I was beginning to think that i have to stop blogging because my mind has stopped wandering for the past few weeks. Yeah i think that age has finally caught up with my brain.
My mind doesn't seem to think and think and think anymore when i'm not doing anything. now my mind is also blank when i stare into space.
Gosh, the thought of that is really scary. How can my mind stop wandering?!?! Dont be lazy Boodybrain!!
Anyways, since there's nothing much that i really have to get off my chest, i guess i'll just do a little thing i like to call, :"things i did over the past few days". Well first of all, after getting my spanking new Casio WK1800 keyboard, i had my first music lesson on wednesday night. How far did i progress? WELL,I HAVE NOT PLAYED THE PIANO YET, as i'll be learning the theory part 1st (sorry for the accidental caps).learning to read and understand music notes is like learning a new language! Not easy, but i'm definitely determined to learn. At the end of the day, these are the few songs i really want to learn how to play on my keyboard: Baby I love your ways (by Mig Ayesa); Can't take my eyes off you; Sunday morning (maroon 5); Wei Yi & Kiss goodbye (Wang lee hom); and Jay CHou's An Jing, and oh yeah, maybe Atilia's Selalau Denganmu. Well at least these are the songs at the top of my head that i would reall love to play. Now all i need would be a really good and hopefully beautiful vocalist to sing as i play, hehehe =).
Yeah, i know i've been slacking off when it comes to updating this blog (no its not a chore), but yeah i think that is generally how my life has been, just coasting thru life over the past few weeks. Not that i've been having it easy, but i felt like the few weeks have just gone by in a flash.
Well, 2008 is gone. it has brought me many tears and joy (also tears of joy). But yeah i'm glad this year happened. It was a great year for me, and although there were some very tough times, i'm gonna remember every good moment and learn from every bad time i encountered. Inf act,i think this could be the most interesting year i had so far in my life, full of drama!The good thing is, i've made more friends than i've lost (if any at all). Oh and also, i managed to hit one of my KPIs set by IS, EC and JJJ in December 2007. Well it can be found in my multiply blog (the link is on the lef tof this blog)> yes, i hit thatKPI and i look forward to manybetter days ahead. Life is full of uncertainties but I know that i will have to make the most of situations and not take things for granted. If i want things to happen, i have to work hard for it myself.
With That being said; what is my resolution for year 2009 then?
Well the first thing that comes to my mind is to be Less Gabra (or not to be so kanchiong or rush into things head on).
Maybe secondly to lose 3kg frommy existing current weight. (i did lose weight last year, but the thing was i gained weight before losing it, LOL).
And thirdly, learn to play some tunes with the keyboard, thus ensuring it does not turn into a white elephant in my house!
Well, i guess thats my thoughts for today, I'd like to know what your resolutions are if any. Well, that is if there are still people reading this anyway...
Boodyboy, out!!!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Finally, 2 dozen years old and 9 days
It was one heck of a roller coaster fortnight for me. Things went slightly downhill for me just a day before my birthday and I was thinking, man, i might as well just not worry about it anymore and not get disappointed by anymore bad news.But the thing is, it was a great birthday weekend for me. Well, almost perfect (damn, we humans are never satisfied right?). but then again, i cant say that what i wanted was over the top by any means.
Moving on now, had a quiet but hectic saturday rushing to finish all my laundry so i can enjoy sunday and monday. but of course, mother nature didnt really help, not much sunlight at all, but nevertheless, i still managed to get the job done.
Spent Sunday lunch with my ex-unimates and my guest of honour, JJJ at Coliseum Cafe in middle of town. Was a bit disappointed with the quality of the food as i think they have deteriorated since the last time i visited the place.
We then went on a day long date, which began with going to the Aquaria (since she's nvr been there before). JJJ was behaving like a little girl whose was very excited, hehehe. Later, we shopped a bit around KLCC before heading for dinner in Bangsar. The place, Tea For 2, is one of our favourite places as they served great food and provided good service. The place was also very peaceful and quiet, just perfect for a romantic dinner.
