Episode 2 -The 2 days Journey

The journey to Thailand was what makes the team closer with each other. Chats and the card games made the 22 hours seem so short. Aside from that, we prepared the things bought in Malaysia for the kids. This episode tells the long 2 days journey from Butterworth to Bangkok, and continue on to Chiang Rai.

While making the cards for the kids, Aaron remembered us (or he saje said it) with a Confucius saying:
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
For our case… the 1st step of our thousand miles is to know one another. I really enjoyed the trip with the team!! Thanks you guys...

I hope you enjoy the episode!! Happy New Year!

* The narration sucks-lah... and mind the language also... hehehehe.. so sorry.. :)

Episode 1 - Preparations Expectations Feelings

Preparations Expectations Feelings: For me, the mixture of excitement and fear clouded my mind before leaving Butterworth to Chiang Rai. Excited about the adventure, fun, meeting people, and the Rotaracters themselves; fear about what danger may come (FYI, I'm not insured for the trip, but Josh is... so a bit relieved-lah.. he'll test all the dangerous rides and places first, before we jump in... kikikiki.. no offence bro) and fear about the fact that I'll be jobless after the trip (that's another story to tell).
Anyhow.. This episode unveils the individual Rotaracter’s preparation, expectations, and feelings. Despite the funny mix of expectations and feelings, deep in each of the participant’s heart there is a common understanding which kept everyone together: Service Above Self. Enjoy the episode...

* The narration sucks-lah... hehehehe.. so sorry.. :)
** I'll try to keep the episodes between 4 - 5 mins. because of the size and quality if it is too large. [db(c) production]

Friendship forged during the trip...

We were really fortunate to have travelled to Thailand as Rotaractors...

I think despite of all the cheap bargains we got from all the night markets, china town and so on... 1 thing we earn from this trip that no other travelling agency is able to provide is FRIENDSHIP...

Firstly, friendship among ourself... For me personally, I wouldn't have known all 9 rotaractors and 2 advisors from RACUTP better if not for this trip. Especially Ashley, Kee Hui, Bismo, and Mr. Zul who joined us rotaracting for the first time. It's fun and interesting to know the funny and crazy character of Ashley. I can't forget how one time she was acting out a mime all by herself on the main street in front of MFLU. She was describing the scenario: What would happen at home if Kee Hui were to go CARI MAKAN in future? It was really creative. It's also very interesting to get to know Mr. Zul as a friend, he can be the funniest poser in the group. wait wait... let me upload some example..

Other than getting to know members from RACUTP better, we also get a chance to meet students and rotaractors from Thailand, both in Chiang Rai and Bangkok. If we have not travelled to Thailand as Rotaractors, we wouldn't have met such wonderful people. I would like to express my thanks to Rotaractors in Bangkok; despite having their exams, they still came early in the morning and meet up with us and brought us to the hotel... of course not forgetting the fact that they are so kind to help Rotarian to carry his luggage. On another occasion in Chiang Rai, Jared (an American student studying in MFLU) was so nice to have invited us to his house for a Barbeque Party.

For the rest of the trip in Thailand, we pretty much get to know each other better. Getting chance to spend time together in the train and behind the truck makes a lot of difference in this trip i think. If not for all the time we have from the travelling, we wouldn't have much time to share our thoughts and experiences with each other. I hope after the trip, everyone will continue to keep in touch. For those of you that are graduate (Bismo and Qi Hua), good luck in your future endeavour and remember to keep in touch with us and keep urself updated with the club's activities. And for those still in UTP ... Keep rotaracting...

I think this is another good reason for joining Rotaract... :)

Trailer : Thailand International Understanding Trip 2007

This is a Trailer of our trip to Thailand; the episodes will be out on late January 2008. I apologize about the quality, as I have to compress it for viewing purpose via the blog. Hope it can give a glimpse of our trip. Enjoy!!

Thailand Baby Part 2~

Post dated on 8 Dec 07

We visited Mae Fah Luang University yesterday and guess what? We gotten an invitation to a private party hosted by this American student, Jay! So off we went to the party, despite we need to wake up at 6.30am to leave to another community service event the next day! We brought some drinks and Coke.. and the Thai girls made bbq food.. damn sedap yo…

Then this morning.. Kul and me woke up damn early la.. Kul - 6.30am, me - 7am. We had a damn fast shower, den cepat2 dressed up… opened the door.. we saw the guys r still sleeping. SLEEPING! Mmmmm. Oka-ay. Kul went back to sleep, while I packed my things. Den later at 8.45am, Josh woke up and came to our room. APPARENTLY, there was a change of plans… 7am became 3pm.. no wonder everyone still zzz-ing… den we just chit-chatted for another hour and that’s when everyone woke up. Hah. Luckily today got hot water and I made my Chek Hup (yesh, i brot it to Thailand ) so now i’m pretty much awake..

