Food poisoning..

I could not believe what happened to me last Sunday.. It all started out well with a great sleep and was looking forward to buffet lunch which was coming up next in the agenda.. Had a light breakfast and bought some necessities home before heading off to KL.. Destination: Star Hill Gallery.. Restaurant: Jogoya Japanese buffet.. The retaurant originally from Taiwan is supposed to serve the freshest seafood in town with a wide variety of choices available.. Have to admit that there are plenty of choices and some of the food is actually delicious.. Had some amount of sashimi to start off before continuing with other delicacies..

At the end of the session, we were quite satisfied with the session.. Thought of going back there again but for dinner next time.. Went back home next to rest for a while before packing my stuff to head back to Seremban.. Had a light dinner before leaving KL.. In Seremban, I unpacked my stuff and clean up my room abit before planning to sleep early for GP posting the next day.. And when I was about to sleep…….

The nightmare begins.. I had severe abdominal cramps which prevented me from lying down in any postures.. Had to continuously rushed to the mens due to very bad diarrhea.. The entire night was spent going in and out of the toilet.. I hardly even sleep at all!!

After 6 or 7 bouts of race to the toilet, its finally morning and I brace myself to go the clinic for my posting even though I might have to rushed to the toilet again and again.. Fortunately enough, the frequency reduced and I was able to stand the half the day without interruption.. At noon, I could not take it anymore and I had to consult the doctor for rehydration salts and excuse myself home.. Slept throughout the day and was much better the next day.. And guess what?? A few others who were with me in the buffet also suffered from the same fate..

How could this actually happened?? A posh restaurant located in one of the premier location in KL serves food which causes its customer food poisoning?? How could I ever go back again or even recommend the place to my friends?? Well, I pledge to myself that I would not be going back there ever again.. Not even a free meal will tempt me there ever again.. It is permanently banned from my collection of places to eat..

Young leadership camp..

Yes, I know I’m not young anymore.. I know i’m approaching the age where I should be earning my own living expenses instead of relying on my parents.. N somehow, I got myself involved in this camp.. Maybe caused it was cheap costing me only RM10 for 2days 1night trip to the foot of Genting and a highly reliable personality test together with interpretation from a recognised counsellor!! So I was there at the foot of Genting during the weekends sacrificing the time which I could spend at home watching tv..

The camp was held at Dominic Villa, nearby Genting View Resort.. It was a huge bungalow owned by a nice family who rent it out to specific group of people for various purposes.. Maybe because I did not put much expectation into it, I was utterly surprised by how wonderful the place actually is!! I would highly recommend this place to anyone who wants to organise any camp in Genting.. We actually stayed in a dorm-like room with another 20 or so guys.. Girls had different dorms at another floor while the staff had private rooms.. The whole place was really clean when we went.. I guess the owner did a great job!!

The camp was mainly about self-awareness, self-improvement, as well as leadership training.. We had talks and group activities carried out by well known counsellors.. One of the counsellor actually worked with national athletes before and its great to hear the inside stories from him.. And the highlight of the camp was the personality test!! Using the DISC personality test, I was actually a “S” person.. Can’t remember much bout it, but its roughly about a passive, people orientated person, stable, sincere, supportive, friendly, etc.. Maybe that’s the reason why i’m doing medicine.. Totally related to the person I am.. haha

Throughout the camp, we were split into groups and as how the random process goes, we were in groups consisting of different people from other batches and courses.. Hence, in the group, easily I am the oldest person and it is definitely not easy to mix with them.. The few other clinical school students also faced the same problem.. Some amount of generation gap definitely exist between us and I guess clinical school does make us more mature than the others.. But overall it is great to know some of the juniors and listen to some of the lame jokes that they have.. And it is great to get new friends!! Hopefully we can keep in touch..

Another highlight of the camp was the night activity.. When the camp officially ended at 9pm on saturday night, the few of us planned to go to the peak of Genting Highland.. Instead of a private session, it became an official outing with another 20 or so other campers joining us to the peak.. Fortunately, the others were on their own and some of them were not of legal age to enter the casino.. I practically spent 4 hours or so watching the others gamble as well as the different people that gather there on a saturday night.. Now, I could really understand how the late-Uncle Lim could build such a great empire worth billion of dollars.. And due to the session, I was dead tired the next 2 days and was practically a walking zombie when I was back in class.. Fortunately, today was not so bad.. Should be back to normal tomorrow!!

The land of hornbills: Chapter 2

This post may have come a fraction too late compare to the others but some 2 cents worth of opinion would be added in here just in case some readers are interested.. And warning, this post may sound very repetitive to the other posts in certain blogs..