Then we went to catch a movie (thanks to the free movie tickets my company gave me as a birthday gift) at the mall near my place. The movie, Twilight, was her choice as she has been dying to see it for some time already. JJJ thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but howeverm i felt the movie could do better. Who cares! as long as she had a great time, so did i!! Afterthe movie, we were both dead tired for the day. Called it a night,
The next day, JJJ and I headed to the Curve to have brunch with a couple of ex-colleagues. On the way there, we picked up IS at KL Central. Met up with KNO, EC, M, EY(and his gf, N), CY, her hubby GK and her new born baby, DK (who was the star of the afternoon). Ate, drank and chatted merrily for about 4 hours before JJJ and I headed for another movie, Madagascar 2 at Cineleisure. The movie was funny and much better compared to Twilight, and the couple seats were very comfortable. After that, we decided to have dinner at Dragon-I. JJJ then dropped me off in klang where i met up with my mum and sis, who were there visiting my aunt Helen. After visiting my aunt, we headed back home.
Overall, i was happy with the way that weekend ended. I'm pleased that JJJ went home happy (can't even remember when the last time she went home unhappy after our date) and i was happy everything turned out alright. But of course, It will cost me bomb by the time my credit card bill comes at the end of the month. I bought many things, and themost expensive item i spent on was a new mattress for myself. I told myself i deserved to sleep on a comfy bed and so i blew a huge wad of cash on it. Plus all the meals and our R&R stops. Sigh... happiness has a price i guess...
Well, the week after my birthdayw as another roller coaster. Started on a high and went downhill after that. And since its the monsoon season, the weather has been pretty bad, and together with cheaper petrol, that meant worse jams! ARGH!!! And yes, even doing simples chores like laundry will take forever to dry. Which makes me very sad, because during times like these, i feel that sometimes even mother nature is against me. She wont even let me be happy in completing a single task. Oh well, this week is a new week, and i do hope that it gets better and better. Times are tough, but it isn't only affecting me. It affects other people as well. I cant be selfish and expect ppl to pity me when times are tough on me. People dont owe me anything, so yeah i cant demand their attention either.
But yeah, i'm hoping the skies will clear up and show me a sunny day soon. Or at least a star filled sky...
Boodyboy, out!!!
Moving on now, had a quiet but hectic saturday rushing to finish all my laundry so i can enjoy sunday and monday. but of course, mother nature didnt really help, not much sunlight at all, but nevertheless, i still managed to get the job done.
Spent Sunday lunch with my ex-unimates and my guest of honour, JJJ at Coliseum Cafe in middle of town. Was a bit disappointed with the quality of the food as i think they have deteriorated since the last time i visited the place.
We then went on a day long date, which began with going to the Aquaria (since she's nvr been there before). JJJ was behaving like a little girl whose was very excited, hehehe. Later, we shopped a bit around KLCC before heading for dinner in Bangsar. The place, Tea For 2, is one of our favourite places as they served great food and provided good service. The place was also very peaceful and quiet, just perfect for a romantic dinner.
Then we went to catch a movie (thanks to the free movie tickets my company gave me as a birthday gift) at the mall near my place. The movie, Twilight, was her choice as she has been dying to see it for some time already. JJJ thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but howeverm i felt the movie could do better. Who cares! as long as she had a great time, so did i!! Afterthe movie, we were both dead tired for the day. Called it a night,
The next day, JJJ and I headed to the Curve to have brunch with a couple of ex-colleagues. On the way there, we picked up IS at KL Central. Met up with KNO, EC, M, EY(and his gf, N), CY, her hubby GK and her new born baby, DK (who was the star of the afternoon). Ate, drank and chatted merrily for about 4 hours before JJJ and I headed for another movie, Madagascar 2 at Cineleisure. The movie was funny and much better compared to Twilight, and the couple seats were very comfortable. After that, we decided to have dinner at Dragon-I. JJJ then dropped me off in klang where i met up with my mum and sis, who were there visiting my aunt Helen. After visiting my aunt, we headed back home.
Overall, i was happy with the way that weekend ended. I'm pleased that JJJ went home happy (can't even remember when the last time she went home unhappy after our date) and i was happy everything turned out alright. But of course, It will cost me bomb by the time my credit card bill comes at the end of the month. I bought many things, and themost expensive item i spent on was a new mattress for myself. I told myself i deserved to sleep on a comfy bed and so i blew a huge wad of cash on it. Plus all the meals and our R&R stops. Sigh... happiness has a price i guess...
