Grandma

My grandma departed on 3rd of May, leaving behind her beloved children and grandchildren. Born on the year of Rat, she is 89 years old.

She always complain that nobody accompanies her although friends and relatives came and visited her frequently. She also used to complain that nobody cooks for her eventhough she had just taken her meal. But now these complaints can no longer be heard.

This photo was taken earlier this year when we were having reunion dinner during Chinese New Year. Only on that day itself we realised that her middle toe turned dark and after inspection, we found out that it was a gangrene (death of soft tissues due to loss of blood supply).

Her middle toe needs to be amputated to prevent the gangrene from spreading to other parts of her left foot. Unfortunately, the gangrene spreads to her foot few weeks after surgery and the leg below her knee had to be amputated again. She kept complaining about the pain she hand endured after surgery and it was a painful experience for her and her family members.

The condition of her leg was not good and the gangrene spreads again. We were in the dilemma of deciding whether to opt for a third surgery for her. At last, we have no options but to opt for the third surgery. She had undergone 3 surgeries from February until May!

The wound on her leg seemed to recover nicely few weeks after the surgery and doctor said the healing process is smooth. All of us were overjoyed and when we thought she had won this battle, she departed due to old age on a gloomy Thursday evening.

She had been a great grandma and she always will be. Happy Mothers' Day~

USM Interview

This can be considered as my first interview after my exam ended last year. I have applied for various local universities as well as the National University of Singapore which I am still waiting for the application outcome.

Despite the USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia) campus which is located in Penang, most of us are not aware that there are actually 2 more USM campuses, one in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan and the other is in Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai. I was selected to attend an interview for my Doctor of Medicine course in Kubang Kerian.

Since the interview was on 2nd May, my parents along with Eric and I headed to Kelantan one day earlier because the journey tooks approximately 6 hours, even when you drive 120km/h. Eric is the son of my dad's colleague and he just completed his matriculation in Malacca. Surprisingly, he is one year younger than me! We stayed in a 3-star hotel in Kota Bharu which is 20 minutes away from Kubang Kerian.

I was supposed to reach by 8.30am on that day but my interview started around 11.30am due to the massive amount of students present. Among the questions that they asked me were:

1) Why would you choose doctor as your career?
2) Why you choose USM instead of UM?
3) What qualities you possess that enable you to stand out among the candidates?
4) What you know about the medical programme in USM?
5) What would you do based on the situation given (on a paper)?

I can answer almost all steadily except the forth question! Maybe I should do some research before coming to interview next time...

Fingers crossed and hope I will be granted admission here~ =)

STPM Result

A day that was filled with anxiety, others called it the harvest day. Some experienced sleepless nights before that, while some has no appetite or not in the mood in doing anything. For me, I have them all.

I reached my school half an hour earlier prior to 12 noon for the results to be released. Friends meeting with other friends could be seen in the parlour and everyone was talking about how they have been for the past 3 months since the final examination day. Some saw me and by judging the expression on my face, they asked me not to be so nervous. This is the same situation during my SPM result day. I was so nervous till I couldn't smile by the time I saw my result back then.

At approximately few minutes past 12, the bulk door which leads to the entrance of the hall opened and most of them were so anxious that they rushed in to catch a glimpse of their results. After a moment of hesitation, I stepped into the hall and told myself that I will face this with the blessing from my parents, friends and God.

Pengajian Am ~ A

Mathematics T ~ A

Chemistry ~ A-

Biology ~ A

My class teacher, Miss Ling Lidi was the first to congratulate me and told me my result even before I open the slip. The butterflies in my stomach disappeared instantly but I am still stunned mainly because the over-tension before I took my result. I could see most of my teachers whom I really miss. They are so nice that I wished to hug each and everyone of them. I saw my Biology teacher, Mr Liew who was so busy shooting at people, using his camera of course. Besides, I saw both my favourite teacher advisors in St John, Pn Kamales and Pn Alice. Both of them congratulate me and I think my tears dropped when I shook their hands. 

I saw my maths teacher, Mr Paul and my chemistry teacher, Pn Chong too. I knew Pn Chong is disappointed because none of us in her class manage to secure an A for chemistry. Although she did not say, but I know she is sad and I'm sorry for her too. 

