Author Archives: daniaryezel

2

Think Tank Traveling Post Mortem

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Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. – Seneca 

We all love things the way it is, most likely because comfort zone gives us a certain contentment. Something like a safety net. What we tend to forget is that, comfort zone tend to make us complacent, accept things as static as the Statue of Liberty.

Even snails make a point to move, no matter how slow it takes to do so.

Change challenges ourselves to get the best of what we can do. It gives us better understanding about ourselves and build our confidence even more.

The same thing I noticed with blogs of this new era. I come from what I would like to call the dinosaur era of blogging. Back in the ’00s, blogs were personal window to our souls. We make friends through blogs because we were truly connected with each other through opening up our minds and hearts. We had such a personal relationship with other bloggers to a point where we would write to each other, send packages; heck, one time an old blog friend was a victim of the Katrina Hurricane and all of us supported each other by doing whatever we could to help. We were like a family in our own world. At times, they know more than we tend to let out to others in our lives.

That was what blogs has meant to me. A personal experience, a personal life I’ve built with strangers.

While participating in the MySelangorStory, it opened up my eyes to accept how different the blog world has become today. It’s so different, I felt like an alien. Despite blogging for 7 years, what blogs of those days and today talk about are so varied, it’s like being in another lifetime.

Whenever I meet blog friends of mine, we’d catch up about each other like any normal friends would. Bloggers of today talk about which event to attend, what competition makes good write up or how ads help increase income. Of course all these are good but I just felt so..out of place I guess?

Being paid to blog was unheard off then, now; so many people are such, to a point I felt like blogging is an extension to advertising. Well, in a way it is.

So it was an eye opening experience indeed to learn about what people blog about today or how they got to know each other. 🙂
One thing’s for sure, I still want to keep that personal feeling intact in anything I do. That way, it feels genuine and a ticket to be connected with other people. Losing this part of me will only make me be like a robot. It didn’t matter what my blog idea is about, at the end of the day, you’ll be able to intercept bits and pieces of me in every entry I write.

The traveler sees what he sees.  The tourist sees what he has come to see.
– G.K. Chesterton

0

Physics of Lens

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Pentax/DSC World had been so generous  to lend us their cameras throughout the MySelangorStory tour and it’s only right that I’d do a write up on the Optio P80 from my point of view.

To me this camera is perfect for those who wants a camera just to take photos. The same people who doesn’t bother about having a state-of-the-art newly released cameras. So Optio P80 is really for the fuss free people 🙂 Besides, that’s what point and shoot/compact camera is all about. Letting the camera do the job for you rather than the other way around.

However, the photos tend to be noisy when there’s no sufficient light to feed the lens. Image quality is alright in it’s category. Of course, the higher end models are far better. I have no complains for the lens, it’s sharpness is fairly good.

It does have some cool settings that you need to experiment with like half-length portrait mode (you see this sort of style during the coming out of Facebook era), panoramic and wide angle modes which automatically stitches the photos together. There is this smile detection mode that I find interesting. It captures the photo the moment the camera recognises the smiles. Which is great on some level but I also realise, all of us smile differently and this mode only detects a certain way, I think it has to do with the way the eyes and lips moves up as one smiles. So it’s not an ideal mode if you’re in a rush.

With good lighting, I find it easy to use the 12x optical zoom but when the light starts to go dimmer, it struggles to focus but can do wonders in the club/brightly lit atmosphere.



Above all, I was impressed with Optio P80 HD video recording. Because it’s sets in high definition, it takes only 4:40 minutes worth of video in 1GB memory card. This changes drastically when you set the resolution lower. Not one to really use the video mode, I actually thought this was a good feature to use when the need arises 🙂

What I like the most about Optio P80 is the slim design. It fits in my pocket easily during my night outing that I don’t have to worry about carrying it anywhere I go 🙂 So that’s a definite thumbs up from the person who lunges her DSLR everywhere she goes.


I think this quote describes Pentax Optio P80 very well 🙂

For every beauty there is an eye somewhere to see it. For every truth there is an ear somewhere to hear it. For every love there is a heart somewhere to receive it. – Ivan Panin

10

The Beginning

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The Future may seem terrifying if we are to ponder it right now. It is less intimidating when we make the most of the present and embrace the future for whatever it is. People tend to worry about the past and future. They rarely think about being in the moment.

The future belongs to God, and it is only he who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances. – The Alchemist

What happened in the past 6 days has been the result of that. Of living in the moment, freeing myself from any ridiculous expectations of how people should be, what the places are like or why we do things a certain way. The future to this is up in the air and to be honest, I forgot it was a competition from day one. All we did was enjoying ourselves, opening our minds and hearts to new things, experience the dream we never thought of and laughed because that’s how we were feeling.

If it’s any consolation, the entire MySelangorStory trip itself is like a grand prize on it’s own. One you’ll have rare opportunity to have again. So, whatever I wrote in my previous entries were purely how I felt not because it was competition and I had to do it. Instead, it was my way of giving back to others and hope it keeps spreading around. That way everyone will be able to have their own version of MySelangorStory.

Since Amelia extended a little bit of time for all of us to finish up our posts, I had some time to experiment with iMovie after 6 years of not touching after college ended. Indeed, I had to go through the tutorials to learn how to make one. Ah, the noob in me has finally emerged again.

I used the theme from iMovie thinking it fits with the look I’ve been achieving and I must admit, it is cheating so it’s ok that I don’t qualify for a video category 🙂 I had a blast going out of my comfort zone making it for fun anyway.

I tried (and failed miserably) at keeping the video under 3 minutes. This one lasts 3:18 minutes instead. Ok so this is the result of a noob’s work. You’re welcome to laugh XD

Day 6 actually ended after our dinner in Haven because the morning after, everyone didn’t get to say goodbye to each other as one was sound asleep *stares at Victor* or have an early flight to catch like Alid, Kemal and Citra. Followed by Chia Li, KK, Fadli and Sy. Others were either hitching rides from their family, friends or Tourism Selangor‘s crew. So there wasn’t much to report except for feeling somewhat sad for MSS to end.
Oh, Chia Li stayed up late making origami stars (I used to love collecting when I was a kid) with a message inside. That was really sweet of her, this roommate of mine 🙂
Quite the eccentric bunch we all were during this tour. A giant family moving about together. One that will be told for many many many years to come I’m sure.
Somehow, I feel this trip is only the beginning to something more.

And it would’ve have been what it was without Tourism Selangor, Amelia, and the many sponsors who supported us throughout this journey. Everyone deserves a bigggggggggggg hug 🙂

Voice out, I’m all about sharing thoughts and if this deserves a vote – simply click MySelangorStory/TheBeginning.
8

Guten Nacht

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It’s been said too often that where there’s a beginning there is an end. I like to think only this chapter has ended and new one is in the works. For some of us, this is like an adventure of a lifetime, others an opportunity to mingle. For whatever reasons it may be, I don’t think it could have been done any better.

Ok, that part probably can do without the worst jam in Klang Valley – Taman Tar’s traffic jam.

If you must go to this area during peak hours, I advise you to study the alternatives to avoid this mindless traffic jam. If possible, avoid at all cost; especially during Ramadhan.

We were late by 1.5 hours stuck in the jam and headed for the wrong destination. All is well after because as we reached at the lower end of Ampang’s lookout point, we were told to make a run and take whichever car to Haven. (Hehe, I like how that sounded)

This particular part, with heavy rain to add, made the whole scene looked like it came from Amazing Race. Just a little bit of thrill to wake our tummies up 🙂

Yup, you got it right. Our final destination for the grand dinner was at the top of Ampang’s Lookout point. The one place where I find solace in at night if there’s a need to get away from the city’s rush. And also to indulge in the food stalls by the brink of the lookout point.

