Thursday, May 26, 2005
Tekam
Quite a lot to say...
My Malaysia trip wasn't as good as i hoped. We had a terrible tour guide who really just ruined everything for us. Firstly, we paid for a 3 star hotel as part of our package. When we got there, the hotel was a far cry from 3 stars. It looked more like a hostel, and most of it was under construction! Disgusting brown water came out from our taps, and i felt dirtier after bathing. See the irony? Felt stupid brushing my teeth also. The water tasted so bad that i nearly wanted to puke. I had to rinse my mouth with mineral water after that. Meals at our hotel were horrendous! It's unhygenic, unappetising and unfresh. The whole place was swarming with all sorts of bugs from the usual houseflies to the evil weevil, of which i found one on my bread. The plantation tour wasn't any better. The tour guide talks as if they're so proud (they probably are) of their plantation, "malaysia this, malaysia that, biggest in the world" crap, and he goes on and on and on about 3 different types of oil palms, Dura, Pesifera and dunno what other crap palm lah, but i felt like asking him which part of my face spells the words, "i'm interested". Urgh, it was terribly boring, certainly not my kind of 'holiday'. We were CHEATED! Yes, we were. By the tour guide. First he says we'll go kayaking. We ended up in some retarded team-building exercise place for youths, and we all ended up making our own raft with barrels and sticks, you know, like those OBS things lah. So much for travelling 6 hours to pahang to do something we could have done back home for cheaper and better. After that we were promised flying fox. Like, "yay". It was pathetic. The equipment was wet because a previous group used it to cross the river. The ride down was short, slow and nothing out of the ordianry. I've been to better ones, like in Perth, where i flew fox down a hill over fields in a valley over cattle herds. Now THAT is flying fox. The one at Tekam (pahang) is flying chicken. And speaking of chicken, the tour guide explained to us that when a snake at the plantation is about to attack, it'll make the same sound as a rooster (go figure). We (the youths) started joking around, making a snake action with our hands and making a crazy rooster sound. It was hilarious!
The next day was even more disappointing! We had our usual depressing breakfast before heading about 2 hours to some ulu place with a big river. Ah yes, we were supposed to visit the tree-top canopy thing. Sounds exciting enough to me, because he promised us a canopy walk, kayaking (we didn't know we already did it) and river rafting. We hiked about an hour and a half in the forest, stopping occasionally to wait for the adults as well as to hear eddie (the tour guide) rant about tongkat ali and the other uninteresting native plants. Finally, we reached the canopy walk, but the entire place was swarming with pests like bugs and tourists! It was so crowded that eddie told us we couldn't go on it. That moron. Talk about him having 12 years experience, my foot! He should know that it would be this crowded and thus pan the trip earlier. But he didn't. Unreliable madness. After that we disappointedly made our way to the jetty where we were to catch a boat to some place for lunch. We ended up waiting almost a whole hour for the boat, but luckily andrew impressed all the aunties and uncles with his iSound and Zen Touch, and we burst out in merry singing of Don Moen and Hillsongs. We also met an Englishman who was a Christian as well and he was very friendly. We invited him to our church, so who knows, we might see him again someday when he visits Singapore again. We got to the lunch place where we had meal of rice and a few dishes. That was probably one of the better meals of the trip, as we were all very hungry by then. We also played the guessing number game, with Joanne, our new friend we met on the trip. She's a Christian also. We had great fun in fellowship and we did truth or dare as well. Cheryl's brother Alvin got saboed so his dare was to go to his aunty janet and ask for her number. It was quite funny. After lunch it was back on the boat again. We were expecting the boat to take us to the waterfall or to another place where we could do river rafting as promised. Of course none of that was fulfilled. In fact, the boat made a super long detour on the river, then made a u-turn. Twice it did that. How very annoying and boring. Oh here's the worst part. The youths were quite upset after the boatride to nowhere that we approached eddie and demanded out kayaking. And he innocently replied, "sure, up to you, you choose what you want to do". So okay, we got what we wanted, or at least we thought we did. It was another 2 hours bus ride back to tekam and it was already almost dark by the time we got there. And guess what?? There was NO kayaking!! Why? Because it was vesak day!! I mean, gee how was i to know that? You as the tour guide know about it and you didn't tell us?? And even worse, because it was dark already and the pahang town was another few hours drive away, we were simply told, "no dinner". FUCK how convenient.
