Percy Jackson

My love for Greek Mythology is huge. Especially the 12 Greek Gods, among them are the big 3: Zeus, King of Gods. Poseidon, God of sea and Hades, God of Underworld. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are brothers. After the World War 2, the big three swore on their oath, to never have any children with the mortals. But Zeus and Poseidon broke it, Hades had 2 children before the oath, so he didn't break it. However, Hades is excluded in the 12 Greek Gods because he's the god of Underworld and he never visit Mount Olympus.

The other 8 gods were known as Hera, queen of gods, goddess of marriage, birth and women. Demeter, goddess of harvest and fertility of the earth. Athena, goddess of wisdom, warfare and divine intelligence. Dionysus, god of wine. Apollo, god of sun, music and poetry. Artemis, goddess of hunt and moon. Ares, god of war. Aphrodite, goddess of love. Hephaestus, god of fire. Hermes, messenger of gods, god of thieves. 

Zeus had a daughter, Thalia Grace, whilst Poseidon had a son, Percy Jackson.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LIGHTNING THIEF - BOOK ONE
Percy Jackson had to go to Camp Half-Blood as soon as he got attacked by a Minotaur. Grover, his best friend, a satyr and his mum drove Percy to Camp Half-Blood. Percy discovered his ability and managed to kill the Minotaur and retrieved its horn. Soon after his very first game of capture-the-flag, and his encounter with his rival, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, he was claimed by his father, Poseidon, god of sea. He was set to go on a quest to find Zeus's missing lightning bolt along with Grover, the satyr and Annabeth, daughter of Athena.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE SEA OF MONSTER - BOOK TWO

Grover was missing. Grover contacted Percy through their telepathy link, he was held in captive by a Cyclop. Grover was captured by the cyclops while he was searching for Pan, god of wild and satyrs. And now Camp Half-Blood is under attack, Thalia's tree is dying. Luke poisoned the tree. Percy has to get the Golden Fleece in order to save Camp Half-Blood. Problem is, he wasn't assign on this quest. Clarisse was. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson, Percy's cyclop brother still went on the quest to save Grover. Grover was rescued and the camp was saved. The most shocking thing was that Thalia had come alive, she wasn't a tree anymore (she died and her father, Zeus, turned her into a tree to preserve her soul). The daughter of Zeus came alive once more.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE TITAN'S CURSE -BOOK THREE

Annabeth went missing, Artemis was chained up. And this time, 5 campers will rescue Artemis. Thalia, Grover, Percy and two Artemis's huntress, Zoe and Bianca. Bianca and Nico Di Angelo were the children of Hades but Bianca joined Artemis and the huntress. The Oracle predicted that not everyone will be safe. Bianca died sacrificing herself to defeat a monster. Zoe was killed by her own father, Atlas, the titan. Annabeth was captured by Luke and Artemis was supporting the weight of the sky. Luke was thrown over the edge of Mount Othrys. But he was still alive after the god's party upon the demigod's victory. 

PERCY JACKSON AND THE BATTLE OF LABYRINTH -BOOK FOUR

Luke wants revenge now. He and his army planned to invade Camp Half-blood via an ancient labyrinth created by Hephaestus. Percy, Grover, Annabeth and Tyson(Percy's cyclops brother) were set into the labyrinth to find Daedalus's workshop before Luke does. With the help of Briares, a.k.a. the Hundred-handed one cyclops and Hephaestus, God of fire and forges. Meanwhile, Grover was also on a quest to find the lost god, Pan. Pan spoke to Grover in the labyrinth, he asked Grover to tell the other satyrs that he is dead. The labyrinth had to be destroyed, and Daedalus is willing to die along with the labyrinth. Both of them are connected as one because Daedalus created the labyrinth. 

PERCY JACKSON AND THE LAST OLYMPIAN -BOOK FIVE 
THE FINAL BOOK OF PERCY JACKSON SERIES
Percy Jackson is turning sixteen and the fate of the whole world depends on him. Kronos (or Luke since he gave his body as a host to Kronos) is strong now and he is preparing for the final battle. And the awful Typhon is heading their way. The gods are busy batting with Typhon while camp half-blood prepares for Kronos. Problem is, they are only 40 campers against hundreds of enemies. Percy found out that Luke bathed in the River Styx, down in the Underworld. That is why Kronos was so strong. Percy ended up bathing in the River Styx as well, but before he bathed, he had to choose a weak spot on his body. He chose his lower back, one strike at that spot and he's dead. Everyone battled, Thalia and the hunters, even Clarisse and her cabin. The enemies were strong, but the campers were stronger. Percy and Annabeth was then faced to faced with Luke. He's soul is poisoned by Kronos. He told Percy that he must be perished in order for Kronos to die. Since Luke is in his body form. Percy handed Annebeth's blade to Luke and Luke stabbed himself in the weak spot, killing him and Kronos.
Back at Olympus, the heroes were rewarded. Percy got to talk to his dad and Athena. Though Athena warned Percy to stay away from her daughter, Annabeth. Percy and Annabeth were happy together and they went back to camp half-blood, awaiting their next quest.

Wetworld Shah Alam : School trip

Last Tuesday, the form 4 and form 5s in our school had to go to Wet World Shah Alam to carry over experiments. We form 4s has our physics coursework to do : construct an experiment involving water. My group had a simple experiment; how does the arch of the sail affect the time taken for the boat to slide down the slide. Unfortunately, we had to do it 5 times and 5 times each, a total of 25 times and the most troublesome part is that one of us had to go down and take the boat and go back to the top of the slide.

On the other hand, the form 5s had their add maths coursework to do. Those who didn't take add maths, did a physics activity. So most of the form 5s finished their activity before us.

After we're done with our coursework we get to play :D

Around 12pm, my group finished our coursework and went to play. My first ride was a slide, kheng yue, Yiting and I went down the slide but we were stuck halfway so we had to push ourselves. There was a little "tradition" that day was the day where students get to push teachers down the slide and the teachers would take revenge.

I was chilling at the pool with my fellow friends/classmates when I saw Tr Pui Khe, my accounts teacher. Shim and I (the only accounting students from my class aside Chiao You) decided to push her down. We sneaked up on her, I jumped and pull her down to the water. Of course, both of us were laughing but cher Pui khe was unamused.

