25-27 December 2009Day 1 - 25 December 2009After 3 hours of sleep, I dragged myself up to spend the Christmas long weekend in Malaysia with Mother and Baohui. The tour is organised by Eunos Zone '3' Residents' Committee.
Just about 2 weeks ago, I went to Malaysia to attend the One Asia Forum and WAY 60th Anniversary Celebrations. Memories of Malaysia were still vivid in the mind.
Our tour guide, Bernard Yeo, is a very experienced one. His sharing of his knowledge on Malaysia really engaged us tourists. He also has a great sense of humour. Referring to the old cars in Malaysia, he said, "马来西亚的车是没有投胎的" (Malaysian cars don't undergo reincarnation), unlike Singapore cars which have to be scrapped after 10 years.
At Kuala Lumpur, we visited the National Monument. It was constructed to commemorate the heroes who lost their lives fighting against the Communists, led by the Malayan Communist Party. The communist insurgency ended with a peace negotiation between Malaya and Thailand. The communists were given plots of land in Southern Thailand. Those who returned to Malaysia had to face imprisonment.
The park adjacent to the monument had this ASEAN sculptures that were created by a Singaporean.
Next, we visited Malaysia's largest Chocolate paradise - Cocoa Paradise.
We tasted samples of chocolates of coconut, durian, strawberry and sesame flavours. Too bad they didn't provide samples for the Hot Curry chocolate. Couldn't imagine how it would taste like.
Before checking into the hotel, we spent some time shopping at the Megamall.
At night, we walked around Sungei Wang.
And had our supper at the roadside. The Hokkien Mee is totally black, with sauce and whatever is on the "seasoned" wok. Awesome!
Day 2 - 26 December 2009It was a great morning. The travelling to Cameron Highlands was smooth and without delays. Although it was a festive season, we didn't experience traffic jams.
We pulled over at a warehouse for a break.
We drank strawberry coffee and tea.
For the first time in my life, I ate raw corn. It was crispy and sweet and feels real healthy.
Before departing to the next stop, we drank some water cress tea.
Some random cabbage:
We also visited a bee farm. The bees at this farm roam freely around the whole farm, so as to enable the flowers to be cross-pollinated.
According to the sales attendant, hot honey water can help soothe sore throats but the cold version can cause phlegms.
Bees & Honey
On our way to Cactus Valley, we encountered a traffic jam and missed its closing time.
So we ended up checking out the shops instead.
Tomatoes:
Cactus:
Grapes:
And Hydroponics:
For dinner, we had steamboat vegetable buffet. Consuming plates after plates of vegetable really purifies the body.
Day 3 - 27 December 2009En route to leaving Cameron Highlands, we passed Kampong Raja, the largest town there and also Tanah Rata (flat land).
Tea Plantation:
The tour group took a group photo at Malacca:
Malacca is well-known for its Peranakan culture. The architecture of minarets of mosques have a strong Chinese influence. The traditional Nonya would don 3 hair pins, representing the 3 countries of heritage - namely, China, Indonesia and Britain. In Penang, the Nonyas would don 5 hair pins, which represent Myanmar, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Britain.
Had the delicious Chendol.
Attended the Club Officers Training II at Leng Kee Community Centre.
Learnt something new:
Lin Qiang came a long way to fulfilling his dream to be a pilot. After a setback during Secondary 2 when he failed English and had to be channeled to Normal Academic stream. Since then, he worked hard for his sole aim of being a pilot. He aced in his "O" Levels, entered Serangoon Junior College, where he took up leadership position in his CCA, won awards for SRJC in shooting competitions, and was commended for his outstanding academic achievements.
So here we are at Changi Airport sending Lin Qiang off as he departs to the airbase at Tamworth, Australia for the Air Grading Course.
Youth Executive Committee (YEC) members of Aljunied GRC & Hougang SMC had a dialogue at The Serangoon with Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister, Prime Minister's Office, Second Minister for Finance & Transport and MP for Aljunied GRC.
After Mrs Lim shared her opening remarks, the various YECs presented their focus areas for 2010.
After the dialogue, we then met our other YEC counterparts from Tampines GRC and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC at the North East District YECs Gathering.
People's Association Youth Movement (PAYM) Central Youth Council (CYC) Chairperson & Pasir Ris-Elias CC YEC Chairperson Lina Chong shared about her experiences as a young grassroots leader and how her YEC members were behind her when she was at her down moment. Lina also won the prestigious Singapore Youth Award in 2009.
Hua Lian Gong temple held an auction dinner beside Blk 150 Bedok Reservoir Road. It's really a weird timing to hold it at New Year's Eve, but the crowd was still supportive and the bidding was ongoing.
Eunos Zone '3' RC members and family also gathered at the RC centre for a 2010 countdown, with steamboat meal sponsored by our RC Secretary Mr Yap.
Pristine, Jordan and I embarked on our ambitious mission on revamping the youth room at Eunos Community Club.
It was quite a challenge, having to source for the most value-for-money furniture. There were so many different shelves and cupboards, that we were practically walking in a maze.
To save cost, we had to give up bringing this ideal cupboard back as we would have to pay for delivery.
To give ourselves a treat for the hard work, we rewarded ourselves with the delicious hotdog bun and the Ikea smooth ice-cream!
At Kuala Lumpur, we visited the National Monument. It was constructed to commemorate the heroes who lost their lives fighting against the Communists, led by the Malayan Communist Party. The communist insurgency ended with a peace negotiation between Malaya and Thailand. The communists were given plots of land in Southern Thailand. Those who returned to Malaysia had to face imprisonment.
The statue shows victorious Malayan soldiers stepping on defeated Communists and waiving the Malaysian flag proudly.
The park adjacent to the monument had this ASEAN sculptures that were created by a Singaporean.
Next, we visited Malaysia's largest Chocolate paradise - Cocoa Paradise.
We tasted samples of chocolates of coconut, durian, strawberry and sesame flavours. Too bad they didn't provide samples for the Hot Curry chocolate. Couldn't imagine how it would taste like.
Before checking into the hotel, we spent some time shopping at the Megamall.
At night, we walked around Sungei Wang.
And had our supper at the roadside. The Hokkien Mee is totally black, with sauce and whatever is on the "seasoned" wok. Awesome!
Day 2 - 26 December 2009
We pulled over at a warehouse for a break.
We drank strawberry coffee and tea.
For the first time in my life, I ate raw corn. It was crispy and sweet and feels real healthy.
Our next stop was a Water Cress plantation. Father used to cook water cress soup for us as its a cooling drink. I finally get to see how a living water cress look like.
Before departing to the next stop, we drank some water cress tea.
Some random cabbage:
We also visited a bee farm. The bees at this farm roam freely around the whole farm, so as to enable the flowers to be cross-pollinated.
Bees & Honey
On our way to Cactus Valley, we encountered a traffic jam and missed its closing time.
So we ended up checking out the shops instead.
Tomatoes:
Cactus:
Grapes:
And Hydroponics:
For dinner, we had steamboat vegetable buffet. Consuming plates after plates of vegetable really purifies the body.
Day 3 - 27 December 2009
The tour group took a group photo at Malacca:
Malacca is well-known for its Peranakan culture. The architecture of minarets of mosques have a strong Chinese influence. The traditional Nonya would don 3 hair pins, representing the 3 countries of heritage - namely, China, Indonesia and Britain. In Penang, the Nonyas would don 5 hair pins, which represent Myanmar, Thailand, China, Indonesia and Britain.
