birthday adventure

2nd July 2009

Waaahhh, today I am officially 23 years old  😁. Man, how come i don't feel that old.

Let me tell you what I did the whole day.......

I was thinking how I could spoil myself on this auspicious day;
 1. One whole  day of relaxation at the mall, go see a movie and just sit at one of the bench oogling and go shopping......And then I realized that it was an everyday thing to do...so common.

 I came up with another plan..... Except that it needed six people inside.Problem is I didn't have 6 man power to pursue my dream unless I kidnapped the whole student central with Elvin in tho and we go Whitewater Rafting!!!!!!!

I can just imagine Mr Tung's eyebrows shoot up if I mention that :P Him and the whole department.🤐The idea had to be shot down.

Another idea was ....horseriding....Brilliant...Except that my car's water tank was leeking the whole week and today was the only day I could send it to the mecahnic.

8.00 am in the morning .
I was still indecisive whether to go or not. The only place that has horseriding BESIDES titiwangsa wasBukit Tinggi.

9.00 am.
 I couldn't bare it anymore, there was no possible way I was going to waste my birth-day. I grabbed my car keys and vigirously searched for a repair shop (which wasn't that vigirously cos after 10minutes of futile search, a dim light bulb slowly switch on above me....DANG! isn't there a mechanic just infront of my apartment.

Stunt coodinators would have been impressed how I U-turned back to myapartment from Jaya jusco maluri. Is there such thing as 'cornerbaring' in the car ?

Cos that was how my body was when I made that sharp turn.I was 75 degrees towards the passenger seat!...... THe young mechanic was just opening his shop. Bless his soul as he listened to me rambling about water coming out from the tank and making a big puddle (I exagerated a little bit on that one :)) under the car. He calmly checked at the tank and fiddled around and did some experimentas. I fidgeted behind him. Then....

Ever so calmly he looked at me and said I found the problem.

 WHAT?

'You didn't close the lid properly/"

"Ssure one kaaa.... I'm going to bukit tinggi you know. I don't wantto stop midway if not I call you , you know" I said threateningly.

After gettting assurance for the 10th time I left for bukit tinggi at 10.30.
Except that knowing me.... it wouldn't be Syazlin if I actually DO reach to the place without getting lost.

First round - got lost all the way to Sungai buloh and turned back......

Second round - took the turn all the way up to genting and only turnedback midway when I realised my mistake.

Stopped at McDonald GentingSepah....sebab tak tahan had to pee :P

I reached Bukit tinggi horse ranch at 12.00pm.

Leela the staff there,was so friendly and talkative and hyper...(Yes, people, there is someone who is as hyper as me).
 She showed me aound the stable . Before I went into the stable I was greeted by this gigantic sebastian watch dog at the gate. Well I wouldn't say greet as he was laying on a mound of sand, surrounded by flies and looking up at you with a droopy mouth and an equally droopy eyes as if to say......oooohhh it's you...

He wasa mixture of black and brown color  or was it  brown because he's covered in manure....hmmmm....but he is an adorable thing and he doesn't harm anyone. When I was having lunch with the rest of the ranch staffs he came up hoping to get any tit-bits. I was afraid that he would come and brush at me but when I signalled for him to stop, he stopped and looked at me  sadly and slowly turned away as if saying

 'oooh shucks, rejected'


The instructor was Vietnamese, I forgot his name, I'll call him TK then. He's a friendly guy. He asked me to choose a horse and my eyes went straight to a tall white one looking at me from across his stable...his head sticking outside his stable door,  mouth munching on hay.

I could even imagine him saying like Joey from 'Friends ', 'How you doin?'


Our eyes connected, human to animal.

And that was how I got to ride Charlie. TK took me through a beginners course at a
riding ring.

He taught me;

How to get up and hold on to Charlie.
The proper footing on thesadle, how to hold the reigns....Truthfully if you give me a mark, I think I got 2 over 5. One way to move a horse is to loosen the reigns and then kick his stomach (while your on the saddle, while your on the saddle, not when your on the ground!) and say walk on...

I followed his instruction ...nothing happen ...then without warningCharlie put his head down, I was holding on tightly to the reigns forgetting to lengthen it and was pulled infront having a clear view of his lowered head and the mercilous ground.... hoohhooohohoo flashes  of christopher reeds accident came into my mind.....was he pulled downby an unmoving horse?
'Macam mana lin tu accident?' 'How did the accident happen?"
Ganas sangat ke kuda dia  'Was it a violent horse'?

Tak lah tak bergerak pun.....tiba-tiba KEPLET jatuh!!! " No lah, it was a gentle horse minding it's own business. It just lowered  it's head and suddenly KEPLET! I fell.."

