American Idol 2009 winner... KRIS ALLEN!

Wohoo. Congratulations Kris! Am super ecstatic. He totally deserves it. When he won, he was speechless and later kept on saying that Adam Lambert deserved it more than he did. What a humble dude! (and a cute one too :P) Keep it up, Kris. Am looking forward to your albums!

An excerpt from wikipedia about Kris Allen:

" Allen is a devout Christian. He was a worship leader at New Life Church in Maumelle, Arkansas, as well as at the Chi Alpha campus ministry of the University of Central Arkansas, where he was a business major. He has done missionary work around the world, including in Burma, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa, Spain and Thailand."

Woot! Way to go, Kris!

Penang trip! - Day 2

Day 2

We woke up for an early breakfast in Pulau Tikus, the place where Hui Wen lives. We took a short stroll to New Cathay coffee shop as it was just "right opposite Hui wen's house", as she always puts it. lol. Once there, The ONE stall that caught my eye was the KUEH CHAP stall! oh, the fond memories i had eating kueh chap while growing up in Kuching stimulated the food nerve centers in my brain. To those who are not famililar with Kueh chap, it basically comprises of noodles which resembles "Hor Fun", however much thicker and flatter. The broth is made of chinese herbs (like bak kut teh soup), flooded with duck or pork meat and "tou fu". In Penang, however, they serve mainly kueh chap with duck. In Kuching, kueh chap is exclusively pork-based.

Penang Duck-based Kueh Chap

After having a go at this, i personally think that Kuching Kueh chap is still the best. (sorry hui wen :P). On the side note, if anyone is visiting Kuching anytime soon, you will find the best Kueh chap in Poh Kwong Park (where i used to live), behind Kueh Siang Ann shop. Kueh Chap aside, lets now focus our attention to Penang laksa.

The broth was slightly diluted, however when mixed with the sambal, it was absolutely heavenly. They gave a generous serving of "tau hu pok" together with fresh prawns. Yum. After a scrumptious meal, our next destination was Penang Hill, also known as Bukit Bendera.

Mega and Hui Wen "sardined" inside the tramp on the way up.

A snapshot view from Penang Hill (Bukit Bendera)

David Brown cafe

The door leading to David Brown cafe at Strawberry Hill

Ordering overpriced ice-cream

Before heading to our next stop, Kek Lok Si, we decided to stop by for lunch at Air Itam for ASAM LAKSA! According to hui wen, this asam laksa is the best among the lot! And true enough, it was indeed the best asam laksa i have ever tasted. I decided to order mine with "Ha Gou" (Prawn paste) as i have never tried this combination before. The tinge of Ha Gou definately spiced up the taste of the asam laksa.

After the short trip to Kek Lok Si, we were hungry again and decided to stop at New World Park (Next to Tune.com Hotel) for tea. We had Ho Chien, but it was not the best we have tasted so far.

New world park Ho Chien

We were so stuffed by then, but we still wanted more! haha. Our next food stop was Abu Siti Lane, which is well-known for their coconuts. The coconuts on that day was not very sweet and it was practically tastless. Nevertheless, it was a great drink for cool-offs on a hot and sunny afternoon.

We were so stuffed and bumped out that we headed back to Hui Wen's place in Pulau Tikus for a well-deserved afternoon nap. After a re-energizing nap and a complete digestion, we were ready for more FOOD! bring it on! haha. We headed to Gurney Drive, but when we arrived, half of the good stalls were closed. Dissapointed, we decided to eat at another food court, known as Good all. Teng Wai and I had the chicken Teriyaki from the japanese stall and it was pretty good. The chicken was tender, and was served along with Miso soup and garlic rice. Mega and Hui Wen had claypot chicken rice instead, since they were not big fans of japanese food :P

Chicken teriyaki

That was all the fun-packed adventure we had on day 2 in Penang! more to come. stay-tuned.

Penang trip!

My first travel log! wohoo! haha, by the way, sorry for the long overdued post. Have been wanting to post the pictures up but have been busy working at my dad's office to earn extra wages during the holidays. Just an update on what has been happening, I miraculously PASSED MY 3rd year examinations! On to the final year of my course, Praise God! Congrats to my fellow coursemates who have made it thus far and may the day of our graduation draw nearer to us in a blink of an eye.

DAY 1

Teng Wai, Mega and I took the 9.00 am Nice bus from the old KTM railway station in the city. Was rather pleased by the services they had in the bus; except for the fact that the driver did not help us load our heavy luggage into the bus. When asked whether he could lend us a hand, he just gestured his fingers towards the luggage compartment impatiently, as if trying to say " Load them yourself-lah!". we were rather pissed off by that. Other than that, the 4 and a half hour journey from KL to Penang was a rather comfortable one.

At the old KTM station in KL city

Me sleeping on the bus ( Picture courtesy of Teng wai)

Upon arrival in Penang, we were greeted by Hui Wen and her mum, both penangites and great food hunters. haha. Our first stop was Lorong Selamat for some good ole' cha kuey teow fried by an aunty who wears a red head gear (shower cap?) and lab goggles while performing her task. (She takes her job very seriously, dont play-play).

