Cameron '09 (Day 2)

Day 2 in Cameron Highlands began with a typical Buffet Style Breakfast. By then, we were all fully recharged with about 7 to 8 hours of sleep, and was ready to fill our bellies with whatever that was served.

8:30 am - Proceeded downstairs to one of their cafes for our complimentary breakfast. Thankfully there were not many folks when we arrived, so there was abundant food to choose from.



Being a creature of habit even for taste, I took the usual food that I like.



10:10 am - We gathered outside the hotel for some briefing before checking out and moving off. Since dear and I had some time to spare, we took a picture for keepsake.



10:20 am - When everyone finally gathered, we took a group shot before we left the hotel. Goodbye Heritage Hotel!



11:10 am - Since we only got to visit the Strawberry Farm yesterday, we decided to explore Cameron by visiting Brinchang Mountain. Apparently, the peak of Brinchang Mountain is the highest point in Cameron.



The scene on way up Brinchang mountain was just spectacular and breath-taking. The mountains, the air, the view, too beautiful beyond description!



11:42 am - After 20 mins to half an hour of continuous upslopes and bump trails, we finally reached somewhere near the top of Brinchang Mountain. For us adults, we were all a little disoriented from the slopes, bends and bumpy roads. But for the kids, they seem to have boundless energy!




11:54 am - To reach the top of Brinchang Mountain, we could travel about 1km further on bumpy roads and steep upslopes or walk the Misty Trail, which leads us to the top of Brinchang Mountain as well. Majority voted to walk, and without further ado, we began our walk through the Misty Trail.



12:00 pm - Halfway through the trail, my fear of heights kicked in and I got a little paranoid. It didn't help when I started hearing the buzzing sound of bees, which made my paranoia grew more because of the trauma when 2 bees 'accidentally' stung me when I was a kid. As a result, I broke down and started becoming so paranoid that dear had to walk me out of the Misty Trail to soothe and comfort me. When got out of the trail, I told him to continue without me and I passed him my camera.



So dear went back in the Misty Trail with his friends and I'm so glad he did because if he didn't, I wouldn't be able to see the stunning view at the top of the mountain.



Walking further up the mountain, dear mentioned that he was literally at the same level as the clouds and it was all just too surreal and breath-taking.



My friends seem to be enjoying the view too. Even the kids look like they are having a great time. All except me, who was traumatized and paranoid.



3:35 pm - We reached the bottom of Cameron Highlands and took some rest at one of the Petrol Kiosk. Here, I finally managed to take a picture of my friend's son who is just too adorable! Doesn't he look like those Precious Moments porcelain dolls?



3:51 pm - Move off for a late lunch. Managed to pass by some very nice mountains and hills. Simply love it in Cameron Highlands!



4:05 pm - We finally reached Restaurant Ong Kee, which was famous for their Ipoh Hor Fun.



Though their style of Hor Fun isn't what I have tried before, I love it that their Hor Fun is really juicy and 'bouncy'



The chicken however, wasn't as tasty as I thought it would be. The meat was a tad hard and dry. My friend says they use old chickens, which apparently explains why the meat is a little hard.



The fishballs and meatballs taste pretty normal too. Well perhaps I am not a fishball fan to know what a good fishball or meatball taste like.



All in all, we had a good lunch and was ready to head back to Singapore.



11:50 pm - Unfortunately, one of the bikers had a flat tire and the rest of the bikers went forward to lend a helping hand. After a few hours of unsuccessful tries, dear and I left because I had a test to study for the next day.




Well, I truly had a great time in Cameron Highlands and I am looking forward to the next trip. Life is really good so far! :D


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Cameron '09 (Day 1)

Alright this might sound really silly, but I've always thought that Cameron Highlands and Genting Highlands was the same place. After all, both are equally cold in temperature, high in altitude, and pretty far away from Singapore.