Well, the week after my birthdayw as another roller coaster. Started on a high and went downhill after that. And since its the monsoon season, the weather has been pretty bad, and together with cheaper petrol, that meant worse jams! ARGH!!! And yes, even doing simples chores like laundry will take forever to dry. Which makes me very sad, because during times like these, i feel that sometimes even mother nature is against me. She wont even let me be happy in completing a single task. Oh well, this week is a new week, and i do hope that it gets better and better. Times are tough, but it isn't only affecting me. It affects other people as well. I cant be selfish and expect ppl to pity me when times are tough on me. People dont owe me anything, so yeah i cant demand their attention either.
But yeah, i'm hoping the skies will clear up and show me a sunny day soon. Or at least a star filled sky...
Boodyboy, out!!!
10 things I hate about you
Well, its been an interesting week since my birthday. Sorry as i didnt continue to update on my China Trip as there are lots more of entries to go but i'm too lazy to update them. But as i was thinking of the movies I liked to watch, this movie came to my mind. And the thing i liked about the movie was the poem in the movie, aptly titled, 10 things i hate about you.
So now here is my version of it (but i'd like to thank the scriptwriters who came up with this nice poem). however, its not so different as i feel that the words used are actually quite reflective of what words I can only conjure up. Yes, sorry, if i'm not creative enough (well at least not in poetry).
10 Things I Hate About You
I hate the the time it takes you to put on your make-up,
and the time it takes to blow your hair,
I hate the way you drive your car,
I hate the way you stare,
I hate your big dangly ear rings,
and the way you always dress,
I hate you so much because you make me cry,
it makes me cry wanting a recess,
I hate the way you are always right,
and i hate it when you lie,
i hate it when you make me laugh,
and even more when you make me cry,
I hate it when I'm alone,
and you're not by my side,
But mostly, I hate the way I dont hate you,
Not even close,
not even a little bit,
Not at all.
Boodyboy, out!!!
(but not down ;-p)
So now here is my version of it (but i'd like to thank the scriptwriters who came up with this nice poem). however, its not so different as i feel that the words used are actually quite reflective of what words I can only conjure up. Yes, sorry, if i'm not creative enough (well at least not in poetry).
10 Things I Hate About You
I hate the the time it takes you to put on your make-up,
and the time it takes to blow your hair,
I hate the way you drive your car,
I hate the way you stare,
I hate your big dangly ear rings,
and the way you always dress,
I hate you so much because you make me cry,
it makes me cry wanting a recess,
I hate the way you are always right,
and i hate it when you lie,
i hate it when you make me laugh,
and even more when you make me cry,
I hate it when I'm alone,
and you're not by my side,
But mostly, I hate the way I dont hate you,
Not even close,
not even a little bit,
Not at all.
Boodyboy, out!!!
(but not down ;-p)
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Boody's Travelogue. China Day 3
Stupid phone wake up call woke me up again.This time at 6.3oam. Trudged myself to the bathroom to get ready. After breakfast we went to the Nanchang Ceramic Cultural centre. There, we got to see how the porceline articles were made, the old fashioned method. At 9.30 we went on a 3 hour bus ride to Lu Shan(Mount Lu). We reached the Lu Shan Geopark (something like the Langkawi Geopark) at about almost 1pm. The entry fee for the geopark is definitely not cheap. The cost per person is about 120 yuan. We had lunch, which was unsurprisingly, unspectacular again.
The temperature here ranges from -2 in the night to 8 in the afternoon. All i can say is that, even in the afternoon i was freaking cold. And i wore 3 layers of clothing excluding my jacket. After lunch we headed to some paronamic spot to take pictures and then visited some old colonial houses. it seems that foreigners once used this place as a retreat. soon after they were ousted, it became a holiday spot among the Communist leaders. It was here that i bought a fan that has a poetry written in it. and in the poetry it contained my name in chinese. Very creative indeed. It was also here we got a chance to pose for pictures wearing Communist clothing.
We then headed to the hotel to check in before proceeding for dinner. After dinner, all of us rushed back to our rooms to take a shower as they told us that there will only be hot water from 6 to 10pm only. after dinner we decided to out out into town despite it being very very cold and it was drizzling. But since we only had 1 night to stay there, we might as well go and walk around. God knows when we will return to this place again. The town was peaceful, quiet and the streets were very safe. The things that we bought here were pretty cheap, despite it being a tourist area.
