It a new year.... once again

If there is one word to describe my expectations for year 2011, it is
UNCERTAINTY.

In fact, so uncertain that I cannot have any expectations for it at all.

First of all, I would be graduating next year in July. That at least I hope would be a fact that I can say for sure.

But what after?


A job? but what, where and when?

What job would I want to commit myself to at least for the next 2 years? One thing is for sure, I want it to be something that I enjoy, but again, what do I enjoy!?!

Malaysia or England? or perhaps Singapore? This doesn't really matter, each place has its pros and cons. Though England would be most less likely of all, considering circumstances.

Gap year? no gap year? Mum definitely says noooooo. Perhaps a compromise gap *half year* would do!


Post graduate? Still in consideration, the biggest question is Masters in what! Definitely not risk, and statistics related. Perhaps Philosophy, Sociology or Psychology. No, I am just kidding myself, I'd never be able to produce a 10,000 word dissertation. But then again, if I don't try, how would I ever know?


Starting from July 2011, I would be diving into the unknown. What is in store for me????


Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining and not at all negative about it.

After all,
What is life without some excitement of the unknown?


May everyone have a great and exciting year ahead!!! Happy new year.




Love,
Chee Huan.

Preview: My Moroccan adventure!

I just returned from Morocco two days ago!
It was one adventure filled with sand, colours and Moroccan people.
Will blog about it later :)

A little taster nevertheless.

Review: Jonsi's gig at Hammersmith Apollo

*New post on my expedition is below the post 'How to build a kindergarten'*

With all the bombardment of the blog with my expedition stories, I thought it would be good to share a little of what I have been up to lately.

The truth is, my life have been pretty much a routine ever since I got back to London. Right now, I am busy with my part time job and studies, so thats the two things that I spend most time on. Of course not to mention all the mindless internet surfing and facebooking in between!

So last Friday after work, I went to hammersmith apollo to see Jonsi perform live. Jonsi was the guitarist and vocalist for the Icelandic post rock band, Sigur Ros. He has a solo career now and released an amazing album called 'GO' last year.


Check out his use of cello bow on the guitar! Awesome.



Jonsi isn't typically the kind of music I listen to, but after Andy introduced his songs to me 2 months ago, I was hooked to his falsetto voice and very intense emotion of his music.

Here's a little taster of his live act.

'go live' preview from Jónsi on Vimeo.

The concert started off with the opening act of some band from Canada. It was pretty disasterous in my opinion. The music wasn't too bad, as it bear some resemblence to the experimental genre, but the male vocal was not up to par and worst of all, is extremely Elvis Presley inspired.

An hour after the opening act, Jonsi finally made an appearance with an unreleased song. Unfortunately, I do not know the name of the song, but I do know that I loved it. The main instrument was the acoustic guitar and Jonsi's soothing voice was a perfect start to the evening. Updated. The song was 'Stars in still water'.

He went on the perform several more unreleased numbers and those from his album 'Go', each one better than the previous. I was particularly looking forward to my favorite song from the album, 'kolniður', however, I was slightly disappointed as somehow, as it didn't come across as powerful as I expected it to be.

But he made a come back with 'Around us' and blew us all away with the last number 'Grow till tall'. A combination of the images projected in the background, flashing lights, and increasingly thumping beat of the last part in 'Grow till tall' made everything so intense to take in. It was definitely mind blowing for me, and I believe, many others in the concert hall would agree with that. All along the concert, I could see several heads bobbing to the music and I found myself tapping my foot to the beat too.

The performance left me with goosebumps all over and a big smile on my face. I will definately look forward to another Jonsi live performance in the near future.

He will be performing in Japan, Seoul, and finally his home country Iceland next. So for those who are in the cities, do attend as it would be well worth every penny.

Here's an incredibly powerful and beautiful song, Kolniður:



Have you experienced the power of Jonsi's or Sigur Ros's live performances? Do share them with me in the comment box!

