Resolutions 2012

Let's see the resolutions I made in '11.

1. Reduce procrastinating. I nearly single-handedly screw up my entire future, since I studied only approximately 2 weeks before each exam, compare to my colleagues that started like months before. I seriously learned my lesson, and will not put myself through that kind of torture ever again. (yeah right)
- For the last semester, I actually caught up with the lecture notes which it's an amazing feat. Baby steps, but progress nonetheless.

2. Learn to apologise more often when I'm in the wrong. I learned that I'll never apologise last time and just make it up to the person in other ways. In 2010, I did say sorry more often, but not enough I guess.
- Not enough still I guess. But I'm getting there eventually :)

3. Never trust someone that easily, give a longer time frame before start disclosing secrets to them. I'll say I trusted some of my friends wrongly by telling them secrets I never told other people before, and now we are as good as strangers.
- I did learned how to spill my beans lesser to unfamiliar people, so yay! Another resolution done.

4. Master my DSLR/micro four third and be a semi-pro photographer :)
- I semi-mastered it, but there's still a lot to learn which I gave up. Knowing the basics should be sufficed since I'm not planning to be a professional photographer.

5. Blog more frequently, at least twice a month. I like writing and studying medicine shall not deter me from doing so. My grammar and vocabulary really deteriorated.
- I failed very badly for this, nuff said.

6. Improve my driving skills, don't get much opportunity to drive usually (only three cars in the family, for mum, dad and bro). Never side park before as well, which I shall soon attempt.
- Obviously I did improved since I'm driving more nowadays. However, my driving skills will pour down the drain whenever my mum sits beside me, all the nerves just racked up. And I can't drive properly in a stressful condition. Still a lot to learn!

7. Be healthier, at least go for evening walks once a MONTH. The only walks I ever do is in shopping malls.
- I don't even know why I bother to add this resolution when I know it's impossible for me.

8. Make an effort to online my MSN more often and initiate a conversation with friends to keep in touch.
- Erm, I barely on MSN the whole of '11. But I'm always available at whatsapp and facebook :/. I didn't really keep in touch much frankly, so I failed this too.

9. Sleep lesser during lectures. Almost every single lecture, I'll fall asleep and just basically throwing my parent's money down the drain by doing so. I will reduce my sleeping capacity, and vow to fall asleep a maximum of only three times a week during lectures.
- This resolution is such a joke. For my last semester, I have resorted to not attending any lectures at all, the number of lectures I attended can count with my 10 fingers, not kidding.

10. Avoid waking up past 3 pm during holidays or weekends. I can sleep all the way to 6pm if there's no alarm. Lastly, do not sleep later than 6am, and try to sleep earlier before 2am as often as possible.
- epic fail.


4/10. I need to make more realistic resolutions that I can fulfill.

Anyway, new year, new start. Resolutions for '12 -

1. Make sure my marimo ball, Money survives a year.

2. Use facial cleanser every night before I sleep. I just use water usually cause can't be bothered.

3. Be more prepared and ready for class. I'm going to enter my clinical years soon and will be dealing with real patients, so I really need to be on my toes at all times.

4. Learn how to bake. Having an oven in Seremban!

5. Sleep before 1am during days where by I have 8am classes. And try to sleep earlier if possible at times.

6. Avoid showering after midnight.

7. Walk in the park at LEAST once a month. (repeating the resolution from last year).

8. Do laundry more often and not because I'm running out of clothes.

9. Wash my car at least once every three months.

10. Blog at least once a month!

Already have a feeling that I won't be able to fulfill some of the resolutions :/ but shall remain positive.

Do not make a promise unless you can keep it.

Mid-breath

Can't stand going to my blog anymore and seeing the same old post again at the top of the page :(. So, anyway, short update!

Woohoo, seriously been studying like mad for the past few weeks. Even showering and eating seem like a waste of time at times. I start studying the moment I woke up till my bedtime :(. Sigh, already been having this kind of lifestyle for a month and a half, another more to go. Although I do procrastinate in between and relax with TV series, it still felt like I did nothing for the past month except studying :(.

I have a feeling I'm going to have a mental breakdown after my Semester 5 test on 11/11 (great date for an exam that's for sure, memorable, and also my second year anniversary), cause that's when the real horror will begin. I'll need to cramp in 9 systems, or everything I'd learned in the past 1.5 years into just a mere 2 weeks for the final BIG exam before clinical school! Tell me how is this even possible? Already had multiple mental breakdowns, involving overactive lacrimal glands function at times, so I'm not sure how am I going to survive the 2 weeks of study break.

Anyway, a list of stuff I plan to blog once exam's over :)

1. My awesome 20th birthday
2. Pui Mun, Kok, YanXia, Shirly and Kevin's birthday (wow, that's a lot)
3. My 2nd year anniversary :D (which haven't happen yet for now)
4. And all the fun stuffs I'll be doing once exam's over!