Despite the many times I’ve been up here, this was my first time to go to Haven Restaurant. After all, there’s always a first for everything right?

The moment we arrived at the entrance, we were embraced by all of Haven’s staff! There were photographers taking our pictures too! To this fifth day, I’ve yet to get used to this sort of treatment.

As we walked further inside, we saw this hanging on the building across us. We were also taken away by their preparations for this Grand Dinner that we were late for. We felt really guilty for holding them back because we were told Haven closes at 10pm.

We arrived at 9pm.

Nonetheless, they were all smiling and receiving us warmly. We signed our name on the guest book and were given (our 6th) goodie bag! This must be what those celebrities go for when there’s events around eh?

We came here because of the view too!

I don’t think we could asked for more with our seating arrangements strategically facing the city skyline. Even if you’re not in a good mood, you won’t be for long when you lay your eyes on this majestic view 🙂

I think there was a good reason why we were late. Had we arrived as scheduled, we would be basking in the coldness of the heavy downpour and would not be able to see the skyline at all.

As part of this grand dinner, Encik Anantharaj Appanan, the Managing Partner for Haven Restaurant gave a welcome speech to all of us. Hey, it was a pretty nice feeling to know that people around have recognised the power of blogging (although where I come from, it’s called the dinosaur blog era). It was really good, being here with everyone.

When we arrived, we were given a menu to choose our main course. The entire list sounded so delicious, it made me indecisive for a moment. Not to forget, a long list of drinks to choose from too!

After we ordered our main course, we headed to the buffet appetizer and desserts. When you know there’s Lobster Thermidor waiting for you to feast on, you’ll do whatever it takes to not delay it. Otherwise, there won’t be any left for you.

Ah lobstaaahhh.. how I love you so very much 🙂

The very dish many who are close to me know I’ll go crazy for.

Just as we were picking out the various appetizers on the table, Haven’s waiters served our main course as well. So what does this mean? Full speed ahead when eating! My chicken chop was super yummy, that portion alone took me a while to finish. I can’t imagine what I’ll be like if I had ordered the ribs!

I think even Kings won’t be able to finish this! Just look at the portion. It’s an amazing race on it’s own. Why? Because Sy, Max, Thristhan and Dylan who were sitting on our table decided to have a ribs battle among themselves. You should see how the battle started! Now this is what I call food fest! Heck, Dylan and Thristhan even went for second helping of the ribs. It must have been finger lickin’ good for them to feed themselves more even though they were already full.

We were also entertained by One Night Service solo Razlan Saharuddin, Kak Ning, Hafiz and Wen Yi (I didn’t get to take your photo!) throughout the night. The best part was when Kak Ning took the mic and took control of her audience. Even Haven stopped in their tracks and listened to her tongue-in-cheek comments. She should be an emcee on the side too.

We laughed, we sang, we smiled, we cheered, we took (a lot of) photos and we celebrated.

Haven couldn’t have been any more sporting than to wait for the dinner to end towards midnight. Kudos for that!

We were very fortunate throughout this journey to be able to enjoy what we normally wouldn’t have stumbled upon. And here we were, making memories that will forever be embedded in our minds.

Oh, there were more goodies for us to bring home before we left Haven – mooncake by Casahana and an umbrella from Haven 🙂 More reason to hit any strangers who tries to do anything fishy. Hehe. Not to mentioned the vouchers Haven sponsored for the 10 of us too! I’m sure this is not the last time we’ll be here.

That night, I think none of us wanted the night to end. We lingered on the deck for so long hoping time would move slower than usual. Alas, everyone will have to go back to reality the day after. Starting with Alid‘s super early flight. He had to leave us all at 6 AM and we didn’t get to say proper goodbye.

The many times I’ve been to the lookout point, it has always given me good memories. It started of as one and this grand dinner will only add one more into the collection.

It was a very merry MySelangorStory Monday for all of us.

Oh! Before I forget, I’d like to thank Tourism Selangor crew for driving us up and down that night! The things they did for us 🙂 Everyone’s just awesome! Wee.

So Day 6 is coming by fast. Let’s see how I manage to conclude the week with one single post 🙂

I would love to hear what you have to say or if you like this post enough to vote it, head over to MySelangorStory/GutenNacht.

16

Devil May Care

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Secretly, I think MySelangorStory is trying to convert us all into food bloggers. The amount of food we ate.. even kings don’t eat this much. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner and supper. Although, it is a good thing to eat 6 times a day as it burns more calories…(granted) if we eat moderately. Looking at the rate we were going.. moderate was a little bit further behind, I think.

Then again a schedule like Day 5, we probably needed all the energy so right after our “break” at Tropicana Medical Centre, we went to Frames, a concept restaurant outside Sunway Pyramid. There were a lot of trendy bars/restaurants and clubs around this area that I didn’t know. Some are very interesting but because it’s “trendy” therefore in a couple years down the road, it’ll be yesterday’s trend instead.

This Frames restaurant has an interesting concept. Like the name itself, the walls were decorated with multiple frame with photos (assuming they were all taken by different people). That was really nice actually.

It’s got this contemporary minimal design theme going along the place with a dash of victorian-esque feel to it. One theme you’ll see used by fashion boutiques around the city. It’s just one of those “in” thing at the moment.

The thing is about trends, it comes and goes. Following a trend is something I don’t really like. However, we live in a world where trend is taken seriously. I like to think that if you create a timeless idea, you’ll be assured to never be forgotten. And not be used too often by others too.

Frames is a place I’ll recommend for the camwhores. Because of it’s decor, it makes such beautiful photos for people who love to take photos. That’s the ticket to get people to come 🙂

 

The way the menu was presented on the table makes it feel somewhat like being in a wedding, a little dainty touch which is something different from the other restaurants. A nice presentation, I must say. It’s a very design-y place. Would be a great attraction to those in the 18-35 years old group of people.

We had to choose among the many ala carte dishes to eat for lunch. After seeing Spectre‘s dory, I think that was one of the good choices. My spaghetti pomodoro sauce was a little too thick to digest. Tomato base pasta is usually lighter and easier to eat if you were to compare it with cream base but this was close to the creamy side. A little bit sad that I couldn’t finished it. Maybe I’ll come and try the grilled dory next time 🙂

After our heavy lunch, we were given with an all day all parks pass to Sunway Lagoon. Considering half the day had passed by, we only had a few more hours to spend in the theme park. This theme park is actually pretty huge, much much much bigger than the few times I’ve visited before. So it takes at least a day to cover the entire place.

This all parks pass is worth RM100 excluding RM10 deposit for the wristband(which we only found out when we read the fine prints at the back of the ticket) and a few other rides in the Xtreme Park. You’ll get a discounted rate if you have your MyKad with you. If you would like to rent a locker, it’s RM5.

Now that we’re covered with the ground rules, we didn’t want to waste anymore time not using this pass to the maximum.

Don’t forget to apply sunblock cream on your skin. Even though Malaysia’s weather is unpredictable at times, I would advised you to use it anyway.

Thank god for Denise who brought her sunblock along in her backpack. Although I got tanned after the Sunway Lagoon escapade, I would’ve been darker without it 🙂 The first ride we all went together was the Grand Canyon River Rapids. A ride I’ve been dying to go for ages and I finally got to do it!

We then went to this giant slide thing that my heart insisted in taking a plunge out of my chest while sitting on the float. Sorry Nicole for causing your back to hurt :/ God that was really scary. Super duper scary 90 degress down the slope! Holy mother of all crazy rides.

Since I’ve already established myself regarding not being the fun-est person on earth when it comes to theme parks, I immediately took the liberty to take care of other people’s belongings while they go for the other mad rides and horror house.

They even went to this ride that went 360 degrees. Crap.

