9th September 2007
Long overdued post.
9th September 1997, my beloved grandmother passed away. This year marked her 10th year death anniversary. A day that will be remembered for the rest of my life.
I still remember like it was yesterday, how I used to spend my time with my Grandma. I've been living with my Grandma all my life until she passed away, thats 17 years. She passed away while I was in form 3 in secondary. I remember staying next to your casket every minute of the way till your burial... even sleeping in the hall with it.
She used to cook lunch for me everyday. We used to watch TV together and chit chat each day away. When i was younger, she used always bring me to Zoo Negara. There's this coffee shop that we always stop by on our way there to have our breakfast, my morning Milo and roti and kaya.
How my sister always used to scare me that there's sharks in the sea (That time watch Jaws, phobiaaa okaaay!), and how my grandmother always comfort me and convince me that my sister is just lying.
How I used to bully my grandmother by fast fast putting a cap on her head (which she dun like) and then fast fast take photo before she took off the cap and then laugh back at it afterwords! hehe... used to do this to waste the film (back in the days digicams don't exist) so can fast fast send to shop to develop them. =p I still got the pics okaaay! Oh how much I've missed your listening to your laughter.
I've had a lot of great moments with my beloved grandma. These memories will live on within my thoughts forever.
Amah, it's been 10 years already just like that. I'm sure you've heard all my prayers as I've never stopped talking to you in my prayers even up till today. I really hope you're up there looking down on all of us, smiling, happy with how we've all grown up and who we've all become.
I miss you.
A Prayer attributed to St. FrancisLord, make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let us sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
Sofitel Riverside
Okay lar, enuff of the mushi mushi postings. That was quite random. LoL... =p
Anywayz, I'm currently staying in Sofitel Riverside in Chiang Mai. Damn nice place okaaaay. =p How many hotels do you know, that you can ride a BOAT to huh?
Then when you reach the hotel adi, you see a gate entrance to heading to the hotel...
One that you actually do not need to use coz' u can walk pass the sides... LoL. Dun ask me arr, how do I know why they have a gate in the middle of no where without walls. LoL =p
Anywayz, the rooms here are damn nice okaaaay! =p Check out my room
Check out the amount of space u have if you get a queen size bed instead
Got BED ON THE BALCONY okaaaay!!
If you got the CASH to get a suite room, your balcony will also have a SWING!
Check out the bathroom! Bathtub big enuff to squeeze 2 ppl in okaaay! Got a mini waterfall outside the window! GOT TV! Didn't take a pic of the shower room, its actually to the right of the sink. =p
Check out their pool!
Check out the oppurtunities to camwhore!
I think they're trying to tell me something!Other Misc. photos
Day 
Night
Public toilets here dun use toilet paper or blow dryer to dry ur hands, they use FACE TOWELS!! OMG man... talk about tryin to be 'high class'! =p
Errr, I guess if in case of real emergency, you could just use the bushes! LoL
View away from the city
I guess that's all for now, I'll see you in the next post! =) Chaoooz...
Correction
Actually i think this video suits the last posting better... haha =p
Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.
-Paulo Coelho-
Another Not so exotic Thai food...
Because some of you guys BLUR, and had to kick yourself... here's another picture of a 'not so exotic Thai food' =p This one betta than the previous one i posted! hahahaha! This one was taken in Phuket the last time I went there (not from Chiang Mai). It was during a food festival being held in Jungceylon. =p enjoy
Not for the faint hearted... =p
I've been in Chiang Mai quite a few days now already, and I've FINALLY FOUND IT!!!
Found what?
Well, before coming here to Chiang Mai, I've actually hand my mind set on trying some of the Northern Thailand exotic delicacies. I've been searching for it since day 1 that I'm here okaaaay! =p Finally bumped into it! =p
EXOTIC DELICACY NUMBER 1: Silk Worms
Okay lar, this one didn't taste so good to me. Or at least it didn't quite suit my taste. I don't really like the texture. Its crispy on the outside, but as soon as u bite into it, you can feel the soft insides come out. Got this kinda powdery texture goin on after the first bite. Not really something I enjoy. =p
EXOTIC DELICACY NUMBER 2: Cricket (Little?!?)
This one actually tastes good! =) I still remember last time when my dad used to rare and train Burung Merbuks (Zebra Doves) and bring them for singing competitions, he would feed these crickets to them. For RM1 u can get a handful of these from the fish shop. I still remember back in the days when my dad not around, I'm the one who has to catch these jumpers to feed to the birds.
But back to our exotic delicacy... this crickets are really not bad weih. They're fried till crispy crispy... yum yum! Kinda taste like eating deep fried ikan bilis minus the saltiness. =p Can get quite jelak after eating it too much. =p Bought a pack of these back to my room after trying it! I'd say a must try when you guys come here weih!
