IC Fresher’s Camp 2009

yeah, Imperial College Malaysian Society has their own fresher’s camp. That will probably give you an idea how many Malaysians there are in Imperial. I heard there are 100++ fresher’s this year although only 38 turned up for the camp. I never imagine there were so many people going! Imperial is definitely earning BIG BUCKS from international students. The annual tuition fees are like three times the local student’s fees! O_o

But ahh, this post is suppose to be about the camp~ It was awesome indeed although it’s only a short 3 days 2 night camp. (trips all seems so short when compared to the 5 days BTN camp, haha!) So on friday the 4th, my dad dropped me and yeechinn at the klcc lrt station and we took the lrt to KL Sentral which was our meeting point in McDonalds and I swear we did annoyed them a little with such a big group gathering there but hardly buying anything.

and guess who I saw there, Shari Lim! With her, me, YeeChinn and Shi Yunn, plus Han Yang who’s already in Imperial, it means there’s 5 previous Lick Hung 6K students studying in Imperial! I wouldn’t dream that I would be going to the same uni as my previous primary school classmates, and all 4 of them as well! It’s a blessing indeed!

Right, so we head off to PANGKOR (yes, our camp is in pangkor! how awesome is that?) on the bus and I got to know a few people in the bus including Steph (biotech) who sat in front of me, Michael and Winson who’s both taking Chem Eng (the most popular course). So they share their experience and I’m ashamed to say I have ZERO musical skills and ZERO sports skills. O_o ah well, time to be a bit thick face. :p
We got to know a lot of seniors too, in the ferry and all and it wasn’t hard to communicate with them as most of them are only a year older and some the same age as us! ^^
Checked in just as we arrived the resort, and the condition wasn’t bad at all, considering we paid only RM70 for the whole trip. (But I think we were sponsored as well..) I got into the same room with Kayla and XinNing (my taylor’s junior!)

Alright, before I start boring you with the details, let me jump straight to the fun parts, like getting into groups blindfolded and meow-meow-ing. Was in the same group as Zhi Xiong again~

Had one of the funniest senior MengKit as our faci:

and the next morning we went for KAYAK-ing after a game of frisbee. The last time I did it was with Che in temenggor, I Think? I didn’t plan to get wet at first, but with the waves and splashing of paddles, I was half drenched already. Paddling to the island opposite the beach I was surprised to see CORAL ISLAND on the rock and I was ohmygawd, I came here before! =.=” I did have the suspicion that the beach we’re on was teluk nipah : coral beach, but it looked pretty different and I couldn’t confirm for sure. For your info, I have been to this same beach for like gazillion times when I was younger. But i’m glad to visit the same place again to find the condition improving! ^^ The last time I was there, the beach was partly destroyed and the water oily. Now it’s much more clear and bluish, and the sand has smooth down by the constant tide that moves in. Unfortunately, the sandy beach is still pretty short, it used to stretch out further and we could camp on the higher sandy parts. And I didn’t see the temple at the end of the beach. Didn’t go that far, so I’m not sure if it’s still there.

So, apparently the seniors had their fresher’s camp on the same stretch as well, just different resort. We rested under the shaddy trees on the beach and went climbing on stones in coral island. Then we head off to another stretch of beach and roam about. As everybody head back when it’s times up, Michael who was sitting behind me suggested we go a big round around coral island instead of heading straight back and thus we sneak off to paddle the longer way. The annoying part was either the waves/wind/paddling stroke keeps veering out boat towards the right and every now and then we have to paddle it back to the correct direction. And my specs keep sliding down my nose and my arms tire easily… But surprisingly, I didn’t get much of a muscle ache the next day or the day after.