She pulled me  and kheng yue along to the same slide we went earlier. We hung out for a while. There were tubes (you know the 2 person floaties for some slides) yeah, for us to rent. Many students were carrying it around. Kheng Yue and I were so tempted. The tubes were Rm20, another Rm 20 for deposit.

Once we got the tubes, we tried out every single slide. We had a warm up slide, it was small, dark. Nothing much. We walked further in where the other slides were. There was a super long one for tubes but it was closed for maintenance. :(

We went to a long slide where a number of tubes had to go together. It was a flat and smooth slide. We placed our tubes down, when the time comes, there was a huge water pushing us from the back. It was fast, there were also vines halfway through. We rode that slide for several times because there wasn't much slides.

One time, Yiting, dylan, kheng yue and I went together. Who knows, Tr William and Tr Alex were at the end of the slide. Kheng yue and I were the first tube to reach the end. Both of them looked suspicious, I asked them what were they doing. Tr William, with his all-time serious face, answered they had to make sure they clear the path so no one got hurt. Silly me fell into their trap, they flipped our tube and we fell into the water. The other tubes knew what happened and they got up and ran away.

Then we saw the vortex slide, the one where you go in circles, similar to vuvuzela. I never saw this one before but I heard of it, so I was excited.

It was really fast, I screamed because... why not? :D the whole tube went sideways and we exited to the open. It was a big "cup" we went around it 3 times before exiting it. Unlucky for me, I sat at the back of the tube. And we exited backwards so I was the first who went down backwards. It was fun really. We sat this for several times too because it was fun and we got nothing else to do :/ I got pushed down from the tubes many times by my friends.

At 3pm, we changed and returned our floats. The bathroom wasn't that bad as what they had said. I was devastated when I saw my really tan skin. You can obviously see the sleeve mark of my shirt :(

The tan was worth it if you ask me, haha. I had loads of fun. Can't wait for next year's wetworld trip again.

Fin.

A Mask Fantasia

It all started bad. We didn't have a story or a plot. We had trouble and arguments. We were the worst group. We disappointed the teachers. A lot of us didn't show up for practices. But we hardcore at the end. 3 years of drama experience comes down to this day.
July 21st

A Mask Fantasia. Sirius Scholar production. This was our big theatre showcase for this year. We were performing in KLPAC (Kuala Lumpur Perofmeing Arts Centre) a professional stage.

6 months ago, our group had trouble, I could make out that most of us don't have the interest in it. How disappointing. Soon we had our story:

The story takes place in the 90s similar to the Noir film. Colours were missing from the world. The colours Black and White paid a witch to kidnap the primary colours, Red, Blue and Yellow. The Secondary Colours, Green, Orange, Purple and Brown hired the famous Detective Conor to investigate this case.

I played as the character Blue with David as Yellow and Liesl as Red. Adam was our detective and Yiting was the witch. Black and White were played by Kheng Yue and Ashley.

Lucky for us, we had an awesome, dramatic senior to help us out, we call him by the name of Fufu. Fufu was really nice to work with, he helped us with our character. But sometimes we went a little overboard with him.

21st July
PERFORMANCE DAY
The bus took us from pts to KLPAC. KLPAC is big. There is a field where stalls are set up. We went to our stage. It was so professional, the seats were like those in cinemas, there were doors and floating windows to make it more fantasy-like.   

There were 2 performances that day. One on the afternoon and one at night. Basically we have to perform twice in a day. :) 

Some of us finally got our hands on our costumes by lunch time. Mine was a beautiful strapless, long, dark blue dress, the front was shorter than the back. The other colours got their costumes as well. Liesl's was a red bollywood-ish dress and David's was a yellow coat with yellow pants. Tr Erica gave us hair spray and wanted us to spray our hair to our respective colours to make it more realistic. 

As Black, Kheng Yue wore a black trench coat and White, Ashley wore a short, white dress with a white fan. Liesl had a big red ribbon-pin. While I had a blue feather pin. 

3pm

Performance time!~

Doors open at 3pm sharp. The form 2s group went first. Still Life, Madness (form 2s), Beyond, Contrast (form 4s *I'm in Contrast*) then Fractured (form 5s). Contrast waited in dressing room 2 with Fufu. I wasn't that nervous as I know that the afternoon one wasn't really that scary as the night one. All the groups were good. My favourite was Fractured. Beyond was beautiful. 

STILL LIFE was about a few friends who were playing football. The football was kicked into a store. The captain went into the store to retrieve the ball, who knows mannequins came alive and captured the captain turning him into a mannequin. His friends found him but were captured as well. One of the mannequin helped them escape. And they escaped. 

MADNESS was about zombies. A detective was set to find a missing guy but ended up in the middle of a zombie chaos.

BEYOND was a beautiful, touching piece. Miranda had entered the Mirror World to find her father. The Hush welcomed her but were stopped by Illusious, ruler of Reflected. Miranda found her father but they can't escape together because the father created the Mirror World. This piece had myself and the audience in tears.

CONTRAST(ours) colours were missing from world. Detective Conor was hired by the secondary Colours to find the primary colours who were captured by the witch. Black and White paid the witch to captured them because people forgot about black and white when the colours come to the world.

FRACTURED was a deep,creepy play. John's life was never perfect. He was haunted by the 7 deadly sins. The leader of the sins (not sure about the name) takes John back to his past life, he was killed by the sins in the end. It gave me the chills and this was my favourite piece and it was a good end to Mask Fantasia.

6pm
We get yelled
I was worried about our play. Most of the teachers went to watch us in the afternoon play but half of the seats were filled. Teacher Erica, Weiyan, Reuben called us in.

Apparently, we did badly for the play. We did not had time to practice with the sound and light. There wasn't any tech-run. Form 2s energy was low. Beyond was beautiful, expected, with Bryan's work. Our play was the 2nd favoured by the audience. We were all happy and proud because we were the worst group. Fufu was proud too. But Fractured had a slow pacing and was a mess up. I was surprised because that was the best group aside Beyond.

With 2 hours to our night performance. We got dressed and did our final touch-up. With our hair spray and body paint. 2 hours passed by fast.

