Ops Cicak

The Kem Latihan Negara (KLN) allowed some of the chinese participants to be back for the Qing Ming festival from 1st till 3rd of April. My sister of course, can't wait to take advantage of this holiday to return and stock up on food as well as to bring some extra clothing (it is compulsary for them to wear long sleeves with collar shirts when leaving the dorm). Parents were required to fax in a surat permohonan cuti, and personally come pick their kids from the camp.

In this rescue operation, my dad, mom and I drove up to Kuantan for an overnight stay on Friday, then early Saturday morning, after breakfast, we continued our journey to Kem Semarak in Pekan (45 mins drive). When we arrived, Sean San was already all excited waiting for us near the entrance. She was SOOO DARK!!! Not to our surprise of course, the rest of the Chinese participants were also eagerly waiting for their parents to come fetch them. I believe that the boys must have had a stricter Camp Commander, considering that ALL the boys were queued nicely, "At Ease" in front of the administration office, while the girls were just wandering around. All, with their bags ready to go home. As each one exit the admin office with their parents, you would have probably thought they have just collected the jackpot lottery winnings, with a grin wider than a mile.

On the way home, my sister was non-stop jibbering about the "torture" she had to endure, having to wash her own clothes, sleeping w/o AC, having to wake up at 5 am, having to share baths and toilets, having to walk at least 20 minutes from the dorm to the field for drills every day...the list goes on. If you ask me, it's not that bad, I guess she is finding it a li'l tough because she is the youngest in the family and get to be pampered all the time...Hah! :P But then again, she gets to have 6 meals a day! No wonder she hasn't lost any weight...hehehe...well, she is complaining about the variety of food though. From now until the day she return to the camp, I bet she would be stuffing herself with lots of Bak Kut Teh & Wan Tan Mee.....LOL!

Qing Ming - Chinese All Souls Day

I have never been very keen on visiting graves or paying respect to my late grandparents during Qing Ming, not because I'm unfilial, but more due to the reasons of tear jerking jossticks burning at every corner of the temple. Been there, done it before, and unless somebody points a gun to my head, I really would never think of going to those temples again. I managed to escape the ordeal for the past 5 years or so, mainly because my mom prefers to go during the weekdays, when the temple is less crowded, and FORTUNATELY for me, I have to work during weekdays.

This year I've got no excuse of skipping. My sisters are all away, either abroad or at the NS camp, my brother needs to work, while I am at home just "shaking legs". Can't bear to see my mom go through all of it alone, so I tagged along. Plus, it gives me something to blog about.

As usual, all the family members will bring the favourite food of the deceased, which could range from dim sum to durians. Fruits are very common. Some will include as well as favourite cigarette brands of the deceased, e.g. my granddad used to smoke Camel. Here is approximately how the whole process went.....mom provided the instructions, and I followed:

1. Serve all the food on the table
2. Serve the chinese tea with the mini cups
3. Light the yuin bou lap juk (red joss candles)
4. Light the giant joss sticks
5. Light the rest of the joss sticks and then invite my granddad from where his ashes were kept to where the food was served
6. Stick a joss stick on every single food item on the table so that my granddad will know what to eat.
7. Proceed to the burning area to burn all the items meant for my granddad (the box was sealed with his name), containing hell money, clothing, shoes, etc.

And guess what, not too long after the family members leave, the monks at the temples will help clear out the tables for the next family to use. So where does all the food go? Whatever that could be salvaged would be kept by the monks to be consumed later. The rest? Down the garbage bin.

Stomach Churning Day

Today marks the end of 2006 first batch of Beginners 1-4 French Class at Alliance Française Kuala Lumpur. Except for Jasmin, who was not able to join us for the lunch at the cafe, everyone else was present (15 of us).



After the lunch session at AF, Laure-Anne joined Gan, Chew and myself at the Berjaya Times Square Indoor Theme Park. Nous avon passé un merveilleux moment! Yan Chyi and Yi Jing followed us to the Times Square, but not the theme park. We went on the bumper cars, kiddie train rides, roller coaster 2x, and a few other spin stuff which I can't remember what they were..... only remembered that I regurgitated my lunch after one of the rides (how embarrasing).

