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| Dear all faithful readers of my crap, I've decided that I shall be using my new Blogspot account to continue my crappings. http://tyshushi.blogspot.com Do check them out for more new stuffs  Takecare ! | | |
| Seems that I am my own funeral planner. Haha. I had just dug my own grave. Exams are just around the corner, and I'm seriously not prepared for it, and I don't feel like sitting for it also. This is VERY bad. I'm gonna flunk this exams badly. People look at it and say, "Hey, you can't fail your exams!", why don't you try UOL, dumb ass? Yes, I officially declare that I hate twinning students. 'Dengki' is the word to describe here. How can people pass their exams with half (or most probably less) than the efforts I poured in and get higher scores for that? Reminds me of a hokkien song, in direct translation; "If I had a million dollars". I would be, 'as smart as the others'. Problem in Malaysia is the freaking income distribution. All The 10 A1s students are all doctor wannabes. Come on, get a life! Because of increasing smart asses in the country, makes ME stupider than the average.
Some people may think, oh, you can't say that money could buy knowledge. I did not say that idiots. What I meant was money could buy credentials.
I, personally came out with a theory. "Rich will be richer, but poor will be poorer". In explanation, let's use a car. A rich man buys a new Toyota Prius  and drives it around town. LOWER fuel consumption, LOWER maintenance. A poor man buys a freaking second hand iswara, and drives it around town. DOUBLE the consumption of the good and new car, DOUBLE the maintenance costs. If someone ever comes out with a thessis on this theory, please give me some credits SO I CAN FREAKING BE 'SMARTER' THAN THE OTHERS. I am so freaking pissed off with myself! (**#&!$%!)#!*)@#)((*!#*&^ 
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| Looking back the calendar, and it's about a year since I've started blogging. It's about this time that exams are nearing and i'm sitting in front of my PC ... blogging. I've learnt a great meaningful fact today. Which explains the word 'Photography'. It's derived from 2 Greek words, Phos and Graphein. Phos means Light and Graphein means Writing. Means when you take a picture, it tells a thousand words. Meaningful huh ? It's been some time since I've posted something in here. Time had been limited.
No time to waste, gonna post some updates on myself here as requested by some of my friends who are 'far away', and the long waited Day 4. Exams coming soon, and i'm GOING TO bury my head in the book. Classmates had already started studying quite some time ago and i'm still editing pictures, computers and cameras every day. How would I not fail my exams? I'm thinking of switching courses, got fed up with law already. I don't wanna complain about the programme factor, no point. If I can't afford it, then my brain has to smart enough for UOL. To be frank, OBU and UTAS is much much easier than UOL, but some of them actually denies that. They claim that it's all the same.
*Ello, how could it be the same when ur script is being marked by ur tutor and ours being marked in England?* Recently, my best companion, my PC suffered from myocardium infarction (heart attack in a rather posh way), and it had undergone some serious operations. I added in a trigger for the heart to pump faster (DDR400 512mb ram), and due to the old age, the visual acquity had given way. Then 2 days later, I bought a 2nd hand retina (Nvidia 5900XT) and replaced the current one. It's almost as good as new now, just that it's a little slow. *haiya, old adi mar* . It was then complaining about problems of communicating with others, hence I finally changed the old faithful, 17 inch CRT monitor into a 22 inch Viewsonic. This marks the legend of Pentium 4, 2.6ghz, aged half a decade.  
DAY 4 Rise and shine.
Life starts early in Vietnam. Most of them wakes up at the time of 4am in the morning. (that's the time I sleep when i'm not studying for exams). Walking around in Ho Chi Minh is quite fun, but to cross a road is not a fun thing to do. The traffic is indescribable. Don't ever attempt to cross a road without a professional guidance! FOOD! Is the thing that I can recall when you talk about Ho Chi Minh, or Vietnam at large. Early in the morning, there will be stalls everywhere selling food along the streets. It'll be such a waste if someone's afraid of getting food poisoning and not trying out the food.
These places mights look dodgy, creepy, dirty, filthy and whatever negative description you might think of, but the food served are delicious. Food served in Vietnam are Caramel (Oh Tao Yiu) free, less sweet and less salty. Which I categorise as healthy food. 
