Surprise Birthday Party #2 for SawCheng

This is obviously a more carefully planned surprise party than ZG's. Haha. JW invited all of us to this one like a week before. Total number of people who turned up is 18 including birthday girl. :)

Took place just a day after ZG's one, April 20th. Held at KFC, the only place for any kind of actual parties, since it's the only fast food outlet where people here can hang out.

Before the party started.

Of presents...

...and the cake. Looks yummy. 

A group photo before the party.

SawCheng, the birthday girl. :)

Isn't she cute?! You can't help but smile when she smiles. :D

Making a wish~

And cutting the cake ;)

Group photo! :D. ZG is hiding behind =.=

It ended pretty well, everyone had some cake and were happy. :D
Also caught up with some of those whom did not hang out with us much. Updated news with them. ;)

Glad that at least half of the class is still together at a short notice! :)

Surprise Birthday Party #1 for ZongGui

This happened way back at 19th April, on ZG's birthday, but there were too many things happening in my life at that time that I didn't have time to write about this properly. Now that things have settled down (read: starting to become boring again), I'm finding something to write again. You know, so that I won't go rusty when I'm starting to do essays again during my pre-u.

We never exactly planned for a surprise actually, I remembered his birthday just in time (one day earlier, actually) and called the others up about it. Then they hastily threw a plan together, arranging for someone to get the cake and someone to go to his house and keep him from leaving it. LOL. JM had our present wrapped up. We got him a very practical tumbler when at KL. Something for him to bring to UTAR. ;)

His was a very easily done surprise party because his house is like a public place where anyone and everyone can enter with ease. So it wasn't shocking or inappropriate at all to see a bunch of us quietly entering his back door and shushing each other downstairs, then climbing up the stairs to his room.
All of us did this numerous times, excluding the quietness.

Stop! Not ready yet!

Waiting expectantly outside his room. This is so funny. Hahaha. Sorry for not very clear photos. His room is quite dim, and photos were taken with my phone. Not optimum situation! BUT, photos taken with a phone always produce the best candid shots. LOL.

Room is full of people! 

There were like about 10 people present. :D I didn't even know some of them knew about the surprise. Evidently news travel a lot faster than light here.
His room is always very packed. It's like a rendezvous for meet ups all the time. You know, like KFC for town peeps. Haha. Most of the time you can even walk in unannounced, no need to knock too. But it's like desert. Very, very hot especially in the afternoon, and apparently very very cold at night according to the guys who stayed over.

Tiramisu cake, which tasted okay. The point is not the cake, it's the surprise. Haha. It was a very warm atmosphere, no pun intended. We had a lot of fun just talking.

*grins*

A birthday wish.

Cake-cutting moment~

Opening the present ;)

Apparently wrapping is too complicated haha.

It wasn't the perfect surprise birthday party, BUT it's a sincere one. ;)
I love the warmth and sincerity of people here at Balik Pulau. You guys are awesome. <3

Nandaka Vihara Meditation Site and a Meditating Butterfly

Visited this very very very peaceful meditation site in Kulim, Kedah.

It is nestled far away in the forest actually, hence the tranquil setting perfect for meditation. 

We had to use GPS to find it. If not we'd surely miss the branch road as it is only a small road branched from the main road and we didn't expect it. 

There isn't an exact entrance, rather the entrance is on the right with a Chinese temple off the small road, and still 200m onward before reaching the actual meditation site. 

The wide meditation area. 

Not sure if it's because of the simple peace there, but I encountered a butterfly upon the meditation area, which miraculously did NOT fly away when I came very near it. O.O
It even hopped around. I thought it was hurt, but later it flew away easily after some people walked up to it.

Managed to take close-ups of the pretty butterfly with a phone, no zoom. Miracle.
Maybe it's meditating. Hahaha.

Visited the surroundings of the place. Lush with greenery and very quiet.

Lots and lots and lots of fish.

Entrance to a hill path up to see the Buddha relics

There are meditation chalets for people who don't want to go home, haha

Destination :D

Selfshot #1: Don't look nice today, so only took very few photos with me in it. Not passable for posting.

Relics. Can't get near it. Door is locked, this is taken from one of the holes in the door. 

