Archive for the ‘ holiday ’ Category

Summertime

Summer feels like it’s coming to a close for me even though truth be told it’s barely getting started. This time last year I was already mid-way through my summer internship. This time around I am employed full-time, so I do have something new to look forward to come end of the month. But this summer has been extremely different also in terms of the variety and meaningfulness of the things I’ve done and am currently pursuing, prior to that engagement. I suppose a list would be easier to enumerate these things:

1)      Visiting a couple of Malaysian art galleries – Wei Ling Contemporary and Petronas Gallery

2)      Taking the time to visit the museums and institutions in Singapore

3)      Helping out a group of high school students with their school project while on a free walking tour of Chinatown (Singapore)

4)      Seeing him again

5)      Exploring my family connections and attending my first ever baby party! (Singapore)

6)      Enjoying local Malaysian/Singaporean food 😀

7)      Scandinavian tour (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden)

8)      Witnessed the midnight sun at Nordkapp (Norway)

9)      Witnessed the interesting social system setup in the Scandinavian countries and thought deeper about the omnipresent Liberty vs. Equality conflict

10)  Meeting up with friends in MY/SG

11)  Learning to play golf (who knew I would have a natural affinity for it?)

12)  Going for my first sauna! (wow.. I must be getting old)

13)  Successfully started on Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” (3rd day in!)

 

2014
07/07
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My Grand Tour

In Italy, there is a law stating that all food served is fresh unless otherwise stated. Minimum fine from 16k euros onwards. Lol! If the rest of the world did as such so many people would be happier 🙂

I wanted to a recap of my Spring Break, because it was special and important to me. It was probably the only real holiday I have had outside of tours with my parents, and to be honest was much more enjoyable without a tour. Organized by places and not dates because it is all a jumble in my head by now.

Barcelona

2nd time in this city and must admit that I enjoyed it a lot more. Highlights were Guell Park, The Magic Fountain, and The Olympic Center (the last time we visited Picasso Museum and Sagrada Familia). Guell Park was amazing and IMO a perfect place to get married (forget them beaches!). The Magic Fountain was truly magical and the museum right behind it…. omg. The Met just cannot compare. Also managed to take more looksies into the plazas in Barcelona and learn more about Catalunya, as well as the history and hostility between the Catalano and the Castigliano. Never knew Spanish was only the language of the Castigliano and not the Catalano in Barcelona.

Sevillia

My favorite Spanish city so far. Beautiful, isolated, and authentic. We watched a Flamenco show there. Can’t help but feel that Flamenco singing in particular has some Islamic influence. Also had the best sandwich of my life. Simple and good, as well as more delicious than italian panini IMO.

Valencia

Highlight of the trip was watching a real life bullfight. For only 24 euros (student price), we sat at the front row of the ring. There were 6 rounds, ie 6 bulls. Jesus…. I don’t think I want to watch another bullfight ever again – being in the front row means we saw everything, and I mean everything! =/ Also had the best fresh sardine of my life YUM

Madrid

Somehow, less students want to visit Madrid compared to Barcelona. But Madrid is also worth a visit! It has the Sofia as well as the Prado museum. Man oh man….. you will be so sick of art after those 2 lol. But seeing the Guernica alone was worth a visit to the Sofia. Was a good supplement to my knowledge of Picasso and his art after visiting the Picasso museum in Barcelona. FREE walking tour was also interesting. Got to know that the Philippines was named after King Philip the Second and that the phrase “No way Jose'” came about because the Spaniards did not want King Joseph (elder bro of Napoleon) to take over Spain. Joseph = Jose’ in Spanish. I like nerdy stuff like that.

Lisbon

Jeeesus. Did not expect this city to have so many places to visit. We managed to cover the main areas as well as Belem (portuguese custard tarts! Amazing with cinnamon =D ). But seriously… need to go back. Not to mention I had the best cheesecake in the world (suck it NY cheesecake) at a restaurant called Portugalia. Plus…. Portuguese guys are cute. Cuter than the Italians and the Spanish. No joke!! Even my Italian teacher agrees.

 

Additional notes: I like wine a lot. Especially Nero D’avallo from Sicily and Verdicchio wine from Marche. Lovely lovely stuff the Italians produce. They really know how to eat!

2012
03/21
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Traveler

It’s a weird feeling to be back after a long journey. But back to where? And back from what? Was it really a journey, a travel, a tour, a visit, a dream… an illusion.

 

And yet it feels good to go away just a little bit further, for just a little bit longer,

savor a little more laughter, a little more sunlight, soft

through the window of my glasses.

         When the heart stops yearning to ponder, everything seems much lighter.

You will always wish to go back, to go further,

for a lot more longer, for a lot more further,

for a lot more plaster.

         When the heart stops learning to ponder, everything seems much brighter.

2012
03/17
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Boston Trip 2.0

I made a second trip to Boston last weekend. What did I do?

