Family Port Dickson Trip May 30 - June 1, 2008

My family decided to go for a trip and since time and money was of essence Port Dickson was chosen coz it was near and cheaper. I finally get to drive long distance in my new car. Yahoooooooooo! Also we celebrated my brother in laws birthday - Kuna which happen to conveniently fell on the first day we were there -30th May.

India Trip Year 2006

The whole idea of going to India this year came up with me suggesting to Balaji that we should go to Thirupathi (one of the India most famous temple) for prayer. This would be our second trip to India since our first in year 2000. I was there with my mother in law and hubby as my mother in law wanted to settle some some land matter there. We did not get to go to Thirupathi due to our short trip back then. So, we planned that it would be better if we purchase the air ticket during the August 2006 Matta Fair and then hire a car in India to bring us around. However, the fares to India was still quite high after the tax.

While I was sharing this idea to my sister Suzy, she then mentioned to me that she is interested to join together with her son Heman. Then my mum got to hear about it she asked me to take her along. I then called my mother in law and asked her is she likes to go together. Now our trip of 2 is now a trip of 6 pax.
It was quite taxing to actually organize a trip consisting of so many pax, as decision making became slower and fear of any decision taken by myself would end up in frustration or unhappiness on the other parties. Well all said and done, we then decided that A. Baharuddin Travel was offering a cheap fare to India consisting of a 13 days trip to many of the places that we wanted to go and has not been. The fare was RM2,649 inclusive of the visa, accommodation, tour in an aircond bus, all entrance fee and the fuel surcharge. Not a bad deal right? Yes it was not a bad deal at all. So here we were up, up and away we flew to Chennai on 22nd November 2006 on Indian Airlines - IC956 at 9:35am Malaysian time and arrived in Chennai at 1200 hours Indian time. We had the benefit of having the whole day on our 1st day there. The tour group was consisting of 33 people all together. Non of us knew each other so it is definitely going to be a challenging time for all of us to get to know each other and try to put up with each other for the 13 days.

Day 1 : Wednesday - 22nd November 200)

Immediately we were all boarded into a van of 10 seater ready to leave to our 1st destination – Kanchipuram. The van was so cramped but thank GOD we survive the journey. I only pitied my mother and mother in law. You know it was extremely cramed. The seats were so near and the walk way out was so narrow it was so difficult even for us the young ones. We visited the Thiruvekadu Amman Temple & Ekkabaranath temple on the way. http://www.thiruverkadukarumari.com/ehistory1.htm
http://www.indiantemples.com/Tamilnadu/s056.html

Our final destination for the day was to stop at Srinivasan Silk to change money as advice by the tour agent as the shop offers good rate for Ringgit Malaysia. While waiting for the rest who was still shopping and changing currency, an orange plain saree with orange flower boarders capture my heart and ended up buying it for RM50. The cashier told me that there is a tailor available if I wanted to sew the saree blouse. I immediately called him to get my measurement and he promised to deliver my blouse to our hotel in Chennai 3 days before we depart to Kuala Lumpur. The blouse only cost me RM12.50 with full lining compare to RM30 – 35 in Kuala Lumpur. Now my only prayer will be it fits well and nice on me.

We checked into our room 104 at Hotel Jayabala International, Gandhi Road, Kanchipuram. Had dinner at the Saranava Bhavan downstairs the hotel and ordered Addai Aviyal (something like Thosai). The Addai Aviyal was horrible. YUCK!!!!!

Day 2 : Thursday - 23rd November 2006

I was awoke by the ringing phone at 4:30am but no one answered when I pick it up. I continue sleeping. At 6am Mr. Lawrence our tour agent called us and was saying that everyone is waiting for us downstairs and was inquiring why we were not down yet. It gave me a shocked because I was at the impression that we were only checking out of the room at 8:30 to go to Bangalore. I did not say anything. I just told him that we will be down and I jumped out of the bed and got Balaji to go and banged on Suzy and mothers door to get them ready. I took a quick shower what I would call a buffalo shower and got ready in a speed of lighting. We carried our luggage down but was stop by Lawrence who informed us that we were not checking out of the hotel yet as we were going to put up another night there. We were quite confuse because the itinery doesn’t say so. So, we quickly went up and and alerted Suzy and mother. She was angry with me as well as the agent and she went down and scolded the tour agent for not telling us the proper information. Lawrence apologize for it and then informed us that he has changed the plan and we would be going to Thirupathi on or second day instead of Banglore. Check out this website for more info http://www.tirumala.org/.

