Overnite Camping Trip @ Pantai Kerachut 28/04-29/04/07

Pantai Kerachut

Pantai Kerachut - you can either get there by a 20-minute boat ride or a 50-minute hike through the forest...the hike there is quite easy and really nice cos it is shaded most of the way and not too difficult, but it can be a little dangerous because you might get lost in there...but otherwise, it is a very nice hike...About 4-5 yrs ago, I joined my bro's friends for a hike and picnic trip to Pantai Kerachut, but back then, Pantai Kerachut was a disappointment, the beach was strewn with rubbish. This time, I was surprised to see how clean it was. I never knew Penang was capable of cleaning up a beach...hahahaha...but, I learned that the reason why they had it cleaned up was because they were making it a National Park and they have set up a Ranger's Hut and we have to get ourselves registered at a booth that is located at the port / hiking starting point. There were 17 of us altogether...

This is good news, but as usual, we hope that they will keep it up and not slack off...which is very common in Malaysia...sigh!!!

Upon arriving at the beach, we started looking for an ideal spot to set up our tents...

this tent took us almost an hour to get up, cos of all things, we forgot to bring ropes...so, we had to make do with whatever that we had...so this tent was not exactly properly set up the right way...

This tent was rather easy...only took us 20 minutes...hehehe...

this was the EASIEST...it took my friend 10 minutes to get it up...but at the end of the day, when it rained...this tent was the first to get flooded with water INSIDE the tent...hahaha...

It took us about an hour to get all the 5 tents up. Then we started clearing a place under some trees for us to rest...some of us went fishing, but had no luck at all, the fishes did not take bait...but it was alrite, it was fun anyhow...after our fishing attempt failed, I managed to take a nap under the trees, the weather was beautiful...there were other campers there, I think possibly a total of 60 other campers as well...

our sotong bait...but no fish wanted to eat it...poor thing...

...we brought soooooo much food that we managed to offer some to the other campers...hahaha...we are such generous ppl :P but I gotta say that the amount of food we brought was cra-zee...and worse of all, the guys were the ones who organised this camping trip and the food list...sigh...i think they should always consult or leave it to the girls when it comes to food preparation...the amount of food we had could well last us for 3-4 whole days...and it was like a fine dining camping trip...the menu consisted of chilli con carne, french toasts, 100 chicken wings, 3 different types of sausages, corn cobs, japanese sweet potatoes, fish fillets wrapped in banana leaves with a choice of curry or spicy sauce, variety of vegies marinated in olive oil & herbs, tuna & ham sandwiches, curry chicken (1 whole chicken)...there were 10 french loaves, 8 cans of baked beans, 50 eggs, etc...it was CRA-ZEEEEEEE!!! Our girls idea of a camping trip was instant cup noodles, bread/sandwiches, junk food...simple and hassle free food...but sigh...oh well, a lesson to be learned...

our necessities...

netting for the BBQ pit, banana leaves to wrap the fish fillets, bags of chicken wings, Japanese sweet potatoes, etc etc etc...

we stopped by Monkey Beach on our way here to pick up the gas tank & stove...Monkey beach is just before Pantai Kerachut, about 15mins boat ride...

a wok, lots n lots n lots of sausages...I think possibly more than 100 sausages...

...looks like a fine dining restaurant kitchen?????...

50 eggs...

10 french loaves...and half of them got attacked by ants...

Our fren's "famous" chicken curry that was totally..........UN-edible!!! I didn't even dare to taste it...cos by the look on their faces, I knew it was unedible...hahaha...

the yummy Chilli Con Carne...it was really yummy, especially with the french loaf...
Beautiful sunset...........

Everything went well into the night...we were lying down on mats enjoying the breeze...until the stars disappeared behind thick clouds...uh-oh!!! We all started praying hard that it wouldn't rain but unfortunately, just before midnight...we heard heavy rain drawing nearer n nearer, we got up and ran as fast as we could into our tents, the thunder & lightning was booming across the sky above us, it was scary yet exciting...hahaha...we had to hide ourselves in the tent until the rain stopped at 3am...we then managed to get some sleep until 8am in the morning, although it started to drizzle again at 5am all the way until we left at 10am.

