Sunday, January 03, 2010

Trip to KL, Cameron Highlands, Malacca

25-27 December 2009

Day 1 - 25 December 2009

After 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 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

It 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.

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.

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 2009

En 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.

Damai Secondary AV X'mas Party

24 December 2009

Damai Secondary School Audio Visual Club Alumni held a Christmas gathering at Stacey's house. It must have been 2 years since I met with my lovely juniors.
The party was very well organised. Enter the house and the Taboo Words game kicks into action.

I scored pretty badly initially but managed to get many of them to say the taboo words. The top accumulators of taboo words faced forfeits.

The food was awesome. The turkey and ham were delicious!

Halfway through the party, Ziyang, Chee Lee and I went to a neighbouring block with the hope of locating our long lost AV Club member Lois Lin. We knocked on every unit on the floor, but our efforts were in vain.

Not forgetting the gift exchange.

YP International Relations Social Gathering Nite

23 December 2009

It had been some time since I met up with the Sichuan Kakis. Early this year, a group of us went to Chengdu, Sichuan, China for a bonding trip.

Bumped on to Hwee Ping while figuring out my way to Tori Toma, One Fullerton. What a coincidence.

Joel the Santa Claus did a surprise wedding proposal, and of course the answer was "I do".

Christmas for Kg Chai Chee Toastmasters

22 December 2009

Kg Chai Chee Toastmasters club had a mini Christmas celebration at the last chapter meeting of 2009.

Mdm Sim wrapped some gifts for fellow Toastmasters to ballot and pick them.

We enjoyed a log cake together.

The Table Topics session was also Christmas-themed.

And I guess my best Christmas gift by Toastmasters would be my Competent Communicator award. Look forward to embarking on the advanced manuals!

MPS Christmas Gift Exchange

21 December 2009

He is a Singaporean citizen with a foreign wife. She is now 9-month pregnant and owns an expired visa. No airline will allow her to travel.

He was retrenched by his company and promised a repayment sum, which had not been paid. Heavily laden with debts and having to pay for divorced wife's alimony, he is struggling to tide through each day.

They are among the residents who came to see the Member of Parliament to seek help at the weekly Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS). Being able to listen to their woes, make them feel better, and pushing their cases to the relevant agencies make my Mondays a satisfied one.

After all the residents had returned home, MPS volunteers stay back late, way past 12am, to ensure that appeal letters are promptly sent out.

MP Zainul Abidin Rasheed reads every letter, before signing them. He would always be the last person to leave the place.

In celebration of Christmas, some of us held a Christmas gift exchange.

Jasmine does the honour of labeling the gifts for balloting.

Received a glue stick as a gift....