Cameron highlands.. a place to convert strawberry lovers into haters... (pt. 2 - PICTURES!)

As promised (for i am a man of my word :P), here is part 2 of the Cameron trip coverage. Here are the 'wonderful' pictures that 'captured the moment' of my trip to Cameron, and mostly with my 'Davey/David Jones hat' (my father calls that hat as such in homage to one of the guys who defended the Alamo, who wore suh a hat) on which was a long lost relic from my childhood, which, sadly, was more popular than the person wearing it itself..:( but seriously pardon me for the many cam whoring pictures. Wait a minute why am i apologizing? according to my commandments, this is MY blog and I can do whatever the hell I want! Bleargh! :P All in all, I finally became a child again! WOOHOO!! For more information, refer to Part 1.

Me posing with my hat at the waterfall

Me being a God of Tranquility at the MARDI research centre

The colonial style English cottage (forgot to ask what it actually was, for i was totally engrossed taking pictures) which was situated at the MARDI research centre

The English style garden, also at that place. Was totally awesome!!

The view of the horizon in the morning, at the place where we spent the night. Clouds creating an awesome 'sky is falling' illusion

Now a picture of me viewing the BOH tea plantation, as if i own it.. One day, Ezzedin.. One day.

The second picture at the BOH tea plantation, this time a Titanic moment.. 'I'm flyinggggg!'

All in all, an excellent trip. I do wish I could do it again, this time with my family, or some of my close Uni friends (of which very few exist), for it would be so much fun. Though prunes and those trying to 'act macho', or 'act gedik' are not allowed ab initio, and shall be shot on the spot and dumped en route if discovered along the way on the trip.:P Will keep posting on this blog if there happens to be any interesting trips. FB out!

EzzE

Cameron highlands.. a place to convert strawberry lovers into haters... (pt. 1 - itinery & chronology of events)

Now i know its a bit late to write about this (a week to be exact) but then again a reminder to those who forgot; that i am the owner of my own bloody blog and i can do whatever the hell i want, whenever i want to. Anyways, i went to Cameron highlands on a last minute day trip with my friends from when i did my attachment. They just completed their legal aid , which is something i found out we law peepz will have to do after graduating (including a FUCKING ETHICS CLASS. shoot me, right now.), and the whole group decided to go on a trip to cameron highlands, being led by their Indian supervisor Mr. Mani (more on him later). The itinery went something like this..

DAY 1

0800-supposed gathering at Sentral, bus due to leave by around 0830 to 0900, which happened to leave at...

0930-bus finally got on its way. Slept most of the time, apart from the occasional jolting and scouring around for snacks, which i thankfully stocked up.. MMMmmmmmMMM smarties....

12++-reached the halfway point, at this waterfall which had a wierd name that i sadly forgot. Had nasi lemak there, and took some pictures. Climbed up a hell of alot of stairs, almost causing indigestion, and managed to be a sucessful haggler when i bought a wooden toy gun (managed to bring down the price from 10 to 8 ringgit.. Am i good or what? :P) All in all a nice stop, and had fun cam whoring there..

13++-the bus set foot again to meander further uphill, missing near accidents and close shaves. Almost fell off the steep ravines on the way up.

1430-reached some form of civilisation. What i meant was farms selling Strawberries and all sorts of fruits, and more strawberries- with ice cream, whipped cream, by itself, in yoghurt, in chocolate, with honey, blended into shakes, with biscuits, on wafer, on a salad, or even dried. (A particularly blur moment occured when i enquired with a little old lady selling fruits on whether the cherry tomato she was selling was actually a cherry or a tomato.. Poor lady. And in the end i didnt buy anything from her.:P). Also managed to get my friend who was doing attachment, to belanja me strawberries with yoghurt and honey which was simply exquisite!

1530-left the first of many strawberry farms to come, and carried on, encountering the first and last fast food stall to be seen, EVER. And it was a KFC for god's sake!!

