So Blessed by YOU

December 27th. The day. OK. So the day before I watched National Treasure 2 with Kym and Michael b'cos I thought that it would be my last happy day before I delve into depression for the last days of 2007. How wrong I was! Lol. Anyway, I couldn't sleep that night (nothing to do with the fact that PMR results would be out the next day) b'cos my cough was terrible and kept me up till 2am.

Woke up the next morning at 9.30am (once again, nothing to do with the fact that PMR results would be out in 30 mins) b'cos my phone was ringing and it was Lin Kee. She asked me what time I was gonna go and I said 10.30 and she was like, "Are you awake yet?" cos I was jus grunting and mumbling, haha. After that Povaanes called and asked me the exact same questions. Got three txt-es frm Gavin, Lil' Bro and Wei Lyn wishing me luck. Awww... how nice. I took a shower and called Michael then Kym took a shower. Was late and Melia was txt-ing me and she sounded really freaked out. Haha. The night before all relaxed somemore. Michelle called and screamed at me over the phone, it sounded like "Where are you??!! I'm here already!! My mum is nagging!! I'm waiting for you to take the results!!" Michael came to pick me and Kym and when I got out, Melia was already waiting at the bus stop. When she saw me, we ran to each other and hugged. Haha. So drama. Jia Yee asked for a hug too cos she was there.

So Michelle was at the canteen and I saw her take her results and she got 7 As! Yippee! Then it was my turn. OK, so this girl sitting beside Puan Noraini had that look on her face like, "This is not good results" as she looked at me and Melia's slips. That's when I felt so hopeless cos you're just waiting for your results, you know. Anyway, I got my slip facing down and I took it up and covered the part with the grades (haha, seriously) then when I moved my hand away slowly I saw a row of As and I jumped right up from the chair and turned to Michelle and started screaming my head off. Then Melia said she also got 7 As and then we jumped and screamed again. Lavenya came and she also got 7 As so we jumped and screamed and hugged and repeated it countless times (according to Kym and Michael). Haha! After that, I saw Jolene and I ran to her and hugged her and told her I got 7 As. Hehe. Of course must tell best friend the moment you see her right. Haha.

After that I called Dad (his response was, "Good..." but he was in a meeting, so after that he called me and said, "Mandy, congratulations!" =D), Mum ("Fantastic!"), Ko ("I'll give you RM350") and Jo ("Good for you, che") and txt-ed Koko Jeremy, Che Che Liza, Miss Chong and Gavin. Wei Lyn wished me cos she found out from Jo since they're all in Cameron Highlands. Soon Chia and Juan Gin txt-ed me and then I called them. Then I txt-ed Mr Teh (he's still my fave teacher, I know, hard to believe but it's true, lol). After another bout of screaming again, Jolene came back after taking her results and she got 7 As!!! YAY!!! Pure joy! Haha. The best thing is that my whole group got 7 As.

CONGRATULATIONS TO:
Usha
Povaanes
Pune-chan
Lavenya
Melia
Jessica
Michelle
Kavitha

We were playful and enjoyed our year but it's such a great thing that all of us did well =D Awesome!!!

After that, I left with Kym and Michael and we went to Modern. I met Michelle there and she ran to me and hugged me again. Haha. Yes, we were that happy! I was too happy to eat (I know, strange, haha). Mr Teh called me and we talked a bit. Then I called Shelly after she txt-ed. I also got a txt from Jessica (cos she was in Bali) and we were saying that we really have to celebrate since all of us did well. Hehe. Yes, we definitely have to.

In the afternoon, Wei Shern and Mervy called from Cameron Highlands (they're at this Residential Bible School that a few people from church including Jo and Wei Lyn sent them to) about my results. Wei Shern was like, "Woot! Serious ah?" Haha. And Mervy didn't mention a single thing about it. Haha. After they called, Lyon called and today Jonathan called (he's at Cameron Highlands too) and said that he was busy when Wei Shern and Mervy called.

It's been so nice! This feeling really is worth working for. My results are a blessing from God and truly, God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or expect of Him and He is so good... so good! Dear Lord, I thank You so much for blessing me and my friends! Being a child of God is such a wonderful thing. I need not fear about anything but I can rest assured that God is in absolute control and whatever happens, happens for my good for God is a loving God and He only wants to bless His children.

THANK YOU LORD!

PMR RESULTS OUT ON DECEMBER 27

Page 3 of The Star's Nation section.