How to build a Kindergarten

*New post underneath this post!

Here is what we did for all 3 phrases in Raleigh expedition.

Photos were taken by my project manager. She took the photos everyday from the same angle at different times of the day (18minutes later each day), so it has the effect of a kindergarten building up in the span of one day.

Yes, I am proud to say, we made a difference.

Music composed by a fellow venturer, Andy C, while in Borneo.

My Raleigh story in Photos (Part III)

Hello dearies! I feel a sudden urge to upload some more photos of my expedition on this lovely Sunday afternoon. The weather is rapidly getting colder day by day, its already snowing loads up north, so I just pray that it doesn't reach London! When people get older, they no longer do snow fights, thus the only thing left with snowing is the horrid slippery roads when the ice melts.

A big sorry to my expedition mates, especially GQ, for the long delay for phrase 2 and 3 photos. By the way, I am debuting my Phrase 2 photos right here, so that means the blog readers get to see my photos first hand! Yippee :) Some exclusivity huh?

Here goes:

Phrase 2 - Environmental project at Sepilok

Our job - Complete the boardwalk for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center.

FYI, the Sun Bear is an endangered species found primarily in Southeast Asia. They are the smallest species in the bear family and can be identified through the distinct white patch on their chest. Like every human has unique finger prints, no two white patches are the same.


These bears face threats of extinction mainly due to deforestation and illegal poachers. The Sun bear conservation center (SBCC) takes in baby sun bears (most of their mothers have been killed by poachers), rehabilitate them, and set them free into the wild when the bears are ready to feed themselves.

As part of their awareness raising campaign (and fund raising), they are opening a visitor center somewhere in year 2011. Thus, my team was there for 3 weeks to help build a boardwalk leading to the visitor center.

Our home (Jungle Camp as we call it) is a 45minutes walk + trek to the worksite. So lots of walking involved everyday!




This is our worksite when we found it. The frame was made by teams from the last expedition.



We started by finding used wood that is usable, and started debolting them. Debolting is the most tedious part of the project! I can still rmb wrestling with the spanners to get them out of the extremely rusty bolts. Not fun.

Then it went on to drilling. Not an easy job, but friendships bonded along the way (lets say lots of girl chat was involved in the process)




We had unexpected visitors in Jungle camp one day.



Thats just one of them by the way. There were 3 orang utans that swung by that day! They were rehabilitated by the nearby orang utan center and released into the wild after that. So, technically, these were wild orang utans we were seeing!

Some days later, one alpha male orang utan actually CAME IN to our dining area and started trashing about the place, in the presence of GQ, J-Mo, Nabo and Tomnus (No, these are not their real names, just nicknames)! Argh, why wasn't I there too!!??

We also decided to organise a fancy dress party to spice up our time in Sepilok! I have never been involved in any kind of costume party before, so here goes my debut costume.



Hmm, you'd probably not be able to guess what it is, so I will just tell you. I intended to be a Malay warrior! Well, I do look vaguely like one, you have to at least give me credit for the glamorous head gear, sarung, and ultra tanned skin, no?

Loved Mica's 3 leaves idea, and Nils 3 bowls costume that reminds me of Mr.whatshisname in one of Enid Blyton's books! FYI, he is a character with saucepans of different sizes and colours hung around his body, and he never remembers his name, so people just call him whatshisname!

On the last day, we held an opening ceremony for our bridge, complete with red ribbon cutting (in our case, AWAS tape cutting) and our very own awards ceremony!



I was awarded the 'BEST CHEENIUS'. Justified, I would say :)

My Raleigh story in Photos (Part II)

Hello readers! Sorry for the stagnant state of my blog, but I have been extremely busy since coming back to London. Have been bogged down by settling in my new flat, getting internet connection, finding a part time job, and of course, studying (To be fair, I haven't been doing much of it since term started XD).