On day 2, after 4 hours of sleep, we woke up super early to taste the ever famour “Kuching Laksa”.. And after reassurance from the Kuching-ite, I braved myself to taste the noodles.. LUCKILY, it was not as spicy as the other laksas I taste here in Peninsular Malaysia.. To the others it was not spicy at all but for me, the tinge of spice was enough to activate my sweat glands and put it into overdrive.. Although it was a challenge to eat through the sweats, the noodle is delicious and tasted very different from those in Peninsular Malaysia.. Must give it a try!!

Next, we drive ourselves to the Cultural Village near Damai.. We each paid RM15 as students and spent half a day inside the village.. For some of us, it was the first time we were able to come close to the various traditional houses of the aborigines living in Sarawak.. It was an eye opener and it was really interesting to be able to try out different activities being carried out by the aborigines.. We tried the traditional way of separating the hulls from the rice, wearing traditional costumes, shooting cans with blowpipe, playing traditional musical instruments and tasting some local delicacies.. There was also a cultural performance performed by the aborigines and some of the dances were actually quite familiar for those of us who performed during AMSC before this

When we were done with the village, it was already late noon.. We had our lunch, bought some bubble tea with special remembrance for Gordon, and headed to “Taman Sahabat” which was built to signify the relationship between Malaysia and China.. It was an interesting park with beautiful architecture and the residence there were really lucky to have such a beautiful area to jog at.. Don’t see this near my house though.. Pictures would tell a thousand words so watch out for the next post!

At night, once again we went on a food hunt.. I can’t remember very clearly what we ate that night but it includes 3 different type of deserts, fried sweet noodle with clam, fried “loh pak ko”, “chu cap” (flat noodle with pork and pig’s internal organs), “konlo mee” (dried noodle), flat noodle with tomato sauce, “sieu mai” (hokkien: siow bee, english: steam minced pork I think), soya bean, grilled fish, special fried cuttlefish, roasted lamb and “yau char kuai” with kaya.. We ate all this within 4 hours plus with an hour break in between for some shopping in the biggest shopping centre in Kuching, The Spring.. At the end of the day, all of us were stuffed to the maximum.. Some of us even managed to drink some alcohol before sleeping!!

Day 3, we woked up early as usual and headed off for cave exploration.. Before that, we had noodles and glass noodles with pork balls.. This place is specially recommended by Gordon of all people.. And it actually brought back some childhood memories for him.. Finally, he got to tatse the porkball after 12 years of absence.. Honestly, the pork balls were actually chewy and tasty!! He did not recommend it wrong..

After breakfast, we drived to the “Fairy Cave” and had our exploration there.. It was actually very dark inside and torchlight were essentials.. After going through some obstacles and poorly maintained stairs, we managed to climb to the peak of the cave but it was a disappointing climax.. We could see nothing at the peak but trees and rubbish.. Looking on the bright side, there were some interesting natural sculptures which people actually pray to.. The journey in, around and out of the cave were also challenging and fun!!

After the exploration, we had our lunch and tried the special 3 layered tea highly recommended by Henry.. It was a combination of tea, milk and “gula melaka” nicely arranged in layers before you start mixing it.. Then we headed off for some last minute shopping for local delicacies and souvenirs to be brought back home.. At the end of the shopping trip, it was time to go home and pack.. We had our dinner together and met up with Tek Jee before we went to the airport for our flight home.. It was a sad moment for most of us as we would definitely miss the food there but most importantly, we would miss the wonderful person who had been so kind and wonderful to spend time with us.. Hope he had great fun during our stay there too!!

Thank you HENRY!! Sorry for any trouble caused.. You are a great friend as well as a wonderful host.. Will visit you again real soon.. Take care!!

The land of hornbill.. or cats??

After months of planning and looking forward to this trip, right about 12pm, we touched down at the Land of Hornbills.. But a direct translation from its name should be “Cats”?? Well, I’m now here in Kuching staying with my friend, Henry Ngu.. Being a great person he is, he welcome every 7 of us to stay in his wonderful house.. In addition to the 7 of us, his family members including his sister’s friend are also staying together.. so anyone can estimate the size of the house easily without any special calculator..

Upon arrival, food is a must.. and we were brought to a hawker stall for dried noodle.. What is so special about it?? It is practically dried noodle with some vegetables, barbecue pork, minced meat and barbecue pork OIL!! Yes, yes it is super oily and fattening but I guess thats the special thing about this noodle .. But it tasted great!! Not the soup though.. It is practically boiling water with pepper.. period..