Sidetrack a little, one thing I reli can’t stand is the food here. Everything here is pork, Pork, PORK! They mix and mince everything here.. including the tendons, ligamens, and sometimes bones! The only pork dishes I could eat here is the ones cooked by Kong’s aunt. My fav dish here is her kiam chai with pork.. Damn nice lehh.. mebe its cuz i like salty salty stuff..
Ok lah.. gotta go.. Time’s almost up.. Will update again later~

Prepare yourself to meet the MAHAs (Thai 101)

Tommorrow we're gonna meet students from the local university (MAHAs); some thai phases to remeber:

Thank You
(male) Kop Kung Krab
(female) Kop Kun Ka

Hello
(male) Sawadi Krab
(female) Sawadi Ka

What is your name?
Che A Rai

Pretty
Suai

Handsome
Lo

But the most important thing is... always smile!!!

As the saying goes:
"A smile is an inexpensive way to change your looks."
~Charles Gordy

first official visit - mae fah luang university

basically no speech was prepared for tomorrow visit, plan to do it spontaneously.... sigh....

anyway, not the first time i did it spontaneously.... well i jus plan to introduce all the members including mr zul, then talk abit about rotaract club.... then credit to the head of international affair division, ms kajeemas, gift and nung... then pass the souvenir to them before go for campus tour....

hopefully i don screw anything... or should i let joshua or mr zul to give the speech??? hahaha... maybe i should do so.... lol

banner.... funny.....

some of u might notice there is an error in the banner design.....


do u know????



yeah.....




it's written there " 4th December - 14th December 4007"!!!!!!!



Hahahahaha.... i jus noticed it this morning 6th Dec.... but before that everyone has seen it, but no one comment bout it... lol

however it has been fixed, we jus covered "40" with blank A4 paper...

(how come rotarian arthur nvr notice it???)

Thailand baby!

After the train trip from Butterworth to Bangkok... a total journey of 19 hours (4pm-11am) and then another 12 hours (6.45pm - 7am) Chiang Rai...

Well, WE'RE IN THAILAND BABY!! Wooo hoooo!

******
On the day before trip
Kul: I'm gonna wash my hair in the train lah.
Me: Hmm. (Waiting for her to make it a joke)
Kul: -quiet-
Me: Ohhhhhh. So u r not joking laa!
Kul: Ha? Train got no shower rooms??? Toilet lehh??
Me and Bismo: Hahahhahaah
*******

Sorry Kul, just have to post this conversation. Still damn funny. :P

Well the first thing we did when we reach Chiang Rai is... MANDI! Hahaha... Kong put us up in his aunt's place and there is hot water for us to shower!!!! One scary part is the hot shower is powered by liquidified petroleum gas! (Imagine if explode @_@) Since Josh was the only one who actually bought insurance, he went to mandi first. Heheh. He'll be first to try alot of things out. (The insurance package covers quite a lot u know.. not worth it if we don't use it :P)

At 5pm just now, Mr Zul, our RACUTP advisor reached Chiang Rai safely! It is not very easy to find halal food in Chiang Rai but we managed to do so for him and Chester :D I'm hoping to taste tomyam here.. but so far takder oso... :( They have the weird weird meatball soup la... me no likey :(

Ok lahh.. gotta logoff.. Wanna go checkout the roti canai outside... i bet everyone will gain weight after we go bek.. we eat eat eat so much nee.... Btw, onlining here is damn cheap oso... 1 hour = 12 baht! Wowie!

Be back soon~~ see yah!

Finally in Chiang Rai, Thailand.... (Part 1)

Well, let me see where to begin... everthing is kinda messed up now in my head as quite a few events has taken place in the past few days. I've even lost track of both time and day.. guess this marks the beginning of the holidays for me as usual.

