Tuesday, December 30, 2008

goodbye 2008

in bidding farewell to 2008, i started to refresh my 2008. what a year! 2008 was a rather big year in my life, i think. many wild things happened. i was hospitalised for 7 days, i be friended with my ex again (i finally able to let go), i started my own blog, i went to 8 trips in both asia and europe etc. anyway, the biggest among all that happened in 2008, was my resignation from technip and becoming a postgrad student.

in september, i was hospitalised for 7 days due to dengue fever. the last time i was hospitalised was when i got kidney infection. i was only 9 back then and stayed alone in the hospital for three days. okay, back to my dengue story. i'm still very puzzled on how it happened. i guess miharja isn't a great place to live. the day before i fallen sick, i went out with friends and clubbed until 3 in the morning. 24 hours later, i was laying like a death people on my bed and two days later, i was admitted to gleneagles. on that, i gotta thanks my colleagues. they rushed me to the hospital, accompanied me and visited me very often. gosh... i feel like crying now! man, is not easy to be an emotional guy. well, to be honest, staying at the hospital isn't that bad! apart from the nurses waking you up in the middle of the night and sucking your blood, it is actually quite relaxing! no need to worry about work, just sleep and rest and also eat. okay... maybe the food suck but you can always get someone to buy food for you.

okay! let's talk about my ex... yes! i kinda called my ex again and we are kinda close friend now. life is too short to mad at someone. i was a fool for being so stubborn when we ended our topsy turvy relationship. i was young and didn't know how to handle as i was so in love. anyway, i guess it was a rather good solution for both of us. just hope everyone is happy now. i don't know is it because of what happened, somehow i prefer to be single now. i'm trying to be happy because of myself and not because of someone else.

the biggest accomplishment for me in 2008 was explored 8 different places in both asia and europe. some peoples have trouble travelling once a year and i travelled 8 places in a single year calender. yeh folks... i'm showing off a bit! i started the year with a trip to bangkok with my best friends and two months later, i was at central java admiring borobudur temple. in june, i explored northern thailand (chiangmai, golden triangle and sukhothai) with my beloved sister and friends. in august, i went to bandung with colleagues. since moved to newcastle, i shifted my attention to europe. i went to scotland in october, dublin and london in november and malta in december. on top of that, i also went to short trips with family and friends (eat eat, drink drink trips).... penang, langkawi, seremban, malacca, port dickson, york and manchester. i also planned a trip to singapore before coming here but i was unable to make it due to dengue fever.

one of my life goals is to visit as much unesco's world heritage sites as possible and in 2008, i visited 12 sites...
- historic city of ayutthaya, thailand
- borobudur temple compounds, indonesia
- prambanan temple compounds, indonesia
- historic town of sukhothai and associated historic towns, thailand
- melaka and georgetown, historic cities of the straits of malacca, malaysia
- old and new towns of edinburgh, united kingdom
- archaelogical ensemble of the bend of the boyne, ireland
- westminster palace, westminster abbey and saint margaret's church, united kingdom
- maritime greenwich, united kingdom
- city of valletta, malta
- hal saflieni, hypogeum, malta
- megalithic temples of malta, malta

in total, there are about 878 sites. i believe i will explore more sites in 2009.

my resignation from technip did create a few unhappy faces. i love being with you guys and right now, i really miss you guys... i always look at the pictures we took together... at melaka, port dickson, annual dinner (i still remember what miss goh wore that night) etc. anyway, pursuing master degree is another of my life goals even before i started working for technip. anyway, i believe we will meet again. i promise i will email you guys as often as possible. just hope you guys won't get sick of seeing my pictures!

moving to a new country and settle down there are not something new to me. i moved to australia when i was 23 and stayed there for 3 years... a very great 3 years.
back then, i was young and so eager to explore the world. but this time around, i did feel a little bit uneasy! i guess i'm more mature now and appreciate my family and friends more. i love you guys and i hope we can see each other again very near in the future!

becoming a postgrad student! to be honest, after stayed away from books for a few years, is not easy to be a student again! i was quite lost in the first few weeks... but thanks to my new friends for helping me in both assignments and my life over here. hardly imagine my life without you guys... without you guys, i might have skipped more classes or failed to finish assignments. thanks to lia for pushing me to finish my homeworks and thanks to deric for helping out and be my travel partner. guys, all the best in 2009!

i will never forget 2008 and let's hope 2009 will be better... happy new year, folks!


