Preparation

It's 2am now... i'm still awake as I don't feel sleepy at all, may be too excited for the trip tomorrow? Perhaps...... Has been packing for my stuff for the past few days and my luggage is overloaded i guess as I have to bring a hand carry bag for my good friend who is now in CR, she spoilt her luggage!! hehe

Jennifer just touched the ground yesterday, came back from Costa Rica and I will be flying in 8 hours time. Yesterday we had dinner together and it has been a while since our last friends' gathering. The dinner was for Rohan's post birthday celebration, my farewell as well as to welcome Jennifer's return.. 3 in 1 save cost ya :P There are 7 of us (Lynn, Jack, Dan, Nikki, Jen, Rohan and me) We went to Foong Wei Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant at town area. Had a wonderful dinner with wonderful people around me :)

Actually I'm not that excited for this Costa Rica trip as I know that there are problems waiting for me. My purpose to Costa Rica is to provide training to the new team there, and the part I''m going to train them on is not somehting easy that can be absorbed in one or 2 months time. Hopefully everythign will go well as in plan and there will be no trouble and hassle for me. Bless me please......

Was chatting with one of my friend yesterday and I was shocked by the reply he gave me. He is very pessimistic with his current life, he doesn't like his work and the company he is working in currently. Hopefully he will find something he likes to do and work with someone who will really appreciate him for the hardwork he pays one day. Not everyone in the company is bad to him, may be just his luck for not meeting the correct people, I'm sure he will find his destiny soon. All the best to him......

Time to go to bed... Adios and will be back soon!!

Enhancing Relationships

This was sent to me from one of my friend, find it true to share wih... Lessons on how to enhance relationships......



TRUST is a very important factor for all relationships. When trust is broken, it is the end of the relationship. Lack of trust leads to suspicion, suspicion generates anger, anger causes enmity and enmity may result in separation. A telephone operator told me that one day she received a phone call. She answered, "Public Utilities Board." There was silence. She repeated, "PUB." There was still no answer. When she was going to cut off the line, she Heard a lady's voice, "Oh, so this is PUB.Sorry, I got the number from my Husband's pocket but I do not know whose number it is." Without mutual trust, just imagine what will happen to the couple if the telephone operator answered with just "hello" instead of "PUB".
~Don't ever start a relationship if there is no trust in each other, both will be suffering and end up with daily arguement. ~



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NO POINTING FINGERS A man asked his father-in-law, "Many people praised you for a successful marriage. Could you please share with me your secret?" The father-in-law answered in a smile, "Never criticize your wife for her shortcomings or when she does something wrong. Always bear in mind that because of her shortcomings and weaknesses, she could not find a better husband than you." We all look forward to being loved and respected. Many people are afraid of losing face. Generally, when a person makes a mistake, he would look around to find a scapegoat to point the finger at. This is the start of a war. We should always remember that when we point one finger at a person, the other four fingers are pointing at ourselves. If we forgive the others, others will ignore our mistake too.
~Ãct like an adult, blaming other people won't help to solve the problem, we should work out the solutions together and the important thing is the process, not the result. ~


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CREATING PERFECT RELATIONSHIPS? A person visited the government matchmaker for marriage, SDU, and requested "I am looking for a spouse. Please help me to find a suitable one." The SDU officer said, "Your requirements, please." "Oh, good looking, polite, humorous , sporty, knowledgeable, good in singing and dancing. Willing to accompany me the whole day at home during my leisure hour, if I don't go out. Telling me interesting stories when I need companion for conversation and be silent when I want to rest." The officer listened carefully and replied, "I understand you need television." There is a saying that a perfect match can only be found between a blind wife and a deaf husband ,because the blind wife cannot see the faults of the husband and the deaf husband cannot hear the nagging of the wife. Many couples are blind and deaf at the courting stage and dream of perpetual perfect relationship. Unfortunately, when the excitement of love wears off, they wake up and discover that marriage is not a bed of roses. The nightmare begins.
~No one is perfect in this world, patience and tolerance are important to live together forever. One day the exitement of love will wears off, if there is no tolerance, that's when you discover the true colors and the nightmare begins.~