1630-stopped at a MARDI (Malaysian Agricultural Research & Development Institute. Or at least thats what i think it is) research centre. Poor guy having to give informative walk through of the many plants cultivated at Cameron, while most of us, including and especially yours truly, was busy being a kid taking loads of pictures of myself posing with the landscape of which u shall lay your eyes on later on in this post..:) Of all the setbacks, this has got to be one of the redeeming factors of the cameron trip..

1730-left MARDI, and headed to our hotel, which was coincidentally owned by one of the peep's distant relatives who were tempting us to bludgeon them to death (reasons shall be discussed at the 1800 slot).

1745-turns out the bus couldn't go up the hill to the hotel with us in it coz there was a sign that didnt allow vehicles exceeding 6 tons to go up the hill (a point to ponder is that the bus's unladen weight is 10 to 11 tons, and surprisingly, it went up the fucking hill with no problems).. Back to the story, so we had to WALK UP THE BLOODY HILL WITH OUR BAGS!! THANK GOD I TRAVELLED LIGHT (which i shall regret at around 1830 to 1900).

1800-now, the snobbish accomodation owners fucked up our day. Here we are, all breathless climbing up the hill with our luggage, only to be told that we cant have the BBQ we were planning to make coz: a) the guys bungalow we were staying for the night is a strict no cooking area. b) there was a gazebo to have a BBQ with a conventional stove, only problem being OUR GRILL WAS A FUCKING ELECTRIC ONE. c) the kitchenettes for bungalows were FULLY BOOKED. And the only place that cooking can take place is at the service apartments where the girls were gonna be in. So much for BBQ. After being drenched by the rain on our parade, we headed to our respective places for some much needed R&R (and for most of the people, a much needed BATH).

1830-ok now we found out the bungalow was a farce. The bungalow was actually divided into EIGHT. our compartment consisted of a hall and 2 rooms. The plan was that the Malay guys and Indian guys were to share a unit (something about them shall be brought to light at around 0030). Another unit of the bungalow is shared by the Chinese guys and Indian girls, and the service apartment is cohabited by the Malay girls and the Chinese girls. The owners then came up to check on us, telling us that soaps and towels aren't provided (here is the reason why i regretted travelling light) and to not make noise after 11. And we thought Mahallahs were horrible.. We soon freshened up and left for the girls' apartment at...

2000-arrived at the girls' apartment only to find the food that was supposed to be completed was not. So we hung out and had fun chatting our tonsils off while our tummies started a choir till...

2110-Dinner is served.. Bon appetit.. The food cooked by the girls who were stuffed in the kitchen like sardines was amazing! splendid!! ate to our hearts content and hung out some more and chatted with each other until...

0000-everyone was full, woozy and a couple of kilos heavier. So the guys decided to head back. I was hoping to feel the cold, but in truth it wasn't as cold as i expected (probably coz i had extra layers of fat to protect me). The Malay guys, some with their girls, me alone with my 'imaginary girl', decided to hang out with them while the Indian guys went back first.

0030-i left the guys coz i was getting nauseous seeing their lovey dovey endeavours with their couples and since i wanted to give them space, headed back to the room. Upon reaching the room, i went in, only to be greeted by the sight of DRUNK INDIANS. ALL THE FUCKING INDIANS INCLUDING THE STUPID SUPERVISOR WERE DRUNK!!!! Was a hairy moment passing by them, and im glad to report i wasn't hurt. In the room i decided to bathe WITHOUT A HEATER, something i regretted. The blood rushed out of my poor hands at that time, and my heart was beating as if it was about to explode.. Lol..

DAY 2

0600-woke up, freshened up and bathed, this time with a heater.

0700-headed out to the girls apartment again and awaited breakfast before visiting all the farms. Indian guys were hung over and didnt come with us. Phew.

0900-aftr breakfast, we left to the first destination, BOH tea plantation!!