Can't wait to start planning on trips once exam's over :). And now, back to studying!

It's 5.30am.

I'm still awake at this ungodly hour, tossing and turning for the umpteen time on my bed, and I'm not the least bit exhausted yet. I just want to say that euphoria can really keep the energy bar running!

Smitten? Beyond.

Phnom Penh

Very back-dated post since I'd been procrastinating blogging for so long. The details are almost a fuzzy blur, but shall make do with what my memory still retain.

Day 1

Anyway, Phnom Penh is the capital city of Cambodia, so obviously the king lives there. I can't recall what's the name of the building but it's the royal hall whereby the king will have his coronation ceremony.


Pictures aren't allow inside the royal hall, so this is a closer view of the building. The lion symbolizes wealth, which I proceed to stroke it, no harm in doing so anyway.


This what the royal mount station looks like. The king will proceed here if he ever feels the need to mount on an elephant to bring him around the royal grounds.


This is one of the replica of the instruments needed during the coronation ceremony.


For females working in the royal grounds, they're supposed to wear the sash with their outfits depending on the days they're working. A different colour for each day of the week.


The background is the entrance to the Silver Pagoda, where the floor is apparently made of real silver. However, it's more of a dull silver grey now that centuries of chemical reaction with the air had worn it out. Visitors are not allow to take any pictures inside of it though. And, the birdhouse you will assume in the picture is actually a spirit house where the deceased dwells.


This is the tree that Buddha was born! Not this tree in particular, but the type of tree.


White elephant, long extinct.


Next stop, Central Market. Opening hours is when the sun rises and close at sun set. So, on darker days, it will be closed earlier. Place to flock to for souvenirs and fake branded goods.


Almost all the restaurants at Phnom Penh has wifi, probably to attract tourists. I was pleasantly surprise to see cendol being served when I had my dinner, and it was rather good.


Day 2

After a hearty buffet breakfast at the hotel, we went to the Toul Sleng musuem, or also known as the killing musuem. During the Khmer rouge regime, this high school was transformed into a prison where people were captured and tortured as suspected spies even when they're clearly innocent. Even children and women didn't escape the horror.

Barbaric regime.

One of the many torture tools. It used to be a place for exercising but the troops managed to convert it to inflict pain. The victims will be tied with their hands behind the back and the rope attached to the hook in the picture. Then, the victims will be reportedly pulled up and down and when they're almost unconscious, their heads will be dunk into the pot filled with water.


I didn't dare to take lots of pictures here because many people died here, and can feel an eerie aura just by being there itself. The prisoners only live by 3 scoops of diluted porridge a day, inhumane. Most of them either died of starvation or being torture.

The barbed wires on every floor was installed after a female prisoner escaped and jumped off for a more merciful death.

After that, we went to the outskirts of town to the Killing Field. For prisoners that survived the torture, they will be brought here to be killed instead. The stupa at the background was erected to honour the deceased and their restless souls. The whole stupa was arranged to the top with shelves of different type of bones they managed to find from the killing field.

They were so many bones in the field that new ones are found everyday, and I accidentally step on a tooth as well. I'm sorry :(

At the killing field, there were mass graves all over. All of it being just a hole in the ground where hundreds of people were killed in each of it.


Babies were beat against this palm tree till they died.


This is just a small portion of the field, with all the holes being mass graves.


The executioners thought of everything, even how to drown out the victims' screams.


After the gloomy morning, finally we went to a different environment. The Russian Market was not bad, quite a lot of metal souvenirs to be bought and Cambodian silk scarves.


I finally managed to enter my first casino ever although I'm still underage, Naga World! It's opened by a Malaysian and anyone can just enter, no one bother to examine how old you are.


In the early evening, we went to the hill where Phnom Penh was discovered. A little trivia - it's called Phnom Penh because a lady with the name Penh founded some Buddha statues at this hill (Phnom in Khmer language), and they decided to start a civilization here.

The giant clock really works!

This is the victory monument in remembrance of the Vietnamese troops that helped the country to defeat the Khmer Rouge.


Anyone is hungry and up for a little snack? Unhatched duck eggs, a common sight at Phnom Penh.

No way I'll ever try this.

During the early evening, we took a ferry ride across the Mekong river to see how the even more impoverished citizens live.


And that's the last day of my Cambodia trip, and this is my last dinner there. Tom yam soup as usual, which accompanied almost every meal I'd at Cambodia. Theirs were always less spicy compare to the Malaysian variant.


Kangkung, also known as morning glory leaves. Fresh and crunchy as always, since it's one of the staple food there.


