Tuesday 28 April 2009

untitled.

should i keep blogging about the trip? i mean, all i've got ever since i came back were mixed feelings and how people telling me i was wrong to do this and that. my family, a couple of good friends, i told them about the trip, and they were happy for me. happy because i got to do this. a little experience. a little adventure. boundaries? yeah, i have them. i really don't need for anyone to tell me what i should or should not do. sure, i smoked a bit of pot. so what? does that make me an addict? does that make me a bad person now? oh no, he did 'the thing', he's gonna go all downhill from now on. bull. i got to go to amsterdam and experience the culture there. that's all there is to it. culture. something some people never get the chance to do in an entire lifetime. no regrets.

edit:
a friend had me thinking about what i posted. sorry bout that sudden lapse. human frailty.

Monday 20 April 2009

london - amsteram part 2.

06/04 day three. stingy bastards. they couldn't even fix an extra lock for the toilet. it's a sharing room, darnit. woke up relieved the doctor dude didn't touch me. this was to be my final day in london, and i couldn't extend my stay in the malaysian halls because well, six pounds fifty. who wouldn't want that? ash came round and told me we could stay in a friend's place. mandela. so before crashing there we thought we'd go round london looking for sunglasses. we were going to go to amsterdam. a pair of shades would be just as important as a pair of boxers. you really shouldn't mess around in tubes and train stations. especially if you're carrying important documents like say, your passport for that matter. we came from bayswater station, and after a few stops ash asked me if i had his passport holder, and if i was screwing around with him. i sure hoped i was. sometimes i mess around so much that people don't believe me. that's not really good. then again, this happened so many times with ash as well that i thought he was fooling around too. til he jumped off the train at the next stop and ran off to find the station ..people. for a good ten fifteen minutes or so we were hopeful. the people working there said that it all comes down to whether we were lucky. i mean, most of the time, people do good. most of the time. they found it at bayswater. if it was lost, ash wouldn't be able to go home. i.. just wouldn't be able to go to amsterdam. heh. night came, and we find mandela's place. had a few pints at a nearby bar, talked bout life and love. ash told us how he'd love to eat bah kut teh again. mandela cooks bah kut teh. we kinda found that hard to believe. until dinner was served. mandela was full of surprises. our awesome host was at it again. he had his own shisha bong, and that was officially my first time doing shisha. it was rather.. interesting. it was going to be a trip consisting of a whole lot of firsts.

07/04 day four. today's destination, harwich. you're supposed to pronounce it harich. sort of. that's where the ferry's going to be.from there, the ferry will go in a horizontal straight line to hoek van holland. or, the hook of holland. has a nice ring to it. the ferry leaves at nine in the morning, so we thought it'd be impossible to make it on time, coming from london. a night in harwich then. there has to be something there we could do to pass time right? mandela the chef cooked us fried rice before sending us off. awesome fella, that boy. after an hour or so on the train, we arrive in harwich. can you say, ghost town? the town was sort of like two rows of shops, which closed at four. forget that, we were the only customers around. we checked into our hotel that looked oh so haunted. after that, went out to ..well, do something. after walking a good mile or so, the only place of interest was probably a nice little pub with a little room that had a pool table. we decided to set camp there and played MANY hours of pool. this day was so boring that i think i'm going to conclude just like that.