0930-reached the tea plantation, and was greeted by an obnoxious Indian BOH guide by the name of Parthi. Was gonna reshape his face actually, coz he was a cocksure son of a gun who was very rude to us. He even demeaned his own companies products, like the tea bags and flavoured tea! But the plantation itself was F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.. The view was splendid, the food was nice, and so was the tea! The scenery though... Fantastic.. Again one more redeeming factor of the trip.

1100-left the tea plantation and headed to a bee farm. I managed to have a chat with the bus driver who was still remorseful after seeing me climb up the hill the day before (see 1745, Day 1) and so, i managed to make him feel even more guilty to the extent that he bought me a drink as a sign of apology.:P the farm itself was so boring we were there only till..

11.30-left the stupid bee farm and headed to *GASP* another strawberry farm... We were there for only 30 minutes, and majority of the journey involved walking quite a distance downhill to our bus. Interestingly on the journey down, we came across a medley of items and interesting consummables. Like a fried stall selling nice fried food like fresh potato chips on a long stick, footlong sausages and some nuggety stuff with cheese and mushrooms inside! and we could choose the flavour of our fried foodstuff too!! And oh.. many other crappy shops trying to cash in on the strawberry craze..

1300-we finally left that area, and headed off downhill. But before really setting off on our perilous journey downhill, we stopped by a flower shop. There, my friends and i tormented this small Chinese boy entrusted to run a flower shop. We asked so many questions till he was clearly flummoxed not knowing who and what to answer. Poor guy.. I managed to ask the driver to wait coz i wanted to take an a la Hindustani pose at the back of the shop where there was a rusty metal bridge overlooking a nice lake. Only after i boarded (much to the annoyance of everyone else who had already boarded the bus) did we REALLY make our way downhill.

13++-1800- the trip was so long, we all slept throughout the journey back and there wasnt much to report anyway from this point onwards. It was just that everyone dreaded heading back to civilisation and reality coz despite all the foibles, it was actually an awesome escape from the dreariness of our daily lives.

All in all i really felt it was money well spent. My only wish was that it could have been alot longer. Coz a day was surely not enough. But i did successfully return back to my childhood days, and it was something i cherish and shall treasure forever. Thats one thing i can really thank Cameron for. For giving me back my childhood, albeit for a brief moment. But just having a taste of how it was being a total child again was a really rewarding and gratifying feeling, especially bearing in mind that our childhood is slowly slipping away from our fingers as we slip further into the maw of adulthood and resonsibilities.

Lessons learnt that would be of use to others:

1)cameron highland ladies, especially the older ones, prefer to be called mak cik rather than kak. They dont buy our efforts of flattery and dismiss our haggling skills ab initio.:(

2)when going up, be sure to have your consumption of strawberries cut off, perhaps around 5 years beforehand, for i swear you will be sick of it when you are there. When you get down, like me, you will vow to knock out the teeth of people who ever utter the 'S' word to you, and you will not want strawberries for another couple of years to come....

3)wearing a furry cap with a tail at the back often gets you attention, and many smiles and friends, especially fellow cam whores.

4)if you have to ever share a room, never ever EVER share it with an Indian, let alone an Indian guy, unless he isnt a drinker, or is a Muslim.

5)never, ever EVER go to the place we stayed at. The name of the place is Arabella Hotel. It's atrocious, with rules set out even worse than a Mahallah. So if you wanna enjoy your trip, i would advise you to give that lousy excuse of a lodging spot a miss.

6)be sure to bring a camera, for Cameron shall bring out the cam whore in you!

7)never ever believe the hype that its cold up there. Sad truth is, IT'S NOT. (maybe im just speaking for myself, with my extra blubber) But i didn't think it was THAT cold...

8)now don't be trying to act all macho and shit, trying to bathe without a heater there, at night. Coz you will absolutely DIE of the cold, and it will suck the life out of you. But, if you still think you are more macho than me who tried and survived, then by all means, go ahead. But don't say i didnt warn you.:P

9)try to ask others to drive when going up or down, and never use your car, if you wanna prevent any potential fender benders, or its utter destruction. Well the destruction of any car would also mean your death. Urmm.. Just ask a competent driver to drive u up. NEVER GO THERE IF YOU STILL HAVE A 'P' PLATE, AND IF YOU JUST LEARNT DRIVING. You'll most probably end up in a ditch burning to death, that is, if the fall itself didn't kill you yet.

