My 7 Super Shots

I was tagged by Diana here about this 7 Super Shots game initiated by Hostel Bookers. I'm not sure if there's a prize at the end of it (or whether it has already ended) but who cares! I just want to share the photos I had taken in my travels. I have yet to explore outside of Asia yet (I initiated the globetrotter program of my life mid last year) but still have a lot of fond memories exploring the continent (especially Southeast Asia which I can only afford at the moment).

So, here's my take on photos best described as followed:

Uno
Takes my breath away...

Hong Kong

On top of The Peak, overlooking the night views of Hong Kong, I realized this is it. After years of watching TVB series growing up, I finally had the opportunity of witnessing the marvellous creation that is Hong Kong. Skyscrapers graced the scenery and by the time it was 8pm, the spectacular light show took place. Simply stunning.

Dos
Makes me laugh or smile

Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Cambodia was our graduation trip and being a graduation trip, there cannot be no jumping shots of us crazy kids. Thanks to the kind tourist who took this photo for us, we now have this leaping moment to look at, remembering all the wonderful moments and smiling at each one of them.

Tres
Makes me dream

Marina Sand Theatre, Singapore

It was my first musical by an international production and it was none other than the "best musical in the decade" Wicked. The scale of the production was massive and the performances of the actors in the musical were simply astounding. I found myself lip-syncing along (I was told by my friends that if I burst into songs, I will be smacked in the face) most of the songs especially the epic moment when "Defying Gravity" was belted out by Elphaba. Now that I had experienced my first musical, next stop, Broadway in New York!

Cuatro
Makes me think

A school outside Phnom Pehn, Cambodia

We often took our education system for granted. There is no doubt how flawed the system is but at least we are getting the education we deserved, equipping us with knowledge and strong command of languages. I was told that English is not part of the syllabus for the primary school and there are university graduates who cannot speak a proper sentence in English. It makes me think how privilege we are, being able to call ourselves multilingual.

Cinco
Makes my mouth water

Tom yam in Hat Yai, Thailand

I always have a carving for all things spicy. If you tell me there's some delicious spicy delights, you can count me in. Hence, there's no way tom yam koong would not make my mouth watering and of all the tom yams I had (to be fair, not that much in Thailand), the most memorable one has to be this particular tom yam in a restaurant in Hat Yai. It was my first overseas trip and after I did some digging, I found this restaurant and there is no going back now. It was the perfect mix of sweet, sour and spicy, only made available in Thailand.

Seis
Tells a story

Atop Penang Hill, Penang, Malaysia

This trip up Penang Hill was taken during the last few weeks of my university years. Three years had gone by with a blink of an eye and we found ourselves having to bide each other goodbyes soon. Before going back to our separate home towns, we decided to explore Penang for the last time. Penang will always hold a dear spot in my heart as it was where the three adventurous years took place. I made many lasting friends whose friendships I hold dearly.

Siete
I am most proud of (my National Geographic shot)

Borobudur, Indonesia

Equipped with a better camera (though ain't any better in capturing many beautiful moments passed by), this picture was one of my favourites on my recent trip to the UNESCO heritage site. While sunrise eclipsed us (misty and cloudy day it was), we still had a great time being enlightened in this Buddhist monument. This shot of the Buddha statue overlooking the mountains at the background was something I took by accident.

~

Now, I'm supposed to tag others to join in the fun but I'm skipping that part. If you think you would like to give it a go, just do it. I get to relive my memories of these wonderful trips I had over the past year and a half and am anticipating more to come. Where are you, July???

2011 - Year in Review

It had been an eventful year, to say the least. In fact, eventful is a bit of an understatement considering how globe-trotting (or more like Asia-trotting) I have become. When this blog was created back in April, I just came back from my first oversea trip to Hat Yai, a city in Thailand popular among Malaysians. Since then, I had been flying here and there, visiting one country after another, gaining more insights into the life I want to lead. It became clear to me that I am not going to lead my life where the goal is to earn money and then use the money to earn more of it. Of course, earning money is definitely one thing I need to do in order to feed my travelling bug but money will be secondary when it comes to priority. World exploration is something I want to do and will try to achieve in this new year.

Right now, I just want to summarize what I had done in this one short year of 2011...

March - First oversea trip to Hat Yai, Thailand. It was a short 2D/1N trip but very memorable for it was something spontaneous and lack of plan (yet full of it). It was also the month where I made my first passport! In fact, within days before my Hat Yat trip. This just show how 'snap-of-fingers' fast it was.

April - The birth of the blog. We share the same birthday month.