To get the taste of Vietnam, you gotta squat by the roadsides and enjoy the meal. Don't act posh and start asking for higher chairs and tables. Squatting is a 'Vietnamese thing', so enjoy it while you're there cuz you won't be able to experience it back in Malaysia or any other countries. 
After enjoying the meal, head back to the tour agency. We went back to Sinh Cafe (it doesn't bring you around to SINFUL places), and wait for the trip to Cu Chi Tunnel (read as Ku Chi Tunnel). Cu Chi Tunnel is a tunnel. Nothing other than a tunnel. Personally, I don't really like tunnels, unless you're talking about Tunnel Boring Machine, which is not a boring machine, it's exciting. 
Cu Chi Tunnel is interesting when you look into the facts and history on why did they build tunnel. It's not so much as being a great architecture, but this shows how humans can think of ways to survive when their lives are being threatened. 
Imagine, someone's running at you with a gun while you're hilding a knife only. The US military is using a state-of-the-art weapons, airplanes, and bombs while these Viet Congs only have some machine guns, pistols. The only thing that they can do is to set booby traps and to fight in the jungle is their best startegy. Yes, indeed, with the statistics, US won the war, but compare it in context, I would say that Vietnamese had actually won the war. US declared that area as Free Strike Zone, it rained mortar shells in the area of Cu Chi Tunnel. 
One question that the US should ponder upon. Why wouldn't you learn from your own mistakes? You've lost the damned war in Vietnam and now you're doing it again in Iraq? You can't win, it's their soil and they know how to fight their way. It doesn't mean that when you own high technology toys, and you can win. And when you're losing, you use E=MC2 to pacify everything. As you can see the pictures above, showing people doing art works with egg shells, they are all victims of the war. Victims that are not fortunate, and they survived the war, giving birth to children with cacated anatomy. Hands and legs are deformed and body structure and brain functionality being compromised. The tour to Cu Chi Tunnel will take only about half a day, and we were back by 1pm. HCMC is a great place to walk about and to find good food. We walked around town for street foods. There was a stall selling Spring Rolls a.k.a PoPiah ala Vietnam. These rolls are not made out of normal flour, these rolls are made out of rice paper. Hence, it's healthier and crispier, hence it's tastier. Again, squat like the Vietnamese to get the taste of it. 
We walked quite a distance from the Sinh Cafe to the market area. On the way, we saw an old man selling Dorayaki cakes. It's the red bean cake that Doraemon loves to eat. Then I realised that it had some 'Kaya' and was quite curious how 'Kaya' tastes like in Vietnam, so we ordered. After a few minutes, he wrapped them up and handed it to me, and I found out that there's no 'Kaya' in between the 2 cakes. So I asked him, thinking that it needed extra consideration in order to get the 'Kaya'. Mana tau, the brown thingie was the batter for the cake. This was all geisha's fault, being as an established pharmacist also dunno how to differentiate 'Kaya' and batter. 
Near the market, we saw people selling TaufooFah and I don't know what is it called in english. Literal translation is Tofu Flower, or Soya Bean Extract Solidified. Whatever it is, it's a nice delicacy of chinese. I forgot how it tastes like cuz I was busy talking to the old couple we met at the stall.
In their point of view : They saw a bunch of people that looked like chinese, and they didn't hear anything that we spoke sounds like mandarin (5 bananas), and being a good auntie, she came forth and said "Hao Chi" which means 'Delicious'.
Then I replied in Mandarin, and sent her into a state of nervous shock. Then the conversation started.
They were seasoned travellers from Taiwan, and I believe that they are freaking rich. They had been in Japan for the past 2 months, and now in Vietnam before going back to Taiwan.  After that, walk around HCMC until night falls, and get ready for the train ride to Hue at 10:30pm. At the mean time, try getting yourself a guest house to bathe and prepare yourself before getting into the train. Cuz it's gonna be 17 hours without a chance to take a shower. Haha! 
You will find extraordinary things happening in Vietnam which you don't see them in other places. Like a good example I have here. You think you can ride a motorcycle like a Mat Rempit and it's damn great? Try delivering a REFRIGERATOR with your motorcycle! 
