Penang Forward Sports Club

Christmas Appreciation dinner

2011-11-25T15:05:00.001+08:00

Note: Ok, these pictures are from 2009 so I better post it up before 2009 officially ends!

Anything free is good, seriously.. anyone will agree with me on the statement :p

On the 26th Dec, we had a free sponsored dinner in StoneBay restaurant, in conjunction with Christmas. Everyone was invited to the dinner.

Of course everyone will try their best to make it for the dinner.

One, because it's FREE FOOD.

Two, free karaoke wtf

Three FREE ALCOHOL la what else!

A scene before dinner starts.

After dinner starts, camwhoring automatically starts too. And if you think only the girls like to take pictures, you're dead wrong. The guys had it worse than us :P

The girls can never get a full nice picture of only us without some dude butting into the frame -_-

Someone brought reindeer hairbands and we started to force the guys to camwhore with it :D

Bunny reindeer

With Luke and his broken 'horns'

shit, I recycled my dress :(

Again, I know it's bad of me to say this but it's damn cute la. His eyes are so damn small that when he smiles his eyes just kinda disappear *BOOMZ*

A couple-to-be? :D

I like this picture of us girls but the stupid fella at the side just had to butt in -_- FHL

Then it was medal presentation time

Starting with the men, who won the gold medal for veteran category, everyone refused to come out and admit they're old that the team manager had to call them one by one haha

Then it was the
lau yees, I mean aunties
girls turn.

Of course we had to go shake hands and received the medal from the sponsor.

Tasting the medals

After dinner, everyone was excited for the next plan.

While we girls were more excited on the dancing part, the guys were more excited on this 'cannon', that's like 4 litres of Black Label FTL (Fuck Their Lives)

Our dear doctor friend joined us all the way from KL

The sexy Ong sisters, hey wait! I have the same surname too!

Guess what happened?

No it wasn't nosebleed

We were just sticking on a temp tattoo we got from the new club. Very creative way of sticking the tattoo : Mouth, Cheek & Nose

The multipurpose hat. Great for camwhoring

Karaoke session, Carey and I had a blast singing together!

We must be singing Lady Gaga or something, look so damn kinky like that

So emo, must be singing Taylor Swift

I just realize I've known this girl for 20 long years too! @_@

Then we went Mois (again!)

There is definitely something about dancing with tomboy or lesbian, I don't know.. but I feel protected around her, she shielded me from being molested hahaha

It was a hell lot of fun that night...

Especially when you get to see a buff guy trying to walk on high heels

It's not as easy as it looks mate

And finally, a pic I've been longing to take for the longest time, the final picture for the last post of 2009...

I present to you...

The 'SPARTAN' pic!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone~!

Celebration party

2011-11-25T15:05:00.000+08:00

Saturday, 28th November 09

Well, sort of...

Also a belated birthday celebration for a dear friend who never fails to buy Flaming Lamborghini for her birthday friends. She finally received her share of FL that night. One question, why does everyone has to have FL for their birthdays? (I think I asked this before) It's possibly the worst tasting alcohol I've ever tasted, worse than cough drop :S Oh well if that's the 'tradition' then we'll go with it.

We tried to get her good aka drunk (she's someone I'd really like to see drunk) that night but the attempt was unsuccessful.

The good thing was that the night was filled with lots of laughter, silliness, a whole lot of camwhoring...

and dancing. I think I said the same thing in every clubbing post :P Err.. what else is there to do?

Sexy moves~

Almost the entire team came to celebrate with us.

With Luke, who also teaches Body Toning in my gym. His eyes are so small people sometimes asked him if he actually blinks FHL

Some of the other rowers, ranging from the youngest 19 - 30s
a lot of uncles haha

Since my most dominant feature on my face is now my TEETH, no longer my SMILE, they made me took an all TEETH shot with another guy with big mouth fml. Please welcome your new Colgate and Darlie ambassador

My mouth still looks bigger wtf

The team manager with the ladies, who could not get a proper shot without interference by other redundant homosapien, someone or someone's finger will surely appear in every frame -_-

With these hand signs, our pictures were no longer decent... sigh...

Molested, payback for every torturous training he put us through haha

We partied in SOI 11, then brought the party over to SOHO where there's better music and the girls were dying to boogie!

Some dude took over my camera and started taking pictures of absolutely everything, everywhere and everyone. After that night, male camwhorers like Siva and Zeek both lose hands down to him. Out of 100++ pictures he took that night, 70% has his face in it @_@

Every picture was "fingered"

My favorite pic of the lot, KRAAAZZZYY bunch~!

This was only half the people who were there

The next day in training, someone mocked us by saying...

Ermm shouldn't have gone hardcore that night...

Race days in Sabah

2011-07-14T21:50:00.001+08:00

I know dragonboat race pictures can be a bit boring especially when you know no one or only one person out of the whole big flock in the pictures so I shall try my best to choose only 'interesting ones' to post up. Of course I will still put the pictures accordingly to the flow.

I have uploaded the photos in FB and I seriously don't feel like posting them up in the blog again but I don't have much things to write about lately so I shall repost the photos in the blog :P (I seriously think I'm getting bored of blogging coz no one reads them anyway)

For those who have yet to see the photocs, enjoy... and for those who have.. well.. I won't force u to do it again :)

Arrival in Sabah, a sort of 'must have' picture for the team

We stayed in the Promenade service apartments, the outlook of the building was a little dirty but the rooms were not too bad really.

Spacious room with 2 queen beds.

With a small living area.

Free n easy activities after lunch so we walked around KK

Mana boleh not camwhore

Watched Super 8 in one of the malls, the cinema was almost empty we hogged the whole place

Nothing eventful on the first day, after movie we had crappy dinner at the Malay night market,then a beer or two before calling it a night.

The next day, we had an hour of boat training at Sutera Harbour, a poshly developed land.

Visited the real race site the day before at Likas Bay

It looked ready

For some reason, I really like this pic. It looked very peaceful.

After boat training I seriously don't remember what we did coz we were so bored that we either just hang out in some cafes or walked around in One Borneo mall.