Stayed in an MIT frat house hahaha, which was actually pretty cosy.

Lobster sandwich… I would go back just for more lobster!

Revisited MIT and Harvard and got better acquainted with the city of Boston + Cambridge

Realized that Harvard’s business school and Kennedy school have a much prettier campus than the ugly undergrad one

Picked up a lot of stories regarding MIT/Caltech/Harvard rivalry and history

Reconnected with some Malaysians

Learned a new board game

Missed NYC all over again

2011
08/08
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Always Turned On.

Yeah, title above is Atlantic City’s official slogan. Always turned on…. HA HA HA. It works on many other levels too I guess, since ppl just call it AC.

Anyhoooo… you ain’t ever gonna guess who we saw at AC.

We saw…..

Matthew Morrison!! =D

Which was a huge and pleasant surprise seeing that we were actually there to watch the concert of……. NKOTBSB (WTF TO THE MAX!)

Fine…. It was an interesting experience I guess, since everybody there was above 40 and a woman (cept a few guys, aka TL and Howie). And they were screaming their heads off. And they knew ALL the lyrics to ALL the songs. It was crazy….. it was a full house that night. Never again to a boy band concert man. We were literally ready to go deaf after the concert.

You really need to be 21 in America…. I really need to be… We all really need a…………. fake.

 

2011
08/01
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Heat Wave

So it is officially Summer now. I mean officially officially because it feels exactly like back home, except twice as stuffier (heat island on the island of Manhattan?). It’s such a weird heat wave. A few nights before I came out of a building and found out it had been raining, so I expected the atmosphere to be cooler than usual, right? Nope. The water droplets raining down on the city only made the humid night even more humid and stuffy. So weird. Never experienced that in KL before.

Anyhoo..

Today a couple of friends and I were lying in the grass of Washington Square Park. We were almost falling asleep… until I heard this “SSsssss” sound coming out of nowhere (No, to all you Harry Potter fans out there, it was NOT Voldemort’s evil serpent out to get us). I did however, think it was a snake. So I jumped up and got so frightened and all of a sudden water fell out of the sky and started spraying us all over. Oh, they were just water sprinklers. Figures.

A park in Malaysia would totally be full of snakes and scary bugs in the tall unmaintained grass…. Lol.

2011
07/23
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Princeton

Spontaneous trips are always fun with the exception of a failed attempt at watching the sunrise on Brooklyn bridge because I got ki. We visited NJ yesterday, or more specifically Princeton town! =D Hahahaha… fail for Harvard again. Princeton University is so pretty, and apparently it takes up half of the whole town lol. Since TL is familiar with Princeton town coz he did boarding school there for a few years, it was nice to know where to go and what to eat. He also showed us around his old boarding school for a bit. And there were fireflies plus fireworks nearby. How cool was that! Well it is the 4th of July weekend. Too bad I don’t have any plans. But long weekend is always good hehe.

First time taking a train from Manhattan. Past few times I sat a bus to get out of the city. And it was also the first time I witnessed a train conductor coming by to punch our tickets. Like omg.. haha. It’s just like the movies. These small little things you think are normal because you’ve seen them on tv before, it’s just more interesting when you go through the actual experiences yourself. Like an answering machine. We never have those back home. Yeah voicemail works fine, but our culture just doesn’t utilize answering machines. I’ve only ever seen them in American movies. Weird huh? Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe every other home has an answering machine but mine.

And as TL and Jd were chatting bout their old high school experiences, I realized I just couldn’t relate. My past just feels like a whole different world away compared to my life here. It even feels weird thinking back to realize that I had a past. Too far away. That’s why sometimes I like hanging out with a couple of Singaporeans for a bit. They like to think they are different from us, but they really aren’t that much. Otherwise I wouldn’t have the sense of home every time we converse together.

Oh my god. When is the last time I spoke to an actual Malaysian face to face? I even strive to hide my Malaysian accent here. Am I ashamed of it? As much as I’d like to say no, I can’t not say yes. When I’m back home I need that accent to survive because really, who wants to listen to some foreign snobbish angmoh accent? But here…. I feel inferior if I don’t speak like them. But the truth is my accent is neither here nor there. The Americans can tell I have a slight foreign accent but they can’t tell where it’s from. Separuh masak saja. Can’t go back yet can’t really go all the way. That’s how I’ve always been.

Yet, you learn to love life here. The materialistic capitalistic spend spend spend culture. The obsession with TV shows. The wide variety of Americanized food (Yes, I kinda like Americanized food now… lol!?!). I miss Asian food a lot coz I’m used to eating rice back home at least once a day. But you soon learn that American food is NOT all the same. Yes, potatoes are potatoes and fries are fries and burgers are burgers. But they taste different from restaurant to restaurant. Diner to diner. State to state. You can’t dismiss their cuisine like that just coz you think their foods are limited and all taste the same anyways. And the stupidest thing I’ve learned here? White people don’t all look the same. LOL.