Not long after that, my name was called along with 8 others to go up the stage to receive certificates from the school principal, Madam Loh. This is the first time I was being flashed by numerous cameras at the same time. I have never thought of being able to stand beside the 4 flat students up stage and share the same joy and happiness they deserved. 

For me, I am grateful with what I am and who am I. 

Photos courtesy of  Yee Wing Hoe (Iceman) and Sin Chew Newspaper

Pangkor Trip

My bunch of friends and I headed to Pangkor Island on the 3rd February this year. It was just a plain Friday and we chose Pangkor because it was still holidays for some of my friends and most importantly, we have free accommodation!  Since it is the hometown for one of my best friends, Alson Beh, he became our tour guide for this memorable 2 days 1 night trip. 

We took a bus from bus station to Lumut jetty and the journey was slightly more than 2 hours. After that, we were again moved from the jetty to Pangkor for half an hour across the sea. It took us 15 minutes of walking to travel from Pangkor jetty to Beh's house. 

We were supposed to stay in Beh's house for the day but since the air-conditioner there was malfunction, we then moved to his Red Bean Ice shop opposite his house and unload our luggage. To my surprise, there are plenty of rooms available there. 

After lunch, we departed to the Dutch Fort in Teluk Gudang by van. The fort was 300 years old and it was constructed by the Dutch to defend against the pirates and local Malays. What's left there was just the stone foundation and some carvings. 

We proceeded to Fu Lin Kong (福临宫) Chinese Temple after that. Perhaps the greatest attraction there is the mini Great Wall of China.   

Each block of the mini building was carved with the name of the people who donated the required construction fee. Since the temple was located uphill, we did not explore further up. We even did some photo gimmicks, there is just hard concrete wall behind the unmovable wooden doors in the photo timeline below~

The final destination of the day was at Pangkor beach. 1Malaysia logo could be seen anywhere in the island including the beach as the current Mentri Besar of Perak was the MP for Pangkor.

The beach was not as dirty as expected. The sea water is clear and there is hardly any garbage there. Chris, Yee Lim, Pui San and Vizent hopped onto the water upon reaching.

We wanted to cover Vizent's body with sand but he refused. So we just managed to cover up half his body and snap a few shots before the tides wash away everything, haha. 

Distance has no barrier on true love! See what Chris did for her girlfriend~ =)

We spent few hours on the beach and departed back to Beh's shop before dawn. Initially we planned to play banana boat and some other water sports but unfortunately, there are nobody open for business there.

Feeling tired and exhausted, we have one final shot at the beach before we left. My friends said the sitting position is similar to the movie You Are The Apple of My Eye (那些年，我們一起追的女孩). We went to a nearby seafood restaurant for dinner later on. 

We only visited some souvenir shops on the second day before heading back to Ipoh. I sincerely thank Beh (cool photo above) for providing his warm hospitality in ensuring our trip an enjoyable and organized one. Next time sure treat you yumcha~ =)

Sa-Wa-Dee-Kap

The whole trip to Thailand on the 19^th December was better than I expected. With the totally different cultures and lifestyles there, the journey to Bangkok and Pattaya was certainly an eye-opening experience for me.

The itinerary for my 5 days 4 nights trip was the first day in Bangkok, second and third day in Pattaya and the forth day back to Bangkok. The last day was just sufficient for us to have breakfast in the hotel as we departed from Bangkok at 11.05am Bangkok time (12.05pm Malaysia time).

I went with my family of 5 and with my sister’s boyfriend, Jacky. My cousin and his wife came along too as they travel to and fro Bangkok quite often for business purpose.

It was the first time for me to travel overseas as I have not been on board before. The feeling of excitement boosted up when I looked down from the air plane to the tiny buildings below me. The moment we reached Suvarnabhumi (su-wa-na-boom) airport in Bangkok, we were greeted by our tour guide, IU (ai-you). She told us that the airport was named by the King of Thailand himself, King Bhumibol (bu-mi-pun). Suvarna means gold and bhumi means land, it short it is the land of gold. Unlike Malaysia, most of the buildings in Bangkok and Pattaya have the picture of their King in the most eye-catching spot of the buildings. So it is difficult to say that you do not recognize the face of their King. 