We had team meeting the night before the race to build the team morale and everyone slept early, like around 10pm coz we had to be up and ready by 630 in the morning the next day FOLs @_@

The next day was what we called the 'heats' events. Teams will compete for the best time and position to qualify for the finals, which is the day after the heats event. Needless to say, our team qualified to the finals for all 4 races we participated in :D

Fast forward to the real race day...

A picture of the 4 of us, we missed you Ms CYT!!!

The dragonboats ready to be ridden

Getting into our tent

Which is right next to the stage

Ahh, it was a beautiful morning alright...

Ought to camwhore

Do not lose this tag or else you won't see your teammates ever again, I was told...

Walking around the place and here's a few of our competitors...

And so the ceremony to officiate the final day of the race began.

We were to gather in front of the stage and took some sort of sportsmanship oath.

After that we were just busy fooling around and laughing away :P

Izso said I looked anorexic in this pic but the truth was I had Oreos in my mouth and I didn't want to risk laughing with stained teeth!

After the official opening, it's time to get to get down to some serious business...

to be continued...need sleep zzz

posted from LIT

What happened in Sabah's race

2011-06-22T21:44:00.001+08:00

Win also wrong, no win also wrong.

The team made headlines for 3 days continuously in the Borneo Post but this was the latest piece of news we got before coming back to Penang.

*click to enlarge*

Clearly, a lot of people still have not grasped the meaning of sportsmanship.
Sigh...

posted from LIT

May the best team win

2011-06-13T21:42:00.001+08:00

I came to work today bearing a slight headache, coarse voice, possible dehydration, dry 'flying' hair, dry skin, a few new pimples, aching body and undeniably 2 shades darker skin tone.

It was an expensive price to pay for being out in the sun for 2 days consecutively, particularly when I'm not getting any younger and 'recovery' will be slightly slower. Despite all that, there was no regret for I enjoyed myself tremendously playing a few roles : team player and supporter.

A LOT of photos were taken during these 2 days, not by moi but by a newly crowned camwhore queen. I took some too but not really in the mood of sorting them out at the moment.

I guess the ultimate question is, did we win?

HELL YEA!!!

Altogether, 3 missions and goals were achieved in the race:
1) 2nd placing for mixed team 250m
2) 2nd placing for mixed team 500m
3) Men's boat beat Pacific West, our old rival

Another surprise accomplishment:
The women's boat for 500m made it straight to the finals! But due to poor strategy in the final race, we didn't win anything.

The trophy (picture taken from friend's FB album)

Medal

Why do we feel happy even though if we only got 2nd placing you may ask. Well, for one, we know that it's kinda hard for us to beat the Indonesians, which won the Asia championship recently. Those people look like they're built for it; strong, lean and compactly muscular. We'll need to train a LOT harder if we're gonna take them out the next round. We beat Angkatan Tentera Malaysia (ATM) and Polis DiRaja Malaysia (PDRM) who never fail to give us a run for prizes each time we met.

So tell me, any reason why we shouldn't be proud of ourselves for coming this far? ;)

Here's a tribute to the great leaders in the team.

The rowing coach and team manager who never stop believing in us

The strict, hardcore physical trainer who keeps reminding us time and time again that combination of hardwork + discipline + great focus + great teamwork => VICTORY

And of course, if it ain't for all the team members who believe in themselves, it would have not been possible. You guys are greater than great!

Not a complete photo of the team.

Oh another good news, check this out. Another appearance in the newspaper (online only I think) It's in Chinese but there's always Google Translate :D Our team's women were asked to pose for photos with us flexing our muscles
because we look like we can man handle some guys

Another history made.

posted from LIT

Gearing up!

2011-06-09T21:39:00.002+08:00

Less than 2 days to go till the Penang International Dragonboat Festival.

Checklist :

Military style physical trainings - CHECKED

Hardcore boat trainings - CHECKED

Capable fit rowers - CHECKED

Commitment of attendance from participating rowers - CHECKED

Sponsors for drinks and food on race day - CHECKED

New jersey for the team - CHECKED

Not exactly the sexiest but since it's sponsored, it'll do

I'm excited! Let's go win something this year and beat our old rival for once! Wish us best of luck! :)

posted from LIT

Buffing up

2011-04-17T21:37:00.001+08:00

Sunday filler photobomb post.

This is the scene in the ladies gym training session. I know.. the gym is not exactly the nicest or the most comfortable one there is but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

We work hard pumping iron alright,

focusing more on building strength

and anaerobic fitness (superbly despise mountain climbing!)

Nothing beats the satisfaction of a great workout !

Be afraid, be VERY afraid!

First relay run

2011-04-12T21:32:00.002+08:00

It was 7 something on Sunday morning when we found ourselves standing in the fresh dewy green field.

I was as nervous as a boy who's about to attend his first day of school, stomach churning, hands and feet breaking into cold sweat. I looked at the people around and thought 'Fuck, how am I supposed to complete this thing without making a fool of myself?'

As if she read my mind or share the same sentiment, my friend turned around and said 'Sharon, I think we're the fattest bunch here' I can't help but to LOL at her statement, at the same time nodding my head furiously in agreement.

Truth to be told, I was seriously intimated. My physique was nowhere near these bunch of ladies around me. Both young and old; these people with legs of flamingo and bodies as slim as 'teik ko' (pole) were as fit as a fiddle.

How to compare like that?!

Surely this thing is nothing to them but to us, the dragonboat ladies who are obviously bulkier and a lil more muscular than these runners, ONE, we're carrying extra baggage with us and TWO, we might not have stamina as good as these runners. Sure we may be good with our hands (ehem) but not sure when it comes to the legs.

We convinced ourselves it shouldn't be hard to do. It wasn't really.. the distance was just 2.5km each (it was a relay event where you pass one baton from one to another) BUT shorter distance also means that you need to strive for a good time. No one runs alone in this race, team members depended on one another to complete it so by hook or by crook, you still need to give it your best shot.

