I'm coming home

Owh, this worktrip has started taking its toll on me. I feel so tired and can't wait to go back home tommorow! Everywhere I look, I see this..thousands acres of green paddy fields. Yep, I'm at Alor Star, Kedah

Pic belong to absyarphotographers.wordpress.com

Listen : Rolling in the deep - Adele

On the road again

I'm here at Prai. Penang. Work trip, as usual. Have a nice day, y'all.

Trivial Tuesday

Hi Y'all..

I feel such a strong urge to pack my bag and leave. Can't wait til Thursday. In the mean time,

lets enjoy some random pictures of the hotel room where we stayed here at labuan & also KK (last weekend)

these are images of Labuan Warerfront Hotel

A cozy corner. I like.

Sony flat screen. not too shabby, eh?

And these are images of Imperial International Kota Kinabalu

room come wit free sleeping beauty :P that's my friend.

View of Kota Kinabalu Harbour from our room

More pictures coming soon!

Listen : The way you are ~ Bruno Mars

Island Life..is not for me!

Owh! I miss writing here. I miss bloghopping. yes! I miss you! (err.. even if nobody miss reading me here haha)

But anyway, I 'm currently out of the office and have been on Labuan island since last week. All I can say about Island life is : Boringgg! haha. Seriously, for an island this size, nothing much to see and definitely not many places that you can go too! so it's strictly work, work & work for me and the other 2 colleagues of mine. But if you think that I only thought of 'work matter' all the time, then by golly, you don't know me well, my friend.

I made a quick trip by ferry to Kota Kinabalu via (Menumbok port) last Friday with my colleague. We followed a local staff who was going back to KK to visit his family and we spent 2 nights at a hotel in KK for a short shopping trip & managed to met up with old friends there. The ferry ride on Friday night was smooth (it's a huge ferry - one where all sort of vehicles can came on board) and very stable. You didn't even feel the waves the fact that we bought and swallowed seasick pill (Novomin) right before the journey made us laughed! (and drowsy to the point where we fell asleep even before the ferry take off). After 1 and half hour, we reached Menumbok (a very-very small town) and continue the journey by road for 2 hours to reach KK. Luckily our friend is driving a cool and very comfortable car, so I didn't feel the hours at all. By Sunday afternoon, we were back in Labuan. and here I am. Dreading the next few days before I'm off to Peninsular Malaysia again.

p/s: The only comfort being here is that : Prices for (imported) chocolates are dirty cheap! and Liquor & ciggarettes too.

Jakarta Oh Jakarta

2 weeks ago, I was at Jakarta, Indonesia. Not for holiday per se, mind you. It was a combined/joint event with also auditors from another SBU of the company. More or less, a kind of holiday trip for the whole department plus some training sessions thrown in for good measures. Well, to justify the trip, I suppose the organization committee has had to come up with some convincing itinerary and it doesn’t matter that we already had gone through one of the training session before, more important is that we got to sit for 2 days training in the hotel and then ready for some leisure & shopping time for the last 1 and ½ days after that. Kinda neat, I’d say.
Jakarta’s traffic was so bad, at least, during the peak hours. And they were few times when I had the pleasure to be on road after the traffic rush at night time, and it was bliss. The distance from our hotel to say, Tanah Abang Shopping Mall was actually not that far off. But then, in a city with 11 Million ‘registered’ souls, what do you expect, eh? Total area of Jakarta is 661 square kilometers (255 sq mi) and is the most populous city in South East Asia and 12th largest city in the world. That’s one hell of packed town, I tell you. If you would like to know more about Jakarta, you can click here or here or here

click for larger pic

Listen : I lost my MP3! erghhh!

'Miri' on my mind

My holiday plan to Phuket was scraped off this time. Again! Nothing new there. The only travel I’m doing these days seems to be for work, work and work related only. How boring. By next Monday, I should be at Miri. It is the second largest city in state of Sarawak on Borneo Island. A direct flight from Kuala Lumpur and crossing the South China Sea shall take about 2 hrs++. And honestly, Miri is ain’t that bad at all. I like it there more than Kuching (Sarawak State Capital). Somehow I found Miri is more laidback, relaxing and peaceful. And of course it’s also due to its location by the seaside. Where as in Kuching you’ll find a river that flows throughout the city and most areas are cramp as businesses and main activities tend to be around these area. In Miri, no traffic jam! Nada. Driving around is easy breezy. Eventhough, I’ve been there many times, sadly I haven’t been to Miri’s main attraction –Mulu Cave! It’s not because I’ll have to take another short plane ride to go there, it’s just I’m not a cave-loving person by nature. You see, I am actually a claustrophobic. I hate to be in a small, confine and closed area or space ..err like in a cave.(duh!) And I can’t stand the feeling of being trap like that. However, I’m still considering whether I should go check out the caves this time. Or else, there is also Niah Cave nearby; I think about 1 half hour’s drive from Miri. So what is your phobia? What is it that you’re afraid of?

