Well, here it is! Part one of my vacation report
I was actually going to procrastinate on this, but well…i decided not to?
Since my new year’s resolution #3 is “Thou shall not procrastinate for it shall only cost you your doom.”
Yes, you’re welcome xD
This post only contains pre-trip and day 1 of the trip. But I hope you guys are entertained nonetheless ;D
Here we go!

-x-

Thailand.

17th December 2009

Since we had to meet up with the convoy at Hat Yai before midnight, we decided to leave the house a little later than we’re used to. We did some last minute packing (“Eh! Where did the toothpaste go?!”), some last minute shopping and some last minute scanning. We targeted to leave at around 10am or so. But us being Malaysians (“Wei, where’s the car keys?” *panics*) we left at around 12pm.
We drove on to my cousin’s house at Sungai Petani, Kedah. We initially planned to meet up at Gurun but some other problems popped up (“Alamak, passport expired!”).
So after everything was finally settled, we made our way to the Thailand border to get our passports and border passes stamped! The line was long and I switched counters thrice. In the end, I was the last to get my passport stamped out of everyone. Oh, the irony. After crossing the border, we drove and we drove and we drove. My sister cranked up her Walkman phone and started playing songs. So we pretty much sang our way to Hat Yai xD.
A few ours later, we decided to stop by Tesco Lotus Hat Yai for dinner and some light shopping. I ate Koay Teow Rea (direct translation: Koay Teow in a boat xD) while the others ate Khao Kha Mu (pork leg rice). The guy at the drink counter tried telling us that the Coca Cola ran out, but he ended up confusing us. So he had to stand up and give us hand gestures while using the easiest form of Thai he could muster.
Then we shopped for some food. I pretty much picked out the weirdest foods there. Like, ham and cheese sticks, pork chips, Hai Tai crackers (the flimsiest, most fragile and delicious crackers I’ve ever tasted) and flavored seaweed. The Coca Cola cans and bottles were slightly different (Coca Cola Zero :O) so we picked up some.
 

After our very short food run, we hopped back into our respective cars (number 8 and number 9) and headed to the Golden Crown Plaza Hotel in Hat Yai. We debated over sleeping arrangements for a while. Then, while the adults (and Anchalee) went out sight-seeing, my sisters and Aleena stayed in the hotel room watching The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in the hotel room.

18th December 2009

Wake up call was at 6.30am Thai time, if I’m not mistaken. After heading to the nearest restaurant for breakfast (and meeting Yi Xuan’s family again =]), we gathered at the lobby with all our luggage. Saw some new faces and recognized the old. At around 8.30, the whole convoy was already in their cars awaiting roll call.
The convoy started rolling our of sequence first as the roads were very narrow and crowded. When we reached the highway, we settled into the arranged lineup. Since the kilometer count was 485km, listening to the radio transmitter was the preferred form of entertainment. The radio language is fun to listen to xD. They kept saying we were going to stop at the place called “the Kangaroo” for lunched. I figured it would be a kangaroo themed restaurant or something. ._.
A few hours and toilet breaks later, we finally stopped at our lunch destination. I could see why they called it “the Kangaroo” now. Placed in front of the petrol station (PTT) was a ginormous 20 foot tall kangaroo.  

Well of course we wanted to take a picture with the huge kangaroo! xD It was an epic one-in-a-lifetime thing!

                We ate lunch at a food court. Our family was pretty big so we combined some random tables and ate together. *sings We Are Family*

                I even met Jasper in 7-11 after so long. . After lunch, we started rolling out again.

                At around 4pm (record time!), we reached our destination for the day: Novotel Hotel in Chumphon. You see, the last trip I went to in 2007, the Chumphon hotel we stayed at was the worst hotel I’ve ever been in. Imagine my surprise when we got to the hotel in Chumphon and I saw one of the most beautiful hotels I ever laid my eyes on.

                Not wasting any time, once we crossed the gate, Papa Kilo (Isaan Leader) called us out for a group photo!

 
Take One. (Loves this picture. Everyone looks so happy xD)

Take Two.

Final Take. (got it just right…somewhat)

We figured it was the perfect time for family photos! Since the scenery at the hotel was so nice and all.

The Keowmang Family (Car #8)

The Chitbanchong Family (Car #9)

After the photos, we drove nearer to the lobby to get our room keys and welcoming drinks! Took pictures on the way. Like I said, the hotel was absolutely gorgeous. Every camera enthusiast’s dream. *coughs at my dad*

Golf course.

Road to main hotel building.

The pool area.

Found this place ;D

Breakfast hall.

Got our room keys (I’m rooming with my cousins again) and brisk-walked to the rooms. If the exterior was this pretty, imagine the interior! >D

The beds.