The men started first

I was the 4th of 6 runners, the longer I waited the more I felt like I had to go....

shit FML -_-" I held it (ok probably too much information here)... while waiting nervously for the third runner to show up to pass me the baton. When I finally saw her scrambling through the crowd huffing and panting her way towards me, I felt the excitement growing. I can't wait to get it over with. And the instant the baton was handed to me, I ran and ran and ran while keeping in mind not to overexhaust myself before the final stretch. Halfway through the run, I regretted not making a visit to the loo earlier as the mixture of anxiety and excitement was starting to have impact on the tummy :S

It was hard but I tried to shove the feelings aside and try to focus on the run; took a deep breath and just kept running. At the final corner before the last long stretch, I overtook 3 other runners and the end destination was clear ahead. Spectators and supporters were clapping, screaming and giving encouragement all the way. When it was close to 200 meters to the end line, I mustered enough conserved energy to sprint. And sprint I did. I ran like the legs no longer belong to me all the way. I saw the next team member waiting to receive the baton from me and I just kept going till the baton was passed to her.

I felt like my lungs were going to burst the moment I stopped. I had to bend over and took big deep breaths of all the air I could get. Sweat was just pumping out of me! People were talking to me but I was too tired to answer. It took me a while to finally breathe normally again and start talking. The feeling was great! We didn't win anything nor did we come last but the satisfaction of having completed the race with the team was just amazing. The rest of the dragonboat guys were proud of us ladies for giving our best :)

I seldom take my camera with me lately and below pics are stolen from Facebook :p

A little party after the run

Birthday celebration for April babies

Women

Initially we only wanted 3 ppl in the photo but an uninvited guest just 'sneaked in' oh well...

Gotta get used to ppl bombarding your photos haha

My accidental ridiculously big running jersey sponsored by the club

Front

Back

Great experience! Looking forward to more of these events!

posted from LIT

Cari sakit

2011-03-21T21:30:00.001+08:00

or simply translated to English, looking for pain.

So we have started our boat training for almost a month now. This year itself we have a lot of new members joining the team which means the family is getting bigger :) The ladies now have one full boat for training *woot* and the guys.. well I believe if all the guys make it to boat training, we would need another extra boat :) yes that's how big the 'family' has become.

The trainings so far have been nothing but good and fruitful. I love the intensity and the pressure given to us, where one needs to really have good mental strength to bear with what we're going through, which I don't think a lot of people have
yes I'm talking about you pussies out there
. Practice, it all comes with practice. People often question why do we put ourselves through such torture and then complain about it later. Well.. let me just phrase this in a nicer way, we are women afterall.. and we will always find something to bitch about, whether or not we like it ;)

Anyway, since I started rowing a few weeks back with the team, I noticed that our training programs have changed. The ladies now row separately with a new coach while the guys, well.. let's just say they have it 5x harder than the ladies.

You might think I'm crazy for saying this, but I actually do want to train as hard as the guys, ok maybe 3x not 5x. It's not only me, there are a few ladies from the team that think the current training is not hard enough for us, in fact, it felt like a walk in the park (albeit the slight pain we get the day after). Hence we decided to shoot a mail to the team manager to voice our 'concern'. If we want to win, we need to train the right way.

One of the ladies volunteered to send the mail, with me being the backup editor. The first draft of the email looks like this:

From the pass training, we ready found that the difficulty level of boat training was not standing with strenght and phisical training. The boat training was too light for lady. Before we feel tired the training was over.
We would like to seek your assistance to review the boat training program for lady.
Will it be better mix the lady with guy ? or increase the time frame and difficulty for boat training ? We believe our lady also can push ourself to improve our strength to win race in futher with the guy as a team.

OMFG, how am I supposed to let this kind of email sent out to the intended people? I'm sorry I just can't, so I decided to compose a new mail, trying to reuse as many sentences as I can from the first draft.

Dear team manager,

I would like to provide some feedback regarding the women's team boat training on Sundays. From the past few trainings we found that the difficulty level of the boat training is not on par or as hard as the strength and physical trainings we have on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Most of us (especially the Forward ladies who have trained with the guys before) felt that the intensity of the training is too light for us (we don't really feel tired after the training).

Therefore, we would like to seek your assistance to review the boat training program for the ladies.

Will if be better if we increase the time frame and difficulty for the boat training? We think that it'll be good if we could get to row with the guys sometimes if we are going to be competing in mix races. It's important for us to get used to the speed in the guys' boat if we are going to work together as a team. We believe the ladies too, can push ourselves in improving our strength to help to achieve the club's objectives: which are to get fitter, better and most importantly, WIN as a team.

Thank you.

There, probably not the best but sounded so much better. And now we wait.....

We'll probably won't look this happy anymore at the end of the training after the mail has been read and evaluated with action plan.

Bring on the pain!

posted from LIT

Why dragonboating rocks

2011-03-03T21:22:00.001+08:00

1) Health purposes

Be it to improve the fitness level or to achieve a leaner, stronger, toner body. Who says beauty and perfection come without hardwork? (Cosmetic surgery doesn't count because that's just cheating)

image from Google

2) Meeting people

You'll be pleased to meet people from different paths and career lines, old and young alike. Having the passion for the same sport closes the gap and brings you closer than you ever think it will (oh wait this sentence sounds a bit wrong)

3) Free food

My team has two main bakers and it rocks because we get to eat free cookies and cakes all the time!

4) Birthday celebrations

Free personalized cake by the baking enthusiasts

And lots of beautiful ladies crowding around you singing birthday song ROFL

5) FUN outings

Fitness

or makan, take your pick

6) Camwhore buddies

Everyone loves to be in pictures; whether to show the world they've been there done that or just being proud to be in something they are involved in; we all want an evidence we can look back to

7) Great entertainment

that comes with endless supply of laughter

Who said we are scary?

At least we're not pushing you to the limit to become this! Box muscles wtf!

image from Google

Posted from LIT

The celebration

2010-07-13T10:52:00.003+08:00

And the result of the dragonboat race was...

TADA!!!

If you look carefully at the trophy and you can read Chinese, it says '6'. Ok, so we didn't win first, second or third placing but hell did we put effort into the race! It didn't matter though, we still have a trophy to prove that the team was in the finals!

Group photo at the lobby before departing to the celebration dinner the organizer held for us.

