Ji Hyun Woo

Last weekend was a long holiday due to Xmas. My whole family was in Kuantan, we had kenduri tahlil for arwah Mama. Family gathering is always fun and I miss my hometown. 

The thing is, although all my siblings are in KL, my eldest sibling is staying at his own place in Ampang. So, last weekend I got to meet him and he’s known for his extensive collection of downloaded movies and series. I asked him for a favour to download my favourite Xmas movie, The Holiday (THANKS!) and while going through the list of movies in his external HD, I came across two Korean movies that I have not watched. One of them is Attack The Gas Station 2 (주유소 습격사건 2).

As soon as I reached my home in USJ, the first thing I did was watch this movie. 10 minutes into the movie, I am in love with this one cool dude. I never quite catch his name in the movie because well, he has no name. According to asianmediawiki.com, the character’s name is One Punch. The actor that played this cool character is Ji Hyun Woo. HE IS SIZZLING HOT HOT HOT!

One Punch and his CHARMING squint. *swoons*

His smile was the first thing that caught my attention. Such pretty smile. Boyish, innocent smile. I am not going to go into the plot of the movie, you just have to watch it for yourselves. It’s quite funny, in Korean-comedy-antic kind of way. Hahah! See, my words are inadequate to describe the story. ;p

My post is dedicated to Ji Hyun Woo’s charming smile in the movie. He is definitely not the most handsome actor around the block but his smile placed him on top of my Hottest Korean Actors list. :p 

  

Love!

Hitting the Rucksack

Last month, I embarked on a journey with six friends to Singapore. We started our journey to the south around midnight on the 4^th of November 2011. The plan was to drive to JB, leave the car at my relatives’ house and take a bus to Singapore via Woodlands.

We reached JB at around 4.30am. Given a few hours left before dawn, we rested for a bit. We took the bus from the brand spanking new JB Sentral at 6.45am. This place is HUGE! I was a bit annoyed because to get to the immigration counter, we had to walk quite a distance.

Prior to this trip, I’ve asked around for tips and what we’re supposed to do at the immigration in Singapore. I have been warned that we had to RUN if we want to catch the same bus that we took from JB. WE DID RUN but apparently not fast enough. Haha! No worries as busses are plenty and we only had to wait for 5-10 minutes for the next bus to arrive. We were travelling on shoe-string budget thus, the public transport. It’s a hassle to purchase an RFID tag (similar to Malaysia’s SMART Tag) and EZ Link Card (similar to Malaysia’s Touch N’ Go) if we were to travel by car.

From the immigration at Woodlands, the journey to Queen Street bus station took about an hour. Our dormitory is on the Hong Kong Street, around the Clarke Quay area. We had the option to take the MRT from Woodlands but I figured, might as well take the bus right to the nearest stop to our dormitory. From the Queen Street bus station, we were quite confused on how to get to the dormitory. I planned to use Google Maps and walk or take the bus to the dormitory but it didn’t occur to me that I would not be able to access Google Maps once I’m in Singapore. SAY NO TO ROAMING CHARGES. 

After coming to the conclusion that the bus system is incomprehensible for tourists like us, we hopped on the MRT at Bugis station, interchanged at Outram Park station and finally alighted at Clarke Quay station. Phew! We could have easily reached the place in 10 minutes by foot but we were not going to take any chances. Good thing the dormitory website provides an accurate direction to the dormitory from the Clarke Quay station. The dormitory is 3-minute walk away from the MRT station. Pretty convenient, huh?

Once we enter the RUCKSACK INN 2, we were greeted with a flight of stairs and interesting graffiti on the walls. It was just 10 in the morning and the journey kicked our asses. We dragged our tired butts up the stairs to the reception area. The check-in time is at 2pm but we were allowed to leave our belongings in the small room below the stairs, near the reception counter. Be warned that the room is quite small and anybody has access to the area so, DO NOT leave your valuables in there. The staff were so kind to let us use the bathrooms. They even served us with cold water. Thank goodness! Well, it is JUST plain water but we were beyond exhausted  and our throats were as dry as the Sahara by the time we got there. The excellent hospitality did relieve a little bit of our fatigue.

After resting for awhile, we made our way to Universal Studios Singapore, the highlight of our trip. I’ll talk about it in another post.

