New Discoveries

Just had a tour around Kuching for the past 3 days together with Pei Sun, her sis and her parents. They are extremely good touring company. XD

perfect excuse for me to savour all i-dare-say healthy Kuching delicacies annually. :D

even tho this was my 4th time touring Kuching over the past 3 years, i still keep discovering things i didnt know about this lovely city i call home.

1. We visited the Semonggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre today in search of orang utans. a few facts that were new to me today.

- 1st of all i kept calling it Semonggok n only realised its correct name today. lol.

- Feeding Time for the orang utans are at 9-10am & 3-4pm. so if u're planning a trip here, u'll wana arrive just slightly before the feeding time :)

- The orang utans had really awesome names.

There's a female orang utan nicknamed Hot Mama due to her temper (not bcz she's irresistibly attractive to the males). Later after the hype only we rmbed her name's actually Delima. the park guides have great sense of humour :D

A dominant male orang utan called Ritchie who caused 2 fingers of George (another male orang utan) to be bitten off and poor George to be sent off to the Matang Wildlife Centre to separate the two.

and a female dubbed The Grandmother cz she's oldest.

one can never get bored watching the antics of these primates that are so irresistibly adorable, esp the babies! awww......

-The centre has 20+ orang utans. They are orang utans seized by Immigration Officers from poachers / smugglers and thank goodness, saved.

- and it's a lot nearer than i thought from my house and very easy to find. :D

2. I never knew there were that many Vegetarian outlets in Kuching. Pei Sun's family is vegetarian. so as we cruised around town, we started spotting more and more vegetarian restaurants around. We tried only a few, but out of those we tried, i have some good reviews.

- Popular Restaurant on the same road as the Air Asia Office opposite Swak Plaza, but much further down nearer to the Padungan roundabout. for restaurant standard, ordering dishes chinese styled.

- Beside the police station on the same road as Hong Kong noodle house in Padungan. 4got the shop's name tho. :S but it's vegetarian laksa, kolo mee, tomato noodles are not bad :P similar to non vegetarian 1s. it has kueh chap too , much to my surprise :P cz i didnt noe they could have mock pig intestines. hehe. bt it tastes different, more like bak kut teh. so i was glad they could all have a taste of Swakian food.

so if u've got vegetarian friends / am craving for vegetarian food, these are the places to be.

3. and rediscovered many routes around Kuching as i drove, drove, drove. :P

when i was small -yes in age and size- lol., i used to think that a 30 min drive down to the Damai Beach was horrendously long and super tiring.

after being in kl whr getting u to a destination requires a minimum time of 30 mins, a drive to Damai Beach felt like a drive in KL on any ordinary day. and much more pleasant with long endless empty roads and lots of trees. hehe. thank you KL for developing my travel time tolerance. :P

as the tour reached its end, nostalgia set in. i miss sunny and family already! she claims ownership over a certain Hill in Kuching selling ice cream. 8P

and its time for me to leave home once again. tmr.

sad..... :S

The Bridegroom

Ps. Dennis mentioned sth more important than the royal wedding this morning.

Wouldn't it be more exciting anticipating the arrival of our heavenly bridegroom Jesus Christ?

Meeting this glorious bridegroom in a wedding matching the grandness of heaven?

How mystifying, wonderful and astounding it would be.

Just to explain a little about the use of reference to Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as his bride as in the bible:

Taken from: http://www.followtherabbi.com/Brix?pageID=2097

In order to communicate his deep love for us, Jesus described his love in terms of a family community. He compared himself to a bridegroom who paid a steep price for his bride and then went to his Father?s house to prepare a place for her.

Jesus made this comparison especially clear during the Last Supper. Taking a cup of wine in his hands, he told his disciples, ?This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you? (Luke 22:20).

No doubt his disciples immediately recognized the imagery of a marriage proposal. And they were able to picture the depths of Jesus? love—a love so deep that Jesus made a covenant with them and was willing to give his life for them.

By using marriage imagery, Jesus said, in effect, ?I love you as my bride, so I?ll pay the bride price. I?ll give up my life for you and to go my Father?s house to prepare a place for you. And one day I will return and take you to be with me forever.?

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul used the bridegroom picture as well: ?You are not your own; you were bought at a price? (1 Cor. 6:19—20). His words reminded Jesus? believers that they were his brides-to-be, waiting for the day when he would return and take them home.

For more information, you are encouraged to refer to the above website.

