Bitten by a travel bug

Those of you who have known me for a while would've realised that I was bitten by a travel bug early on. Somehow the Merdeka celebrations inspired me to travel though I truly have no idea how that came about. :-P

Just taking stock of my travels and planning for the year(s) ahead. Hmm, I really should capitalise on the travel discounts I'm getting with the current job... he he he...

1997:
Kota Kinabalu (Summer 1997)

Uni Days:
Paris (1998)
Italy (Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Pisa) (Summer 2000)

2000:
Chicago & New York (End 2000)

2002:
Chongqing, China (Jan - Mar 2002)
Hong Kong, Shen Zhen & Guangzhou (Apr 2002)
Germany & Austria (Christmas 2002)
Brunei (work)
Kota Kinabalu (End 2002)

2003:
Redang (Diving, Aug 2003)
Chicago, Phoenix, Sedona & LA (Mid 2003)
Hong Kong (Nov 2003)
Tioman (Diving, Nov 2003)

2004:
Trang, Thailand (Diving, Apr 2004)
Cambodia (Hari Raya 2004)

2005:
Brunei (work)
Hong Kong (April 2005)
Chicago (April 2005)
London & Paris (Summer 2005)
London & Belfast (Winter 2005)

2006:
Pos Keding (4X4 trip, Jan 2006)
Melbourne & Falls Creek (July 2006)
Bali (March 2006)

Places I hope to visit this year:
Bangkok - DONE! Nov 2006

Places I hope to visit next year or at some point in time:
Nepal
Mongolia
Turkey
India
South Africa
Sipadan
South America
Japan - DONE! May 2007

Leslie's Farewell & August Bdays

We had a farewell dinner for Leslie last Saturday evening (BKT - yum!!) since he's headed to Bangkok for 6 months. And it was an excuse for us to celebrate August birthdays at Mart's house ... :-)

Yvonne Foong - Please support her cause

Yvonne Foong is a student, freelance writer and patient of Neurofibromatosis. I've heard her speak and her passion for life is contagious and inspiring. If you are able to, please support her cause. She's been working really, really hard to raise funds for her surgery - she needs RM 230,000! She sells T-shirts and other items (books, etc). Do check out her website at www.yvonnefoong.com. :)

Here's a sample of her T-shirt design...

Aging

It's been a month plus since the last time I visited my grandma. I was shocked today at how much she has aged. She's now in a wheelchair, is a little more bent and no longer remembers my name. I was suddenly overcome with sadness and a flood of tears.

I wonder how I would view the world, at the ripe of old age of 84 - how I would view my children, my past. I hope that at that age I would be able to proudly say that I have lived, enjoyed the life I had led - the happy and the sad, touched lives and would at that point in time be looking forward to a better place, a place where there would be no sickness and pain.

Or perhaps I would not even make it to that age.

Winds of change...

I'm in two minds about whether I should delete this space and start anew or migrate to another blog.... certain things have happened and it would be nice to be able to blog without reservation.

Oh, as you can tell, I've still not found the time to upload photos of the trip... will do so soon!! Promise!! Hehe...

Suyin! I reckon you'd be back in KL by now? Do drop me a line ya! I'll be nice to catch up. :)

Greetings from Melb!

Wowwie... the weekend was one filled with adventure and adrenaline! Had a wonderful time on Falls Creek... it was my first time skiing and t'was truly remarkable. Must say though that skiing is much more dangerous than diving. Regardless of how careful you are, others can knock into you at anytime! (A friend of mine suffered a broken wrist on the first day and had to return to Melb.. poor chap was so disappointed that he missed everything)

The mountains were so beautiful, all white and it was sunny there too. It took me a while for everything to sink in, with all the excitement and activities. There were 48 of us on the bus! And we left at about 2am on Friday morning (the bus was late and the lot of us waited out in the cold for 1 hr :P) The bus ride took about 5 hours and for the last 30 mins we were on a really winding stretch. Towards the end of the trip we could hear people retching away :P Anyhow, most of us couldn't sleep on the bus and by the time we arrived, we all looked rather dazed. Haha. However, all the tiredness wore off when we saw how lovely the surrounding was and our energy levels started to rise!!

Boy, the skis are SO HEAVY!!! Think I've developed right shoulder muscles from lugging them around :P. Apart from that, skiing's so cool!! It's amazing feeling the air on my face and feeling the rush of adrenaline and fear that comes with looking down a steep slope!! I had my share of ending up with my butt on the snow and jumping off ski-lifts (I didn't get off in time and realised that the ground was already about 2 feet from my feet and everyone was already off... hahahha). But all in all, it was wonderful!

The lessons really helped and gave me a better idea of how to respond to different slopes and more importantly, HOW TO STOP!! Hahha... and yes, I kept hearing "SNOW PLOUGH!". There were so many people on the slopes, it being a weekend. It really amused me that little munchkins were moving about so comfortably on the snow and I was moving like someone in a 3-legged race. Haha, anyhow, I'd love to be back on the slopes... perhaps South Korea next time round - I've heard it's lovely there.

Will post photos when I get back to KL at the end of the week. :)