After having LOADS of fun in USS, we checked-in our rooms that night. I, Piah and her sisters, Nirah and Qilah settled in the Nyonya room, the female dormitory. The boys, Rassi, Haponpon and Bobby settled in the Baba room, the mixed dormitory. I did mention to the boys that they will be staying in a mixed dorm but somehow they had this idea that it’s an all-boys room. Imagine their surprise when there were girls in pyjamas (read: SKIMPY CLOTHES) sharing their bunk beds. Your lucky day, boys! You're welcome. :p

I did not take any pictures of my room, though. Many apologies. To sum it up, the room was clean, a little bit on the cramped side but comfortable nonetheless. The air-conditioners are only switched-on for a few hours during the night which is totally understandable because the backpackers are usually out during the day. If you’re feeling warm in the room, you can always head down to the common area where there are guitars, a flat screen, books and X-Box for your entertainment. I know! COOL! If you need to get online, wifi signal is available throughout the dormitory. There are a few PCs, connected to the internet at the common area and they are for free.

The drinks are for sale. I've been meaning to try the vitamin water.  It tasted.. EH. 

Bobby on the PC

Books! 

The bathroom. I love love love the bathroom. There is one shared bathroom on each floor. There are a few shower rooms and toilets in the bathroom. The bathroom is super clean, plus shampoos and shower gels are complimentary! I didn't take any picture of the bathroom as well. SORRY! 

The kitchen area is pretty neat too. Small but very functional. You can find one big dining table, a microwave and a toaster. Breakfast is complimentary. They have butter, peanut butter, jam and bread. You can help yourself to tea or coffee as well.

Kitchen area. It is ALWAYS clean so make sure you clean up after yourselves. :)

My ideal breakfast. 

This is my first time staying at a backpackers dormitory. I must say, Rucksack Inn 2 is a memorable first experience. If you feel that you are not comfortable sleeping with other backpackers, they offer double, triple and quad room too. 

For all these how much did I pay for the room, you ask? $32/night! It’s a STEAL!!! 

Oh, before I forgot. A word of advice to anyone who intends to stay at a backpacker dorm: PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF OTHER TRAVELLERS. We did run into one DIFFICULT occupier of our room. This person was so rude to us that the OTHER girls in the room apologised to us on her behalf. Well, if we live in an ideal world, everyone would be nice and polite but in reality, once in awhile our paths will cross with jerks and the likes so, patience is key. 

In a nutshell, RUCKSACK INN ROCKS!!!! Big time. :)

What happened in Singapore, stays in Singapore?

What happened in Singapore, stays in Singapore?

Wait for my post on the trip to the Lion City! :)

The Lioness. (excuse my XL nostrils)

Homecoming Queen Part 2

First up.. breakfast at the legendary DM (Dewan Makan = Dining hall). Since we're the guests, we didn't have to queue up to get our food. One major difference is that they have re-tiled the DM and the kids are allowed to wear shoes inside. I remember the disgusting, sticky floors that we had to walk on, 5 times a day. Urgghhh.. These kids had it easy! *jealous*

At 9.30am, the "pep-talk" session with the SPM candidates began. Rather than giving them a long, boring speech on the "path after SPM" or "future", we decided to put them into groups, according to their ambitions. Naturally, I was in charge of those aspiring to be lawyers. Guess how many students were in my group? T-H-R-E-E! Oh well.. it's given since it's a science stream school. hehe. The bulk of the students wanted to be in the science field. Some were even clueless on what they want to do after SPM. Do not worry, kids. I was sure that I'd further my studies in medicine before I took my SPM. Soon after, I was rudely awaken by my mediocre result. With all B's in Physics, Chemistry and Biology, I would be struggling if I were to take up medicine. ;p

SPM candidates

All I did was ramble about how to obtain a law degree, what they can do with a law degree etc. After three hrs, we dismissed the kids and I could tell, they were glad it was over. ;p

For lunch, we headed to the DM again. The food was surprisingly good. haha! I do not remember the food being this good when we were in school. ;p After lunch, sesi merewang Pekan Bandar Diraja started. When we went out for our fortnightly outings, KFC was the best thing we could find in Pekan. Sekarang Pekan dah maju. There's A&W! hahaha. We had desserts thr. Well, I ate a coney dog, a tall pitch of root beer float and a box of curly fries. Talk about binging!!! After that hearty meal, Cik Nisa and I went back to our hotel room and sleep the food coma off. Mane la tak beso gabak gini.. -.-"

Petang tu Miss Salina ajak pegi open house rumah dia kat flat guru. So, MAKAN LAGI. After devouring the delicious laksa and nasi minyak, we went to the soccer pavilion to cheer on the guys. They were playing against the form 5 students. Seri je.. boooo!!! haha. ;p

at Astaka bola 

 For dinner, we went to a thai place nearby and had dinner with Ustaz Hassan and Teacher Haslina. It was great chatting with Teacher Haslina and she remembers my name! Kagum gila. Or maybe sebab Teacher ada facebook sy? hehehe.