Talking about guest houses to rent, don't get freaked out by those dodgy dodgy streets in Vietnam. They offer good room rates with clean environment and also good food! Just like the one in this picture. They have 2 kids that can entertain you with their cam-whoring skills. They are not that fortunate as use to have a camera at home, hence a camera is like a MacBook Pro when I put myself in their shoes. Lepak around until 10:00 and grab a taxi to the train station. One of the churches was having their Christmas celebrations. At that very moment, Michael Buble's song came to mind, "I wanna go home" ~ for Christmas. Other than that, Vietnam was a beautiful place to travel and to know the culture. Board the train and enjoy sleeping with roaches and a bed with water underneath. 
ENJOY !!!! Bon voyage ! | | |
| Oh great, tomolo's Monday. Mondays, the 2nd day of the week, where everyone goes back to work, where everyone goes back to college. Back in reality, again. How many more Mondays would I face until there would be a Monday that I like? Frustrating. Hm, my baby queen flew off to Italy for vacation with her mum. Great place to visit isn't it? Imagine, Salvatore Ferragamo all over the streets. I wonder she could be crazy enough to get a few heels and bags back home. Gosh, this is the reality test; The Maintenance-O-Meter.
High maintenance = OMG!~
Low Maintenance = Hallelujah!
Hm, it's again my low self esteem jumping out. Had a friend asking me, "Why are you not there with her?" Well, good question, and look at my blog and you shall know. Having problems paying off my college fees, complaining over my RM300 car repair bill, and booking a flight to Italy for a 'vacation'? If I could, those Cambodia pics would be Leaning Tower of Pisa, or probably the Colosseum or that i'm swimming in the canal of Venice. Anyway, just being melancholic. Quote, "I sometimes have the melancholy part, just that I don't show it". Soon, I'll travel the world, I would, and not paying for it, but being paid for. I'm gonna do it, I can make it through the rain, dreams are not far, it's not beyond grasp, I can see it. Day 3 Being as interesting as ever, we travelled across Cambodia and Vietnam. Yes, literally, we travelled across the border in 1 day. Being precise, it's exactly 14 hours and 13 minutes. With that amount of time, you can board a 777, enjoy a sleep, and arrive in Rome from Malaysia. Yes, travelling in a BUS, not a jet. But the scenery was fascinating along the way. You can see Paddy Fields, Paddy Fields, and Paddy Fields, and also Paddy Fields. Isn't that great? Probably this is a trip for University PERTANIAN Malaysia. 
As having the ambition to finish a TraveLog, here are the details of the trip : by 6:30 am local time GMT +0700, there will be a mini bus going around to commute customers to the main bus station. You will board the bus and start moving at 7:30am heading to Ho Chi Minh City (hereinafter referred as HCMC). The whole journey will take about 14 hours. In a nutshell, the journey is illustrated as below :
Siem Reap > Kampong Thom > Phnom Penh > HCMC Ok, the journey from Siem Reap to Kampong Thom is about 3 hours. You can see fried insects available for sale by the roadsides of Kampong Thom. It's quite difficult to recognise from far. Being as curious as ever, walking towards a pile of ... "black thing" trying to check out was a bad idea. There goes a pile of spiders, and another pile of grasshoppers, crickets and some ants. Whoa, it was damn cool. Didn't have the guts to try it. Trust me, it's disgusting. Menjijikkan !!!! 
From Kampong Thom to Phnom Penh is about 4 hours. You will be stopping in Phnom Penh for about 1 hours, hence, stuff your tummies full and keep some in your mouth like a cow, just in case of a famine in the bus. The bus will depart to HCMC after the rest. Make sure you check the bags if you are transitting direct from Siem Reap to HCMC. It's very dangerous to leave your luggages being handled by the company, they might not take it, but they might misplace it without checking it in to the right bus. The journey from Phnom Penh to HCMC is about a painful 6 hours. It's actually fine if the bus ride is condusive and quiet and serene and peaceful. Having a pest by your side that keeps screeching, is not a good idea. 6 hours of dogs barking is also not a good idea.
Personal experience : There was 2 senior ladies was sitting across the aisle, and they conversed in very loud voices which the whole bus could hear their conversation. They were speaking in their mother tougue; TeoChew, and they thought that there were no one in the bus could ever understood. The great thing was that, our group of 6 was so multi-talented that 2 of them were Teo Chew professionals, and there they went deciphering their PUBLIC SPEAKING. 