The gardens here are very nicely lighted up and as usual, the streets were clean. By the time we got back to our rooms it was about 10.30pm. Damn cold nite it was, but I was glad i wnet out to see this beautiful town. TOugh day ahead as we will be doing some serious hiking towards the top of mount Lu tomoro.
The temperature here ranges from -2 in the night to 8 in the afternoon. All i can say is that, even in the afternoon i was freaking cold. And i wore 3 layers of clothing excluding my jacket. After lunch we headed to some paronamic spot to take pictures and then visited some old colonial houses. it seems that foreigners once used this place as a retreat. soon after they were ousted, it became a holiday spot among the Communist leaders. It was here that i bought a fan that has a poetry written in it. and in the poetry it contained my name in chinese. Very creative indeed. It was also here we got a chance to pose for pictures wearing Communist clothing.
We then headed to the hotel to check in before proceeding for dinner. After dinner, all of us rushed back to our rooms to take a shower as they told us that there will only be hot water from 6 to 10pm only. after dinner we decided to out out into town despite it being very very cold and it was drizzling. But since we only had 1 night to stay there, we might as well go and walk around. God knows when we will return to this place again. The town was peaceful, quiet and the streets were very safe. The things that we bought here were pretty cheap, despite it being a tourist area.
The gardens here are very nicely lighted up and as usual, the streets were clean. By the time we got back to our rooms it was about 10.30pm. Damn cold nite it was, but I was glad i wnet out to see this beautiful town. TOugh day ahead as we will be doing some serious hiking towards the top of mount Lu tomoro.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Boody's Travelogue. China day 2
*RRRIIIIINNNGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* THe phone rang, waking me up from my sleep. Picked up the call, wondering who the hell would call at such an ungodly hour. Found out that it was the wake up call. Looked out of the window and the sun was up already. Glanced at my watch, only to realise it was only 6.30am.
Went down for breakfast then we checked out of the hotel. THe 1st stop in Nanchang is TengWang Pavillion. It s a veryold building which used to be one of the many emperor's holiday homes whenever he left the capital. It's located right beside the river and the place was well maintained. We then saw some sort of traditional performances in the pavillion itself but the choreography was very poor. We left before the performances ended to take pictures instead.
Nanchang also has one of the biggest ferris wheel in the world. I'm not sur ehow big it is, but this 1 looks bigger than the 1 we have over here. It was unfortunate that it wasn't open so early. We also had a chance to see one of Nanchang's famous exports, which is the kitchen knife. The prices were also sky high, but the real price you pay depends on your bargaining skills.
We then went to the golden thread court, which housed a pagoda and a memorial for a few famous scholars. Lunch was just within walking distance of the court, and again, the food wasn;t really good. But since its winter and all of us needed energy, we still ate lots of rice.
THen it was time for a long bus ride. Our next destination is the city of Jingdezhen, with a population of 6 million. Jingdezhen is most famous for its porceline products. We knew we arrived when we saw lamp posts made of Porceline!! We had sometime to shop for porceline products when we arrived. Although some of the things there were cheap, we didnt dare to buy the big and heavy stuff as we still had mny more days to go on this tour. All the travelling would increase the risk of the fragile goods to be broken. But we did but a set of 10 bowls which looked very pretty.
We then checked in to the hotel and had dinner. As usual dinner was poor, sigh... Later at about 7, we roamed the streets of Jingdezhen. Temperature at night was about 8 degrees Celcius. Shit cold!!! But we trudged on and when we saw neon lights, we were in a small shopping haven. The designs on the winterwear here looked like they came straight outof MIlan (but even those italain brands have their clothing made in China anyway). There were a lot of fashionable ppl on the streets. CLothing was cheap, by malaysian standrads. We bought some long johns and some winter wear as we were going to Lu Shan (Mount Lu) the next day. We were told that Lu SHan will be very very cold. I also managed to grab a KFC burger here. First of all, it wasn't fried. It was grilled chicken burgerwith some "new orleans" sauce. it actually tasted quite good.
