together but he ate only dishes first and rice last. Excuse me sir...that's not the right way of eating! :p Whenever we go to grandma's place, she'll stuff him with food...lol!

Big bro bought this new game (something like Wii) and it was supposed to be for dad but look who's playing. Game boys...*head shake*. =.=

Dec 18 (Sat): Penang (Part 2)

Continued our tour around Penang after coming back from Bangkok and Phuket. More temples to come...haha! Lucky me, the weather was gloomy most of the time when we were in Penang so it wasn't hot but not good for him coz he wanted to get some tan...lol!

Drove all the way to Batu Feringghi for this view...kinda disappointing right?

Went to CRC for dinner and badminton. We rarely see angmoh playing badminton there so one uncle asked if he's from Denmark (coz of Peter Gade Christensen)...sweat! =.= And guess who won the game? Of course me la...haha! :p

Dec 19: (Sun): Penang Heritage Trail

Very productive day coz we did a lot of sight-seeing for one whole day. Still trying to complete the checklist of the places that he wanted to see. 

Khoo Kongsi...'represents the opulence and prosperity of the Khoo clan'.

It was my first time visiting Khoo Kongsi too. This place has been restored so it looked quite nice. 

Lotsa exhibits and facts here so we spent about 2.5 hours here.

Nice exterior with lotsa details.

Finally a picture of us together. =)

Exterior of old houses in Penang.

Sleeping Buddha/Wat Chayamangkalaram. This is a Thai temple I reckon. 

Mom & dad gave him a treat at CRC restaurant. 

Bloated again. :p

Hahaha...gotcha!! :p

Pinang Peranakan Mansion. The place was kinda messy when we went coz ppl was gonna film something there I guess. This place is famous coz it was used to film several movies and drama series. 

Peranakan, also known as Baba & Nyonya (the Straits Chinese), was a prominent community of Chinese that created a unique lifestyle and customs by adopting local Malays and the colonial British customs and traditions.

Dhammikarama Burmese Buddhist Temple.

Why do we have so many different types of temples in Penang har?

Fort Cornwallis (built by Captain Sir Francis Light) & Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower. 

The Esplanade.

City hall and Town hall. There was a Chingay, Lion and Dragon dance parade that day but he was too tired so we decided to call it a day.

Western food for dinner at Mizi Bistro.

Dec 20: (Mon): Kek Lok Si

Was supposed to visit Kek Lok Si and Penang Hill but the tram to Penang Hill was under repair so we missed that.

The huge Kek Lok Si Temple.

He's very interested in all these so we spent quite some time here.

Took some pics before going up the pagoda.

Climbing the stairs was alright but prob is the steps were so small!

View from the top of the pagoda.

Kuan Yin Statue.

The old Kuan Yin statue broke so they're building this new one with shade for the statue. 

Stopped by Queensbay for a view of Penang Bridge. Look at the skies...rain's coming!

Dec 21: (Tues): Seafood dinner at Tambun

Farewell dinner for Daniel before we said bye bye to Penang.

Yummy!

Dec 22: (Wed): Penang-Kuala Lumpur

Took a bus down to KL coz we had to catch our flight to Siem Reap the next morning. Our bus broke down on the way and we had to switch to another bus. What are the odds?!?! He's too 'lucky'. The funny thing was the bus driver actually gave privilege for foreigners (angmoh to be specific) to switch first coz apart from Daniel,there were 2 more angmoh in the bus. The bus driver was pointing at us and said 'pelawat'...took me few seconds to figure out that he was talking about us...lol!!  

Pheww...long post and my keyboard is retarded...so annoying. Working on Bangkok pictures now so will try update the next one asap.

Brand new year...Brand new start!

Happy New Year 2011!! Time to get back to my blog after 'abandoning' it for a month. Been busy traveling around for the past month...this month-long journey is finally coming to an end and it's time to get back to reality. =.= 

2011 countdown at Marina Bay, Singapore.

Took so many pics over the past month and haven't had time to work on it yet so this post is gonna be short with just a quick recap of year 2010. Honestly, 2010 hasn't been as great as I wished...more downs than ups I guess. First half of the year was pretty good...was busy with school and some activities...finally completed college as well. Had the chance to go to UK for 4 months and traveled a pretty good bit around Europe during the second half of the year...all thanks to mom and dad for giving me this opportunity. :) Got to travel around Southeast Asia for a month with Daniel...thanks for coming all the way to the other side of the world to spend time with me! :) Hope i'll have time to start blogging about this trip soon. Unfortunately, dad had a stroke towards the end of the year so kinda sad about this. But looking on the bright side, dad's recovering pretty well so that's a good sign. :) 

I'll be starting my new working life tomorrow...time to say goodbye to holidays...hope everything goes well. May 2011 be a great year ahead!! That's all for now...signing out from Changi airport!!

Life's Throwing Lemons

Life's really unpredictable. A month ago, we were joyfully celebrating big bro's wedding and I thought I would have ample time to work on my blog after the wedding coz I was quite free. However, something totally unexpected and unfortunate happened and I was busy in and out of the hospital for the last 2 weeks. I still remember we were having a great time celebrating mom's birthday but 2 days after that, dad had a stroke. =( Everything came so sudden and fast...never  would I have imagined that this would happen so soon...haiz! 