Everyone wants a piece of the trophy after putting much effort into the race :D well duh!

We were brought to a very lavish looking hotel (sorry it totally slipped my mind to take picture of the hotel from the outside) and entering the ballroom where the celebration dinner was held just blew all of our minds. According to some of the guys who had been out racing for years, this was possibly the best celebration dinner they've ever had.

Where's our table?

Every table was nicely setup fine dining style, with local products given out for free on each table.

We have milk of different funky flavours

Red wine and packets of ciggies

VERY very tasty vinegar

and free beer :D

Now altogether now YAM SENG!

Needless to say, it was an affair to remember by all that night. We rowed, we laughed and we got drunk. Ok, not me, I mean the guys. I stayed away from alcohol that night. Ok, so I may have a glass of beer and a sip of red wine but that's all. It was truly a celebration enjoyed by all.

Great food = Happy stomachs

Great people = Lots of fun and laughter involved.

Let me talk about the food.

The organizers made sure all of us went back not only with full stomachs but STUFFED as well. Have you ever had a 14 course dinner? Not me, definitely my first time.

Our first dish, oh-so-orgasmic plate of pork! It's so good everyone fought till the very last piece! @_@ Confirmed the best plate of pork I've had ever.

Prawn with pepper, pretty tasty too

After the second dish, rice wine was served.

and so did the alcohol binge! Yuck the taste of the rice wine was too strong for me, I don't have to taste it to know how strong it was :S

Next is the sliced conpoy or dried scallop in sweet corn soup

and bak chang! (glutinous rice in bamboo leaf) It's sweet.

Next in the list we had fried cashew nuts with 2 kinds of meat

Deep fried crisp chicken, loved it!

Pork ribs with ginger

Fried fish with special sauce. I think the special sauce was the vinegar. Didn't like it, it had too much of the vinegar that the dish sucked to the max.

Stir fried beer with black pepper and onion

Fried rice with egg and ham. At this point, I can only stomach the peas and pieces of ham.

Pan fried onion cake, normal and bland

Braised mushrooms with vegetables

Fried noodle... bleh~

Last but not least, the final dish, fruit platter

Our steersman lived up to his reputation as being the last one standing when all of us couldn't go on anymore! He kept eating!

There were performances from different teams throughout the night. Teams from England, Australia, Macau, Hong Kong and even the host country gave performances; be it drama or singing.

As you can see, it was indeed a happening night for all. Performers as well as the audience.

He's not a local celebrity but he acted like one! Ok, so he's a hot fireman from Macau.

One of the many things that happened in celebrations like this is...

Jersey exchange between different teams.

Yes yes, we know you have muscles too!

That's right, if you like other teams' jersey you can just approach any one of the member and ask to exchange jersey with them, on the spot! But not before you're forced to take picture half naked!

Sigh, they all looked like they were molested LOL

After the celebration dinner, the night was still early so the guys decided to take the party down town to a club called Babyface.

In the cab, where you can catch World Cup matches live at the back of the taxi on the tv screen!

The following pictures are self explanatory. All of us had great fun that night! :D

And the peace sign is so overrated -_- It practically appears in 7 out of 10 photos -_-"

This is how much the team manager was "loved"

It was our last night in Guangzhou and all good things must to come an end. We decided to go for another round of 'makan' session (god bless our tummies) for a good end.

It was possibly one of the best supper I've had in my life.

This grilled mackerel dish smelt a little foul when they first served it, I was qite hesitant to try it in the beginning but after much persuasion and convincing from the rest of the people, I gave it a try. The rest was history, I can't stop eating it.

Roti canai, China style haha. Crispy.

Grilled brinjal, awesome sauce but we have this here too.

Mutton satay, omfg so thick and juicy!

Steamed dumplings, best eaten dipped with vinegar, 2 thumbs up!

Grilled 'ku chai', I think it's called garlic chives in English, the kind you normally find in your plate of char koay teow. Who would have thought it could taste this good? It had to be the seasoning they used.

This wraps up the report on our Guangzhou trip. Like I said, I didn't enjoy China in the beginning especially after the stories I've heard of the public toilets but the great company and food made up for everything else. It was too bad I didn't spend more days in China for more sightseeing but I know this will not be my first and last trip.

Thank you, for the patience in reading my long winded stories. Again, I hope you've enjoyed reading my travel stories as much as I've enjoyed writing them :)

Till then, cheers~!

Guangzhou - Race Day!

2010-07-08T16:11:00.002+08:00

Quoted from the official PFSC blog on drummer:

The question then arises: “Why do we need the Drummer?”
- Very simply, because a Dragon Boat without Drummer is no longer a Dragon Boat and because we do need someone to throw into water after racing and - finally we all want our fun! It is fun to take the person who has been yelling at you during all the practices and races and throw them into the water.

Ok, so maybe not all stated in the above is true, we don't have a drummer during practice sessions, the drummer will have to be part of the rowing team as well, which means he/she will have to row together with the rest.

I have to be honest, I am not a good rower; my strokes are probably still out of sync and my stamina runs out fast (the consequences of skipping too many rowing trainings) but if there's one thing for sure I can contribute to the team, it's my loud chi cha voice haha

And that's what they need for a drummer; someone who can shout out loud and non stop. Sharon is just the perfect candidate (or so she thinks) *ehem* and when the team manager asked who would like to be the drummer for the race, she was only more than happy to volunteer.

3rd day! Finally the real race day.

Due to the high capacity of participants, judges and supporters staying in the hotel, breakfast was chaotic. And bland too.

I took a bite of everything just to get a taste of it and left the rest uneaten :p Now now don't lecture me on food wastage.

By 830 in the morning, we were all gathered at the lobby waiting for our transport to take us to the race location.

Australian supporters with their super big thumb!

Our tai kong (steersman) proves that he can sleep anywhere, anytime!

It was again raining! The bleak wet weather did not prevent these old ladies from getting their foot massage.

The weather was just so discouraging but sort of a blessing in disguise. No need for sunblock or sunglasses!

The one and only team representing Malaysia, aiseh...