Best Job in The world..

..is definitely not mine.

Hello y'all. Hows thing lately? Hope you're doing fine.

Am so into Kelly Clarkson latest album 'All I ever wanted' right now. Practically singing her infectious tracks in the car while driving and also while doing my works in the office. But rest assure that I won't suddenly jump on the table and belting out KC' My Life Would Suck Without Y*u' at the top of my lung anytime soon. Work wise, nothing new to report. Am in the office for the rest of May and most probably off to East Malaysia, Sarawak in June. Problem is, I hope it'll not clash with my plan trip to Phuk*t also in the middle of next month. we'll see about that, cause I can't back out from this trip. The airfares have been paid many months ago (last year, in fact) and we're just about to finalize the accomodations etc. Am so looking forward to this trip. I need a break from my mundane and routine job. Speaking of job, Congratulations to Mr Ben S.! I heart this guy! owh..so green with jealousy right now grrr!

okay folks, I leave you with this pictures of beautiful sunset. Taken during my work trip to Melaka last March. These are view of Straits of Malacca from my balcony at Century Mahkota Hotel, Melaka.

Listen : I'm already gone - Kelly Clarkson

I was away, I came back and yet..

I don't feel like writing much and detailing of my work trips here. There are, after all as the name suggested, work-related trips. But you're dead wrong if you think that's all I ever did during those long weeks away. Of course there are fun-n-play time! *wink*. Most of the time, my colleagues and I were busy enjoying delicious & cheap food that we could grab at Kota Bharu & Kuala Terengganu. The seafood there are heavenly. The fish, crabs & squids are all super fresh & well..dirt cheap. Pictures of the grub we had can be seen below. Hmm..howzzat?

And there is this one quiz I found in fb. So funny! Some answers are quite spot on, and some are hilariously nonsenses. Have you try it? Feel free to tag yourself.

Put your iPod, mp3, or media player on shuffle.For each question, press the next button to get your answer. You must write down the name of the song, no matter how silly it sounds!Tag 10 of your friends to do the same!P.S. No cheating!!

How Many Of These Have I Done?Voices inside my head – Dixie Chicks
If someone says "Is this okay?" you say?Haunted – Kelly Clarkson
How would you describe yourself?Everything back but you – Avril Lavigne
What do you like in a guy/girl?If the rain must fall – James Morrison
How do you feel today?Trouble - Pink
What is your life’s purpose?Heavenly – Skylar Blue
What is your motto?Alone – Avril Lavigne
What do your friends think of you?Mouth Shut – The Veronicas
What do you think of your parents?Tinggalkan aku – Anuar Zain
What do you think about very often?Come fly with me – Micheal Buble
What do you think of your best friend?Welcome to the black parade - MCR
What do you think of the person you like?Chasing cars – Snow patrol
What is your life story?Nothing ever hurt like you – James Morrison
What do you want to be when you grow up?Everybody hurts - REM
What do you think of when you see the person you like?Money for nothing – Dire Straits
What will you dance to at your wedding?Larut – Dewa19

What will they play at your funeral?I am your angel – Celine Dion & R Kelly
What is your hobby/interest?If that’s ok with you – Shayne Ward
What is your biggest fear?I cry - Westlife
What is your biggest secret?Silent House – Dixie Chicks
What do you think of your friends?Here I am – Leona Lewis
What will you post this as?So small – Carrie Underwood

Hah! fun quiz indeed.

Listen : All I ever want - Kelly Clarkson

Of resolution and other matters

Hi there..

Why do people always come up with the New Year resolutions? Is it as the reminder of your failure in previous year (to make change or not to repeat mistakes)? Or as motivational or pushing factors so you’ll work your ass towards that goal this year? For whatever reason there are, it’s our pledge to ourselves and I think we should honor it and put effort to make it happen. Problem is, I always forgot about my resolution by end of first quarter of the year. Pleghh! I do hope things will be different this time around. At least, for myself.

I spent the year-end long holiday recently by helping out my sister at her Bridal Shop. It wasn’t a surprise that I am actually enjoying my works there. It feels fine to approach and sell the packages to customers effortlessly. Well, the products/package are all in my head cause we had numerous discussion on what are the best prices for packages that we can offer. And I don’t mind talking and explaining things to people, hence the selling points came naturally, I think. Anyway, my hometown and its surrounding areas is not a big market and customers are fairly easy to please. But of course, there are some people who want everything under the sun and only willing to pay at miniscule price. Aiyoh! How to do business like that? However, the shop is up and running smoothly now and more people are coming everyday. I wish my sister all the best!.