If it was not for the rain, this trip would have been quite nice, but my whole body was aching because of the uneven sand underneath our tents...but this really gave us a taste of "tough life"...

the gloomy weather in the morning...still raining...

a professional shot taken by Sam...hahaha...

Install ge-piii!!!

26th April - declared a public holiday because of the installation ceremony of the King...I mean, OUR King...I mean, Malaysia's King...he is the Sultan of Terengganu, and today, he ascends the throne as the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong...a few weeks ago, when the papers announced that 26th April will be declared a public holiday, my brother asked me, "so, are we going to declare it as a PH?"...I said, "of cos NOT, for what?"...he jokingly said..."why not? we have to respect the king!"...what King???...

Yesterday, T, Marc and I had dinner after steps class and T asked me, so are you working tomorrow? I said "yup, no holiday...what holiday?...Install ge-piii!!!" Install what? Toilet bowl kah?...for him to sit on it and goyang kaki...T was saying ya lo, what does he do anyway, not like he contributes to the country's economy...well, he uses taxpayers money to support his luxurious life, his butlers, his yellow aka gold coloured clothing, his expensive food, his grand palace, his drivers, his expensive S-Class Benz...and for what? so that he can present medal of honours to dunno who and who and probably show up once in a while, all nicely dressed up in yellow and adorned with gold here & there for official events like Merdeka Day...just to shout out "Merdeka, Merdeka, Merdeka" then balik palace tidur...

How come we do not see/hear about him, the "King" and/or his wife, the supposed "Queen" doing any charity work, visiting and helping the poor & the unfortunate, the sick and the homeless...contributing to the society, helping them and encouraging them...giving them hope...In Thailand, they respect the King so much that until today, they still stand and give respect when the national anthem is played, even in the cinemas, we have to stand up for the national anthem tribute to the Thai King before the movie starts. Now, this is what I call an earned respect...he earned it because he has done so much for his people. What have our Kings/Queens done for the people of Malaysia? Nothing! So, King who? Siapa tu? I have no idea...

Wishing every Malaysian Happy Installation of the King............'s toilet bowl Day!!!

My TMNT...

One nite, a couple of years ago, my dad came home with a tortoise...he was playing golf at the Turf Club when he saw this tortoise wandering around, so he "saved" it...he was worried that crows would peck at it...haha...I was thrilled, cos the last time we had a tortoise was when I was very little, maybe about 3 or 4 yrs old, but I was too young then and the tortoise was very small, only about 5cm long, but this one, this is a BIG tortoise, it was measuring at about 20cm...this would be a new kind of pet for me :) I've had a few different pets in my life...hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, fishes, birds...etc...I've always been the one who would put effort to feed them and care for them, and my dad knows, which is why, everytime he finds a stray pet, he would give it to me and not to my brother or sisters...hahaha...

The last time he "found" a pet was over 10 years ago, on my BIRTHDAY...he was practising his golf in the garden at night when he suddenly kept calling my name...I was in my bedroom at that time wondering what had happened, I ran down and saw his holding a hamster in his hands...he told me to get a box and said that he found it running across our garden...I was so happy...my dad found a hamster running in our garden at night on MY birthday???? what are the odds of that???? hahaha...the next day when I went to school and told my friends about it, they told me that maybe my dad had bought the hamster and pretended to find it in the garden just to surprise me...LOL...it would be nice, haha..but nah, my dad wouldn't do that...I am sure he really found it in the garden, cos the next day he went and bought food and cage for the hamster...my dad would help change the newspapers for the cage and would check out the hamster very often...I am a lot like him...both of us would do things like that...we'd be fascinated and put effort and care...I had a few more hamsters after that and my very last hamster was a birthday gift from Karen...she bought me a hamster in Melbourne when we were staying together, and we named it JoJo...hahaha...but it only survived for 2 mnths I think and it died early morning when we were both out partying the whole night and found it dead when we reached home at 7 in the morning...poor thing...

So, anyway, back to my tortoise...which I named Squirt (after the little turtle in Finding Nemo)...I took it to the office the next day and put him in the airwell...for the first few weeks he was so scared and would always hide in his shell at any sight of any movement...he would only dare to eat at nights when every1 has left the office, my dad & I would go out and look at him and be fascinated by his behaviour, the other staff and even my bro thought we were crazy, haha...we thought it was really nice to have a tortoise around and since our airwell was so big...