Sigh… how much each culture doesn’t know about each other. It’s just so ridiculously weird and amazing at the same time.

2011
07/04
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what do bunnies do??

Any international student who comes straight from their home country to America to study and say they don’t experience culture shock, has just not met enough people.

I went to New Orleans this Spring break. I didn’t know a single person there since Carly popped her tendon and couldn’t go anymore. There were 3 main ways the trip affected me I guess:

1) Thinking about the actual people affected in the Lower Ninth Ward.

2) Thinking about all the 3rd world countries that are as bad or much worse than the above situation though without any occurance of  a natural disaster (which I even include Malaysia in). A lot of deep reflection here.

3) Learning and understanding more about the American culture.

***

It’s funny but, I’m pretty sure that my Italian class classmates are a bunch of hipsters (nothing against hipsters–they’re interesting). It’s not to say we don’t hear the term “hipster” back home… but I JUST came to realization that this is the real deal.

There are just so many layers to American culture. I used to think a good command of English would make it a smooth transition over to the Western world…. but it’s just so much more than language that forces an unintentional invisible barrier between us and them. So much so that it’s awkward because they may not understand why it’s there. Americans generally aren’t very aware of other cultures. Can’t really blame them for that either. I’d be the same if I had grown up here the whole of my life.

 

 

2011
03/25
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the climb.

Breakdown of the Climb:

8.15am-12noon  — to Laban Rata

2.30am-5.45am — to Low’s Peak

9.30am-12.45pm — to Timpohon Gate

My legs are aching and when I walk my knees tremble as if I’m an old lady with arthritis. I’m not that old kay? =P Going up to Mt. KK has been an experience. The first day up to Laban Rata wasn’t actually too bad,  just a bit of stamina needed. Luckily I went to Batu Caves to train. I heard there was a guy who arrived there at 10pm while his wife only came an hour later. That would have been pure torture both physically and mentally.

Went to sleep really early because we had to get up at 1 -.- They refused to serve breakfast even a minute before 2, so by the time we started the hike it was 2.30. Reached the summit at 5.45, just in time for the sunrise =) It was so effing cold up there and thank god we didn’t reach there any sooner because our bodies cooled down very fast, and you only really feel the cold when you stop walking. Ironically, Low’s peak is the highest peak on Mt. KK. No, not because the person who named the peak had an interesting sense of humour(too bad right?) but coz the guy was a Mr. Low. I honestly did not expect the climb to the summit to be so REAL. As in, ropes up pure rocks and no trails. No sand/gravel/mud/manmade paths anymore. Pam got a lil scared up there and almost wanted to backout, but luckily she didn’t coz all of us managed to reach the peak in good time! But now that I think about it, it was kinda dangerous with just ropes and nothing else to hold you up. One slip and you could die. Definitely recommend some decent bit of training before anyone attempts this feat.

View from the peak was so beautiful. It actually felt surreal being up there finally after all that hard work. Felt as if reaching the peak was life’s ultimate goal as everything was overshadowed by the majesty of Mount Kinabalu, highest mountain in SEA.

Going down was so painful. and I thought going up was the hardest part. It was kinda slippery and hard to navigate around without a good guide. Luckily ours was experienced and helped us along the way. Not to mention hitting your toes against the roof of your shoes is terribly painful.

After that descent, it was sandals all the way down for me from Laban Rata.

Cute Squirrel(?).


And it feels so good to be back. Food in KK was SO GOOD! =D

Also worth mentioning are: white water rafting, poring hot spring, mari-mari cultural village and fireflies/proboscis monkeys. FYI pictures not necessarily in that order, neither do they all make appearances.

Kiulu (Kill You) River.


Hamsap monkey.


Water.


Mari-mari.


Goodbye KK!

2010
08/11
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undeniable.

I’ll give a lil recap of this year’s MTV world stage concert. It started at 6 but luckily we only went in at 8, because we didn’t want to watch Bunkface and we had to wait sooooooo long in between the changing of different artistes anyways. Katy Perry such a diva. IMO, Tokio Hotel definitely rocked the house that night. I’m not a fan of their songs, but their live is seriously good and the energy was so high. If they hadn’t performed, it would have been a pretty lousy concert considering Katy Perry and Wonder Girls were just so-so.

I feel like my holidays are coming to a close. TL and NN are going back this week and Kaykay will be on KK in a few days time =) Hahaha lame I know. Will be back on the 11th and then everyone else US bound will start leaving… kinda sad. Update update I have a roommate! From San Jose, CA. Hope she’s nice and… shorrrttt. Joking =P

You know what? I still think Jay Baruchel is really cute. I don’t know why nobody else thinks so! Pfffftt.

2010
08/02
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Watchy Watchy

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