Melaka 1-Day Trip

Last Sunday we went to Melaka with Kelab Shah Alam Selangor, and it only cost RM 50 per person! (transportation, food & entrance tickets included) Cheap right?

The only regret from the trip is that I didn't get to try ANY local delicacies, e.g. Melaka Chicken Rice (鸡饭粒), Cendol etc... But these are a few destinations that we went to:

1. Melaka Zoo

Just so you know I am notoriously known for taking TONS of wildlife pictures; during my std 6 year end trip to singapore, I finished the one and only roll of film taking zoo pictures -_-" (didn't have digital camera back then)

Presenting the tip of the iceberg...

A headless Faber Castell parrot! He must be on strike due to pay cut due to recession -_-"

The only sleeping owl in the cage. The others were happily enjoying the limelight...

My mom with the tapir. It's so much bigger in real life

Miniature horse. Looks like eeyore from Winnie the Pooh eh?

Two lemurs yearning to join another lemur inside that enclosure. So darn ironic. I bet the one inside wants to come out la -_-"

Oh ya my father cracked a joke when we saw the deer.

Dad: You know the difference between a "high deer" and "old deer"?

Me: No. What?

Dad: One is "Hi, dear!" and the other is "Oh, dear!"

SUPERSWTSWTSWTx10000

Educated Orang Utan! But I wonder how come he/she wasn't locked up (only him/her la) and just allowed to roam in the open; people might get hurt

2. Maritime Museums

There are a couple of them located close to each other but honestly there's nothing much to see

One of the museums are shaped like a ship. And you have no idea how many times I heard people around me crack jokes about "the Carribean sea" and "Captain Jack Sparrow"

My dad at his jokes again. (This is the ship captain's room)

Me: How come the wall and the floors all senget (lopsided) one?

Dad: So when there's a storm and the seas go rocky, the room will appear upright lo...

-_-". again.

3. Menara Taming Sari (Taming Sari Tower)

There was a freaking long queue... I strongly suggest not to go on weekends/public holidays. You'll spend 90% of the time waiting.

The circular part revolves 3/4 times at the peak before it comes down again... You can take in the full view of Melaka--The Stadhuys, St. Paul's Church, the museums and even Eye on Malaysia. Definitely worth it.

Eye on Malaysia from the top of the tower

4. A Famosa Fort

The walls were supposedly made from iron; that's why it's still the last wall standing

Since when were trishaws so commercialised?

Real, real bad traffic.

2 lovebirds outside The Stadhuys :)

5. Eye on Malaysia



We were having small talk with other passengers in the gondola.

Woman to mom: Your daughter ah? How old?

Mom: This year, 17

Woman: Wah! Really ah? She looks so... young...

Mom: *laughs and smiles*

Me: *looks on peacefully but feeling -_-"*

Even the ticket master at the zoo asked my mom.

"Ini... above 12 kah?"

YESYESYES!! FREAKING YES!! Sudah above 12! 5 tahun dahulu lah abang!

6. Melaka River Cruise

There was also a super super long queue here... I think about 1 or 2 km. And the whole cruise took about 45 mins. So how long were the others supposed to wait?? (oh ya fyi we went 1st since we booked early ^^)
The river was pretty clean for Malaysian standards and VERY SQUEAKY CLEAN for Klang standards

So due to traffic jam + queuing up = we didn't get to go Jonker Street. It was supposed to be pasar malam-ish with lots of stuff to buy...

p.s. Suat Hoon and I went to Grace's Christmas house party last night! (another Grace. Not grace from last post.) Will update next time :)

A list of random stuff

Argghh.

Sometimes I wished I didn't take A-levels and took Business Foundation or AUP (American Programme) instead.

Only A-levels started college one week ahead of the others. Only A levels have to cover topics that I feel will be 80% unused when I get out to work.

Plus, no leng chai in A-levels la.


The closest we got was someone with Zac Efron's hair. *sob

Anyway we celebrated 3 of our classmates' birthdays on tuesday. Behold the August babies:

1. Unna (17th Aug)
2. Teck Hong (16th Aug)
3. Julian (26th Aug)

Happy belated, by the way ^^

Since the b'day cake was to be shared, my classmate Suzanne came up with this (to be written on the cake):

Junna Teck Unna Hong Luna Iuna Anna Nana

Just read according to colour and you'll get it...

But mostly thanks to the staff at Baker's Cottage who actually heeded to our crazy demands :P

Another bit of randomness: (sorry for the blur images; taken from my phone)

Location: Subang Jaya Ktm Station
Time: Around 5.30pm, before train arrived
Destination: From Subang to KL Sentral

This was after the train arrived...