8pm
Doors opened
It was a full house at night. Contrast were in the dressing room, alone. Fufu got us into our character for the last time. We were at the very last stage. Our last owrodan in KLPAC. Soon, Still Life came back. I was chilling with my colours, camwhoring. No big deal.

Finally it was our moment to shine. My heart was pounding but I managed to keep my cool. I went out and did 2 scenes. The first scenes was easy because I had to be fainted. Last scene though had actions but that didn't stop
me. I just think of any other rehearsals we did previously.

10pm
We did our curtain call and we cheered loudly. The night showcase was soo much better than the afternoon one, I could tell. I was really proud and happy. I got comments from my friends that we were good but the choice will be made by the teachers. And it did turned out good luckily. We were on the very edge of getting cut off (not allowed to perform on stage) we were considered very lucky.

We had to cleaned up our dressing rooms before we could leave. The bus back to our school leaves at 10.45pm. I was helping (Ofcourse) haha. We changed into our own clothes and returned our costumes. :( 

Next thing I know, I was snoozing in the bus.

Till today, I miss KLPAC,staybacks, my costumes. I still have my mask and tag. I miss Fufu. But most of all, I miss my character. this was the best showcase ever. Never in my life I regretted joining drama. 

End.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 5

Sorry for the late post. I was having exams last week. And I'm having drama rehearsal right now. You now have a hint of my next blog ;)
-----------------------------------
9am
The speakers were playing Daylight as I wake from my sleep. How ironic. I lay in my sleeping bag and enjoyed the music as it played Heart Attack. We get to sleep in that day.

10am
After our breakfast and our last morning exercise. We had to pack our bags and put it in the hall, ready for departure. Then we had to clean up our dirty-with-sand-and-dirt dorm.

Kheng Yue brought the broomstick and we took turns sweeping. Sabrina and I threw unessacary rubbish and items. We put our sleeping bags to a side.

Chin Tong, Angela and I were chilling by the balcony with Call Me Maybe playing. The hall was just opposite of the teacher's dorm. When we were singing Call Me Maybe, Teacher Ben walked past and we sang the song. It was a funny scene.

12pm
We had our early lunch so we can get ready to leave. I got my phone back and in 5 days time, I finally heard my mum and dad. Apparently, they managed to reach me and I answer but I can't hear them clearly. It was a relief.

2pm
Farewell Gopeng Resort
We had our last "briefing". All the groups had to perform their battle cry (great) how embarrassing. But I admit, I enjoyed it. It IS the last performance as a group. Then there was prize giving for best male and female player and best group. Sadly, my group didn't win. But I was proud of us.

The trucks arrived. Our last truck ride. We did our boom boom on the truck. It was sad and disappointing saying goodbye to the facilitators. I was looking forward to go back home but really sad at the same time. A mix of emotions.

3pm
First air-con breeze in 5 days
The bus arrived and we got onto the bus, it was heart-breaking, it seemed that we just went there yesterday. And leaving the next day.

Most of us slept in the bus, we were all tired out and just wanted to rest. I managed to close my eyes for one good hour, when i woke up, we were already an hour away from school. So fast.

6pm
Due to the traffic conditions. We arrived at school at 7. It was sad to have a sight of our school, we had fun on the bus and we camwhored a lot.

I returned to my lovely, warm home. My mum welcomed me back and I got licked by my dog. It was good coming back but I'm gonna miss Gopeng.

-----------------------------------

Til now, I still miss camp. Me and my friends will bring back the memories in class and we'll laugh about it. I learned a lot during camp and had loads of fun. I'll be honest, thinking back, I miss summit climb, the fresh air, the river, the rain, the truck, cave, waterfall. I even make lots of new friends. Wenxiu and I are now really close, we still talk to each other and tease each other. Leadership Training Camp is the highlight event of 2013 so far.

End of story

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 4

8 hours of trekking ~~ last activity of the the camp. Sad :( make sure to leave any comments ;)

-----------------------------------

7am
I woke up and stared at the ceiling. Welcoming the last activity of the camp (best welcoming technique ever) LOL? I was worried for Shim. Even in the morning she looked gloomy. Poor Shim.

8am
After the morning exercise, I didn't see Teacher Andy. Usually the teachers will be eating at a table.

9am
Our next activity starts at 10 (I think) so we have time to get ready. I finally asked where was our teacher-in-charge. My friends said that he went to the hospital. My heart nearly stop. WHAT?! Apparently, the night before the other teachers tried to remove the needles, one of them released a red vein to the heart. Teacher Melissa said the red vein releases the venom.

Hah... our group was doomed. Wenxiu and I shared one backpack, it was mine. It was big enough to store our drinking water, food and a few cooking water (1 litre) it was heavy. Me, Wenxiu and Jordan took turns to carry the bag since all of our supplies were in there. I volunteered to carry the bag first because I figured the starting will be easy.

I was really tired and terrified but on the bright side we were the first group who trek. The 5 groups were infront. So if the ones behind can't catch up we had to stop and wait.

12pm
The sound of water rushing made me calm. We were trekking beside the white water rafting river, the facilitator said we need to cross the river at the double-decker rapid. The trekking wasn't that bad as summit climb, in fact, it was a thousand times better than summit climb. It wasn't easy, I had some help from Jordan and I ended up helping Adam.

Kok How was infront of Jordan. I then realized it was good to be in the front because if the ones in the back can't catch up. We can rest while waiting for them to catch up. Hahaha.

We reached the double-decker rapid and everyone had to wait for their turn to cross the rapid. There was a long rope tied across the rapid. I had fun resting. Haha. Appreciated the time. Tr May Peng was slowly killing a big fat leech. Joseph was afraid of leeches and he hid behind my back XD.

I didn't had trouble crossing the rapid as I'm a water baby(according to my dad). Group 6 then continue our journey.

3pm
After 3 hours of relaxing trekking and fresh air. We finally had our lunch. Yep at 3pm.