First picture of our new jersey! Say it's nice! My boss saw this picture then he saw

this...

and he asked,

"How come you guy wrap yourself up so much? After all those gruesome trainings you've been through, don't you want to flaunt your bodies?!"

Ermm we're not that confident with our bodies... yet!

Main sponsor for the jersey ;)

Bored of waiting so we camwhored for a bit...

So cold the nipples are showing LOL

The chairman being interviewed by the local media

The race was officially started with long decorated dragonboats cruising down the river with people drumming in the boat. I don't know if they have a certain rhythm to abide to but it was kinda fun to watch :D

Video below if you're interested.

More 50 people boat, lots of them...

Dragon's head, somehow it sounds kinda vulgar addressing it in Hokkien, if you know what I mean lol

Opps, too heavy the boat actually sunk! No casualties tho :)

Team banner

Paddles

If-you-die-its-not-our-problem form

And how can we not take the obligatory team photo!

Our team was to compete with the other 5 teams; 1 from Canada and the rest of the 4 from HK if I'm not mistaken at 10.50am.

Here's the assistant coach giving last minute instructions and motivation to the team! I love how everyone looked so serious and concentrated! Go team!

It was my second time being a drummer and despite the fact that it was drizzling and I was a little panicky sitting at the edge of the boat feeling insecure, I love EVERY MINUTE of it.

I love the adrenaline rush prior to the start of the race, it was like I was almost as nervous as the rest of the guys though I don't have to work as hard as them except to scream my lungs out with words of encouragement. The advantage of sitting a level up higher than the rest is that you're able to see how hard everyone is working. The scream of pain on their faces as they pushed themselves to the limit, putting effort in each and every stroke pushing the boat forward was just... exhilarating.

And it just makes you want to work and scream HARDER! I don't know, I was like a crazy woman screaming nonstop on the top of my lungs the moment the race started. To the extent that I got carried away and the beating of the drum was getting faster with each passing second that it almost screwed up the timing of the first guy sitting in the front of the boat HAHA and he claimed that I scared the bejesus out of him for screaming so loud WTF ermm come on.. I have to scream loud enough to encourage the whole boat right? :D

The comments were that I screamed loud, like loud enough to give good motivation and encouragement - GOOD.
BUT the problem is, I screamed and talked too fast that they don't know what the hell was I talking about - BAD

We ended up second in the first heat, automatically qualified straight to the finals!

When we were back, it was time for lunch. A Chinese lunch box! It was surprisingly good :D

After lunch, we had more time to fool around before the finals.

We then walked around the place for a bit
hoping to spot hot guys

This was where competing teams enter and received life jackets and paddles (if you don't have one)

Guangzhou team banner

The Aussie women back from race

This was where we got onto the boats

The final race was at 2.50pm in the afternoon. We gave it all our best alright, only this time I toned down a little on my screaming after the feedback I received on being too loud and too distractive :p but the spirit cheered on~!

And the final result is....

to be revealed in the next post... eh writing long entry is effort drenching ok? Gimme a break!

Guangzhou - Training day

2010-07-05T12:46:00.001+08:00

An athlete - a title, a status I never thought I would be 'awarded' by the organizers for the period of time we were in Guangzhou. I almost roll on the floor laughing upon being presented this tag to wear it around my neck.

Hence this tag is definitely for keeps for the rest of our remaining non athletic lives :p

The first agenda of the day was to go to a 'special' training center where the rowers will be taught different rowing skills by a skilled master. Every competing team was assigned a guide who will be in charged of the meals and transportation.

Looking happy to depart! and some gloomy faces of course...

It was raining EVERY SINGLE DAY we were there and this was just the beginning. Scene of Guangzhou city on a rainy day.

I did not know where we were heading to in the beginning so it was a big pleasant surprise when I was told that we're actually headed towards the Fohsan Huang Fei Hong Wushu Dragon and Lion Association, a training center where kids and adults alike are trained on the skills of wushu, dragon boating and lion dance. Very impressive I must say!

If the name Huang Fei Hong does not ring a bell, I suggest you google the movie Once Upon a Time in China. Back then, I was so in love in Wong Fei Hong I even dreamt of marrying him haha, ok please note that I was only 14 at that time and it was very normal then to dream of marrying some actor. :p

A huge figure of "Guan Gong" outside the building.

I didn't know what this read back then but now I know, it says 'Poh Chi Lam'

Chinese medicine and herbs anyone?

Ermm, the illustration of the history I assume

We walked past a hall where the students in this association sleep. Right on the floor with only a mat and a blanket to keep them warm through the night.

We toured the place for a little bit while waiting for the master to make an appearance. Came to this huge hall where a few students were practicing their lion dance routine. I'm telling you, these kids are very very fit for their age. They have muscles and packs that will put a regular gym goer to shame anytime.

Fooling around with their training equipments.

I swear I had no idea what I was trying to do. Copy and paste from all the kungfu movies I've seen, at least I think this is one of the styles haha...

Can't read what it says but I assume this is the proud corner as many trophies and awards are placed here.

BIG drum!

Biggest lion head in the world!

This is how huge it is...the lion's mouth reminds me of an old Malay folklore called 'Batu Belah Batu Bertangkup' heh

Even the door is MASSIVE!

Enough fooling around, it's time to get down to some serious business.

That day was the day I felt the whole trip was worth it. For it was the first time ever in my life to witness for myself a real dragonboat, made from fine wood,

and stretches milessss long (ok maybe miles sounds a little exaggerated but man, these boats are looong)

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a 50 people dragon boat.

Gold drums...

The men getting ready to roll...

Unpacking the paddles

See I told you that hugeass paddle bag can fit a
short
small human.

Paddles and butt seats

The 50 men boats were back from training.

I cannot imagine how heavy the boat must be.

Ok, back to our small boat, a 20 people boat.

This is how 'fit' Malaysian dragon boat rowers' are. Note the man in the middle with exposed tummy LOL

And this is how 'fit' the rowers from this association are. It was indeed a jaw dropping, saliva dripping sight wtf

While the men were out there rowing and listening to instructions,

the ladies of the team sat back and enjoy an array of flesh display before them. Although I can't say the sight of men washing their bodies with detergent powder and dirty river water is desirable to look at.