After our quck pit stop at KFC to fill up my tummy, we headed back to the hotel, which was i think about 2km away (that was how far we walked in the cold weather). Dead tired from all the walking, we all knocked out quie early.
Went down for breakfast then we checked out of the hotel. THe 1st stop in Nanchang is TengWang Pavillion. It s a veryold building which used to be one of the many emperor's holiday homes whenever he left the capital. It's located right beside the river and the place was well maintained. We then saw some sort of traditional performances in the pavillion itself but the choreography was very poor. We left before the performances ended to take pictures instead.
Nanchang also has one of the biggest ferris wheel in the world. I'm not sur ehow big it is, but this 1 looks bigger than the 1 we have over here. It was unfortunate that it wasn't open so early. We also had a chance to see one of Nanchang's famous exports, which is the kitchen knife. The prices were also sky high, but the real price you pay depends on your bargaining skills.
We then went to the golden thread court, which housed a pagoda and a memorial for a few famous scholars. Lunch was just within walking distance of the court, and again, the food wasn;t really good. But since its winter and all of us needed energy, we still ate lots of rice.
THen it was time for a long bus ride. Our next destination is the city of Jingdezhen, with a population of 6 million. Jingdezhen is most famous for its porceline products. We knew we arrived when we saw lamp posts made of Porceline!! We had sometime to shop for porceline products when we arrived. Although some of the things there were cheap, we didnt dare to buy the big and heavy stuff as we still had mny more days to go on this tour. All the travelling would increase the risk of the fragile goods to be broken. But we did but a set of 10 bowls which looked very pretty.
We then checked in to the hotel and had dinner. As usual dinner was poor, sigh... Later at about 7, we roamed the streets of Jingdezhen. Temperature at night was about 8 degrees Celcius. Shit cold!!! But we trudged on and when we saw neon lights, we were in a small shopping haven. The designs on the winterwear here looked like they came straight outof MIlan (but even those italain brands have their clothing made in China anyway). There were a lot of fashionable ppl on the streets. CLothing was cheap, by malaysian standrads. We bought some long johns and some winter wear as we were going to Lu Shan (Mount Lu) the next day. We were told that Lu SHan will be very very cold. I also managed to grab a KFC burger here. First of all, it wasn't fried. It was grilled chicken burgerwith some "new orleans" sauce. it actually tasted quite good.
After our quck pit stop at KFC to fill up my tummy, we headed back to the hotel, which was i think about 2km away (that was how far we walked in the cold weather). Dead tired from all the walking, we all knocked out quie early.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Boody's Travelogue. China Day 1
Yes, itsbeen almost another month since my last post. Was kinda busy with work and working out after that. That made me tired enough to just go home and straight to sleep soon after.
Well anyways, as the title of this post mentions, I went back to mainland China for the last 10 days of November. Here I shall recount what happened on Day 1.Pictures will be up on Facebook as soon as I'm done going editing and resizing them (almost 2,000 pics snapped!!!).
Ok. So after working late and packing the final pieces of clothing to be brought, i slept at about 2am. Woke up at 5.20am to take a quick shower and had a few bites of bread before heading to the airport. Our flight was 9am so we had to be there by about at least 7am. Reached theresafely with many bags to carry (i had to help carry my mum'sbag since she has lots of things to carry (u know women lar..., her bag was so full she had to "tumpang" some stuff in my bag as well). My luggage consisted of my backpack and a mid sized trolley bag. Brought my Ricoh camera (with its full gear: 3x 1Gb memory cards, spare batt, charger) along as well despite my sis bringing the newly bought Sony @300 (2x 4gb card, spare batt, zoom lens kit and charger) along.
Plane left on schedule and it took about 4 hours plus to reach Xiamen (SOuth west of CHina, Facing the straights of Taiwan. We flew by MAS on a Thursday, so there were plenty of empty seats in Economy. One passenger had the whole middle row to himself, so he slept across all 4 seats after lifting up the armrest. LOL!! Food served wasn't too bad, but I remember MAS serving better food. oh well, it comes with cost cutting i guess.
Watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth to kill timeas well as snapped pictures on the plane. On the flight was my family of4, my 5th aunt (GK), my last aunt(BK) and her daughter/ my cousin (HH).