Such an ominous headline.

When I opened today's newspaper, that particular section was practically jumping out at me. And my response? I screamed. Yes. Literally. Instantaneously. Screamed.

I am so freaked out now.

Dec. 27 is like, 8 days away (today notwithstanding).

I know that next Thursday I will be really nervous, worried and definitely hyperventilating to the point that I threaten to faint any moment due to shortage of breath, BUT (and there is a but) I will not let that happen. Why? Because I must contain myself if not I won't even last till it's my turn to get my results slip. Oh my goodness. That is so gonna happen.

However, I take comfort in knowing that my God is an awesome God and He is in absolute control of next Thursday (and every other day). As children of God, we know He has ordained all our days (including next Thursday) and that whatever happens, it will all be for the good of those who love Him. And all God's people say? AMEN! Hehe.

"But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in You..." Psalm 56:3

My 2nd Deepavali!

I woke up feeling excited because it's Deepavali. Haha. I know, it's weird, considering I'm not a Hindu. But it's the only other religious festival that I've ever been invited to (minus the Hari Raya one that I was invited to but couldn't make it last month).

First, I picked Lavenya and Jolene then headed to Povaanes' house. We had my favourite peanut snack that she knew I liked. And then we had a really delicious vegetarian lunch. There was bitesize pieces of mock fried chicken (made of soya) and mock mutton (made of mushroom). Who knew vegetarian food could be so smashing? Povaanes served me so much rice, saying that I could eat a lot. But after Thailand, I have adopted a hostility towards food. Haha. Who am I kidding? I ate what she gave me lah. Lol. Now I got to ikat perut. Sigh. Anyway, we spent about an hour there, then Povaanes' dad sent us to Pune-chan's house.

We arrived at her house at 2.50pm. Hung around for about 30 minutes or more. We didn't eat there. I played with Snowy, her Golden Retriever who is soooooo manja. Haha. But she's really cute too. If you stop patting her she'll get your attention by giving you her paw. Hehe.

After that, Pune-chan's dad then sent us to Lavenya's house. There, we had a few snacks. Then we had another lunch. Hehe. I've always loved Lavenya's mum's cooking. Especially the chicken rendang. Absolutely smashing. There was coleslaw which had vegetables cut into small pieces, nicer than KFC's; the chicken rendang that's my favourite; nasi briyani (with cinnamon sticks, raisins and lots of other things that gives nasi briyani that wonderful smell) and kuah kurma or dates gravy. When I was done, I was dead full! So super stuffed!

Jolene and Lavenya washed the dishes while me and Povaanes looked on (really, we're not very much the housework kind, haha). Then we headed upstairs to Lavenya's room where we took a few pics. Lavenya and Povaanes asked me to pose, which is something that I totally suck at. Hehe. I can hardly make my poses believable. So I left Lavenya and Povaanes to strike up whatever pose they want to and decided not to be in the pic, less I spoil the pics. We talked and talked until 6.30pm then only we went home.

All in all, it was a great Deepavali. =)

But I wish I got to see Usha in her yellow Punjabi suit XD

Sawadee Ka =D

DAY 1

I love the feeling when you take off, don't you? It's like, first it's slow, and then as it takes up speed it just feels so great! Then you can feel that you're on air because somehow, just somehow you know that the airplane's not on ground anymore. The feeling is just awesome! It's amazing that God blessed mankind with the wisdom to create this big thingy. Haha. It was a smooth flight with a great landing. I arrived in the Phuket International Airport at 1300 (Thailand time - which is an hour slower than Malaysia) from the LCC Terminal KL (since I was riding AirAsia). 6 of us (my family, Uncle Lim and wife) take a van to the Central Karon Village Hotel.

Me and my bro, Jo

The van brought us to Centara Villas. It seems that the "Central" name has been dropped and replaced with the new "Centara". While waiting for our bookings to be clarified, we were each served a coconut. Very pleasant surprise. Hehe.

But it turned out that we were at the wrong hotel. So they gave us a ride to the one where there were rooms for us, because Centara Villas was full. This is the Centara Karon Resort.

At the reception counter, there's this bowl of welcome cookies that taste REAL good. My bro and I take one or two every morning before we go out, haha. On the first day they were soft and on the next few days we caught them right out of the oven, where they were crisp and fresh.