08/04 day five. today, we go to amsterdam. but not before shitty harwich sends us off with a parting present, a freakin storm. we left the hotel and the receptionist noticed the sunglasses in my hand. "you're not going to need that today, i can assure you that." thank you very much, mr obvious. we check in at the port, and make our way to the ferry. massive boat. it's been nearly fifteen years or so since i last been on a ferry ride. i prayed that i wouldn't get seasick and throw up. the boat rocked like a see saw. i couldn't walk in a straight line. had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't me, it was the boat. i asked the bartender, "is the boat going to rock even more?" "we're not even out at the main seas yet." six hours later, the boat docked. at customs while an officer was stamping ashley's passport, i heard him ask ashley, "so, what's your purpose of visit to holland?" "..i'm going to amsterdam." the officer gave a cheeky smile and went "niiiccee." haha awesome. we arrived at the train station and checked out the map. just had to find a station with the word 'amsterdam'. shouldn't be too hard. ran into an english couple in the same predicament. we got on the train and realized there weren't any maps on the train to refer to. which meant that we had to stay awake and get off when we see the word amsterdam anywhere on the next say, dozen stations. we see all kinds of people along the way. my first thought, european people got style. i also saw my very first windmill, althought it just flashed by. we thought we saw the word amsterdam somewhere and got off. took a quick glance around the area and i gave a wry smile at the first shop i saw. a drug and herbs store. amsterdam, we're here. we got a map, and amsterdam was kind of like a semi circle, anda the station was pretty much at the heart of everything. crossed the street, and there we were. the city center. but first, unload. we thought it'd be more fun to not plan anything and just find a hotel or motel once we were there. fun, but not the smartest move. first hotel we saw, looked shabby, maybe a place a hooker would do her business. but oh well, we were in hooker town anyway. we checked in with the receptionist, and we asked him, "can we smoke?" "eh?" "weed?" "oh yes, weed. okay. we have. just, open the window when you smoke." haha. we checked out the types of weed available and i guess we picked the cheapest available. 15 euros. 5 grams of shiva. whatever shiva means. 5g was enought to make about four joints maybe. i couldn't remember. i got so stoned. here's how stoned we were. we saw a UFO. haha. no, seriously. we did. at least we thought we did. you can't trust anything you see when you're in that state. ashley went, "hey, look." outside the window i stared blankly at the night sky. and then i saw it. this 'star'.. was blinking. and then it disappeared. and then it appeared again at another location nearby. you may be thinking it's an airplane or something, and i thought so too.. until i saw it change direction. a sharp u turn. maybe 270 degrees. and blinked again, and disappeared for good. eat that. haha. you may think that weed and marjuana's bad, but like, coming all the way here and not experiencing the culture up close is just a waste of money. besides, it's legal, isn't it?


three more days.

Friday 17 April 2009

london - amsterdam part 1.


4/4, day one.
we agreed that we'd meet at the bus stop at 8.30. i was with shavi and atik, and we were on time. the bus arrived, and we saw alan and shannon running from two different directions. i never had faith in them waking up early. and if they did, something was bound to go wrong. the last time that happened, there was nearly a break up. a three hour train to london and back for 13 pounds didn't seem bad at all. the plan was to arrive in london by one or two, and find the hostel that we've booked, eat, loiter around for a bit, and then go to the jason mraz concert. from the outside, hyde park hostel looked pretty awesome. didn't look to great when we stepped inside the room. yes. one room. i know we only paid twelve pounds per head, but i didn't imagine it to be this bad. bunk double decker beds. eight of them. in a room probably the same size as my dorm room. we talked a bit, til we realized there were already occupants in the room, sleeping. at noon. who the hell sleeps at noon? in london? one white dude, one black dude. this might be bad for the girls. and why is it called hyde park hostel, when it's not in hyde park at all? bayswater hostel maybe? fast forward to 7, in this massive queue at the hmv apollo theater. quite a few asian faces. couldn't tell what were they. definitely not chinese. korean? jap? hk? viet? maybe a little mix of all of em. bought concert shirts. don't know why, but you absolutely have to buy concert shirts. like a little ritual or something. what grinds my gears is how they stall concerts with smaller name artists for like, forever before the main character shows himself. if i wanted to see that artist or band perform, i'd buy a ticket to their concert. but my ticket says jason mraz, so too bad. but one of them really caught my eye. although she really did look like an ant from where i was. priscilla ahn. look her up on youtube. korean american, with a voice that could turn a rock song into a lullaby. she's gonna be big. just you wait. half past nine, mr mraz finally shows himself. but damn it was worth the wait. played the favourites like i'm yours, 1000 things, beautiful mess, live high, lucky, and loads more. but we all know we all came to see mr toby on the percussions. colbie caillat wasn't going to be there to sing lucky, so priscilla ahn filled in for her. and she rocked. cute little giggle at the end too. after that, we had a little midnight snack that lasted til two in the morning. while walking back, we all thought we wouldn't be able to survive the night in that room. so we began scouting for other places. found the malaysian halls, but they had a curfew of eleven, and only accepted online bookings. directly opposite the halls, this hotel offered us 120 for a family suite, for what was supposed to be a 250 room, since we were only going to stay there for a good 8 hours. the room was sweet. everything was comfy. only thing that was missing from the picture was a bathroom lock.