The other 5 groups were already eating their lunch. We have to start our own fire, find wood, boil water, cook our lunch. Wenxiu and I went to find wood and leaves. The boys started the fire. It was fun. We took turns eating magge mee. I wasn't that hungry. I didn't know why. :/

3.30pm approximately
We finished our lunch and went back the same path. We had to cross another small and shallow river. We hold hands and cross haha. Jordan was carrying the bag now because it was light because we used up our cooking water.

The sky was getting darker and we knew it won't be pretty. We rushed ourselves through the trekking path.

5pm
Time to cross the rapid again. The current was super strong. We can't go one by one know. Everyone had to go all together. It was tiring to fight the current. We held on tight to our rope. Wenxiu almost let go of the rope when we were at shore. My heart was racing, my legs tried to stand to the ground. I was really tired when we reached on land.

It started to rain. Great. The trek was slippery and muddy. I'm all the way back now because we went to the wrong path thanks to the guide. Tr May Peng was behind us and another bunch of helpful boys. Joseph was helping us crossing a wide gap. It was tough and scary. I slipped a few times but managed to grip onto the trees. *PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 5: TREKKING IN THE RAIN*

I was pissed. Because it rain and I was all soaking wet but it made no difference because we were already wet.

We were almost back to camp. I saw the bridge and the road. Cheers! Oh. Get this. The rain stopped when we reached back at camp. Dragging my sloppy legs, I went back to our dorm and bathe with Wenxiu.

6pm
BBQ DINNER
7pm onwards we have our free time. Finally! I tired texting my parents with my friend's phone but it doesn't work. Damn. I hung out with KHENG YUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, David,  Fifi, Yiting.we sat the cafeteria dancing to music. Just chilling.

Tr Andy was back from the hospital, turned out he was fine. Tr Melinda went to the hospital because she can't bend her back. Other than that, it was a peaceful night.

12am
I decided to sleep early but ended up talking to Kheng Yue. It was the last night in Gopeng. It was disappointing. Aside the bugs and lizard eggs, it was fun sleeping in a Sleeping bag with only 2 ceiling fans. The air was cold and fresh. It was peaceful . At last, my eyes closed.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 3

I would like to call this day: Trekking day. Most Tiring day! Enjoy ;)

-----------------------------------
7am
I had a good sleep. Kheng yue woke me up. I crawled out from my sleeping bag *PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 4: I SLEPT IN A SLEEPING BAG* we got ready for the morning exercise as usual for half an hour.

8.30am
Briefing back at camp
Our next activity was CAVING: GUA TEMPURUNG. I went caving before with my dad so I was kinda looking forward to it. We had to ride the truck again for 20 minutes. Which was a good sign :D All 18 groups were going together.

9am
Truck ride :D
WOOHOO! Dibs in the front as always. Li Pahn and Dylan were beside me and Tr Andy was behind Dylan. I personally like the front because I got most of the air and I can see what is going infront. We will be the first one to duck and avoid getting tree-slap.

9.30am
Briefing
Mr. Lim, the facilitator, briefed us. There was another group for those claustrophobic people. Wenxiu went over leaving us with 9 members. Then we were divided into 4 groups. Our group was Group D (I think) 2 groups were going in from the same way. The other 2 the other way.

10am
Stairs attack
It wasn't that tough as the one I did with my dad. There were built in staircase for us to climb. And they were steep and long. But I must say, the rock formation were stunning. It was tiring climbing up and if went really slow when we were going down. Everyone was. Because the stairs had gap in between and it was stewp.

11am?
Along the way...
The guide warned us that we were getting wet so it would take some time to cross the river. So we waited. At that moment, I was with Chee Foong, Yong Yie, Han Zern and Teacher Grace! :D while we were waiting on the staircase. We chatted. I must say, I get along well with people who I'm not close with.(not that I want to brag) I seldom talk to kheng yue and the others except at night.

We had a good talk, Teacher Grace and I were jumping from topic to topic and we talked about LOTR *fangirls* k.

12pm......???
Getting wet
After sliding down a steep slope. We had to drop into this small hole and fall into the stream. The water was cold and we had to move slowly, we had to lie on our belly and pull ourselves forward. We were all soaking wet. Lucky for me  I was wearing my headlamp so it was safe :) I decided to crawl with my elbows against the ground but the pebbles and stones were hurting my elbows and knees. I had to tolerate it :( but we had to walk often and the boys in front of me were cracking jokes.

1pm
Back at camp~
We were all soaking wet. Back at the truck and in the cave. I got tips about our next activity: SUMMIT CLIMB, from Chee Foong and Yong Yie, they already did summit climb. We were the last group to do summit climb. They said it was reallt hard ab andd tiring. The slope was steep and they made me worry. So I kept on saying to my group mates: we're gonna die for summit.

3pm
Briefing.... @.@
God. I wore my V-neck T-Shirt and leggings for comfort. Because we were going to do a lot of climbing and my rubber boots. The old facilitator briefed us. The weather was getting bad that day, we were planning to reach Level 3 of the climb. Basically, we were climbing up a mountain.

3.30pm
Ughhh....
Jordan was infront of me (ky said best to have a guy infront or behind of you, so they can help us) hah.... Celene was behind me. We were the last who go up. Group 1 first then follow by group 2... I was slow because I got tired easily. Celene, who isn't a help much, keep saying: Chelsea, you need to go faster we're left behind blah blah blah. I was like thinking, dude, you're not helping.

I breathed really loudly XD I was tired out. I'd never been so tired in my life. I took big steps that's why my thighs hurt. And we cant rest until the next level because we were the last group. Sad. 

I gotten help from nature. I grabbed the trees to stable myself and for my own support. And that was why I got a sort-of splinter on my left palm. But eventually I got it out. 

Jordan was a big, he got himself a stick and he helped me throughout. My thighs and muscles were hurting a lot! We were only at Level 1.

4.30pm
UGH.....
Ok, my legs were going to break. Shim and Lionel quit and went back to camp. Yiting was with us now because she rest. Tr Andy was infront of Jordan and he encouraged us, which was good actually. It helped. I guess?

I was about to give up but I keep telling myself: if others can do it, why can't you. So I kept going. We reached Level 2. Halfway through we had to go back down because it was going to rain. So we went back *cheers!*

I had to slide down on my butt because I am very scared of falling down especially when it comes to downslope.

