My Engrand vely powderful ah part 5

I can't imagine that it's 930am in Melbourne and 730am in Malaysian as I write this. I'm so used to being 2 hours ahead of Malaysian time. Plus, I'm not used to the thought that I'm kind of "behind" Malaysian time! It has been an awfully tiring day in London. The one thing that I've experienced the most here, is the hearing of sirens. Ambulances, fire engines, police cars. It's almost 1 siren every hour! Today I travelled to Buckinham Palace to have tea with Her Royal Highness. Hehehe. The place was packed and congested with people who had come from everywhere. It was nice to just stand in front on the palace gates and appreciate its beauty and to also appreciate the fact that I am actually standing at the gates of Buckingham Palace. It's really nice being here. After hearing so much about the UK, and about England (not Engrand, hehe) it's really nice to finally be here! As such, I always say, who knows what tomorrow brings?! In early July I never would've expected that I'd be here in August! I also got to see No. 10 Downing St. But there was no sight of David Cameron. I mean seriously, most of the time we see all these on TV or read about them in books and such. I was also the unofficial photographer for quite a number of people for I stood at the gates for a rather long time. So they went, excuse me, could you help me take a picture? Until the end I jokingly told a group of girls that I charge 5 pounds per pic! And of course I too needed some help from others! I then just walked around St. James Park. The highlight of the day was seeing the change of guards at of the imperial guards! And I got to see it twice! Really interesting to see these event live. Also, I seriously feel that London can be toured on foot, provided one likes to walk! I finally met Jye Horng today in London. It was nice meeting up. It's even nicer, the thought of him actually travelling all the way up to meet me. I finally met Soon Lock's wife, Chia Ye and I must say they make quite a great couple! Hehehe. Finally I had Chinese food, YES, I know, eating Chinese food in the UK. Well, we were in Chinatown, so what else to eat better than Chinese food. Not too bad I must add. Hehehe. Speaking about food, the best thing about living in his place is that he lives above a fried chicken shop. Literally! Seriously! And I go to bed smelling the delicious aroma of fried chicken, and I also awake smelling it! What else can you ask for?! Hahahaha. So what's on tomorrow? Seriously, I know I'm going to begin the tour with the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace. Then who knows what tomorrow brings eh?

My Engrand vely powder ah part 4

Although my Engrand is quite powderful, I still find it a bit difficult to understand the Brit accent. And I do know that there are also all sorts of different accents depending on which part of the UK you come from. I'm currently back in London, having brownies for breakfast. I actually bought them for dinner that I can have at the bus station in Oxford whilst awaiting for the bus. But, along the way I saw a shop selling pizzas for 4 pounds. So the brownies were forgotten! The pizza was good, I had one which was some African styled one, then name I had of course forgotten!

Oxford to me wasn't as nice as Cambridge. I just felt that the place was too congested and that there wasn't much space to move about. It was basically "Sydney" while Cambridge to me was "Melbourne"! Hope that sums it up! I just toured Oxford by foot. I took the map of the tour bus and followed the route by foot. Tagging along my luggages! I did manage to follow most of it, but was a bit disappointed for many colleges were actually closed. So in the end I decided to go on a walking tour that explored 2 colleges, Trinity and New Chapel College, where parts of the Harry Potter film was filmed. The tour was really good, informative and insightful. It costs around 7 pounds but we entered 2 colleges. Plus I got to visit the "old" site where Oxford was originally located. I'll be meeting up with Jye Horng today, who'll be making the trip up from Wolverhampton to see me! Woooohooooooo! I arrived in London last night at around 8pm. The bus ride wasn't so bad. I guess just passed out most of the way. I then met Soon Lock here. Of course there was so much confusion, cause there were 2 Marks and Spencer, which was our meetin point. I had 10 chicken wings for dinner. And after that I really just knocked off!

After breakfast, I'll be making my way to Buckingham Palace to see the change of guards. Might pay homage to the queen. Hehehe. I'm doing my own itinerary of where to go all la. No pressure tours. Just want to be free and easy and do whatever I can! OK, I shall be posting my pics on FB from now on.