It was only until my recent trip to Cameron Highlands last weekend, that I realized that I have never been to Cameron HIghlands! (At least not in my recollection) Unlike the previous trips where only our (Dear and I) biker friends would go, one of our friends brought his wife and 2 kids this time round, and headed up to Cameron Highlands along with us.

Since Cameron Highlands is about 600km away from Singapore and we wanted to reach Cameron by the late morning or early afternoon, we decided to embark on our journey on 29th August at 1:00 am. So in order to have sufficient rest before leaving Singapore at 1:00 am, the plan was to resynchronize our body clocks and catch some sleep at about 6pm the day before. Unfortunately no matter how much I tried, I could only sleep for 2 hours after which I was wide awake.

1:00 am - We met up at GP Esso and had a short briefing before moving off. Everyone bought cans of Red Bull to keep themselves awake.

1:20 am - Left GP Esso. Everyone including myself, was excited.

3:20 am - Reached the first rest stop at Pagoh R&R. Everyone bought more Red Bull, as if it was a close replacement of water itself.



6:50 am - We reached our second rest stop at Rawang. By now it was approaching dawn and the sky lit up with different shades of blue, black, and a tinge of orange.



7:20 am - We continued our journey to Cameron Highlands. At this point of time, the sun was peeking out from the horizon and illuminating the sky with its first rays.



8:20 am - As we travelled, I couldn't help but notice the beautiful morning, the wonderful weather, and I thanked God for his wonderful creation.



8:55 am - After traveling about an hour or so, we rested at one of the Rest Stops where we had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. You bet I was excited because you can't get Dunkin Donuts in Singapore!



I was quite sure that everyone was in high spirits even though we have traveled through the wee hours of the morning. After all, our blood was pumped with excitement and anticipation to reach Cameron Highlands.



For me, I didn't have donuts for breakfast which was quite surprising considering how I used to like donuts. I had their egg sandwich meal which comes with coffee, and gosh it was good! Price was about RM 6.90 for a set, which I felt was a little pricey. Nonetheless, I was satiated and truly satisfied.



9:50 am - We left for Cameron Highlands. Final leg of the journey!

10:15 am - Driving and Riding up to Cameron was challenging but I guess the bikers loved it because of the bends and corners.



Along the journery, we passed by a waterfall and everyone decided to take some photos here.



Dear and I were no exception, and we took a lot of photos!



Dear being the more adventurous one, climbed across the rocks and took a grand picture beside the waterfall.



I wasn't as courageous and bold, partly because I traumatized when I fell into a pond when I little. So I took a picture where I stood and even so, my legs were a little wobbly.



Further up the road leading up to Cameron Highlands, we also passed by a few scenic spots and everyone took a group picture.



12:12 pm - We arrived at Cameron Highlands! Gosh the view was spectacular! More importantly, the weather was splendid! It was as if we had air-con everything we went.



12:40 am - Hooray! We finally reached Heritage Hotel at Cameron Highlands!



Stepping foot in the Lobby, I found the whole place pretty surreal, quiet, and simple.



2:10 pm - After settling down and checking in, we headed for lunch at Fong Lun Restaurant



Because we were quite a large group, we split into two groups where we each ordered different food respectively. For our table, we ordered Steamboat which is my favorite!



4:06 pm - After a heavy lunch, we toured around Cameron Highlands and visited their Big Red Strawberry Farm.



There, we ordered their famous Strawberry Sundae and Milkshake. Yum yum!



The kids were more hands on, and decided to put their hyper activeness into good use by picking strawberries.



7:20 pm - Because of a rain and heavy fog, we stayed at the Strawberry Farm for quite a long time and some of the guys took their power naps. When we finally returned to the hotel to rest, I managed to take a picture of the scene from my balcony.



8:50pm - We headed out the local village for some late dinner at 7:45pm. By the time we walked to the dinner venue, it was about 8:30pm. Thankfully, I wasn't very hungry but since majority agreed on having Steamboat (which I can hardly resist), I ate to my hearts content! :D




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Class 2B License

Sometime ago in May this year, I decided to make a bold step by enrolling myself in Comfort Driving Centre to take up bike lessons. It wasn't a rash decision and it took my quite a bit of deliberation before I made that choice.