After several flips and turns on the DNA mixer, everybody was feeling wobbly on the legs, so we decided to take a break and went to the Arcade. Chew went on the Para para dance machine - Laure-Anne and myself was going like WOW!! We played on several arcade machines before returning to the theme park again.

I was dizzy again after another tower ride, so we stopped for a while and rested in a mini karaoke room. Unfortunately, we have to pay for RM1 for each song, and there was this irritating and deep growling voice that says, "PLEASE ADD MORE CREDIT" everytime we pressed on the keypad. Guess what???? We found that they have ONE French song....erm... what was it again, S'il sufficait d'aimer by Celine Dion? We gave it a try....hee..and Laure-Anne was kinda annoyed that the lyrics were not properly laid out....spelling and grammar mistakes and all....LOL!

We spent like almost 3 hours in the room chatting after that.... TIME FLIES!! We didn't even realise it was already sept heures et demie! We just went on yakking and yakking...! Gan & Chew sent Laure-Anne home and we finally went our separate ways....*sigh* I am so gonna miss all of you.... :~(

Here's the link to the photos taken on our last day, and at the theme park.

I look like Stephen CHOW????

Boy, did I have a shock when I decided to check my resemblance of a celebrity. WHAT?!?!? My Heritage actually thinks that I look like the HK actor Stephen Chow (tried and tested with several photos of different face angles). Thank goodness that apart from Stephen, I also resemble Jessica Alba & Tata Young.....*phew*

Senderismo

J'ai fait de la randonée avec ma famille ce matin. C'est le cinquième fois ce mois. Estoy muy contenta porque cada vez, lo hago en menos tiempo.

About a month ago, my dad's friend introduced us to a jungle trek not too far from my house (less than 20 minutes drive). Ever since, my dad has been making it an effort to get all of us to climb the hill at least once a week during the weekends. I do not find it a problem because I simply adore trekking. I fell in love with trekking ever since my first climb to the Pinnacles at the Mulu National Park in Nov, 2003 with Hong Teng.

At my pace, the whole trek takes only about 1.5 hours, involving crossing mini streams and several hills. My first attempt took me close to 3 hours though. I am glad I have made a lot of improvement. Will continue to try and break my own record! Heard that some of the superfit ones can actually complete the track in less than 1 hour!!! Ganbatte kudasai!

Boh Tak Chek!

Damn "2 larn" today. Today is Festival of Goddess of Kuan Yin.....no, I am not being religious, just that some of the BTCs really made my blood boil. We live a few houses away from a Chinese Temple on Jalan Midah 9, Cheras (which happens to be a dead end street). We moved into this neighbourhood close to 4 years now.

And every now and then, when the temple organizes some functions, or when it is a special prayer day, there will be some inconsiderate *BTCs whom will park on both sides of the street, turning it from a 2 lanes to 1. As if that is not bad enough, these BTCs would even block the entrance of some of the residents (yes, we are not the only ones being blocked). We have tried all means to keep them away, at least from our gates, by putting NO PARKING signs (which a Super BTC duly removed and dumped into the drain), lining the road side with potted plants....but to no avail.

This afternoon case was the worst of all. BTC#1 driving a big 4WD blocking a portion of our entrance, with another BTC on the opposite. And to add to all this, 2 whole stretch of cars parked on both side of our street. There was no way we could have entered through our gates, whether direct or reverse. That's it! We've had enough. My dad was really pissed and decided to just stop our car and walked into the house, leaving the car in the middle of the street. My brother followed suit. Some of the folks on foot who were about to leave the temple watched us walked into our house, and did not dare say a word. We waited from inside the house. Let them have a taste of their own medicine.