First day was free and easy as our trip starts on the second day and we had loads of free time after we had checked-in to our hotel. We went for shopping at Platinum Plaza nearby our hotel. My cousin told me that the chicken rice in Bangkok is better than in Malaysia. The chicken is boneless and the rice they served can even be eaten without any dishes.

My second day started fresh with the journey along Chao Praya river. There are slum along the river as the government have not taken any action against them yet. The tour guide told us that the nicest temple along the river is Wat Arun (Wat means temple) also known as Temple of Dawn. It was build beside the former palace. The whole temple was made of magnificent stones and bricks as you hardly find anything like this in Malaysia. After the visit to the temple, we were brought to a leather factory where it was less popular among our 20-person group.

After that, we went to the world renown four-faced Buddha in the centre of Bangkok. It was believed that the Buddha was build by a local hotel owner and he became successful in his hotel management later on. It was surprising that the Buddha is just situated at the corner of a junction and the number of visitor was greater than hundred in just a small corner.

After our lunch at Red Dragon Restaurant, we went to Sriracha Tiger Zoo. We watched crocodile show and tiger show respectively at different time. The tigers were trained to stand on both legs, jumping across fire rings and performed various tricks to entertain the audience. 

Before we left, we even witnessed pig racing and pigs doing mathematics. It was unbelievable as the mathematics questions were asked by the spectators and the pigs knew which number to choose as the correct answer.

Our destination after dinner was at Alangkarn cultural show. It was a fully furbished air-conditioned hall with a capacity of almost 1000 spectators. The show tells the history of Thailand and how the royal armies fought with the invaders. 

In the midst of the show, they even invited some of the spectators to go up to the stage and dance with them. I was one of the two who were invited. Both of us were made fun by the performers in front of the spectators and we were asked to follow their dance moves.

The final destination of the day was at Alcazar or better known as Tiffany show or Ah gua show. The performers are actually males who undergoes sexual transplant to become females. I can definitely tell that the dancing performance of Alcazar was amazing and of world-class standard as it is hard to describe here in words.

Third day started off with the cold and chilling air of Pattaya beach. We were transferred to an island with a speed boat and it was there where I experienced 5 minutes of hanging in mid air with parachute. I was afraid of dropping into the sea as I don’t know how to swim. I even tried banana boat ride for 250 baht per person which is approximately RM 25.

After a long and tiring morning on the beach, we departed to a local bee farm. There we were briefed about the benefits of honey and royal jelly as well as the methods of consumption and storage of bee products.

We went to Pattaya Floating Market too in the late afternoon. It was just an ordinary kampong style market which was build above a man-made lake. I even saw fried bird eggs in a cute pan specially designed for the eggs.

On the forth day, we visited the Elephant Zoo. All of us were carried by giant-sized elephants from one stop to another. My younger sister and I have to balance ourselves to sit in the middle because the elephant can feel our weight too. After the elephant ride, we were brought to see monkey show.

The final agenda of our trip was in Safari World. In the marine section, we enjoyed watching the synchronized and awesome performance of the dolphins. They were trained to perform multiple tricks and only listen to their trainers' command.

After the dolphin performance, we rushed to another section in the Safari World called the Spy War Zone. It was something similar to James Bond but it involved real live actor in front of our eyes. Initially I thought it was plain boring because I am not a fan of James Bond or any spy movie but the simple plot of the show and the huge actions by the actors amazed me. They used explosives to make the show interesting and I can feel the strong heat for every explosion. At one point the engines of the jet skis even splashed water to the front rows of spectators.

After everything ended, our bus drove past the Safari Animals Zone for around 20 minutes. Some of the animals have not been transported back due to the flood that destroyed the Safari World last month. Pillars of woods and scattered tree branches could be seen anywhere and the place was tarnished by heavy mud. We went back to the hotel after that.

Overall it was an enjoyable trip as the tour guide was good and the things were selling at a relatively lower price compared to Malaysia. I would definitely love to visit Thailand again in the near future.