"Jheng" aunty

Yummy-licious char kuey teow

The char kuey teow was simply divine! The prawns were larger and fresher compared to the usual ones in KL, however the portion served could've been bigger considering it was RM 6.50 per plate. Nevertheless, I would definately come back for more! Hui Wen and her mum ate Curry Chee Cheong Fun instead, which looked rather interesting...

Our tummies were just half filled so we decided to stop at another coffee shop down the road to eat the best ais kacang in Penang, according to Hui Wen. And indeed, it was AWESOME! The ais kacang was topped with delicious vanila nut ice-cream and the one thing that separates this ais kacang from the rest is the way the ICE was blended. It was so fine that it melted instantly when it reached my mouth.





Teng Wai and I could not resist the urge to try the Lemak Laksa as well as it was also famous in that particular coffee shop selling ice kacang. Darn it, after that lemak laksa, i completely threw my 3 month diet regime out of the window for the next 5 days. Who on earth could resist the sight of that? tell me? who?! sigh.

Lorong selamat's Lemak Laksa - A MUST try

Okay, enough of food for now. Just looking at those pictures again is making me salivate and drool all over the place. Anyhows, our next stop was Batu Feringghi. We decided to visit the most luxurious hotel in Batu Feringghi - Shangri-La Rasa Sayang Hotel, a 5- star deluxe hotel, according to Hui Wen's mum. And there, we began our usual cam-whoring session. haha.

After cam-whoring, we were hungry and exhausted. That was when our second round of food hunting began. Since it was mother's day, we decided to eat at a nice restaurant. We came across "The Ship", and oh my, this was really one heck of a ship. The food and ambiance was pretty okay; i'll give it a 6/10. Teng wai, Mega, Hui Wen's mum and I had Sizzling Chicken chop, while Hui Wen had the black pepper chicken chop.

Sizzling Chicken chop

That was all for day 1. Stay tuned for more updates!

results

*sigh*. Oh how i dread this moment. And the day has finally arrived.

RESULTS!

RESULTS!

RESULTS!

I trust you, God. You are always in control.

Wishful thinking

Every once in a while, i would be sitting down, day-dreaming, thinking about how different my life would've been if i were to study abroad. Being the eldest in a family of 7, it is hard to ever think about studying overseas as the cost to bring one child anywhere would cost a bomb. I have always dreamt of studying in a quizzical and enticing foreign land, eating strange food and meeting new and exciting people. The thought of leaving home, my comfort zone, my favourite mamak stall, my gorgeous boyfriend (ahem), my bed, my parents, my friends, and everything else which matters is definitely scary and wonderful at the same time.



Truth is, I'm always envious of those who's parents could afford to send their kids overseas. However, over the years, as i age (ugrh i hate that word) and mature into a fine young lady, my perception about studying abroad has evolved, and now the remnants of my thoughts are summed up with one word - contentment. Although it feels that i have missed out on a lot of things by not being able to experience studying abroad, I would justify it by weighing the pros and cons of studying right here, in Malaysia. One thing for sure, is that i would never have to miss out on the good ole' nasi lemak, "cha kuey teow", laksa, pan mee while studying in Malaysia (I recalled a friend studying in Australia who requested to fed-ex Pan mee to her).



The next thing is that i would not have to worry about having a long distance relationship; it's seriously a tremendous torture not being able to see your loved one; even with technologies like skype, MSN and phonecalls, nothing beats the physical realm. lol.

And also, I do not have to worry about over-splurging my parent's money when abroad. There's a tendency to do that especially when having a credit card and ATM without parents supervision. In addition, being homesick would be the last thing in my mind if i study in Kuala Lumpur as i would be constantly surrounded by family and friends.



However, the cons of studying locally are tremendously abundant as well. Now that i am staying at home with my parents, it seems that everything is taken care of - bills, housework and i do not have the privilege to worry about them at all! (Hmmm, is it a good thing or a bad thing? haha) And yeah, i would never have the chance to practice my fake accent with foreigners! I've always wanted to do that :(


Salby: *fake accent* Hey, how's it goin'? I'm Salby from Malaysia.

Foreigner: Wow, Malaysia, huh? Where's that?

Salby: It is a large country next to a small island called Singapore.

Foreigner: oh! I know Singapore!

Salby: ..........


For what its worth, I realized that studying abroad is an additional privilege any student would enjoy. However, it should not be set as a "default" in life whereby it becomes something of a need, even so, when your parents cant afford it/or if you fail to secure any scholarships or financial assistance. Dont get me wrong, I am not in any way sour grapes about it. To those blessed ones who are studying or have studied abroad, what a tremendous privilege! To the "salbys" out there, it's okay if you're stuck right here in Malaysia studying a local degree or studying a 4+0 or 3+0 programme. Be grateful for everything God has given you and be content with whatever you have!

ps: Sorry if i sounded like a naggy aunty, but i guess it comes with experience of overcoming the disappointment i had. :)

tata!