Definitely my first time seeing a big bunch of fit men together.

After the training session, it was time to break for lunch. Lunch was at the big hall where the kids were practicing their lion dance routine earlier.

This lunch, was another event to remember for life. A big bucket of rice was place at the side and you have to scoop your own rice.

Dining place, as simple as it can get.

Do not be fooled by the appearance. This was possibly the best tasting dish/food I've had in Guangzhou in my entire stay. It was SO SO GOOD! Ask anyone from the team!

We were pleasantly stuffed but we had more food waiting for us back in the hotel FOLs :S whether we like it or not, we still had to eat at least a little from this huge amount of food served to us as a respect to the organizers.

After lunch it was time for another training, this time at the real racing site itself.

Countdown to Asian Games

It was a wet wet day... we should have spent the rest of the afternoon sleeping in hotel room or out shopping!

We were bored waiting for the guys to train so we ventured out into the city for quite a bit and I found myself another hidden treasure not found in Malaysia, a green tea with red bean ice cream :p PERFECT! Oh did I tell you they had Green tea Pokka too? I'm a sucker for anything green tea based, as you can tell...

Ok, this post is getting too long.. I'll save the rest of the story for the next post.

I shall end the post with a personal favorite pic, our team photo with the master at Fo Shan and the biggest lion head as the background (even though we're dragonboaters!)

It was indeed an opportunity of a lifetime to get to visit the Fohsan Huang Fei Hong Wushu Dragon and Lion Association, for it is not a place not just any average tourist can visit.

Ok so the rest of the day had been boring for us girls but so what? We're painting the town red later that night so stay tune!

Journey to Guangzhou

2010-07-01T22:48:00.002+08:00

China - a country, a place, a land I never thought I'd step my foot on, not until I'm in my 50s, not until I'm too old to be doing crazy stuffs and make peace with myself to settle for something less interesting and well...mundane.

But when the dragonboat team decided to take part in the Guangzhou International Dragonboat Tournament, I jumped at the opportunity, even tho initially I was only supposed to go as a reserve rower. Figured it's always better to go with a group of fun people than following a tour full of old people heh :p

Accommodation and meals were provided, so we only had to pay for our flight ticket to get there, which was approximately 900 ringgit, pretty good deal I'd say since we're flying with Cathay Pacific.

Aww... it's been a while since I flew with a decent airline.

2 of the 3 chicks that went with me on the trip.

Yes, it's always so much more fun with the ppl you know

My second breakfast of the day, first round was McD at the airport.. BURRRPP~

Ermm I know, all of us had to wear the team's jersey. Did not distinguish us much from the usual tour group, the only thing we're missing is a tourguide with a bright yellow umbrella haha

Arrival

Outside HK airport,

waiting to board the bus to train station..

and the long torturous journey to Guangzhou continues...

Is HK population so packed that everyone has to stay so close to each other in order to conserve space?

I don't know what this picture is for, posting it up just because I've already taken it! Ok, let us all admire the beautiful bridge

At the train station

The paddle bag, I'm demonstrating that the size is so big it can fit one
short
small human inside

The immigration, finally!

Stepping into China for the first time in my life! (sorry got a bit too excited because it's another new country for me) HURRAY!

First view of Shenzhen, omg the place is so filthy with spit everywhere and full of ermm.. yee lais (mistress) lookalikes HAHA

An obligatory picture of a recovering blogger

First meal in China and we had Japanese food!

Not that I'm complaining tho, this is the BEST fried spicy beef rice I've ever had in my life OMFG

Ramen, ordered by others

Fried chicken with teriyaki sauce, looks normal but the meat is so soft and tender

I forgot what this was called but it's mushroom wrapped with chicken, it was SO SO GOOD! Definitely recommended!

Pepper that makes you pant like a dog for water.

After the satisfying lunch and waiting for people taking turns to use the super gross public toilet, we had to board another train from Shenzhen to Guangzhou again! Zzzz

The train can run up to 200km/h, too bad I was already asleep soundly by the time it got to that speed.

I really like this pic! The effect is so old school :)

Exhausted team member cum tourguide, kudos to him! If it's not for him we would have lost our ways with the countless train rides @_@

Our team manager still looking fresh and happy

A while later...

We're finally in Guangzhou!!! But it was raining cats and dog at that time, the traffic was so bad the bus which was supposed to fetch us to the hotel could not get in so we had to wait longer at the station FOLs @_@

It was already more than 12 hours of travel by the time we reached our hotel.

The room wasn't too bad albeit the bed was hard and it was a smoking room

A shower, a change and a dinner later, we're all gathered at the lobby for some camwhoring action before going out to explore the surrounding area.

The complete set of girls in the trip

Half man, half woman ROFL

This is what you get from *cough cough* dragonboating

There wasn't much to do at night and it was raining nonstop so we went to check out the nearby mall when I saw this woman dressed looking like a pure Shanghainese!

Friend bought this 2010 FIFA World Cup Coke for only 2 yuan! That's like err 1 ringgit? So effing cheap lor.. in fact everything is cheap in China!

We were back in the room by 10.30pm for there was nothing else to do and most of the guys already disappeared to a nearby pub to catch WC match. It was a tiring day of travel, hauling an 11kg luggage around with a weak body was not that fun you know.

At this point, I still dislike China. Rude people, filthy public toilets, feeling like a total stranger in a place where English is limited!

I went to sleep that night half cursing, half regretting the trip, half wondering if the trip will turn out to be better.

But oh boy, was I in for a big surprise the next day!

Water Safety Awareness Workshop

2010-03-10T11:42:00.001+08:00

The unforeseen dragonboat incident has definitely captured everyone's attention when it comes to the precautions, awareness or measures taken to ensure one's safety when participating in water sports.

I guess everyone has the perception that 'If it ain't broken, don't fix it?'

Last Sunday, the club attended Water Safety Awareness Workshop organized by PENANG INTERNATIONAL DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL (PIDBF) in Holiday Inn Resort and Teluk Bahang Dam.

The workshop started with theory session in the morning by invited speakers in Holiday Inn.