By 7:30 we reached Thirutenni and had breakfast at the TamilNadu Restaurant compliment by Mr. Baharuddin (the owner of the tour company in Malaysia) and continue on to Thirupathi. Reached Thirupathi at 10am and waited for the Thirupathi bus to go up the hill as other buses are not allowed to go up. The temple was so crowded and people were pushing around. It was such a mess and quite tiring. Finally after all the pushing and hushing we reached the inside of the main temple and for actually few seconds it was very peace full just looking at LORD THIRUPATHI. But was not given more that few seconds to see the LORD we were pushed again to go out. Finally after all that we came out and was given Ponggal (sweetened brown rice) as prasadam and all of us ate full heartedly coz we were so hungry as it was already 5:30 and we all had not had any lunch or drink. Came down from the hill at 6:30 and was given dinner. This was the most satisfying dinner coz I was so hungry and everything tasted nice. The plain rice, tamarind rice and yogurt rice. Ate everything up and left to Alamelu Manggapuram Temple. http://www.tirumala.org/ptv_tpt_tiruchanoor.htm

After visiting the temple when back to Jayabala hotel and retired for the night. This time we checked with the agent on the time to check out. Not going to repeat the same mistake again Hehehehee!

Day 3 : Friday - 24 November 2006

We check out of Jayabala hotel at 7:45 and left on our journey again to another temple called Kanchi Kamachi Amman Temple. The agent told us that it was Mr. & Mrs. Jeevan's anniversary (Jeevan & Shanti). I quickly wished Balaji happy birthday coz I did not want him to feel that I forgot his birthday when the agent announced someone else anniversary. Arrived at the temple at 8:15 and did some prayers and my mother in law told the agent that it was Balaji's birthday and everyone wished him and we also took that opportunity to wish the couple Happy Anniversary. Our journey continued on to Bangalore (means the city of wild beans and is 3,200 above the sea level) and on the way we stop at Kolar's Restaurant for lunch and we reached Karnataka district at 4pm. http://www.bangaloreit.com/html/aboutbng/history.htm. We visited the Lal Bagh Botanical Garden and at 7:40 we reached the Suraksha Park Hotel and checked in to our Room No. 306. At 8:40 when we came down we met an Indian guy who was kind enough to show us a restaurant called Kamat Restaurant and happen so he is also the owner of a shop called the Silk Route selling nice sarees and punjabi suits. He actually instructed his worker who have already closed the shop to open it up for us and we ended up buying some punjabi suits and saree. We walked back to the hotel at 11pm and retire for the day.

Day 4 : Saturday - 25 November 2006

Check out of Suraksha Park Hotel at 6:40 and the bus broke down at 7pm in the middle of nowhere. At 7:55 our journey continue again to Mysore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysore#History

At 11am we arrive at Srirangapatna where the great and noble king the Tippu Sultan history is found. Please explore this website http://www.tipusultan.org/index.htm Visited his Gombaz (mosuleum) and his destroyed fort.

At 12:50 we arrive at the Mysore Emporium and the Karnataka Cottage Emporium. I purchase a punjabi suit material and also some decor items and sandal wood stuffs. We also visited the following place in Mysore
The Mysore Palace http://www.mysorepalace.org/main.htm
Also visited the Brinda Vanam Garden. It was quite nice at night with all the lights lighted up. http://www.mysore.net/travel/brindavan.htm
However, we were all so tired to really actually enjoy the beautiful sight. What was worse is that my sister Suzy fell down and hurt herself. Luckily nothing major but she was quite shaken off and was feeling terrible.
When we reached our hotel - Vyshak International Hotel, our agent bought her a balm to rub. We checked in to our room no. 111.

