Well hello hello.

Yours truly is back from the Thailand debate competition and let me just say that it was one of THE best competitions I have ever attended.

Not that I have attended many but it was definitely well planned, convenient, fun and an eye opening experience on so many levels.

8 of us (6 participants and 2 escorts) left last Thursday and I was already jumping up and down even before I left for the airport. The friend who was supposed to fetch me to the airport with him was so late that I had to find an alternative transport. But we both reached with plenty of time to check in our luggage and get settled in. So no biggie.

You'd think that after a year of not having flown with AirAsia would have removed all traces of my dislike for the cramped spaces but nope, I still felt like I was squashed between the window and the person beside me.
Speaking of the person beside me, Wen Zhe had never flown before, much less out of the country. So imagine my horror when he asked me when we were going to experience turbulence. He was really hoping that the plane would have some.

The doll's Kin Wai's. He brings it everywhere and takes pictures of it at different locations.

He said that in all the movies he had seen, turbulence was a given. Honestly. It's no comfort knowing that that the person beside you is pretty much praying for something to go wrong with the flight.
But then again, the feeling that I was leaving to another country to represent my uni for a competition was pretty awesome in itself and almost nothing could diminish it.

Fast forward two hours,
and I was in Thailand! Greeted by this huge statue at customs no less.

Did you know that Bangkok is one time zone away from Malaysia? It was so nice to find that we gained an hour upon reaching Suvarnabhumi Airport and could spend more time exploring.

Okay, you wanna know something? The moment I heard about this competition which is the Inaugural Asian British Parliamentary Debating Championship 2009 was going to be held in Thailand, all I could think about was how crappy the accommodations would be.

I mean, they were charging 500 bahts (RM50) a night! I pretty much envisioned the worst. Like, no air conditioning, rickety fans, communal bathrooms and hawker food.

And this is what I got as my room for the next 5 days.



CAN YOU BELIEVE YOUR EYES????

I was speechless for a few seconds just at the sight of such comfort. Of course, I was agog upon realising something else too but I'll tell you guys more about that in my next few posts.

Anyway, we stayed at the Bangkok Centre Hotel which is located right beside the MRT and it was so convenient to go....jeng jeng jeng...shopping! *cough* Of course, it was easy for us to go to Chulalongkorn University too*cough*
Reminds me of Singapore actually. Malaysia lacks such efficiency. Srsly.

Actually, this was my first time being in a foreign country where I didn't understand the local language. So tons of sign languages and confusion abound. They were rather unavoidable really. Also, the local names made little to no sense to us foreign delegates (I was a foreign delegate! how cool is that?!)

So imagine what happens when a bunch of (male) debaters get together and they see a sign like this?
In Bangkok no less.

Laughter all about! (If you don't get it, do comment and I'll explain)

What did I eat for my first night in Thailand? Hawker food!
This fishball thingy is awesome. It's simple yet awesome. I kid you not. With a slightly spicy sauce, it's bouncy and such a nice snack. Awesome.

Also, if anyone told you that Thailand's a place full of cheap things, that person ain't lying.
Heck, even booze is cheap. It's like half the price of that in Malaysia. I can just imagine it being a paradise for many a young adult from Malaysia.

So what did we do for our first night?

Why, we visited the night market in Lumphini and shopped of course =)

This is it for now. I'm sure the photo diarrhea is enough to cause havoc with your bandwidth as it is.

Till another post, later days.

Hello!

Yours truly shall be in Thailand, or more precisely Bangkok, for the next few days until Tuesday.

I will be competing in a debate competition where it's a style totally unknown to me until last week and joined by hundreds of teams from all around Asia.

Awesome?

AWESOME.

Wish me luck!

Good luck, I mean.

Till another post, later days.

Meet baby Kok.

More precisely, he's Kok 'Er' Xuen (The Er in the middle is me going 'Errrrr'. I forgot his full name. Yes yes. Condemn this uncle if you wish)

This little baby came into the world more or less a month ago when I was still in Johor and wasn't able to greet him. So, I tried really really hard to make sure I see him for his full moon.

Why? Because he's the first child from my cousin and her husband.