10)never trust good looking muscular guys. They are perverted and selfish, often exploiting girls who are dumb enough to fall for their rippling muscles. My trip to Cameron subjected me to witness such atrocities with my own eyes.. The HORROR!

Ok now thats all for part 1, part 2 will show the pictures that 'captured the moment' of Cameron highlands. So stay tuned! FB out..

EzzE

Christmas - a time for joy, jubilation and fond memories..

Christmas is here again, and another year is coming to a close. For me, christmas has always been a special moment, despite me not being a Christian, and it all started years ago when i was still a small kinder (which is kid in german, not the bloody tasty chocolates!! talking about chocolates.. sluppp..).....

Long long ago, before the advent of video games as we know today (we only had the stupid thing that could play tetris, or known to us as 'brick game' :P), the raging hormones of today, and the gore and violence surrounding our daily lives, i was a young boy, fresh from changing kindergartens (from an islamic one to a christian one nonetheless, mostly due to the fact i was totally freaked out because the teacher started implementing the rotan..) anyway, when i moved to the new kindergarten, all the christian teachings got absorbed into this impressionable young mind, which gave my parents a scare, thus changing my kindergarten again.. But for that brief moment, i learnt the value of christmas from teachers and peers alike; THAT WE ARE ENTITLED TO GET PRESENTS! :P

So from that moment onwards, i bugged my parents into celebrating Christmas, and they, upon seeing a doe-eyed boy bubbling with excitement on the prospects of joining in with the festivities, and not wanting to break his little heart on the foundations of religion, gave in and soon the family of 3+1 (my bro was an infant that time, god knows how he felt) started getting into the christmas mood..

The memories... We used to use a pitiful plastic tree as our 'Christmas tree' (the funny thing was that this tree also soon became our very own Raya tree!!), garnished it with raya lights as opposed to christmas lights, hung christmas ornaments on its plastic coated wire branches, and stuck stuffed toys within its measly lousy excuse of a bark made from an unknown (or unrecalled) material. It was during that time when the lights would be switched on, and we would play a tape full of christmas carols which has been lost along the sands of time. That was also the time i pestered my parents, my dad usually relenting, much to the chagrin of my mother, (and my beloved grandma, affectionately known as 'baba', depicting her heritage) into getting me prezzies.. Oh the joy of getting prezzies, especially those you want, also being with our loved ones, was an inexplicable euphoria that remains imprinted in my mind till this very day.

And i guess its this euphoria that makes christmas such a joyous occasion for everyone. Whether its hanging out with friends, getting prezzies, or even just savouring the holiday itself, christmas should be enjoyed by one and all..

Sure our religion does not allow us to believe in the history of it, and no one is actually claiming as such. But for one to look down on, and to not allow people to join in the festivities and spread the joy and jubilation of a holiday such as this is clearly the workings of an extremely cold hearted person (or a person being jealous of others being happy, or is allergic to happiness, or is a bloody prune, of which many exist around me:P). Happiness is never a right of one, with the exclusion of others; it should be shared and spread like an epidemic, for happiness is something more valuable than wealth itself. That, my dear peers, is my two cents on Christmas. So before, i hit the sack, id like to wish everyone irrespective of religion - merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. HO HO HO.. (all i need is the bloody costume for my girth fits the role already.. Lol..) FB out..

EzzE

I'm BAAAAAACKK!!! :D But Uni's back too.. :(

Well this has been a pretty long hiatus from blogging. Apart from the dried out brain, was actually enjoying my last few days of liberty before the great slog in the fields begin yet again. And yes to the uninitiated i am talking about University starting again. Sigh. Well here are the things i am thinking about and planning to do when University starts. My next semester's resolve, i guess.