They are truly the daredevils living among us. I must salute Wen Yi for her tenacity to brainwash me so that I’ll go for the rides but she too gave up in the end 🙂 I like watching people. So I don’t mind standing on the side 🙂

This is just beyond madness. I may be crazy but not crazy enough to go to all these rides. Haha! Yes call me chicken or as Alid would say “Fried Chicken”, it’s allllll goooooood baby.

Crossing the world’s longest suspension bridge wasn’t as frightening as I thought it would be. I manage to walk and look down at ease. Canopy bridge is a whole different story! I don’t even know how I got to walk all the way from the lowest level right up to the top alive.

On the suspension bridge is where people can do bungee jumping. Err, excuse me, what?! On the suspension bridge? Right. Okaaay.

Tian Chad went for it and even at his size, as he dived downwards, his head dipped into the pool. A little bit scary that one. If you really want to go for bungee jump, please head over to New Zealand instead. There used to be one in Menara Kuala Lumpur but not anymore. This is one of the rides you have to pay, RM50 with MyKad. Well, at least it comes with a certificate 🙂

Flying fox looked cool. That is, if you’re willing to wait for 2 hours queuing up.

There’s the reverse bungee but it didn’t looked as extreme as the one I went at Menara KL. A tamer version but still not for the faint of heart ok? It’s an awesome ride nonetheless! I had fun being in it. Thrown off to the sky in a ball 🙂 Crazy crazy.

We then decided to queue for the All Terrain Vehicle(ATV) and archery. Both are free to try with our passes. I’m aware that the ATV in Sunway Lagoon is nothing like the real ATV experience in the jungle but because it’s ATV, I’m all game for it. Like the name itself, it’s called ATV Scenic trail so you’ll be able to go around the park on a quad bike.

When it was our turn to ride it. I noticed the guide who rode with us only told us the stop/start button and breaks. And not to place our legs close to the engine. Then we’re off. Mid way going through the red earth trail, Alid wasn’t able to control his bike and hit the divider.

THIS WAS WHEN I GOT PISSED.

Not at Alid. But at the management of Sunway Lagoon.

Thankfully when Alid lost control of his bike, he was opposite me, so I was aware of the situation. Why would I be losing my mind over some little thing? Because.. those who hasn’t ride an ATV before will have this natural instinct to stop the vehicle by placing their foot out. WHICH IS A DEFINITE NO NO.

Any qualified instructor for ATV knows this for safety reasons.

I quickly asked him to lift his foot off, didn’t want his foot to get injured by the tyres or worst the hot engine. All the guide in front of me did was just look for a moment and then told him to steer it the right way. Things like this wouldn’t have happened had we were briefed properly you know.

Nevermind that.

After the ride was over, I saw Spectre walking uncomfortably. He told me his back heel hit the tyre when he tried to stop the bike with his foot.

HMMMMMMMMMMM…….

I rode an ATV along with my other 3 friends in Kemensah, in the jungle with mud, in the rain, on a steep hill with massive holes inbetween for 2 hours and none of us came back with injuries or had accidents. Some of us got stuck in the mud but that’s a given. And this is because the people who run the ATV Adventure Park are all professionals and stressed the importance of safety before/during/after we got on the bike.

Honestly, nobody wants something bad to happen to them so the only way is for everyone to play their roles. Then if anything did happen after that, it’s just meant to be.

Later, Some of us decided to go on the trampoline. It looked fun. And it was fun for the first few minutes. It’s one of the activities that challenges your stamina (with the harness on that is). Because there were 3 of us on the trampoline and only 2 employees working, one of us had to be suspended because they couldn’t manage 3 people at the same time.

This was when I started to feel the pain creeping from the harness. As they tried to shuffle between the 3 of us, someone else was left behind. So it wasn’t fun anymore. Max even got stuck in the middle as the 2 employees were arguing in front of him and left him suspended on his own.

Now I can understand why Sunway Lagoon injury stories comes up more often than any other theme parks. Their own management were not even focusing at what their doing. No, actually they weren’t even doing their job. Go figure why there’s death stories happened in this theme park before.

Sure, Sunway Lagoon is not responsible for any injuries or death happened to the visitors but such a thing wouldn’t happened IF their own employees were hands on with what they are suppose to do.

It’s easy for us to spend our money for entertainment, especially with the kind of “facilities” Sunway offers but seriously, with this kind of treatment, I wouldn’t want to spend any more money here.

I do hope the management will take this issue seriously. I believe it would do wonders to everyone on their side and their visitors 🙂 I’m sure the rides were really fun but safety is very crucial when running a big place like this.

With so little time left, we all rushed to the hotel to get ready for our Grand Dinner. I’m not kidding when I wrote Grand. Hello, Lobster Thermidor for appetizer yo!

My last post for Day 5 Part 3 will be dedicated to our awesome sponsor at….. oh you have to wait for the next post for that 😉

If you agree, disagree or feel indifferent, come share your views with me 🙂 I’d love to hear them. And if you think this deserves a vote, click MySelangorStory Day 5.

6

The Medicalis

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When I woke up on Day 5, reality hit hard. I couldn’t believe 4 days have gone by so fast and we’re leaving the day after. Good thing that reality came and went in a minute or two, I was back on this reality right away the moment I recognized the hotel decors.

“At least we’ve still got one more day out of MySelangorStory.” I psyched myself.

This buddy system thing MSS had been applying throughout our stay is a good rule whereby whoever we share a room with, we’re responsible for each other. We’re suppose to know where our roommate is if one is not around. That way no one gets lost for no reason alone. Despite many times Chia Li had told me that I could go for breakfast first before she gets ready, I was adamant not to. What if Amelia asks of her and she’s not there, I’ll be sure to get some drilling. Also, if ever we couldn’t find the rest, we’ve got someone else with us to figure it out.

I highly approve of this system indeed!

Like many times before (especially during fasting month), my tummy has it’s own schedule to eat. When this message is transmitted to my brain, I automatically didn’t take any photos of our buffet breakfast at Sunway Pyramid Tower Hotel. I managed to shove nasi lemak into my mouth knowing how grueling our itinerary for the day would be.

After breakfast, we’re all set to go to the hospital. No, no one’s hurt or sick. This is one trip I underestimated since the day we were made aware of it.

This is Tropicana Medical Centre (TMC). It is situated in Kota Damansara, a place I often visit for IKEA’s meatballs, meet clients or friends. I never thought I’d stepped foot in this building. Then again, it’s a good thing I didn’t have any expectations for this visit. That way, I’m able to absorb and enjoy what they can offer us. Settle!

Going a day without warm greetings by people is a death wish. When we were greeted by TMC staff, all joy and happy to see us – it made the start of my day from nothing to Woohoo! Oh c’mon, if someone greets you sincerely, you would of course be just as elated as the next person too. Kudos TMC for rewriting hospital experiences for all of us even before we were briefed. 🙂

We were attended by TMC Management at the entrance, it’s like a field trip but with a touch of VIP-ness to it too 🙂 We were taken (even demonstrated) to many of their facility rooms like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Scanner, Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner, Digital Mammography, Imagining Room (where Flouroscopy machine is seated) and even Sinar X room.

As much as I love to capture the photos of each and every machine they have, I was too busy figuring out what is where. There’s simply too many medical terms to remember and understand, I just had to put my camera down; chose to concentrate to what TMC staff was explaining.

It did felt a little bit like being in the Crime Scene Investigation scene.

When we were brought to see how the machines functioned, it opened my eyes to know how hi-tech TMC has been. Their state-of-the-art machines only speaks half of what TMC offers.

