Going 'High'

23 August 2016 - I have just returned from my 2 days 1 night trip from Cameron Highlands! 

The last time I visited Camerons was last year, with my deba, makmak and ah ling yiyi. Not much has changed, except for the weather which is slightly warmer than before, maybe it is because of the changing climate coupled with global warming. 

My friends and I decided to come here because it was the beginning of our semester break of 1 week, and because we wanna have a place to chill and relax due to the hectic schedule of our postings. 

The main organiser for this trip is Wei Jie because he is familiar with the places in and around Camerons. 

We started our journey around 9am from Wei Jie's house in Seputeh and headed north to a market place in Kampar, Perak to have our hearty breakfast. After that, it was time to climb up the sloppy hills! 

After we have unloaded our luggage in Parkland Apartments in Brinchang, the first place we visited was Cactus Valley. I am not a fan of cacti, neither am I aware of my friend's hobby of having one because to my surprise, all 3 housemates of mine (Wei Jie, Siong Keat & Yong Jin) bought some small cacti which costs few ringgits each. 

Next, we head down to Starwberry Farm. There are so many strawberry farms around the area, with some prominent signs, usually written 'pluck your own strawberries!'. However, the cost of it is not cheap, priced at RM 30 for minimum of 500g, thus we just visited the strawberry products shop. There are variety of strawberry-made/associated products, jam, cakes, chocolates, to name a few. 

We even stopped by at some market place and did some window shopping before heading to Brinchang town for our hot and steamy steamboat dinner! We finished our dinner before 8pm so as to watch the finals for Olympics badminton men's single match between Lee Chong Wei and Chen Long (China). Heartbreaking news followed suite.... </3 Malaysia's dream of getting a gold in the Olympics just dashed away, but the hardwork and perseverance of the athletes are remarkable and beyond words. Thank you to all who have worked hard to bring up the name of Malaysia!

The next day, we went to BOH Tea Plantation at Sg. Palas after breakfast and checking out from our apartment. The greenish tea leaves at the plantation hills are so pleasant to our eyes, and the refreshing BOH iced tea is undoubtedly soothing to our taste buds. 

Before heading down to put a full stop to this wonderful trip, we stopped halfway to take some amazing photos on the plantation sites.

Life is always beautiful if you choose to see it this way. I am truly grateful for the fabulous friends I have, who constantly provide supports and bring joy to my life always. 

With this, I am officially a semester 9 student~ =)

Manipal Run for Life

6 August 2016 - This event is organized by my college, and it's called 'Run for Life'. Neither do I know what's the meaning, or is it associated with run for your life or run for a better life or what will you do if you sleep instead of running?

Guess which wristband is mine?

Jokes aside. This is the first sports event I have participated since I came back from India last year. There is a similar event last year too but I was in Muar so I did not participate but this year itself, I am fortunate to be in Melaka along with some of my 'healthy' friends~ =)

I reached campus around 7am but as usual, the opening ceremony started at 8am+++++

post-run selfie

They are giving away medals for the top 25 and for some little hope, I thought maybe I can try to aim for the top 25, but the reality is always cruel~ =(

However, I have tried my best and managed to run past as many friends as possible during the 5 km stretch which circles around my college.

With some training and extra effort in the coming months, I promised myself to set a new target to reach for the top 25 next year!

Yu Hui, one of my friend who got into top 25~

Please support me physically and mentally.

Thank you~ =) 

Home Visit

2 August 2016 - Terrible, Terrible, TERRIBLE!

I joined the home visit organized by the Student Council on this moody Tuesday evening. We visited 2 different homes, namely:

Handicapped & Mentally Disabled Children Center
&

Pertubuhan Kebajikan Villa Harapan 

Prior to that, we have already collected some donations from the students and bought some essential items such as rice, cooking oil, toothbrush, breads and so on, to be donated to the homes. The Student Council members lead by the Community Director, Yassin (my friend) really did a good job by sacrificing their time planning and by organizing these home visits.

The first home that we visited was the children center. Most of the children there suffered from cerebral palsy. They either have certain degree of mental retardation, or some have functional impairment and unable to walk or talk normally.

The environment there is bad. Most of the children have to sleep on beds without bed sheets and not much spaces were there for them. I thought the condition is bad until I walked upstairs, it is worse! Some people are locked in a room, and some are just abandoned in another room, with no attention being given or whatsoever.

The strong stench of urine is petrifying, along with the sticky marble floor that kisses our soles as we walked by, ewwww! More than 15 kids are staying upstairs, or should I say, thrown upstairs.

Most of the children are in the growing phase, but they are being dumped into the home just like that, ignored and abandoned. There are also some adults which suffered from the same disease as well, although they are able to converse in their mother tongue but they are not coherent and the things that they spoke is irrelevant.

The second home we visited is Villa Harapan. The name sounds like a grand villa filled with hope but actually, it's NOT! This home is actually catered for the homeless people on the street of Melaka. It is sponsored by the government to provide food, shelter and clothes to the homeless people.

Having said that, the residents are actually not allowed to roam freely outside, unless during the time where their family members (if any) were to come and visit.

Some of the are even locked in 'lokap' or jail, with the reason that they caused violence and are dangerous to the surrounding people. The condition is terrible as well. In a small cell, 3 people are packed within with just a toilet, no lights, no bed, nothing. I can't help but feel that the dogs in my neighbourhood lives better quality lives than them.

Visited these homes again reminded me of how lucky I am, compared to some unfortunate people on the same planet. I am sure each and every one of them have their own sad chapters in life, and those are the stories that no one is willing to read. 

I personally feel that as individuals, the level of respect we have for one another should be regardless of race, religion, age, position or caste. The way I greet the hostel guard is always no different than to my professors. It is the way we acknowledge people that we will be acknowledged in the same way.

May all be well and happy~ =)