New Chapter, New Beginnings

So. It's been about a week since I left good old Tanah Melayu. And today is Hari Merdeka, the day we Malaysian won our independence from the British and declared ourselves Malaysia. It was a time to rejoice. I wish I could say the same about me. I am happy that I am here, away from the mother land, the people that I love. I'm even to a certain extent, use to it. But with all new beginnings, there comes that uncertainty for the future. That feeling of immense lost that comes with moving on. It is a time for........a teething period. A period where things are up in the air and nothing seems quite right. I'm at a place where everything I'm used to is not at my finger tips. I am adrift.

But that's not to say that I want to go back. That would be easy. That is not what I want. I just want the familiar. I want that sense of belonging. That sense that everything is going to be alright.

Perhaps I just need to find my center. My groove in this.....not so strange place. Perhaps I just need to find my place here....in the grand scheme of things. I do not want to go back. I want to stay. I am not.......homesick.

Perhaps it is a bit early to talk of all this. Afterall, I haven't even met my classmates, classes haven't even started. Perhaps it is my inability to jump right into things as I would have liked. Maybe it's the suddenness of departure from home soil. Perhaps I'm just overwhelmed. Perhaps......

When I Grow Up

"When I Grow Up" - PCD



Boys call you sexy (What's up, sexy)
And you don’t care what they say
See, everytime you turn around
They scream your name

Now I've got a confession
When I was young I wanted attention
And I promised myself that I’d do anything
Anything at all for them to notice me

But I ain't complaining
We all wanna be famous
So go ahead and say what you wanna say
You know what it's like to be nameless
Want them to know what your name is
'Cause see when I was younger I would say

When I grow up
I wanna be famous
I wanna be a star
I wanna be in movies

When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have groupies

When I grow up
Be on TV
People know me
Be on magazines

When I grow up
Fresh and clean
Number one chick when I step out on the scene

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it
You just might get it
You just might get it

They used to tell me I was silly
Until I popped up on the TV
I always wanted to be a superstar
And knew that singing songs would get me this far

But I ain't complaining
We all wanna be famous
So go ahead and say what you wanna say
You know what it's like to be nameless
Want them to know what your name is
'Cause see, when I was younger I would say

When I grow up
I wanna be famous
I wanna be a star
I wanna be in movies

When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have groupies

When I grow up
Be on TV
People know me
Be on magazines

When I grow up
Fresh and clean
Number one chick when I step out on the scene

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it
You just might get it
You just might get it

I see them staring at me
Oh I'm a trendsetter
Yes this is true 'cause what I do, no one can do it better
You can talk about me
'Cause I'm a hot topic
I see you watching me, watching me, and I know you want it


When I grow up
I wanna be famous
I wanna be a star
I wanna be in movies

When I grow up
I wanna see the world
Drive nice cars
I wanna have groupies

When I grow up
Be on TV
People know me
Be on magazines

When I grow up
Fresh and clean
Number one chick when I step out on the scene

Be careful what you wish for 'cause you just might get it
You just might get it
You just might get it

Parental?

Right so I was walking home from Aman Suria right...it's getting dark....I'm walking home in my space-cadet-Forest-Gump mode with my laptop bag and sling bag in tow, holding a carton of milk and a box of eggs I bought from Sevenies and once I reach a condo lobby.......a thought just struck me...I can't really remember what lead my mind to it....but this is the only thing that stuck......

The thought was.......I don't look much like a parent....or the ideals of what I think a parent would look like..... Not to say that I'ma lookin to be one any time soon...HELL NO! HEAVEN FORBID I SHOULD HAVE SPAWN(!!!) AT THIS TIME!.....but I just don't see myself fitting any form of the parent stereotype.....well, the good ones anyway......I don't look the part..... as strange and this will sound....I just don't think I'm........wait for it.......tall enough(!!?!!)

Really??!! Really......and I mean, I'm tall as tall gets for an Asian girl......heck perhaps even by some Western standards.... But I just don't see any lil' tykes looking up at me and saying "mommy"......I mean, "jie jie" maybe canlah....just "ma".......not quite. It's like I expect a parent.....to be like exponentially taller that their offspring or something...and something in the scale makeup of my body just doesn't seem right......it's like the proportions aren't right or something........it's strange and bizarre......

yuck.....enough talking about kids.....it's weirding me out..... ; P

On the road.......

Right, so first day in Thailand.......Words first picture later.......forgot to bring camera cable.... ; P

So. Trip to Thailand started on the 11th, at 830pm. Finally got to KL Sentral station. Train leaving for HatYai was at 845. With no food yet for dinner, it was time for a call to the respective parties at McD's or KFC for dinner. Luck of the draw, McD's. So we're there waiting for the food delivery, 5 of us waiting for two peaople. The conductors are starting to blow their whistles........and train's about to leave....what do ya know, on time for once.......satu member lagi belum datang. We see her running from KFC. And so, we start rushing down the escalator to Platform 1. All 7 of us, lari lintang pukang, carrying one big backpacker bag each and then some, including plastic bags of snackage and fast food. The word on our lips is "Mana carriage 1V ni? Mana dia??! CEPAT!!!" It was an Amazing Race moment, alas, video camera belum sedia lagi! Tape pun belum load!!! We finally find our carriage at the end of the platform, the first carriage. Safe.