So I went for my first lesson with the mentality of giving up halfway if the lessons were too difficult or 'dangerous' to manage. To my surprise, it was easy to grasp the concept since I already had my Manual Class 3 license. The clutch, the gears, stopping, moving off, checking of blindspots - everything seemed familiar and all I had to master was my psychomotor skills which was easy to pick up after a few lessons. Since I was the more 'kiasu' type as well, I went for a few lessons within a week so in just 2 months or so, I was done with all my lessons and was ready to book my TP (Traffic Police) test.

After a long wait of about a month, I finally had my TP test today and I must thank God for everything that happened while I was having my test. Here was what happened this morning:

5:10 am: Dear gave me a wake up call in his sleepy voice and wished me all the best as well. Very very sweet of him. Woke up, brushed my teeth and made a cup of coffee and realized that it was still raining. My confidence and mood dropped by 20%.

6:00 am: Left the house. Still a slight drizzle.

6:45 am: Reached Comfort Driving Centre and the sky seemed dark. Fortunately the rain had stopped. Waited around the Motorcycle Counter area for instructions.

7:15 am: The testees were ask to proceed to the Motorcycle Shed for a short briefing regarding our warm-up. Warm-up however, was only 1 round inside the circuit. Nonetheless, it was essential to warm up before our test started. We were also told the tag number that was assigned to us for the test. I was number 42 out of the 91 testees.

8:15 am: Time's up. Warm up session was over. We headed back to the Motorcycle Shed for further instructions before being dismissed for a short break from 8:30 am to 8:50 am.

9:00 am: One of the instructor began to brief us about what we are expected to do in the circuit and on the road. My heart began to pound faster.

9:30 am: The official Traffic Police testers arrived and took their place in the various stations. The first 30 testees were called out to where the bikes were located, then number 31 to 40, and 41 to 50. The rest of the testees had to wait in the Shed because all the bikes were fully utilized.

10:20 am: I came back into Comfort Driving Centre and headed to get my stuff from the locker. I took so long because of the traffic pile up at one of the junctions where I had to negotiate a U-turn. Not very fun, considering I had to depress the clutch on my left hand and the front brakes on my right hand. No idea? Try squeezing your friend's hand for half and hour and see if you get hand cramps.

11:15 am: We were told before the test began, to proceed to Classroom 9 on Level 3 for our test results. I was anxious and really hungry.

11:30 am: The anxiety of waiting for the results in a cold air-conditioned room made me want to pee. The first Traffic Police tester walked into the room and called out a few tag numbers. Those testees whose tag number were called out would imply that they failed their tests. I prayed hard that my tag number - 42 will not be called out. It didn't help when the Traffic Police testers took their time to consolidate the results because each tester came into the room at different time, and each time, different tag numbers were called out. Dear called and I couldn't give him a definite answer.

12:30 pm: My tag number hasn't been called out yet, which was a good thing. I still had to pee really badly. Soon, the door closed and our instructors told us that everyone who was left seated in the room passed! Immediately, I dashed out of the classroom and headed for the toilet. In the mean time, I called dear to tell him I passed. He sounded really excited and happy!

12:40 pm: It was compulsory for us to watch a video regarding Motorcycle Safety before applying for our licenses. Thankfully, the video wasn't as long as the combined waiting time we had during our test. The instructor also gave us a few tips on Motorcycle safety and some do's and don'ts to reduce the risk of accidents. I remembered him saying 2 very important things:

1. Don't pillion when you first get your bike

2. Don't speed.

1.00 pm: I applied for my 2B license and I am officially licensed to drive a motorcycle of 200cc or less!