As Cambodia is also famous for one of Asia's biggest freshwater lake, Tonle Sap (didn't manage to go cause it's low tide season) the fish there was undoubtedly fresh. Deep fried with flour until really cripsy, my kind of food :)


The last place we managed to go before departing the next day for our flight back to Malaysia was the Phnom Penh night market. Everything there was a steal, like this stall here. Three pair of short jeans for only 5USD, making it around RM15 only! How do they earn?
\

The end of my Cambodia trip =)

Siam Reap

I'd been away for a blissful 5days 4nights trip to the Kingdom of Cambodia with my mum and grandma, and I managed to explore two of its states there - Siam Reap and Phnom Penh. I shall get straight to the point and blog about my days at Siam Reap first. Earlier, I was having a hard time sorting out which photos to upload since they were so many things I wanted to talk about, but I shall settle for the few pictures below :)

Day 1

Touchdown at beautiful Siam Reap at early noon! Since it's not the capital state, the airport here is rather plain. No wifi, no air-cond and no eateries, but it has its own touch of quaintness.

With my grandma, and it was rather windy.


Rice Cake - Cambodian's local delicacy. It's made in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but all tasted downright queer to me.


Amok Fish, had this almost every day at Cambodia, since it was rather common there. It always come in cute little pandan leaf boxes with a small slice of fish in it, and drenched in some green gravy. I had no idea what it was but it tasted quite like rendang.


Snails/Escargots - not a common sight usually for buffet lunch but that didn't warrant a try from me, I'm never the adventurous type. I'll stick to chicken, please and thank you.



During the genocidal incident at Cambodian many years ago, the remnants of the deceased, skulls particularly were collected all around Siam Reap and stored in this tower as a remembrance of the fatal incident.

Cambodia is famous for their scarfs, so the one decked around my neck was a complimentary gift as part of the tour.

Stupa is where the ashes of the deceased are stored in according to Cambodian culture. However, only the more well-off can afford a small plot of land to build the stupa. And how lavishly painted the stupa and the size of it also represents wealth.



As part of the tour, I get to visit D' Artisan Angkor as well. All the handicraft workers here are disabled or have some form of deformities. Albeit that, their artwork were really good. Case in point is the picture below which was painted on wood.

Ta Prohm temple

Inclusive in the tour package was an hour massage, with the choice of either foot or body. I opted for the foot massage cause I'm not comfortable with the idea of someone massaging my body. The one hour of foot massage, with the last 15 minutes ending as a neck massage was pure bliss. If only I could live like this everyday...

That's my feet!

A famed tourist hangout spot at night at Siam Reap is Pub Street. Along the whole stretch of streets at both sides, there are tons of al fresco food joint/pub outlet. For a tourist trap place, the pricing of the food here were surprisingly affordable as Cambodian living standards are still low.


After a walk up and down the street, we decided to settle for one of the posher-looking food joint at Pub Street. Where else can you get a lobster for approximately only RM18 (upon conversion) with two side dishes of corn on a cob and a barbecued potato? The salad bar here is free flow too as long as you're a paying customer.


The mode of transport around Cambodia is the famous Tuk Tuk. The Cambodians are really diligent and honest workers. An example is the Tuk Tuk driver in the photo which was our designated driver to and from Pub Street. After dropping us there, he asked us how long we will take and he promised to be back before then. With that, he left us there without even collecting half of his payments yet. If we got bored of Pub Street and decided to leave earlier with another Tuk Tuk, his fees will be voided but yet he trusted us, complete strangers.

The Tuk Tuk driver that excitedly posed for this photo without any of us asking.


Day 2

The main highlight of the entire trip is the 800 years old Angkor Wat. The whole temple is surrounded by a moat, with a pathway leading to it and an exit pathway. I first knew of this place from every high school student nightmare, History text book. I always assumed it to be like another typical temple from the book description, the size aspect that is. To my surprise, the temple circumference is measured in kilometres instead. It took us two hours just to briefly walk through all the levels of the temple, with some pit stops for photography.

This is just the back gate to enter Angkor Wat.

After passing the gate, I still need to walk for five minutes before I reached the temple itself. Blazing hot sun shall not deter me from exploring the temple :)

Obligatory tourist shot.

There were lots of monkeys in front of the temple. I was clutching to my belongings tightly at first with the initial sightings of these primates, a classical conditioning I would say. Most monkeys I usually encounter at temples will chase after you and attempt to get away with whatever you're holding, particularly if it's food. This is the first exception I encountered as the monkeys were quiet and good-mannered and just sit quietly at the floor and stared at passers-by.

Aww, cute and chubby.

One of the many picturesque view inside the temple. Ancient ruins or whatnot, you can't help but to feel awed.


There are three levels within the temple. The highest being Nirvana, which is the highest state of enlightenment a Buddhist person can ever achieve and closest to God. The fastest way to Nirvana is to climb the steep stairs all the way up to the final level. Luckily, construction helped tremendously to ease the process of achieving Nirvana by the wooden steps built over the ancient tiny steps. The ancient steps can only fit half a foot-step at a time, and way steeper.