EXOTIC DELICACY NO.3: Bamboo Worm (WARM?!?! LoL)
HOLY COW! This is actually DAMN KAU GOOOOOOOOD !!!!!! No joke weih... after trying this i bought their biggest pack available! Its DAMN NICE! Its DAMN ADDICTIVE! Once u pop, you can't stop!! No joke! Its crispy, and you can get a kind sweet flavour on it. OMG OMG OMG! ITS DAMN GOOD!! Downside is its damn expensive man! But serious damn nice laaa... a must try! Will try to bring some back for you guys, and will make CarMAN eat because she loves worms so much! HAHAHAHA...
NOT SO EXOTIC DELICACY:
WAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA....
If you don't get this, kick yoursef...
A smile in the morning...
As some of you might already know, I'm currently in Chiang Mai, THAILAND. Yes, THAILAND.
OMG man, I can't believe sooooo many of you guys out there thought it was in Vietnam. ITS NOT!
So yeah, I checked into Suriwongse Hotel, and I stayed in their Executive Suite room. Nothing to shout about really. The room is big and all, but lacking the 'WoW' factor. Therefore I never really took any pics of the room lar. =p
The meal vouchers is like, OMG damn small kid weih! So colourful and all... it kinda reminds me of the old days, Hari Kantin in Primary/Secondary school when we were forced happily bought our colourful cash vouchers that came in booklets of RM10 to spend on that very day on food or whatever nonsense was setup to suck our money for a so called 'school renovation to give better facilities' that never happened... at least, not until i left the school.
Most of the hotels that I go to usually don't use coupon systems anymore. They have this thing called a computer where u just state your name and room number to the restaurant receptionist, and it should be in their records, so you just walk in and makan. =p
But one thing about this hotel did put a smile on my face every morning. =) Their breakfast...
Its not that they have the widest range of breakfast, its not that they have the tastiest omelettes, its not that hey have the best orange juice... nothing like that... So what is it? See it for yourself... here's a zoomed in pic
I must say they're the only hotel I know who bothers to SHAPE their sunny side up eggs! hehe... =p
How to confuse a smoker...
No words required, just take a look at the pic:
Unusual Signs
So here I am once again, this is just gonna be a short post of signs you don't usually see that I've found on board the Star Cruises Virgo! =p
But First, for those of you who wanna see what the standard room looks like... well, it looks like this. And its 4 people to 1 room!
My really big room that fit 4 people!There's a slide down bed from underneath 1 of the 2 beds you see, and there's one more bed that unfolds down from the wall on the left... kinda like a double decker on the left side lar... Also check out my "BEAUTIFUL VIEW" out the "WINDOW"
Anyway, back to the signs! I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Something thats usual:
Something thats UNusual!:
Okay, how many people thought this was a female lifejacket?
This signboard a bit WTF?!? If you don't know what it really means.
Good luck to people who need specs to see where they're going!
This one was taken at the crew bar; I'll leave it to your own imagination
Thats all for now. I'll post the sunrise+sunset photos next
star cruises pics
As some of you know, I've went on Star Cruises Super Star Virgo for a week and a half, just got back last week lar. =p
And as most of you also know, its not my first time there, and its probably also not my last. =p But before this I never took any pics, but now got lah quite a lot also! =p So here are some pics to share with all.
Star Cruises Virgo
So what's so great about Star Cruises you ask?? Why do people pay such a high price to go on board cramped in a small room with a "window" with a beautiful "view" cruising around in international waters??
"Window" with beautiful "view"
Well... to GAMBLE OF COURSE!! Thats the main attraction... if not, takkan the GREAT VIEW of water, water, and MORE WATER meh?
There's actually quite a lot of other things to do on board if you don't gamble. You could take their special cruises that usually port stays for passengers to visit what ever places they stop at lar. Star Cruises Virgo stops at Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore mainly. Sometimes Vietnam during their special cruises. On weekends, they usually don't port. Only loitering around international waters so that their casino can be opened for business.
Singapore Harbor Front during the night
Can you see the lighted cable cars?
Some unique building at Singapore Harbour Front
Now this is something not many people might know about... when a large ship is approching a port to park, the port will send over somebody to come on board the ship to guide the ship through its surroundings to reach the port. The reasoning being that they know better which part is shallow, which part got rocks, etc etc.
You see only one person very nicely dressed up in a stylo uniform. The rest just look like fisherman.
They call him... a PILOT.
I call it... world's most expensive jockey service!!
