It's Been A Month

#521

14th October

Hey guys! It’s been a long time, but guess where am I?

Alright, to be honest, I’d back to Penang 2 days ago becuz’ it’s the mid-sem break, so I took flight with my friends that night, and finally back to my lovely hometown XD

Anyway, since the CLESIC gathering, I had stopped talking about my uni life since then.

So basically, so sorry about that as there’re getting more assignments to be done and left my blog blank for quite some time.

Btw more tests are coming soon so this mid-sem break is actually a revision week for me too.

Well then, at least spending some time to relax won’t hurt right?

To be honest, I’d craved for Penang food for so long and finally had some tastes that I’m familiar to.

Well then, continuing from the first week, the following weeks are really eventful.

First, I had met all of my direct seniors including fourth year and those who had graduated.

Eline (4^th year) who is also CLHS student but at Butterworth, Bryan who is currently studying PhD and Jia Hao (Bryan’s senior).

And that we had a continuous direct line where it all gathered by a steamboat + BBQ feast haha.

I couldn’t believe that this is the second time to have steamboat in just two weeks in JB lol.

So, from left to right:

Kevin & me (1^st year), Eline (4^th year), Hooi Nee (3^rd year), Bryan (PhD), Sui Juong (2^nd year) and Jia Hao (graduated).

Right, I felt so satisfied with the steamboats at Johor, my gosh I don’t think I would slim down here haha. 

Proceed to 25^th September, it is the day of 新鲜人介绍会, which is an event where all of the Chinese clubs gather and introduce themselves to welcome first year students to join them.

There are 13 clubs which are free to join (which mean, you can join as much as you want if you could handle that lol), including 工大中秋俱乐部，工大升学辅导团，工大华文班，工大辩论学会，螺丝钉，扯铃，华乐，三好学社，轻舞飞扬，创价，佛学社，崇德 and 二十四节令鼓.

Well, of cuz’ each of the club has their own presentation and shows to perform so that to attract the first year students to join.

Each club even promote their own event so called as 介绍会 too, but set at different dates, yet some of the time set crashed lol.

So what’s my decision?

Hmm... To be honest, I’m actually interested to join 工大升学辅导团 only but somehow I went to the introductory event by 工大华文班 during 27^th September (Wed) just to see how it looks like only.

And that’s unexpectedly caught up my interest to join them lol.

Owh you may ask why? Yupe I found most of the seniors there are really fun and I enjoyed the moments too. Plus, this club is kind of special becuz’ it conducts classes for non-Chinese students who wish to learn and speak Chinese.

There are three departments to choose from, including 教研组，行政组 and 资研组. So obviously 教研组 is those who teach non-Chinese students to learn Chinese, 行政组 is those who do registration and management work in the club, while 资研组 is those who prepare study materials and textbooks.

Well, although I’d been a teacher before (as you all should know) but instead I’d entered 资研组 cuz’ I feel like preparing study materials and textbooks would be more related to me since I like to create ideas and typing lol.

So, it’s decided and I had unexpectedly joined 华文班.

Continue to 30^th September, it is a big day for all Chinese students becuz’ it is the Mooncake Festival organized by 工大中秋俱乐部, named as 万盏华灯庆中秋之《一路·友你在》.
Of cuz’ it’s the first festival to be celebrated out from my hometown, so I went there with my friends, 提灯笼游行, playing games, eating foods, and watch performances.

But, somehow a little disappointed cuz’ the event doesn’t last long and it only took about 2.5 hours only.

Well anyway, I guess that’s enough for me, as I could eat mooncake once I come back to Penang.

The photos are in PTUTM official FB page, click here and see if you could spot me haha. XD

And here's the picture I took that day.

Next day, which is 1^st October, I went to another event, which is the introductory event too, this time is by 工大升学辅导团. It is actually combined with a buffet dinner that cost me RM23.

So, seniors brought us out from UTM to Sutera Mall for such gathering event.

Yupe there are lots of things known but the buffet was kind of disappointment to me as I don’t have the chance to have second round.

Although the main thing is not the buffet, but at least I got to know more friends through that event.

Next thing, my first ever “crash” happened. On 4^th October, it is the first regular activity by 工大升学辅导团 and also another event, 2017/2018 华文班第一学期开幕典礼 by 工大华文班.

This had me to choose, which to?

And I happened to go... 华文班 lol. Well, I don’t have reason, I just feel like I want to go there.