The World Celebrates

This is just a way to shout out that:

Yes i watched the whole 6 hours of the wedding's live telecast on tv.

Yes i am in love with the whole fairy tale image thing

Yes i think Will is good looking and Kate is really beautiful and stunning

Yes the world needs something good to celebrate about in unity in the midst of the reality of poverty, war, political distress in many countries.

Yes i'm all in with the Britons declaring that i love this royal couple.

Will and Kate forever!

its a hype but a really lovely one.

who's up for roller coasters?

the adrenaline rush when u strap urself to the seat,

the increasing wild palpitation in ur chest as the train snails up slowly up the slope..... to a halt.

POUND POUND POUND

u brace urself

then

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ur internal organs feel non existent

the plunge is never ending

u feel like u'll fall off the seat anytime

when it kinda slows down a little, suddenly u're twisted sharply to ur right

and to ur left

a camera flashes (great. ugly photo >8S)

another plunge down the never ending slope of terror

up down left right twist loop de loop small plunges that make ur stomach lurch

suddenly it slows down

and its all over.

u come down with a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.

GRINS.

i dont have much of an experience to make a good comparison of roller coasters. but i enjoy riding on them. :)

have so far rode on

1. Berjaya Times Square's indoor theme park's

2. Genting Highlands cyclone and another-i-4got-the-name

3. Spore Universal Studio's Mummy Train Ride (i think it has a cooler name but i 4got), Human and Cylon

and Cylon wins hands down as most thrilling, exciting and full of surprises.

its an inverted roller coaster where the seats attach to the rail on the top rather than run on tracks. so it leaves ur legs dangling from ur seat.

has i think 2 loop de loops (360 degree turns) and gas effects along the way.

its the blue 1 in this picture. the red 1 is Human which runs on tracks and has plunges so steep i didnt have the nerve to go on it another time.

those were the highlights of the universal studios trip. which burnt a hole in my pocket. but was definitely worth it!

some pictures of my trip down south right after the grueling exams. Grueling not bcz it was really stressful. but bcz it stretched over 1.5 wks. which i guess is nothing compared to the other health science students who's exam stretches over 3 whole weeks :S

paper-paper-celebration-break -- paper-celebration-break -- paper-paper-celebration :D

i guess having 3 after exam celebrations for an exam lasting just 1.5 weeks is kinda.. overrated? that probably isnt an accurate description but u get what i mean. :P

Chocolate Souffle at the Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar at the Esplanade Mall. S$16. we all shared. u'd want to cz its extremely rich -no kidding- and pretty pricey. if u're a huge chocolate fan, its worth the try. the little mug on the right is a Hug Mug, called so cz of the shape. u can cup ur hands ard it for some chocolate warmth. :P

the New York theme of Universal Studios.

Egypt

Jurassic Park. This baby Triceratops is adorable. it can even lick ur hands. or bite?

with the hot Egyptian guy and girl.

Donkey from Shrek

night view while sitting by the lake waiting for the fireworks display.

awesome fireworks display. this 1's my favourite. the 5 balls of fire were just there rotating round and round with little sparks flying out.

stayed at the Footprints Backpacker's Hostel in Little India. i highly recommend this place :P cz its clean, has a nice atmosphere and interior designing and most importantly cheap. RM30 per pax per night.

met Carmen who's studying in NTU. thx for the awesome shopping expedition in Bugis! :D none of the girls left Bugis empty handed. hehe.

and the trip cont journeying up to JB. stayed at Tune Hotels. comfortable and cheap. also recommended. :) met Christine and Zara!

and went further up to Segamat bunking in at Shalisha's place. Her mum cooks really well.

chappati for breakfast!

met up with lovely qi wen who also stays in Segamat. thx for the treat!

laughed ourselves silly playing carrom at Sha's place. above is the sequence to who managed to flick a piece into the net. we look so happy here bcz the game was getting depressing cz either our targets were never accurate, the pieces were either jumping across the board or we were scoring for our opponent :S

oops sorry for the extreme deviation from roller coasters to my post exam trip. :P was an experience of tests, horror, thrills and fun altogether.

having 2 weeks of hols back home now :D Kuching oh Kuching.

and will be heading to taiwan for elective posting for 3 wks. any1 searching for elective posting options can consider the tzu chi hospital in hualien, tw. relatively cheap as its subsidized and a hospital that has very established palliative care and traditional medicine departments.

definitely high time for me to brush up on my Mandarin. hehe.