Arrived at 2pm and once we got our stuff and cleared customs, wemet u with the tour co-ordinator. We had a connecting flight from Xiamen, Fujian Province to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province (more towards Central China) at 4.00pm. Here we joined up with the rest of the tour group (whom had arrived a day earlier and stayed one night in Xiamen). So in total there were 44 ppl on this tour(yes i was surprised at the huge amount of ppl).
It was here at the airport that they took away my Shokubutsu body shampoo!! I had forgotten that there was a bottle of it in my backpack and since i did not check it in, it was confiscated. Doh!!! silly me...
We flew on Xiamen Airlines, using their newly refurbished Boeing 777 (i think). THe seat and interior was spanking new. EVery 2 rows, there was an LCD monitor on top which displayed a map of china, and where the plane was flying towards.It even showed how fast the plane was going, temperature, and well as how many miles to reaching the destination. The flight to Nanchang was about 1.5 hours long. We arrived at 5.30pm and headed to the hotel in 2 buses. The temperature outside the airport was about 17 Celcius. It was freaking cold for me as i was wearing just a t shirt and a jacket. The sun sets earlier during winter and 6 6pm, its total darkness, like the 8pm in ouR country.
We jammed our way to our hotel. Nanchang city is split into 2 parts by a river. In fact the Jiangxi provice has lots of ultra huge lakes(some the size of a little sea) as it has pretty low flat lands. The riverside was done up nicely, with lots of lights and beautiful walkways. however, we stayed some distance away from the river. In fact, we were horrifed when the tour guide told us that the place we are staying in is 3 star and the 3 star hotels here are of worse quality than malaysia. We thought of the worst.
THen when we stopped at the place wewere staying, I was mortified... The name of the place was called Motel 168. MOTEL?!?!? Outrageous!!! But wait a minute, this motel is 15 storey high... Hmm.. something must give.ANyways, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was 6pm and we were all cold and very hungry. Food served wasnt really tasty but nobody cared. Every1 just stuffed themselves silly. I, myself had 3 bowls of rice. YEs, the cold weather has an effect on people.
I then braced myself when we walked into our rooms for the night. But wait, the key used is a key card. And its a touch card system, something like touchn go. tap the card on the door and it opens... Hmm... very high tech. Turned ont he lights and the rooms were bad at all. Inf act, very much better than our 3 star hotels. It even had rain-style showers!!! Woohoo!! I couldnt wait to hit the showers!!. After our showers, we headed out to town for a walk since it was only 8pm. We only walked the streets nearby our hotel as we weren't very familiar with the place and we were freaking cold. we then discovered we were actually beside a train terminal and the train terminal in Nanchang is like what KL sentral is in malaysia. Its a transit point for most train travellers in the south west of China. There were plenty of cheap hotels or motels or just a place to bunk for the night all over town. there were lots of little food stores selling almnost the same thing; mixed rice. THere were also lots of provision stores around our place. We had supper of Xiu loong pau (soup dumplings) at a nearby restaurant before going back to the hotel. Watched some tv before going to sleep at about 12am. The bed here is damn hard... but who cares? I'm too tired anyways... Zzzz....
Well anyways, as the title of this post mentions, I went back to mainland China for the last 10 days of November. Here I shall recount what happened on Day 1.Pictures will be up on Facebook as soon as I'm done going editing and resizing them (almost 2,000 pics snapped!!!).
Ok. So after working late and packing the final pieces of clothing to be brought, i slept at about 2am. Woke up at 5.20am to take a quick shower and had a few bites of bread before heading to the airport. Our flight was 9am so we had to be there by about at least 7am. Reached theresafely with many bags to carry (i had to help carry my mum'sbag since she has lots of things to carry (u know women lar..., her bag was so full she had to "tumpang" some stuff in my bag as well). My luggage consisted of my backpack and a mid sized trolley bag. Brought my Ricoh camera (with its full gear: 3x 1Gb memory cards, spare batt, charger) along as well despite my sis bringing the newly bought Sony @300 (2x 4gb card, spare batt, zoom lens kit and charger) along.
Plane left on schedule and it took about 4 hours plus to reach Xiamen (SOuth west of CHina, Facing the straights of Taiwan. We flew by MAS on a Thursday, so there were plenty of empty seats in Economy. One passenger had the whole middle row to himself, so he slept across all 4 seats after lifting up the armrest. LOL!! Food served wasn't too bad, but I remember MAS serving better food. oh well, it comes with cost cutting i guess.
