To Malaysia and Back

Went back to Malaysia on the 9th and came back to Singapore on the 14th. This must've been one of my shortest trips back.

However, it was much more interesting than some previous trips I made back home. I was used to crowded buses, crowded MRT trains etc., but I never saw such a long Customs queue in my life. There were like only 3~4 counters open for Malaysians and the people were queuing all the way til the automatic doors you see when you enter the complex. As I was queuing, all of a sudden one more counter was open; I didn't know what happened at first lah, but when I saw a huge mass of people in front of me suddenly running off to another direction, it was a cue for me to run as well. Phew! I had at least cut my waiting time by half.

The next shock was in Larkin. There were absolutely no tickets left for Batu Pahat anymore! Was getting a bit panicky liao, coz it was around 6.30pm and I didn't want to spend the night lounging in Larkin or going back to Singapore. So I tried to get a bus to Segamat which passes by Yong Peng so that I could get off there. Buses to Muar, Kluang etc. were all packed. Gosh... this situation never happened to me before. Then again, maybe I have never gone back to Malaysia on a Friday evening before.

Lucky me... managed to persuade the person-in-charge to let me on a bus to Batu Pahat. All the tickets for the bus were sold and the bus was supposed to leave at 6.40pm, but many of the seats were still empty at that time. So they waited and waited loh... until around 7.10pm!

In Batu Pahat itself... kinda surprised that there's so much development going on... New housing estates being built, new shopping complexes being proposed and also news of Carrefour moving in. Whoa... guess I really don't know my town so well anymore. When I told Imran on MSN about this he commented that it's "1 point for modernisation" but unfortunately, as I replied to him, it was "0 points for ecology". That's because a lot of trees are being cut down. And there are no new parks or anything to replace them, no space beside roads to plant them either. Blame it on incessant and haphazard development. Oh, and lousy city planners too. They could really learn a thing or two from Singapore.

Another thing is I got my hair dyed! Haha... been waiting to do this for quite some time. Want to try out something new mah... And it's definitely cheaper back in Malaysia. Too bad cannot show any photos here... Camera with Vivi...

On the bus back to NTU met with a Shanghai couple. The husband was working at Shanghai Jiaotong University (上海交通大学) and the wife was working at a hospital. They came down to visit SMU, NUS, NTU and some hospitals (wanted to compare with Shanghai ones). Couldn't really understand them at times coz their accent was quite strong. Always a pleasure to meet people for other places : )

Back in Singapore and stress is building up again. Hope I can fare well in the AIESEC Exco. Gonna start planning for next year soon. And choir really needs to buck up for the World Choir Games... it's like only 4 weeks left... And I'm going to trek up Gunung Tahan soon... hope I won't be a burden to my teammates... haha...

Sem 2 Results *sigh*

First of all, NTU bluff me, say result come out on 6th June, but 5th June come out already. Second, NTU damn slow ar. NUS exams start later than us, but results come out 1 week earlier. Why liddat? I very gan jiong one leh... results quickly come out then less stuff to worry about mah...

Anyway (*sigh*), didn't do very well for my second semester here. OK, I know some people after seeing my results will not say it's bad lah, but I got my own targets one mah... It's like I know some people get all pass happy liao but then also got people who aim all A's mah (not me OK).

Will post results soon... after I've settled some S/U problem...

Second RO job (part 2)

Continued~

Anyway, we greeted each other and went to take a cab to Zac's temporary place. It was in Toa Payoh and we took a cab. Didn't bring my camera so no photos.

Well, it's not like the first time I've met an American. But it's definitely the first time I got acquainted with a Jew. And if you've been following Malaysian news, you should realise that the Malaysian media usually don't seem to portray Jews in a positive light; or rather, many Malaysian politicians like to pick on Jews. Don't exactly see why there seems to be a vendetta of sorts towards Jews and Israel... to the extent that a Malaysian international passport does not grant its holder the right to go to Israel.

I was thinking on the cab if the Malaysian authorities would stop Zac from going into Malaysia. But I guess the situation is not that severe. Besides, he holds a US passport, so based on that he should have no problems to get in Malaysia.

OK, so we arrive at Zac's temporary place (we couldn't find him a place near to his workplace yet). It was a small "house" above a shoplot at a HDB flat. An ex-AIESECer Made (pronounced Maa-dae; from Bali) rented the place with some of his friends. I was worried Zac would get jet-lag so I asked him to rest for the morning before we go travelling in the afternoon. But he didn't loh... he surfed the net, watched stuff on TV, checked the results of a match his favourite baseball team was playing online, and showed me the first episode of "Entourage", a new TV series in US, which incidentally was mentioned in the newspapers a few days ago.

Went to a mall at Raffles City (forgot the name liao). Had some coffee at Starbucks and walked around until Vi came. Had lunch at a food court. Zac found it odd that they don't provide napkins at food courts, which I didn't realise until he said so. Come to think of it, Singaporeans will usually bring a packet of tissues along to use. But I know some food courts provied napkins lah.

Imran came awhile later and we walked around, went to Esplanade etc. Vi had something to do so he went off first. We went to the refurbished Cathay building at Dhoby Ghaut. Bought tickets to watch X-Men III that night since it was premiering. Then the 3 of us went to play pool. As usual, I suck at it... haha... that's why I should play more...

Imran had an AIESEC meeting at the Makansutra place beside Esplanade so we just tagged along. Had dinner there and Zac met up with most of the national level AIESECers. He was getting quite tired by now as the jet lag set in... Imran suggested us to go to the Esplanade library while they had their meeting. I didn't even know there was a library there. Interesting place... lots of books pertaining to the arts, like dancing, singing, music scores etc. Even got place for people to listen to CDs.

Unfortunately the library closes at 9pm. So we had to get out loh... went to the open area at the top of Esplanade. It had a nice view of the city area. After Imran was done we went to the Cathay building. David (AIESECer from Canada) and Vi were waiting at the MRT station already. It was my first time watching a movie with such a diverse group: Me (Malaysian), Zachary (American), David (Canadian), Imran (Singaporean) and Visayon (Lao). The movie was so-so only, but I still enjoyed it lah. It's been awhile since I last watched a movie in the cinema. Usualy watch on my laptop... hehe...

MLM, GSS and Billy Bombers

In case you are wondering, MLM refers to Multi-Level Marketing. I have recently shown interest to a MLM company that is just starting up in Singapore. What I've heard are convincing facts about the company and its products; better than let's say Elken or the many others that are flooding Malaysia's market. There are a few things tempting about the offer to join, and one of them would be the fact that it is still relatively new in Singapore. Lots of other reasons I'm interested, but I guess I'll just say as much for the time being ; )

So I went over to the company for the second time to know more about how the whole marketing thingy works. Lots of technical terms... but I get the gist of it. Anyway, spend half of my afternoon at their office listening to their plans and stuff.

Went over to Bugis to meet up with KV afterwards. It was already quite late (8+pm) and we didn't have our dinner yet. While we waited for Wilson we went shopping loh... G2000 was having a sale, in line with the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) now, up to 50%. Since I don't have many shirts, I thought it was a good opportunity to "broaden" my wardrobe. And since the GSS will last until late July, I guess I would be buying more clothes...

Finally Wilson came and we finally went for dinner... but we didn't settle on a place yet... KV wanted something nicer to eat so I suggested Billy Bombers loh, coz I've never eaten there before. All I know is that Billy Bombers is a 1960s American themed restaurant. Walao! Didn't expect it to be so expensive! But I was very much full after the 4-course meal of soup, main dish, milkshake and ice cream. Seriously, gotta keep my money in check...

(l-r) KV, me, Wilson