Jack of all trades

pride stumbles us and make us fall (but when we get up, we become a better person).

nothing on its own per se determines how good someone is at his/her job. same goes to labeling ppl as having good character, being a good decision maker or just being plain kind. ppl may pride themselves for being extremely good at sth, but there's more to it than just that.

today how good u are in ur job is measured not just by the dominant skill u need to perform ur job, eg. Making correct diagnosis and planning out proper management for a patient's disease for a doctor. or Designing building structures for an architect. or coming up with scientific breakthrough through research for a scientist.

on the job, management skills and good public relations are also keys that determine success.

a doctor can be given the job of organising say, his department's annual dinner. or a sports carnival. u dont learn how to organise events in medical school curriculum. these skills are acquired through experience. projects u take up here and there before. esp if u want to get ur committee working for u, doing a good job and being happy at doing their jobs. u need to be a people person yet make sure deadlines are met, get best deals at lowest prices etc.

lots of ppl nowadays end up working on a job that's totally unrelated to what they specialised in in their degree programme. but they're happy, adapting and doing well.

a person still has to be an all rounder in the end, to be the ultimate super worker. and i thought the term all rounder was stuck to pri and sec sch days. looks like i was wrong.

which would be better? to be extremely good in sth but lack skills in many areas. or to be a jack of all trades, master of none. ev1 wishes they can be both. perhaps they can. with time. with experience.

i guess it depends on what ur goal is. bcz with diff goals, priorities differ. and no1 is entirely right or wrong in saying what they think is the best choice is or isnt the best choice. :)

speaking of Jack, Pirates of the Carribean 4 is coming soon. :D Captain Jack Sparrow!

the boy in my life

18 years have passed. childhood memories linger. it was as if it was just yesterday that my brother threw marbles at me and made me so mad at him that i cried. he still reminds me of it from time to time to poke fun at me. geez. but no doubt its pretty funny thinking of it now.

it was in primary sch days that fights ensued bcz he stole, i mean took the last piece of my share of cheesecake from the fridge and walloped it all up without telling any1. LOL. the bits of mischief he'd be up to to make me oh so mad. the times my sister and i would gang up against him (HAha) and threaten to tell mum if he played the computer while she was away if he didnt stop disturbing us. or secretly watching some cartoon on tv together when we were suppose to be doing our homework.

and it was in sec sch days that we poked fun at each other and fight over who gets to use the computer and go online. bcz i'd hog the comp to check emails and do lots of useless things and be totally kepo on ppl's friendster profiles. and he wanted to play comp games.

and it was in f6 days that i went to the same sch as him and drove him to sch together every morn and yell at him to wake up early cz i didnt wana get caught in the traffic. threatening to leave without him if he wasnt on time. muahaha. and listening to really hillarious stories he'd tell of his teachers and classmates and stuffs.

and it was when i entered university that i didnt meet him on a daily basis anymore. lol. but we'd chat endlessly whenever i got home drg the hols. the hillarious stories of teachers and friends never stopped. we stil argue about stupid things but all in good humour.

i met up with him over lunch today. we talked, shared little life stories. and i realised that as time goes by, this fella has really matured. he even qualifies as my counsellor. lol :P i'm sometimes awed by his train of thoughts. and his actions.

why am i being so nostalgic?? silly me. haha.

well. i love this brother of mine. :)

Um? :P

the heart.

its funny how the heart is linked to our emotions. i wonder who started the metaphor. and drew hearts as the heart shapes we see today. its an intriguing shape really. its symmetrical. its both pointed and curved. and its almost always red or pink.

its like a ball that can swell into the largest of emotions such as pride and anger, and it can also house deep emotions like love, faith, hope. for some reason u dun often find ppl saying 'i'm swelling with love' but with pride. the word play. heeh.

it can also contain burning desires that take you soaring sky high. and feelings that stay rooted and create turmoil, bringing your stomach along on a churning ride.

it isnt simple. bcz emotions put in the heart do not just vanquish as easily as when u want them to. they fade out gradually. and the only variation found in different hearts is the time that transition takes.

it can plaque your mind. or rather, what the mind thinks plaques the emotions in your heart.

it isnt that easy to guard one's heart. but it's worth the try.

*this is some random ramble. if it doesnt make sense, perhaps it's meant to.

i wonder why the queen of hearts was made to be the antagonist. nonetheless, she's my favourite character in Alice in Wonderland. :D