Next, we went to the ever famous Cat Museum.. Is it so great?? It is interesting in my personal opinion.. It houses the greatest cat collection in Malaysia.. It has all types of statues, posters, pictures, stories, history, etc.. Cat lovers should love this place but any neutral person should be bored with it after a while.. It was a great experience though and an eye-opener for the amount of cat-related material being collected in a single place..

A short trip to the state library comes next but we were unable to access the library area due to our clothing.. Surprisingly, it was actually used for wedding pictures!! I have to admit that there are some beautiful landscape available to take great photos.. Next on the menu, “Belacan Rice Vermicilli” and “Sea Coconut Drink”.. The rice noodle was a special delicacy but due to its smell, it may not satisfy everyone but it tasted great.. The same idea applies to “Durian” and “Fermented Beancurd” where only certain group of people would appreciate the food.. The sea coconut drink, which was mixed with lemon, was definitely a great thirst-quencher.. Should not be missed if you drop by for a visit..

Then, we went to our beloved Poh Sen’s home before going back for a quick shower.. His house is really huge and there is even a fruit orchard and half a basketball court at the back of his house.. And we managed to get a look at his family portrait.. Not surprisingly, both his brothers and himself look very similar with his dad!! No doubt that they are his dad’s sons..

At night, we had a very filling dinner in a local Chinese restaurant called “Food Comes First Reataurant”.. Henry’s parents treated us to a very sumptuous dinner with seafood and even roasted suckling pig!! The guys were really full at the end of the dinner.. After dinner, we had a short trip around the waterfront of Sarawak River.. Got some pictures and we headed off for some drink in another restaurant known as “Bla Bla Bla Restaurant”.. It has a rain forest theme for the restaurant and it was really relaxing to just hang out there and have a chat with friends.. However, the shop closes early so it was not so suitable for late night parties..

By the time we got home, everyone was tired but not much time left for sleep.. Have to wake up early the next day.. Should be sleeping now.. Photos would be uploaded next time.. ZZZZzzzzzzzz..

movie marathon..

After almost a month of movie deprivation, finally I’m back home and wasted no time in catching up with some of the movies which I missed throughout that time.. First stop, GSC Midvalley for “KungFu Panda”..

In a summary, this movie is about a panda who inspired to be a kung fu master and the journey he took to be a great master.. Looking at the panda, which is the main character, u can feel the Jack Black who is behind the character.. The way he moves, he talks and even his clumsiness is so characteristic of Jack in real life movie.. Any fan of Jack should be able to identify it easily.. Besides that, there’s plenty of stars who gave their voices to the character including Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffma, Lucy Liu, Jacky Chan and many others.. However, Jacky Chan’s character only speaks a few sentences.. So better pay attention to it or you will miss your chance throughout the entire movie.. Overall, I think it is a really funny movie to watch.. Good to just hang out and having a good laugh..

Next up, I watched “Get Smart” in TGV Bukit Tinggi.. Luckily, I watched it the next day.. If not, I would have been having a bad throat and lost my voice.. Why?? Well, the movie is equally funny as “Kung Fu Panda” and for the guys, there is always the additional factor of Anne Hathaway in the movie.. She is absolutely gorgeous.. She remained as stylish as her character in “Devil Wears Prada” and in the same time, she fights!! It was difficult to keep my eyes of her throughout the movie..

The movie is basically James Bond’s style involving secret agents and criminals.. but there are plenty of funny scenes and unexpected moves especially those involving Steve Carell and Dwayne Johnson in one particular scene.. I can’t believe they did it!! Not gonna reveal anything here but pay attention to it.. Overall, I had fun watching it and definitely had a good laugh.. And not forgetting the chance to watch Anne Hathaway for 2 hours!!

Finally, I watched “Gridiron Gang” at home on my laptop.. I know this movie premiered in 2006 but I only got the chance to watch it now.. Actually this movie is based on a true story regarding how a bunch of juveniles who were jailed for criminal offenses were able to pick themselves up, build up their self-discipline and learnt the meaning of teamwork through the game of football..

The movie itself may not interest alot of people but to me personally, the storyline is the one that catches my eyes.. It shows how sports, determination and a 2nd chance were able to change people’s life.. Inspirational in nature, it definitely tells me not to be judgemental and be forgiving.. I would recommend to those who likes this genre of movie but need to forgive the acting a little bit..

Well, that’s all for this 2 days.. And there’s another 2 more which i’m interested to watch.. See whether i’ll have the chance anot la.. Keeping my fingers crossed..

A brand new beginning..

This would be the first post in this very new page.. Everything here is still under construction and it would take some time before it is going to be perfect.. But at least this is a brand new beginning!! By taking this first small step, this page shall be able to climb many many more steps to come.. That’s all for now..