My girls.. :)

Yummeeehhhh!

We checked out of the hotel afterwards (yes, suka hati nak check out mlm2 buta.. haha) and spent the night at Aspuri (girl's hostel). It was nostalgic, spending the night in the dorm. Had our pillow talk and reminisced our good ol days till we pass out.

.. and now I miss my school and my friends. *sigh*

School, sweet school. :')

Late night epiphany

Something clicked.

I CAN DO BETTER.

It's as if somebody turned on the lights in a dim room.

Homecoming Queen! (Part I)

Class of 2003 a.k.a my batch organized a homecoming/reunion/pep-talk for current form five students of our high school over the Malaysia Day weekend. Although the response from my fellow batch-mate was so-so, I could not pass up the chance to visit my alma mater, Sekolah Sains Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Pekan.

On Friday evening, Hanisah and I made our way to Pekan from KL. It was pouring as soon as we rev up our engine. It was pouring cats, dogs and pigs and since we were travelling during night time, it was bordering on dangerous. I ditched my 120km/hr habit and drove VERY carefully. We arrived at Pekan at around 10.30pm after having dinner in Kuantan. Straight away, we went to check in our hotel. Well, “hotel” would be inaccurate. More of an INN. Hehe.

The place is called Polo Inn. All other hotels/inns were fully booked and upon arriving at the inn, I quickly realized why this was the only place with vacancy. One word: CREEPY. Very low occupancy, apart from us.. I think there were only 2 other rooms being occupied. One is right next to us because we could hear the guy next door snoring thunder. haha!

It is situated at the polo field, near Sultan Abu Bakar palace. Though there were street lights along the way, but the inn itself was very grim. After sorting out our room and stuff, we headed to the brand new spanking hospital, right next to SHAH, Pekan. Takde la baru sgt.. but new to me since the “hospital” we frequent during our school days was the one in the heart of the town and now it is downgraded to “klinik desa” or smthg. Aimi was having stomach pain due to gastric and kebetulan Ustaz Hassan ada kat sana. He was accompanying a student to the hospital jugak. So, bila first time jumpa semua orang kat hospital, mmg la riuh waiting area tu. Hehe. Sorry, doc! ;p

Right after the hospital trip, we went to Aspuri (girls’ hostel) sincethe rest of my friends are staying there. Hanisah and I needed air-cond and hot shower, so.. creepy inn was our best option. Plus, the condition of the hostel was really bad. I swear, it was cleaner and prettier back then, by a mile. Nevertheless, spent some hours just talking to the girls, reminiscing our good ol’ days. When we can’t hold our eyelids open anymore, we made our way back to the inn and called it a day.

The next day, we woke up to fresh kampung air and the green polo field was gorgeous! The inn was less creepy during the day. Hehe. The trees, the grass, the air, immediately shot me back to our cross-country days. *sigh* I detested having to run that 5km from school, through the kampung, lalu this very padang polo and back to school. But now, I definitely MISS that excruciating run.

The majestic tree in front of the inn

 The driveway leading up to the inn. The blue house is the next-door neighbour

 Cik Nisa, in front of the inn

 The grass is always greener in Pekan. :) The polo field.

Glad to be on the greener side! ;p

To be continued...

Festive

It's my 1st time blogging from Blogger's iPhone apps (evetho I'm using an iPad, the iPad version of app is yet to be out) and I've gotta say it's pretty convenient.

We are now in the month of September . Nothing worth noting here but my Eid last month was awesome. Did A LOT of cooking. By a lot, I meant NON-STOP. Phew! Culinary is definitely not my career option.

Oohhh.. I managed to learn how to weave a ketupat after years of fruitless attemps, thanks to my ever so patient guru. Big shout out to Cik Nin. Woot woot! :)

After spending 5 days in Muar, I made my way to Kuantan to attend my friends' wedding, alone. I fulfilled only 2 out 4 invitations. Nevertheless, a fun Eid indeed.

Good night!

Mind My Grammar

I have been scrolling about my older posts.

My grammar... Oh lord! It's a disgrace.