Have you heard of Elephant Sanctuary at Kuala Gandah, Lanchang, Pahang? We, as in myself and nieces and nephew went there recently. It was my first visit but a second one to my nieces & nephew because they already went there with their parents before. The place looks different, they said. Probably because of some development works are taking place right now and to me, that’s just spoilt the looks and feels of the area which is suppose to be a reserved forest area & sanctuary for elephant. And I believe they should maintain more natural green as much as possible. There are 2 elephants that were chained and can be approached and view closely by visitors. The other 3 adults elephants (by the looks from 50 metres away) are roaming freely in the (electric) gated area and can only be observed from a deck nearby. Hope to go there again sometime in future cause I think the elephants are cute!

Til next time..

Listen : Circus - Britney Spears

November rain..

Hullo all,

Hah! the title means nothing actually. For the lack of any ideas to put as the entry title, and since I was at a place without much rain last month, I kinda missed glorious Malaysian downpour with its thunder storm. Anyway,

What would you expect to find at a country you’ve never been to? How do you think your reaction would be? Well, Papua New Guinea hit me smacked-full in face! I could never imagine the place prior to my visit and obviously, one can only imagined so much. If anyone asked me to describe the country then my answer would be; It’s culturally unique, people are mostly friendly and most of all; it made me cherished and be thankful of what we have here, in our country.

I started the long journey at early hours of Saturday (15/11) on board of the flight to Brisbane via Sydney. Imagine the long hours we’ve to endure and by the time we landed and claimed our luggage, I was so not in the mood to see that my bag has lost one of its wheels. We checked in at Rendezvous Hotel, Brisbane CBD and then walked around few blocks, camera whoring and checked out the night life. Err..more like checking out people who are enjoying their night life there. Next morning, we hit the road by 7.30 am bright & early to the airport again. The flight to Port Moresby was smooth and we landed there around 1.30 pm. That night I was so bone tired and crashed to sleep by 11.30 pm but not before a scrumptious dinner at Port Moresby Yatch Club courtesy of our host.

Everyday, we were chauffeur driven to work and back by the staff. Not because we demanded such treatment, but it is simply unsafe for foreigner to walk around the Port Moresby (or the country) on our own. Foreigners catching the public transportation are almost unheard of. But bear in mind, what I meant here are foreigners who are first timer in the country. If you’ve gotten used to the country and being there for quite sometimes, by all means, go around freely on your own accord. Basic safety rules applied, of course. (i.e take care of your damn self & belongings)

After few days there, my body has already adjusted to the local time and when it’s time to leave, I felt kinda sad. Apparently the place kinda grown on me and I vow to myself that somedays in future, I might came back to PNG. Who knows eh?

Well, It's already December and am back in the office now. Tomorrow, whole department will be in Guoman, Port Dickson for our teambonding thingy. Looking forward to be at the beach.

Taa. okbai.

listen: Busy being fabulous - Eagles

Travel story

Hello..

Some things did not go my way and today, I'm kinda pissed..I wish things are differently, but apparently this universe does not revolved around me alone. Crude but the truth lah kan. Anyway, I believe things happened for reason(s), be it good or bad and certainly not always favourable to me. This travel story was typed much earlier and only now ready to be post here. Actually I forgot where I keep the pics from the trip haha!

*(^)*&%&(^$%&^($%&$%$%$%&

It has been almost 6 months since my trip to Bangkok. Back in March, the situation was not so bad, no big demonstrations going on and whole city feels normal and people there were busy mourning the demise of King’s sister. The hustle and bustle was as expected but the weather was so damn hot! Oh my god! At one point, I promised to myself not to whine again and be thankful when I’m back in KL and even if it’s raining for days, it doesn’t matter as compared to being in a hot-brain frying-stuffy heat condition like that.
I would consider myself quite a trooper and doesn’t mind to do any spontaneous things during travel but the heat was so major turn off and I relished the time when we’re back in the cool hotel rooms and had a short nap before venture off to discover the Bangkok streets again. I went there with my 2 other officemates J & Kak L.

1st Day
Arrived at Suvarnabumi Airport with Air Asia. My first impression of the airport is that it’s huge but no so convenience to walk around. Took a cab (make sure you take the reputable cab company, one with proper counter and ticket/voucher purchase before hand) and we proceeded to our hotel. It is called Bel-Aire Princess Hotel at the ever famous Sukhumvit Road. We checked in and prepare to sleep straight away because it’s almost 11 pm and we reminded ourselves that tomorrow will be hectic if we are to follow our planned itinerary.