It seemed like almost 70% of the passengers didn't make it.. and the train comes every 20 minutes! Isn't it obvious enough that the train should be more frequent?

Land, ahoy!

Just fyi I did not go on a crusade to any faraway island in seek of fame and fortune or something like that... just somewhere close to home: Pulau Ketam (it's somewhere near Port Klang if you've never heard of it)

2 cousins of mine from Canada came for vacation and so my mom and I took them for a short trip to get in touch with our more primitive nature (no offense to residents of Pulau Ketam... it really is a nice and cosy place to stay ^^)

~from left: my 2 cousins, my mom, tua ee (hokkien for eldest aunt), her (cute!) grandson~

~wondering why there's a toilet just next to the jetty? see next pic~

~ohh so that's why...~

~oohh! colourful crab sighting~

~ main transportation around the island~

~it's actually a currypuff-shaped pastry with icecream inside... interesting~

~translation from mandarin to english: Chess Research Association of Pulau Ketam... really pro le... get to do research on chess also~

~ermm... a really irrelevant pic... but it's Big Apple Donuts from Subang Parade... we actually told them to cut each donut into 6 pieces so each of us could taste every flavour ^^~

JPA interview (this is the LEAST creative title I have ever posted...*sob*)

Forwarded a month's worth of 4 days leave to attend this interview (FYI, will be going back this Sunday morning and working till 27th of April..)

Mine was held in Nilai (instead of Putrajaya) on 3rd April. Well initially I was torn between the choice of Nilai and Putrajaya but somehow I felt that Nilai sounded closer... so much for good intuition -.-"

Luckily I do have an understanding dad, who, as to not make matters worse (and to save my "face") commented that:-

"Haiya Nilai easier to find la, Putrajaya too many precincts, after cannot find then waste time"

Thanks dad!

Well, fast-forwarding past all the crap to the interview part, it was actually tougher than expected. Before entering the boardroom (sounds like The Apprentice eh?) I was with the basic impression that the self-intro would be in Malay while the discussion in English (this should be the standard script I guess), well mine turned out to be a tad bit more complicated than that...

Ok here's our seating:- (6 people altogether in 1 session)

(1) - Female, Chinese, Actuarial Science
(2) - Male, Chinese, Aerospace Engineering in Germany
(3) - Female, Chinese (Me!!), Food Science/Dietetics
(4) - Female, Chinese, Engineering
(5) - Male, Malay, Medicine
(6) - Male, Indian, Actuarial Science

Ours was split into 4 sessions: -
1. Self intro in English: Name, origin (sounds like we're some kind of animal), family background, etc.
2. Discussion (more like debate) in English: title was advantages/disadvantages of studying local/overseas (I got the advantages of studying overseas...lucky me ^^)
3. Discussion in Malay: asking why did I choose that course, the country I would like to go to, why, the future job prospects after taking that particular course, what overseas uni I have in mind
4. Knowledge-based questions in Malay: the difference between raja/sultan, the sequence of states (negeri) in which they pick the next Agong, number of governmental depts, the names of several Head of Depts...

I was like, heck.

The 4th session really got me... Honestly, I read more CLEO and StarTwo than the front page of newspapers! Besides, these info aren't mentioned in the papers THAT often! Argghh... -_-"

Walau bagaimanapun (don't know where that came from), not all interviews are like that... Depends alot on the interviewer; according to my friends who went to the Putrajaya interview, they (there are usually 2) just asked them to do a self-intro and basically discussion that required simple thinking but not those that would test one's knowledge!

My interview was 10am, the 8am batch got Proton questions... about its engines, its chronology... (as in which model to which model)

So basically it's different every time and every place, so future JPA applicants, just take note ^^

Read it only if you're free

Ah. After 2 excrutiating hours of stretching, over-stretching and stretching ourselves... Taekwondo class was finally over. (not that I hate it! I actually like it, but i'm used to whining :P)

As usual, a major traffic jam would break out in front of the school as anxious parents peer into the school compounds, waiting for their ninja turtles-to-be. (Obviously, i'm not one of them. I'm 100% human. No mutant X genes!)

So when my mum and I were stuck in the bad traffic, suddenly i realized the significance of living and non-living beings in the world. (i'm not Socrates, Aristotle or anything. And yes, i've just had my sejarah test. Bottomline--i'm no philosopher, jz expressing personal opinion.) A couple of homo sapiens are needed to MAKE a traffic jam, right? Without one, would there be a traffic jam? it takes the "cooperation" of a handful of cars to start a traffic jam... am i complicating matters?

But then there's another example. Malaysia has, say 24 million people but without you, it wouldn't be 24 million anymore, would it?

Why am i saying this? Just making a statement.