My Engrand vely powderful ah Part 4

I woke up and went back to sleep numerous times today. The weather was just too conducive for sleeping. The keyword for today is, water. Most of everything I've done has something to do with water. When I woke up, it was raining. Then I went out in the rain. Or rather went back to sleep numerous times and awoke again and again. Finally, at 11ish I decided to get out of bed. Went to visit the conference location for a while before heading out to the city again. Rain. So I decided to drop by a gift shop to buy a cap, which was priced at 3.99P which someone else bought for 9.99. Of course I won't tell her la. Hehehe. And of course, after that, the rain stopped. So I proceeded to walk down the street and went to King's College. The place was simply magnificent. The pics I shall upload onto FB. I'm just too tired to describe each picture as it is! But seriously, it was one of the nicest places to be. It was very peaceful and serene. A good place for thinking and for ideas to develop. Then the rain came and went and came and went. Then I proceeded further down the street and went to a museum. Can't remember the name but it was incredible. I managed to see paintings from the 14th century onwards, a Bible from the 9th century, weapons from the 14th century onwards and a full metal iron casted Knight on a horse. Man, it certainly looked intimidating! The highlight of the day was ironically, meeting a former British soldier who said that he served in Malaya during the Communist Emergency. Ironically, in a museum! I managed to chat a while with him and shook his hand, telling him that it was an honour to meet him. 2 hours wasn't enough to cover the museum, so I then decided to make one last round in Cambridge city before leaving tomorrow. Finally went punting! It was nice and really relaxing. Would've appreciated the punter's commentary more, for there was a man who was speaking more about his experience in Cambridge, and was trying to challenge her knowledge on Cambridge! I was like, diam la woi! Bising je...But of course he wouldn't have understood so I also kept quiet la. Alas, I had fish and chips for dinner! With a pint of ale to wash it down. Top class! Tomorrow I shall be travelling to Oxford and then meeting Soon Lock, whom I've not met for a good 10 years in London! Need to catch the 7am bus tmrw to Oxford, so gonna crash now. Gd nite!

"Inside King's College"

"Outside King's College"

"In the courtyard"

"After punting"

"Finally, some original fish and chips"

My Engrand vely powderful ah Day 3

Today's actually day 4. I just went out flat last night after my bath. I tried to stall the bath as long as I could so that I won't want to go to bed. But after the bath, I was out cold. Till 4.30am. Yesterday was just a whole day tour of Cambridge. It was really nice walking the streets and experiencing the old city. I touched the walls just to have a feel of the "oldness" of the place. I swear I had a sniff of Chow Mein yesterday morning after I had my breakfast. Maybe I'm starting to miss Malaysia. Again, the subject matter of a Chinese dinner was brought up. We even went into a Chinese restaurant, had the menus etc. Decided on what to eat. Then left. Hahaha. Well, this was due to 2 reasons. 1. We felt that it wasn't worth eating Chinese all the way here, plus after converting it's darn expensive. 2. The service sucked! So we went over the SNUG, and had somemore Brit pub food. Which was pretty good. I had a free pint on the house, Hehehehe...guess I should stay back in the UK then! It's really cold outside now. I just feel like snuggling in bed the whole day and not doing anything. But I can always do that when I'm back in Seremban or in Melbourne. I'll tour Cambridge again one more time, and then leave for Oxford tomorrow. I wanted to go today, but then the journey's 3 hrs 30 mins each way! So I might as well go tomorrow, then from Oxford go to London. Check out some of the St. John's College pics I posted on FB. It was so magnificent. Words can't describe them! OK, stomach's a calling. This maybe my last breakfast in Cambridge!

"The pastries were just excellent. Usually I don't like pastries, but these were just darn good. And yes, I finished everything on those plates!"

"On top of the Sighing Bridge in St. John's College"

"Rum and raisin!"

"To preserve the structure of the building"


"On the streets"

"In a park, somewhere"

"Burger kerbau, good, but a bit burnt"

"Everyone's so tired! Only one person is showing his true emotions!"