TK taught me what to do when a horse started to gallop. I failed on that one...my bum kept hitting on the saddle and I knew Charlie was annoyed because I was hitting the saddle hard...KABOOM...KABOOM...

After half an hour training , TK wanted to take me on the beginners horse trail outside the ranch.

He stopped Charlie in front of the other horses stable. Tk went to prepare his horse, leaving Charlie with me on him....
 All alone. .....

Everything was well at first, Charlie sweet natured as he was, kept still.

Then he moved slowly to a mound of stardust not far from his stable. I pulled on the reigns hard and cried STOP but Charlie just ignored me (now you know whose the dominant one) and happily snuffing the pile of stardust, his head moving side to side nearly pulling me off of him! Then he moved to his stables with me still on the saddle. I looked at TK and he didn't see what was happening. I pulled on the reigns again... HELP...TOLLLONG!  I cried as I held on the reigns for dear life....Pooor me being bullied by a horse....

Hi ho a roadtrip shall we go!

(April 26)

Hi ho,>>>

Been wacky this weekend. Felt really bum out and felt like the whole world was going to explode.

So what did I do?
 Packed my bag and went on a roadtrip by myself.

 My initial idea was to go to Cameron Highland as its really really hot  and I wanted some shades and a place to cool off. I couldn't find a sidekick to kickstart my plan with.

I tried any of my friends ( I messagesed them at 1 am in the morning) It didn't take Einsten to acknowledged why no one replied me back :P  Anyho, I tried again at 7.30 am, waking up almost all my late risers friends (having to bare their disgruntle tone of voice for raising them from the dead) Alas still no partner in crime. By 9 am , I was like Gunung Karakatua ready to explode. I had to get out of KL and go ...Anywhere...Cameron Highland was shot down as one of my cousin gave me a good advice.

"Lin, it's a windy 4 hours drive up, unless your thinking that Tarzan knows how to repair cars and has a Digi line on his mobile. Nobody will reach you in time if anything happens."  What she said  did make sense.

 By 9.30 am I was on the road. Where to? Headed to Port Dickson in my mom's kelisa. The highway was smooth, no cars and the sky....the sky was beautiful, clear blue cloudless sky.


 

 I reached Port Dickson around 10. It was blazing.....BLAZING hot. My first stop was at Teluk Kemang. During that time there wasn't many people around and the shop was just opening. But the weather, man, I felt like a roast turkey (CUTE ONE!!) in my red T-shirt, walking along the beach. It was at that time that I decided I didn't want to spend the night in Port Dickson. Plus the hefty price rate of the hotels ...(well actually the price was the reason whay I didn't stay)

For someone who wanted to RnR, I was really unprepared. I had only 300 in my pocket and the ATM had rejected any further withdrawal.

 So I got into my  trusty Kelisa car drove along the beach. I was daydreaming and driving at the same time when I realize that I had drove all the way to Masjid Tanah in Malacca.......MASJID TANAH?!

*TING*

 The memories when I was small filled my head especially the time when my family stayed at Tanjung Bidara (a nice beach area, the water is clean, not many people there yet not too isloted.). So off toTanjung Bidara I headed. It was 12 o'clock when I reached the small cove and my stomach was growling. Luckily the foodstalls were still there. Har!.....even the bottles stacked on the table were the same as I remembered. What was unique about the stalls was that they still have ancient old glass bottled drinks, when I said ancient I mean ancients, before the time of Coca Cola. The bottles looked like 'Bottle Kicap' and the labels were almost unreadable. Intrigued, I contemplated to drink one, but> suddenly Elvin's (my boss )face emerged in front of me as a warning that in any event that occured after me drinking the bottle will not be included  in my job hazardous clause in my company's insurance contract :(

 I booked a room at sort for the night. It was a pityful sight. Far then what I remebered when I was a teenager. I opened the door to my rom and was greet by a swarm of mosquito (and this is no exageration) I switched on the light , luckily there was an air-cond, there were two beds (comfortable enough to sleep) The bathroom was not flashy but decent. I tried to turn on the pipe and a gush of brown colored murky water came out. After a while it turned to chalked color. Tired I slept.

 4.pm headed to Ayer Keroh in Malacca. Stoped at a restaurant near King's Hotel. No, I didn't go there to eat . A month ago I had ate at the restaurant and forgot to pay for a piece of kueh, so I went there to pay for the food. The kid behind the counter stared at me with open mouth like I  was E.T. especially when the piece of kueh was only 20 CENTs!

 I went to the Hutan Rekreasi, Ayer Keroh. What was supposed to be a 10 minute look- around turned to one hour. I got lost inside! Walked around in a big circle almost three times and asked for directions 3 times.....(OOOOhhhh and one of them ws from a super cute guy). I should have done my damsel in distress act! Darn my pride and machonism at> that time !