Note to self: re-check your grammar before posting. (I wonder if the correct spelling is 'recheck')

Ramadhan datang lagi

Assalamualaikum readers! (ewah, mentang-mentang Ramadhan, terus bg salam. ;p weh.. x baik memain. ok. gila)

How's everybody's doing?

I'm doing good, thanks!

I bought an iPad. Yeay!

(hmm.. ape lagi ek..)

Nothing much going on, I guess.

Ok la. Bye!

Smell like...

I was ambitious yesterday, setting my alarm clock at 7.10am today. I woke up at 6am and reset it to 7.20am. I had trouble waking up immediately and took my time to close my eyes for a little while. I was jerked out of my sleep at 7.58am. I have to clock in at 8.30am.

Close-my-eyes-for-a-little-while my ass.

I jumped out of bed, reached for the towel, tried to open the bathroom door but it was locked. My brother was in there doing his usual morning ‘business’. Cursing in my head, I detoured to my mom’s shower.

As soon as I entered the shower, I sniffed this familiar smell. I saw Pink LifeBuoy’s body wash. The scent opened a dam and a wall of emotions came rushing through. The scent triggered my hippocampus to high gear and memories started to replay almost like slideshow in my mind.

SEOUL. It’s the scent of Seoul.

When I first came to Seoul, we (Nuur and I) spent a few days in Nuur’s cousin’s house. It’s a compact house with an open space that serves as study area/living room/dining room, 1 bathroom, 1 kitchenette, and 1 small upper floor just for sleeping. This smell reminds me of that cute house. Every morning we would shower with this body wash before we embark on our adventure for that day. At the end of the day, we would shower again. So, we smell like this all-day-long.

God, I miss Seoul. SORELY.

I didn’t pause to reminisce, rather, I quickly lathered the soap all over my body.

The feeling….. Oh, the feeling! It felt like home.

Since I don’t have the luxury of time, I finished my shower in exactly 4 minutes. (Hey, don’t judge my speed. I was clean, I smelled wonderful, I was good to go. ;p)

It’s casual-Friday at the office so, I scanned my room for my jeans. Of all days, the jeans were not hung on its usual hook by the closet door. I opened by closet - lo and behold, my OLD jeans. I bought these pair especially for my trip to Korea and wore it almost everyday there.

“Great, another item just to remind me of my happy days in Seoul”, was what I thought.

I have to admit, the jeans were a little eager to hug my umm.. voluptuous figure. Not wanting to waste more time, I slipped struggled into the jeans and while doing that, I was eyeing my casual tops drawer. What to wear? What to wear? What to wear?

I settled with a purple top that I bought from Seoul, just to embrace today’s Seoul-Hark-Back theme. I put in on, checked myself out in the mirror and decided I looked like Dr. Bruce Banner transforming into Hulk – nearly ripping through the seams of the clothes.

Aigooooooooo! I settled with a brown (stretchable) top that I bought in Bandung. Buzz-killer.

I didn’t even put on toner and moisturiser and scrambled to the front door exactly at 8.16am. While walking to the elevator, I took a loooooong whiff of my right arm.

I, indeed, smell like Seoul. J

p/s: In case anybody's wondering if I got to work on time.. NOT!

Mid

Dear all,

It is now the middle of June. Gosh. Where did time go? Excuse my long absence from the blogging scene. As usual, the sucky internet connection at home discouraged me from posting any pics of my trips to Redang and KK.

However, pls don't feel abandoned, dear blog for I will make it up to u. :) U just wait.

Tribute

Greetings!

My cousin, Yaya, yesterday made a remark regarding my blog:

"Kenapa awak dah tak tulis blog? Pergi Sabah, Redang sume tu. Pemalas eh!"

That's when I realised, she's right. Sorry, bloggy for the abandonment.

I'm not gonna write abt my trip to Sabah/Redang Island. I need a good 3 hrs to compose those. heheheh.

Great news, I just bought a brand new spanking LAPTOP! *woot! woot!* My old Compaq started making weird noises for the past five months, the adapter is impaired and I have too much files but too little space. Hence, my new Lenovo comes into the picture.

I am dedicating this entry to my Compaq which has been with me for the past 5 years, through college, through pupillage and through many other phases. So long, Compaq. May u find the recycling centre a great home.

Hired!

Greetings Readers!

I have a good news to share. Alhamdulillah, I am HIRED! After being unemployed for 34 days, I received the offer yesterday and immediately accepted it. I will be starting work next Tuesday (supposed to start on Monday but I'll still be in KK that morning). I wanted this job so bad since I am done braving through the horrible traffic from USJ to KL. My new office is only 10mins away. Yeay! :)

I am still in the legal line but not as a practising lawyer. Please pray that I will adapt well to the new environment and be able to be more productive in the future. InsyaAllah.

p/s: Can't wait for my family trip to KK this weekend!