A few moments later, BTC#2 decided to honk. We did not budge. He did not even bother to ring our doorbell, just honked and honked. A few others walked by, and no one...I repeat, NO ONE even cared to ring our doorbell, or even cared to get BTC#1 to remove his car. My brother decided to take a picture of the 4WD (BTC#1). I gave up waiting and went for a shower to cool down. BTC#1 finally removed his car, and then 3 policemen came and rang our doorbell.

This is where the drama begins:

POL: Encik, saya terima aduan. Ini kereta encik? Boleh tolong alih kereta encik? Kereta encik ni ganggu laluan lah.

Dad: Encik, gerak saya mesti gerak punya, saya mau itu semua orang tau macam mana rasa kena halang.

A mob of BTCs: Move your car lar! How can you park like that! All of us cannot go out lar.....we wait very long already, you know??!!??

Bro: Anybody cared that we waited a long time too??? (some of the BTCs kept quiet and walked aside)

POL: Encik boleh guna NO PARKING sign ka, letak kerusi ka, tak baik buat macam ini. Encik boleh panggil kami jugak.

My dad said nothing - he finds it pointless to explain things all over again, went inside to get the car keys and walked to the car, now that BTC#1 is gone, we could get both our cars in.

BTC#3: If you've got balls....leave your cars there lah! See if I'm gonna break your windscreen or not?? See if I'm gonna burn your car!!! You are chicken if you move your car NOW!

One BTC tried to grab a brick nearby but was hold back by another.

Bro: Encik, nanti tolong ambik semua nama dan IC dia orang. Nanti kalau apa-apa terjadi pada rumah kita kah, anjing kah, kereta kah, boleh saya repot polis.

POL: Sabar, encik, ini semua belum berlaku lagi.....

My brother showed the picture of the BTC#1 blocking the road. Then the group was trying to explain the police officers, while another BTC continued to scream at us.

BTC#4: You pun olang Cina, olang sembahyang mesti ini maciam punya lar...bukan tiap-tiap hari mah! Itu olang sembahyang hari Jumaat pun cincai cincai park kereta! Tak boleh masuk panggil olang keluar kah??

BTC#2: Why you so larn-cee?? The other day I park in front of this house oso they never complain?

BTC#3: Yeahlar....saya pun tak boleh sabar lagi...tengok encik! Dia olang tanam bunga ini maciam, kita olang mau parking pun susah! (ooh...guess what, apparently this nitwit have not realised we did that on purpose)

After getting both our cars in, the rest who did not want to be any part of this also left. As there were still some outside our house refusing to move, my brother brought the camera out and attempted to take a picture of the mob again....they were dispersed almost immediately, except BTC#3 who was caught off guard.




BTC#3: HeeeeeyyYYYy!!! Why you take my picture??!!??!?!?

BTC#3 ran to our main gate and kicked it, trying to break it down, and was stopped by the officers

Bro: Encik, ambik gambar pun tak boleh kah?

POL: Boleh, ambik gambar boleh....tapi masuk dalam dulu.....

My brother ignored them and went into the house after snapping a photo. The mob was finally dispersed after a while with orders from the officers.

There you go, a friendly encounter with my "neighbours". These people don't live here though, they are just here at the temple for prayers. And they think they have all the right to block others just because they are here for a NOBLE cause. I would have expected a peaceful and educated bunch of people, rather than a mob of BTCs. And the funny thing is, BTC#1, the catalyst of all this nonsense, just quietly vanished into thin air and not to be seen again.

The other residents in the neighbourhood, who were also victims of the rampant parkings, have been keeping quiet all this years and did not want no troubles. We wished we could do just that, but its easy to lose patience when it happened again and again, and each time it gets worse. I am not sure if this would ever happen again, but for sure that we ain't gonna be quiet about it.

*BTCs = uncivilized idiots

Gamarjobat - THUMBS UP!

This evening I went to see Gamarjobat with the rest of my family at Actor's Studio, Bangsar, and we were very well entertained. I wish I could mime it here to show how good it was, but I'll leave the miming work to both Hiropon & Ketch! whom are the experts :D My mom, who normally falls asleep halfway through a movie, actually stayed completely awake throughout the performance. She was quite reluctant to go at first, but I convinced her that she'd love it! She did! They'll be here in KL till this Sunday, GO WATCH it while you can! Highly recommended!