On the journey to HCMC, the bus will be riding a ferry across a river. Upon waiting for the ferry, you can see many locals trying to sell things to you through the glasses of your vehicle. It ranges from vegetables, fruits, cookies, breads, and even a CAMERA !! (by the way, that was Mark). Well, there are some children there too, begging for food. It is not encouraged to give cuz this will expand the culture of 'begging' amongst children. But if you couldn't stand the kesian face, then give away food, good and edible food please, BUT not $$$$! 
You will be crossing the border to Vietnam at about 6:30pm. HCMC is about 3 hours away from the border. The e.t.a is 9:30pm. Once you have reached HCMC, step down from the bus, stretch yourself a little and tell yourself that you don't look like refugee. It's a form of stress release, trust me.
Go walk around the town and search for a good guest house. Don't find an outskirt guest house, it might be some brothel. Get yourself a Pho Bo for dinner, and then retire for the day. 
That's the amazing journey of Day 3.
Stay tuned for more.
-To be continued- | | |
| My college life sux, to the very max!
I don't like studying in this environment! Is fame and money the greatest thing of all?!?!
Materialistic environment is influencing me, and I shall not be moved. 2 years+ after joining KDU, and friends are leaving batch by batch. People that I'm seriously close with had all gone. Every new academic year is like a brand new start for me. There's a flow for this :
New academic year > new friends > mingle around well > can go out for tea and talk well > exams > gone > next academic year. This flow is getting me onmy nerves. Sometimes I wonder, am I the odd one out? From 40 students, rationed to 25 and now 15 left in class. Classes sux, classes seriously sux ... started to hate college ever since the 2nd year started. It's too late to turn back now, but the road is so blardy long, and I don't really see where is the end of the road. Conclusion is, college life sux! ~I'd rather be a pilot than a judge ~ Yes I would, if I only could ~ Hmm....
~I'd rather be a camera than a gavel ~ Yes I would, if I only could ~ Sigh ... As being waited for some time, this is the 2nd day of the TraveLog. (After wasting time reading my rantings) DAY 2 Rise and shine by 4am. Make sure you brush your teeth, dress up in comfort clothings, wear your shoes, and go next door to wake your friends up, and go back to sleep!
Plese don't do such a thing! It's a mental torture and it's indeed a laughing stock, and, see ... it's now public.
Ladies sometimes have problem with time. So, remember to set your watch to GMT +7 for LOCAL TIME.
The right time to get up is 5am - LOCAL TIME - and not the time on your watch. Go to the lobby at 5:30am and the Tuk-Tuk driver will be waiting outside. Hop on and start riding to Angkor Wat for the sunrise.
IMPORTANT THINGS TO BRING ALONG :
1. Torch Light
2. Camera
3. Tripod
4. Small backpack
5. A book as a guide for Angkor Wat 
If you had forgotten the torch light, do remember to bring along the swimming attire for a morning swim.
It's almost impossible to walk in a pitch black condition, especially when you cross the canal to Angkor Wat.
After the bridge, walk to the main path (middle) to the pond in front of Angkor Wat, to prevent being pested by stall keepers. DO NOT, in any circumstances, walk to the left path leading to Angkor Wat! You will be bugged by the sentence, "Sir, you buy coffee?" or "Sir, you eat breakfast with me?".
If any direct selling companies were to hire them, that very company will make millions of dollars. I respect them for the perseverance and the persistency, without fail, even being rejected, they will come after you. 
Go to the pond, find a good spot, set up your camera and start taking pictures. Don't wait for the sun, take the pictures even before the sunrise, for the colour and the dramatic clouds change. After the fascination about the sunrise, go for breakfast. It's an option whether to eat with the pest, or to step out of Angkor Wat complex to the nearest stall, opposite Angkor Wat complex for breakfast. 
After breakfast, put on your sunnies, wear a cap/hat, and start walking for the exploration of the Angkor region! 
The main walkway, upon entering the Angkor Wat temple is the "Hall of Thousand Buddhas". Surrounding this walkway, is a ... huge ... gigantic, swimming... pool? It's a basin to collect water for I-have-no-idea-what's-the-use. It's known as the "Cruciform cloister", and it sounds like 'crucified lobster'. Maybe it comes from some weird language that simple means a place to cage lobsters.