Day 5 : Sunday - 26 November 2006

We checked out of the hotel at 6:45 and had breakfast at Akshoya Restaurant. At 8:20pm we reached Chamundiswary temple http://www.durga-puja.org/mythology.html
Visit were also made to the 3rd biggest Nandhi in the world (the 1st is in Andhra and 2nd is in Thanjavur) situated in Basavanagudi which is dedicated to Nandi, (The scared Bull) the mount of Lord Shiva build in the 16th century. The Nandi is 15 feet tall and over 20 feet long was craved out of one single granite rock. The story goes that the bull stopped inflicting damage to the farmers and groundnut growers and as such the farmers held groundnut fair near the temple premises which even continues up to now.
At 10:20 we left to Ooty (a highland area in India).
http://www.mysore.net/travel/brindavan.htm
At 12:10pm we reached the Bandipur National Park. This is the way we are going to go through to Ooty. We are still in the Karnataka District. Only at 1:15 did we enter TamilNadu and this place is called MuduMalai. It is the wild life park. We manage to see some deer, elephants but not lucky enough to see a tiger. We stop over for lunch at a place called Hotel Restaurant and continue on our journey to Ooty. On the way we also passed Gudalur Village and that was at approximately 2:55 pm.
At 6:30pm we reached Ooty and our first stop was the Sardar Shop which sells the some of the famous ointments like ??? Oil. Purchase some of it and also some chocolates.
The most surprising things was I met my classmate - Mages from secondary school in that shop. Both of us are staying and working in Kuala Lumpur but we hardly meet or talk on the phone. So it was like - OH my God, we don't meet in our own country but thousand of mile away and here we are. She was there on a vacation with the whole family - her husband, and 2 children a gal and a boy.
At 7:15 we arrive to our hotel Villa Park and checked into our room no. 422 and went for dinner and celebrate Uncle Hariharan's birthday. Retire after a tiring journey. It was extremely cold but thank god there is a warmer in the room. If not I don't think I would be able to sleep.

Day 6 : Monday - 27 Nov 2006

We checked out of our Villa Park Resort at 7:30 am and stop at Preeti Palace Hotel for breakfast and continue on to http://www.ooty.com/ooty.htmOoty Government Botanical Garden and Ooty Boat House. Bought a shawl for Intan from the shops at Boat House.
AT 11 am we continue our journey to go to Kochin, Kerala via Palakat route. We had lunch at Mettupalayam Town and the shop and food was so lousy. Made me sick.
The bus had to make another stop at 4:20 for repair @ Palakat, Coinbotore so we decided to have tea at Annapurni Bhavans. The shop was again lousy and dirty. At 5:20 we continue our journey again to Kerala and we reached the Kerala border at 6pm and only at 10:55 we checked into the Aiswarya Hotel room 309.

Day 7: Tuesday - 28 November 2007

6:30 am we checked out of Aiswarya Hotel and we reached the famous Cottarni Bhagawathi Temple http://www.indiantemples.com/Kerala/chotranik.html at 7:30 am.
Left after prayers to go to see the Mouth of the Sea where the river and sea meet together in Vehmanadu Island.
11pm we checked into Hotel Manickam in Kanniyakumari room no. 410.

Day 8: Wednesday - 29 November 2006

9:15am Gave some of the clothes to the guy in the hotel to wash. We left hotel Manickam to go to Vivekandan Memorial, Gandhi's Memorial and Valuvar's Statue and Kanniyakumari Bhagavathi Amman Temple. http://kanyakumari.nic.in/
Bought some saree in Kanniyakumari for my 2 sister in laws. Had lunch at Saravana. Had bath and collected the clothes that was given for washing. The clothes was dirty and smelly. Regretted giving. 3:30 pm we check out of Manikam Hotel and went on our ways to our next destination Madurai.
6pm Stop at Thirunevelli for tea and purchase halwa. Then at 6:50 pm we stop at the place where VeeraPandiyan Kattaboman was hanged. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veerapandya_Kattabomman
9pm we stop for dinner at Saravana's and only checked in to our hotel at 11pm. Hotel Tamil Nadu room no. 102.