The bathroom.

The hot tub. (*swoons*)

Sadly, my cousin’s room only has a shower. An amazing shower, no less. And instead of a solid wall in the bathroom, one part of the wall is a window covered by wooden blinds by the outside. *peeps*
So since we had a lot of time until dinner, we went outside to take family photos! Pretended we were supermodels being photographed by Nigel Barker. >D
Dinner was held at a hall in the hotel. It was nothing special, really. Just normal food. But there were two chandeliers in the hall that I could not stop looking at.
After dinner, we hung by the pool. The adults went to yam cha while the kids stayed by the pool to sembang. Aleena and I had a long converstaion with Kah Seng about school stuff xD who knew talking about school could be so fun?
We slept pretty good that night.

 

That’s all for now. Part two coming up not so soon.
But I’ll try to get it up asap!
Drop me a comment! =D

Signing off..

OMG I relised how long it’s been since I updated.
Believe me, I have so many things to update about.
But the fact that I have to resize so many photos puts me off.
But I’ll get to those updates when I can.

Well, before all that, I wanted to tell you guys that I’m going to Thailand for about two weeks!
My family and I are going with the Penang EXPDC Club as a convoy.
What’s awesome is that my cousin’s family, Jasper & Jesus’ (Brandon’s) family and Yi Xuan’s family is going.
So it’ll be one heck of a trip! =D

I’m most excited to be going to Khon Kaen cause of the many places of interest.
I’m particularly excited about Wat Nong Wang.
Beautiful, ain’t she?

Well, I’ll be back in two weeks!
Signing off..

I’ve been dying to get a bass guitar for quite some time now.
And the opportunity came by a few weeks ago ;D
So last Sunday, my family went down to Jitra, Kedah to my uncle’s music shop.
There were a few bass guitars in stock. A Santa Cruz, two Ibanez(s), a few more, and a second-hand red Gibson.
I picked out the cheapest, which is the Santa Cruz xD

*pokes picture above*
It looks something like that, only its all black and it has five strings instead of four.
And I decided to name it Jensen. ;D
Drop comments about what you think about it!

Oh! And good luck to those taking SPM and to Woei Chyuan who’s taking STPM.

Signing off..

Last Saturday, my family headed down to KL for my mum’s reunion dinner.
So we woke up at 5am and my dad drove the Prado.
The Prado was much more comfortable than the CRV, mainly cause i had so much space to sprawl out xD.
Once we reached KL, went straight to Suria KLCC.
Why? Kinokunyia, of course!
Kinokunyia is known as my favourite bookstore ever. ;D
Bought two books, A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks and True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson.

After Kinokunyia, we went to Royale Bintang, the hotel we were staying at for that night.
I got straight to my book ^^

So my mum had to get ready for her dinner and all that.
Did I mention it was a family gathering thing?
So we left around 3ish.
I was bored there cause I knew noone and it was mostly my mum’s old school pals.

The next day, we went to Mid Valley cause my sister wanted to go to Teddy Tales.
Before that, Iona (my mum’s ex-student) told her that Carl’s Jr was a great place to eat at.
So we decided to eat there for breakfast.

On the left, the Western burger. On the right, the Chilli Burger.

I loved the fries, personally.
And I give two thumbs up to this place ;D.
*Carl’s Jr Portabello Mushroom Burger!*

So after going to Teddy Tales and buying a black rope bracelet that I liked and my sister’s slime, we went to Krispy Kreme’s for some doughnuts!

The doughnuts were good, but some are a little too sweet.
My favourites: Newyork Cheesecake and the strawberry filling one.

After that, we left Mid Valley, ate Satay Kajang and went home.
Credits to my dad for the awesome photos once again, and credits to my mum for getting us to go to KL ;D

Signing off..

I never thought I’d say this but…OH MY GOD FINALS ARE OVER!
*jumps around dancing to an imaginary song in my head*

So I should get started on that list, like now.
No worries, I already am ;D.
I should post up a bucket list, like Viona. But I ruled against it.
Damn my laziness. ._.

Will update as soon as I know what to update about!
Off to find a better layout.

Signing off..

Well guys, I have to take a two-week break.
For FINALS. *dies on spot*
I feel like my plans now are all divided into three categories: BF (Before Finals), DF (During Finals) and AF (After Finals).
Trust me when I say I have a hell of a list for AF ;D.

Will update next next Tuesday!
Signing off..