We then settle ourselves in for the long train ride ahead, 16 hours to be exact with minimal stops. It's suppose to be direct. I've never ridden a train long haul locally before, let alone with with bunks. So the entire crew, rank 7 in total. The rundown is, me, Alfred, Syat, Tapai, Modi, Iedil and Skin. Iedil soon rounds the number off to lucky eight though, our "liaison officer", Iedil, is fast at work with a Japanese Korean chick doing a soul search round the world trip, and Yuki or Martina soon joins our ranks. I soon find myself nodding off for the night at 11pm. It's been a long day.

When I awake the next morning, it's 945 and we're in the Rice Bowl of Malaysia, Kedah. Syat tells me the trains running behind. Surprise surprise. Our ETA in HatYai was suppose to be 1045, we're seriously behind schedule. It only gets worse from here on out. By the time, we get to the Immigration check point at Padag Besar, it's already noon. And after we finish with imigration, we find that KTM feels this sudden and intense need to change carriages. In true local institution fashion, it takes them one and a half hours to do so. By the time we leave, it's roughly 130pm. From here. it's a 45 minute train ride to HatYai. With no stops on the way, we should make good time.

Hatyai
We arrive in HatYai at 230(local time) with our gang of 8 and all our bags, we squeeze into a TukTuk and head to the bus station to catch transportation to Krabi. We're taken to a travel agent opposite the bus station who offers us an exorbitant price to charter us a mini van to Krabi, our TuTuk guys tells us he can get us a better rate else where. By the end of this escapade, we pay 320 baht per pax for a 4 hour journey to Krabi. I slept most of the way there, and managed to finish watching Wristcutter: A Love Story. On the way we stop at a tourist trap for some lunch. The curries and gulai's were really spicy, nothing better than that to say "Welcome to Thailand" to your stomach.

Krabi
We get to our hotel wiht not much trouble, the ussual, a local travel agent trying to sell us transportation back to HatYai, before we've even stepped foot on Krabi soil. Passing a Outlet Village on our way in, I'm definitely going to try and stop by before we leave. We reach our guesthouse, Good Dream Guest house at roughly 8pm. After dumping our bags and getting showers, we decide to head off to Ao Nang Beach for some seafood dinner. The drive to Ao Nang from Krabi takes roughly 45 minutes. We get there is a totally pimped up SUV.We try and charter him for our return trip to HatYai, he wants to charge us 6K baht, we say we'll think about. We walk around Ao Nang looking at shops and souvenirs, not quite aware of the time. We find a nice seafood place overlooking the sea. The Tom Yam is excellent, as was the squid and fish. The green curry, less so. A satisfying end to the long day we've had. A journey that started almost 24 hours ago in KL.

We head over to the beack street of Ao Nang, to try some Somsang. Basically, coke and rum in a small bucket for 200 baht. The rum is foul and the coke is thin. The last time we're trying Somsang in Krabi Iedil. The establishment offered us some boardgames, like Jenga and Connect Four. We played a few rounds of both, concurrently while Iedil and Syat struggle to finish the bucket. After that, we head back to Krabi town in motor bike TukTuks. It's past midnight and they wants 100 per pax for the trip back, we haggle down to a meager 90 baht and hunker down for the long dark, windy drive back.

Back in Krabi, Iedil wants us to check out Fu Bar, which is just behind our hostel. We go. We walk past a place called Jam Club that's playing Syat and Alfred's kinda music, Tiesto. But Iedil walks on. Only to find that Fu Bar ain't open. Iedil comments that Krabi and Ao Nang is quite quiet even for low season. With Iedil disappointed we head back to Jam Club for some drinks and good music. After Martina's had a couple of beers and a few rounds of cards, we decide to call it anight. The clock reads 330am as I fall asleep and we have an early morning tomorrow, 745 call time to try and get tickets for the 9am ferry to Phi Phi Island. It';s been a really really really long day.

Next stop, Phi Phi.

Yoga in a bottle....

While out shopping for mozzie repelent at the 'local' organic store in BSC, I came across something called Bach's Rescue Remedy. I've heard about Bach's a few times prior and thought it interesting that it now came in spray form! Har har!

Now frankly, I'm as clueless and you as to what's so miraculous about it or what it's even for, so I did the two things everyone, I would think, does when in doubt. Turn the box over and search the internet. Reading the back of the box, all I could glean was that Bach's Rescue Remedy would help you relieve stress and calm nerves. Upon closer inspection online, it seems that Bach's is made from minuscule amounts of flower extract, water and brandy.

According to Wikipedia though, "Controlled clinical studies of the remedies have generally found the flower remedies to be no more effective than a placebo."

And really, what would you expect? Bach's Rescue Remedy is made based on the science of homeopathy, which in itself is a dubious science anyway.

But of course, tons of people believe in it though. And frankly, I'm quite sure it works, coz really.......if the plant extracts doesn't....the brandy sure will!

I think I just might get meself a bottle.......never know when you're gonna need a spot of 'self-rescue'.