Finally, I got the camera cable from my brother (since I left mine back in Malaysia), so here are some selected photos of phrase 1! Its only a selected few, for more photos, please check out my facebook. For phrase 2 and 3, I am debuting my photos here, so stay tuned!

Phrase 1 : Kindergarten project at Kampung Maliau Layung

This village is located at Pitas district in Sabah. Sabah is the poorest state in Malaysia, and Pitas is the poorest district in Sabah, so you can imagine la.

This is the first time Raleigh is working in the village. Thus, our team has the mission to complete the foundations of the kindergarten and break the ice between the villagers and Raleigh venturers.

This is the kampung.

And this is our work site. I took this photo after a few days of work, so you can see that most of the main poles are already up. We started with completely flat land with some tree stumps.

One week later, joices went in.

While we take a break.

By the third and last week, the floorboards went on and we took our breaks lying on the wooden platform.



Of course, its not all just construction work!

We also tried to teach some english to the kids.




Made giant dominoes game set with some extra help.




Some had a mudfight in the middle of heavy rain, which later became apparent that it wasn't a very wise choice at all because villagers pee and poo everywhere ;)




At the end of 3 weeks, the villagers organised a farewell party for us! Out comes the traditional gongs.




The traditional dance.




Before we left, we made sure to leave our mark.




Good bye Kampung Maliau Layung! I will be back soon :)

My Raleigh story in Photos!

On 1st July 2010, the HCVs (Home Country Venturers) arrived at Kota Kinabalu. We came pouring into Field Base, fresh faced, clean and ultimately, confused...... Not knowing what we signed up for XD

After introductions and lunch, we headed off to TAC to get started on training. The international venturers arrive a day later, so we get a head start!

Jom bertolak!





This is where we slept.




When the international venturers arrived, we performed 'Rasa Sayang' to welcome them!




We were then put into different groups to commence name games and training.

This is my group - Delta 4. I was blocked out somewhere :(




Playing games.




Demonstrating how to use the parang.




Best part of TAC. Trek training!!




During trek.




It wasn't an easy trek as it pissed down with rain in the afternoon. The river rose quickly and some people had to move their hammocks to higher ground. We were wet, muddy and cold. But weirdly enough, we were happy! We left feeling that we could conquer everything and anything for the next 10 weeks.


Phrase 1 photos - Kindergarten at Kampung Maliau Layung would be uploaded soon!

My Raleigh experience.

P/S: Long written post ahead, if reading isn't for you, please come back in a week as I will be posting selected photos of my expedition. thanks!


Imagine being stranded in an unfamiliar place, together with 11 people you have literally just met, all striving to achieve a common goal that most of you have never done before.

Sounds like a recipe for disaster? It bloody is. But somehow, with a miraculous turn, it turned out to be one of the best episodes of my life.


Over the whole course of Raleigh, I helped to build the foundation of a kindergarten at Kampung Maliau Layung, completed the boardwalk for a bridge at the Sun Bear Conservation Center, obtained my PADI open water diving license and planted coral at Mamutik Island, and trekked for 11 days in the beautiful Long Pasia.

Up till this moment, it still feels surreal to me that I helped to provide an education opportunity for the young children and also contributed to the fundraising efforts to save the sun bears. Work was challenging at the construction site as I have never properly hammered a nail, dug so many 3 feet deep holes, or sawed wood while hanging on to a pole before! But when I think of the difference that I am making, all of the effort and sweat is definitely worth it 100 times over.

Of course, the expedition isn't just about what we built and where we went. More important are the lessons we learnt along the way, friendships bonded in the process and all the highs and lows we went through together.

I wasn't expecting to experience a culture shock in my own country. Kampung Maliau Layung, possibly one of the poorest places in Malaysia, showed me a whole new face to my homeland. Never in my life have I met people that smile so sincerely at strangers, so content with the things we take for granted, and so generous to share the little things that they have. It is through them, that I realised how blessed my life had been.