5/4, day two. the rest of the gang was going to go back to keele today. but before that, shopping. shopping in london was amazing. supposedly amazing. for the rest of them. i didn't do any shopping. that's one for the history books. just had to keep reminding myself that i couldn't go broke before i went to amsterdam. spent most of the time we had in selfridges, a department store that can be compared a little to harrods. a little. harrods still trumps everything. i still find it weird how 19 year olds, or younger for that matter, can buy stuff from louis vuitton and gucci and etc, with a clear conscience. not trying to offend anyone here, but it's just my opinion. after a little daytime madness, the rest of them left, and i checked into the malaysian halls. my malay was a bit rusty, so it was a little entertaining and challenging talking to the receptionist, who was from kl. i had to share a twin room, but i was nowhere bothered by that after looking at the room. freaking hotel room standard yo. for the hefty price of.. six pounds fifty. half the price i had to pay for the shithole on the the first night. after dumping all my luggage, i went to grab a bite at a malaysian restaurant at the area with ashley. ashley's a guy. well if you've read my blog long enough you know ash already. i was going to go to amsterdam with him. just the two of us. how gay is that. had dinner with my brother's fiancee's aunt. complicated i know. i should've just said family friend. anyway. she worked in holland before and said amsterdam was terrific. and while i was there she told me to go to the clubs, get high, and go to the red light district. my mom wouldn't tell me that in a million years. got back to the malaysian halls by half ten. i waited up for my roommate. wanted to see how he was like. no, they wouldn't let girls share rooms with guys. this chinese dude came in. philip, if i remember correctly. from kl, a graduate. doctor. i think he's gay.


stay tuned. seven more days.

Thursday 16 April 2009

drumroll.


before i write about my absolutely ENTERTAINING trip to amsterdam,

i'm gonna need to get some sleep.

but before that.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!

hope you had a good one, and of course many more blessed birthdays to come.

=)

Thursday 2 April 2009

swoosh.

LAW 55 - 65 MEDIC

seriously annoying scoreline that is.


alright, here's the deal. yesterday was the annual law versus medicine sporting events. theu comprise of basketball, football, netball, squash, and a few other sports which i really don't care. as a baller and law student i was really looking for ward to this one. one of the very few chances to kick medic butt. that didn't quite happen.

a fellow law student vanessa played them last year and well, law students won. because.. they had two giant black people and the medics just sucked pretty bad. although vanessa did leave out the part where the medics wanted revenge this year.. which seemed very obvious when they came to the courts with a fifteen man team.. against.. a four man law team. you need at least five people to make a team, so we had to sneak in a friend doing psychology and another guy.. who wasn't even from the same university, all before tip off. even though we had just about enough players on the team, but i still looked at it as damage limitation, seeing as how the medics were desperate enought to floor the keele team captain for both male and female and another whole team of black people. sigh. though i did find it amusing for just a split second, the thought, what if our team of three malaysians, one bruneian, one arab, and one russian with a heart problem who never played a single game together .. could beat a team of that size and experience.. funny.

really now, the odds were very clearly not on our side. you could tell, easily, by the spectators on the stands who were booing their heads off everytime we had the ball. but ahh, bliss, whenever your shot goes airborne and the gym just goes silent for that half a second that feels like forever.. and then the swoosh of the bucket, and you form a wry smile, and pace to the other end of the court while hearing everyone on the stands cussing at you. satisfaction.