 
They even brought us to the Physiotherapy Center for kids and adults. The parquet tiles they used for this entire section is very similar to what I have in my house, the only difference is – they applied a special coating on the surface to protect their patients from falling down or suffer injuries if they do fall. Indeed, it shows how meticulous they were when they build this hospital. From a visitor’s point of view, it looks more like a gym than a physio room. Cool eh?
I remember drawing Mickey Mouse & Goofy as a thank you message to my doctor after my first surgery when I was younger and he pasted it on his message board at the waiting room. I would looked at all the messages/drawings that was pinned there. Somehow it gives a certain comfort while you’re waiting.
When I saw this thank you note on the glass door, it put a smile on my face. A small gesture is never too small to give an impact to others. 
In case you were curious, that’s how Brandon Lee looks like. Next to him is Mr. Alan Chin, TMC’s Marketing Manager who were so patient in answering my 1001 questions -______-
We also managed to make a trip to the Fertility Room. Most famous visit among all. Since we were divided into two groups, and I was with a bunch of curious cats, our tour lasted way longer compared to the other group. I’m not complaining, because I learned so much as everyone asked questions.
We even managed to go into the labs at the semen collection room, intensive care unit (ICU) room, delivery room, as well as the one and only – viewing room.
What’s this viewing room about? It is where some very qualified doctors play god. It is the room where In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) is performed. I used to read this from science textbooks. Now that I’m able to be present where it takes place, it gives that much more impact. 

You know what would be perfect with this field trip? All schools should make a point to do the same. Our education system has been known to be full of flaws and students shouldn’t be confined in the classroom and books to learn something. They should go out, be curious and see things.

That and at least it knocks some senses in their head about what reality, responsibilities and consequences are about.
Yes! This would be the perfect visit. At least for the 16-17 years old.
Each doctor in the Fertility room has a featured wall and therein photos of every baby they had help. Got me wondered how do they remember so many babies but when you’ve touched so many people’s lives, you will somehow manage to remember each single one of them.
I didn’t know TMC is the leading fertility centre. With so many articles and success rates, this is something Malaysia should be proud of 🙂 Hello, you can give birth to twins with 18 months separated in between. That’s.. almost unheard of until that very day. This world..it’s moving so fast, or I’m just not on the same page. Hmm.
Their suites are very comfortable. Being the kid that I am, I love their kid’s suites for it’s cartoon murals. It just brightens up the room. Their room rates is stated here and with the kind of facility they offer, I think their rates are affordable. It’s bigger, newer, cleaner and more comfortable than many other similarly reputable hospitals close to it’s rank. 
The best part is, TMC really wants to rewrite every patient’s experience being in a hospital. Their suites are enough to justify that.
As we waited in the International Patient Centre, I found a leaflet regarding the classes and workshops they offer for expecting parents like Ante Natal Class, Parent Craft Programme and many others for a very affordable price. Had I not found this leaflet lying on the table, I wouldn’t have known about it. See, there are many of us who are not aware what classes like this are able to help parents to expect after a baby is born. Those who do also knows that such classes are expensive to join as they’d charge you per session.
So this is definitely a blessing for all parents, one TMC should promote everywhere. I would know because I’ve got a friend who was interested but wasn’t able to commit to the price outside, and a few others who went and praised about it. 
For instance, the Parent Craft Programmed has 2 sessions, first session is about the development of foetus, understanding the stages of labour, the miracle of stem cells and baby immunisation. Second session comprises of nutrition in pregnancy, pre and post natal exercise, breast feeding and care of newborn. This package only costs RM140 per couple for both sessions. Tell me this is not the best news ever? 🙂
I’m very glad that TMC really placed people’s needs as their utmost priority, even if they’re not (yet) a registered patient of TMC. Small steps like these would most definitely woo them in 🙂 Hey, they won my heart like many other thousands of hearts out there too.
We were served with refreshments(more food!) before we left this incredible hospital. 
Amelia then announced of TMC’s new plan; to publish their own medical blog which is A GREAT NEWS. They should spread the greatness to others.They should and they must.  I hope they’ll go all out in advertising their services because I couldn’t imagine the amount of good deeds they’ll able to do with people.
Trivial fact of the day, the world medical derived from Latin medicalis/medicus for physician.
It’s only 1/3 of the day, and I’ve been made aware about the science of medicine. It’s a tourism on it’s own, one I just found out too. 
See, not expecting anything is a good thing indeed. I wouldn’t be as excited as this if I had expectations.
Well done Tropicana Medical Centre. You rock. 
There’s still 2/3 of the day to go and I assure you, it’s a ride not to be missed. 😉 So stay tuned!
All thoughts are welcome here. It’s evident by the way I write that I love to communicate. Sooo..feel free to do so 🙂 And if you think this entry deserves a vote, it’s been awesome to go to MySelangorStory/TheMedicalis 🙂 Grazie mille!
12

Concrete Desert

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There are many things in life we forget as we grow older, more technologically advance and intense surrounding like fresh air.

As the day goes by, each waking day is better than the day before.  I remember the morning after Day 1, everyone looked like zombies. When we woke up the day after, we looked a lot more fresh. Waking up at Kak Ani’s house got me feeling a lot more fresh. What’s the conclusion to all that? We’re breathing fresh air from Genting Highlands and now Sabak Bernam.

It only makes a difference when you have experienced it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Most of the time, I only bathed with hot water as I can’t stand cold. When I’ve been in a place without heater, I’ll make do with whatever I was given. Better than nothing at all right?

So when we stayed at Kak Ani’s, it’s understood that the water would be cold yet for some odd reason it wasn’t as cold as I thought it was. Which is a good thing on my end 🙂 There is one thing I was very thankful during this stay – no frogs lurking in the bathroom!

After all this is a good kampung life, and like many other kampung areas, these creatures are bound to be around somehow… a memory that I will never forget when I wake up in the morning during my younger days at my dad’s kampung, only to find a frog standing at the corner(every single time); staring as I consciously refreshed myself. It’s just one of the things that comes with such a life. One I am very terrified of too. :/

Kak Ani’s home is by no means made of wooden structure, her house and many around this area are what I like to call the “new kampung”. Instead of wood, it’s made of bricks. Nonetheless, it still feels just as homey. To make this trip even sweeter, we wake up to the paddy field view!

We needed to get ready and be at the meeting area by 9AM. We managed to eat our ketupat and rendang for breakfast 🙂 Well, Malaysians do celebrate raya for a month anyway. So why not? Unfortunately, my tummy is not used to super early breakfast but I managed to eat some anyway. Here the Malay custom would be to at least have a bite of the food that was served by the host as a sign of respect. Saying no too often offends many of them.

There is this saying that goes “Rezeki tidak baik ditolak” which translates something along the lines of sustenance or luck should not be refused. Anyone’s got a better translation for that do let me know 🙂

When we got to the meeting point, we had to transfer our bags into the bus; just as Kak Ning and I were doing so, we saw an abandoned kite lying on the ground. She quickly picked it up; examined the structure and tested it out. She squealed in delight knowing the fact that it could still fly at that very moment.

It was as if the kite had found the kid hidden in her when she ran along the street, guiding the kite in the air at the same time grabbing our attention. My last kite experience was probably when I was 5 years old, and that was a plastic kite. This particular one was what I suspected, a homemade kite. There aren’t many materials you need to make one. Like the kite Kak Ning tried out was made of brown paper, strings and a few sticks to form the structure.

I realised, I’ve yet to write about our amazing tour guide – Kak Ning. This extraordinary woman here speaks so many languages. Among them are dutch, german, javanese, mandarin, japanese, some tamil/hindi and she is currently learning arabic as well. That’s only the surface of it. If there’s anyone in this world who should have a blog (aside from cab drivers), it’d be her! I swear, she will never ever in her life run out of stories to share and tell. Heck, she could write a book if she wanted to! I’d definitely buy it.

If I have to describe her with a sentence, it would be – she’s so full of life. That’s our storyteller.

Alid on the other hand easily fit in with the locals. He brought smiles to everyone in an instant. Think I’m exaggerating? Pictures don’t lie. It helps that he is from Java and speaks their second language. So there’s no need to break the ice for him.