My Engrand vely powderful ah Day 2

After waking up, at 4, I decided to go back to sleep! I did wake up with a cramp on my left calf, I think due to the lack of water and maybe because of the long flight. Of course, I can never sleep if there's light, not even a bit, or if there's noise! Then I woke again and again and again, and my alarm set for 735 only went off after I had taken my shower. Went for breakfast at the main dining hall, and was asked what was my purpose for being there? Aiyah, customs deja vu la! Hehehe. Actually it was cos there was some sort of summer camp for some kids there. So the lady was nice enough to help me jump queue, which I felt so bad for doing, as if I was bullying the kids! It was a pretty good breakfast, an English breakfast (AT LAST!) and it consisted of a whole buffet line of mushrooms, bacon, hash browns, deep fried french toast, red beans and so many others. Of course there were fruits which of course I didnt take la. Hehehe. I had breakfast with Huan, or was it Kuan, a Malaysian who works in Kuwait. After breakfast I had my conference registration and called my mom just to tell her YOUR SON'S GOING TO PRESENT IN CAMBRIDGE. Hehehe. Oh I can't get enough of saying that. Hehehe. And I checked the list of participants. I'd say that 90% of them were lecturers. And doctors and professors. I went, I'm gonna die! And I even met an English knight, or a sir. A real Ah Sir I guess. Hehehe. He was almost 90 but still was actively writing! Hmmm I took a pic of him using my camera but I can't seem to locate the pic now. Oh well...

When I walked along the streets, I felt like as if Mr. Bean were to drive up in his yellow mini cooper, or that I'd meet Harry Potter at the next corner, or when I saw the cooks in the kitchen, I felt as if Ramsay was going to pop up out of no where and started shouting at everyone! The weather here is pretty gloomy, being at around 20 degrees, and it's summer! My presentation went pretty well, I had a very long Q&A session and it was pretty productive. At the end of it, I had this feedback from a Dr. from the USA. She said, Well done Adrian, your research is very good and interesting. Your presentation was good. It was brilliant! Very very very motivating words indeed!

After that I headed back to my room, met this couple from Tunisia, now living in France and the husband tried to help me with my internet. Aiyah, dont know why but I couldn't access the internet on the wireless. Now I can, cause a kind soul, whom I think was half drunk, gave me an ethernet cable for the room's internet! Before that I had a stroll around the city of Cambridge, checking out the old buildings. It was so lovely just being at the heart of it all. The buildings seem so old and the architecture is just splendid. The experiencing of seeing them with your own eyes, touching the surface of things with your hands, smelling the fresh air and just walking around this historic city was such a wonderful experience. At this moment I realised how much God loves me by giving me the opportunity to travel, meet new people, experience other cultures and just to be here!

For dinner, I had some sort of English ale beef pie for dinner washed down with warm ale, which I didn't really like! I explored Cambridge with 3 other lecturers...and Ezekiel! We met his dad here, Mr. Lotus, who served as a damn excellent guide. He really knows his way around here and there and could explain the history of the place, as if he's been living here for years! It was so good having him around to learn more about the place. Well, gotta sleep now. Still feeling rather jetlagged and my calf hurts plus I'm feeling the "after conference presentation" tiredness. Tomorrow we'll tour the city again and starting out tour at 10am. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep more. I still feeling a bit not used to the idea that I'm in the UK. Anyway, I'll take more pics then. I'll post all the pics I've taken onto Facebook.

"After wondering the whole night why the college was named Churchill, I finally saw the answer!"

"My very cosy and comfy bed."

"You too wouldn't have figured that the door opens to a wash basin right?! I think the housekeeping people left it open for me to see! Hehehe. They must've gone, this 3rd world fella! Hheheeh. I still don't know how to operate the shower. I did bathe la, that's the thing. I had to take a bath and not shower cos I don't know how to turn on the shower! But I did have a bath!"


"C'est moi!"

"Presenting my paper at Cambridge!"


"Taken in one of the many colleges in Cambridge. There's a total of 31 residential colleges here. This is one of them"

"At the entrance of the same college"

"Sorry la, still feeling very jet lagged!"

"This picture is for my dearly beloved parents"

"They really are everywhere aren't they?!Someone suggested Chinese/Malaysian food. Of course, it faced serious objections!"

"One of the 4 round churches in England"

"Dinner! I couldn't finish it!"

"Bought this for 1 pound! The man at the counter went, such a waste, the best player NEVER to play for England! I felt his pain, somehow! Hahahahaha"

My Engrand vely powderful ah Day 1

This IS REALLY HAPPENING! I am really so far away from home. The furthest I've every been. I'll try to recap as best I can, what had happened, from Malaysia till now, which is approximately 9pm plus. I've just had dinner a really warm pint of ale (not really to my liking!). I'll keep my writing short, so that more pics can be put up. Hence, less cheong hei-ness! I didn't take any pics for this blog. There'll be others in the next blogs.