Attendance and signing the form stating "We're fit and competent enough in the sea" which I beg to differ, at least for my case :p

Almost a full attendance from everyone in the club, kudos!

First speaker of the session, an ex rower who has been in the field for 30 years

We were briefed on the responsibilities of each team member, captain, steerman etc as well as some basic knowledge on the weather conditions, safety rules and what we should do in case of emergency.

And this was how 'excited' some people got throughout the session

Hmm.. they must have been too overwhelmed by the lecture.

First morning break at 10.30, a good time to refresh

One of the members engaged in conversation with the second speaker of the day.

Our second invited speaker is an experience lifeguard

Ok he didn't exactly said that :p

He's a better speaker compared to the first one as in he tried to bond with the audience.

Like asking us all to stand up

and do a bit of stretching, waving, jumping to freshen ourselves up

I have to say it did get everyone in a better mood and maybe pushed some to be in touch with their creative side.

After the second theory session, there was a souvenir presentation to the speakers and sponsors by YB Danny Law

We broke for lunch at the hotel and the practical session continued at 2pm in Teluk Bahang dam.

Waiting under the tent

There were a few demonstrations from the rescue team on swimming to safety, CPR as well as how the rescue team responds to emergency.

Then it was time to register the team to participate in the practical session

Each team will have to go through a training where a real accident scenario will be reenacted, like a sinking or a capsized boat. It did sound scary really! But I guess it's good to prepare the rowers of what to expect in worst case scenarios.

Team DBKL volunteered to go first.

Rowing out

Sinking boat... not as scary as capsized boat.

Our team will be reenacting the capsized boat scenario together with another boat.

Standing in line, each rower is numbered and everyone will have to remember their partner. This is important to make sure the safety of all rowers in the boat.

Down there, the rescue teams getting ready to jump into action when capsize begins

The emcee telling us WHERE we should capsize our own boat. Yes, the steerman will have to steer the boat in a way and then try to capsize the boat. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE ABILITY OF A GOOD STEERMAN.

The team walking to the boat.

Is it me or everyone looked a little clumsy trying to get into the boat? Nervous perhaps?

Rowing out, everyone looking excited!

5 mins later....

Everyone got thrown out into the water.

Capsizing sideways is better than this way @_@ (fully overturned boat)

According to the victims, the experience was so fun no one actually wanted to get rescued @_@

Well someone... or some people will have to be 'rescued' first right?

Waiting for the others to arrive

Meanwhile, the audience received a shock when a victim was being carried up in a stretcher

all the way to the ambulance

It was all an act. No lives was sacrificed in this procedure.

The rest of the team made it back safely.

This has got to be one of the best way to be rescued :p

It was indeed a great experience for the team, although we pray and hope this will never happen under other circumstances but then again, it's never too late to 'Prepare for the worst and hope for the best' :)

Last program of the day, certificate presentation by YB Danny Law to all participants

Teaser

2010-01-14T00:00:00.001+08:00

This was one of the things that happened in Cameron Highlands last weekend.

Drunken Yoga

Models : Sharon, EW (FHL guy in stripes), MP (fainted guy at the back), MC (running away)
Creative idea by : MP
Edited by : Sharon
Photographer : Wendy

Stay tune, more to come

Caving at Gua Tempurung

2010-01-12T20:10:00.001+08:00

It was a very very early morning for all of us. Too much pressure from having to wake up before 5 in the morning, I hardly received much sleep the night before. I think my brain was just about to go into the deep sleep mode when the alarm rang and I had to get up FML

We met for dim sum at Maxim's in Pekaka by 6 in the morning, everyone still in their Fuck-I-hate-myself-for-waking-up-so-early faces. A lot of energy will be needed to last us till after caving so hungry or not, we stuffed ourselves with dim sum before starting our journey towards Gopeng.

The journey took us a little less than 2 hours. It was shortly after 9 when we reached. Parked our cars, everyone got down and changed shoes, shirts, got our torchlights ready and whatnot to get prepared for the journey.

The organizer buying the ticket at the counter

while the others lingered around talking and shared a joke or two

The sticker they made you stick on your clothes/body, perhaps indicating which group of tour you belong to. We took the grand tour, which set us back around RM22 for a 'supposedly' 3 and a half hours of cave exploration.

A group picture before embarking on our journey

This was our tour guide, looking blur and was indeed very blur. If I had a customer satisfaction form to fill in, I would have failed him... VERY BADLY

And so the journey began! It was mad dark in some parts of the cave so torchlight is a definite MUST! Make sure the batteries are new too, you don't want to find yourself stumbling on rocks or walking clumsily in the dark.

Another part of the cave. It was almost impossible to take a decent picture in the cave -_- I had to put in a lot of saturation in this picture to show 'something' from inside the cave.

To be honest, the guide has no use except to lead us to the right way. The whole tour was ridiculous! In the beginning, he brought us 'jalan jalan', walk up some stairs, stopped to look around the cave and told stupid stories. Stupid stories not about how stalagmite and stalactite were formed but something like shining his torchlight to a certain area of the cave and went

'See the formation over there? It looks like a face'

'And that one looks like a man driving a car'

'That looks like a pregnant woman'

WTF?! Do we really need to know which part of the cave looks like something? Tell us some amazing history, when and how the cave became what it is today, the amazing stories of the bats bla bla, not some cave-gazing activity to see which part of the cave look like what What's worse, when he realized that none of us was really amazed with what he had to say, he just stopped talking and lingered around the cave, while we just stood there sweating and bullshit to each other.

Then the more 'adventurous' part came. We had to climb up some pretty slippery cliffs, of course with the aid of some
showoff
brave guys. Then the route took us to some stream where we had to wade through knee length water with rocky bottom, then up on a rocky path, down into water etc etc until we finally reached the end of the route.

Took another group picture for making it safely to the end.

Looking for gold/diamond?