After going around the city and Selangor, I noticed that the friendly Malaysians are the ones who aren’t bothered with the material things in this world. So it’s much harder to say hello to locals in Kuala Lumpur when they are so distracted with their own life as compared to those who just enjoy life for what it is. I’ve discovered that KLites are easier to approach outside of the hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur. The same thing can be applied to those in Selangor too.

Which is sad really.

Another few more hours passes by and we finally made it to our last destination. Sunway is like .. I don’t know how to put it. It’s pretty well known for it’s ice skating rink (which I still love to go once in a while) and it’s very own theme park. That and the many universities surrounding this area. Of course, the most iconic thing about Sunway is it’s (faux) Pyramid and Sphinx. Till today, I’ve yet to know why. Kinda feels like Las Vegas a little bit.

Anyway, so we arrived at our hotel, Sunway Pyramid Tower Hotel; the hotel we only found out we were suppose to stay instead of the one printed on our itinerary, Sunway Resort & Spa. Just when we were all looking forward to the spa part. There were some minor glitch that hold our arrival, like the bus was stopped half way at the lobby for some ungodly reason or that we had to dumped our bags outside the door because there were no bellboys to help. A little bit strange but we’re all fine. Too much pampering is not good anyway right? We carried our bags in and waited for a while until we were given our room keys by Mr. Hafeez.

Oh I forgot to mentioned, as the days go by, our bags were stuffed with things. Not the ones we brought or bought but goodies we were given by our sponsors everyday 🙂 I’m sure if there were anymore of it, our bags would’ve exploded! The bags were getting heavier and bigger like monsters.

My roomie for the next 2 days was Chia Li! This girl has very long black straight hair. One I envy very much. When she sleeps. I couldn’t tell if she was on her left or right… because her face was covered by her hair! Hehe. Not really a sight you’d want to wake up to in the middle of the morning and get scared off 😛 Still she rocks! A very sweet girl indeed.

As soon as we checked in and left our bags in our rooms, we were instructed to go to Mantra for lunch. An indian lunch sounds just as appetizing as any other because we Malaysians eat almost anything as long as it’s good.

Due to some more glitches with Sunway City Berhad (who’s our other sponsor), our itinerary had to be shuffled. Instead of going to the theme park after lunch, we were told that our passes will only be given the day after. So what does this means? After lunch onwards… it’s free and easy baby! Albeit Monday will be a very hectic schedule for us since we had to squeeze the theme park in. Oh boy.

Some of us wandered in Sunway Pyramid shopping mall and a few went back to their rooms and kicked back or like Kemal, Sy and Victor, they camped inside Starbucks to hog the internet 😛 . Amelia and I headed to Starbucks for some downtime. This is something I usually do when I needed to clear my mind. That and before this trip, I was craving for Chocolate Chip Frappucino but didn’t get around to do it.

So this was something I was on board for 😀 Hello CC Frap with chips!

It was a good thing to have some space not doing anything other than chilling for a short while. Just a little bit. Not too much. I’d like to call it an hour(or so) to reflect on everything in life. When you’re on the move so much, you need at least this sort of moment to just relax and look back. Otherwise, there’s no way you’ll be enjoying what you’re doing.

That’s how I would conclude my coffee with Amelia. Made me realised about a lot of things. Thanks Amelia!

Then I went to visit Kak Zara & Denise‘s room. I realised although we all are bunked on the same floor, each and everyone of our room sizes varied. Like a lot. Theirs were very spacious indeed! Mine and Chia Li were alright. We didn’t really mind the view (of the Pyramid wall) because we’re hardly in the room anyway.

After hours of time to ourselves, we walked to Sunway Resort & Spa for a buffet dinner at Sun and Surf. This buffet, according to Sy cost RM78 (not sure if there’s the +nett bit) with plain water to boot.

Being the food monsters that we all are, we headed straight to the buffet and gorged ourselves with soup, salad, bread/pita, roast chicken, sushi, rice, satay and god knows what. There were really a lot of food. One I try not to overload myself with. Wouldn’t want to feel like a Michelin going back to the room later.

That is until.. I saw the desserts. No wait, that was the first thing I saw actually 😉

Looked at Spectre, by round 2, he was already leaning his back on the chair. I like to call this pose, the (very) satisfied king. He was a goner for the rest of the rounds.

However, there’s one other person who is the opposite. I present you, the comical Victor.

During this time when I took this picture, I haven’t indulged myself in the desserts. So he took the liberty to show me what I was about to miss. That … fella. I couldn’t even put a straight face when I tried to take this photo! Just look at the chocolate sauce dripping in his bowl. Tsk tsk.

Tempted by the force of eveeeellll..I took a hold of mine!

Unlike others, I prefer mine strictly marshmallows and strawberries because these are the only two most sinful combination that goes well with chocolate. It’s been my childhood favourite this one. Now that I was given the opportunity to eat all I want … bon voyage everyone!

However, there’s one slight problem to this perfect story..Sy found a few strands of hair on the marshmallows at the buffet counter. Thank god I took these marshmallows from the other side. Phewh. He’s got the whole run down of the story here. I hope Sunway City Berhad will be more aware about the happenings in their buildings even though it’s managed by other people. It’d be ashame to have what big reputation they have go down the drain for something like this.

Because guys have bigger appetite than girls, it’s only natural that I see a plate of oysters (after many plates of other things plus desserts) placed on our table. This is Thristhan and Victor’s battle. One only Sy, Spectre and I could watch as spectators. This was when Victor was taught how to eat oysters (there are many ways). After that, he went to take another plate of it for himself.

Oyster is best served cold, raw and with lemon. A dish not everyone would like tho.

After our stomachs are filled with God’s creations, we were allowed to wander on our own again.

And like many curious beings, we decided to walk around and see what Selangor has to offer for nightlife.

For the first time we got the Tourism Selangor guys to explore with us. Johan and Hafiz(yes the one who fed the monkeys). We had fun watching people performing, singing and dancing. It was time well spent indeed!

Amelia(the backbone to MSS trip) was with us too and I thought this photo which was taken with Alid’s camera looked pretty darn cool. At least we know what Pentax Optio WS80 can do by accident 🙂

And this was also when Alid introduced us all to his dance moves…

I think he called it the “Duck Dance” Victor corrected me and said it’s some finger-piano-playing dance. Alid, care to verify this? It really was called the “Duck Dance”. Not sure where he got inspired from. Perhaps one of the many Hindi movies he was watching during the morning? See, I think among all the pairs Amelia’s made, this one – Victor and Alid has got to be the best match ever. Their both quirky, most definitely fun and animated.. not to mentioned, love Hindi movies too. So I’d say kudos Amelia! *These photos were also taken by Alid with Optio WS80 because my P80 died half way :/ Thank you Alid!* Mind you none of us were drinking either and we were definitely having fun.

One of the other dance we did was inspired from this group of people who were doing it 🙂 Managed to record this, thanks to Alid’s Optio WS80 🙂 Phewh! Thank god for his camera because the rest didn’t have it with them.

 
In a nutshell, I think we certainly made the most of our night here because we only have one more night to go before we say au revoir to everyone.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and if you like it enough to vote, head over to MySelangorStory/ConcreteDesert 🙂
15

The Light Root

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Motion sickness is a very uncool thing to have when traveling. It is the enemy to any traveler!! Having said that, it’s pretty obvious I was one of them. So how did I combat that devil while going through another 3 hours to Sabak Bernam?

Sleep. (Prays to God no one took picture of me sleeping in the bus)

I had to force myself to sleep, which is unfortunate because Gilbert, our resident driver drove along the coastal road (that explains the extra long hours journey) and I missed out on the many paddy fields scenery throughout the journey.

Pfft.