Prior to our trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand which was due on the 4th of December, Joshua and Chester put up a night at my house... as this makes catching the 8am bus the next day a much possible feat to achieve. However... (with Joshua around... there's always something bound to happen) the night Joshua and Chester came down to Ipoh along with a couple of friends... We, as a group (Not nice to blame everything on Joshua lah :P) decided to have a couple of drinks at this place called the Breeze Cafe, some where near the Ritz Hotel in Ipoh. We were fortunate to be joined by Rotarian Arthur too for this so called drinking session. we left the place around 1am.. Can't wait to get home to my nice bed and recharge for the next day... however (again)... upon reaching home, the 3 of us began chit chatting and telling great grandmother stories till around 4am... till we dozed off to sleep.

On the morning of our bus departure form Medan Gopeng, Ipoh to Butterworth and guess who was the last one to get ready and gave us just 15 mins to get from my house in old Ipoh Garden to the bus station... yeeeeappp... it was Chester (Guess he was putting up some makeup or something). Thanks to my dad who drove, accompanied by my mum, we managed to reached the bus station at 8am sharp!! Taking some safety precautions before we arrived, Joshua has actually requested Rotarian Arthur who was there to see us off, to stop the bus at all cost till we arrive:) Lucky for us, we managed to catch the bus and was amazed to notice the bus was still quite vacant. The bus finally left at 8.30am.... and this marked the beginning of our trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand!!!

2 hours later on a very bumpy bus ride and we finally made it to Butterworth bus station.. and just walking distance from the train station. After taking a breather as i alighted the bus... just to rearrange my mis placed organs due to the bus ride... we got our bearings right and headed to the train station where we met up with Kong, his sister and cousin who were already there waiting since 5am. Being there early and had nothing to do, we decided to explore the place a lil bit... till our train departure at 2.30pm.

Thru the Ice of Cool *Thailand* part 1

Thailand... the land of smiles.... and of smelly UTP-ians. Due to our very long journey to Chiang Rai we only took a shower after 2 days. The only reason we did not complain of BO was simply because we all just smelled as bad :(. The 12 hour bus ride from Bangkok to Chiang Rai was superb. It costs RM66 and the package came with super comfortable seats, a really thin yet warm blanket, a neck rest and the food: orange juice, a bottle of mineral water, a bun and a cupcake, chips and also the wet towel when we stop. We took a break at 12 midnight and we can redeem food or a drink from our bus ticket!! Not bad huh... Oh during the bus ride, we also watched Nicolas Cage speaking Thai! The whole movie was dubbed in thai and bismo and chester had us in stiches making up their own conversation. I am absolutely impressed with the bus service, have not came across such services in Malaysia.

Coming here has made us constantly hungry. We all keep eating and eating and .... EATING!!! I am pretty sure i will put on a few pounds (i really really hope so) by the end of the 10 days. Everything is pork based and while that's not exactly an issue with me, the pork here tastes a lil ... weird. Its got this really porky smell and in their minced meat, its not only pork meat but also the bones and other organs (i grimace with the thought of what organ parts are in there). I was kinda prepared for this already, experienced this on my trip to Cambodia in May so i came extra prepared. I brought along instant soup and mashed potatoes to help me overcome the possible jelak-ness of eating tom yam or pork. Plus its so easy to make them, just add hot water, mix and voila.... i have yummylicious food :). Which would explain how come the thinnest person in the group came with the largest bag. I'm also the pharmist of the group, the only one who brought all sorts of medication: cough, sorethroat, fever, vomiting, food poisoning, diarrhea. And also the unofficial camerawoman. Oh, the amount of poser shots are unbelieable. Leave it up to QH (sorry dear) and the rest to come up with funny japanese poses etc. Kong 2 (Kong's younger sister, Kong Chai Sin, but fondly refered to as Kong 2) helps with the group photos (takkan i'm not in there rite..).

There are some things you could do but dont do in your own country. Here, we had our own piece of ... adventures. While waiting for our bus to chiang rai (we had a 7 hour wait at the bus terminal) we got a hairwash each from the nearby salon which costs a neat RM6 only :). Play cho-tai-tee, bluff, gimrammy etc. We went to Tesco today and guess wat we did while waiting for Kong's aunt's car from the car wash.... KARAOKE!!! Yup, we had to squeeze in a freaking small 12x12 space. Sang 6 songs for a mere RM0.50 per person! Sang our hearts out, not only in the karaoke but also at the back of the truck where we sit.