Day 9: Thursday - 30 November 2007

7am we checked out of Tamil Nadu hotel and made our way to Madurai Meenashi Amman Temple . This is the only temple we manage to sit down peacefully and pray and had a good look at the goddess looking so majestic. Had a good blessing.
9:30 had breakfast at Ashok Bhavan near Tamil Nadu hotel and at 10:30 left to Kodaikanal.
3pm stop for lunch at Kodaikanal HillTop Inn at Club Road. Continue our journey with site seeing to Green Valley View, Boat House, Pillar Rock and Sucide Point. http://www.kodaikanal.com/
We then continue on our journey to the next destination that is Trichy. 7pm we reached the hotel - Hotel Sivapriya Room 402.
Had dinner and retire to bed

Day 10: Friday - 1 December 2006

7am Check out for room and had breakfast at the hotel itself called Restaurant Sivarushi.
8pm we left the hotel and continue our journey to Sri Renggam.
8:50 we stop at the waterfall and snap some photos. Continue journey
2:30 pm we stop for lunch at Trichy. We fought with the waiter, as he refuse to serve us as he told us that we r sitting with the other group of traveller. Finally when the food arrive after 30 minutes we did not really enjoy it as the frustration and tiredness was overpowering. All the other in our group had a good meal and already on their way to the bus.
We continue our journey again after lunch and at 3:15 we cross over the bridge that passed through Kaveri River to Sri Renggam.
3:20 we reached Sri Rengganathan temple and prayed. Continue on to Uuhchi Pillaiyar Temple which we only reached at 6pm. Went up the stairs, pray and came down. Continue our journey to hotel to retire for the day. 8pm reached Hotel Rajali at Tanjavoor Road. Check in room 603.

Day 11: Saturday - 2 December 2006

5:30 am we check out of Hotel Rajali and drive to Tanjavoor Temple to pray.
8:30 we had breakfast at the Meenakshi Bhavan.
9am continue our journey to Vaithiswaran Temple.
12 pm we reached Vaithiswaran temple, pray and had lunch at Abishek Bhavan after which we continue our journey to Olai or Nadi Josiyam. It is a place where you can see your whole life written - i.e. your past, present and future. This can only be done by getting your thumbprint and matching it with the olai. If you are lucky your actual olai will be found and read to you. However, my whole family decided not to see as we were not interested.
We were walking around the area and made friend with one of the guys there and his children. We made his hut like our house. Sitting around and talking stories. We also talk to his mother and daughter. Later the daughter's friend came and join us. The children were all excited to see us. They wanted to take pictures and we did. Here are some of it. Took down their addresses to send them the pictures.
3pm we said bye bye to them and continue our journey to Pondicherry via Khambaram and Kadalore.
4:25 arrive at Pondhicherry. Visit the Ashram there and Pillayar temple. The beach.
7pm we continue our journey to Chennai.
9pm we stop at Motel Mamalia for dinner
9:30 continue journey to Chennai
11pm reached Chennai and check into Room 135 of Hotel Bhimas in Vadapalani.

Day 12 : Sunday - 3 December 2007

We were on our own today. We woke up late for once and had breakfast at the hotel complimentary from the tour agent Mr. Baharuddin.
Then at 10 am we left to Nallis in 2 auto. One with my mum, suzy and Heman and the other my hubby, my mother in law and me. We arrange to meet at Kumaran.
We reached at Kumaran but my mum, sis and nephew were no where to be found. I was worried coz they left before us. So there I was waiting and blaming myself coz I did not write down the auto number plat and all that. I felt so worried and sick. 20 minutes pass still no sign of them. Balaji walk over to Nallis but they were not there either. So we ask the shop person is there another Kumaran somewhere and they told us no. We were getting very worried by this time and thank GOD the guard at the Kumaran told us that there is another Kumaran the other side of the road. As I walk over to see, I met Heman halfway doing the same thing. My mother in law and Balaji were already shopping inside the Kumaran. So I told my mum and sis to follow me to the other Kumaran. We were angry with the shop owner by now. But however, my mother in law was already purchasing something I decided to leave the matter to that.
We did lots of shopping buying for punjabi suit materials in the hope to get it sew on the same day and take it back to Kuala Lumpur. However, to our dissappointment none of the tailor were open on that day as it was Sunday. Very depressing. We send our mother's back to the hotel and Suzy and me continue shopping while Balaji and Heman when to bookshop searching for some books. Finally after walking around we came across a Punjabi guy shop selling Punjabi suits. We purchase some ready made suits as it was quite cheap and nice. His service was also very good.
By now we were so tired, we decided to take the cab back to our hotel so that we could start packing. Halfway, we realize we forgot to purchase some sweet from Krishan Sweet Shop so ask the Auto guy to take us to the shop and made the purchase and made our way back to the hotel. The Auto guys was so nice to us - he did not charge us any extra. God Bless Him.
Back to hotel, and was buzy packing. Took shower and dinner was arrange by the tour agent again for all of us. We made our way to the airport at 11pm and did group check in. Thank GOD none of us have to pay any tax for extra baggage. After a tiring check in, we all were sitting down chatting away waiting for boarding and up up and away to HOME SWEET HOME.

