Did you know...

Did you know that my boss is on training in KL today? thus me being free and I surfed the net the whole morning(i have some reseach to do but lazy la), I was kinda occupied last week, but I've finished my work and am basically counting down the days to my daparture to US.

Did you know that I am going to the US for training? It sounds good, I mean going to other country on the company's expense, flying business class, getting my own apartment, a car and resonable allowance, but but but....I'll get bonded for 2 years. I dont like the idea of getting bonded when I've just been here for less than a month, I dont know the people here well enough, I dont know the company well enough, not sure whether will I be happy here, so commiting to 2 years of bonding is a risky business. But I dont have much of a choice do I.

Did you know that KFC restaurant in penang do not give fork and knife? you'll have to eat the chicken with your bare hands. I know back home(kuching), they'd give fork and knife. It's kinda strange to me because when i eat out, i dont usually wash my hands before i eat(remember, its okay cause you're using fork and knife to handle your food) but now I have to use my bare-possibly-germ-infested-dirty-hand.

Did you know that its quite common to share table with strangers when you're eating out in penang?(i.e. lok lok) I had such experience when i was eating out with my sis, as we arrived at the stall, she promptly took a seat at a table where there's people already sitting at. I followed suit, thinking that they must be her friends, I smile and nodded at them, turns out they are complete strangers,malu.

Did you know that I lost all the pics of my my dog, ranger? there were some lovely puppy pics, she was so cute!! mmm...it's quite impossible for her to be that cute anymore(she's still cute!) and I lost all those pics, blame it to the harddisk. But I have her latest pic though.


1 year 5 months old ranger

A day at the beach

I think people are getting tired of me yapping and yapping about Penang, well….I don’t care haha….I’ll still talk about Penang, ferringhi beach to be more precise.
I went to the beach today, there was this particular place that I wanted to check out when I was driving to ferringhi the other day. The sign says Water sports rental. So today, my adventurous nature was particularly strong, I went to explore the place, by foot. Yes, I walked to the beach which was a good 3-4KM away from my house, at 2.30PM, when the sun’s at its full might. I do really strange stuff when I’m bored.
























I love water sports, this sign sure attracted me

The road to the place was narrow and winding, there’s no pedestrian path on walk on, you know la mountain road ma, it was kinda scary with cars zooming by you at such near distance, but by foot, you’d be able to “see” more things, every tree, every house, every monkey.
























not much space for me to walk
























monkey business

I can’t remember how long it took for me to reach there, but eventually I did. To my disappointment, the place was empty and I didn’t see a single person there, there were a lot of kayaks though but just nobody there, I reckon nobody goes to the beach at such hour.



















empty place, not a single soul



















alot of kayak though

So I walked further up to the northern side of Penang, and reached a public beach area, on the way I notice a lot of abandoned house, I was later told by a makcik selling food that her house was one of it, and was destroyed by the tsunami. They are now living in a temporary house nearby while the government is building an apartment for all the victims of tsunami.



















*tsunami was here* you'd see the remains of house beams

I got down to the beach, got myself in the water, walking around, see people paktoh, mushy mushy couples “hugging and playing” in the water.
Actually I enjoyed myself today, exploring the place, there were some spectacular views and due to my superb photo taking skills, the view didn’t seem that great on pictures but in fact they really are.
I’ll try to go back to the sports recreational centre and see if I could rent a kayak or something, they’ve got so many nice kayaks sure got people go one. Meanwhile enjoy the photos.

I miss home

Suddenly today I miss home tremendously, of all the days I've been here, I particularly miss home today, I miss kuching, I miss the food, I miss kolo-mee(wanton mee sucks), I miss sarawak laksa(penang laksa cannot fight), I miss my friends, I miss my dog, I miss my badminton, I miss my nights out with the geng!(not necessary in order of miss-ness level)
Don't know why, maybe its because I was listening to the song from Micheal Buble, Home.
























those were the days

Looking back to the time when I was still with my ex-company, I had alot of fun, met alot of great people, didnt learn a great deal but still it gave me the exposure and a very good introductory to the semiconductor industry.
























am wearing this badge now

And now I am in penang, trying to build a better future for myself, joined a larger company, hoping to learn new things, build up my profile. Its been an interesting journey so far, moving to a new city, living off a completely new life.


















My first payslip

Anways, I got my payslip last week, my 1st payslip from this company, after paying off my debts, are left with.....lets just say not much.
My friends here are planning on a weekend trip to Thailand, should be interesting. Will post the pics if we really do go.
ok now its back to work.

p/s:not sure whether am i violating any laws by posting the pics of my badge with the company logo, but i guess its okay, am advertising for them what, besides not many people read this blog hehe

Traffic madness

I shall dedicate this whole entry to talk about penang traffic only cause there's so much to comprain about it.
Penang drivers are known for their ferocity behind the wheels, they are reputated to be the most notorious bunch of drivers in Malaysia even, some even say that if you can survive driving on the roads of penang then you can survive driving everywhere in Malaysia...walau eh!
Anyway, couple of days ago I was driving along a road in town, and the traffic was terrible, i've never seen so many cars on the road before, not even in KL. It was a 1 lane narrow road, from where I came from(kuching, FYI), 1 lane narrow road means passage for 1 car, but huh!! suddenly a car drove up next to me, suddenly its become a 2 lane road!! Is this normal in penang??


















Unlike spice girls’ song 2 become 1, here its 1 become 2

The road was really narrow and the “HERO’s” car was really close to mine, trying to keep up to their reputation of being the most notorious drivers/riders in Malaysia, to my horror, a motorbike even tried to overtake me from my left!! Of course the mat rempit couldn’t squeeze in, else we would be best of friends already!




















If the hero driving in the car beside me is Robin, then the super-hero on the motorbike must be Batman! Lagi keng!

Another thing that I want to comprain about is the school bus drivers and parents!! They really tak bertimbang rasa langsung!! Everyday coming back from work, I would encounter they same thing, EVERYDAY! Not just rainy days, not just Fridays, but everyday! A 2 lane road becomes…..no road!! let me explain, it has to be so unfortunate that there are 3-4 schools along the road that I take driving from the office to go back home. So where there are school, traffic is bound to be “kanasai”, after work, usually 6pm, I would start driving from the office and head home, and cun cun ngam ngam students also get off from school around this time too, the school bus and parents would stop their car beside the road and wait for their kids to come out, they don’t care even if they cause the jam, they would go so far to even park in the middle of the road.




















now I am forced to be a hero!

Driving in penang can be very stressful and frustrating, if you don’t control your emotions well, you might end up having hypertension or heart attack. Driving to and fro the place I am staying and the office is a good 30-45 minutes drive, varies a lot depending on traffic condition and traffic light condition. Am thinking about finding a nearer place to move into, probably will start looking after I’m back from my assignment. Everyday like that cannot tahan!