May - I bade farewell to the Pearl of Oriental as I was finally finished with my degree study. Goodbye, study world. Hello, uncertainty. I also went to Cambodia which was a place worth visiting, at least once in your life, especially Angkor Wat. The sad thing about the trip, it was too fast, too furious, until we didn't have time to catch our breaths.

June - Another totally spontaneous trip to Thailand, this time Bangkok. Before Bangkok, I went to Hat Yai for another round with my family and relatives, came back Malaysia only to fly in a week time to Bangkok. Crazy, right?

July - This time around, I went to Hong Kong and Macau, two S.A.R. countries of China. I loved it there, especially Hong Kong. In fact, I wish I can just stay there and not coming back. But, reality has to hit me hard in the face.

August - I was officially broke. Job hunting began.

September - As my family and I went to Kuching to send my sister for her degree study in UNIMAS, I, on the other hand, was in my convocation ceremony, graduating with a second upper class bachelor degree in applied sciences. Oh, yea, I also received call that I was hired and expected to work next month.

October - A new chapter of my life, this time, set in the working world.

November - Nothing exciting happened. November, the dull month.

December - My last trip of the year which was the neighbouring country of Singapore. Even though it was just a bridge away, it took me 23 years to finally visit this Lion City and the main draw was Wicked! the musical. I guess I will talk more about the trip next year.

With today being 1st January 2012, the year 2011 was finally all wrapped up and red carpet is being spread out to ceremoniously welcome the arrival of 2012. Happy New Year, everyone!!!

Cambodia - Those Moments We Had

It was almost a month back when we were on our flights to Cambodia for our graduation trip. Now, everyone was back in their hometowns and we had to rely on photos and memories in our minds to relive back those fun days. So, let me share with you guys some group shoots we took in Cambodia.

 

 

 

 

Those were the days. All the photos were taken by Mr Wong's DSLR. For my account of the trip, click here.

Penang - Sad Farewell at Penang Bowl

The ball rolled along the lane, straight and steady, reaching the end and knocking down all of the pins at one go. It was a strike, something that does not come often to me. I was surprised by it while my friends continued teasing. It was the beginning of what would be, possibly, the last gathering with my fellow coursemates.

The plan was to go to Penang Bowl and have some fun time bowling first before heading to our dinner and later, chit chat session. We had to wait for some time as it was rather crowded there but the wait was worth it. Indeed, the bowling session was fun and interactive and everyone enjoyed rolling the balls.

Simple game but endless joy and laughter

After the game, it's time to fill our stomachs as most of us had been starving for some foods for quite some time already. Dinner at 10 pm? I bet that's the first time for some of them. We went to a hawker stall somewhere along McCalister Road, next to Asia Cafe. I forgotten the name of the cafe but the food there are quite nice. I love the pan mee that I had and the pizza my friend ordered. We sat and chatted for like quite some time before deciding on another location where we can enjoy the atmosphere and talked our hearts out. So, we ended up at Bed.

Located along Pulau Tikus

But instead of talking our hearts out, our times flew by playing childhood games. We had the 'spicy spicy sushi' or 辣辣寿司 but instead of having the wasabi-filled sushi, we opted for some painful punishment. Suffice to say, we filled the atmospheric (and peaceful) room with our boisterous natures, indirectly forcing people surrounding our tables to leave as they can't stand us any more. Haha. Not our problems.

The interiors of the bar

When the night was no longer young, we took some group photos and we went our separate ways, like how we are doing right now. Everyone is heading back to their home towns, bidding goodbye to this lovely island with no foreseeable future of coming back here again after our convocations.

I'll miss you guys! Sincerely grateful to know you bunch of peoples and proud to claim you guys as my friends! All the memories will I greatly cherish till my death or when I had Alzheimer's. Wish you guys a smooth future ahead!

Penang - Sunrise at Penang Hill

It was beautiful, standing up there at the top of the hill, setting your gazes on the island as the sun began to shower its warm to the island. It was so breath-taking that all the hard works during the ascending seem to worth it. A plus point was when we managed to surprise our friend with a birthday surprise. Shocked would be an understatement for her I think.

Since I want to practice more on my fiction writing skill, I wrote a fictionalized account of the climb. Well, more or less a fiction, with a blend of truth in it. It has been quite some time since I wrote something resembling a story and it was not really of any good (and I am too lazy to edit it further). Comment away.

P/S As this entry (which occurred end of last year) was posted, I will be most likely again heading up to Penang Hill, this time, to watch the night scene. We were going to try the newly installed funicular train to ascend up to the hill. More info will be posted soon Here is the views of Penang Island from Bukit Bendera at night.

To Penang Hill