Internet is UP again!

After countless days of being "Internet-less", I finally got it up again. Ohmigod, it does feel like eternity. There was a heavy thunderstorm few days back (and hailstorm too!), and almost like striking the lottery, the lightning struck my beloved modem. My brother put a new one up again after 2 days...as if it's not bad enough to without the Internet for 2 days, Streamyx was apparently down too. It was only after another 2 days, that we found that Streamyx had already fixed their problem....yet we are still left without Internet. Which zooms the problem to our own internal connection. After spending several hours of troubleshooting this afternoon, I found the culprit. One of the ports on the router, which connects to the modem, was damaged by the lightning as well. So, my brother brought home a new router today, and voila! We all have Internet again!! Hurraaaayyy!!!

This made me wonder - can't we live without the Internet? I have such a huge dependency on it that I have not really realised how important it is to me. I probably could go without Internet for 2 days MAX. When the modem was down, I did have some intermittent connections with my Bluetooth phone, to make sure all my important emails were received. But it's just too expensive to use a dial up, not to mention slow. My sister was caught in the same dilemma. She was so miserable (almost like a walking zombie) the past few days and was also bugging me day and night to get it fixed. But the good thing is, we finally managed to get her to go to bed earlier....about 11pm, instead of 4am! So, my mom was the ONLY one who was actually glad that the Net was down :P

J'ai mal à la tête

After approximately 90 hours of french classes, we are due for an exam tomorrow. This time there will be no listening section, like the previous 2 tests (which I got très bien overall...ehem!), instead it would be replaced by an oral test. Uh-oh.....my worst fear. Je toujours ne peux pas parler en français! We did have a practice in class today, I seem to do quite alright though....hopefully I won't have any trouble with it tomorrow :P I can't believe this class is coming to an end soon, and since I won´t be continuing after this, I am gonna miss all my classmates....*sniff* *sniff* Well, Ee May has got some great pictures and even a video taken of all of us. Though group's a little cuckoo, but without them, it would have been such a boring class.... ;) BIG {{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}} to all of you.

Another thing that is giving me a headache is my upcoming Europe trip. Being a little greedy, I tried to squeeze in like 7 or 8 destinations in my Europe tour, including Feria Abril in Sevilla, which I am really looking forward to (chance to practice my español again...and Sevillanas too!). Unfortunately the French embassy would not let me have my visa earlier, so I have to rearrange my French courses a little to make some adjustments and cut my Europe tour short. Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed that all will go smoothly. Mis amigos, ¡os veo pronto!

Quiet days...

Both my beloved chatterbox sisters are back in Brisbane to continue their 3rd year studies. *sigh* Such a big difference it made to our house. For the past 3 months, the house was filled with laughters and lots of noise (imagine, at any one time, we would have at least 10 people in the house.....neeehh...their boy boys as well leh...).

Now, apart from my normal routine of daily french classes and yoga sessions, I am left alone with my youngest sister, Sean San, since my brother is working (and I am not...:D) and my mom sometimes join in the fun. I don't think it'll be too long before I turn a little cuckoo. She has the habit of talking to her soft toys...and making them talk as well. Poh Lah (a polar bear), Wee Wee (a red fat devil), Ah Taz (a tazmanian devil), and Bulldog (not a real dog). She even made me talk to them too! Poh Lah always insists to have air conditioning in the room, or he would sweat, and Ah Taz is always blocking the way (he's gigantic). GGGgggrrrrrrrrr..

But anyway, she is the CHOSEN ONE....which means that she will be away for National Service in the mid of March :( And she has given me the responsibility to take care of them, and make sure they'd still smell the same when she's back. It's gonna be such ghostly silence in the house in March. It's probably wise to start building a good relationship with Poh Lah and the rest now...wouldn't want them to report of abuse to my sister later... :P

¡¡¡Enhorabuena!!!