Honestly, I wasn't confident at all because I witnessed a girl mount the kerb while she was doing her Crank Course and another girl hit 2 cones while doing a Slalom right in front of my eyes. I was so afraid that I will follow their mistakes and that made me more nervous than I already was. All in all, I personally felt that I underperformed because of my nervousness but fortunately, I manage to clear all the stations in the circuit without having any Immediate Failures.

I could breathe better when I exited the circuit to be tested on the test route. After all, there were only 5 testers stationed at 5 different junctions respectively. As such, I felt that I was less scrutinized and hence, less nervous.

Well now that my TP test is over, I can finally heave a sigh of relief and look forward to embarking on my riding journey. :D

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Doctor Driver

Knowing that I'm a blog fan, dear introduced to me a unique blog belonging to a local taxi driver - Cai Mingjie, who is probably the only one in Singapore who has a pHD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments.

Unfortunately, he was forced out of his research job at the peak of his scientific career, and was unable to find another job citing reasons he can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, he drives a taxi to make a living and blogs about real life stories to make his dull job a little more interesting.

Though I do not know of the reasons as to why he is still unable to get a job based on his qualifications, his attitude and willingness to be a taxi driver is applaudable. After all, taxi drivers in Singapore are not well received considering all the near accidents they have caused as well as the road recklessness that sends most motorists cursing and swearing. That said, I also acknowledge that being a taxi driver in Singapore is really arduous because unlike the normal working folks, taxi drivers do not have paid leaves, medical benefits, public holiday benefits etc. They practically have to work as long as it takes to pay off their own taxi rental, petrol costs and whatever that's left is whatever that they earn for the day. Not a fun job I would say.

So after reading MingJie's Taxi Diary, it certainly opened my eyes to the struggles of a taxi driver, as well as the funny anecdotes about the passengers that he faces each day. Do give it a read. Who knows, he might change your mindset of taxi drivers in Singapore.


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Mr. Tall

About a month ago, I stumbled upon my ex-colleague's Facebook profile and when I realized that she was looking for a Part Timer from her Facebook status, I dropped her an email indicating my interest in the job without any hesitation.

Soon, she called and gave me the job description, job scope, pay rate and so on. I listened intently, checked my school schedule, and realized that the job would be a perfect fit because she only requires me to work 3 mornings a week, which is completely manageable since my classes are all in the afternoon. Further more, I am familiar with her and some of the other colleagues in the company so it does makes a lot of things easier. Oh did I mention that it is a good company and a good pay? :D

So today, I started my first day at work and gosh, I was about 10 minutes late because I couldn't find the building amongst the rest of the tall skyscrapers. When I finally found it, I realized that well, the building doesn't have a name. Not sure if that was intentional but if it really was, then I think it would be quite silly to name a building 63 Market Street.

Anyway, I reached the office and met up with my ex-colleague which is now my current employer. She then gave me a quick tour of the office and an orientation of my job responsibilities. Unfortunately, my machine wasn't ready because the Human Resource folks screwed up and as a result, my first day at work was boring, unproductive, inefficient, and ineffective. There is some comfort for me though, when I realized that there are nice tasty biscuits in the pantry, a large bowl of apples (free and edible), and a vending machine with lots of beverage choices which dispenses FREE drinks. Ok I think I sound like a typical kiasu Singaporean.

Any how, it was lunch time for me at 11:22 am and boy was it pathetic because I had to eat alone. To make things worse, I didn't have any appetite because the Curry Puff I had for breakfast didn't digest fast enough. Still, I resolved that I should not waste my lunch hour away, so I ordered the cheapest meal I could find - A plate of Nasi Lemak for $2.50.

Since I was alone at lunch, there wasn't anyone to talk to and so I ended up observing the lunch crowd. While I was doing so, my eyes were quickly drawn to a really tall man as shown in the picture above. I'm not sure how tall he is (and I didn't ask), but I do know that the guy that was standing beside him in both pictures is about the height of an average male - 1.70 to 1.80m. If that's the case, I figured that Mr. Tall would probably be about 2.20 to 2.30m?