Why?

One hour to 19 April. Damn, why am I so sad?

The Climb (nope, not even remotely related to Miley Cyrus or that song)

After we settled down in our new room. We immediately jumped into the lake and had a quick dip. Takut la nak berenang jauh2, since it's a lake. Mane ade landai mcm pantai.. there's a few rocks stacked up along the bank of the island but beyond the rocks, it's REALLY deep. I have bathophobia. :( We ended up masukkan badan, pegang kuat2 kat tangga, berenang 5 meter than naik darat. (pathetic..)

By noon, we were thinking we better take a look around the island instead of being cooped up in our room. Ari, he's a staff of the cottage, offered to take us to the waterfall. We were over-zealous, wanting to walk to the edge of the hills where the waterfall is situated. God's grace, right before we depart from the cottage, it drizzled. We ended up taking 2 motorcycles - Ari and Rio were our drivers (ape nak pggl org yg bwk motor eh? rider?) and rupa2nya tmpt tu jauh gila! Poyo je deorg kate boleh jalan ke sana. Mmg boleh, tp kene gerak subuh hening, pastu smpi sana tgh hr buta.

We needed to hike a mountain (ok, over. It's a small mountain. FINE. Hill.) to get to the waterfall. Why we chose to do this strenuous activity? Sila tanya Kikin. Bosan katanya. hahaha! Though it was raining, we stucked to our plan. I was a bit worried though, but kept it to myself. When asked how long does it take to get to the waterfall, they said about 20 to 45 minutes.

With Ari, our hiking guide.

Memang tak DUA jam aku mendaki gunung!!! Bohong betol..

Biase je waterfall ni.. tp sbb nak cari smthg to do, ok la.

The COLD water washed away our fatigue.

The view from the hill. This is only half-way to the waterfall. Yes, we hiked this high. Seb baik x pengsan. haha.

Small town of Tomok. This pic was taken while I was on the bike.

After our refreshing swim at the waterfall, we were feeling uber healthy. haha. Alang2 da ade 2 driver, we asked them to take us to Tomok for a short souvenir shopping since da nak maghrib. Sempat la beli t-shirt untuk diri sendiri.

Sekian, until next post.

My day

Woke up at 6.15a.m. in Rawang.

Arrived in Shah Alam at 8.30a.m.

My brother picked me up at 9.20a.m.

Went to Amcorp Mall at 10.05a.m. and bought SEVEN books! 2 from a second-hand bookstore (lingered there while waiting for BookXcess to open) and 5 from BookXcess. My boredom is over.

Arrived in Sen Heng Taipan at 12.00p.m. and bought myself an air-conditioner.

Went to Mydin Mall, USJ 1 at 1.00p.m. and bought tonnes of groceries.

Arrived home at 2.35p.m.

Cooked ayam masak kurma at 6.05p.m. and the chicken was ready at 6.55p.m.

Had dinner at 7.30p.m.

Mengantuk gila at 10.03p.m. *yawn*

"Vicious" cycle

So.. life after my short legal stint is kinda boring actually. My brother is using my car, so I can't go anywhere. Last week, I gave him my car keys along with the house keys attached to the same keychain. I was literally trapped in my own house. When the delivery man arrived, I had to ask him to pass me the food one by one through the openings of the front door gate. A papercup of coke nearly burst as I forced it between the steel bars. ;p

I spend my days watching reruns on Astro. When I'm done with past seasons of Ugly Betty and Oprah, I resort to internet. When I'm done with that, I turn on the tv again... and the "vicious" cycle continues.

Heaven.

Free woman

I am a free woman. To say that I'm having mixed feelings is such an understatement. It feels like a hundred adjectives, put in a blender, fused and compounded into a liquid of confusion. Hahaha! Well, above all.. I feel RELIEVED and ALIVE. It was such agony to come to this decision one month ago and having to mull over it from last Friday till Monday this week, was just reliving nightmare.

When I received the offer to be placed in another team, with another boss, it was a sign from God. It was a reminder of why I wanted to quit in the first place. On Monday, the first day I was back at work after reconsidering to stay on in the same firm, my feelings towards practice did not change. I resigned on the same day.

The circumstances did not and will not change even if I am working with another boss. That offer really made it crystal clear to me that my heart is not in private practice anymore.