Friday, December 26, 2008

boxing day 2008

boxing day = sale! in malaysia, there is no boxing day sale (anyway, who needs boxing day sale in malaysia? sale is like continuing from early of the year till end of the year). in malaysia, we have new year sale, chinese new year sale, anniversary sale, mid year sale, merdeka sale, year end sale, season clearance, warehouse sale... sale, sale, sale! someday, they will have badawi sale, mahathir sale, mca sale etc....

anyway, most of my friends back home eventually asked me what is boxing day. to be honest, i dont know the meaning behind it and all i know is there will be a huge sale on boxing day. one of the important days in my calender over here.

i thought only asians (especially malaysians and singaporeans) are crazy enough to queue up or wait for a boutique to open its door... somehow, our counterparts in this region are doing the same thing. imagine.... 9 am, people started waiting in front of a boutique which will only open at 10 am.

anyway, after 4 hours of walking... i got something for myself and sister...


jeans from g-star (£ 39 - original price £81)

hat from zara (£7 - original price £10)

cashmere cardigan from french connection (£25 - original price £99)

heavy knitted cardigan from topman (£25 - original price £50)

for my beloved sister...
black dress (jackie o type) from zara (£15 - original price £40)

black dress from zara (£20 - original price £40)

and some items which i bought during the recent christmas sale!
sweater from french connection

polo t-shirt from paul smith

checked shirt from paul smith

stripped polo t-shirt from ralph lauren

pants from french connection

bag from calvin klein jeans

shoes from onitsuka tiger

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

christmas eve dinner 2008

exchanged turkey with claypot chicken rice (well... should be rice cooker chicken rice).

rice cooker chicken rice with steamed salted fish and peanuts lotus root soup!

love the soup! my favourite!

p.s. i cooked all these!

Saturday, December 13, 2008

nasi lemak...

the last time i cooked nasi lemak was 4 years ago in aus. to be honest, i won't waste my time doing all these cooking works if i'm in malaysia now. a plate of nice nasi lemak won't cost me more than rm 5.00 (with curry sotong or sambal petai). sadly, i'm now in newcastle and i have no other choice than to cook it myself. by the way, there isn't any malaysian restaurant in newcastle. if there is one, i believe it will be the most expensive nasi lemak in the world (8-9 pound)!

after stopped for 4 years, i was kinda stress at first... what should i do first?... i kept asking myself that question! well! i started off by blending chilli boh (chilli paste) and chopping onions/garlics/ gingers. after dueling with pots and cutting knife for 3 hours, i ended up with beef rendang, curry chicken, sambal ikan bilis (the ikan bilis here suck), coconut milk rice, eggs and cucumber... the complete nasi lemak set!

well... it didn't taste as good as the one at madame kwan but hey, i'm fucking pround of myself! practise make perfect... i believe it will taste better next time!



believe it or not.... i made this!

nasi lemak with a smiley face!

beef rendang, curry chicken, sambal ikan bilis..... and coconut milk rice!

stephanie was damn happy.... 1st time ate nasi lemak!

with some friends..... enjoying nasi lemak!

nasi lemak.... this proved, kenneth tan can cook!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

london! london!

oxford street! to be honest... i dont really like oxford street! every 500 m, you will see a gap, zara, h&m, next, topshop etc. imagine... 3-4 zara boutiques in the same street? somehow, i found a better place to shop nearby, bond street!

chinatown london! i love this place.... everything is so damn good! love the roasted duck!

westminster abbey. a unesco's world heritage site! is not cheap to get in... 11 pound!

methodist cathedral... opposite westminster abbey! it looks more like a music hall to me!

the entrance of westminster abbey! is not just about money... you gotta line-up in order to get it!

london eye!

the landmark... parliament house!

big ben... still wondering why it is called big ben!

london phone booth!

in front of buckingham palace!

buckingham palace

piccadily square! i still don't think the electronic advertisement board behind me is amazing!

parliament house at night!

parliament house at night!

tower bridge!

with keith at tower bridge! mate, thanks for the living room and time!

my party and shopping gang.... gosh! they are the funniest living creatures i have ever met!

meridian greenwich... the line that divided earth into positive and negative timezone!

royal observatory!

royal observatory!

a dull london...

royal observatory!

that is greenwich... with london at the background! really bad weather!

inside national maritime museum.... another world heritage site!

national maritime museum!

in front of national maritime museum!

greenwich university! what a university.... a fucking beautiful university! i wish my university looks like this!

greenwich university!

westminster abbey at night!

big ben at night!

london is such a great city! if you love shopping.... it is a heaven! if you love arts, paintings, musical ect, london is the place! it has so much to offer! i'm sure i will be going there again... for more sightseeing and shopping!