Living amongst the Brits also taught me some precious lessons. I am definitely more confident in expressing my opinions, more eloquent in doing so, and more comfortable with leading and decision making. Not to mention participating in the occasional banter and refuting sarcasms ;P
Although I study in London, most english people I met at university are just mere acquaintance. But after the expedition, I am proud to say that I have made several strong, perhaps even life-long friendships with my expedition mates.

Expedition also made me realised that my boundaries are limitless. I could never imagine that I would volunteer to take the radio on trek (also on the longest trek - nearly 7 hours walking), walk 13km in a day to transport our kit and food to the project site, not bath for 4 days in a row, and not scream at the sight of leeches. Geng Chian and I also managed the impossible ---> gaining weight on trek!

Alongside challenges, fun times are always happening during the past 10 weeks.
Best moments were:

James head dived into some dubious substance that smells and looks like poo during a mudfight.

Singing along to Disney songs while digging.

The look on Nils's face when he first tried cempedak.

Having a rave with the villagers to tradisional music.

Debs and Mica doing their signature dance across the boardwalk of the bridge we built at the Sun Bear Conservation Center.

Witnessed an orang utan stole our medkit and ran away with it (we got it back in the end, phew. Cheeky monkeys with a bag full of drugs isn't good news).

Doing the YMCA and macarena dance while diving (not to mention all the rude hand signals and *ahem* that happened underwater) ;p

Showering under the waterfall with all of us shivering under the freezing water and howling in pain when the water pelted on our backs.

Trying to outdo each other in the 'Best fall competition' and 'How many leeches have you got competition' during trek.

The time when GQ farted straight into my face. NIGHTMARE but admittedly pretty funny!

Cutting Pip's hair (It turned out pretty well, luckily :p)

Every moment together with the HCVs :)

Although the expedition is over, but the Raleigh spirit will continue to live on in all of us. What is the spirit you ask?? To me, it is the courage to challenge your limits, the will to make a difference, and the desire to live a life out of the ordinary. LIVE ON!

Comments would be much appreciated!

Leavin for 10 weeks

Peeps!

2nd July - 9th Sept

I am currently in the Sabahan Jungle, being fed to mosquitoes.

Come back soon for updates on my expedition adventures!

I promise I won't disappoint.

Till then,

Over and out.

RA RA RA... RALEIGH SPIRIT! !

I am counting down the days to my Raleigh International Expedition to Borneo.

On 2nd July 2010, I will leave the comforts of home to challenge my limits in rural areas of Sabah for 10 weeks.

I will be involved in 3 weeks of community service, 3 weeks of environmental work, and 3 weeks of adventure stuff.

I asked myself a thousand times before I made this decision.

Do I really want to spend my whole summer vacation doing this?
Can I survive for 10 weeks without any modern technology?
Can I get along with the other venturers (who would be mostly Brits) when I don't even have many Brit friends while studying in London?
Being physically inclined as I am, would my team mates see me as a burden when hiking?
Would the buildings or bridges that I helped to build be hazardous to the people who use it?

Most of all, CAN I JUST SHIT IN A HOLE DUG ON THE GROUND
out in the open with insects buzzing and possibly a squirrel watching?
When I went for the introduction week, I tried my best not to use the 'hole' (Ok la, its proper name is 'long drop') for 2 days... But I don't think I can avoid using it for 10 weeks XD


Now, you'd probably ask why in the world did I chose to do it.
The answer is,




I AM PROBABLY CRAZY
as with all the other Raleighians.

But let me tell you one thing,
crazy people have the most fun, and do the most exciting things.




I was joking, I assure you, Raleighians are very sane people. But we do have lots of fun and exciting things going on :)


The thing is, I have always wanted to help underprivileged people (honestly). I once volunteered with World Vision, doing some super boring admin work.
This is different.
Its my only chance to build a school/water gravity feed system with my own bare hands (Not literally, I will have hammers and nails... >.<).
The best part is, I get to see how my contributions are really leaving an impact on the local people.