Oh, and they also gave this welcome drink which tasted REAL good too. Haha. It's like guava, with a little tropical flavours. Hehe. Uncle Lim was joking that we're already full, no need to go find for lunch. All the free welcome stuff we get, especially the coconut which was kind of filling cause we dug out the inside flesh. Hehe.

So we were shown to our rooms by this Filipino girl who speaks English with a really nice accent. And she could pronounce my bro's name. Anyone who can say "Josiah" without going Jo-sai-ah is considered very good. Haha.

OK, so in the room there was this nice lighting decor. Nice pattern, right?

Stupidly enough, no pics were taken of the room itself. Haha. Anyway, I'll describe it to you. There's two single beds, a desk, a bedside table, a fridge (with two complimentary bottles of water and other drinks that you have to pay for), a safety vault, a cupboard, an umbrella (which is wanted to take, like the Haatyai one that mum and dad were allowed to take back, but I was told by mum that the room would be checked and the missing umbrella would be charged to our bill, haha), a balcony, a TV set and that's just about all. It's a nice room. This is the toilet. And you can see the reflection in the mirror for the opposite of the sink. There's only a shower, no bath tub. Hehe.

After checking in and settling down, we went outside to find for food. The resort is located strategically cause when you come out, there's lots of stores and guest houses which open very early in the morning. Our first meal was at this street store:



After that, we went back to the resort and rested until Uncle David and family arrived. Their plane was later than us, so we were waiting for them before we went for dinner. Uncle David, Aunty Janet and Keith were driving for hours before they found Centara. Uncle David rented a van for the entire duration of our stay, so he drove the van to the Patong Beach area (he was joking that after driving for hours since they were lost, he was practically a Phuket local) and we had dinner at this seafood restaurant. They had valet service, haha, sort of lah, cause Uncle David was asking where to park and the lady said it's fine, they'll park for us.

We had oysters, som tam (papaya salad), tom yam goong, curry crabs, and more. I can't take tom yam goong, it's too spicy for me. Got me coughing after that. Then we walked around in the Patong Beach area where there were lots of street stalls, kinda like China's Silk Road and Petaling Street. Phuket has three major beaches: Patong, Kata and Karon. All these beaches have shopping areas where you can find all sorts of things - mostly similar items. We went back to the resort rather early. According to Malaysian time, I should already be asleep so I was missing the bed.

DAY 2

On the 2nd day, we went to the go-kart speedway. At first, I was apprehensive about driving a go-kart by myself, so I just shared a two-seater one with dad. It was pretty fun, so I decided to have a go myself. I'm glad I did. Hehe. It was lots of fun! Now I so wanna go to the Sepang one. It seems that all the racing games that I always play actually helps when I'm really racing.

But I forgot to take off my specs, so when I accelerated full speed, my specs was threatening to fall off. I had to keep on pushing my specs when it slides down my nose. Hehe. Here's a few pics of me go-karting!

Me in white and Jo in red

We headed for the shooting range after that. Right before the shooting range is a water skiing thingy. People on a board hold onto something that is connected with a wire to these two wire contraptions. Sigh. I don't think you'll get it. I don't get what I'm saying either. Haha. Never mind. Drop it. Lol. Point is, you don't need a boat, so it really cuts costs. Anyway, I didn't try that. I had no plans of getting wet. And seeing that my point of equilibrium is a little senget (as I've told my friends many times before that that is the cause of my clumsiness), chances are I would definitely not be able to balance and therefore fall embarrassingly quick before I even reach the end into the water.
We entered the shooting range where there was practically no one. Only one guy who brought his gun and I think he's an expert cause he always got the bullseye. Here's pics of the uncles, my dad, Keith and Jo who tried it out with a sniper. None of the aunties or me gave it a shot. Eventhough I play Counter Strike, I'm not very keen about shooting in real life. Haha.

Uncle David

Dad

Uncle Lim

Keith

Jo

The guy in the white shirt who's in all of the above pics leds us to the bungy jump place. Yup, bungy jump! Hehe. So excited lah. Cause I'm planning to jump. Only me, Jo and Keith jumped. Dad, Uncle David and Uncle Lim wanted to give a shot too, but they were saying that their heart would stop even before they took the jump. Haha.

OK, so we're supposed to jump from 50 meters. This is a pic of how high the whole thingy is.

We went one by one (Keith first, then Jo, and lastly, me). First, the man checked my mass, and then I have to take off my slippers. He wrapped two spongy things separately around both my lower legs and ties a thick-looking rope around the two spongy things and between my feet. Then I hop into this thingy (pardon my incessant use of the word "thingy", I have no idea what all these thingy-s are properly called) in the pic below which will slowly bring me to the top.