So you can imagine that I was staring at Mr. Tall the whole time I was eating. At least his height became the centre of attraction that no one really noticed a lady eating a plate of Nasi Lemak all by herself amongst the lunch crowd.

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Rainy Roads

Dear and I sitting in a gazebo while waiting for the rain to stop. The lens was condensed because it was so cold in the DBS auditorium.

Ask any biker on the street and most of them will agree that they hate it when it rains. Well, I do understand how they feel - the hassle of suiting up in rain gear, the pain each time the rain falls on your hands, the chill and icy winds that sends goosebumps down your spine, and the sheer danger of riding on slippery roads.

So when it rains, dear and I usually stay in the shelter and wait until the rain subsides. Sometimes it takes minutes, half an hour, an hour or even a few hours, we try to occupy ourselves by walking around in shopping malls, catching a show, or sitting down at somewhere cosy and have a drink or two before we begin hit the roads again.

Such was the other day after the Heavenly Man Evangelistic Meeting. It began to drizzle when we left the building and while we headed back to the bike, it began to rain heavily. We ran to the nearest shelter which was situated just in front of the bike. There, we sat down under the gazebos, huddled together and chatted until the rain stopped. And in that moment, I felt that it was an odd sort of romance, one that gave me the warm fuzzy feeling despite the cold weather. :D

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Doing The Dishes

Dear stood up with an empty tin can in one hand and a pair of chopsticks in another. He looked at me and paused for a moment, then he pouted. Slurping every noodle that was left in my tin can, I looked up at him with my mouth full of noodles and managed to force a sentence: "I'm not finished with my noodles dear. Why don't you put down the tin can and wait till I am done?" He pouted further with what seem like a combination of a sulk and a half smile, placed his empty tin can and chopsticks on the table, sat down and continued to surf the net.

(10 minutes later..)

Me: "Dear, I'm done." I handed him my empty tin can and my pair of chopsticks.

Him: (Pouts) "I'm sorry but the chance is over." (Pouts)

Me: (Frowns at him, took his empty tin can and chopsticks, stood up and proceeded to the kitchen)

Him: (Follows behind me to the kitchen.)

Just as I placed the dishes in the sink to wash, he stood behind me, arms held out across my waist as he provided his pair of "helping hands" in doing the dishes. For that moment, I knew what he was up to and I smiled.

After the dishes were washed, he turned around and smiled to me, "Now isn't that better?" :D

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The Heavenly Man

I had a chance to attend The Heavenly Man evangelistic meeting which was held by Seed Ministries in conjunction with several other churches on Thursday night at DBS auditorium.

The Heavenly Man is the remarkable and dramatic autobiography of one of China's dedicated, courageous, and intensely persecuted house church leaders, Brother Yun.

Yun is a Chinese preacher and evangelist whose life has been filled with difficulties and miracles, because of his intense desire to reach China with the gospel. He is a leader of the "Back to Jerusalem Movement" which seeks to disperse thousands of missionaries out of China and into the un-reached countries of the world—most of which geographically exist between China and Israel. Brother Yun travels widely from his current base in Germany, and is married to Deling and has two children.

Since I had lots of time to kill after school, I arrived at the DBS auditorium much earlier than expected. So I sat around, watched how people began to coordinate the different logistics. That was when I was asked to be a second keyboardist since there was an extra piano around.

I was pretty shocked about this ad-hoc arrangement because I didn't go for any music practice prior to this event. Nonetheless, I went for it and I thank God that everything went on well!

All in all, I was blessed by the testimony and life of Brother Yun (The Heavenly Man). What he went through for the sake of Christ brought me thinking about how believers in Singapore are so blessed that sometimes, we take our religion and faith for granted.

Well, Brother Yun had certainly reminded me of the reality of being a Christian outside the boundaries of Singapore, and how true and real our God is.

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