On the plus side, they provided free dinner and transport too, maybe is this reason? I’m not so sure too! XD

Anyway, I took part in the registration work and it’s as simple as ABC.

Of cuz’, lots of pictures had taken as well.

华文班资研组 #1

华文班资研组 #2

There are more to see, so click here for the album.

On 7^th October (Sat), it’s the meeting for 华文班资研组, mainly discuss our future events and get to know with each other.

So this is the pic.

After that, not all of us, 6 people including me as the only first year junior, went for another steamboat + BBQ dinner lol.

But it was cheap, it only costs RM16! Although not much of selection but at least there’s ice cream!

Well, since we forgot to take picture so there’s no pic of the steamboat shown.

As you can see, it’s been a month in Johor and lots of things just came upon me.

Well, aside lectures and tests, I could finally feel the enjoyment in university as what the seniors told us.

So, I guess my choice to enter UTM is the right choice? Well, we will see then.

Bye!

UTM First Week

#520
20th September

Hey guys! After the orientation week, I had came through the first study week in UTM.

So basically, we have to study from morning until evening, but in some days we just study until noon only.

A good news is that I don’t have any class in Sunday, so my study day is just from Monday to Thursday haha XD

To be honest, I’m kind a person who prefer classes tight to each other rather than halt by halt.

Alright, so what had I been through for the first week?

Besides lectures, of cuz’ there’re lots of stuffs done daily such as washing clothes, doing revisions and printing notes.

Several activities had been done such as going to the cocurriculum exhibition and meeting seniors too.

Fyi we are free to join any club and activity held in UTM. An advantage of joining cubs and activities is that you got the merit and priority to choose hostel.

This wasn’t in my consideration becuz’ I’m not quite sure whether that is achievable or possible for me to have lots of time to attend so much activity.

Well, it’s time management.

Next thing, as the first year junior, meeting second, their and fourth year seniors is considered compulsory for us to get help and information easily.

Yupe, Chinese juniors will meet with Chinese seniors, if you wonder lol.

So, a few days ago I met my second and third year direct seniors, Sui Juong from Sarawak, Hooi Nee from Perak and Fionni from Melaka. 

Sui Juong is a matriks student so he is same age with me, and I don’t call him senior la haha if not it would seem too old for him.

He also has another direct junior called Kevin from Sarawak ^^ In my term I called him as partner la.

One thing of this direct line is that seniors will pass books, notes and past year questions for us so that we don’t need to spend too much money on buying the textbooks.

Talking about that, the price of textbooks are really expensive, just hope that the value could worth for a semester.

Besides direct seniors, last Saturday I also had an outing with CLHS seniors.

Every university will have a council known as Chung Ling Ex-Student Inter Varsity Council (CLESIC) specialised for CLHS graduates. 

So, I’m automatically be one of the members of this big family, as I’m still proud of my secondary school, CLHS haha.

We went outside of UTM to Skudai town to have a steamboat + BBQ buffet.

Yupe, just as you thought, I knew more seniors and more friends too, which I think, somehow a connection just built up simultaneously.

About this CLESIC, not much event will be held, mostly around CNY and year break, there would be gatherings.

For me, it maybe not my priority but for sure this is my second home right now.

Welcome to UTM CLESIC!!!

Big Wefie!!

Oh right, how about the living here? Especially the food…

…Hmm, that’s kind a hard question to me haha.

As a Penangite it is a really a displeased experience to not have the taste of Penang food for such a long time.

I can’t say the food here taste awful, just that in my heart, Penang food stays Number One.

Anyway, since I’m really tired of the food inside of UTM, so during non-school days, my friends and I always take the chance to go outside to have lunch or dinner.

And to be honest, since I don’t used to have meals outside, so I couldn’t imagine the price of food are so high.

Well, what could you do? Just hope that I can get use to the different lifestyle here.

Alright, to be honest, I have ample time to do a lot of works and blog right now.

As what seniors said, we have to enjoy throughout the first year.

Well of cuz’ we have to study hard as well lol.

Anyway, I will update pictures soon since life’s getting more and more eventful.

I will talk more soon, bye ;)

UTM Orientation

#519

10th September

Hey guys! If you are seeing this post, then you are seeing a post that is written from Johor!

Yes, it’s September and formally I’m the undergraduate student of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).

Yupe, it’s been a crazy and tiring orientation week since 4th September.

Well, kind of feel like this is the time, where I have to take care of myself, taking all the responsibilities for my own self and also making decisions about my daily life.