I was praying on the way to the top. But surprisingly enough, I wasn't nervous. Hehe. As strange as it may sound, I'm almost always imperturbable. There was a fellar in the thingy aka the instructor who was telling me what I was supposed to do. He asked me not to look down, just look around at the surroundings because I might have a freak fit if I looked down. Once I reached the top, I hopped to the edge, and heard dad calling me. Automatically, I looked down and I never realized how high up I was until that moment. I could only mutter under my breath, "Oh, goodness. I'm so high!" Haha. Then the instructor said, "3-2-1 Bungy JUMP!" and I spread my arms straight out and just...... fell. My eyes were closed when I was falling, but I opened them halfway and my arms were dangling right in front of me. I tried to grope, expecting to touch something but I remembered that it was only air, and that was when I kinda had a midair freak fit. "OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!!!" I screamed. Yup, I screamed. And everyone below was laughing. I cradled my head a few times cause I was feeling dizzy. All I could say was, "Ahhh! Ahh! Ah!" It grew feeble. Haha. In the end, when I was swinging there, all I could manage was, "Let me down... Let me down..." Lol. Once I was low enough, I was brought to ground by another man and relieved of the spongy thingys. Mum said I jumped really well. Hehe. And I agree, if I may say so myself, haha. What do you think? XD There's a video at the end of this blog showing my jump. If you hear properly, you can make out - vaguely - my screams of horror. Haha. Here's pic of Keith, Jo and me with our Certificates of Courage. (Really, I only did the jump for this certificate. Hehe. Now I can say, "I bungy jumped!!!")

We drove to Tesco to have lunch. Their food court is super clean. After eating, me and Jo went to buy this snack that we saw. Made friends with the girl manning the stall who thought that me and Jo were amusing when we pointed at opposite options when she asked whether we wanted a plate or a polystyrene box. Hehe. So, anyway, these are waffles which taste AWESOME! There's original, sesame & salt, maple, mixed fruits, almonds and rum raisin.

Also bought a few donuts from Dunkin' Donuts. I had this donut called Mochi Ring which is shaped like the ones J. Co here sell, and it's sticky and chewy inside. I like it cause I memang like omochi. I like sticky stuff like that, example: kuih bakul or nin guo. Anyway, haha, I also had this donut which is called Tart shown in the pic below. It's actually strawberry jam in the middle, and the purple one is blueberry jam. All the whitish stuff is coconut.
Then I bought two shorts from Tesco: one grey, one white and Jo bought grey shorts and this matching pair or sleeveless shirt and shorts that he can wear for basketball. After that, we went back to the resort as it was starting to pour. This pic below shows a rainbow that we could see clearly from my room balcony after the rain stopped. Pretty, huh? It looks nicer in real life. Duh. Haha.
In the evening, we went for a massage at this massage parlour that's really close to the resort. Wow, my first time getting a massage. Feel so pampered, man. Haha. It was pouring outside, which made it even cooler cause you can see people running around outside with and without umbrellas while we were inside falling asleep. Haha.

At night, we headed out for dinner at this place in the Kata Beach area which is super beautiful. Too bad we didn't bring our camera out so didn't get any pics of Dino Park. It's a restaurant-cum-mini golf attraction. Really beautiful. They did it so well!

Then we stopped at a little bar cause Uncle Lim saw a pool table and wanted to play. So the men played pool. Uncle Lim's quite good! A European couple came and sat down and ordered some food, then watched Uncle Lim, Uncle David and dad play against each other. Then another two more European guys and a Thai girl came also. They ordered some drinks. One of the European guys challenged Uncle Lim to a game. He didn't get the last ball in, so the European guy won by default. Oh well, it's all for the fun of it. Hehe. Although the ah mo lang looked real serious and also real arrogant. Hehe. After that, we went back to the resort to catch some shuteye.

DAY 3

Mum, dad, me and Jo woke up early, around 730, and I was surprised I could waked up so early although in Malaysia it was 8 and that's usually an OK time for me to wake up. We walked to the beach and so happened to do some early morning shopping. Here's a pic of the tuk tuk taxis that are so popular in Thailand but according to Ko, they cost quite a lot to ride in it.