For more adventure and misadventure stories (my innocence of train rides... refer to qi hua's post) do read what the rest hv to write. Will be back soon... now we'll be off for a supper of roti canai (yup, they hv that here too ). till then, take care everyone :)

2 Nights On the Road...

On Monday, me and Chester put a night in Aaron's house after hanging out in the Breeze Cafe in Ipoh. It was a tiring day cos i travelled twice to Ipoh on that day itself. First was to do something in the bank and visit Rtn. Arthur before the trip. And the second one was to meet Aaron so he can bring us to his house.

Of course, as a Rotaractor under the advise of Rtn. Arthur, we will have our usual yum cha session. After the yum cha, we are all tired d. We were home at about 2am. Aaron's mum was not sleeping yet. She's a very nice host. She made sure Aaron taught us how to use the hot shower and asked him to prepare drinks for us if we wan. Anyway, 3 of us had some heart-to-heart talk that night...

OK... get back to the main topic. Which is 2 nights on the road. Our journey actually started since tuesday morning at 8am. We were rushing to the bus station as Chester was the last one bathing and we didnt know it takes so long. hahaha...

Luckily, we were in the bus station on time and the bus was late. The bus only started the journey at about 8:30am instead of the 8am bus ticket we bought one day before. The ride was like a roller coaster.... typically. We were almost vomitting at the back of the bus. and despite the fact that we only slept like 2 hours, we cant sleep at all. The funniest part is that we keep looking at each other and smile. Probably is the excitement in us keeping us alive from the bus ride.

we arrive Butterworth at bout 10:30am and Kong was already there... Waited for a while till lunch time. We went to the so called megamall in Butterworth, PACIFIC... had MdDonalds there as our lunch. And when we arrive back at the train station, Shea Teng and Kee Hui is already there. Just a litttle while later, Kul, Q Hua, and Bismo joined us.

We took some pictures in the train station. Too bad it's not with us now. Din plan to come to Cyber at first.. hehe. We board the train at about 3pm. the train was suppose to arrive at 2:30pm.. Ok... this is the Asian culture i guess... Initially in the train, we didnt know wat to do. So some of us started playing cards, some pak toh pak toh there, some sitting there doing nothing. then there come a time when we started doing the bookmarks we planned to do for the kids. Everyone got involved in the making of the bookmarks. It was really cool to see all of us working for the same purpose and i guess everyone was doing it without having any complains. The train journey was a nice experience.

We arrived at Bangkok at bout 12pm Malaysian time which is 11am Thailand time. At first, we thought that we would be received by the rotaractors in Thailand. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, they couldn't received us on that day. So we went to the mor Chit Bus station to get tickets to Chiang Rai, which is the main venue for our Trip this time. We have to wait for more than 6 hours for the first bus to Chiang Rai. So we had our lunch at the bus station and did the things we wanted... one thing very funny is that ... all of us went to wash our hair in this small saloon in the market. ALL OF US... WASH HAIR IN A SMALL SALOON...

Of course, we went separately cos we have to take care of the luggages. While taking care of the luggages, we played card games again. and there goes our time. At about 6pm, because that day was the King's birthday, the national TV was playing the national Anthem, to our suprise, all activities stopped and everyone stand up to respect the national anthem.

At 6:45pm Thailand time, we started our journey from Bangkok to Chiang Rai... The experience in the bus was amazing. U just feel that all you've paid for it is all worth it. This is the second night we spend our night on the road.... We arrived in Chiang Rai at 7am on Thursday....

everyone is on the move....

3rd Dec 2007, 7.16pm....

joshua, aaron and chester will be leaving to butterworth tomorrow morning at 8am...

kulvinder already in penang since 6.00pm and qihua pick her up...

bismo, kee hui and sheateng already in penang

me myself will be taking the bus tonight at 9.00pm, will be arriving at 5am in the morning...

i am still think what should i do from 5am till 2.00pm before board on the train... hahaha.. street performing? lolz....

Cant wait to see everyone tomorrow morning... and i have alot of works for them to do....

stickers, stickers, stickers.....

these are the stickers which will be pasted in every pencil box for the 400 kids !!!

total 480 stickers :D

souvenirs for 400 kids in chiang rai, thailand

1st december 2007....

i went to mydin emporium in kuala terengganu to shop some souvenirs for the community service acivities in chiangrai later... it is the biggest mydin emporium in the east coast of peninsular malaysia as it was claimed to be.

check this picture out

front view of the trolley with full of stuffs

side view of the trolley with full of stuffs

there are 408 pencil boxes, 864 pencils, 400 erasers, 432 sharpeners, and 432 rulers in total...

so each pencil box will has 2 pencils, 1 eraser, 1 ruler and 1 sharpener...