This is the first time in a long time to step out of my comfort zone, to do something totally out of my league.


Am I scared?
Very.

Am I prepared to take the challenge?
HELL YEAH.


Want to learn more about Raleigh International? Click here

Alternatively, here is a more interesting blog about a previous Borneo expedition early this year. Every time I read it, I get all hyped up to go :) Give it a try!



As far as preparations go, I just brought my air ticket to Kota Kinabalu yesterday (which cost me a bloody 640 ringgit), have not brought any of the equipment needed (Waiting for equipment briefing), and have not got any of the vaccinations required (going to Dr. Kung's clinic tmr!).

Hopefully everything will be done by next week.

For some reason, my mom is extremely worried that I will encounter a crocodile, tiger, ____(enter name of deadly animal here). TOUCH WOOD.

Some thoughts.

Peeps!

I am done with 5 papers. Now left with one more to go on Monday, then........ the sweet taste of freedom. 'Gladiator's ost - Now we are free' playing in the background.

I rarely (Ok, lets be completely honest here) I NEVER update myself with any Malaysian news while in London. But this afternoon, I had a sudden surge of patriotism and decided to keep myself updated with news at home. Bad move.

"Woman dies in fire as bhp staff refuse to loan fire extinguisher"

You can read the full story here:

http://komuniti.malaysiakini.com/news/woman-dies-in-fire-as-bhp-staff-refuse-to-loan-fire-extinguisher


Story cut short,

2am in the morning
Accident happens -> Woman pinned in car, screaming for help -> passerby saw engine catching fire -> Passerby ran to the BHP station to get a fire extinguisher -> BHP staff refuses to open the door -> Passerby insists -> BHP staff claims management does not allow loans of fire extinguishers to public -> Passerby insists again, this time offering his identity card as collateral -> Staff refuses again -> Woman burnt to death.


How depressing. But can we blame anyone?????? Of course, the reckless drivers that caused the accident. But, what is most debateable is, should the BHP staff be held into account?


First of all, I was perplexed by BHP's policy on fire extinguishers.

His requests were denied, the staff claiming that the management did not allow the loan of fire extinguishers to the public.

What nonsense. Surely, no one would come looking for fire extinguishers for fun. It is only when disaster strikes, when lives are at stake that we will need one. What are you guys trying to say? That a life is not worth one of your bloody expensive extinguishers? Thats coporate social responsibility at its rotting core.

(Of course, this is just based on what is claimed by their staff, I do not know if they really have this kind of rubbish policy, and since all their staff are probably horribly trained, what they claim might not be true).

BHP government relations manager Abdul Kaiyum when contacted claimed that the BHP attendants refused to open the door for Teo as he was not ‘acting calmly’ when asking for assistance.

Every single second counts in a life death situation. Just because he came running and shouted to hand the extinguisher over, doesn't mean he wasn't calm. To me, he acted with absolute rationale, running to find a fire extinguisher instead of panicking like what most people would do.

What were they expecting? A dashing young man in a suit, saying "Excuse me sir, but a woman's car engine is catching fire and she is trapped inside, would you be so kind to lend me your fire extinguisher so that she doesn't have to die?"

In defence of the staff in charge, he said that the two of them previously had been attacked and beaten up by assailants while on duty at the station.

Ok, this is a justifiable defence. After all, it was 2am and it can get pretty scary when a frantic man come knocking on the door. Robbers are getting smarter ( more immoral) these days, preying on the human compassion. I have been told to never stop the car if a bloody man asks for a lift to the hospital at night, because thats a trap to rob you. Once again, we see the decaying morality of society. :(((

But then again, when such a big accident happens nearby, people nearby would surely have heard the crash?? I have heard the sound of a small accident before, and it was LOUD. This surely would have been much louder. If BHP is near enough for him to run to, surely they would have heard the crash and would be able to verify his story.