6pm....
Finally!~
I couldn't carry my legs any further it was hurting so much! Wenxiu and I went back to the girl's dorm to bath because we weren't doing any activities after that.

Lucky for the form 5s, they went white water rafting :(

7pm....
Dinner! :D
BBQ dinner~~~~ woohoo. My mood went down because of my legs. They were so damn painful. Muscle crams. :( later on, we could chill. But the teachers got a little activity in store for us.

8pm...
A little activity
We were in our groups, the other 9 groups went for jungle night walk. Our Activity: we have to tie 5 rafia strings to 1 rubber band. Our goal is to make a plastic cup pyramid. Trick is: we can only touch the end of the string.

9pm
We had a little trouble with it. Each group was splited into 2 groups. I was with Bugh, Wenxiu, Joseph and Shen Yin. We were kinda frustrated and tired.

The other group's teacher in charge were there but there was no sign of teacher Andy. He had a few stings on his arms and it was swollen. I figured out that he must be tired out and was sleeping. 

11pm
Shim and I went down to get my phone because my mum couldn't reach me since day 2. THERE WAS NO RECEPTION! I tried calling and calling. No luck. I did sent her a few text messages but it didn't got through. I told Teacher Yuen Shin I got muscle cram and she gave me heat rub. Aw... :3 I applied some on my legs. Every step I take, it hurts so much.
12am
Midnight
Shim told the girls that she doesn't want to do the next day's activity: WILDERNESS SURVIVAL. So I went down with her to talk to Teacher William, Teacher Melinda and Teacher May Peng. Teacher William asked me to go up leaving Shim behind. I don't want to but I had to.

Shim came back crying and we had to comfort her and help her. She had a hard time with the summit climb and she doesn't want to do wilderness survival.

1am
I went to sleep with kheng yue with my muscle crams. Shim was down in the teacher's dorm. Tomorrow's gonna be a long day. I was told we were going to be in the jungle for 8 hours. Trekking. So I needed some good sleep. I climbed in my sleeping bag with my muscle crams, regardless of the uncomfortable pillow and floor.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 2

This was my most favourite day!~ enjoy :P
---------------------------------

7am
The air was cold, but I like it. Everyone in the girls dorm started to wake up and went to the toilet. Of course, me and wen xiu went to the toilet together and brush our teeths there. We didn't want to change in the toilet as it was disgusting. So... we changed in the girls dorms. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 3: CHANGING IN AN OPEN HALL HAHHAHAHA. We're all girls, come on. I changed into T-Shirt and shorts because that day, for Group 1 to 6, are water activities.

7.30 am
Me and my friends rushed down to the field for our morning exercise. The ashes from the campfire were still there. Everyone's faces were sleepy and half dead. I found my dear group and lined up in a single file. An old guy, one of the facilitators, guided us. We did some simple exercise, the normal stretching exercises. After that, we were split into 2 big groups. Each group had to form 1 inner circle and 1 outer circle. They were a few teachers doing it with us. We had to talk to the person opposite us from the inner circle. I was at the outer circle.

8.30am
Breakfast
FINALLY! We were all hungry and bored of the exercise. Most of us don't like the old facilitator. Our breakfast was fried rice/meehoon with crackers. I can't say it was really nice nor it was bad. After we ate, me and wen xiu went back to our dorm to get ready for our first Activity: White Water Rafting. (Y) this was the only activity I was excited about before camp. And little did I know, it was our first Activity!

9.30am
Group 1 to 6 gathered outside the first aid open hall or which I called it... the girls dorm. One of the facilitators briefed us on what will happen and what if this happens.

The boat has 3 sections. Front, middle, back. There were two platforms to divide the sections. So ended up with spaces in each section. I thought we were suppose to sit in those section and paddle but NO... we had to sit on the side... it's hard to explain I'll show you the picture.

Each boat has 6 people and 1 guide. We get to choose our own teammates :3 I went with Yiting, Shim, Milton, Darryl and Chin Yu. We know each other but we're not close *exception Yiting and Shim (mah awesome friends)* Our group was just right because we had big and sma size :3

10am (approximately)
Our guide was Adik. All the guides spoke English which was convenient. We had to carry our rafting boat to the river. Behind us were the teachers : Tr May Peng, Tr Melinda, Tr Andy,  Tr Zax and Tr Angie. How cute! All the teachers in one boat! :3

They were a few codes to remember, when the guide says it we have to do what he says:
Paddle forward
Padde backward
Boom boom: When we were approaching a big rapid, we have to sit at the space below us
On the line: we have to return to our
Positions
Hold the rope: When we were approaching a rapid we have to hold the rope beside us which was attached to the boat.
High five: everyone lifts their paddle up on the air and hit the water.

10.30am
Action time! :D
We had a fun time carrying our boat to the river(situated outside the resort) because Tr Zax was making fun. We settled our boat on the river and everyone got in. I was personally scared but really excited. We can never let go of the T-grip (paddle). We did a warm up rapid, a small one. Milton fell out of our boat, everyone panicked. Then one of the guide threw him a rope and he grabbed on to it. Phew. Shim then was really scared.

3 sat on the left side of the boat, 3 sat on the right side. The guide was at the back.
Left: Darryl. Milton. Yiting
Right: Chin Yu. Shim. Me

The river was 2 km long, 15 rapids in total. At the... 4th rapid. It was the biggest rapid, it was a drop, I must say. When we dropped, the whole boat was flooded with water, we almost sank. There was another rapid, double-decker, it was 1 drop after another. It was really fun!!

There was one rapid, Milton and Darryl went to the right side (our side) and the boat almost capsized. But they went back to their original position.

11.30 (approximately)
Rest stop
There was this big rest stop. Where the was no rapid. Every boat had to capsize. Our guide asked Yiting, Milton and Darryl to move to our side on his signal. When they moved, the guide moved too and used the rope to capsize the boat.

I never experience this before so it was new to me. I was really scared, what if I couldn't get up. What if I was stuck. When the boat capsized, Water went into my nose, someone was on top of me. My hand still held on to the paddle. It was hard to swim to shore with my left hand occupied and the current.