So anyway, when we finally arrived at Sabak Bernam .. we were dropped off at the Dorani Home Stay. The event I was patiently waiting for because home stay being home stay, it means all of us will have to stay with our foster families!

Secretly, I was also waiting for this moment because with the kind of treatment we had given by Resorts World Genting, I wouldn’t know how some of them would react to this. Wanna know why? We’re literally put in the middle of a kampung (village) area so far out from the city, our only option is to adapt.

Oh yes, I was soooooo looking forward to this stay indeed!

It has been like what? A decade I believe since my last visit to this place (or was it Kuala Selangor?).. one day my dad drove us to a place similar to this during raya to visit someone. I couldn’t recall who or where but I knew it was in Selangor and the house was built around the paddy fields. Imagine the look on my face at that time when I saw the long lushes green paddy fields. Wished I took a picture of that.

Anyway, back to MySelangorStory..

as we got down the bus, we were welcomed with kompang and bunga manggar. Now, this particular custom is usually associated with Malay weddings or something more formal. Naturally, I thought we were going to a wedding 😉

Boy, we were celebrated alright.

On top of that, we’ve got the youngsters performing a traditional dance called Kuda Kepang. And wouldn’t you know it, yours truly with 5 other girls and 6 other guys were taught to do this dance too.

During this perfomance, I was sitting next to Alid and he told me about the cult life of this particular dance back in Java where he lives. He explained to me in detail the rituals done such as eating live stocks alive and other mystical related things. It was pure gore to know where this dance had originated from. This dance was then introduced in Johor back in the days and the story behind this dance was based from the battles illustrated from the Quran. It was one of the methods used to attract people to Islam long long longgggg time ago.

However, considering we all are humans. We tend to misinterpret things.

As Alid and I discussed further of this dance, it reminded me of another traditional dance called Ulek Mayang, which in certain part of Malaysia is made into a cult dance that has a similar effect to the one in Java. What kind of effect you might ask? One can be possessed by “something” even without one’s knowledge. Actually many of our dances which originated from Java have their own stories to tell, one many of us might not be ready to hear.

If you want to know more about it, make sure you’re spiritually strong to absorb it 🙂

After Kuda Kepang, we were introduced to the Barogan dance. It’s a folk dance based on Nabi Sulaiman a.s life as he could talk to animals. When I saw this dance, it immediately reminded me of the Barong dance from Bali. Do not be mistaken with these two dances, although I must admit there were characters/parts that were similar. Barong is a mythical character and is wrapped around Hindu characters. When I compare both of the dances, I can see how even the most trivial things in life has it’s own history background. I couldn’t think of anything better to learn history than to watch these dances. And I was lucky to be able to watch two different dance with similar traits from different cultures.

It simply spoke volume.

Got me thinking how come some of us could act so low against other people. After all, we came from the same source.

As soon as the show was over, we were all teamed together for the home stay program. Nicole and I were room buddies again! Our foster sister who met us was Kak Ani.

Now, this was when the conflict occur. See, I’m 25 and I look nothing like one. Kak Ani is also 25 and she looked matured for her age. Because she was referred to Kak, automatically my brain was programmed to call her that yet I couldn’t comprehend it. How did I managed to fix this glitch in my brain? I made myself assumed she was born in January, a month earlier than me so that the title fits. Problem fixed!

Thank god our bags were able to fit in her Wira which were loaded with plates (we later found out that she does catering) when she initially wanted to send us one at a time. Oh no no, we made ourselves fit in it rather than making her go back and forth.

Since my dad’s kampung in Kampung Sega, Rantau is the perfect image of what kampung life is about, with wooden house to add.. I was at ease being here. Only this time with paddy fields to envelope us throughout our stay.

The moment her car was parked next to her house.. I saw THIS.

What one earth was that? That my friends is how ketupat (packed rice) looked like when it’s boiling in a pot.

YES FOLKS, my (yet another) dream is about to come true..or at least I made sure it would. Being the person that I am, I asked Kak Ani if she could teach us to weave ketupat. When she said yes, I swear the sun was shining with me. No kidding.

Can you imagine the (already silly) smile that she managed to carve on my face? Sorry, no photo of that tho 😛

We quickly took our bags and went into our designated room. Chucked it at the corner, went out and met Kak Ani’s mum, Puan Haliwati.

Maybe God was having so much fun that he decided to amp the mood one notch higher.

Why?

There on the floor laid a bundle of palm leaves calling us out. Sheesh. Talk about temptations.

Yes, I also managed to pester Kak Ani’s mum to teach us this dying skill. We were told that Denise and Wen Yi had to stay with us because their foster mum could not make it in time for their stay. Both of them were also just as excited when they went into the living room where we were diligently trying to weave two strands of the palm leaf.

They say the more the merrier right? This certainly fit the description alright. Even Kak Ani joined us weaving.

Now, considering we never weaved a ketupat. It is understandable to see how difficult it was for us to do it. We sat there, Denise even recorded grand master (our foster mum) weaving and still couldn’t get it right..until 2 hours later. Yes yes, two incredible hours to weave TWO ketupat. How productive is that? Despite it all, we were very very very very very verrrrryyy proud of ourselves for getting it right (of course with lots of help!). Kak Ani confessed, she too had only started weaving a few weeks back during Raya. But for a beginner like her, the ketupat took form in mere 30 minutes. -_____-

Even the one I managed to weave looked like an alien. :/ Oh well, I’m still stoked the fact that I finally know how to weave a freaking ketupat! Hip hip hurray!

Hats off to two of our most awesome masters for being very patient with us through the whole session. Of course we weren’t spared with the witty remarks of having very stiff fingers.

Well, this brought me back to my first few weeks of my guitar lessons. Boy, that was some torture. But I’m sure, if we get to weave more often, we’d manage to pull off a ketupat in 30 seconds (like our foster mum). I think.

During our short stay, I managed to listened to both mother and daughter communicate in Javanese. I don’t think I’ve ever been in the company of one before so this was yet another cool discovery. We were also told of their family background from Java. They were apparently royalty descendant but something happened in Java so Kak Ani’s grandfather ran to Malaysia instead.

In just a few hours, my brain was already busy retrieving facts.

After that grueling session, we were served with kampung food which they had cooked for us earlier.

There’s one dish I never tried before which is called Pejari and this was cooked with eggplant. It’s a certain dish that tasted sweet but I wasn’t sure how it was cooked even though it was already explained. Not bad at all.

Right after dinner, we had to rush to see the Firefly at Kuala Selangor.

In one of my previous post, I had mentioned about being able to do many things listed in my to-do list. This was definitely one of them. I think it has been 5 years since I wanted to check this place out but never got around to do it.

Now that I was able to, I was pretty damn excited indeed!

This is yet another dying breed. So to protect this species, we were not allowed to take photos with flash or make too much noise. Fireflies love mangrove area and the only way to see fireflies, we have to sit in a boat.

Before we got into the boat, I had learned yet another lesson in life.

To set the camera settings to Auto so other people who aren’t familiar with it could take our photos. So this was what happened when I didn’t set it to Auto. Let’s just assume it’s an artsy fartsy thing ok?

One boat can only fit 4 adults. If I’m not mistaken, it’s RM10 per person. So Citra, Victor, Spectre and I got to share this once in a lifetime experience together.

I already knew about this particular fact – that it is hard to take a photo of a firefly with a steady hand or tripod (in a boat no less). So I wasn’t so disappointed with the outcome, I much rather enjoy this moment I have watching with my eyes instead of behind the lens.

This little amazing godsend creatures are something I tell ya! When you have a glow on your finger moving about, you won’t remember anything else but the little fella. It could just zen you out in an instant!

See the yellow/green glows in the photos? Those are the magical creatures. I really don’t know why every firefly preferred to hang out on my steel strap watch. What is it about this texture that they like so much anyway?