I would never do anything differently. I am very grateful to have incredible parents whom support my decision with open hearts. I do not know if this is the right decision, but I do know that I believe in my decision.

InsyaAllah.

Bleeding ♥

*giggle*

A year has passed, he barely crossed my mind,
Yesterday, he greeted me with a smile,
I said "Hi!", turned away, and go,
Hoping that he won't see me turn red as a tomato.


Today, I saw him from the corner of my eye,
My skin tingled, my heart did a wheelie,
I hope, oh, I do hope he'd stop by,
He came into the room and talked to me. ME!!!!!!!!!!

The Cottage

While we were on the ferry that took us to Samosir Island, a young man approached us and told us to check out his hostel. I didn't make any prior bookings due to umm.. lack of credit card. haha! So, we agreed to follow him and he showed us around his hostel. For a room with twib bed and hot shower, he offered us Rp120,000/ night. That's approximately RM40 for 1 night. Dirt cheap. However, we decided to keep on walking and maybe take a look around before settling down.

We arrived at this 1 hostel. A middle-aged woman is the inn-keeper. When we asked her to show us the room right on the bank of the lake, she said smthg about it'll be waste of her energy if she shows us around but we end up not wanting to stay there. I was actually a bit scared of the lady, so I quickly refused her but she insisted on showing the room. We had to follow her around and she was really persistent in wanting us to stay the night. We gave up and decided to stay there for the night. She charged us Rp100,000 per night. FYI, I think we were the only ones staying in that hostel. SCARY!

Later that evening, after settling down in that scary hostel, we decided to check the neighbouring hostels. It turns out that the other hostels are much better than the scary hostel. We decided we would shift to the better hostel first thing in the morning.

Our "better" hostel, Samosir Cottage. Rp150,000 per night with hot shower. Trust me, you'll need hot shower in Danau Toba.

The reception area and dining place of the Cottage.


The view of Danau Toba from our balcony.



The view of the Cottage from our balcony.

We were officially in paradise. :)

The Journey To The Lake

As you know, I went to Medan to do a little bit of soul-searching (more like running away from the toxic air in KL) in February. I meant to put up my pictures earlier but work had been CUH-RAY-ZAY. The Bali post (my trip last year) will have to wait.. hahaha!

Now I know what will work. Piecemeal. Baby steps. Since my internet connection is a wee bit faster than an old man trying to cross the road, I figured.. why not do it small? :) Here goes..

My cousin, Kikin and I boarded a very early flight to Medan on Thursday. We planned to go straight to Danau Toba upon arrival and spend at least 2 days there. We did research on the internet and we were supposed to get a "bus" from the airport to the bus terminal where we could take another bus to Parapat, the town at the bank of Danau Toba.

As soon as we landed, we head out of the airport and the first thing we noticed was a KFC at a Petronas. We made a bee line to our target and totally forgot that KFC won't be open for business at 8a.m. Hahaha! Disappointed and starving, we tried to catch the "bus" to the terminal. It turns out the "bus" mentioned on-line is actually an ANGKUT. An angkut is a van with no doors and can fit up to 10 people at one time. I remember taking angkut in Bandung so, no surprise there. I bet org2 putih tu ingat ni "bus" because there is no ordinary bus in the city.

It was quite a long ride in the angkut to the terminal. Erase the normal bus terminal image in your mind. Picture uneven ground, full of pot-holes, thousands of angkuts and two buses. Oh, and literally people everywhere. Nope, they are not boarding the bus.. they are women selling bottled water, snacks and such. Well, most of the men just hang around the bus stop staring at the crowd, jumping around (yes, they jump), grooming each other (tolong kawan die cabut janggut or smthg). Basically nothing productive.. We were quite early to arrive at the bus that was taking us to Parapat. Thank God we were early or else we could have ended up seating on the floor of the bus. Right before the bus reach it bursting point, the driver finally turned on the engine. Note that there's no air-conditioning in the bus. I had little children screaming from all sides, XS seats and 5 hours journey ahead. We did ourselves a favour and promised to rent a car back to Medan.

Once we reached Parapat, we had our lunch and head to the Tiga Raja jetty to take a ferry to the island of Danau Toba, Pulau Samosir.

The view of Parapat from our ferry

Look at the angry sky.. It seems like we were at sea, with waves crashing and all. Bbrrr!