After that, we walked back to the resort and went out for breakfast with Uncle Lim and wife, and Uncle David and family. When we were done, we went for elephant trekking. First we had to wait for the elephants to come. In the meantime, I went and looked the python that they kept and was allowed to touch it. Wow, the skin is so chunted! It just ate a chicken and could hardly move (you could see the huge bump in the middle of its body).

Me and Jo sat on an elephant called Wanta. The ride was kinda bumpy, but it was fun. Especially when we're going downhill, it was kinda scary. Oh yeah, and Uncle David's elephant decided to have a poop, and it was so gross and so big and so brownish-yellowy. Ugh. Lol. I feel kinda sad for the elephants, cause all they do is walk everyday on the same route. I hope that they're well taken care of and that the love that they get there more than makes up for all the walking they have to do each day. I definitely have a soft spot for animals more than humans cause I don't feel for the people who have to walk on the same route leading the elephants. Haha.

Then Uncle David drove us to Phuket Town where they were finding for this Chinese restaurant which dad and his group of friends once ate at years ago. It was a Teochew restaurant and they found it after asking for directions from the Austrian Consulate building. Hahaha. It was the only building we saw.

Oyster omelette or hor chien

Mega fishballs

Steamed red snapper in soya sauce (the traditional way)

Suckling pig (I couldn't even bear to look at this pig. I felt so sad for it. Even for dead animals, my soft spot is still there. Look at its eyes, and its hands and legs. Oh my goodness~ T_T)

Crab and tang hoon in a claypot

Eventhough it was raining, we still went out to the Patong Beach area to find for food. Had dinner there.

This is an absolutely delicious sausage. It's really big and slathered in some sweet-spicy sauce.

DAY 4

It's the last day!

Uncle David, Aunty Janet and Keith left really early in the morning cause their plane was earlier than ours, which was at 1605 hours.

Me, mum, dad, Jo, Uncle Lim and his wife walked to the beach. The weather was really nice.

The beach

Beautiful morning glories

Mum, dad, Uncle Lim and his wife decided to go for another round of massage but this time, me and Jo were not allowed. Haha. We were cool with it though. Kinda aching after the first time. I thought massages were supposed to make your muscles more relaxed. I guess I'm opposite. Maybe cause I've never had a massage and my muscles are usually never flexed, haha, almost non-existent.

So me and Jo walked back to the resort. He wanted to go and play pool so he left me in the room. With a camera. Alone. Outcome? Camwhoring session. Yah lah. I never knew I would actually camwhore too. Oh well. I should have some fun anyway. Hehe. Cause I had nothing else to do. I already finished my "Learning to Swim" book (and no, it has absolutely nothing about freestyles or backstrokes). You can either scroll down to the end of my camwhoring pics OR you can look. Hahaha.






Then it was time to go home! T_T OK, I wasn't so depressed, really. The only time I actually missed leaving a foreign country was when I visited the UK when I was 12. Honestly, I hated the idea of going back to Mrs Kao's tuition, and UPSR, and school. Haha. Anyway, enough of my digressing. We rented a van to send us to the airport. I feel asleep in the luxurious, spacious, comfy van. Hehe.

The Phuket International Airport has absolutely nowhere for you to sit. Seriously! It's not user-friendly. Anyway, bought some donuts from Dunkin' Donuts and some chicken tenders from Burger King which surprisingly, tastes really good! The people in Burger King greet you like how they do in Sushi King here. Not that they say "mase mase", but they say, "Welcome!" all over the place.

In the departure hall, we still had some time left. So I hurriedly got a few last minute things. Then we had a grilled chicken burger from this place called Chester's with the last few baht dad had. The gate was changed from 6 to 4 to 5. Everyone was queueing up. Behind us was a couple. The lady was French and her husband was a New Zealander. Cool, right? Hehe. Mum and dad chatted witht hem for awhile. The lady said she loved Malaysia, not so much the Malaysians. Haha. Anyway, we boarded the plane and Jo sat beside the window. Here's a few pics of the view from our airplane window. Absolutely beautiful =D

My bro!

I had to force him to take a pic with me before we touched down cause I really wanted a pic in the airplane, hehe

And here below is our airplane, the AK 877 (we're not supposed to take pics of the airplane, but whatever, haha)

So that's it! My great Thai adventure. Haha. More or less. Thailand is so much more than I expected. Hehe. The Thais are super hospitable! The people there are really what makes Thailand a great place to holiday in.

At last I've finshed this post. You don't know how much I've procrastinated. Haha. Enjoy!