Anyway, it’s a long talk for this whole orientation week, so I’ll just summarize all of them in point form.

- Reached Johor Bahru at 3rd September, first visit here and here goes nothing!

- Buying lots of stuffs at Aeon. Felt lucky that outside of UTM there’s a really big residential area full of shops and shopping mall.

- Take a simple walk around Taman Universiti, having meals, and rest for tomorrow.

- 4th September, the registration day and also the first day of orientation week.

- After all of the registration process, moved my things to my room, and met my roommate, JUN XIAN from Ipoh! :D

- Alright, gather at the kolej hall for more briefings and other stuffs. (Yupe, at here the hostel are all known as “kolej”)

- All meals are free and prepared, but of course, they totally CANNOT COMPETE WITH PENANG FOOD!!!!!

- Besides briefings, each kolej will have cheering section, where they will be used during main gathering at Dewan Sultan Iskandar (DSI).

- At DSI, every new undergraduate students gather here for more briefings lol. Felt really sleepy, really cannot tahan.

- Almost everyday sleep arund 1.30am due to too much briefings, and have to wake up around 5.30am gg.

- The rest of the days mostly filled by briefings where this is not really that enjoyable at all, but most of the info are useful so I listen to those I think that is important.

- The most successful part of this orientation is last day, which is the Sports Carnival and Cultural Night.h

- Yupe that’s the only day that I felt the most enjoyable.

So, currently I’m actually quite okay with the uni life, which is really free and full of activities that is open for all to take part.

Of cuz’, for the first year I’m gonna enjoy the most I can no matter what.

This is the start that requires me to go out of the corner of a big life.

Well, I’d done lots of things from the past 2 days so maybe I will update them in the next post.

Stay tune!

Update

So here are some photos with the orientation crew haha.

Leaving Somewhere

#518

30th August

(Source: "Lost Lonely Luggage" by Strange Luke)

Hello everyone! So, after a few days later, I will be leaving this lovely island and go south to Johor.

Thinking back, Johor will be the furthest place I visit in Malaysia, as well as the most southern part of the big Asia map.

Definitely, I'm gonna miss everything in Penang, to another state for 4 years, run into an unfamiliar place, restart everything again.

So, as I said, there's a lot of things have to be restarted again and again. But for sure, this time I have to manage my daily life entirely on my own now.

Depend on my capability, I think I'm not quite worry on most things.

Baggages packed, documents prepared, while registration will be another completion. 

Anyway, I'm still glad that my orientation week is on next week, as lots of friends who entered UniMAP, UKM and UMP had started their orientation week for the past few days.

From their Snapchat I can see that things get pretty fun except you have to wake up really really early and have to sit through several talks and seminars as well.

Guess this is also what will happen to me soon, their experience is now a reference to me as well, hope I can handle that freaking crazy week lol.

Well, I guess this is just a simple update, and also an announcement that I will be shifting to another place haha.

Maybe, will see you soon in Johor.

Kuala Lumpur

#517

20th August

Hey guys! It's been a really long time and now, finally I could take some time to blog.

Well then, it's obvious, from the title you see, I'll be talking about the trip to KL from 14/8 to 17/8.

Anyway, a good news first, rmb that I will be going to university this September? And YES!!! I WILL BE GOING TO UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA (UTM) in Johor!!!

This is the first choice which I think I should expect as well lol.

But anyway, the registration process is unexpectedly tedious and I took a lot of time with my parents to complete most of the documents.

Well alright, after a busy week to prepare those documents, now I had completed about 80% of them, so let's get started to the main post today.

Before the trip, Yi Fong informed Kar Oon and I that he couldn't manage to join us to this trip due to personal reason.

Well, that's really sad but anyway this trip still carried on. By the way, "The RM500 Challenge" is still going on, so let's see how we made it.

Yes, to be honest, in this 4D3N trip, we made it!

14/8/2017 (Monday)

After reaching KLIA 2, we planned to take a bus from KLIA 2 to KL Sentral. Manatau both of us 摆乌龙, we bought the ticket to TBS in Bandar Tasik Selatan, and that costs us RM11 lol.

Well, nevermind, we still can take LRT to Plaza Rakyat, which is close to our hotel, D' Oriental Inn inside of Petaling Street.

Well, I would not recommend this hotel to you guys if you don't like crowded place. But truly, since this is a budget trip, so this hotel would be a perfect choice, early booking only takes RM45 per night through agoda.com

Wash up and tidy ourselves, we went to Kim Lian Kee Restaurant to have the famous Hokkien Char as our dinner.