2nd Day
We woke up and ready for breakfast by 7.30 a.m but outside, the sun is already shining bright. The breakfast spread was good and later we walked about 10 minutes to the nearest BTS station (Nana) and had our first collide with the Bangkok morning crowd on the BTS. It’s a public holiday in Malaysia, but here people were all busy going to work, school and of course there were also tourist like us. We got off at the last station, walked a bit and took a boat ride on the famous Chao Phraya river. We snap few pictures and decided to start the tour at the Wat Pho, temple of reclining Buddha. The place was beautiful. To be honest this is my first time visiting a Buddha’s Wat and I am not sure what to expect. According the information that I googled before we came, it says…

” At 20 acres large, it is the largest Wat in Bangkok, and is technically the oldest too, as it was built around 200 years before Bangkok became Thailand's capital. However, today the Wat today bears virtually no resemblance to that originally constructed, as it was almost entirely rebuilt by Rama I when the capital was moved to Bangkok. It holds the dual honors of having both Thailand's largest reclining Buddha image and the most number of Buddha images in Thailand. The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha “ http://www.into-asia.com/bangkok/attractions/watpho.php

It was indeed a huge statue and I got heady and bit suffocated from the smell of burning incense everywhere. We then walked around the vast ground, snapped few pictures and do some people watching while drinking our fast-depleted bottle waters. From Wat Pho area, we took our first Tuk Tuk ride and got conned into visiting our first (of many) Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. After spent about an hour wandering around that huge shop, we were driven by our TukTuk guy to the Grand Palace. Unfortunately for us, there was a praying ceremony for the sister of King who had recently passed away. We only managed to take pictures outside of the Palace, as there are so many humans cramming around the area and we don’t want to be in their way, so off we go with another TukTuk to find our lunch and that killer tomyam that we hoped for. To cut a long story short, we found a seafood restaurant, had a good seafood tomyam and rice but boy! Communication was hard, as the waitress doesn’t speak much English and we ended up laughing at how silly we must looked, what with hand signal and all. Before we left, we’d decided to head to MBK Center (MahBoonKrong) but then, the ever conniving TukTuk driver drove us to another Gem/Handicrafts/Souvenirs shop. As we were getting more annoyed, we did try to ask him what the deal is. He later explained that for every guests/tourists group they send to the shops, they were given petrol chit/vouchers for their TukTuk. No wonder.

3rd Day
We woke up early and ready for our next day of adventure in Bangkok. We took TukTuk and instructed the driver to bring us to shop selling Thai Silk. Wah! The boutique was good. (don’t ask me where, can’t recall the place’ name) Lots and lots of fabulous Thai silks and watching palette of colours for few hours enough to made me drooling and 5 pairs later, they have to drag me out from there. Aiyoh! Tak bley tahan. We also went to Jim Thompson House & Museum. I love this place! There are schedule tours around the complex of houses and the guide explains about the history of the place and who is the guy – Mr Jim Thompson. Well, he was an American who came to Bangkok after World War II and was responsible to revive the Thai Silk production and recognized for his success to rebranding the industry. However, a tragedy has befallen the man in 1967, He had disappeared while holidaying at, get this – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia! An extensive search failed to reveal any clues of his whereabouts. By then, Thompson had been in Thailand for nearly 22 years. His house was fantastic! I can see that he was such an ardent collector (be it paintings, potteries, gems & accessories, etc) and It was great to know the legacy that he left is now protected and preserved as part of Thai rich culture heritage. If you’re in Bangkok, this is a must see place! (at least for me). That night, after an early dinner we took BTS train (Nana to Asoke) and then interchanged for subway ride to Thailand Cultural Centre Station. From there, we catches a free shuttle which then brought us to a special show ‘Siam Niramit – Journey to the Enchanted Kingdom of Siam’ Wowee! The show was so extravaganza and fabulous! We were so mesmerised and entertained by the show and personally, I think it’s worth the money spent.

4th Day
Whole morning of our fourth day was spent at Chatuchak Market. With rows and rows of shops if felt like you’re walking in a big giant maze. We were separated, got lost and regrouped back at our hotel. After checked out from hotel, we went to few shopping complexes around Sukhumvit Road and killing time while waiting for our flight to go back home. We were bone tired but I’m so happy. I finally managed to explore Bangkok albeit just a short trip and I’m not sure when I’ll be there again. The political situation is worrying and honestly, I’m thankful nothing untowards had happened during our stay there.

Chio

p/s: Pics will be upload later, so lazy aa fasting today..

Listen : Suatu Hari Di Hari Raya - M. Nasir