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NO OVERPOWERING Many relationships fail because one party tries to overpower another,or demands too much. People in love tend to think that love will conquer all and their spouses will change the bad habits after marriage. Actually, this is not the case. There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "It is easier to reshape a mountain or a river than a person's character." It is not easy to change. Thus, having high expectation on changing the spouse character will cause disappointment and unpleasantness. It would be less painful to change ourselves and lower our expectations..
~Be yourself is what I always tell my friends. Just be what you used to be, you don't have to purposely reshape yourself for someone. Doing something unwillingly will not last long, one day you will still explode as you are not being your true self. Be Yourself- Freedom-Smile :) ~




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RIGHT SPEECH There is a Chinese saying which carries the meaning that "A speech will either prosper or ruin a nation." Many relationships break off because of wrong speech. When a couple is too close with each other,we always forget mutual respect and courtesy. We may say anything without considering if it would hurt the other party. A friend and her millionaire husband visited their construction site. A worker who wore a helmet saw her and shouted,"Hi, Emily! Remember me? We used to date in the secondary school." On the way home, her millionaire husband teased her, "Luckily you married me.Otherwise you will be the wife of a construction worker." She answered ,"You should appreciate that you married me. Otherwise, he will be the millionaire and not you." Frequently exchanging these remarks plants the seed for a bad relationship. It's like a broken egg - cannot be reversed.
~祸从口出 is the word to describe this. I find that people tend to take things for granted, forget the mutal respect and sometimes being rude to someone they are close with. They tend to treat stranger more politely and with more respect than people they have close relationship with. ~




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PERSONAL PERCEPTION Different people have different perception. One man's meat could be another man's poison. A couple bought a donkey from the market. On the way home,a boy commented, "Very stupid. Why neither of them ride on the donkey?"Upon hearing that, the husband let the wife ride on the donkey. He walked besides them. Later, an old man saw it and commented, "The husband is the head of family. How can the wife ride on the donkey while the husband is on foot?" Hearing this, the wife quickly got down and let the husband ride on the donkey. Further on the way home, they met an old Lady. She commented, "How can the man ride on the donkey but let the wife walk. He is no gentleman." The husband thus quickly asked the wife to join him on the donkey. Then, they met a young man. He commented, "Poor donkey, how can you hold up the weight of two persons. They are cruel to you." Hearing that, the husband and wife immediately climbed down from the donkey and carried it on their shoulders. It seems to be the only choice left. Later, on a narrow bridge, the donkey was frightened and struggled. They lost their balance and fell into the river. You can never have everyone praise you, nor will everyone condemn you. Never in the past, not at present, and never will be in the future. Thus, do not be too bothered by others words if our conscience is clear..
~Have faith in yourself. Different people have different perception, we can't please everyone in this world. Just follow what your heart says and stick to your õwn standpoint. You can refer to other's opinions but keep in mind that the final decision is still yours. Do what you think is right.~


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BE PATIENT This is a true story which happened in the States. A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint of the truck. The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital. Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, " Daddy,I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?" The father went home & committed suicide. Think about this story the next time someone steps on your feet or u wish to take revenge. Think first before u lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired.. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. We forget that forgiveness is greater than revenge. People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.
~Control your emotion, don't let your anger control you. Be the master of your emotion, don't be the slave. Please take few minutes to think and cool down before you make any decision. Sometimes one time mistake might be forever mistake and will not be forgiven.~

Wrist Injury

Feeling pain on my wrist for the past few days and wasn't really pay attention to the pain and was thinking that the pain might goes off after 2-3 days however it wasn't and was getting worst. I am having some difficulty to carry heavy stuff and even when I do typing for 10 minutes non-stop, i can feel the pain now.

Can't really recall when did i injured my wrist, i guessed must be 2 weeks ago when i played tennis with my friend. That day i was holding the grip in a different way, not using the old way and due to the force was too strong and moreover I didn't grab the tennis racket properly ... that's the consequences

Went to consult a doctor at the clinic nearby and the doctor gave me some medicine and cream to apply and advice me not to play tennis or carry any heavy things until the pain goes away. So I need to learn to love myself, not to be so stubborn again.. What other things will be important than a healthy body? Health comes far more important than other things, right?