We then rest and played water and swam around. Teacher Zax and Teacher Andy climbed up a tree and jumped down from the tree. A lot of us followed them and climbed the tree. There were a few who did a backflip. Teacher May Peng climbed up too. I didn't want to because I was tired and just want to relax. But me and Yiting cheered them on.

11.45...?
We then continued our journey. The rapids weren't that huge anymore so our expectations went low. Because we were the 4th group to go, the teachers boat was infront of us. At one of the rapids, they were so proud and confident, they waved to our boat and be like, bye!!! But who knows, they were stuck at the rocks. They had to bounce to be free. Then our boat went, it was our turn to say bye.

My left hand was painful because I was holding the T-grip too tightly.

12.30pm....?
We saw the boats infront of us stopped and they got off. Uh-oh. My worst moment. The rafting came to an end D: I was so disappointed and was begging for more. It was so fun! >< even Shim, the one who was scared, demanded for more! We climbed up a small slope and saw the truck waiting for us! :D

The truck ride was really fun, we had to stand at the back of the truck. I and a few friends were standing by the side. There were tree branches and leaves coming right at us and we had to duck. We joked that when we said boom boom, means duck because branches were coming. I got tree-slapped a few times. But it was so fun :D

1pm
We were the first group who arrived back at camp. The other 2 groups were not back yet. We returned our equipments and wash our boot because it was an ocean in my boot. XD me and Yiting washed our hair because the helmet was smelly XD we were already wet so why not?

I went back to the dorm and got my towel and decided to head to the canteen. Teacher May Peng was relaxing on the hammock near our dorm. She called for me and we chatted about camp ^^

2pm
The other 2 groups were back. 1 of the groups look exhausted and was sweating A LOT. Apparently, they got lost in the jungle. I shivered. We had our lunch in our wet outfit. Our next activity was WATERFALL ABSEILING, we're getting wet again so why bother to change?

4pm
Truck again it is!
We rode the truck again. Group 1 to 6. We laughed the whole way long. But I was really scared eventhough I abseiled before.

We reached the Waterfall in 10 minutes time. The guide gave us a brief demonstration. The Waterfall was 10m high. Well it wasn't THAT high. Group 1 were the first to go. Well, luck. My group was the last to go. :/ so we watched every single one of them to abseil down.
There were 3 stages to choose from: easy, medium, hard.
Easy was just beside the waterfall
Medium was in the middle of the waterfall
Hard was to the left of the waterfall Where the current was the strongest.

Adrian was the first who went down, hr went too fast and slip a few times. But he was fast. Wen xiu and I sat with the other groups at the bottom of the waterfall (not directly)

As time pass I was very cold because of the mist and the water so I went further down where Ashley and Dylan were.

5pm
It was going at a slow pace. Group 2 just went as they were limited amount of harnesses. I was really cold and was shivering, Ashley made it worst by splashing water at me. We had to wait for a long time. Lionel, who was group 1, haven't abseil down yet. Yune-wen was laughing about it and yelled hoping Lionel would hear it.

6pm
Almost there...
Group 4 was doing it. It was going at a really slow pace. I was about to become ice. Group 5 went and the teachers said that the other groups were bored and hungry so group 1 to 5 went back. WOW hahhaha. Which was good actually. Only a few of group 5 were still there.

6.30pm
Gearing up and action
Teacher May peng helped me to gear up. Wenxiu, Celene were already up there. I had to climbed to reach. It was a short and easy climb. To my surprise, ChinYu and his friends (group 5) were still up there. They said they wanted to go last. Teacher Zax and Teacher Andy were up there too. They already abseiled but they chose to help us up there :3

I wanted the easy one (but I regretted not doing the medium one ><) I made a deal with Jordan, he and I were to abseiled down together, he did the medium and I did easy. It was scary and my hands hurt A LOT.

Jordan was ahead of me but I passed him half way because my hands were really hurting. You need a lot of physical strength for this one. Right hand to hold your weight, left to lower yourself. Legs were not a problem. And you have to trust the harness and lean back.

I didn't bother to look at the camera man who was by the waterfall. And i was really fast because my hands were hurting. I slipped twice:

The first time I slipped I landed on the platform. Lucky me.

Second time. I slipped and i couldn't get up. I swung to the left but eventually I got back up and abseiled down. I reached the bottom before Jordan and realized my legs were shaking. The water current was stronger than before because it was already late. Teacher Zax said good job and I thanked him. I removed my helmet and harness and hung them up by the rope. 

Wenxiu, Shen yin and Hui en were already down,pouring the water out from their shoes. We then watched Teacher May Peng, Teacher Angie and Teacher Melinda abseiled down. 

7pm

Truck ride again!

It was dark on the way back. It was just 10+ of us. Joseph and I always wanted to be in the front of the truck. When the truck arrived, both of us shouted : Dibs in the front! And we ran to the truck and often argued who said it first. But both of us ended up in the front. 

Teacher Zax, Joseph, Adam and Wengkin were in the front. We used the truck ride as a temple run reference : night edition. I asked: where's the power up? And they laughed. Teacher Zax said: it's ok guys. I use cheat. XD it was really fun! 

8pm

We had dinner and I had to get ready for the next Activity. JUNGLE NIGHT WALK. It was from group 1 to 9. Kheng Yue and Fifi were going on the next day. Lucky... I was really tired. 

9pm

Jungle Night Walk

We had to walk in a single-file. There were a few rules to obey. 

1. We had to remember who was infront and behind of us.

2. Do not call each others name.

3. Do not scream.

4. Do not shine the torchlight everywhere. 

5. We must pass messages to the person behind or infront of us.

The jungle night walk was normal to me.  It was cooling and dark. And it doesn't seem like 2 hours. We were supposed to cross a river but the river was blocked by bamboos (yes!) So we went back to camp. I was really tired at the end of the day. Wenxiu and I went to bathe together and slept at 1am. Again

It was fun day. Rafting was awesome and I knew day 3 is a very tiring day.

Leadership Training Camp 2013 DAY 1

Sorry peeps. I was busy lately. :/ anyways. I will be updating during this 2 week holidays so be sure to keep up! ;)
---------------------------------

On the 25th of May, my school, PTS organized a leadership training camp for form 4 students. My lovely parents allowed me to go ^^. It was a 5 day 4 nights camp in Gopeng, Perak. There were different activities everyday. White Water Rafting, Summit Climb, Waterdall Abseiling and much more!

