THE FIRST [whatever that is] IS ALWAYS THE DEEPEST

Today's theme: 

THE FIRST TIME

Sounds so wrong but feels so right isn't it? heh.

Whoa.

Hold your horses and calm down. im not going there. not even remotely close. Not even a tiny bit of and attempt to entice you there.

Instead, I'm gonna share the first time for everything, going places and such.

Let me start with my first ever experience travelling abroad.I still remembered it like it was yesterday. And come to think of it, the next 3 years would mark the 20 years since I first traveled abroad. it was in the late 90s and I was still this young chap eager to see the world. PLEASE NOW, STOP CALCULATING AND GUESSING MY AGE! Continue reading puhlisss.

Going gaga over Luton for whatever reason

When the university offered a study tour (nowadays the call it student mobility) to UK, I jumped with excitement and enrolled in it. Of course, to raise fund we organized all sort of activities and the highlight was fashion at Crown Princess Hotel (no longer in KL. it was located at the Tun Razak junctions near KLCC - the place to be and where the famous nightclub/disco was located.. forgot the name though. I'll let you know later).

Ok I'm digressing. huh.

Anyway, with sponsorships pouring in and stuffs we were able to fly to the UK. Mind you, there was no Airasia and being a normal human like me, I would not even dream of flying. I remembered the return ticket to the UK was about RM 9k close to 10k yeah. and there were 36 of us. it was 13 hours direct flight and God were we bored to our bones. I put on my modjo and flirt with the flight attendant just for the kick. haha.

In the UK, we stayed at Malaysia Hall before going to our host university, Luton University. If im not mistaken, it's 2-3 hours ride from Bryanston Square. While in the heart of Great Britain, we managed to cover the famous Shakespeare Village at Stratford-Upon-Avon and spend good one day there. Crossing the Hyde Park oh so many times that it became our rituals just because it was really nice walking. You dont get it here in KL because its hot and humid and before you know it, you'll drenched with sweats and stinks. Yuck. Whilst in London, the cold weather suit me just fine.

The team. We are TESL-ing!

Ok, Imma stop now. Perhaps in another entry I'll write more. Ciao bella!

[apekTRAVELS]

Songs That Remind Us of THAT Moments

Hah. 

psssttt... my all time favorite song, Yellow by Coldplay.

Songs play major part in my life. I do not have any particular genre when it comes to preference, as long as it suits my ears and seem right at that particular moments and encapsulate the essence of the experiences; i am all go. whenever i travel, the most important item i bring is the Sony mp3 player. This one-lah: 

i had two of these. lost one and bought the second one. it's 2gb and you could store about 200 songs init.

that was JO, kak milo and kakyat. we were facilitating a camp at Sungai Congkak.

The ultimate 90s song.

Prior to this, i resorted to Sony handphone and songs are stored there. yea, way back when sony ericson handphone was the talk of the town, before Apple and Samsung, right after Nokia lost its touch. Personally, I think that the walkman handphone series was great for traveling whilst you could store up to 1gb of songs, the quality is compared to none. 

coolness comes in small package. i wish Sony could come out with this kind of phone. It's their niche. 

 

Happy days. Kebajikan Camp at Port Dickson.

 Anyway, back to topic. Shoot, i digress a lot, ain't i? hahaha. anyway, my first trip oversea was in 1996. We went to UK. It was direct 13 hours flight using Malaysia Airlines. And, without KLIA, we departed from Subang International Airport. True. Tak percaya ke? eheh. I still remembered, the departure time was about at 4 something in the evening. We were so excited. And in the plane (no handphone yet this time), these two groups were just being introduced to local music scene. OASIS and SPICE GIRLS. I listened to it continuously. Among my fave are Don't look Back In Anger, Roll With It, Champagne Supernova. And of course, from the delicious Spice Girls, the ultimate Wannabe was personal favorite. 

Oxford Street, London. The year, 1996. weehoo

Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1996. Pardon the quality, we were still in flimstrip back then

with good friend Safuan (he's a Doctor now!) and aetone (punya, hehe). This was taken on the way down from Brinchang Hill, Cameron Highland.

Ok, fast forward. in campus, i traveled a lot. well, mostly local. eh not mostly, all of it local. eheh. student being a student, where got money meh to travel oversea. plus, flight fare wasn't as cheap as today. and definitely, no Airasia. The only carrier that we knew of was Malaysia Airlines, and god were they expensive. so, travel dalam negara sudahhhh. 

Why so serious? Of course la, we were at Leadership Camp and I was in charge as Quarter Master.  This was taken at Lanchang, Pahang. *a kind of forest reserve cum camp site cum chalet. Very near to Elephant Sanctuary, Kuala Gandah.

Anyway, hahaha see! I'm digressing again. 

This was in Kelantan during High Risk '01 activity. I think it's it Dabong, Gua Musang

Ok, I was quite (well quite was the way to tone it down. Very is the most appropriate) active in the campus. Prior to holding any position, I was just happy running around and a lil bit of culture shock (I was from Johor, that's south of Malaysia), I got distracted a lot. I frequented Modestos, Bali, HRC, etc. etc. heheh And when I decided to turn my life around, I involved a lot in college activities. There I get to travel around Malaysia. IT WAS FUN traveling with friends, wholly sponsored by the University. In fact, my highlights and best memories in the university was busy with these sort of activities.

MTM Retreat at Seri Juliana Chalet, Cameron Highlands, again.

I remembered Matchbox Twenty, Smashing Pumpkins, Everclear, Backstreet Boys (as much as I love to deny it, well, let's face it! haha), Incubus, Lenny Kravitz, Jewel (oh Jewel!), Jamiroquai, are among few of the artists that hogged my playlist. I still remembered we were traveling to Sungai Besar, Kuala Selangor for Kampung Angkat Project and As Long As You Love Me became the ultimate road trip song. From UPM to Kuala Selangor took us about 2 and a half hour, driving Anim's kancil. 

Facilitator Camp to welcome new freshies to the college. We had it Kuala Gula, Perak. This is a place for bird watching as gazillions of different species of birds come flocking this area. Kinda R&R for them migrating from the Siberia.

this was taken at Blok Helang common room. We were preparing for inter blok video clip contest. A true hard rocker, our blok chose Knockin on Heaven's Door by Guns N Roses. We lost. But we had fun!

This was during Ramadhan. We had this inter blok competition for Bubur Lambuk and Dessert.

I bought Matchbox Twenty cassette (yup, you read it correctly, freaking cassette heh!) at Mines. Their first album entitled You, Yourself or Someone Like You. The best ever!

Tadaaa. My room back in college. Fancy eh.

Eh, forgot to attach any photos. Wait aaaa lemme find some for you viewing pelasure.

With Bbt/Sharhan. A junior which in many many many years after that, becomes close friend. *that many years are now.

The lots of us at the backstage of Experimental Theatre, UPM  for inter college Drama Competition.