Good Karma

This is a nice reading, but short. Enjoy! All it takes is a few seconds to read and think over.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s:

• Respect for self,
• Respect for others and
• Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Langkawi Trip (3/30 -4/1)

It's my first time!!! First time to Langkawi! Hehe ... a bit "3 8" right? have been living in Malaysia for so long but never been to Langkawi before. This is because I always no chance to go and everytime when I asked my friends to go along, they sure will say there has nothing to see. I must see by myself instead of believing them ... It's so coincident that my sister has a free hotel stay at Langkawi, so we chose a date and went to buy the ferry ticket and just packed and go without any hesitation :)

We took the ferry and it cost us RM95 each for a round trip. The ferry ride took about 3 hours from Penang pier to the Langkawi Kuah pier. When we reached there, noticed there were a lot of ppl offering the car rental.... we rent a car (red color Hyundai 2 doors car) which cost us about RM100 for 1 day due to it was public holiday -Prophet Muhammed. I was the appointed driver for the whole trip may be it's because my driving skill is better compared to the 2 of them :) hehehe

I did some research the day before we go and printed out the map of some places of interest and our hotel map so i just drove by referring to the map. Luckily we were still able to get to the hotel (Aseania Hotel) and although it was rated as 4 stars but from it's out look , it looks really old and the paint was dropping off. The room was not big, may be because it was free so they gave us a lousy room? perhaps ...

It was a really hot day, we were buring under the hot sun and have to travel here and there. In addition, the airconditon in the car was not really functioning well, plus we had some trouble to wind down the car window, so basically we were baking inside the car and sweating like hell.

Places we went:
1) Underwater World
2) Mahkam Mahsuri
3) Handy Craft Complex
4) Geology Park
5) Akeology park - basically it's a fruit farm
6) Eagle Square
7) Taman perdana

8) Langkawi Crystal

9) Black sand beach

we didn't manage to go all the place as we were running out of time

This round we didn't go for island hopping as I haven't visit the palces of interest in the island itself so we decided to visit all the places and thinking of going for the island hopping next round. It's so coincident that I met Seow Han (my primary schoolmate) there as well.. such a small world :)

On the way back to Penang, the ferry stopped at Pulau Payar to pick up some passengers. A guy named John then sat besides me. He is from Alaska and we talked a lot. He is currently working for military in US and now he is in Kulim Police camp for his work. He has been in Penang for 1 month and will be going back this weekend. He always travel around due to his job needs and he has been to many places e.g. Philipines (hulu island), Japan, Egypt, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam .. His greatest interest is diving... and i think he is a great risk taker as from the way he talked to me, enjoy life is the most important thing for him. Not to forget to mention, he has 12 tatoos on his whole body and he pierced on his tongue (ouch.. must be very pain). It's really nice to know him, and i got to know a lot of things from him although it was a short 2 hours conversation

After this trip, we have came up with some of our opinions for what we like and what we think that's really a problem:-

1) Poor management of the Ferry system - the staff didn't tell us we have to sit according to the seat number and this has led of some foreigner dissatisfactions and complains to the management

2) the aircond in the ferry was really cold - we were shiverring down there and almost got sick

3) Wasting resources - some of the places we visited has really low number of tourist, but they hired a lot of staff, e.g. i saw 4 staffs taking care of 1 cashier counter and more than 5 cleaners cleaning the same area... this is wasting our money especially those who pay tax!!

4) Place of Interest but it's not interesting .... Time to improve how to make it more interesting, some places look really dull and not interesting at all, from far you look at it and you won't want to walk in

5) the hotel service is really bad, especially during the morning breakfast. The food was not enough to serve the guests and moreover although it mentioned there it's breakfast for two but you can see especially the Malays, they will have the husband and wife with 4/5 kids at the breakfast table. That's why!!

Overall i think it will be better if the trip is to island hopping :) nevertheless it's a good experience.

Photos available here