We had all sorts of fun indoor camp activities as well but describing them would be too long. So the highlight was the night performance in which all of us have to produce a sketch that includes singing and dancing. Almost all of the groups were awesome, their sketch brought tears of laughter into out eyes. One of the funniest was Ming Hui with his french accent! haha! Congrats to the winners, I’m sure they well deserve it and congrats to us all for doing better than the seniors! (or so they said)

one of our indoor games/activities~

Senor, seez wat small hips he havez, diz won’t do~

we performed spongebob squarepants~

Then we chatted with the seniors, got to know more about life in imperial till late at night. Besides all the fun we had, it was really useful (imo) getting to know the seniors and all the other freshers, getting all the useful information we're suppose to know, and gear up out spirits of looking forward into uni life! Of course, all the talk about how hard the courses will be scare us a little as well, but has yet to dampen our spirits~

ah i nearly forgot! Our mole! She's so cute and funny that nobody suspected! And we were in the same group some more! GOSH~ I won't share the details here but I was so surprised to know, didn't really expect it. I would have known if I checked out one of the senior's flickr photos in which he posted the link. But I didn't, so ahh…

our darling mole~

and she was sitting right beside me! can u imagine it?

the last morning has really biG wAvEs. We went for banana boating, it wasn’t as great as Redang’s one but fun nevertheless. Then we played along the beach with the waves. First time I have ever experienced such waves. I can finally imagine how people go for surf boarding. Though the water wasn’t deep, it was strong enough to push and pull you if you’re not anchoring yourself well into the sand. It was pretty fun though, rolling along with the waves cause we made sure we didn’t go in too deep. The boys were crazy though, they literally ran straight into the crashing waves and a couple of them lost their specs. Luckily I put mine away first. The last few round of waves scared us a little before we got off though. It was really strong and it just tumbled all over us and we were practically turning 360 degrees in the water due to the force. And when you try to get up, the water that rushes back into the sea pull you backwards. Took two or three rounds of crashing waves for me to get out. Glad to say we were all safe and sound and took a group picture before we head back to clean up.

banana boating 2nd group~

Trip back on the bus was filled with sessions of lame but funny trick questions and learning about imperial geek’s game. Am pretty bad in it though, since I don’t have good mental arithmetics.

Let the pics show how fun it was! ^^ Pics courtesy of Senior Faiz and Justin! Am just stealing them off facebook~
Senior Justin takes amazing bright and clear pictures with his dslr, rachel~

Other group discussion pic~

Winson, another winner of the best actor. We have three in total! that was how awesome we were~

The seniors had fun dumping people into the sea~

we split into frisbee/captain ball and volley/beach ball game~

we rock overall~

The other side of Penang

Yes, Penang is not only a city of food and shopping. It has it’s own natural wonders and beauty. So behold these beautiful sights…

Starting of with Penang Hill
We sat the cable train up.

It’s a really steep rail from top to bottom.

spot the tunnel behind?

Upon reaching up there, beautiful views of Penang greeted us. I’m sorry to say my camera couldn’t capture the view and the atmosphere nicely but u can easily spot the penang bridge from there.

Telescopes are provided and as I peer into them I can see vehicle crawling along the road but I have no idea where I’m looking at. I spent most of the time enjoying thre breeze and the view. You can even see patches of green areas that are the padi fields in either Seberang Perai or Kedah.

So we had lunch in a restaurant that has a few hanging vipers sleeping among the crawling vines and leaves. Then while the rest sat the train back, we climb down the jeep road from Penang Hill. Note that I say ‘climb’ because going downhill is not as easy as you think. It’s really really steep at most parts and I ended up going downhill backwards. They say it’s better as to not hurt yr knee and lend weight to your muscles instead. So I had an aching calf muscle the next day.

Some grand house on the way down

i guess this is how they lie down

and they were loitering the streets

of course, they picks ticks for their family members

a strange sight of a falling tree due to landslide

The next day, we set of for a boat trip to beaches that can’t be access by land unless u plan to jungle trek through the forest trails (which I plan to next time).

