KL – Genting – JB – Desaru – Singapore – Malacca!
I have been going around Malaysia this month! In the southern part, that is. I’m considering this a warm up before I fly abroad for more travel and adventures this year, starting with my business/holiday trip to Sydney, Australia on dates 7th – 14th February. I still aspire to visit Shang Hai (China), Thailand, perhaps revisit Iran, and another country throughout this year, thus completing the my travel goal for 2009. 🙂
But first, here’s the line up of places I’ve been to this month…
Kuala Lumpur: Forex Class
Nothing special about going to PJ/KL since I do come here now and then anyway. But I couldn’t pass up this time’s trip because I was going to learn the basics of Forex (Foreign Exchange). So I attended a Forex class by Mr. Aman a.k.a. Orange Roshan. I’m far from being pro right now, and I’m still learning the ropes.
Genting Highlands – Revisited
Hey what do you know? I went back to Genting Highlands again! This time I went with Ladan. We visited the Indoor and Outdoor park in the same day, and of course tried out the daring rides which I had to pass up when I was with my mom a month ago. 🙂
Come to think of it, I’ve been to Genting Highlands every end of the year since 2006! I’d better be elsewhere at the end of this year!
Relatives Visiting Us in Johor Bahru!
My relatives from Klang came over to our place in JB to spend the Chinese New Year holidays with us. Admittedly, I’m not close to them (and I was in for a surprise last year when I found out I actually have more relatives than I even know!) and the one who has been in constant touch with them is Mom. My relatives speak in Hokkien or Mandarin, whereas my sister and I are the only “bananas”. 🙂
So because I know very few relatives, I got only 2 ‘ang pows’ this year. LOL I’m so miserable with my social life… 😛 I think I’m getting too old for red packets too.
We also drove to Desaru, which is approximately 100km away from my home.
That’s Uncle Goo Goo, one of my uncles from Klang. You know what’s really strange? I still don’t know his real name until now!
Hui Yong, or affectionately known as Ah Yong, is our cousin and she’s turned 13 this year. She’s academically bright and scored 7As in the final UPSR exam back in Primary school. This is where reading a lot of books paid off. 🙂
Her younger brother, Yu Hui, is her contrast though. Hmm… I’d say he’s like me in one respect: he spends a lot of time playing games at the computer. 🙂
Aunty Ling Ling, Uncle Goo Goo’s wife.
Uncle Hean Hean is the closest relative to my family. He had been there to help us pull through the toughest of times, and there never was a time he had failed us. And even though he wasn’t financially secured then (he’s way much better off right now) he never allowed his limitations to stop him from helping us out.
That’s me, enjoying the water splashing through the shore. 🙂
Ah, they thought a corpse just floated ashore so they buried me!
Visiting Our Relatives in Singapore
Our trip to Singapore wasn’t planned initially but when we got news that Uncle Mike was just discharged from the hospital after having a heart attack, we decided to come over and visit him. The new immigration was more hectic and tedious than before because it’s a 15 minute maze inside the new complex, and the causeway traffic towards Singapore was bad.
(Oh btw, if you attempt to walk from Singapore to Johor Bahru via the causeway you can be fined up to RM200 or walk back and take a public transportation! That shows you the level of intelligence of the Malaysian government *ahem*)
So anyways, we reached Singapore and paid Uncle Mike a visit. I haven’t seen him in years, and my Singaporean cousins longer.
Uncle Mike had to rest for few weeks before he could go back to work. I was surprised to see Shaun and Amber at home though, knowing that they are usually out every time my Mom visits them albeit sparingly.
I used to play with Shaun when we were younger. I haven’t seen him in many years since then and now… wow, he’s all grown up! I used to be taller than him but when I met up with him, he asked “Edmund, have you shrunk?” LOL Shaun is currently serving the army in National Service.