The ferry had 2 sections, indoor and outdoor. We did try to brave the wind, rain and cold but with ever passing minute, the wind seems to get wilder, the rain heavier and definitely colder. We gave up on "enjoying" the ride and took shelter in the gasolin-stenched covered area. After about 1 hour of ride, we finally reached our destination, Samosir Island at 3 p.m. Phew~

A preview of the beauty of the island. :)

To be continued...

Home

Honey, I'm home~

Lake Toba was divine. I'm beyond exhausted but it was worth it. I'll post the pics soon. :)

In the meantime, I am just feeling dreadful to go to work. I took a peek at my office mail and I have 30 unread mails. My immediate reaction is to pretend I didn't see them, closed my email and decided to deal with all the mess tomorrow. *sigh*

This stops. Tomorrow.

I am

Torn.

Confused.

Impatient.

Anxious.

Rushed.

I am lost.

Mati ke?

*takes deep breath* Here goes..

Kenapa org2 ni x reti nak cuti on Saturday and Sunday? Mati ke kalau agreement tu siap hari Isnin??? Mati ke kalau revert to your emails on Monday? Mati ke kalau aku x pegi office on Sunday morning, spend 2 hours of the road from Subang Jaya to KL, semata2 for a half-an-hour task that I can do on Monday?????????!!!!!!

You guys should know your priority.



My priority is life. Get one yourself.

Whim and fancy

My first trip on a whim. I'm departing in 6 days! :)

Guess where?

2.30 a.m.

I am still wide awake at 2.30 a.m. on a weekday. Although I need to wake up at 7 a.m., I don't care. While having nothing to do this late at night, I surfed the website of my firm and found this...

Coolness.

Decided.

I have had enough. I had my moment of clarity and what I need to do has never been so obvious. Life is all about making decisions and to say that this decision is difficult to make is an understatement.

Whatever the outcome of this decision, I only have Him to guide me. Amin.

Korea Trip Day 7 - Apgujeong, Sillim

오랜만이야~ It has been more than a year since I was in Korea. Oh, does time fly. After the long hiatus from my Korea trip posts, I present you, DAY 7. We were spending a few nights at Hyekyung's place and tonight would be our last night in Sillim. We had promised to meet up with a fellow CSer, Boram. She's interested in knowing more about Malaysia as she plans to visit here soon. (Hmm.. I wonder if she's visited Malaysia by now.) We promised to meet in Jongno-3-ga. After a warm cup of coffee and a doughnut in the good ol' Dunkin Donut, we made our way to Apgujeong. As I have mentioned in my previous post, every neighbourhood in Seoul has it's own character and charm. Apgujeong is an upscale district, evidenced by the sky-high price of real property, grandiose shopping mall (equivalent to our Pavilion, Bukit Bintang) and it being the go-to place for celebrities to get their hair and make-up done at the exclusive salons here.

I can't remember the mall's name. hehe. Apgujeong's Rodeo Street. It was nearly deserted that night. I was hoping to bump into any celebrities but even commoners were hardly around.

I was eyeing my prey - PASTRIES.

Boram actually taught us an important survival tips for travelling with shoe-string budget : FREE FOOD! Hahahahah! We can actually sample the food at the food court. The fact that the mall is on the high-end side doesn't hurt either. Being the typical hospitable Koreans, they gave us not just the small pieces of samples, we got newly-baked pastries. Few of them. I love Korean service. :)

Goofing around the emaculate powder room. Boram tried to ignore our jakun act. hehehe.

Tak mampu nak masuk Gucci. Amik gmbr je pon jadi la ek?

Earlier that day, we planned to go to the Korean sauna - jjimjilbang with Hyekyung and maybe spend the night there. I have seen countless dramas, movies and variety shows (Happy Together. hehe.) filmed in jjimjilbang. Finally, I get to experience it myself.

The staple food of jjimjilbang. RAMYUN!

After exploring the jjimjilbang, we tried laying down in the big hall where everybody sleeps. It was awkward at first but imagine sleeping with your family kat kampung, at the living room, ramai2. Instead of family, you're sleeping with strangers. hahah! I can't actually post the pictures here. Malu la. hikhik.

The floor of the jjimjilbang is heated. For Koreans, they like their skin to touch the floor. As they say, 시원한다! Believe me, after 10 minutes of laying on the floor without any lining, you'd feel as if you're in a crock pot.

At about 1 a.m. I had to retreat and headed to the second floor where they have cool chambers that would fit one person in one chamber. It's like a cave made out of cooling rocks. I took a sleeping pad, a square pillow and slept soundly in the chamber. I was quite afraid that a drunken uncle might crawl into my cave but I ignored my anxiety as my eyes were rebelling for sleep.