Last July, I left Penang for the National English In Camp 2009 held in Miri, Sarawak! =D

Day 1
I cant really remember much of the first day, except that I packed blindly and woke up really early.
Then I remember getting to PIA (which, thank Agni, is only located about an eight minute drive from my house).
Then when I reached, I immediately saw a group of students/teachers.
So joined them, got my attendance taken, then headed to the check-in counter.
In the line, I met my first friend ^^. Teh Jia Yun from Chung Ling Butterworth.
Got on the Air Asia plane to LCCT in KL.
Then after many many many hours of waiting (me and Jia Yun circled LCCT for what, fifty times?) we finally boarded the plane to Sarawak.
Became friends with the rest of the girls: Wani and Farisha, both from schools in the mainland.
Got to know the rest of the Penang guys too. Izzat from PFS, Mutahir and Rafiq from the mainland and Azfar from Saints.
Then FINALLY, we landed at the Miri International Airport.

 
oh the wonder xD Sarawak!
 

 When we landed at the airport, we saw many girls (and a guy) dressed in the traditional Sarawak attire holding a banner.
I was like “Wow, those people greeted by them must be proud.”
Manacai it was for us 0.o. We got a bead necklace each and we got ushered into the bus.
Us girls took the back seat while the guys took the front.
We made a lot of noise at the back. : O.

Then, after a few more states arriving, we proceeded to the campsite:

Kampung Sukan Petronas: a not so clean, not so dirty place =)

Us Penangites checked in and we got assigned to our dorms. Girls got A1 while the guys got C1.
Got out bedsheets and blankets, lugged our luggage and walked to our dorm, which was conviniently the nearest to the hall ;D.
So we met out roommates, which are from Johor and Pahang respectively.
I chose the bunkbed above Jia Yun, furthest from the door. Near the window -_-

After a little get-to-know session and choosing our dorm mistress, we headed to dinner.
Dinner was…okay. But being a Penangite, you know how picky we are of good food.
Then they had a short opening speech and a slideshow and all, about Miri and the camp.
Then we had an ice-breaking session. Our camp commandant (Mr Benedict) told us that Kelantan cant come cause they didnt send any ice for them to break =.=”

Ice-breaking started with birth months. We had to do a different action for each month that we were born.
For instance, people born on the month January: touch your head. Something like that.
And we couldn’t let go. : O March had to touch their eye, so Rafiq pretended to poke his eye wth.
Then we had to find our group members xD
I couldnt remember much but I remember Raymond, Su Hail, Madi, Carolyn. That’s all xD. I’m sorry for the rest ><.

Then we lined up in our respective birth months (August had the most people) and were randomly divided into our permanent groups.
I was assigned to Group 7: Long Bedian.
Apparantly Bedian means tree. 0.o
Randomly chose a group leader. Our group facilitator chose the name of the seventh member: Sodiqqin, a Form 3 dude from Terengganu.

Then we had a World Record competition.
E.g, who had the longest thumb, who was the heaviest, who was the lightest.
My group won longest thumb and longest arm.
Both won by the same dude: Khuaairi. And he’s Form One. : O

Day 2
Ah, day two. Slept pretty early the previous night after calling the parents.
Woke up around 4.45am, i asked A1’s dorm mistress to wake me up xD
I thought I would trash around and cause a riot, but surprisingly I woke up pretty easily 0.o.
Surprise, surprise! xD
Put on my contacts surprisingly fast.
My roommates were looking at me all weird cause they probably havent seen anyone sticking their finger in the eye before.

So went for breakfast after the morning exercise (just drank coffee, really really hot coffee)
And we prepared for our next activity.
We were required to make up a slogan, cheer and a logo.
Truth be told, I loved our logo.
The adorable Darren from Sarawak created it. A cute hornbill in a tree ^^.
But I didnt really like our slogan. It was so freakin long. Something about learning in nature. Our group leader took it from the nametags.
I would just stick with “WE’RE THE BEST!” Lame, but short and sweet.
Our cheer was simple, I liked it xD.
“Hoo hoo ha, hoo hoo ha, Long, Long, Long Bedian!”
We had this Dragon Ball thing going on.

Presentation was worth a lot.
And our Group Leader wasn’t really the best when it comes to English.
So we got…fifth. *headesk*

After lunch, groups 1 – 5 went to the Marina Bay while groups 6 – 10 went to the Taman Awam Miri. Then we’d switch.
So we had a few activities at the park.
The first, until today, I didnt understand. The second was a word search. The third was forming words with the word given.

 

 the so-called canopy walk (it wasnt that shaky)

Then we headed over to the Marina Bay.
Let me just tell you, beautiful scenery.

 

 

We had to make a model yatch. They pronounced it literally as how its spelt. *sniggers*
Okay that was evil of me xP.