The Child of 50s, 60s & early 70s

TO ALL THOSE WHO WERE BORN IN THE 50's and 60's / early 70s. First, we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked /cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. They took aspirin, candies floss,fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention. As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles/ motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat. We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle. We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us. We go to jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes. With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be a endless game. With a ball (tennis ball the best) we boys would ran like crazy for hours. We catch guppy in drains / canals and when it rain we swim there. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually worry about being unhygenic. We ate salty, very sweet & oily food, candies,bread and real butter and drank very sweet soft sweet coffee/ tea, ice karang, but we weren't overweight because...... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!!. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. The only TV our parent could afford was a 14" small TV which we watched only when our parent allow it. The cartoon those days were also different from now. We watched ThunderCats, Smurf, Dungeons & Dragons and etc.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts. There were never birthday parties till we are 21. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and just yelled for them! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 40years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

3 Nights in Bangkok

Bangkok Trip 4D/3N
29 January – 1 February 2007

It was a just a plan to go somewhere when Air Asia came with the RM9.99 fare. My collegue Intan, Mapuza and me were in the search of adventure. I was quite okay with the idea coz if it happen I have my passport with me and can leave the country anytime. My collegues however, were not in the same scenario. One have no passport at all and the other had to renew an old passport. With all this issues it did not bother us at all. Our mission was to get the cheap fare ticket. So after many attempts on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 2:48 PM we manage to get the RM9.99 ticket to Bangkok for 29 January 2007. Long time to wait, but what the heck - it is only RM176 nett for a returned ticket. Cheap right? Yeahhhhhhhhhh.

So our next quest was to check out the accommodation. Two of us wanted to stay in backpackers hostel whereas one wanted the hotel as she was more confidence of hotel then hostel. However, after so much of debate and convincing, we manage to book the hostel at Sukhumvit area called HI-Sukhumvit (http://www.hisukhumvit.com/). Infact, after staying there - this is really a very nice place to stay. The people are so friendly, helpful and the place is extremely clean. Their motto "Not just hostel but a home" suits them so much coz we were really at home over there.

We also browsed the website and spoke to few people about Bangkok and places to visit. After so much of planning – another diterence came along i.e. the news on the bombing in Bangkok during the Christmas season. Intan and me were still adamant to go one way or the other. We decided that if death was to come in Bangkok then we are prepare for it. Crazy I know but we all do crazy stuff every now and then right? So Bangkok here we come!!!

Day 1 (29 Jan 2007 – Monday)
Finally after such a long wait, the day to fly came and we all excitedly went to the LCCT terminal taking the Air Asia bus which cost us RM9.00 per person. Upon reaching we wanted to check in immediately and the moment the counter was open we were the first few to check in. Upon giving our air ticket and passport we were thrown with another shocking news saying that our booking has been cancelled due to our request. My collegue Mapuza called in to check on the flight after the bombing and they mistaken her intention and when ahead and cancelled the flight. I was so mad but decided to keep my cool and told him to forget about what had happen and made him to get us on the same flight. Mr. Rajesh the crew finally did some work and got us into the flight. Our flight - took off and landed smoothly at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok. Thanks to Kapten Suresh.


Upon arrival at Bangkok, we took some pictures at the Terminal and got us a cab to take us to the hostel. Our first day was spend at Suam Lum Bazaar with a ride on Eye of Bangkok. There were too many shops in Suam Lum due to shortage of time we could not cover all of it. Things were not cheap either here. The shop owners are rude and they were not opened for bargains.