~ Squirt ~

Our office airwell...

...my dad asked our salesman to find more...he goes to Ipoh very often and he says he always sees a lot of tortoises near the highways and often they are run over by cars...so he found four more tortoises...he found a BIGGER one and the other 3 were Squirt's size...so I named the big guy DUDE (Squirt's dad in Finding Nemo) and the rest...Sprite, Sprout and Spike...hahaha...

It took them a few weeks to get used to the place too, but soon they were all ok and happy...I would throw the vegies at the same spot of the airwell, and after a while, they would automatically go to that spot and WAIT for me to throw the vegies in for them...this really surprised me and my dad...hahaha...when my dad sees them gathered altogether at that spot, he would tell me that they are waiting for their food and ask me to quickly feed them, cos they are hungry already...haha...

Recently, my salesman found another BIG BIG tortoise, the biggest amongst them, but this was special, it had 2 red stripes at the head...but, I just put him together with the rest, but this was a feisty one, he was more difficult than the rest...he would dig and hide himself in the sand or try to crawl up to escape and for weeks he refused to eat the vegies. Initially I thought he was scared so he kept hiding himself and everytime I would have to pull him out...until I went to Aji Noren for dinner one day and saw that they had 2 of the same tortoise and I asked them what these tortoises eat, then only I knew, that they do not eat vegies and they live in WATER!!!...HAHAHAHA...they eat turtle pellets...similar to fish food...alamak...it took me almost 2 months to find this out, thank goodness it didn't die...so the next day I immediately put him into this huge basin with water and bought the turtle pellets...he ate soooo much...hahaha...ayo...pitiful, luckily I found out about it, otherwise, I wonder what would happen to him now...it's been 4 months since we found him...and now he is happy and full :P


I didn't know what to name him...until recently, when the movie TMNT came out...it struck me...oh yeah, why didn't I think of it...hahaha...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had 4 characters in it...so I changed their names around...Squirt will remain as Squirt, the the other 4 will be Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael & Michelangelo...then this big guy in the water is now DUDE...hehehehahaha...




and the guardian of my tortoises aka office secutiry guard aka rat exterminator...Bobby...my dear old Bobby...

~ Bobby ~

The Notebook

Ok, I know, I know...you guys must be thinking..."WHAT?!?! Another movie???...Boh-ring!!!"...okok, one last movie post.......................................for this week...hehehe...

Many of you might have already watched this movie, The Notebook, as it is quite an old movie, I think about 2-3 yrs ago...and I bought the DVD when it was first released then, but I recently only remembered and found time to watch it...so, I was home early last week and I searched for it under the huge pile of DVDs and watched it alone...I wanted to watch it alone, cos many ppl have told me how sad the movie is and a friend of mine even sweared that I'd cry, cos he said many of his friends, including guys, cried when they watched this movie, he calls this movie the ultimate "tear-jerker" movie. So, I thought, ok, I'd better watch it alone...hehehe...and anyway, Sam is not a drama, touchy-feely movie type of person...so, I was all seated comfortably in front of the TV, with a pillow to hug, just in case :P

The movie was really nice, I really liked it, it was really sweet and touching and all, but, I didn't cry!!! Surprise, surprise...Mr. Bean made me cry but this didn't...hehehe...It was really sad & touching but I think I've seen sadder movies than this, but this had a nice storyline to it. It was a really nice movie to watch :) Two-thumbs up for this movie...

Mr. Beeaaaaannn...

Sam & I wanted to watch a movie yesterday, so we decided on Mr. Bean's Holiday, since we missed it 2 weeks ago, so, there were only limited showtimes left and the last showtime last nite was at 8:45pm...we reached there at 8:30 and was surprised that it was already full, only the front rows were available...we usually do not buy front rows, but the next interesting movie showing is TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and that was at 10pm...which was too late...so, we thought, oh what the hell, front row, front row lah! I didn't mind cos it is a comedy, just watch and laugh like mad...no need for any concentration of any kind and it does not have any special effects, so it should be ok kua, I thought...