 

 Long Bedian w/o Group Leader

That night, we had to make a melodious poem.
In other words, a song! Oh hip hip hooray.
I love making songs, but in this closed minded group, they were pretty much listening to themselves.
So I just made a few lines and showed it to our faci.
He said that I had a natural talent when it comes to poems : O
*proud*
But the other two facis overlooked mine and didnt use it at all. -_-
Instead they went with Shera’s idea: Replacing the lyrics of Seasons in the Sun.
*shrugs*
I had to write it on mahjong paper. No big, it was just like in school.
Sang it on the stage. I had to give the opening speech thing.

While they were doing all that, I was sitting with Chong Wei Yee (Lee Chong Wei’s sister LOL inside joke) and Darren
They’re a LOT of fun. xD
“POTONG!”
Went back to the dorm after a whole day.
Gossiped with the newly formed group. Me, Jia Yun, Wani, Farisha, Kimi, Neeta, Aiman, Sofia.
One of them were having trouble with her guy back home, so we played songs and condemmed him xP.

Day 3
My favourite day!
Took a bus to Niah National Park.
Wanted to sit with Chong Wei but it mutually seemed that I should sit with Shera again.
After about an hour, we reached:

 

Then we had to cross a river to get to the trail. The boat ride took probably twenty seconds -_-

 

 

Stole a bit of Darren’s insect repellent and went on our way.

 

 The trail.

A really hairy caterpillar. I almost pushed Wei Yee off the trail cause of that.

 After fourty-five minutes of walking, we finally reached the cave!

 Its more beautiful if you see it with your own eyes.

Then, we headed back to go to the rumah panjang.

 Saw that little fella on the way.

Then we walked for another thirty minutes and reached the majestic rumah panjang!

 

No kidding, man. Rumah panjang got Astro!

 

Pretty well furnished too =D.

 

My friend and Long Atip’s group leader Arvinran with two performers. That little boy is adorable when he dances xD.

Then we walked back to the bus and I slept soundly on the way to our campsite xD.
When we got back, we had to make a Power Point about the selected topics.
Since we only had two laptops and we could only do so much, I fooled around with Wei Yee, Darren and Na’im.

Day 4
After morning exercise and breakfast, we had to present our…presentations.
And guess who was one of the presentors? Oh yes, lucky ol’ me.

Joel Conolly’s group had a very cute presentation.
With him always yelling “YOU ALL ARE NOT LISTENING!”
But by far, the best presentation had to be Arvin’s.
Had me laughing xD.

We had a trip to Parkson’s after that.
Its nowhere as awesome as Queens or Gurney. But it’ll do ;D.
Went along with Jia Yun and Azfar. Sodiqqin joined us after that.
Not much fun when he did, he isn’t really a bundle of joy.
So I went along with the other two. We were thinking of going to a CC, but ruled against it.
So just walked around, bought a few souveniers.

Then when we got back and took dinner, we headed over to Dewan Suarah for the closing ceremony.
It was okay.
But then when us girls that grew so close realised that it was our last night together, tears started flowing. HARD. : O

Dear ol’ Arvin (Best Boy Camper) and Shera (Best Girl Camper)

Look at those shiny plates ;D.
We headed back after a LOT of teasing from Azfar -_-.

Day 5
Our last day!
Headed to the Miri Airport after packing.
Said goodbye to Thamaai and Bernice right before leaving the gates.
Then we landed at LCCT again. Hung around while waiting for the flight.
In the last plane there was this little girl behind me that kept pulling at my hair.
Mutahir just smiled at her once and she didnt bother me again. Wakaka.
Reached Penang in the evening.

Well, overall that was an awesome camp. =)
Wouldn’t mind coming again xD.

Signing off..

P.S, credits to Arvin, Bernice and Shera for the pictures.

Hey there, people
I’ll update about the YouthJam ‘09 real soon.
But for now, I have an announcement to make.

I have a YouTube account : O

that means i’ll be posting up videos! xD
you can visit it at http://www.youtube.com/user/vanneedakmdotcom

signing off..

Oh yes, G. I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
I’ve been itching to watch it ever since I saw the trailer on Youtube a few months back.
And now that I did, I must say – I didn’t expect it to be THAT awesome.
I’d rather not say what the movie is about, as a favour for those that didn’t watch it yet.
But my rating for the movie is high (10 out of 10), so you should watch it. SOON ;D.

Signing off..

Damn, do I miss this place =)

Well, as many of you might’ve known, I’m a hardcore fan of Avatar.
Dont know what it is?
Either dunk your head in a tub of iced water, or search it on Google ^^.

Well…a live action version of the movie is coming out in 2010!

*cheers and prays it wont be a trainwreck like Twilight*

Signing off..