Not just any cousin, mind you. One of my closer cousins who has always been around since foreverrrr. You know... those kind of family members who are always around, cool to hang out with and seem like your siblings rather than cousins.
So when she had her baby, it felt closer to home since this is the child of someone with whom I grew up with. It's like my sister's kid, though not quite.
And yeah, I do have got a lot of nieces and nephews. Heck, the oldest is in Form 2 now, I think. The feeling of being old doesn't really get to me because it's not exactly a new thing since I have been an uncle from the age of 7.
Nevertheless, seeing the cousins grow up and start having families of their own, I am growing increasingly aware of my own adulthood. I've dreamt of being an adult for so long that now it's so near, it seems rather surreal at times.

Of course, having aunt(s) tell me that my parents are really really good with babies *hint hint heavy hint here* tends to make me shifty about the whole deal.

In this case, denial is indeed a river in Egypt and my metaphorical oasis.
For now, my parents will just have to contend with my cousins' kids. It's not my time yet =)

Till another post, later days.

I'd like to say this to the world:

I don't do inspirational one liners, quotes or even pep talks.

Know how those corporate leaders send inspirational e-mails to their subordinates to cheer them up and increase productivity? And the subordinates loathe it and probably categorize it akin to the seven levels of purgatory?

It's so damn irritating when people suddenly type out inspirational things that are supposed to 'uplift your spirits' and 'motivate you to do your best!'. Honestly, the only thing I am motivated to do is think that the person who sent it out in the first place have got way too much time on his hands and just wants to say something wise and shitz.

I'm fine with you talking and saying how you're inspired but spouting things like 'the heat of the forge determines the strength of the steel' and 'at 99 degrees water is hot. Add 1 more degree and it's boiling' is pure bull okay. Fine, it's wordplay on the banality of everyday occurrences that somehow seem to wow the non-science people and the effectiveness of giving the little extra but come on! Is it really something that people don't already know?

What, people are that dumb to not realise that with a little bit of hard work, things will come to you? Sheesh.

And what makes it even more exasperating is the fact that peple my age are already saying these kind of things. Maybe it is me and my principle to avoid becoming a corporate schtickz as much as possible but really now! Next thing you know, you will be saying things like r-branding, logistical, paradigm shifting and a whole load of things that not many people understand but pretend to anyway just because everyone else does.

Till another post, later days.

Sometimes, to be able to let loose and just dance seems to be the only thing that matters.

Even if it is a spazzy dance.

*Credit goes to Ziyan for putting this up on Twitter*

Till another post, later days.

I had a good day today.

I mugged and I was well prepared for the paper.

It has been a while since I felt this feeling.

It was good.

I'm not willing to go back to what it was usually again.

Till another post, later days.

I think exams is stressing me out a little bit. Okay, Maybe a lot.

A few days ago, after my Ethnic paper, I locked myself out of my room. My roommate just left for his two hour paper and I was stuck outside with my cellphone and 80 cents (I went to wash my clothes).

Now, the logical thing would be to go to the office to get an extra key or wait it out until the roommate returns.

What I did, however, was try to break into my room. Yes, you read right. I tried to break into my own room.

First, I went to the back door to try to unlock the door by squeezing my hands through the rails. I did that for 10 minutes only to realise the door was additionally locked at the bottom. Heh.

Then I went to my friend's place to get a chair to try to remove the glass panes on top of my front door and climb through. I carried the chair from one block to another (see, I was already losing my mind there and then) only to find the glass panes tightly held in place.

With almost no hope but to wait it out, I found a loooooooooong bamboo stick in my friend's room(about 2.5 meters long). With a stroke of (idiotic) genius, I brought it back to my room to try to hook the key to the bamboo shoot and successfully get back into the room.

What I got out of that attempt was some stares from some fellow floor mates and very sore arms. Okay lah, I looked really stupid poking a bamboo stick into my window like some deranged fellow trying to break in.

Wanna know why I didn't wanna get the office involved? Firstly, I didn't pay my electric bills for this sem. It's not like I purposely avoided it. It's just that by the time I remembered, it's the middle of the sem and I was kinda afraid that they'd fine me for having paid so late. Yes, I am still in Malaysia. Crappy bureaucracy remains a norm here.

I didn't wanna sit still because I really really wanted to get back to my room. I just mopped the place and wanted to enjoy it without the roommate around but alas.

My room was so clean okay. Sigh.

And now it's a disaster area again thanks to the tons of paper I have for revision.

Till another post, later days.