So, we went in and settled in our seats, making ourselves comfortable, but the screen angle is really quite difficult to see cos it was a really small cinema. So I had to rest my head on the top of the seat and slide down, put my handbag behind me to support my back. I heard an old couple right behind us talking about their wedding anniversary plans, I didn't take a look at them, but from the way they talked, I assumed they were about 50+, I was thinking uh-oh, I hope they are not the type that will repeat the script or react to the scenes...LIKE MY MOM!!!...then the previews started.

The movie was quite ok...I know that many ppl had doubts about this movie, but certain scenes were seriously funny...and there was this one part that made us laugh so hard we cried...seriously CRIED. I was wiping away tears and laughing so long and hard...it was crazeeeeee...this ONE scene made the whole movie worth watching...hahaha...

...but I was surprised that Mr. Bean's teddy was no where to be seen in this movie...his famous button-eyed teddy bear was MIA.

I needed a comedy really badly recently and this movie made me laugh til I cried, so it was a success!

At the end of the movie, I saw the old couple who was behind us walking towards the exit and I was shocked...they were actually about 70+ (I really thought they were much younger, their voices, the way they talked, they were very focused, no stuttering, very firm)...holding hands while walking out, watching them, it put a smile on my face, I thought it was really sweet,...in their 70s, going to the cinema to watch a movie together, holding hands,...I hope that when we reach 70, we'll be like that too :) :P ...and throughout the movie, they were really good, no repeating of scripts, talked very little, so much better than some of the youngsters I have encountered in the cinemas...the movie and this wonderful old couple really made my day :)

Oh, "mother"...

This article was in the Star newspaper today...

123kg of syabu seized, RM5.8mil cash recovered
By KULDEEP S. JESSY
KUALA LUMPUR: Barely 24 hours after police struck at what they believed was the country’s biggest syabu laboratory in Johor, they uncovered the “mother of all drug-processing centres” – a nondescript double-storey house in Taman Botanical, Klang.

“mother of all drug-processing centres”??? Hhhhmmm...I am not too sure if this is the right language for the newspapers to use or not, but it seemed kinda weird. When I read it just now, I actually laughed...I don't think that this is the type of reaction they'd expected for this news...I wonder what the writer was thinking when he wrote this. I don't know, but could someone please tell me if this is actually a "proper" language?? Seems wrong to me...especially for the papers to use...I thought it is meant for casual talk when we are with friends...sounded very Singlish or Malayish...hahaha...

Little Miss Sunshine & Pan's Labyrinth...

So far for 2007...I'd say that these two movies caught my atttention and I give them 2-thumbs up - Little Miss Sunshine & Pan's Labyrinth. 300 was good, but it was another war-hell-breaks-loose-screaming-fighting movie about strength and freedom, good, but typical and expected.

I watched Pan's Labyrinth a little more than a week ago and thought it was very well done. I liked the fact that it was fantasy yet violent and brutal. The first violent scene gave me such a shock...I stared at the TV, mouth wide open, in shock...If a fly had flown in, I wouldn't have realised it...haha...cos I'd actually thought it was a kid's movie...a kid's fantasy movie, but with all the violence...either Spanish kids are freaking hardcore or this was a fantasy movie meant for adults or matured children...cos the bottle-bashing-nose-breaking scene was horrifying...and the knife-stabbing-and-slicing-of-mouth scene was not too pretty either. It was quite nightmarish in fact. But overall, I would rate this movie an 8/10.

Then I watched Little Miss Sunshine 2 days ago and again, I felt that this movie was good & funny. It had little details here n there that made me laugh so hard...all in all, a weird little heart-warming story of a weird & dysfunctional family. The writer of this movie cleverly brought each character out...it was just so well written...the script was what gave this movie the winning touch. The last part of the movie, the little miss sunshine pagent scene, made me laugh the hardest...that part was really unexpected and clever. So, I give two-thumbs up and a 9/10 for this movie. It was such a simple movie and THAT was what made it so good and clever.

This is what I thought of both these movies...I recommend them...but if you don't like them...then too bad...hahahaha...and thanks to Marc for lending the DVDs to me...hehe...