What an unpleasant trip.
10:34 AM |
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- the lovers, the dreamers and me -
Friday, May 13, 2005
130505
Oooh today's Friday the 13th, but a somewhat good day for me! Haha..
Let's see, reached camp at around 0745hrs. Went to office, changed into uniform. Then idled. Yup, that's what we do during the non busy seasons in our office. Today's highlight has definately got to be the HLS run. Well, it's my branch together with 2 and 3 to organise this week's run, so of course i got to get involved. And at the same time, it was really awesome to know that i've gotten to know the rest better, ppls like paul, ray, joel, derren, YX and edward. Also got to know zhikang a tiny bit better when i was helping him with some claims. I really hope to get to know everyone in the building better. It's really great having friends and knowing more ppls. Now i have to work on getting to know the 1, 4, 32 and engineers better as well. But anywho, unlike me, some people just choose to make a bad name for themselves instead. Ahem, i'll bet you know who i'm talking about. Yes, Al. You see, i really don't know what's with him but i think he's really got an attitude problem. I tried to talk to him today, explain the HLS thing nicely and start things over again. He didn't have his PTKit which i advised him to either borrow or use his points to get a set. But no, so he rather stupidly went to see warrant J, and was then told to carry out duties (under the hot sun) in his number 3. Bah, what could be worse than standing under a 34 deg sun in your number 3?? He was doing water point, whereas the rest of us were marshallers. Yay! today was my first time marshalling. I got to wear the bright orange vest (felt important wearing that), hold a funky red flag (got bored after a while), and use a (very heavy) walkie talky! The walkie talky part was fun. There was a misunderstanding about checkpoints so i ended scaling back and forth the carpark about twice, but that was alrite, i had a great workout doing that. And we just chatted and fooled around with the talkies. OH! I nearly forgot. Al tried to pick a fight with Edward! Haha. Ray said, "pick a fight with edward, he never die b4 ah?"..which i thought was totally hilarious, cos Edward's this quite big sized almost ah beng fella. But he's really quite a nice fella la. I'm quite surprised that i, being quite a different person from him, can get along pretty well. So yeah. Ed seems to dislike Al for some reason, so during the afternoon when we were unloading the storeroom for the HLS stuff, Ed didn't know Al couldn't lift heavy things so he sorta hinted Al to help, in a casual but slightly "DuH" manner. But of course Al as always, took it the wrong way. And challenged back. And Warrant J and ray thought Al was scolding me!! Haha so they asked me to rest at the side and let the rest do the work! Haha i mean, okay i was pretty much happy doing my stuff but Al had to be himself. Bah, no comment. Yeah, then later on at the cookhouse where we went to get ice and water, i challenged myself at carry 2 HUGE jerrycans of water back to the land rover. 3 words, "don't pray pray!" Carrying just one with one hand is enough to make you go off balance, which is why i took 2 Haha. But i must admit, it was a great workout for my arms, which i have been trying to tone up. Oh well, all in a day's work. So yeah, the ride on the land rover was quite enjoyable la. Joel sparked an ice war by slipping one down ray's back Haha. Then paul got it, then i got it. Actually wanted to carry on on joel, but his tshirt couldn't so i just dumped the ice. After the run it was pack up time, and it was really just great hanging out with the bunch, cycling round the TC in the winding corridors. Don't know why but it reminded me a lot about the road safety park. Overall, i'm just glad to say that this has been a fantastic day, and i really thank God for allowing me to meet such nice ppls at my camp. Well, i don't know why but lately, i'm starting to feel sorry for Al. You know, he's really a bit...insecure? I dunno, maybe not. But he seems to have gone thru some cases before about not fitting in and stuff. I mean, who could blame him, with an attitude like that. But maybe he should just learn and humble himself just a little while. Nobody really means any harm, it's just the way he carries himself. It's just so..unfriendly and cynical and just plain horrible. Sure, i forgive him for making my life in office crappy since he came, but i really hope he'll see what he's been doing and really change for the better. U know i really don't like seeing anyone having no friends. And i don't want to be the cause of it. So if anyone happends to stumble accross this blog entry, i just want you to know that i'm trying to make life as comfortable for the both of us. End of story.