Yesterday, I finally had my fishball noodles or as my lil sis says, FBN. After that was the drive to the airport, which took me around 30 mins from Seremban. Yes, I was F1-ing all the way there for I was afraid that the check in counter would be closed by then! But, although I've already done the webcheckin and just needed to do a baggage drop, it still took me around 20-30 mins to get checked in! So what's the difference then right? Plus the baggage drop counter was soooo long, I ended up lining up at the normal check in counter. OK, so after boarding the plane, Air Asia being Air Asia was delayed for around 15-20 mins. Reason, one piece of luggage was lost! More bout this later. Then we finally took off, and I felt, this is gonna be one roughtflight. I flew with my Macha, or brother in law. Yes I have a macha now! Hehehehe. And I had the honour and privilledge to sit beside, not one, but two aunties. AND their whole cohort of aunties! I think cohort sounds too few, maybe batallion?! And it was basically surround sound, DTS, dolby all the way la, if you get what I mean. So I just put on my headphones and went to sleep. With really loud music, I could still hear them chit chatting. Again, chit chatting seems too mild. It was as if they were in a pub! Hehehe. So, 13 hours left to go in the flight. I looked to my right, brother in law or BIL as lil sis calls him. Fast asleep!

So in the end, I decided to do my work. I out my notes and I noticed at the corner of my eyes, a set of eyes peeping at my work. The question came: Are you a doctor? I said, no I'm not. Then, why is there a signature by a Dr.? I replied, oh I'm going for a conference in Cambridge..And other questions like, Are you from Malaysia? Are you Malaysian? Are you really a Malaysian? Are you sure you're Malaysian? I said YES! I am Malaysian! I even showed her my passport and still she didn't believe. She said in Mandarin, after she somewhat managed to con me into admitting that I do know (a little bit of) Mandarin, you look like WAI GUO REN. I said, no I'm from Malaysian. WHERE? I said SEREMBAN...OH SOLOMON?! SOLOMON ISLANDS! NO WONDER YOU DON'T LOOK CHINESE! Still...13 hours left. Then are your parents Chinese la? Got girlfriend ah? Married ah? Working as what...So after politely speaking to them, I decided to sleep la. THEN, lunch. What is that you're eating? I watched a movie on my laptop...Can I watch with you? I said, oh no sound la...Nevermind, I see the pictures only...We aunties are very noisy right? And she asked me that 3-4 times! In between were singing sessions, food sharing, I'm not joking. Turn right, BIL sleeping! I don't know why my area became the "gathering space" where everywhere came over! One auntie even asked me to swap seats with her so she could be with her partners. I said no la, I'm also sitting with my friend la. Then she gave me that sad sad sad sad sad sad look. But I guess it would've have made a difference! Imagine the noise if the 3 of them sat together! So it was some sort of aunty fellowship going on la. There even was a priest involved, apparently they were going to Lourdes, Fatima etc.Then I decided to play Sudoku, then realised I had a partner playing with me! Hahahah.

Otherwise the flight was ok la. My very first long haul flight. I met 3 other Malaysians who were going to present there. And a baby...Ezekiel who I visited during my walks around the plane. In the end, I was so hungry for dinner, it was around 530pm UK time, and I had no idea where we were. And it was around 12-1am Malaysia. Lapar lah of course! So I kept asking in between for snacks etc. BIL was nice to buy some snacks for me. Then in the end, they served dinner. Fettucine, which I thought YES LA! But then when I opened, I went, surely not enough one. So I asked for RICE, nasi lemak, briyani, anything la! Then it was sold out. But the attendants were kind enough to go search for a packet of rice for me. But came back with...tadaaaaaa...another pack of fetuccine! So, BIL was kind enough to swap his nasi lemak with my extra pack of fetuccine. The attendants were really kind. The male attendant went, cari lah nasi untuk dia. Dia dah lama tunggu makan. Kesian tau...And then there was some "dispute" between him and another female attendant, who kept wanting to serve me. I could hear, you nak serve dia? you nak serve? HMMMMMM...I wonder why...Hehehe. Well, I would say that AA's service has indeed improved by leaps and bounds. So much better than the other that proclaims to win so many awards for hospitality! And they're getting prettier as well. The attendants were really pretty on the flight. Aiyah, don't ask BIL la, he just got married so of course he'll say his usual "Pretty meh? SO SO only la". If he says otherwise, ah kena la...