Watched Journey to the Centre of the Earth to kill timeas well as snapped pictures on the plane. On the flight was my family of4, my 5th aunt (GK), my last aunt(BK) and her daughter/ my cousin (HH).
Arrived at 2pm and once we got our stuff and cleared customs, wemet u with the tour co-ordinator. We had a connecting flight from Xiamen, Fujian Province to Nanchang, Jiangxi Province (more towards Central China) at 4.00pm. Here we joined up with the rest of the tour group (whom had arrived a day earlier and stayed one night in Xiamen). So in total there were 44 ppl on this tour(yes i was surprised at the huge amount of ppl).
It was here at the airport that they took away my Shokubutsu body shampoo!! I had forgotten that there was a bottle of it in my backpack and since i did not check it in, it was confiscated. Doh!!! silly me...
We flew on Xiamen Airlines, using their newly refurbished Boeing 777 (i think). THe seat and interior was spanking new. EVery 2 rows, there was an LCD monitor on top which displayed a map of china, and where the plane was flying towards.It even showed how fast the plane was going, temperature, and well as how many miles to reaching the destination. The flight to Nanchang was about 1.5 hours long. We arrived at 5.30pm and headed to the hotel in 2 buses. The temperature outside the airport was about 17 Celcius. It was freaking cold for me as i was wearing just a t shirt and a jacket. The sun sets earlier during winter and 6 6pm, its total darkness, like the 8pm in ouR country.
We jammed our way to our hotel. Nanchang city is split into 2 parts by a river. In fact the Jiangxi provice has lots of ultra huge lakes(some the size of a little sea) as it has pretty low flat lands. The riverside was done up nicely, with lots of lights and beautiful walkways. however, we stayed some distance away from the river. In fact, we were horrifed when the tour guide told us that the place we are staying in is 3 star and the 3 star hotels here are of worse quality than malaysia. We thought of the worst.
THen when we stopped at the place wewere staying, I was mortified... The name of the place was called Motel 168. MOTEL?!?!? Outrageous!!! But wait a minute, this motel is 15 storey high... Hmm.. something must give.ANyways, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was 6pm and we were all cold and very hungry. Food served wasnt really tasty but nobody cared. Every1 just stuffed themselves silly. I, myself had 3 bowls of rice. YEs, the cold weather has an effect on people.
I then braced myself when we walked into our rooms for the night. But wait, the key used is a key card. And its a touch card system, something like touchn go. tap the card on the door and it opens... Hmm... very high tech. Turned ont he lights and the rooms were bad at all. Inf act, very much better than our 3 star hotels. It even had rain-style showers!!! Woohoo!! I couldnt wait to hit the showers!!. After our showers, we headed out to town for a walk since it was only 8pm. We only walked the streets nearby our hotel as we weren't very familiar with the place and we were freaking cold. we then discovered we were actually beside a train terminal and the train terminal in Nanchang is like what KL sentral is in malaysia. Its a transit point for most train travellers in the south west of China. There were plenty of cheap hotels or motels or just a place to bunk for the night all over town. there were lots of little food stores selling almnost the same thing; mixed rice. THere were also lots of provision stores around our place. We had supper of Xiu loong pau (soup dumplings) at a nearby restaurant before going back to the hotel. Watched some tv before going to sleep at about 12am. The bed here is damn hard... but who cares? I'm too tired anyways... Zzzz....
Monday, November 10, 2008
1 months layoff
Its been about a month since i last blogged. Sorry to my loyal readers (if there are any left after the previous month). Lots of things happened from that day till today.
there were a few highs and lows (and i mean very low) during that time. In between, as working adults, we have to juggle our hectic schedule as well. I have to say it took a really big toll on me last month.
But I'm gonna focus on the good stuff, and it really does seem that things are starting to look good. Went langkawi over the recent long weekend. Drove more than 1200KM in over 3 days...
Yes, we drove around langkawi like gas was free. GOt some nice pictures during eagle feeding. We really took the Sony @300 for a good test run. Lots of nice pics were taken.