At around 3 a.m., I felt really cold in the chamber. So I dragged my sleeping pad and slept in the big hall again beside Nuur. I woke up at around 6 a.m. and found a man sleeping soundly beside me. I was so sleepy that I couldn't care less. Hahaha! Around 9 a.m., Nuur and I got ready to leave and Hyekyung was nowhere to be found. We knew she had to go back home early so we weren't that worried.

After a week in Seoul, we can get home from any bus stop or subway station. :)

The jjimjilbang basked in the morning sun.

Muka baru bgn tido. :) Lovely morning.

When we got home, Hyekyung immediately asked where have we been. We told her that we were still in the sauna when she left. She thought that we had left her because she can't find us in the sauna.

We told her about the stranger sleeping beside us. She thought she saw a family of three sleeping together so it didn't occur to her that it was us all along. HAHAHAHA!!!

Hyekyung's affectionate mom. She looks like a typical ahjumma right? I miss her. :)

After a quick morning shower, we packed and was ready to head to Konkuk University station to meet our next CS hosts, Chad and Sue.

New style!

안녕하새요!!!

How do you like my new layout? Ha? *nudge your elbow* Ha?

Hehe.

This is what I do on a Saturday. :)

I won. Again. Yeay.

While I was teaching Wafa how to spell "bu-nga" in Asu's house, my phone started ringing. The caller id was an unknown number. I thot, who the hell calls me from a landline, after office hours.
Me : Hello.

Caller : Hi! Is this Nurul?

Me : err.. Yes..

Caller : Hi! This is Han from Red.FM.

(WTH? I didn't even call them or send any SMS to the radio station)

Me : Huh. Uh. Hi!!! (very chirpy.)

Han : I believe that you sent 2 SMSes yesterday for our Cinepasses? Why didn't you send any today?

Me : Err.. because I'm not driving.. hehe. I am already home.

Han : Oh u're home. Great. What are you looking forward to in this movie?

(Honestly, I forgotten which movie we are talking about for a second. I can't even remember the title! hahaha. I don't know who's in it but I knew a few has-beens are in there.)

Me : Since there are a lot of guys, I'm looking forward to a lot of actions. (Nice save, Borgy!)

Han : Oh. yeah. Do you like Collin Farrel? (Ohhhhhh!! So that's the has-been!)

Me : I used to. He's old now. HAHAHA!

Han : What? Don't discriminate old guys. (He went on about how shallow of me to not like older guys.. yadda yadda..) So who do you like? Justin Bieber?

Me : Oh. God, NO! Never. (padahal nyanyi lagu Baby kat karaoke. ;p)

Han : Hahaha! Just kidding. So, I'm calling to tell you that you've won 4 tickets of 'The Way Back'!!!!! (Ohh... so that's the name of the movie.)

Me : Today?

Han: Yeah!!!

Me : Geez. Thanks! (Believe me, I was psyched but I was in my aunt's kitchen so I can't actually shriek in happiness.)

Han : Sound more enthusiastic! Shout "Woohhooo~!! Thank you, Red. FM~!!!!"

Me : Thank you!! (In falsetto) Sorry, i can't be that loud. thihihi.

Han : That's ok. You did fine. (Err.. sorry to disappoint you, Han.) Just wait for the tickets to be ready and you can collect it from our office. Thank you. Have a great evening.

Me : You too!

Am I lucky, or am I LUCKY?

Thank you, Red.FM!! woooohhhhooooooo~!!!!

PUBLISHED!

My first piece to get published by a newspaper! *up top!!!!*

tho, "piece" sounds grand, it's just a a couple hundreds words essay. but, hey! whaddaheck. I am officially PUBLISHED!!!!

check it out~

ps: this is fictional. i wasn't alone. hehehe!

7 January 2011

Today, Nurul Hidayah Binti Abdull Rahim was called to the Bar.

Alhamdulillah.

Gadgets

My material wish-list for 2011

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB

I want this bad boy so bad. I think I'm gonna spend my pupillage savings on this. It'd better be worth it.

I just checked my mail and I won the Nothing Like Australia Contest. All I had to do was to comment on the entries of the previous contest. How easy was that? Guess what I won..

Wooohhoooo!!!!! Tapi menang 1 je la.. not all 5. hehe.

2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR, DEAR READERS!!!

MAY WE HAVE A GREAT YEAR AHEAD..

:)