25th May
9 am
I was in the bus with all my group 5, 7,8. I was in Group 6 along with Wenxiu, Celene, Joseph, Adam, Jordan, Bugh, Hui en, Shenyin and Milton. I must say we get along pretty well. There were 18 groups in total. Each group had 10 team members. Our teacher in charge was Tr Andy.

I sat with Ashley (group 5) in the bus. It was a 3 hour trip to My Gopeng Resort.

12pm
The bus couldn't go in to the resort area so we had to take a truck. We had to stand behind the truck with our bags :D it was really fun! PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 1: GOING ON A TRUCK RIDE. Because we were lifted from the ground the trees and branches got to slap us. XD so we had to duck.

We arrived at My Gopeng Resort. We had to pass our phones or valuables to the teachers to be stored in the safe room. Since then my parents can't reach me and I cant reach them because of the poor reception. The guide there: Mr Lim and Mr Kok How. main guides briefed us and welcomed us. We had lunch at the Bamboo cafe located in the resort.

1pm (approximately)
The teachers then assigned us to where are we going to put a night, either dorms or tents. I was assigned to live in tents with 20+ girls including my classmates.

3.30 pm
Team building activity
Each group had 2 to 3 hours to come up with their on tribal dance, statue, symbol with a stone, costumes and war cry. Adam, our general group leader assigned us to who is doing what (actually I assigned them hehe) wen xiu and Celene were doing dance. I, hui en, shenyin, bugh were working on our statue. Milton and Joseph were working on the symbol. We left aside the costume. It was a tough job getting the statue done. Our dance and war cry were simple and weird. :/

6 pm
War cry
We had to present our war cry to the teachers and the camera-men need to film it. :S it was kinda embarrassing really :/ after that we get to bath under the icy cold water. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 2 : BATHING WITH MY 3 OTHER FRIENDS. We had to make it quick because it was going to rain. Sadly, it did. We had to run in the rain to go to the canteen. Our bags were in the canteen, the teachers moved it from the tents because it was raining. We can't sleep in tents because they were wet so we had to sleep in the first-aid open hall.

7pm
The girls and I took sleeping bags and settle down at the hall. The sleeping bags were new, the floor was dusty but by day 2. The facilitators put a sort-of plastic sheet on the floor. And they layed down all of our sleeping bags nicely. (How sweet!) We then had our dinner, it was simple and nice.

9pm
Campfire/dance
Everyone gathered at the huge field and there was a bunch of wood stacked up. We were looking forward to the campfire but my hopes dropped when they said we had to present our tribal dance. Great. :D our tribal dance was more or a story and we had to sacrifice Tr Andy. It was the boys's idea. All of the performances were really funny and crazy. There was this form 5 team, they took all sorts of different songs and changed the lyrics : I want nobody nobody but William (a strict yet cn be fun teacher) I knew you were sexy when you walk in (points at teacher William) that was really funny XD

11.30pm
After the last performance, we all demanded for the fire. One of the facilitators brough a fire torch and lit the fire. Everyone cheered. It was really beautiful. The glowing ashes were flying out from the fire into the air like fireflies. It was really nice.

12pm
Sharing session
Group 5 & 6 had to share out our own opinions and what we thought about Day 1. The usuals: make new friends, can't wait for the next day, had a lot of fun. Everyone was really tired including me. Duh! 

1am
Zzzzzz
All the girls had to sleep at 1am everyday. We were all tired. But sadly for me, because of the floor, I couldn't sleep. :/. My bones were on the floor and it made me really uncomfortable. I tossed and turned and finally slept but was awaken and k couldn't go back to sleep. I'd only slept for 4 hours. But I know, I was going to enjoy this camp :)

Shanghai - Day 2 Xitang Ancient Water Town

The itinearary on the 2nd day of our trip was the Ancient Water Town near Shanghai.

In the morning, we took subway to HongQiao railway station. In the station, after we bought the ticket, we had our breakfast thinking that we had ample time. BUT we underestimate the distance for us to walk to the boarding gate, the station is HUGE! By the time we rushed to the gate, it was closed. We had to change the time to the next train by paying extra $$ and waited for 1 hour....urgh!

The driver who sneaked us in.



Bullet train.

Anyway, we reached Jiashan in 1/2 hour time by high speed train. We were being offered by some transport providers when we walked out of the station. Then we found ourselves in a very old and small van after some bargains. Mum told the driver to drop us at the side entrance so that we could avoid the 100rmb entrance fees (she found that out from someone's blog). The driver told her that all the side entrances are now closed. He then drove us to one of the side entrance to show us. Okay, fine, we saw that it was infact closed. He stopped the van, turned his head to us and said that by paying him half the price, he could bring us in or he would drive us to the main entrance where we had to pay the full price. Pa agreed. He drove us around and stopped somewhere. He told us to follow him quickly and quietly. We walked behind him into a very narrow alley and into a shop and then we were there, inside the ancient town. Wao...what an exciting experience!

We found ourselves in some kind of movie set. Real ancient and original !! The dark buildings, the narrow sunken walkway, the canal, the boat......everything is so old. Well, it's almost a thousand years old.

No, this is not movie set. This is REAL!  The platform along the river are paved with ancient stone slab. The wood is all black in color. Even the roof is black and some are already slanting. The surface of the wood pillars are so smooth. The weather was cold and it made the atmosphere seem serene.

We enjoyed our lunch on the second floor of  a tiny shop by the river very much.   

Hearty meal!

 After lunch, we continued to stroll around the place.

Amidst the promenade!

Tourist boats.

Mission Impossible 3 was filmed here!

When it started to drizzle, we walked out of the town and hailed a taxi to the railway station. When we were back to Shanghai, we went to Nanjing shopping road.

Pizza Hut in Nanjing Road, Shanghai.

 

Our dinner, Chinese McDonald!

Nanjing Road is a typical shopping area. The road is full of huge shopping malls. We had dinner at the McDonald. On the way back to our hotel, we had super at a small eatery. Mum liked the vege noodles very much. 