400 kids from cammilian social centre and childlife maesai will be getting these souvenirs!!!!!

best compliment from racutp... yeah!

chiang rai trip banner in the process of printing now...

as u know my designing skill is at beginner level.. so i also came out with this simple banner design... not bad right???

the first design was designed 4 hours before i m leaving to my hometown with my fren, wee lee.. it was designed with the dimension of 200cm x 80 cm at resolution of 72 pixels/inch... so i passed the design to rtr. joshua to send it to printing company..

during my journey back home, rtr. joshua gave me a call and said the banner cannot be printed because it does't compatible with the printer... Arrrgggghhhhh...... he said it has to be 96' x 36' at resolution above 200 pixels/inch....

the next morning, i installed macromedia fireworks mx 2004 into my sister's compaq laptop after i downloaded the trial version software from http://www.adobe.com/...

final result: i jus manage to come out with the exact dimension but the resolution has to be 104 pixels/inch... well at least the printing company dont have to stretch my banner design... and all they need to do to print out.. garbages in, garbages out... hahaha.... i immediately sent the design to rtr. joshua on saturday afternoon..

on the same day, i got to know that my roomate, choon sent the banner design to the printing company on behalf of rtr. joshua...

the banner will be ready on 3rd january, monday morning.....

train ticket as long as the train...

on 10th november, i and rtr. aaron went to ipoh railway station to get the train tickets for Butterworth-Bangkok...

we arrived at around 4.30pm after we went to batu gajah railway station which do not have any ticket booth at all...

we have to wait for an hour for the ticket booth in Ipoh Railway Station to open..

luckily there is still plenty ticket left because on the 5th dec is thai's king birthday, so we thought that it would be no more tickets....

anyway, mission accomplished - getting the 11 train tickets :P

check this out - chiang rai trip itinerary

4/12/07: Depart from Butterworth to Bangkok

5/12/07: Depart from Bangkok to Chiang Rai

6/12/07: Town Visit in Chiang Rai Province

7/12/07: Mae Fah Luang University Visit, Evening Elephant Riding at Ankha Village

8/12/07: Cammillian Social Centre - Community Service, Karen's long neck Village

9/12/07: Childlife Maesai - Community Service, Maesai and Golden Triangle

10/12/07: Teaching English in Village School, Doi Tung and Royal Villa. Depart to Bangkok

11/12/07: Visit to Rotaract Club of Chulalongkorn University

12/12/07: Siam Paragon, MBK Mall and Siam Square

13/12/07: Depart from Bangkok Railway Station to Butterworth

*As for now, most of the schedule has been fixed... any changes, i will update you guys :)

participant list is out....

Here is the list of confirmed participants:

1. Rtr. Kong - IS trip project director
2. Rtr. Chester - assistant IS trp project director
3. Rtn. Arthur Yeong - racutp's rotarian advisor
4. Mr. Zulkarnan - racutp's club advisor
5. Rtr. Joshua Ng - president of racutp
6. Rtr. Kulvinder - former acting president 2005/2006
7. Rtr. Lim Qihua - former treasurer 2005/2006
8. Rtr. Bismo - member
9. Rtr. Shea Teng - member
10. Rtr. Ong Kee Hui - member
11. Rtr. Aaron Ang - member

chiang rai trip poster!!

Hey guys and girls... i have done this poster quite sometimes ago... Yes, i know it is a simple-and-plain-poster but all the important contents are there!! Feel like joining this trip right?? :P

introduction

International Service Avenue is the one of the departments in Rotaract Club of Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS functions as a boat of humanity in the ocean of evolution. The objective of international service is to get people together to match resources and needs worldwide, so that goodwill is translated into serving the needs of the mankind particularly the underprivileged children and the poor.

In RACUTP, we have carried out two international services to Pune, India in 2004 and Singapore in 2005.

This year 2007, we would like to create another history in our club milestone by organizing the international trip to Chiang Rai, Thailand. IS Avenue will update this blog from time to time from the pre-trip until the post-trip of Chiang Rai Trip 2007