Day 2 (30 January 2007 – Tuesday)

Left as early as 8:30 to Saphan Taksin Sky Station to go to Tha Cheng via a boat. We wanted to visit The Grand Palace/Emerald Buddha but instead got diverted to Golden Mount due to closure. http://www.thailandguidebook.com/goldenmount.html

On the way back to visit the Grand Palace, we stop by a wood crave shop and Leela Jewellery shop to purchase some wood craving and jewellery. We made our way back to The Grand Palace and there were so many things to see here. We almost spend a few hours checking out this place. Check out this scan copy of the brochure or visit the website at http://www.thailand.com/travel/historical/historical_bangkok_watphrakaew.htm

We then decided to take a boat ride along the Chao Phraya river which cost us 900 bath. We were taken for an hour ride with views of only houses but it was an experience to be cherished. Went we wanted to make our way back to the hostel we almost lost our way but thank GOD we managed after asking around here and there. We reached the hostel and quickly shower and left again in search for proper food as we have been living with just Maggi and bread for breakfast provided by the hostel. So we took the train again to Nana station and manage to find an Arab Indian Restaurant and we had good food to eat for once. After dinner we took a stroll along the area and I purchased 3 handbags for 300 bath each for my sisters and we stop at a bar for a drink to unwind the day by relaxing.

Day 3 (31 January 2007 – Wednesday)

We decided that day three is more of a shopping day as we would be going back early tomorrow morning. My only request to both my other collegue is that I need to go and do some prayers at the Four Face Buddha (Erawan Shrine). Erawan Shrine is located right in a middle of a busy street next to a shopping complex. http://www.thailandguidebook.com/erawanshrine.html

After this we wanted to walk to Hard Rock Café to take some photos because we were not sure if we had the time to go and check it out later that night. We could not find it and we asked one of the lady who was walking passed us. Happen so she was friendly and she walked with us to Hard Rock Café and explained to us the many places to go and all that kind of stuff. Later she even told us about a jewellery shop that we should go. She got us into a tuk tuk and instructed the guy to bring us there even though we told her we were not interested. We just went into the shop for a very brief moment and then we started walking again in look for a complex called MBK. It is a shopping mall. After walking for about 15 minutes we manage to find it and the moment we entered it through the pedestration bridge that was linking the building, there was so many handbags shops. All the bags in the shop were being sold at 199 bhat. It is more like our RM5 or RM2 shop over in Malaysia but this is solely on bags. Imagine our execiment. WOW! We went bizarre. Spend about 5 – 6 hours just on that floor alone checking out the bags and T-Shirts that were being sold. We finished most of our money there. On top of that my collegue Intan and me had to make 2 trips to the bank just one floor up to change our money. Hahahaahah! It was really a shopping marathon. These are some of the stuff I purchased

We finished up shopping finally at about 7pm and made our way back to our hostel and the moment we reached we bath and changed to go to Hard Rock. One of my collegue – Mapuza decided not to go as she was very tired and wanted to rest to do her final packing. We went down and decided to settle our bill with Phil as we will be checking out early tomorrow morning around 6am. Went we approached Phil to charge our credit card – to our shocking horror Phil told us they accept only cash as they are hostel status. We did not know this coz this is the first time we are actually staying in hostel and we were fool enough not to have ask for such info. We were not having enough Bhat to give him coz all of it has been spend on shopping earlier. As such Intan and me decided to go and change some more money. We went to the train station as we saw a money changer booth there but unfortunately it was closed. We decided to go to the shopping complex near Erawan Shrine in hope of finding one there. We reached the mall at 9:55 pm just went they were closing and we could not get them to change the money for us. We then walked around and we came up with the idea of going to Hyatt to change money. Unfortunately the front office personnel could not help us coz all our money were in Malaysian currency. He then suggested that we go to Pat Pong area as they might have money changer open up late at night. He got us a cab and we were on our way to Pat Pong miserably looking for money changer to no avail. Finally we made our mind up to talk to Phil into accepting Malaysian currency and decided to take a cab to Hard Rock. We just wanted to relax and have a nice time. It was very difficult to get a cab at Pat Pong as the cabbies were very demanding with the rate. Finally we manage to negotiate to 80 bhat. The cab driver was weird though and we were pretty scared. Thank GOD we manage to reach Hard Rock safely. It was already 10:30 went we reach and we spend another 1 ½ having a good time there and made our way at 11:55pm back to the hostel via cab. We saw Phil there at the reception and went and spoke to him about our dilemma and he was very nice enough to accept the Malaysian currency. Packed up our stuff and slept off.