I can't believe it, I have actually passed my DELE Intermedio exam!!! No puedo creerlo! After countless of sleepless nights, the DELE results were finally released about 1am here in Malaysia. I was hopping around like a happy bunny (ok...a crazy one too) and screaming "I have passed!!! I have passed!!!!!!". My neighbours probably did not find it very amusing :P My brother and sisters were happy for me as well, and threatened that I now owe them a meal ..... yeahh... sure...Mamak stall lor! ;) Well, the hopping kinda worsened my insomnia, I was too happy to sleep last night, and couldn't concentrate on my revision although I had my French test today.....bummer :P

Anyway, I am very glad to know that a few others who sent out emails almost immediately (they must have been just as excited too!) upon seeing the results, have PASSED too!!! ¡Felicitaciones! *hop* *hop* *hop* ¡Espero que los otros hayan aprobado también!

It's a TORTURE!!!

The day finally comes, and frankly, I've been mugging that Cervantes site since a month ago. But on the 19th, with a glint of hope that the results would be released just a teenie weenie bit earlier, I checked the site again and again every hour or so, until it was the 20th, Europe time! B.b.b..b..b.bbut not even a sign of my results! *sob* *sob* This morning I checked again, and they have changed the release date to 22nd!! How long further are they gonna torture meeeee??? Arrgggghhh...

Happy St. Valentine's Day

This year we all decided that we are not going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on unnecessary Valentine's set dinners, and swarm into restaurants like the other love bugs. No red roses, no candlelight dinner. Instead, we decided that we'll sing our hearts out together at the Karaoke after a hearty Thai dinner! Muahahaha...it's so convenient to have at the vicinity of your home :D Amazingly, we were not the ONLY ones who thought of this idea.....the place was crowded till 1am! These people no need to work wan ar??

My mom, the in-house VET

Just witnessed something revolting this morning.... one of my dogs, Bernard, is infested with maggots. We tried to get the vet to come and see him before it gets worse, but the vet won't be available until the evening. Why can't we bring Bernard to the vet instead? Well, you see, Bernard weighs almost 200 pounds, and to get him into the car is hell of a task.

Mom decided to spray the wound with the maggot spray, and the maggot start to squirm out one by one...Eeyyyeeewwww....the problem is Bernard just wouldn't stay still although we have tied him, and those maggots start falling all over the place. :P Yuckie yucks!!!! Mom then washed the wound, and used a forcep to try and dig more of those maggots out..... uuurrgggh... I lost my appetite for breakfast. After almost an hour's ordeal, the wound's clean. We called the vet again, and he told us to go over to the clinic collect some antibiotics.

Mom just coolly went off to take a shower, and when she came out, said, "Jom, let's go makan breakfast". That's my MOM!!!

Sawadee kha

We had marvelous time in Bangkok and Pattaya this CNY. This very last minute plan of free and easy tour really brought us lots of unforgettable experiences.

Firstly, we arrived Bangkok only to find out that Air Asia did not send (or maybe misplaced it somewhere) my mom's luggage. My mom got really upset (all her new clothes were inside), as none of the staff was able to locate the bag. Dad tried to pacify mom by offering to buy new ones after we check into the hotel. We were definitely more excited than my mom....like what happen always, teng jie yao fan :D. While my mom tried to buy the essentials, we went on a shopping spree (we live just above a shopping complex, how convenient). Anyway, it was more like a LINGERIE shopping spree....they are soooo cheap here (just 1/3 of the price in Malaysia). Plus, possibly because of different sizings in Thailand, we all gained one cup size! :D

We got no news of my mom's luggage until the next day, and they had it sent over to the hotel (without any compensation at all...*sigh*). Anyway, we didn't actually get it until the evening as we spent our day at Pattaya, parasailing, banana boating, jet skiing and a little sunbathing...it was rather cloudy, so I didn't get the tan I wanted :( just a teenie weenie bit browner...