(I do not know how close BHP was to the site of crash, so this is just an assumption.)

“I was willing to leave my IC with the staff as a guarantee, but they refused,”

What kind of stupid assailant would give you a photo identity when robbing you? If you say it might be fake, well, does it even matter? Photos don't lie, as long as the photo on the id looks like the person, then its good enough.... and this the staff can verify.



That said, no one really knew how the situation was at the time. The passerby might be a beefy guy with dragon tattoos pounding on the door of BHP. Or the staff were just too selfish and wouldn't give a shit if a woman dies, in case the company wants them to pay for the extinguisher out of their monthly paychecks.



How I wish we could go back to the days when people leave their house doors wide open all day and need not worry about parang-wielding barbarians come crashing in.


Those days are long over.

Quick Update

Dear readers,


Its that time of the year again. Exams. So far, I am done with my Finance paper, and have 5 more to go. Finance was not easy, but I predict greater challenges ahead (Statistics in particular). It feels like eternity, having to study everyday until 7th June.



The weather is nice and warm ( its 25 celcius outside) with an occasional cool breeze, the English call it 'boiling hot', but they really don't know what 'boiling hot' is. They even call the pathetic sprinkle of water from the sky as rain.



I call this Ice Cream weather, where everyone strolls along the street with an ice cream cone in hand. And there's me, inside looking out, with a book at hand. To make things worse, most of my friends are done with their exams, so I hear conversations like these everyday:



"Eh, what should we do today ar?"
"Dunno, how about Hyde Park, or some food market, or we can just sleep for the whole day."



"R talked about going to Lake District the other day, is it still on?"
"You bet. Lets go visit Bath as well!"



"ZL asked to go for dimsum at China Town... They are having a 50% discount!"


Wow, look at all the things I am missing.


I am not complaining that LSE starts exams so late... Extra time to study is precious.




So, I am blaming it on UCL instead. Why do you end exams so early?? Just to make me miserable ar??




*Ok, I know I sound very depressed, but do not worry, I am still very much sane., just a lil exhausted.*


Pray for me ppl, I need all the luck to face exams.... It will be one heck of a ride.



Cheers,
CH.

Lobster noodle @ Hakkasan

So far, the best chinese restaurant I have tried in London would definitely be Hakkasan, located in Soho (near Tottenham Court Road station).

I have been there 3 times and the food & service has always been excellent! Of course, what do you expect from a Michelin star chef? Not to mention the very charming waiter on my 2nd visit ;D

The restaurant boasts a high profile clientele, so photograpy isn't encouraged within. But during my last visit, the lobster noodle (龙虾伊面） looked so good that I HAD to whip out my camera (its my brother's camera actually, since I left mine at home XD).











The gravy was absolutely divine... Lobster broth shimmered for 8 hours! Yes, I kid you not, 8 hours.

OK OK. Enough of the noodles!!!!!!!!


I love the red flower (rose?) on the table.









I like the above photo of my brother. Credit to the photographer.... ME. hehehe


We ordered some mocktails to wash everything down.



The best one was the green coloured drink. It has a really cute name too! ---> Washing potatoes. Haha! Don't worry, no potatoes inside, only kiwi, lime, and the magic ingredient, coriander!! Extremely refreshing, tried and tested ;P




I look so frumpy in my yellow top. Will nvr wear it again XD

Dessert. I love this mango rice pudding! Served slightly warm, it is creamy and satisfying. A great way to end the meal.




Have I got you drooling over your keyboard???

Hyde Park in Spring

This boy has extremely pink cheeks! And he just stands rooted to one spot for agessss... I guess he was waiting for me to take a photo of him :)))) He's adorable!
















Some camwhoring photos XD Please skip if you have a weak heart!!














Have a nice day everyone!!!