Day 4 (1 February 2007 – Thursday)

We woke up as early as 4pm and took shower and got ready and made some last minute packing. Made our way to reception at 6pm and the taxi was already there. We put our stuff away in the car booth and made our way to the airport. At the airport, just to finish up my balance bhat, i decided to purchase few stuff at the mini market. It was funny coz I even purchased Protex soap.

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Boarded flight AK881 at 9:35 am and arrive safely in KL at 12:40 pm. The custom officers were all ladies which means it was going to be tough for me to get release without some questions or even made to pay for some of the items.

So I decided to be a bit more dramatic by telling them how big my family is and the need to purchase all the items that I have in the bag. It is true anyway - my family is big. Bravo it works!!!! Free to go without charges. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Something to Ponder About

Something for us to ponder and reflect on .....

Dr. Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and founder of the M.K.Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, in his June 9 lecture at the University of Puerto Rico shared the following story:
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I was 16 years old and living with my parents at the institute my grandfather had founded 18 miles outside of Durban, South Africa, in the middle of the sugar plantations. We were deep in the country and had no neighbors, so my two sisters and I would always look forward to going to town to visit friends or go to the movies.

One day, my father asked me to drive him to town for an all-day conference, and I jumped at the chance. Since I was going to town, my mother gave me a list of groceries she needed and, since I had all day in town, my father asked me to take care of several pending chores, such as getting the car serviced.
When I dropped my father off that morning, he said, "I will meet you here at 5:00 p.m., and we will go home together."

After hurriedly completing my chores, I went straight to the nearest movie theatre. I got so engrossed in a John Wayne double-feature that I forgot the time. It was 5:30 before I remembered. By the time I ran to the garage and got the car and hurried to where my father was waiting for me, it was almost 6:00.
He anxiously asked me, "Why were you late?" I was so ashamed of telling him I was watching a John Wayne western movie that I said, "The car wasn't ready, so I had to wait," not realizing that he had already called the garage. When he caught me in the lie, he said: "There's something wrong in the way I brought you up that didn't give you the confidence to tell me the truth. In order to figure out where I went wrong with you, I'm going to walk home 18 miles and think about it."

So, dressed in his suit and dress shoes, he began to walk home in the dark on mostly unpaved, unlit roads.
I couldn't leave him, so for five-and-a-half hours I drove behind him, watching my father go through this agony for a stupid lie that I uttered. I decided then and there that I was never going to lie again.
I often think about that episode and wonder, if he had punished me the way we punish our children, whether I would have learned a lesson at all. I don't think so. I would have suffered the punishment and gone on doing the same thing. But this single non-violent action was so powerful that it is still as if it happened yesterday.
That is the power of non-violence.

For All The 30 Something Ladies

I got this through email. Another email that I thought I should share. I am 30 something as well. So to all my friends and the rest of you gals read on and be merry!!

THIS HAS BEEN WRITTEN BY A MAN. This is for all you girls 30 years and over... and for those who are turning 30, and for those who are scared of moving into their 30's. AND for guys who are scared of girls over 30! This was written by Andy Rooney from CBS 60 Minutes. Andy Rooney says: As I grow in age, I value women who are over 30 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why: A woman over 30 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think. If a woman over 30 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it! She does something she wants to do. And, it's usually something m ore interesting. A woman over 30 knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom. Few women past the age of 30 give a damn what you might think about her or what she's doing. Women over 30 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it. Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated. A woman over 30 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends. A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women. Women over 30 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her. Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 30. They always know. A woman over 30 looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 30 is far sexier than her younger counterpart. Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one! You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her. Yes, we praise women over 30 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 30+, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress. Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free". Here's an update for you. Nowadays 80% of women &n men;are against marriage, why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire PIG, just to get a little sausage.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!

The Secret I Like to Share

I bet all of are thinking what is the secret that I would like to share with you guys. Am I right? Well not a real secret of mine. Hahaha! Got you guys there didn't I?


I just came across this video clip. It is call "The Secret" through a friend of mine. It came at a right moment I guess coz at this moment of time my mind is so mess out with lots of nonsense. I feel like my whole life is mess out as well. So, time for me to change my luck a bit. Hope it works.


Enjoy the video guys. Hope it does some good to all of us.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=csiAsbPxmmY