On one of the shopping days, we got so carried away we almost missed the last MRT and Skytrain (BTS). All 11 of us ran from one connecting station to the other, almost running out of breath. And at the final boarding station, we arrived just before the gate closes, but ran too fast that we were blindly ushered by the guards straight to the exit gate instead of the boarding platform...yikes! Thank goodness we realised it on time, and ran back into the station....bought our tickets, just on time to go on the last train at sharp 12 midnight. *phew*

Food wise, everything is yummy......especially my favourite young mangos dipped in sugar and chilli with fish sauce!!!! Just talking about it makes me drool :P~ And then the McD Samurai Pork Burger, bird's nest, tom yum koong, and grilled seafood on the Coral Island beach. Then there is this signboard of a restaurant that caught my attention...heheh....am really curious the type of food they serve ;)



All good stuff have to come to an end....we shopped till the very last minute and rushed to the airport just on time to board the plane...not even a minute left for lunch :P At least I managed to tah pao some mango and the dip back home....heeee... :D

Here comes the rest of the photos!

Tooong... tong tong CHIAAAANGGG!!

I know, I know, I am guilty of procrastination lately. Somebody's really gotta hit me with that Chinese drum thingy. Haven't been replying or writing emails (sorry guys!), have not been cleaning my desk, and have not been updating my dear old blog.

I have so much to blame on, my daily French classes (since 9th Jan '06), last minute Chinese New Year shoppings (maklumlah, CNY is early this year), catching up with old buddies (still a long list unattended to), reading my piling collection of books (my room is almost like a junkyard now), and trying to keep myself in shape so that I could fit into those new clothings I bought for CNY (tortured myself in continuous daily yoga sessions for the past 1 wk....Ouch!...my arm still aches)

Anyway, am glad to have met up with Tinisha last Sunday. We had a lovely time doing shopping, hadn't we?? *grin* Our nice li'l chat really brought back lots of wonderful memories of Granada, and Spain....wonder what the rest are up to? I guess I'll know if I could just start sending some emails out......will probably get it done before the first day of CNY, which is like.....tomorroww???

Am also doing countdown for the DELE results.......*biting nails*.... expected to be out by end of February. Gosh, wonder what's taking them so long? I will have to start planning on my Europe trip now too I guess, if I want to be in time for Feria Abril! Keeping my finger's crossed my español would not deteriorate with my new knowledge of français. In fact, come to think of it, I have already confused some of the words...oops!

Bonne! Will have to start packing for my vacation to Bangkok this Sunday. Ooooh...Thai massage....*heavenly*

Hello 2006...bubbye 2005

Welcome to year 2006! For some, it will be another year to fulfil hopes and make dreams come true, while for some, another year of struggle. However 2005 has been, let's hope that 2006 will be a better year for everyone. :D

As usual, we had the normal fireworks display from the Petronas Twin Towers. Only managed a glimpse from the balcony of my home. Decided to stay in, enjoy Spanish wine, bak guah, and Turkish delights with my family rather than get stucked in the traffic jam. Beautiful shots of the fireworks should be left to profesionals: Glenn and TVSmith both captured great shots of the moment.

Time to start working on my new year resolutions .... 2005 has not been too bad, having travelled to various parts of Spain, learnt Spanish, and made lifelong friends with people all over the world. Hopefully I'd be able to visit some of them with my next trip to Europe some time this year. Ah yes, one other thing too...unfortunately the good food in Spain and being a leong dei goon for so long have somehow unnecesarily installed a spare tire round my belly. Will need to work on that too! :P

May the year 2006 be a good start for many more wonderful things and wishing everyone the best of health :)

White F..f..frreeezzing Christmas in Türkiye

Oh, my family and I had soooo much fun in Turkey this Christmas!!! We knew that the weather would be cold, but we certainly did not expect snow! Boy were we surprised when we arrived the hotel in Bolu on first night only to find it snowing.....it was the FIRST white christmas for all of us and despite the cold, we were hopping around in the snow and taking lots and lots of pictures. The first night, the temperature reached -11 deg Celcius during the night, and next morning was about -2 to -3. Our poor li'l fingers and toes almost turned into icicles but we didn't care (we do look like a bunch of jakuns though...hehehe).