Be careful not to pinch them. They’re very delicate. Killing one of them is like killing one of your own family.

Since Optio P80 doesn’t have long exposure, I managed to record a video of my experience 🙂 A short clip actually.

 
Amazing isn’t it? The feeling I got when a firefly lifted off from my finger was nothing short of magical. I just felt like one of Disney princesses in the old movies. Yeah that was a lot of fun indeed. We were laughing sitting in the boat as we did our best to attract the fireflies. 
After the boat trip, we were briefed about fireflies in the auditorium room. See, I never told anyone about what I discovered when we entered the Firefly park which was sponsored by TNB. You see all these artworks plastered all over the park? These were the very work I had to help Erman, my Art Director in my first advertising company 5 years ago (who is also my mentor, one of the few people I look up to). That very year, TNB was going all out with campaigns regarding fireflies, spreading across Hari Raya, Deepavali, Chinese New..everything from tv commercials, press ads to billboards. This was his brainchild from the very beginning and I was very lucky to help him when I did my internship and then absorbed in as a permanent employee. 
Every firefly brief by TNB was strictly Erman’s, up to a point we ended up calling him Man Firefly. So to actually see the real work being displayed for the public to see (and hopefully appreciate) was an added bonus to my visit. Didn’t know it was still there after 5 years! And it still looked just as good as it was first printed. Bravo Man!
We left the park around 10.45pm and was immediately told by Mr. Hafeez that there was a surprise waiting for us. Turns out to be Satay Hut at Tanjung Karang. The effort we Malaysians make to get good food. It didn’t matter if we had to drive to the other end of the world, if it’s good, it’s worth going for.
They were delicious indeed. Succulent. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. But I’m a beef satay fan and I’m sure the beef must’ve tasted delicious. This place supposedly serve satay twice the size compared to the normal satay. There’s another place synonymous with satay in Selangor too. It’s in Kajang.
I don’t know how we managed to finished two rounds of satay but we did anyway and was also late to arrive back to our foster family. We arrived at Sabak Bernam around 12.30AM. We apologised to Kak Ani for waking her up so late at night to drive us back.
Our Saturday was an eye opening experience indeed and I enjoyed every minute of it too.
With tired mind, body and eyes, we slept on our queen size bed at the same time wondering what Sunday will offer us next.
Day 3 Part 2 comes to an end.
If you think this post deserves a vote, vote it here at MySelangorStory Day 3 🙂
4

The Root of the Matter

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The weather in Genting Highlands reminded me a lot of Haarlem during summer. Except, it’s a tad more humid. The best part of sleeping at night over there is the fact that I don’t need the fan or air conditioner to keep me cool. All I need to do is open the windows and let the cool breeze breathe in my hotel room. Something I often do back in my house when the temperature goes down. Maybe that’s why I felt a lot like home in First World’s hotel room. Or it’s just a combination of everything. I will probably never know.

But what I know is that, every trip I make, I’ll always discover something new about myself. Every time I walk out of an experience, I bring with me a new theory.

I never quite explained how Wanderlust Theories came about. And I think the above sentence pretty much explains it. Theories in life are meant to build our character, hopefully strengthen our principles and eventually nurture a deeper faith between you, life and God.

So spending my first ever night in First World (usually I’ll stay in Awana because my dad loves to golf), awaken the kid in me – to simply be me, enjoy whatever comes and ultimately have simpler beliefs.

Waking up to this view was unbelievable to say the least.

To have breakfast with this view every morning is even more incredible! But that was exactly what we did the morning after. We were treated to World Club Lounge breakfast which I was told is where the very special people are invited to eat.

Well, what was it that I usually say..? Live the moment? Yeah might as well live it while we were given the chance.

This was the lounge we had our breakfast and I had experimented with the Panoramic settings in  Optio P80. There is something unusual about the photo but I shall not reveal what it is 😛 Anyway this setting captures three parts of the view you have in mind and then it will stitch all 3 into one picture in less than 30 seconds. A handy tool I might add, if you don’t feel like doing it manually 🙂

I suppose if you have all this modern techs to help you out, might as well use it. Depending on it is a different story.

Oh look who woke up as early as we did just to see off? A certain french speaking mime. I think Charles is from Cayman Island. One of the islands in the french colony. Also, Kak Zara has a secret crush on him 😛 Haha just kidding Kak Zara.

With that, another page flipped over regarding Genting Highlands for this trip. It was really thoughtful of Resorts World Genting representatives like Mr. Philip to send us off as well. Of course, we’re not bidding adieu just yet (since we still haven’t spend our points)..so we’ll make a return. Possibly a whole group of us again, who knows?

Mr. Philip and Dato’ Anthony Yeo had recommended us to visit Chan Swee Caves Temple. We were told by Dato’ Anthony Yeo when he was giving out his speech the day before that this particular temple was build on a very difficult platform, therefore back in the days men could not use any machines to help build the temple. So they had to do it manually.

Why did the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong chose this spot to build something on a difficult terrain? Apparently this is the area most strategic to view Genting Highlands. There you go!

Yeah, see how fun the MySelangorStory bunch are? 🙂 I really love this shot at the entrance to the temple. They either had really strong coffee, slept really well or running on reserve energy tank. Whatever it was, I love them all the same 🙂

 
Visiting this temple again finally put the curious cat in my mind to rest. Why? All this while, I’ve been having this image in my mind about standing at a chinese temple somewhere high up but I couldn’t remember where this place was. Imagine how annoying it was to recall a memory half rendered for more than a decade! Then it hit me, I had visited this temple when it first opened back in 24 March 1994 with my family who then brought a foreign friend along. This was that place I’ve been trying hard to recall.
A major “AAAAAHHHHH” moment right there you bet.
There were many beautiful statues standing tall around the area; unfortunately we didn’t have much time to explore every part of this place. It’s really huge. You could even walk up along the pathway to the top if you have enough stamina 😉 A must see place in anyone’s itinerary.
I’m sure there are some of you who wondered why were we in Genting when our tour is about Selangor. Well, Genting Highlands is divided into two between Pahang and Selangor. So there is one part of Genting which belongs to Selangor. One trip to Genting Highlands from my place behind the zoo takes less than 45 minutes (ok, depending on how fast a person drives), that’s how close it has become since the old days.
You don’t get THIS in any other place, because many of us have forgotten about Mother Nature 😦 We have to go to places like this to be reminded what we have lost or is about to lose. So sad.
Now that we have finally put a full stop in our Genting pit stop, we went to sleep (well most of us; some took this opportunity to take pictures of those sleeping) for the next 1.5 hours to Rawang. What is there in Rawang?
This.
Hutan Lipur Kanching. 
They might as well renamed this very day’s itinerary to “Bonding Session with Mother Nature” 🙂 There are 7 levels to this waterfall, it’s so high up, you’ll be proud to conquer the top without feeling like your knees are melting. Ehem, we only went as high as level 3 and most of us (including moi) were obviously not in shape to go all the way. Nonetheless, the view was breathtaking. The water was refreshing and cold.  It’s all you need when you see a waterfall.
Because this is Tourism Selangor territory, Mr. Fazly briefed us the do’s and don’ts while being here.
He’s been working hard to make sure we are good in our space. So the only other thing he reminded us not to do was not to feed the monkeys. For the obvious reason of course.
I guess one of us couldn’t help but did it anyway 😉 Hafiz oh Hafiz. Good thing it didn’t follow you home.

We ate at the campsite where the tents were. Happily eating our chicken from KFC, then came these rascals trying to take the food away from us. What the monkeys didn’t know (we didn’t either) was that, in Nicole’s past life, she was a monkey slayer. So she pretty much saved the day for us. Swatting the monkeys with a rolled newspaper, kung fu-ing the monkeys. Amazingly, it worked!