Mom woke me up about 4.30am that morning saying that dad's leg was numb and she was gonna send him to the hospital. Good thing was that I was home so was able to help drive and rush to the hospital. Went to the Lam Wah Ee hospital first but the A&E officer said there's not neurologist there so asked us to go to another hospital. At that time, dad's situation was still not that bad coz he was still able to move his hands. Then we quickly rushed to Island hospital, the neurologist was there early but couldn't do much coz he said that 'golden hour' was over so had to do MRI scan. Quite unlucky coz dad was asleep before feeling the numbness, so it was hard to determine what time exactly the stroke started. If it was within 2 hours, the doc could have done something to prevent the situation from worsening. =.=

According to the doc, what happened was dad's right brain was bleeding and formed a blood clot...affecting the entire left part of his body...so they had to inject some med to dissolve the blood clot and put dad in the ICU...sucks. If you want me to describe how serious dad's condition was...all I could say is it's serious enough to be in the ICU for 3 days. :( No one wants all these to happen but there's no point guessing why and how this happened to someone healthy like dad. Things are gonna be different from now on but I'm sure our family will stay strong together and help dad go through this tough time. It's gonna be a long recovery road but I have faith in dad that dad will be able to stand up again. 

This was the 'cold camping place' that I was talking about in my earlier post. This ICU waiting room sort of became our room coz we were sleeping, eating, watching TV, hanging out there for almost 3 days when dad was in the ICU. We were really making ourselves at home. :p

Took care of dad in the hospital after he was transferred out to normal ward. Sometimes, it feels like god has planned all these in advanced...at least all these happened after bro's wedding was over and I am still free while waiting to start work in Jan. I'm the free-iest person in the family so spent the most time in the hospital accompanying dad. :p Haha...see how I make myself comfortable in the hospital with my netbook, deck chair, hoodie, etc.

Bro also came back during the weekends to help out. It's always good to see dad smiling. :) Dad had some physiotherapy session in the hospital...I'm the unqualified assistant trainer...hehe!! :p

Sincere thanks to all friends and relatives who dropped by to visit dad in the hospital and brought lotsa laughters.

At first, dad had 2 doctors...one neurologist and another neuro surgeon. Then after bros spent one night in the hospital...one more doc was added...this time is for the heart coz dad's stomach was aching the night before. Dad's definitely topping the list with the most doctors. :p Dad had 4 different neighbors throughout his stay...2 changed room coz we were too noisy...especially when there were visitors around...haha!! Another angmoh was discharged before we could chase him out. :p 

Flowers and gifts from dad's colleagues and some relatives.

Just like the title of this post...life is giving us lemons right now and this hardship is definitely a challenge for all of us in the family. It's difficult for us to understand what dad's going through right now...what we need to give him is patience and motivation. What happened has happened and there's no point making ourselves miserable over something that we cannot change. Everything's gonna change from now on...but I'm hoping that it'll change for the better. Looking on the bright side, at least this illness is not terminal and there are still chances of recovery. This has also brought our family closer together as we got to spend more time doing things together. =) It's also a good reminder for us to cherish everything that we have now especially our family and be contented. Never ever take things for granted. 

Quote to share: "Life is not about how hard you can hit. Life is about how much you can get hit and keep moving forward!"

Happy Birthday Mommy!!

Nov 17 (Wed): Mom's Birthday at Tao's

Big bro wanted to celebrate mom's birthday and all he could think of was eat, and only eat so 5 of us went for buffet dinner at Tao's. How I wished good times with family could last longer.

I'm still unemployed & poor so could only afford to give mom a tulip that I bought from Amsterdam. :p 

Love these pics. :)

Yummy!! The kiasu way of eating...haha!! I always rugi when it comes to buffet coz my stomach is too small for all these food!

Cherating Weekend

Nov 13-14 (Sat & Sun): Alumni Community Weekend at Legend Hotel, Cherating

Actually, it was our college's convocation that weekend but I didn't plan to attend so was quite free especially since bro's wedding was over. So made this last minute decision to attend this event organized by the Malaysian-American Alumni Partnership. Basically, I was just busy traveling and tumpang-ing others' car everywhere all weekend. :p Rae was scolding me for not attending the convo with her so I decided to make a detour to KL to meet up with the gang and also drop by for a convo pic. =) Btw, I almost lost all these pics coz my netbook's hard disc decided to die before I managed to backup...luckily bro helped me to recover...phew!

Reunion of the 'Super' gang. =)

Glad that I made it there early to take this pic with the 3 of them before the ceremony  then quickly rushed all the way to Taman Bahagia to tumpang Alan's car to Cherating. =) 

Finally arrived Legend Hotel together with the UGRADers after 4 hours journey.

The event was a good opportunity to meet up and network with alumni from other exchange programs.

Time for alumni to meet the Click Camp participants. Had a good chat with Jim and some Fulbrighters during tea break...Jim's 'monkey vs laser' story was hilarious!

Cherating is famous for its beach and we were supposed to have an activity on the beach...but look at the weather...you could see the rain coming. =.=

Thanks to the rain...all the alumni met up with our community activities group in the ballroom instead.

Networking session and dinner for the alumni. US Ambassador Jones was also there for the event.

All the students and alumni members were split to several groups to go for different community activities. I chose to teach English at a nearby pre-school...ooo...it wasn't an easy task. These kids come from kampungs so didn't really get much chance to learn English...plus I had one hearing and speech impaired girl in my group so it was quite a good learning experience for me. Another good reminder of how fortunate I am to have the opportunity to learn so many things since young. 'Appreciate what you have coz there are people out there without it.'