What can I say. Sometimes we do get bored.
*damn, miss my lens. This is what happens when laziness takes over. :(*

The trail. It's uphill and downhill, so might need a bit of energy. :)

Parents. <3

Too far too small too bright to see me in detail! Hahahaha.
*hair still not long enough :(*

It's a perfect place to meditate, it's so quiet. And apparently you cannot use phones. Meditation sessions are held every Friday night.

For me, I'm still a hot-blooded young thing, hahahaha so it's not for me, yet. Maybe, when I'm much older, and have done everything I want in life and have nothing else I want to do, then perhaps it's time for some deeeeeep self-reflection and meditation. I believe it brings peace to our inner self though, so if you're troubled then maybe you should do some kind of meditation. ;)

If you wanna visit, be sure to have a GPS. Although it stopped functioning after going off the small road with the chinese temple on the right. =.= No worries, just go straight on for about 200m and you'll see the sign.

But GPS is still useful for main roads and such. Be sure to turn into Jalan Kolam on the left off the main Kulim road. It's not obvious though, you'd have to look out for it. There's a stall selling Malay food right at the road entrance though.

Happy meditating!

Of Temples and A Wheel of Fortune

"When I worship, I would rather my heart be without words than my words be without heart."
-Lamar Boschman.

I love places of worship.
And no, I don't mind if it's a church, or a temple (whatever it is, Sri Lanka, Burmese, Siamese...), or even a mosque (can't say the last one for sure because I haven't been there LOL)

Because all of them have the same feeling of calm, peace and tranquility.
I adore churches. They're always so quiet and peaceful. The silence is worth its weight in gold. Being there is like the nearest you can get to be with God. And it's so easy to reflect and ponder deeply about life, and what have you done and not done throughout your life. You can just sit there and meditate/just think in peace.

For temples, you'd have to do a bit of research. You won't find peace at very popular tourist temple sites. Those temples will probably be choke full of people and the incense smoke will literally make you cry. Head for those temples where you're not allowed to burn incense and talk loudly. Less popular places also mean less people, so you can think in peace.

Visited two kinds of temples today, and nope, they aren't the ones where you buy joss sticks, pray at a thousand parts of the temple and offer several sticks to each part, and then burn your paper gold and go home. I did that many times though, and still do. It's worst during special festivals like Chinese New Year. The crowd is humongous.

First my parents went to check out our car, the one whose butt got hurt in a car accident. Almost done, just need to put on the bumper and spray paint it. Probably okay by next week, yay! :)

And then we visited the famous temples on Burma Road. Penang.
A lot of tourists come here, all the time. It's one of the must-see tourist sites in Penang. Being locals we just went in, prayed, had the monks shower us with the holy water, donated, and then come out. Although there are a lot of tourists, it's much more peaceful here, because they don't burn incense. LOL.

This is the new large statue. Really huge. Lotus candles are offered.

Been here. :P
This was at the opposite temple, the Sleeping Buddha one.

Yes, this one.

Lotsa people, lotsa candles.

This is the famous Wheel of Fortune. I've been loving this all my life. :D

I have a thing for the wheel of fortune at the temple. It's very easy, just ask your question, put in your 50sen coin, and there's this light that goes around and around until it stops at a "random" number. Then you take the paper with your number on it and read the supposed answer to your question.

Is it true? No one knows. But it is fun, and I do it every time I go there. To preserve the "real" feel, you can't play more than once, and you can't read other numbers. Just read yours. 

I asked about my near future actually. My number is 15 this time. It's supposed to be a very lucky number, according to the paper. "Whatever you are intending to do will be good and successful", and "your family will get good health and happiness"...

Great then. I can now decide without fear. :D

And there was this part that made me laugh out loud. "You are lucky in love affairs. It seems that many people love you and are trying to chase after you but you may not yet realize about this."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. Oh really. I am lucky? Did they leave out the "un-" in front?

*but then, I'm asking about my near future, not current situation I guess*

And I do realize, but unfortunately I'm so not into any of them. :(

One right one is worth many wrong ones. :/

What a pity for that luck, since I'm aiming focus on studies now. Hahaha. Please come back in my not-so-near future, thank you very much.