I mean... how much do you think they charge for that service huh? Assuming if you want to park your ship an additional hour it costs $50,000 Singapore Dollars in Singapore's Harbor Front port!!
Anywayz, this time around I did go down to Phuket for dinner and to give a surprise visit to some colleagues and clients. =)
Phuket Port during the day
Phuket deep sea port during the night
Phuket deep sea port market
You haven't been to Thailand if you haven't tried barbecued coconut water!
A bit dark, but I'm holding it!
This is what Langkawi's port looks like. I didn't go down Langkawi though. Felt a bit lazy and I had a bit of work to finish up on board the ship. Luckily I didn't go also, it rained like an hour later after they reached the port. Haha... Originally thought of going down and go karting with some of the ship's crew punya... oh well! =p
Langkawi Port
So if gambling is not really your thing, but you wanna go on a cruise trip, then go for one of their travel cruise instead of gambling cruise lorh. By gambling cruise, I meant on weekends, STar Cruises Virgo doesn't port stay, from Friday to Sunday... all it does is cruise around international waters, for the main purpose of letting people gamble lorh. So u're pretty much stuck on the ship for the whole 3 days 2 nights.
So just what do you do?
Well...
You could chill at the top deck where to swimming pool is! Can go swimming! Got jacuzzi! Got SPA center. Can do your hair there at the saloon! Got gym there also!
Can also play games during the pre-cruise party! Or listen to their cruise band play at the stage by the pool!
They're quite good!
The place even looks great at night!
Can chill by the lobby and listen to music! Which by the way has a grand piano and some great singers too!
Can play Mahjong! They even have games room and a library man!
But what we did was, play Trivial Pursuit... Lord Of The Rings edition!
Can find places to take nice pictures
Or find oppurtunities to CAMWHORE!
Who's sitting? I'm not sitting!
The outer deck... where everyone walks out to receive handphone signals! Otherwise inside no line wan!!
Hungry already go Bella Vista to makan. I got no Pics of Pavilion or Mediterranion though. LoL... or any other paying restaurants for that matter.
Bella Vista's receptionist was very nice and accomodating =) *wink*
Too bad I don't have nicer pic.
Fancy a broadway? Go down the Lido. They sometimes have musicals, sometimes have midnight movies, sometimes have topless dancers... but let's not go there! This blog strictly rated-U. "Sesuai untuk tontonan umum" (suitable for general showing). =p
Walkway to The LidoThey have a picture house also... can go there watch movies!
Can play Chess with their Senior IT Officer, Jojo!
He's quite good at it summore!Can go Ta-Kei (play game)!!
Can even PLAY BASKETBALL on INTERNATIONAL WATERS! How many people can say they've done that before man? LoL...
There's loads more you CAN do lar on board. A lot I didn't managed to take photos of mar. There's disco. An activity centre. Galaxy Of The Stars is like a lounge/pub place that also organizes activities such as Bingo or other famous gameshow games, or even meet the star sessions (if they have a singer performing on board. Like last month, Michael Learns to Rock performed on Star Cruises Virgo).
Then there's also a jogging track on the top deck, mini golf, a driving range, rock climbing facilities, and probably some activities that I left out and can't recall at this moment. =p
I didn't really manage to take many pics with all the crew I met on board. So hopefulyl next time got chance la yaaaa! =p
So anywayz... my this loooooooooong post until here first. Be sure to check back shortly for more postings. =)
PEACE OUT!
Labels: Travel
UPDATES!
Sorry lah, haven't updated my blog in a while. Was in Star Cruises Virgo for a week plus plus (and the internet there is slow as hell!! Can't even login my blog man!), and now that I'm back in office, got quite a bit of stuffs to do, don't really have time to upload all my photos yet. Got over 1000 photos okaaaay! Not that i'm gonna post up all 1000 lar, a lot of repeated pics... Thanks to Kirby for the pics! They aren't my camera laaa... all Kirby punya! =p Still waiting for a few more pics from him that I haven't copied over yet. Must star camwhoring wif my own camera adi... hahaa... keep camwhoring on other people's camera only! =p
Anywayz, my trip to Star Cruises Virgo is fun as always. The staff there has always been accomodating, made a few new aquaintances and all... its all guuuuud! Been drinkin' every night there while chilling with the crews after work. Food is great too! There's no such thing as starvation, heck, there's no such thing as hungry either! Not when they serve breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper and LATE supper!!! And not to mention that you can makan in a variety of places, MORE THAN ONCE! And its all kinda like buffet laaa... even their sit down dinners can reorder punya at no charge at the free restaurants that are included in your boarding passes.
Anywayz, photos should be coming soon laaa! So stay tuned !!