One thing you should also know is that, these monkeys love drinking Coke too. If only they know how to hold the can right side up… erm, if there’s a colony of ants roaming around the grass at Kanching, you’ll know who caused it. *Looks at Hafiz*
Apart from that, if you do plan to come to Hutan Lipur Kanching, do remember to wear proper footwear. It would be a bit ma fan(tedious in English) to take your shoes and socks off and then put it on again.
Ok, that’s the end of Day 3 Part 1. Part 2 will see us embracing our roots. Happy Saturday people 🙂
And don’t forget, if you like this post enough to vote, just go to MySelangorStory/The Root of the Matter website and browse through the days. Arigato gozaimas!

6

Very Insane Personas

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It’s my first bus ride up to Genting. All motion sickness aside, I saw things that I will most likely never get to spot while in the car. Usually I’ll tag along with the rest of the Lotus Club members for a drive up, zigzagging along the sharp corners and bents. One time it spun on wet tarmac up on a hill there somewhere. That was some kind of insanity.
This time, MySelangorStory journey to Genting Highlands may not be as exhilarating with the engines roaring away behind my ears but I assure you, this ride is just as mind-altering. No money in the world can buy this experience. So seat back and enjoy the show I mean entry ;).
Let the spectacular story begin, part deux.
 
The moment we arrived at Genting Highlands First World Hotel, we were welcomed like Very Important Personnels. But I like to think it as Very Insane Personas (What? It’s true!). Every Senior Management from Resorts World Genting made effort to be there with us at the entrance. We were all aware about their tight schedules but to know that the Senior Management actually took the time for us made the trip even sweeter than ice cream. Even Tabby and Allie walked with us!
Ok I know, why is a 25 year old getting excited over two oversized mascots? To be honest, I’ve watched game show hosted by Genting every Saturday on TV3 more than a decade ago and the closest I’ve seen them (if it weren’t for television), it would be the statues placed in front of Wisma Genting at Jalan Sultan Ismail. So it’s been, you can say a childhood dream of mine to see them. Being able to take photos with them was enough to fuel me to jump over the moon I tell you! 
I must admit, I have a 200 year soul in a 25 year old body with a 5 year old heart. Err.. does that make more sense? Nevermind.
Oh did I mentioned YB Elizabeth Wong was also there to have lunch with us? 🙂
We were then ushered over to Maxim’s Club for our much awaited luncheon. Boy were we glad to see the food… the desserts were so appetizing, it’s a sin.
  
Don’t you just feel the love we were embraced by Resorts World Genting? Sigh. Never in a million years did I saw this coming..ever. Seriously.
 
Both Dato’ Anthony Yeo, Senior Vice President of PR & Communications and YB Elizabeth Wong gave a speech each, telling us how Genting first started off as a dream that came to the late Tan Sri Dato Seri Dr. Lim Goh Tong. 
See, every place we go, everyone we know will somehow have a story to tell; whether it’s about themselves or the events they’ve seen. Everyone has a story worth listening to.
By a stroke of luck, 7 of us were picked to dine with Dato’ Anthony Yeo and YB Elizabeth Wong. Lady luck must be in a good mood as of late.
Oh. And each of us were given an all day pass to outdoor/indoor theme park,  10k worth of WorldCard points (RM100), RM100 worth of Holiday Card, One night stay at Superior Deluxe with View in First World Hotel, VIP Access to Dazzle and breakfast buffet at World Club Lounge. Indeed we were spoiled rotten. My jaw literally dropped when Mr. Philip announced it to us. Resorts World Genting, you sure know how to welcome your guests. Hands freaking down baby!
Back in the 90’s when Genting wasn’t what it is today, things were much simpler. There’ll be butterflies hanging on the wall of the souvenir shops but today, they have Galleria where guests can learn the history behind Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Lim Goh Tong’s vision. A remarkable visit.
Sooooooo…..with RM200 in our pocket and a pass to make use of, there’s only one place we planned to go. That’s right. Theme park!
After 5 years, I have finally come to terms that as much fun and exciting theme parks are, I am just not really a big fan of them. I love theme parks but not so much when it comes to extreme rides. How did I know this? It went all the way back in London when a friend told me upfront that it’s not worth it for me to spend money to any theme park since I don’t go to all the rides. 
Perhaps it’s the society we are brought up in, everyone loves theme parks. Everyone enjoys the fun feeling that comes with it. In away theme parks are usually associated with letting loose and to some it goes as far as freedom. And as we grow up, some of us would love to be part of that society rather than being different.
Being a non-conformist, I therefore will have to bare the consequences of missing out some of the happiness that theme parks bring. 
I do however enjoy bumper cars 🙂 Just anything not scary basically. Haha.
True, you can throw me into the track doing stunts with a car or a muddy slope with an ATV, heck throw in some dangerous waves for white water rafting – I am scared to death about roller coasters (and horror rides). I’m totally cool being hit hundred of times with a paintball rifle but I can’t for the life of me bungee jump.
I did reverse bungee and paragliding tho 🙂
Indeed, I am a weirdo and I’m proud of it!
  
This ride caught my eyes for it’s very colourful ceiling 🙂 not brave enough to go on the ride.
 
TV Selangor also joined our crazy journey and recorded many events we weren’t sure if it’s a good thing for others to watch. Afzal makes half of TV Selangor, the other is Imran. They’re always there wherever we turned our heads 😛
I like to observe. Participating in this feels like my heart is being snatched with bare hand. Ouch. When the theme park closed at 7pm, we went to the top of the hill and took scenic photos of this wild resort. I don’t remember it being this colourful at first. I must have not been here for the longest time.
The schedule for the night was for us to meet up at The Pavilion by 8.45pm for the Dazzle show. It has the circus feel from outside looking in. In reality, it’s like an auditorium.. sort of.
 
There we were briefed regarding this VIP access we were given. Never before had they granted any special pass to guests for their shows yet we managed to get this one time only opportunity to take photos during the Dazzle show. At first we were allowed 15 minutes to snap but Mr. Philip then allowed us to take throughout the show except for a few shows like Statue of Jerome Murat, The Invincible Man & Hand Shadow. 
Apa lagi (Malay for what else)..we took our cameras and snap snap snap snap snap like there’s no tomorrow.
What’s Dazzle! about? It’s a 60 minute show with several different segments to entertain us including the Statue of Jerome Murat from France, award-winning magician Ernesto Planas, Sonny Fontana the hand shadow master and Duo Presto, the quick change illusion act. We were given front row seats and Spectre, who sat beside me was picked by Ernesto to take part in his magic show. Hehe, dude looked clueless but everyone had fun! 


When we had to sit in front, my heart was beating so fast, it felt like it was about to jump out of my body because I knew one of us will be invited to be part of the show. As much as I love the unknown, I am just as nervous about it. 

All this could not have been possible if it weren’t for Resorts World Genting support as well as Tourism Selangor, MySelangorStory and Amelia. 


We even got the chance to meet Charles Gluck who was the mime behind Statue of Jerome Murat, even if it were for a brief moment. French really trademarked the art of miming.

After full day of doing all kinds of activities, we finally head back to our own rooms. You read that right. All 26 of us were given individual rooms to stay. Madness!
Excuse the mess in the photo below but among the many hotels I’ve stayed, this is one room I really felt like home. Maybe it’s the warm lit room, perhaps the mustard colour featured wall (which many pointed out when they visited my room). I dunno. All I know was that, I was really really reaaaalllllly enjoying this room all to myself. It’s cooler with the view of the theme park outside too. And all this for free. Oh wow.


Even Sheepy loved it 😛

So how shall I sum my day in Genting? Only one photo can speak for me.


🙂 That’s it folks. That’s Day 2 Part 2. If you like this post, head over to MySelangorStory and vote it. 

What could possibly be better than this on our Day 3? That’s for me to know and for all of you to find out!