1) Go get fit with Syazwan, who has offered me his fitness expertise to get me in shape. Really trying to follow what people often tell me, that i look good (as if. Haha.. But i do thank them for their flattering comments) and that i'm like a diamond in the rough. Well in this case its a diamond lodged inside so much adipose tissue :P

2) To actually go study a bit more than last semester, which was so screwed up my neurones in my brain have automatically decided to forget all the shit that happened, except towards the end when i hung out alot with my friends who helped me get back on my feet, leaving me with awesome memories :) Though i would wanna study more at the library, so prepare to see this face in the library apart from classes.

3) With help from resolution number 2, i hope to increase my pointer (gpa) to above 3.4 at least this time, helping increase my average cgpa.

4) Try to actually COME TO MORE CLASSES, despite ALL CLASSES starting at 8 IN THE MORNING. Last semesters attendance was appalling, and perhaps that partly led me to my measly grades. THIS HAS TO END OR I SHALL SMITE MYSELF.

5) To be closer to select friends, simoultaneously distancing myself from other 'friends' who have 'helped' me to no end. Names shall not be uttered, but you all know who you are :)/:(

6) Try to be active in the only club i am in, which is Tan Sri Ahmad Ibrahim Legal Research Group (i shall not spell out its shortened form to avoid embarrassment to myself and the group) also despite my measly track record with co-curricular programs.

7) Make sure I do not leave bad impressions to lecturers and be kewl with them.

8) Remaining a low profile person, often being unseen, only coming to class and leaving soon after, and not to be wholly dependant on cliques like how i used to be.

Well yeah i guess thats about it for now. Again as with everything in this blog, i shall update my resolutions if and when i see fit, and this is an inexhaustive blog, so keep coming back again if u have the time and attention span to keep up with me and my irregular blogging. As for now, FB out!

EzzE

A trip to the zoo! Weeee!! Yippeee!! :D

Ok after moving to our new home, the boredom levels have reached unsurpassed levels of greatness. Since our house is still too cluttered to even consider bringing in the new television sets we just bought, we have no telly to watch. Furthermore, my lil bro's xbox 360 crashed before we moved, and is undergoing some corrective surgery (may god save its soul, poor creature. sigh..) so anyway, as we were extremely bored, and to avoid our eventual deaths by it, a spontaneous plan sprang out of nowhere. We were having lunch, and it went on like this. Me: Bil boring gila dowh. Bro: Tu la. Me: Where to go? Bro: Ampang point? Me: Fuck u. Hate that place. Bil: Then where to go? Me: Dunno. Home?? Bro: Fuck u. Boring la bodoh at home. Go somewhere la. Me: Why don't we go to the zoo?? Bro: Wokeyy.

So off we headed, to the zoo. But a word of warning: do be aware that the zoo is a FUCKING EXPENSIVE PLACE. Especially if you are above 12. So we had to fork out 15 PER PAX to enter. FIFTEEN BUCKS?? IS IT WORTH IT?? That question initially pinged around in my mind. Mixed feelings, and a shrug of shoulders ensue. But here is a list of results as to why it is, and it isn't worth going to the zoo:

Reasons why the zoo isn't worth it:


1) the penguinS enclosure only has ONE penguin. :(

2) the primates enclosure consists of balding monkeys who are stressed out, the likes of which
can be seen along the streets of malaysia asking for money (ok i made that last part up :P)

3) the river fishes area has empty aquarium tanks and *GASP* DEAD FUCKING FISH IN ONE OF THEM! :@

4) some animals seem so sad and i can relate to their sadness. Its much like being stuck in my uni, except for the fact that we aren't stuck. But when we are there, we look like them alot. :P


But there are plus points too, of which i managed to catch some pictures of. Enjoy:


1)
The Aldabra (forgot how it was spelt :P) tortoise enclosure had a hole at the bottom which allowed us homo sapiens to feed them with leaves and the like. And so it ponderously ate the food we gave it. THE SIZE OF ITS HEAD IS AS LARGE AS MY HAND!! SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!