Then yesterday, i hit the driving range with EL, my usual golf kaki at KLGCC. I realised that the credit in my prepaid card was gonna expire by the end of the year and i had like 800+ balls left. So i hit about 200 balls yesterday. And thats when my proudest/happiest moment came. After practicing with several clubs, I went on to my weakest clubs, the 3 wood and the driver. Whacked a few with the driver and it hurts like hell because of its stiff shaft. Then i reluctantly turned to my 3 wood. Trusty old Nike IgniteRegular flex. Took the cover off, did some practice swings. I stepped up to the mat and lined myself up for the drive. Wriggles to loosen my wirsts a little. Swung back, cocked my wrists, and swung. FFffftttttt Tink!!! That sweet sound of the club hitting the ball at its sweetspot. And off the ball soared, as i squinted to see where it has gone. 50m, 100m, 150m, 200m!!! and it landed and roled till the end of the range...
THen I had the "OMFGWTF did i do just that??!?!" moment. Then unsure that the ball was mine, i hit another one just to make sure. the next 180m (and that was my previous all time best. and that was when i was practicing religiously) and it continued to roll to 200m. And i was like hmm... let me do it again. the next went 200m again. And i was dumbfounded. EL was like, did u just hit a 200m drive? and i was like; yeah, it seems like it.
so then i was already happy. it was like there was a halo or a sunray shining down on me. I just continued to whack as much as i possibly could. i'll nvr know if this moment ever comes back again. so yes, i milked it for all its worth. sure there were a few mishits and misdirected shots. but generally most of them reached 200m.
i was ecstatic! nvr been so happy before. It was an ego boost when the guy next to me couldnt even beat my distance with his driver. I was grinning from ear to ear. Unfortunately, it wasnt long before my hands gave way. I was happy, but very tired.
today i felt the effects oh swinging too hard. my whole body ached. my throat was also sore. sighh... but hey,i'm happy for time being.
Boodyboy, out!!
there were a few highs and lows (and i mean very low) during that time. In between, as working adults, we have to juggle our hectic schedule as well. I have to say it took a really big toll on me last month.
But I'm gonna focus on the good stuff, and it really does seem that things are starting to look good. Went langkawi over the recent long weekend. Drove more than 1200KM in over 3 days...
Yes, we drove around langkawi like gas was free. GOt some nice pictures during eagle feeding. We really took the Sony @300 for a good test run. Lots of nice pics were taken.
Then yesterday, i hit the driving range with EL, my usual golf kaki at KLGCC. I realised that the credit in my prepaid card was gonna expire by the end of the year and i had like 800+ balls left. So i hit about 200 balls yesterday. And thats when my proudest/happiest moment came. After practicing with several clubs, I went on to my weakest clubs, the 3 wood and the driver. Whacked a few with the driver and it hurts like hell because of its stiff shaft. Then i reluctantly turned to my 3 wood. Trusty old Nike IgniteRegular flex. Took the cover off, did some practice swings. I stepped up to the mat and lined myself up for the drive. Wriggles to loosen my wirsts a little. Swung back, cocked my wrists, and swung. FFffftttttt Tink!!! That sweet sound of the club hitting the ball at its sweetspot. And off the ball soared, as i squinted to see where it has gone. 50m, 100m, 150m, 200m!!! and it landed and roled till the end of the range...
THen I had the "OMFGWTF did i do just that??!?!" moment. Then unsure that the ball was mine, i hit another one just to make sure. the next 180m (and that was my previous all time best. and that was when i was practicing religiously) and it continued to roll to 200m. And i was like hmm... let me do it again. the next went 200m again. And i was dumbfounded. EL was like, did u just hit a 200m drive? and i was like; yeah, it seems like it.
so then i was already happy. it was like there was a halo or a sunray shining down on me. I just continued to whack as much as i possibly could. i'll nvr know if this moment ever comes back again. so yes, i milked it for all its worth. sure there were a few mishits and misdirected shots. but generally most of them reached 200m.
i was ecstatic! nvr been so happy before. It was an ego boost when the guy next to me couldnt even beat my distance with his driver. I was grinning from ear to ear. Unfortunately, it wasnt long before my hands gave way. I was happy, but very tired.
today i felt the effects oh swinging too hard. my whole body ached. my throat was also sore. sighh... but hey,i'm happy for time being.
Boodyboy, out!!
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