 Got back to the resort by 7.30pm. I was laying on the bed, watching the news when POOOOF !Blackout. I could hear angry voices outside and babies crying but I didn't move from the bed. At that time my mind was like wandering off thinking about mass murderes lurking underneath the bed ready to pounce. "This is the first," I said out loud in the dark. About a few mintues later the lights came back on and then it went off. Good thing it came back on for good at the third time.... There was nothing to do execept BEDTIME....

 I woke up late the next morning (or should I say this morning) Ate breakfast and went for a walk along the beach. It was windy and the weather was just nice, not as blazing hot as yesterday. It was blissful walking along the beach with my feet knee deep in salt water. There was a jetty there stretching out to the sea and there were stairs climbing from the sea up to the jetty. I sat on the> stairs, staring out to the sea for almost half an hour. It was when I was heading back to the resort that I realizde my pocket was wet and my handphone was inside. Bugger!!!! The screen was blanked and I couldn't switch it on. I felt like hitting my head for idiotcally bringing my handphone to the beach ......But what had happened had happened. I went back to the room, packed my stuff (which was not much) and checked out.I headed back to Seremban through Alor Gajah, Tampin and Rembau. I made a detour to Hutan Lipur Gunung Dato'. Warning to those who want to go to Gnung Dato':

1)NEVER GO THERE WHEN YOUR TANK IS NEARLY EMPTY.

2) NEVER GO THERE ALONE.(  Its better in a group , not fun playing in the waters alone and definetely you cannot go on a hike by yourself, especially with my history of direction dysfunctionality)

 Number 1 wasn't the case I had the sense of mind to fill up my tank the day before. I would like to stress on number 2. Why? It was very isolated. You have to drive through rubber and palm estates. There were very few kampung houses around . Once you turn into the junction towards Gunung Dato', the road is small and windy and trust me if your car break down theres no coverage or anyone> to come and help. I'm not sure whether you can shout through the rubber estate there.

 Between Jeram Toi near Jelebu and Gunung Dato in Rembau, I would much  preferred Jeram toi, because once you step into the forest you will be greeted by it's waterfall, different from Gunug Dato, theres streams and small waterfalls. I guess you have to hike up deeper into the forest to see the waterfall -which I didn't feel like doing. Isplashed myself with cold stream water and climbed up some rocks to see an overview of the forest. I can understand how anyone could get lost in Gunung Dato. It is a forest! It's not like the recreationalforest that I've been to.

* for those who love hiking and love nature , ignore my grumpy rambling as it is a beautiful place and as mention bring a friend well a group of friends, enjoy it together go hiking, go to the peak of Gunung Dato and see the breath taking view. (I'm sounding like a commercial here)

For more details you can look at this website :http://www.malaysia-traveller.com/gunung-datuk.html


 After spending 15 mintues there I headed back to Seremban passing Rembau and Pedas on the way. The view on the way back was peaceful. On my left lucious greenieries and on my right mountains sceneries. I blasted the radio out loud and croaked along to Beyonce, Pussycat dolls and even Mariah Carey. It was quite an adventure and at least I'm feeling much ...much better now :)>Cya later for other adventures.....

Muffin no enemy

May 2009

OOh I tried to bake a muffin yesterday. Yes me.....the one who had never dared to bake anything (after my first mishap a few years ago where I tried to bake a cake and completely....I mean COMPLETELY forgot that you need flour to make a cake. So I baked the batter of butter with sugar and Waaaaalaaaa a crusted and burned sugar caramel!!!!!!!!
Hmmmm....I bet your asking whether my second attempt would fare better....

Alas, even the optimistic book of Secrets couldn't avoid the disaster to come.
The mixture had looked beautiful and it tasted yummy, normal flour mixed with chocolate syrup, baking soda, butter, sugar and chocolate chips. I had preheated the microwave at 200 Celcius and set the time 15-20 minutes.

The muffins had rose the first few minutes and I was beaming No
GLOWING with pride like, a mother looking at her child through the windows of the baby ward (I know I'm exaggerating) until........the muffin did a double turn and sank down...leaving a crater of a hole in the middle of the supposed muffin.
Luckily my mom was in her room ,upstairs, if not she would have heard me wailing....NOOOOOOOOOOOOO . I tried to put on a brave face and I was staring at the muffins hoping that it might rise again, PPPOOOOFFF the whole muffin combusted and were in smokes.

Hmmmm, I thought this wasn't natural....(delayed response as I was)
The alarm went out when the smokes got thicker and my dad came into the kitchen carrying the fire extinguisher (no, I was joking) but he did come into the kitchen asking what was burnt.
>
Tearfully I pulled out the charred remains of my supposedly dream muffin.

Never fear,after an hour of analysing and self pity, I have gain my
strength and will again make another batch of muffins. Just not this week.
>
> Well thats from me .