2)
The Sun Bear actually came closer to inspect one of their kind (FB u see :P) when i came close. One of them even posed and stood on its hind legs, in time for me to take a picture!!! KEWLNESS!

3)

Now the moat surrounding the tigers enclosure is supposed to keep them at bay. But when my bro and i came closer to look at the tigers, they SWAM in the moat TOWARDS US! or towards me particularly. (i think it saw me as an exeptionally fleshy and juicy piece of meat, just waiting for its fangs to sink into.) The fear was intense and with the Singapore Zoo thingy still fresh in our minds, my bro and i backed off and moved on.

4)
Ok the highlight was the elephants. Yes yes we paid to feed the elephants (the Zoo is a money sucking pig, for we were charged 3 bucks for 2 sugar cane stumps. Idiots.). So it was with such grace and compassion (:P) that i gave the food to the elehant. This was not the elephant that i 'connected' with, for when i stood at the railings, one of them actually came close to me. Right in front of me in fact, and we stood, seeing eye to eye. I saw its sadness and wished i could pat it without being mauled. Poor creature. We can relate to each other being ugly.. LOL. But i really love elephants. Makes me sad seeing one that sad. But at least i fed it making it a bit happier! :D


Well the zoo was, all in all, an ok place. The awesome parts just managed to cover and overshadow the bad parts, and i actually am looking forward to going there again to bond with the animals, if time and the depth of my wallet permits! Next project would be either a trip to the botanical gardens, bird park or the museum. So stay tuned! FB out!



EzzE

Results are out

Well the wait is finally over; the agonizing torment of supposedly sleepless nights for many has now been silenced and satiated. I guess i wasn't one of those people, for my sleep was excellent and gewd, as per normal :P. Days came and went without so much as a fleeting thought about my results, and i was already thinking about the worst, so why the hell should i bother. This was specifically down to two main reasons: 1) was fucked up pretty bad last semester by the one who i thought i really loved, and 2) am a lazy SOB anyways, so if its bad, then i get what i deserve. Though i do admit that there was a sense of excitement and curiosity to it all. I for one am not a staunch believer of grades in proportion of effort. I just get the feeling that it all boils down to one thing: pure luck and divine powers. (Well at least for me anyhows. haha..) So results have always been like a gift from someone. Its so random that the excitement itself is too much for words to describe.



So i keyed in my matrix number and my pin, and while the page was loading, got into a tussle with my bro, and tried shooing him off; for this special moment was to be mine and mine alone. lol. Alas, i saw his face of eagerness to see my results and possibly get a chance to laugh at my appalling grades (which he hasnt got to do for a veeeeery long time i must add :P). But when it finished loading, LO AND BEHOLD.. It wasnt as bad as i thought. Well it was bad for me (anything under deans list is bad.. sigh) and still i was hoping for some laughs and jeering from that Phillistine, but yet, all i heard was.. SILENCE.. Amazing. He didnt utter any bad or ruthless words, and was sitting beside me, transfixed at the screen. So one fire avoided there..:D



Next surprise was from my dad. I called him to tell him the bad news, and was hoping to get a bit of an earful (my dad doesnt really care about my grades. He asks, i tell, a few words, and finito.:P so if its good he will be like 'very good', and if its bad he will be like 'it must be coz of this...' before reverting to the usual 'oh well. its ok') so i called him, ears prepped up for abuse, and all he gave was 'oh, not too bad' coz he thought i would have scored worse considering the abovementioned 2 fucking factors. But in truth it wasnt too bad, and im glad i didnt disappoint anyone in the process.



Anyways there is a lesson to be learnt from this. Follow my mantra 'hope for the worst, so that anything better will come as a surprise..' it came in handy for me in countless situations, and im sure as hell it will come in handy for you, my dear readers..:P Anyways, have a great day, like what i am having, and enjoy yourselves. FB out..



EzzE