9:57 PM |
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- the lovers, the dreamers and me -
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Exasperated
I feel so exasperated.
Not that i can say that this life sucks, because it doesn't. I mean, i do have a lot to look forward to, i've got good friends and a great family, what more can i ask for?
But gosh, it really just sucks being a clerk. I hate being a clerk. I've always secretly wanted to be a commando you know? It's cool. I mean, i've always enjoyed an active life since my younger days, hiking, cycling, exploring, you know, all those stuff that i used to do in the scouts? I love em, and i miss them so much. But sigh, now that i've been BRANDED Pes E9L9, i must be handicapped right? I mean, i'm really less than a step away from being exempted from national service. So what difference does it make anyway, comparing me with someone in Pes B for example. I don't see a major difference on the outside. But on the inside, sure my heart may not be as functional as his, but that doesn't mean that i'm not capable of doing anything more than wasting my time in a claustrophobic pathetic little office. You know what being Pes E means for me? Prior to hearsay, it's harder for me to get promotions, which means longer or almost never getting an allowance above $420 a month. And you know what? I also heard that Pes E ppls won't be sent for courses, like computer or whatever crap. I mean, this is discrimination and i am unhappy! This is my blog, and i rant all i want about how i feel. And yes i am well aware that whatever i'm saying may get into the hands of the authorities. But what am i saying? I'm not defaming anyone. I'm just exposing what discrimination we have here. What is this man?! I'm extremely upset. Oh. And today i found out that my stupid retarded monster understudy gets to go to island for some special visit event. Great isn't it? My superiors seem to favor him over me. I wonder if it has got anything to do with the fact that i was POSTED here and that he was HAND PICKED to join the office? Hmmm i really do wonder. I think i am the most misunderstood, most under-rated, most unappreciated, but by no means the least important member of this organisation. I mean, look at me. If you know me, you will know what kind of person i am. I enjoy my work and due to my personal Christian beliefs, i try my best to do whatever i can to the best of my God-given abilities, not to please men but to honor my God. So why am i being seen as such a low creature here? There's really more to me than what you see behind this unattention seeking face. Oh Lord, when will they see, when will they see???
2:46 PM |
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- the lovers, the dreamers and me -
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Just a few thots...
Well, past few days have been ordinary. Nothing interesting or exceptionally boring. Just doing my work as per normal.
A lil upset at myself for...wait, okay VERY upset at myself for not being able to discipline myself to study!! Alrite i truthfully loathe studying, but sigh, it has to be done. Okay, 2 subjects i have, Media Studies and Sociology, the former being 100 times more boring than the latter. Sociology is really rather interesting, but it requires lots of reading up, something which i have not been doing. I think i should start punishing myself if i don't get down to doing what's really important. Media Studies isn't any better. I find myself staring at the book, completely not understanding a single word it says!! Do u know ho upsetting that can be?! I'm not trying to point fingers, but the lecturer for this subject is really quite a doofus?! As in okay, in class, he would just read from the book. *slaps head. Hello?! My grandma can do that too!! Pathetic. And his explanations are just so shallow! Reflects a lot on his understanding of the topic himself. How on earth did he land in a job teaching media studies when he knows nuts about it?! Sack him i'd say!
Okay. Won't dwell on that thought anymore. Sigh. It's like...life is great. Really. I've got love from my friends and family. But it's just those little little things that you do yourself that make you upset. Like not being able to get down to studying or not accomplishing something that you really wanna do. But that's life isn't it? Jon, stop running away from reality. Wake up and smell the coffee cos you're moving at 200km/h in the wrong lane!!! Sigh, i need a revival. Breathe on me, breath of God.
12:01 PM |
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- the lovers, the dreamers and me -