I'm ready to achieve Nirvana, the fast way without years of meditation!


A last group shot at Angkor Wat before leaving it, truly a breathtaking place for its grandeur architectural design, and literally breathtaking for its size and many steps.

Another obligatory tourist spot as well cause the moat induced a reflection of the Angkor Wat that can only be seen through the camera lens and not the naked eye.

The whole day of itinerary was packed with sight-seeing of ancient temple ruins and the picture below is one of the four gates (north, south, east, west) to gain access to the different temples at the Angkor region.

With my mum :)

Although my skin was basking in the golden sun earlier, sadly it's greeted by a heavy downpour by early noon, so we adjourned to lunch first whilst waiting for the rain to come to a drizzle. At lunch, we thought we were duped at first as we were promised 'Baby Lobsters', and we didn't get what we were hoping for. Instead, what we were served with were three shrimps instead with a rather hard shell (though much softer than the real lobster shell). It turned out that the Cambodians referred to the hard-shelled prawns as baby lobsters.

'Baby Lobsters' and Amok Fish with a side serving of rice.

After lunch, the sky cleared again and we headed for our next destination - Ta Phrom temple. Fun fact - The movie 'Tomb Raider' was filmed here with Angelina Jolie as the leading lady. Another fun fact is there are trees growing on top of the temple roofs throughout and roots encircling and wrapping around the temple. At this spot, we were greeted by dark clouds once again and the short sunny period was just a deception. Thus, I was too busy seeking for shelter most of the time and didn't get to take much scenic photos.

The tree grew on top of the temple for hundreds of years without any soil.


The next temple in destination - Elephant temple. The walls of the temple are engraved with these elephant statues that always present itself in triplets.



Nearby the area, next stop was the Leper King Temple. The only memorable thing I remembered from this temple is there's a bridge connecting all the way to the Tonle Sap River. The bridge can be seen from the picture, the one I'm standing next to.


The view from the Leper King Temple is a few small temples arranges in a row all right across. There are total of twelve of these tiny temples that are supposed to represent the twelve zodiacs.

My legs were aching badly, so I just take a shot of the Zodiac temples from faraway.

One of the best temples of the day after Angkor Wat would be the Bayon temple in my opinion. It's much smaller than Angkor Wat, but I would say it has more aesthetic value than it. There are 64 pillars throughout the temple, all with a face of Buddha smiling on all four sides of it.

My hair was drenched earlier from rain water :/

The last temple before calling it a day is a temple up the hill. I can't recall the temple's name cause Khmer language is not really my forte. The walk up the hill was bearable, not too steep although it took about half an hour just to reach the top. At this point, I was using an umbrella as a walking stick as it had been ages since I walked so much in a day. The final temple have the steepest steps of all (as well as narrowest) and the most level as well, five in total. I gave up halfway through the second level as I was fearing for my life if I fall as the steps are getting steeper each level, almost 80 degrees inclination.

This must be what mountain climbing feels like.

Nothing beats a chilled blend of watermelon after a whole day of exploring temples at the Angkor region. Fruits are cheap, sweet and fresh at Cambodia so their juices never disappoint! :)

I ordered a glass of watermelon juice for almost every dinner I had in Cambodia.


The last night at Siam Reap, I was feeling like a typical tourist and decided to wear a tropical beach dress I bought for only RM12, which I bargained all the way from RM24. And, the foot massage at Siam Reap Night Market was at a stellar price of only 1USD (approximately RM3) for 20 minutes where they will washed your feet for you as well in a basin of water. If foot massage is this cheap in M'sia, I will make sure I get one every single day.

There's fish massage also for only RM6 for half an hour, and a free can of coke or beer to accompany the experience. Seriously, how do they even earn?


Day 3

What's an exotic country without some exotic food for sale? Deep-fried cockroaches anyone? There were many stalls selling all kinds of deep fried insects at the outskirts of Siam Reap, on the way to Phnom Penh (the capital city). As expected, the closest encounter I had with these creepy crawlies was this photo only.

Gah.

The bus trip to Phnom Penh from Siam Reap took a freaking 7 hours (although there's a 30 minutes break in between). The best part is the distance was only 340km. Do the math and you can estimate how fast the speed of the bus was on the highway. The highway has only two lanes only as well, with each going opposite directions and it was rather rundown so the whole journey was very bumpy due to stones and potholes. All in all, a one of a kind experience that I will never want to repeat.

The bus company provided free food and a bottle of water as well to ease the journey. Not to mention, there was a female bus attendant dressed in air stewardess-like uniform that announced in the front of the bus from time to time how long more the arduous journey will take.

Next stop/blog post, Phnom Penh :)