Well, Hokkien mee in KL is different from Penang, where the noodles are fried in black soy sauce. For Penangites, this noodle is called 大碌面. We also add another side dish for fun lol? But this dinner costs both of us RM33.

This portion looks big even though the menu mentioned it small lol, and costs RM10.

After the dinner, we took a walk around Suria KLCC, but everything looks expensive for us to buy so we just done window-shopping lol.

And then, we took photos from the outside, of Petronas Twin Towers!

So that's the end of our first day, which already costs more than half of the budget, but we made miracle for the next few days haha.

15/8/2017 (Tuesday)

The next destination in Kuala Lumpur is the best recommendation for those who really love Science. Yup, it's PetroSains exhibition in Suria KLCC. 

To be exact, I went here before like about 9 years ago lol, yet everything looks almost the same to me. But then, it's still a nice spot for us to learn about different fields in Science through experiments and explorations.

In fact, one of the facilities I like the most is the F1 driving simulation. Although it's not VR type but it's worth the try since it's included in your ticket fee.

Guess what? The entering fee only costs RM20 only! And you can explore everything for almost 6 hours! This is really really the best value.

Moreover, since there are some sections closed, so the price deducted to RM16 only, which made us saved even more!

Well, once a gamer, this seems pretty fit to me haha XD

This driving simulation needs extra RM2 to enter.

We ended our trip in the exhibition around 4.30pm, so we decided to straight go to Pavilion to have a walk and dinner.

To be exact, we walked underground to Pavilion.

Yupe, you don't need to take LRT or walk on land to Pavilion. There's a very long underground tunnel straight from Suria KLCC to Pavilion, which is very convenient but took a lot of muscle work haha.

Busy street in KL.

Right, since we are at Pavilion, there are even more branded items here, and the mall is even larger than Suria KLCC. 

Under recommendation by Kar Oon, we went to Rocku Yakiniku to have a buffet dinner.

Like BarBQ Plaza (Well I'm not doing comparison), you can refill the food and heck ya it worth about RM60 included GST. 

Ya since it's a Japanese restaurant so you will get Japanese cuisine too, such as sushi and chawanmushi.

We really took a full dinner that day but quite satisfied, yet this made our budget a quick hike.

Fyi Pavilion is located at Bukit Bintang, or rather we say Golden Triangle. It's a bustling city where night life comes alive.

So basically you can find a lot of shopping malls and grand hotels here.

Don't be amazed by the scenery here, it's common at the district like this.

16/8/2017 (Wednesday)

The third day at KL, we looked up on Internet and found a so-called "roti banjir" at a mamak stall which is reachable by walking from our hotel.

Yup we came to a district where most Malays and Indians locate, so it may seems weird suddenly appear Chinese customers.

Anyway, food is the most important thing here haha. So, we ordered roti banjir and teh tarik. Well, in the roti banjir u get roti canai "flooded" with curry, some sambal and two half-boiled eggs.

Surprisingly, this breakfast only cost us only RM5 per person!

This is really cheap and the portion is enough for a person as breakfast, so I do recommend this if you don't mind the place is a little bit tough to find.

The taste? Way to say, it's too good to mix eggs in roti canai and sambal too haha.

Our next destination is out of KL and we visited Batu Caves.

This is a tourist destination that is accessible through KTM Komuter, but you have to be patient while waiting the train because it is not the same system as LRT or MRT.

And here we are, Batu Caves! Of course, that's not it, you have to prepare yourselves again for more muscle works, by climbing the stairs to reach the Hindu temple in the cave.

Welp, just see at the stairs, it is not easy to climb, as you got 272 steps to reach the top haha.

Mind that the steps are steep, and there are monkeys too, so good luck to you guys.

Here we are, after reaching the top, a close look at the roof of the cave.

Phew, it's really high up here, but worth the climb.

Then, we decided to go south to Putrajaya. This time, it is not easy to reach.

First, we have to travel to Bandar Tasik Selatan by KTM, and then took KLIA Transit to Putrajaya.

Fyi the train fee is not really cheap so take not of that. After reaching Putrajaya Sentral, you can either take the bus or Uber to the main location, or the most iconic Masjid Putra, in specific.

After a long ride, we finally reached Putrajaya! Look the bridge there, it's Seri Wawasan Bridge.

Well, to be honest, Putrajaya is an administration city, so basically you can find every department here.

