Blog contest winner - Mark Cooper!

The winner of the "Filthy Students in a Foreign Country" blog contest is Mark Cooper, with a score of 100 points! This entitles Mark to 100MYR worth of goodies from Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown Market! Congratulations Mark!

Join in next time I disappear off for a year and write a blog about it, to stand a chance to win more prizes! (Joking Katie, I'm not disappearing off for a year :P)

Mark - I have posted the package, I have cut out the part of the parcel with your address, so there's just a picture of some stamps...

Moving out!

My placement has come to an end, and it is time to move out.

My entire life is pictured below, some new additions this year include the therapeutic pillow and walking stick. Thank you herniated disc!

Weekend in Singapore!

*I'm writing this on my phone, it's an iPhone and I don't know how to use it. Throughout the entry, I will be referencing photos, but I don't know if I know how to attach them... This should be interesting*

I've often been told that taking buses are a "green" way to travel. Carbon footprints are shared amongst all the other passengers and what not. Better than driving there, where the carbon footprint of the car crushes down on one lonely soul, causing an explosion of guilt and anxiety, which is shortly followed by disinterest in the awful state of planet Earth, entirely.

Back to my original point, which is greener? Bus or car? Normally, I would say a bus is greener, aligning my thoughts and opinions with what the peasants on the bus tell me. Ask me that question now, on this bus that I am on, and my answer may differ very slightly...

I was hoping to exchange stories with the usual crowd that frequent this route, but seeing as that is not possible, I thought I'd take a look at the films available.

I know I shouldn't complain when there's a 10" screen available for my entertainment, but check out the incredible stuff available!

Thank goodness, saved by "Phua Chu Kang". 94 mins long? Sweet, I have enough time to watch it 3. 6667 times, recurring of course.

Question (10 Points): Who is the actor that plays Phua Chu Kang?

Bonus Question (20 Points): If the bus driver has 1 Nasi Lemak, 2 cups of teh tarik and 1 fresh durian, what is the estimated duration of my bus journey? (Give your answer below to 1 decimal place. Units: hours)

Singapore! First few days of the holiday!

Sorry for not posting in a while, I was too busy being on holiday and generally being very lazy. Work has picked up quite a bit, as there is only 6 weeks left to finish my project! However, time to begin with a summary of my incredible holiday with Katie, my mother (Clara), step-father (Richard), and little sister (Sam)!

After a stressful week of work, it was finally time to pack the last few bits into my luggage. With my toothbrush, passport and body shop strawberry body butter (joking... or am I?) all packed away, I headed down a got the 5-6 hours bus down to Singapore. Arriving only hours before Katie's flight arrival time, I had little time to rid myself of the odour of Kuala Lumpur and this aura of stress and get myself set and ready in a holiday mood.

After counting large numbers of expat families and English businessmen in big suits with large bellies (no offence Pops!) returning to Singapore from London, Katie FINALLY finds her way to the baggage reclaim.

For Katie's first day in Singapore we had an incredible dim sum lunch with my father (Pops/Pop/ Dadu/Daddy/ Le Grand Fromage/ Mike) and my step mother (PBAT, just PBAT... Tish is okay, but definitely not Pat). Katie got to eat lots of yummy chinese food in one of Singapore's finest Cantonese restaurants, Wah Lok Cantonese Restaurants. After that we spent the afternoon at my dear friend jerry's poolside, where we had a BBQ. I would have had the BBQ at home, but his pool is just amazing (should have kept those Riverside units, the pool is amazing Pops).

This is just one small section, it winds back round to a massive lap pool!

Us boys setting up the BBQ, no girls allowed near the fire! (Yes, that is Jasper, yes he is freakishly tall)

I was failing miserably with chopsticks, and that posture doesn't look good for my bad back...

After this first day in Singapore we then set off to Myanmar! I have never been there, and have been looking forward to going for quite some time!

We needed some breakfast before leaving!
Question (10 Points): This toast has a coconut spread that is very popular in  South East Asia.
What is the name of the coconut spread? (Coconut Jam will get you no points)

I will continue to post more entries about the rest of the holiday, when I have time, or when I am less lazy!