I was really amazed with the friendliness and hospitality of Turkish people. Almost everywhere we went, we were sure to be greeted with smiles, adults and children alike. Our tour guide, Sinan was like our history teacher as well, giving us all interesting information about the history of Turkey. We also had a wonderful driver, Ugur, although he had to drive on ice for few days, made it seem effortless. Not to mention the those at the souvenir shops, they really must be applauded for their iniative. First they thought we were Japanese, and greeted us with Konnichiwa, but when they saw no response, they asked where we were from. Upon knowing that we were from Malaysia, they all chanted together, "Mari, mari....lelong lelong!" That really caught our attention ;)

There were several highlights in our itinery, to mention a few, Cappadocia, Troy, Ephesus, and Istanbul. But for me....one of the interesting highlights of the trip was WC visits :P We spent lots of time on the bus travelling from one end of Turkey to the other, and we had toilet stops every 1.5 - 2 hours. Couldn't help but took pictures of some of the interesting WCs, dating from 200 AD till today.....hehehe...


Anyway, I was hoping that I could meet up with Zeynep in Ankara, but our trip itinery was really tight, so we didn't get to meet. Next time perhaps!

Here's the link to the rest of the photos taken in Türkiye.

Tourist Guide "Celup"

Spent my first week in Malaysia as a tourist guide....a loyar buruk one :P Antonio, a friend of Stefano, happened to be in Singapore, and decided to visit KL while he was here in SEA, so I became his guia for 3 days. Thanks to the ASEAN Summit, we spent 2 hours looking for a place to stay for him.

It was then I realise how little I know about Kuala Lumpur, the dear old city that I have been living in for 18 years at least. I don't even recall having any proper photos of it, despite having snapped more than 10,000 photos in my life. I am almost a foreigner in my own city! I have never been up to the bridge of Twin Towers, have never travelled on the PUTRA LRT, have never walked in the park of the KLCC, have never been to Batu Caves.... and the list goes on. When Antonio asked me about some of the places mentioned on the Lonely Planet, I have never even heard of it!(gotta korek one lubang and hide myself) :P I was also a tourist myself when I visited some of these places for my first time (shame shame lar...)

Anyway, we did have lotsa fun. On his first day, I took him to RedBox for a karaoke session with my darling, Sam, SC and KH. Having heard how the rest sound like when we sing (as well as those from other rooms, of course...ehem!) , he was not anymore shy to sing along .....heee... Then the next day we went to KL Tower, KLCC, Chinatown, Dataran Merdeka, etc. The funny thing is that once he walked alone in KLCC (with people giggling at him) wearing a t-shirt with vulgar Cantonese sayings , not knowing what it meant beforehand because a banana like me can't read and translate it for him. Pobrecito....:P

I got him to try nasi lemak, cendol, ais kacang, claypot rice, tomyam seafood noodle and teh tarik. Even with all the spices, he did not sweat...way to go Antonio! ;) Espero que hayas gustado Kuala Lumpur! Un abrazo fuerte!

I am HOME!

After 16 hours mas o menos in the plane and in transit, I finally arrived Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Sunday afternoon. Oh boy was I relieved. I have been so worried for the past few days about my excess baggage, but finally escaped without having to pay a cent though we were exceeded by approx. 35kg! *phewwww*

Weather was perfect when I arrived, though some thick clouds could be seen ahead in the centre of town. I have been told that KL has been raining for the past few days without fail. Oh well, it's not so bad, I would always trade a nice gloomy warm humid Malaysian weather with the cold autumn in Spain anytime. :P Let's hope I have not spoken too soon...hehehe...

I'm now haunted by a stubborn flu.... *sigh* guess it's my own fault for eating too much heaty food before I board the plane. Roasted lamb chops, fries, and churros con chocolate! Padan muka. Keeping my fingers crossed now it will be gone soon.

Will be changing the title of my blog soon. My Life in Spain is no longer valid I guess, if I am going to continue updating it. Will see what my genius brain tells me later......... :P