But mostly, tourists only focus on Masjid Putra, Dataran Putra and Prime Minister Office.

Masjid Putra.

Hey I'm here haha.

Returning to KL, we had our dinner at Seng Kee near Petaling Street, to have 瓦煲老鼠粉, also recommended by Internet.

Oh wow the taste is really good and authentic, and the aroma couldn't be forgotten forover.

Yup, this is another dish we ordered, it's like wantan mee topped with 烧肉.

The night visit went on to Merdeka Square, however the place is closed at night due to set up for the National Day, but we still can access just don't mess up with the workers there haha.

Ya it's quite weird but anyway it's still beautiful to take the photos at night.

After that, we went to NU Sentral to have a short walk.

17/8/2017 (Thursday)

So, the last day in KL. We planned to make KL Tower as our final stop. Well, before that, we went to Kin Kin Restaurant to have the authentic chili Pan Mee, which is located near to Sultan Ismail LRT station.

Honestly, I couldn't eat spicy food but actually you have to add the chili by yourself, so I added a suitable amount for me and the taste did taste good too.

Anyway, you can order an additional soup with fishballs.

So, here we are, KL Tower! Honestly, it is very tired to climb up the hill before reaching the base of the tower.

A very useful advice: Take the free shuttle provided or else you will be very tired and sweaty reaching there, and don't be stupid like us lol. (Get what I mean?)

Since we are here, why don't we visit the observation deck?

Yupe, you have to pay RM32, which is a bit expensive, but worth the view from there.

You could see the scenery of KL in 360 degrees, including the neighbouring Petronas Twin Towers!

At least, we took a good rest before going down back.

After that, we packed our baggage and left the hotel to KL Sentral.

This time, we made it right by buying the right ticket to KLIA 2.

Our flight scheduled to depart at 8.15pm but delayed for 3 hours to 11:15pm!!!

This made us waited there, well to be honest I never experienced such a long delay before.

But hey, at least I reached home the next day, midnight lol.

And that made our KL trip came to an end.

So let's see the expenses here (per person):

Day 1

Return Flight Ticket (PEN ⇆ KUL) - RM155 (Promotion rate)

Hotel - RM78

Bus to Bandar Tasik Selatan - RM11

LRT to Plaza Rakyat - RM1.50

Dinner at Kim Lian Kee - RM16.50

Ice cream at FamilyMart - RM2.90

LRT to KLCC - RM1

Bought a sweet - RM2.45

LRT back to Petaling Street - RM1

Soya at Petaling Street - RM1.70

Day 2

LRT to Pudu - RM0.60

Breakfast - RM9.05

LRT to KLCC - RM1.30

PetroSains + Driving Simulation - RM18

Mineral water - RM0.75

Rocku Yakiniku - RM58.20

Buying stuffs at KLCC - RM5.20

LRT back to Petaling Street - RM1

Longan drink at Petaling Street - RM2

Day 3

Breakfast (Roti banjir) - RM5

KTM to Batu Caves - RM2.30

Toilet - RM0.30

KTM to Bandar Tasik Selatan - RM3.80

KLIA Transit to Putrajaya Sentral - RM8

Uber to Masjid Putra - RM4

Bus back to Putajaya Sentral - RM1

KLIA Transit back to Bandar Tasik Selatan - RM8

LRT to Plaza Rakyat - RM1.50

Dinner (瓦煲老鼠粉) - RM15.50

LRT to KL Sentral (Visiting NU Sentral) - RM0.80

LRT back to Petaling Street - RM0.60

Buying stuffs at 7-Eleven - RM10.30

Day 4

LRT to Sultan Ismail - RM0.70

Chili Pan Mee Brunch - RM13

Monorail to KL Tower - RM0.70

Coca-cola drink - RM3.05

Observation Deck on KL Tower - RM32

Free Bus back to Sultan Ismail - FREE

LRT back to Plaza Rakyat - RM1

Longan drink at Petaling Street - RM2.50

LRT to KL Sentral - RM0.60

Buying stuffs at NU Sentral - RM5.80

SkyBus to KLIA 2 - RM12

Total = RM499.60

*If you see some weird values, like 5 sens, it's because we shared the price half.

SEE!? It's really under RM500! That's how we made it!

Well of cuz' the train fees especially LRT are cheap because the prices are halved in conjunction to The National Day.

So basically, traveling smart will make you earn the most and a valuable trip.

That's the end of this long post. See you soon.

Bye!