Malaysian Tea/Coffee Break

Does anyone know what either of these are? I'm on a tea break and this was provided, just about to see how it tastes.

Question (10 Points): What are the two snacks on the plate?

My return to Hong Kong!

This Chinese New Year I finally got to return to Hong Kong to see my family. It was the first time being there for CNY since my gap year I think, which was 3 years ago! I'm so old.

While I was there I finally got to play my favourite "board" game, I think it counts as a board game... I managed to win quite a lot of money (yes, my family gambles) only to lose it all to my grandmother who destroyed me with 1 hand!

Question (10 Points): What is the name of this incredible game, that everyone should learn? (Shown in the picture)

CAD Training, Malaysia Boleh!

I'm just about to start my 5 day CAD training, and it is all really well done! Maybe I've been in Malaysia too long, but I wasn't expecting my own computer AND a training course textbook! Malaysia Boleh!

Question (10 Points): What is the name of the software developer company for this CAD program?

My baby getting washed!

After 3-4 months of driving around this filthy place we haven't got our car cleaned EVER! I finally decided to get it clean when Ryan and I started saying "Shotgun not closing the boot!!"

Malaysia's favourite drink! Can you name it?

This here is one of my favourite drinks ever, and it is a very typical Malaysian drink, all the cool kids drink it these days.

Question (10 Points) : Can you name the drink shown in the picture?

More Hiking Photos!

Below are more photos of the same hiking trip that I went on a couple of weeks ago. The photos come from Louis' friend Tony, he is the club manager at Desa Park City (where Louis lived for his 2 month stay in Malaysia), so thank you Tony and Louis!

Louis and Ryan watching the sunrise over Kuala Lumpur

This was taken after we hiked up for about 45 minutes in complete darkness. Amateurs like Ryan used a torch, but Louis and I became one with nature and climb like the rest of the beasts and bugs in the jungle.

After we continued to hike a bit further, the sun came out brighter. This mean't we could see, but it also mean't it was very hot... 

Ryan, Louis and I sitting on top of a hill discussing life. Louis was probably having a go at me for having my phone out while he was trying to immerse fully with nature.

Chinese New Year decorations near the peak.

I have more photos, but I just can't be bothered to go through them and pick them out, so I'll leave it there for now. I should be going back to hike there again, Ryan and I might drag some lousy Loughborough students away from their pints to come do some exercise and see the country.

I nearly forgot! This is what we had for breakfast!
Question (20 Points): Name the dish on the pink plate? 

English characters will do, if you wrote it in Chinese, I wouldn't be able to read it anyway.

My favourite breakfast!

This here is the best and most filling breakfast, all for the price of £1.20, roughly.

Question (10 Points): Can you name the drink I have?

BONUS QUESTION (20 Points): Name the drink I have in Bahasa Melayu?

Your answer must be grammatically correct and fully accurate to obtain these 20 points.

Performing in a shopping mall! *VIDEO*

This is me in a shopping mall performing with the music school I joined! The audio recording is a bit messy and hectic, as is my drumming :( The band and I didn't get to practice before the show, so it was partially improvised! Well the solos are entirely improvised.

Super High Definition Theatre Quality recording is courtesy of Ryan Lee and Louis Yaw.

The car is in one piece!

For those who don't believe that Ryan and I have somehow managed to stay alive on the Malaysian roads, here is proof that the car is in one piece.

It's covered it dust, mud and motorbike parts, but I made the photo black and white, so hopefully you won't see it

Hiking!

I finally managed to go hiking, thanks to Louis Yaw. As it was his last week he managed to convince my fat ass to go hiking with him. What he didn't tell me until the night before was that the bunch of hikers we were joining were planning to see the sunrise...

This lead to much discussion as to whether I would be able to drag the chubby rear end mentioned above out of bed by 4:30 AM, on a public holiday!

I did manage it, as did Ryan, and we did manage to make it up to the top for sunrise at 7 am. I have attached photos to prove it, the difference in light should be sufficient evidence to prove that I made it on time!