NS Reunion Gathering

Short note: Pardon me for the lack of updates for the last whole week. I was away again and during that time, I didn't have Internet access, which explains why this blog was left abandoned for some time. If everything goes according to plan, I will be away again tomorrow. But no worries, because it would just be a day trip this time.

Perhaps not many people are aware that I attended the National Service (NS) camp after my SPM more than four years ago. Since then, I have never met any of the people from the camp, besides Looi and a few others. I would say that I've lost contact with almost all of them although I still have the biodata book (this word sounds so nostalgic, doesn't it?) which I had them write their details inside. Every time I'm back to Malaysia, they are usually busy with their studies, exams, and long working hours etc.

That took a change recently when Looi initiated a gathering for the ex-NS people. There has been two similar gatherings before this, and I thought of organising the third one while I am back this time. It was a third time lcky for me because the rest were willing to take some time off from their busy schedule to attend this gathering at Midvalley Megamall.

First up was waiting for every one at the McDonald's in front of the GSC Cinema. I was actually surprised because the girls reached there exactly on time. You know, I'd thought that they would be late by five to ten minutes, but I was wrong. In the end, it was the two of us - Looi and me who reached there on MST (Malaysian Standard Time). But we were fifteen minutes late which I think is still not too bad.

The Final Destination.

Before heading to search for places to have our lunch, we went to get our cinema tickets first. I let them decide what movie should we watch because I know I am totally out-dated on the latest movie on offer. In the end, they went for The Final Destination. Initially, I thought it would be a Star Wars sci-fiction kind of movie but once the show started, I was asking myself why on earth I'm watching such a gross movie haha. Another type of movie which I would never watch would be horror movie haha. They are just too chi kek for me.

The movie was in 3D version and although it was quite pricey at RM17, I guess it was worth the experience. After all, this is only my first movie for the last one or two years. I'm not gonna give a detailed review of the movie here but overall, the storyline was just alright. I would say there were times where you can tell what the next scene would be, but they still included a few funny and humorous scenes along the way which make it interesting. Besides, the duration of the movie was not too long or short. I would give a 8.5/10 rating for this movie.

After we got our tickets, we went around looking for suitable places to have lunch. I'm glad that we didn't walk rounds after rounds and still couldn't make a decision of a place to eat. There was one time when I was in PPKTJ, and we were out for a cinema outing at Times Square. We looked for a place to eat and walked passed every restaurants on every level for more than an hour. But in the end, we ended up eating economy rice near our hostel haha. This time, Chi Sum suggested that we have Korean food at Ko Hyang and everyone agreed straight away.

Ko Hyang - Korean Country Delights.

The menu at Ko Hyang.

Korean food certainly is nothing new for me because I have been to Seoul during the spring break early this year. But it was nothing compared to what I had in Seoul. This Korean restaurant is located at the ground floor around the food court that connects Midvalley and The Gardens.

Food portion served here is comparatively lesser and the side dishes were limited as well. In Seoul, the waitress will keep on adding the side dishes, without any extra charges. I have never tried any other Korean restaurant here, so I cannot really made too much judgments in terms of price and taste. But I guess it was just average.

Here is the food we had.

Oppss, sorry this is a drink, not food haha.

Kim Chi Ji Kye (kim chi stew with rice).

Bi Bim Bap (rice topped with vegetables, pasta and chicken or beef).

O jing Eo Bokem (stir fried cuttlefish with rice).

Bi Bim Kuk Su (sweet and spicy noodle).

Dak Bokem (stir fried chicken with vegetables and rice)

Talking with them made me realised that I will be the last one to graduate among us. It is also the same when I am with my other circle of friends. But on the bright side, I can still have school holidays which they won't get to enjoy once they started working haha.

And finally, a group picture of us.

From left: Pit Hui, Chi Sum, Szi Mun, Wai Yen and Looi.

There were some spare time for us before the movie started; so we walked around The Gardens. Soon, was movie time after our lunch and we went to a food court to continue chatting and gossipping after the movie for the next couple of hours. But it was at The Gardens that I managed to get this shot of the five of them, fascinated with the real tropical fruits on display.

I was impressed too when I realised they weren't plastic fruits haha.

Misc Of My Summer Break

Without even realising it, I have been back to Malaysia for more than two weeks now. Besides going to places like to Penang and KL, I spend most of my time in my little hometown in Taiping with my families and relatives. Since I came back, my role changed from being a college student into a driver, cook, secretary and a few other roles. Yes, that made me sound very much like a maid; not an Indonesian or Philippines maid, but a Japanese maid haha. But saying me as a Japanese maid is a little bit wrong, no? Haha.

Just in case you wonder why I didn't mention about Michelle or why we aren't travelling together, well too bad that she's not back this time. Yes, it's a bit sad (actually a lot sad-lah haha), but we just got to stay strong a while more. So, here is what I've been up to so far; my daily activities while I'm back.

#1 Attended the Dhamma talk - "The Earliest Teachings of the Buddha" at the Bodhi Lankarama Buddhist Temple by Bhante Anandajoti, an English.

#2 There was a gotong-royong the next morning in preparations for the 120th celebration of the country first Sinhalese Buddhist temple.

#3 I joined the Six Formers of a couple of secondary schools in Taiping to clean the main shrine hall and the area surrounding the building.

#4 After the gotong-royong, daily morning Dana was held.

#5 Tying blessing strings for the boys and girls by the resident monk, Bhante Anandajoti.

#6 After Bhante Anadajoti had his lunch, it was time for the rest to have theirs too.

#7 Home-cooked vegetarian dishes from everyone who brought them to the temple. Simply heavenly delicious.

#8 Took a group of photo with the kids who helped to clean the temple.

#9 Visited my grandma, who used her antic fruit juicer to make fresh fruit juice for us.

#10 Visited another grandma, who is always smiling whenever I visit her. Ohh yea, she gave me an ang pao before I left. That's why is great to visit elderly people; they always give you ang pao even it's not CNY haha.

#11 Went to the end of the field opposite my house to pluck the ripe jackfruit. Too bad this was was over-ripe and it fell onto the ground already.

#12 Roti jala and rempah udang, from Bazar Ramadhan. Best time to be back to Malaysia, eh?

#13 More food from the bazar - seri muka, bengkang ubi, popiah gulung, popiah goreng, karipap pusing, ketupat, lemang, ayam paprik percik.

#14 Became koey teow man for one day haha.

#15 Pulut durian. Damn nice-lor. I wonder why I can't stop posting up food pictures haha.

#16 My Mom, sister and I went to Tesco Taiping one night and out of nothing, we decided to eat at KFC haha. A totally random meal lol.

#17 This is a sneak preview of my 'secret project' I mentioned several entries before this.

Okay, signing off here.