Another interpretation is, that the Apsaras are supposed to swim in it ... nude. Cool huh?  
Angkor Wat's building and architecture is quite cool, and there's a story behind every pillar and every bas-relief. Recommended by The 6 : Ancient Angkor, by Michael Freeman and Claude Jacques, for the TRUE story behind Angkor Wat. 
After having enough of Angkor Wat, walk out and proceed to the next temple.
For a 1 day pass, it's impossible to visit ALL the temples in the Angkor region. 3 days will be recommended, but since this is an Amazing Race kinda backpacking, we have only 1 day. So, the next temple is, Ta Phrom.
Ta Phrom is the famous and glamourous temple for the Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie shot her award winning motion picture here. This had contributed to the boost of tourism in the Angkor region. Arriving at Ta Phrom, you will be walking in sandy terrains for the next 5 mins starting from the fort. This reminds me of the movie "King Solomon's Mine" and wonder I would be eaten up by some sinking sand.
(Note to Jaime : This must not trigger the 'generation' issue)
After the 5 mins walk, and you will be seeing a BIG ... tree. (potong stim rite?)
Hm, Ta Phrom has nothing interesting other than the ... trees! You will be looking at trees and roots. Historians are won't enjoy this place, but the forestry grads would love it.
Ta Phrom is The Botanical Garden of Angkor. Interesting! 
After visiting enough of trees and roots, meet your Tuk-Tuk driver at the other side of Ta Phrom.
Head to Angkor Thom for another awesome temple, The Bayon. Before the Bayon, do remember to start from the Terrace of the Leper King and walk all the way to the Bayon, visiting every cool sights along the way. At the Terrace of the Leper King, there's some sort like a hidden path behind the walls, with bas-reliefs picturing the heaven and hell connection. It's interesting but for a layperson in history and archeology, it looks almost the same. You will go, "Hey, check this out, it's a Garuda", then "Hey, here's another Garuda", so on and so forth. So just walk and act amazed, finish the path and go up the flight of stairs. Then, this is the interesting part! A King without sexual organs!
Story behind it : The king was suffering from Leprosy and this figure was built without fingers and toes, and even without the sexual organ.
This is Doraemon you're looking at, no fingers, no toes, no sexual organs. I quote Samyvellu, " Kemaluan saya besar". His famous statement in news broadcast, referring that he was ashamed by the acts of certain people. 
Terrace of the Sexless Leper King is next to the Elephant Terrace. Nothing much to see, just elephants with lots of Sikh influence. The elephant wears a turban! Continue walking and Bapuon is next. The interesting of this temple is the pathway leading to the main temple is so well and straight alligned to the summit of the temple. In ancient technology, it's a wonder. The path is made resting on pillars, that's even more amazing. 
Head to the Bayon after a short rest under the trees near the Bapuon.
Now, you will be walking up steep flight of stairs and be amazed by the faces around you. These faces of Bayon are built out of rocks, or stone slabs. It's simply amazing on how they could make each face looking identical, on every tower, on every dimension of the tower. It is the utmost important thing to wear comfortable shoes while walking in Bayon to prevent unwanted funerals. Stilettoes are NOT recommended, by The 6. 
Alright, by this time, I guess you'll be temple burned out. No more temples and that's it, the end of the Angkor region exploration. It's probably afternoon now, so find your Tuk-Tuk driver, and head back to the GH for some rest, until the evening. 
Come out in the evenings around 7 or 8pm to hunt for food.
Recommended by The 6 : Street food !!
Go and try out the local delicacies. The different way of frying the noodles, and the different taste of fried instant noodles a.k.a. Maggi Goreng. There will also be some stall selling pancakes, and these pancakes look like Roti Canai/Pratta. It's the outcome when the east meets west. Imagine Roti Canai with condensed milk + chocolate and banana. It's delicious! 
Go walk around the small city of Siam Reap as it's gonna be the last night in Siam Reap. Nothing much interesting other than the Night Market in Siam Reap. The central market doesn't really seem interesting.
After the whole day, sit back and enjoy a can of beer, and head back to the GH for a good night sleep.
A mini bus will be picking you up at 7:30am the next day to the main bus station to board the Siam Reap - Ho Chi Minh bus.
Good night Siam Reap ! Stay tuned for Day 3
(to be continued ..)
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