The way I remembered, the last time I saw Amber was when she was still a baby and kid. She’s going 15 in a month and I admit I was embarrassed to stand next to her. People can’t help but compare how tall she has grown… and how short I have been for such a long time. Hahahaha!! 😛 (yeah this height comparison goes on all the time sometimes I wonder what they eat, or what I’m not eating) 😛
One Day in Malacca
With all of my relatives except Uncle Hean Hean going back after the CNY, he stayed on for another less than a week. I had always talked about going to Malacca since 2007 – but never came around doing it in spite of the short distance… so no excuses this time, we paid Malacca a visit! 😀
Even though it was just after the CNY celebrations, most of the shops were still closed on a weekday. The coast was almost clear on our way to Malacca from JB… until we were in for a surprise: it was a traffic orgy in Malacca! *honk honk*
We reached Malacca in less than 3 hours, and spent another 1.5 hours squeezing through the unexpected jam. Nonetheless, Malacca is a nice and clean state. 🙂 Small wonder that many of the girls from Malacca are pretty.
Okay that wraps up my adventures in the Southern part of Malaysia. 🙂 I still haven’t been to Sabah or Sarawak yet in my life (and no the flight transition in Sabah doesn’t count) – I’d better include in my ‘must go’ list of places too! 🙂
Protected: CNY
REVIEW: Left 4 Dead
When you have the chance, play this game with your friends.
While I have the game installed on my PC, it’s more fun when you play this in the company of friends at the cyber cafe or online. And because it’s made by Valve (the same folks that brought you Half-Life and Counter-Strike) I speculate that there will be exciting mods for this game.
So what’s Left 4 Dead? Remember those “knife fights” with the bots in Counter-strike? It’s something like that but the setting is in a doomed environment filled with zombies, like what you’d normally see in shows like Resident Evil, 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead.
Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter and the player controls one of the 4 Survivors:
Francis the biker
Bill the old war veteran
Louis a bank manager
Zoey a college student
There’s no distinction in health and advantage when choosing any character, so you can afford to choose randomly.
The objective of the game is usually simple: the Survivors must work together to go through stages, and simply survive. When you reach the finale of a campaign, you have to hold out the incoming hordes of zombies before rescue arrives.
Playing through a stage alone is usually impossible because besides the common zombie type (which are dangerous in hordes) there are also variations like the Boomer, Witch, Hunter, Smoker, and Tank.
Some of the variations like the Witch and Hunter are capable of taking down the player, and the player often cannot retaliate until is saved by another teammate. So cooperation and teamwork really counts in this game.
Pity that the variety of weapons in this game are few (only a total of 5 primary weapons, 1 handgun type and 2 grenade types). It would be much cooler if more weapons were added.
Although the game experience can change (a little bit) every time you play the same stage – whereby different zombies or creatures would appear randomly at each check point or room – it can get dull quickly if you play alone (like what I’m doing at home right now, lol). 🙂 And for a game on blood, gore and violence, I think it’s lacking a little since one cannot play around with the corpse like rag dolls.
The game gets more amusing only when you play with other friends or online. As long as you know how to play any FPS games like Counter-Strike, mastering this game can be as fast as a few minutes since perpetually the principles, HUD, game play, etc. are the same.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10
Edmund Loh dot com – Internet Marketing Blog
I am pleased to announce that my Internet Marketing Blog is up and going officially. 🙂 I will be adding more stuff to this new blog and I should have the commitment to keep the updates on a weekly frequency.
It’s challenging nonetheless; it’s just the start of 2009 and I am already so busy, because I’m producing a few products in the same month for a few launches in the subsequent months. Not to mention that I have a Forex class to attend over the weekend and I’m preparing for my trip to Sydney, Australia on 7th – 14th February.
Back to topic…
As mentioned 4 previous posts ago, EdmundLoh.name (this blog you’re reading now) will be kept strictly as my Personal Homepage. If you’re an old friend or new acquaintance, I hope you will continue visiting my Personal Homepage. I have set a goal for visiting at least 5 different countries this year (not counting Singapore) and I expect to put up a lot of photos on this blog throughout. 🙂
Whereas EdmundLoh dot com is now my official Internet Marketing blog and hub for all of my online projects and serial entrepreneurship. I have moved the PRODUCTS and TESTIMONIALS page to that blog. So if you’re at least even remotely interested in Internet Marketing and serial entrepreneurship, you can ‘pick my brain’ at my IM blog now. 🙂