Arrival at the airport was OK. Not too long a line. I got asked questions like what's your purpose of visit. By the way, I made a new passport to replace my "terrorist looking photo" passport just in case I get denied entry! Another 4-5 questions and I was in ENGLAND! Upon arrival at the customs, it seemed rather relaxed la. I saw a couple "ta pao-ing" their nasi lemak from the plane. But I'm not sure if they managed to get it past customs. Bought a bottle of wine for Soon Lock for I'll be staying at his place, BUT I dropped the bottle and it kinda damaged the cover. Well I'm not much of a wine fan, but then what the heck la! Hehehe. Later BIL walked me to the train station, and before that I had my first taste of hostility! But, I won't talk bout it la, just that a lady was a bit unfriendly! Then I took the train to Cambridge, along with Ezekiel as well. Hehehe...Arrived and then took a cab, the journey was 8P. I almost went, what's P?! Hahaha. The taximan seemed a bit grumpy at first. But the he said, thank you I think nearly 5 times. So I had to campur campur the you're welcome, cheers mate, no worries...I was hoping for those black taxis, but instead rode in a van! Came to my room and serious knocked out. Till this morning! I was confused! It was around 8-9pm. So I asked BIL, I'm confused, should I be feeling sleepy or hungry for dinner now?!

Around (half) the world in (almost) 80 days

Tomorrow I will be the furthest away from home as I have ever possibly been. I will be travelling to the University of Cambridge to present a paper. No la, I didn't bribe my way through! Heheheh. I just submitted an abstract, for fun, to test if my work seems good enough for Cambridge standard. They said they'll reply in 2 weeks. I received mine in a few days! Hehehehe. Seems strange that I'm studying transnationalism for my thesis. I've been from Australia to Malaysia to Singapore to Malaysia now to UK and soon to another destination that shall be revealed in good time! So it's going to be moving across at least 3 different time zones and 3 different continents!

It's 3.10am now, and I'm still awake practising my presentation till perfect, well at least almost! It's just a few more hours till my flight. I've already done the webcheckin on Fri afternoon! Hahahaha. I checked the list of presenters. Professors! Doctors! And then here comes this Ph.D fella from Malaysia! Aduh, stressnyer! I hope I don't get grilled! It'll be my second conference sine coming back to Malaysia. Singapore's NUS conference was great. In many ways, it has given me a lot of hope, confidence and the bravery to dare to dream again! I have since adapted the motto, "Well, you never know what tomorrow brings! Seriously!"And I've really seen this happening in the past month! Seriously, Cambridge was a surprise. In truth, I'm supposed to be back in Melbourne at this moment! But see what tomorrow has brought me!

And I believe that life has been surprising me at every turn since! I've never laughed so hard for weeks as I had in Singapore. I learnt to love others again, for I learnt that others loved me too. I also realised how great an influence others play in my life, and I accept this positively by only being positive back towards them! Oh well, a lot has happened since, I got hurt and burned real badly, but I'm leaving it where it belongs, in the past! I've moved on la and I once wrote before, I'm a Leo and a Rooster, when I go down, I go down kicking and fighting till the end. And then I come up again. Even bigger and better! I live with no regrets and I don't regret whatever decision that I've made! Strangely, life seems bigger, better, more satisfying and more joyous eversince!

Well, it's been awhile since I've last written on this blog. It's also partly because I am not far from home at the moment, hence the silence! Yes, I am in Malaysia! But tomorrow my journey starts again, I'm just feeling so darn excited! I shall start trying to speak in a Brit accent-LAH! Hahahaha. I'm not sure if I have any pics of me at the moment. I'll try to "steal" some from FB.

"Right, this seems to be the most "professional" looking pic I've ever taken in my life la! I think!"


"Well, nobody told me to wear red ma! Hehehehe...The second newest edition to the family, Bryan Kua. Well, he's got a little sis now!"

"It was really nice meeting up with these ex-students, and Dr. Ooi P. Ramlee. Of course I remember all your names la. You'd really want me to name you here online?! Hehehe. Yalar, I know that I don't always, not it should be, always don't remember people's name on the first meeting, but when I remember, I never forget! Visiting Penang was great and made even greater when so many friends were inviting me for meals and above all, treating me! Yummmmmmmmmmmmm. Strangely enough, I didn't have one single bite of hawker food! Hahahahaha"

Next stop, Cambridge!!! I'll of course make a trip to this place...and sing out GLORY GLORY MAN UNITEDDDDDDDDDDD!!! (Eventhough there's no match going on at the moment and the squad's not even there! Hehehe)