A beautiful view from Pantai Kerachut

Relaxing by the beach

Stream flowing into the open sea

The bridge that leads to the trail

This is call a meromictic lake, the only one in Malaysia. It’s a mud area during the dry season. But in April/May or Oct/Nov which is the monsoon season, It’ll be filled up with water that is separated into two different layers. One is sea water and the other is fresh water that never mixes. Hence the name meromictic.

Me and my baby cousin Rui Han.

Boat ride was wonderful as usual. I just love speed boat rides!
And we went to visit the mangrove area and the fishing village.

an Otter we spotted munching fishes

the fishing village

Fisherman rowing his boat while casting his net

the way into the mangrive swamp

Family enjoying the boat ride

swimming monito lizard (biawak)

and staring off into that endless ocean, it scares me a bit at times. Imagine getting lost in the middles of an ocean where you don’t see land anywhere. It makes me feel small, the awesome and dangerous ocean.

Then we went to monkey beach. In which my dad and I climb steps up to the lighthouse despite our (or rather my) aching limbs. It was worth the effort for I felt pretty good upon achieving to reach our destination. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go in.
still, here’s a pic of the light house.


Before we started climbing, near the entrance.

We had our tea/lunch before we climbed.

most delicious roti canai soak in kari ever!

some kid playing at the beach

It’s not called monkey beach for no reason.

my sister swinging this nice swing hanging from the branches.

one of my favourite picture of this trip

Can u spot the golden ship?
That’s what happen when the sunset rays shine upon it at a certain angle. It looks really beautiful.

Presenting:

The cutest star of the day!

again, more pictures from my facebook! though I put a lot of them in here already!

coming up next: Liyi’s n weinie’s b’day, heeian’s b’day, octaves gathering
XD catching up on all my unblogged events

Redang

I totally loved the trip.
The sad thing is, my two close classmates didn’t go with me… *whacks*
So i did feel a bit lonely but the other were there for me. So thanks to you guys! you all make the trip as wonderful as it is suppose to be.
Redang water is as clear as ever. Just like perhentian! but the place isn’t as secluded and the beach was really lovely.
I love beaches. To feel those soft soft sand between your toes and to run barefooted everywhere. The splashing of the waves and the swipe of your feet on the water, the sun shining on your face and everything somehow doesn’t feels so real when you are back.
So basically I had a real good time there.
and I hope my swimming improved. Haha!

i enjoyed the company so much too, steph and sham as usual, and the others make me laugh till my stomach ache. Oh and i met eexin there! We did some disco dancing <3 it feels good to dance, but too bad i dunno how to, so i just simply dance. It was really ironic. Our area were like zero ppl there while redang beach resort disco was totally filled. And we celebrated Steph b’day. Big girl has become 18 dee! ^^

Snorkelling was alright i guess. Ah, and seeing that huge fish was just so amazing! It’s so much bigger than me! Like really huge. And i got to see baby sharks again ^^ it’s about the same size as the one i saw in perhentian. Thanks to Joe who showed us around. Too bad i didn’t get to see nemo >< by the time i reached, joe already put it back. But the sea cucumber is really different from the one in pangkor. This one is smooth and rubbery instead or soft and squishy. Banana boating was really funny too. The first drive was the best, it was like damn fast and whoosh, really fast and away. Haha, but tumbling down with all the hands and legs all around, u do get kick and such.
Then at night we played cards and some ppl got drunk. >_> haha, but not too drunk i guess. Anyway, at least I know enough now to be very cautious around such drinks.

Anyway, I will definitely miss all of you guys! i didn’t really feel sad after the dinner. No emo no nothing. But when we were reaching the end of our journey I did felt a pang of regret and sadness. No matter what, it’ll be really hard for all of us to gather like this ever again. Loved you guys! PM9 rocks my socks! The things i felt with you all can’t be expressed, the thanks i have to give are millions for the very wonderful time you all gave me. 0701PM9 was one of the best class I ever had! <3