 

 

 

 

Shanghai (day 1)

YEOH~ ~ ~, finally I get myself to blog about our yearly family trip 2012, 3 months late.

AA flew direct to Hangzhou and not Shanghai when we booked the ticket. So we landed in Hangzhou international airport on 29 Oct 2012. After immigration checkpoint, we took a bus to the train station. From there, we bought tickets for Bullet train to Shanghai.



View from the train. Nice looking houses.

That was our very first bullet train experience. It brought us to Shanghai in 45mins time, average speed of 300km/hr. We couldn't actually feel the speed. From Shanghai Hongqiao train station, we took the subway to downtown Shanghai. The Manhattan Jinling hotel is just across the street. Finally, at about 4pm, we were able to put our luggage down and rest for a while.

My first impression of Shanghai was a super big train station (there are 4 railway stations and 2 international airports!!), super busy subway station (there are 7 lines all together!) and a lot of grand looking buildings! Phew....talk about cosmopolitan city!

Not to waste any more precious time (time is extremely precious when we were on holidays!), we walked to Yu Garden. Yes, we walked. And that's the reason why my mum chose this hotel, doesn't she smart?!

Glamorous Yu Garden!

 Only a short distance, we were in Yu Garden in no time. It was only...like.. 5.30pm, and it was already dark. It was not even winter yet! Anyway, Yu Garden is beautiful at night! The Chinese buildings are all lighted up and they glowed! Needless to mention, we were busying posing for cameras!  We then had our dinner at one of the eatery. Had famous Shanghai dumpling and Xiao Long Pau. Errr...taste soso only!

 When we had enough of the place, we walked further down to the Shanghai Bund!! Wow...it was really glamorous! Across the river, colourful buildings have their reflections on the Huangpu river making the surface of the water so attractive. There, the Oriental Pearl Tower stood proudly among the commercial buldings! There were a couple of tourist boats and they too were nicely lighted.   

The magnificent Oriantal Pearl Tower (in globe shape).

  On the other hand, historical buildings (in early 1900s, they were the banks, trading houses, clubs etc) are all illuminated in Golden Yellow on this side of the river. The luxury Peace Hotel is also here. The stretch of the road here looked majestic!

Majestic old buildings along the Bund!

The night scene of the bund is really nice! Unfortunately, a short while after we arrived, it started to drizzle. The temperature dropped and it was COLDDD....Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun here. Mama tried very hard to capture the view with mini tripod. When all of us were starring at the camera on tripod, people were looking at us. Some walked by carrying the umbrella with their heads turned to look at us. I then imitated their action and their look and everyone ended up laughing like crazy people!!  

When the drizzling got heavy, we had no choice but to walk back to our hotel.

Our first day in Shanghai, not bad at all.




 

Chinese New Year 2013

CNY nails!

Year of SNAKE, water snake. *dramatic organ* haha. Hey guys, sorry for the late thingy, Chinese New Year was here, the year of the snake *dramatic organ* er.... right.... My family and I went back to Enggor, Kuala Kangsar, Perak, my father's hometown. It's a small kampung, but I like it. That's where we celebrate our CNY every year.

We left home at 5.00 IN THE MORNING -.- and it was so long, so heavy, so freaking annoying..... the jam. *dramatic organ* yeah.... we reached Ipoh at about 9 in the morning? 4 hours... it normally take us less than 2 hours to reach there, because of the STUPID JAM. ugh no hatred, no hatred. We checked in to our hotel, Ipoh Boutique Hotel, it's a really nice and cozy hotel, it may be small, but it's new, clean.

5.30am North South Highway just before Sungai Buloh.

We drove to K.Kangsar after our second breakfast of Wantan Mee which was terrible and we had to pay doubled the normal price. (Earlier we had McDonalds in the car when we started our journey. ) It was a 1 hour drive, no big deal.

Taiping temple.

When we arrived at my grandfather's house, we helped around with the worship of our ancestors in the house. After lunch at home, as usual we proceeded to the Temple in Taiping where my grandma rest :3 I never get to see her, she was long gone before I was born.  My dad said that her cooking was awesome, it's a pity that i will not have the chance to taste them. After simple worshipping, Pa drove to Taiping old pasar for some snacks which was not very nice. Then he drove to Taiping lake for me to take a look. Wow...it's beautiful!

Picturesque Taiping Lake.

We were then back to Enggor. And I played... with my iPad...for a while. Before the preparation of the reunion dinner started, my dad took me on a motorcycle ride. I have never been on a motorcycle ride before.. except that one time.  Pa told me that I was on a motorcycle ride when I was ....6, and I got really scared. This time I was a little scared, but I enjoyed the wind blowing at my face. Pa rode the motorcycle to the Victoria bridge just behind my grandfather's house. The bridge was a railway bridge and it lays across the Perak River. My dad said that it was built back in the WWII but it's not in used anymore. It is long and on one side of the bridge, there is a path built for motorcycles for the villages from the village across the river. I managed to step and stand in the middle of the track. It was scary because there were gaps between the sleepers on the tracks and when I looked down I could see the river. My dad took a few pics. We went back after we walked to and fro on the bridge.


A view with Perak river on the bridge. 

Almighty Victoria bridge!!

 The relatives decided to have the reunion dinner at home after 2 consecutive years of bad experience in the restaurants. So we were back to homecook style this year, well, potluck!  Pa cooked butter prawns and fried meehoon/rice. The rest of dishes were from the uncles and aunties. After the dinner, we played with the firecrackers grandpa bought while the men drank liqour and ate dried meat and the women chit chat. At about 11pm, we called it a night and went back to the hotel.



Fire works grandpa bought.

The feast!

The next day we had dimsum for breakfast in Ipoh. Then backed to grandpa's house. Grand auntie came with her family. We exchanged news and some catching ups. After lunch, we went for visiting to cousin's house and had our dinner at granduncle's house. At granduncle's house again Pa took me on a motorcycle ride and we also witnessed some lion dance performance.

 The following day, there were cousins came visiting and again "huha-ings" and hellos and finally goodbyes! After that we were backed to KL. Though it was short, I enjoyed a break away from school and away from all the usual stuff...... till next year!!