Foot snapshot

Different people have different perception on what to wear for this expedition. Some opt for sandals, some opt for tai chi shoes, while I went for my old Nike despite being warned that my shoes could spoil in the process but it didn't, good investment! In this case, I'd say, go for the wrap sandals, at least it's easier to shake off the sand and rocks instead of carrying them around

Cavemen shadow

Typical lame shot of Forward DB team

The 4 of us (one more MIA due to workload); sweaty, wet and sexy? hahaha

Vandalism

The hole we went back in to continue our journey back out, also the last picture I took with my trusty old camera before it kaput for good

The journey back was far more interesting; where we had to SLIDE, yes SLIDE down a pretty steep cliff FOLs It was quite scary in the beginning, to watch others do it. I mean you have ppl down there waiting to catch you and whatnot but the more you watch, the scarier it is.. should have just gone ahead and slide the heck down with closed eyes and let the guys down there catch your foot to stop you. That, I have to say is the scariest part of the entire journey.

The rest were just.. well wading in the water; either on foot, or on all fours. I love the part where we had to go through this really tiny hole where you practically had to go down on all fours, let the water do its job and you just kinda float automatically and crawl with your hands in the water, legs floating and let the water swept you through the hole There were a lot of crawling in the water so knee pads and gloves are recommended too :)

So that's it, the 'official' report on our caving expedition at Gua Tempurung. I personally think we could have completed the tour in about 2 hours but the fact that we stopped frequent whether to take pictures or talk or listening the tourguide telling stupid stories made the whole journey longer.

It wasn't as tough either, I don't know what I expect but definitely more than what we went through, more climbs and slides maybe or perhaps more encounter with guano (bat poop)? Now that will be interesting :D

All in all, it was not a bad spelunking experience for a first timer but I'll definitely be interested to do something more than this.

That's it for today. Will blog bout the Cameron trip when I have the time to :)

Cheers~

Pesta race updates

2009-12-14T16:14:00.002+08:00

Am taking time off from all the weekend's hustle bustle.

Tired, was so dead tired. Woke up at 6 in the morning on Sunday and only managed to crawl to bed at 5 in the morning on a Monday. Amazed... by how much leftover/stored energy we still had after spending practically almost 24 hours under the hot sun for 2 days.

Now that I'm back here blogging in my comfy room with darkened uneven skintone, painful butt and at least 5 blue black bruises on my legs, I wished I could somehow rewind back the past 2 awesome days I'd spent with so many wonderful people around me.

I wish I have the time to write more about the weekend's events but unfortunately I don't have the copy of the pictures with me, will have to wait until I get them. Till then I have only one thing to say....

VICTORY IS NOT ONLY SWEET BUT IT'S FUCKING ORGASMIC.....

we may not be the champion but hell we went through the whole nine yards for this, kicking some Sporean as well as local asses for this

Front view

Back view

Our very first pewter medal, heck yea I'm proud! I am so so very proud of my girls, my team and friends who came all the way to support us.

Without these bunch of great people, this would have been impossible.

First day race

2009-12-12T16:12:00.002+08:00

Tonight's hot shower had never felt better. The joy of finally having that fierce splash of water flowing down the head was just... awesome. I have been longing for a shower since like the whole day.

Another day of running under the hot scorching sun, camwhoring, talking, laughing, enjoying the company of great people and checking out cute/hot guys which unfortunately they have the body but not the looks department (as if we're so gorgeous like that :p) but seriously, I have never seen so many FIT guys all gathered in one place before so it was a good eye candy :D But unfortunately too, most of them are like.. in their teens -_-

Anyway, I thought today will be a bad day. For starters, I had a nightmare, regarding my dragonboat team and a haunted house which I shall not elaborate further because I'm home alone, then when I was about to leave the house, I realized I did not have my purse with me so I panicked and had to rush to office which happily, I located my purse on the table, in one piece too! Then I went to the petrol station for gas and my credit card got stuck in the machine fml and in the end I didn't even fill up my tank and had to drive all the way down and back hoping my car won't fail on me.

As for the race... sigh... I'm ashamed to even talk about our performance. Let's just say even though we lost
like real bad :p
it was definitely a GREAT GREAT experience. I will never trade this experience for anything in the world.

Oh well guess I can't complain much... cause I didn't even row today! Because my back injury was still giving me problems, so I kinda volunteered myself when they were looking for the position of the drummer! Yes, the drummer, probably the easiest role, one that only needs to have a loud voice to motivate the team.. loud voice.. of course I have la! :P

IT WAS FUN! Only had to beat according to their strokes, yell and scream at the team to row faster :p Damn gaya u know :p even though it was kinda like a useless role because I didn't even contribute to the team :( they carried my big fat ass for about ~2000m today and yes I felt a little guilty too :P (500m race 2x to and back)

Well, we have another 200m race tomorrow like real early in the morning, gotta wake up around 6 or so to make it to the place by 8, hopefully I'm able to take part in the rowing tomorrow, as long as I don't fuck up my back injury more.

Wrapped up the day nicely with great fun with awesomest girlfriends and singing together to Jason Mraz's I'm Yours :)

Alrighty, I'm gonna call it a day... I'm tired, sleepy and soooo in need of a good night's sleep, tomorrow is another loooong day. Wish us luck, hopefully we won't lose as bad as today :p

You know, this whole thing is getting kinda addictive ;)

What's Next?

2009-12-01T16:04:00.004+08:00

Boss : So how was your dragonboat competition?

Me : It was a great experience! We had lots of fun!

Boss : What did you get? First? From behind? *starts laughing hysterically -_-*

Me : NOOOO.. we got third.

Boss : Oh.... 3 teams compete only is it? *starts laughing again* (yes people, that's my oh-so-funny boss)

Me : No la... 5 teams altogether. So bad la u, think we very char is it? (we are actually but of course I'm not admitting that to him :p)

Boss : Haha no la.. just kidding. No 3 ok wat, not too bad. Good job!

Me : We could have done better.

Boss : Don't worry, you've tried it. You see you gained new experience. So what's next?

Me : What do you mean?

Boss : You know.. now that you've tried one of the traditional sports in Penang, you might as well give others a try.

Me : Hmm.. true. But like what?

Boss : Hahahaha.. like LION DANCE!!!!

Me : WHAT? Siau ar? You want me to clown around in a bunny suit jumping here and there? I think it'll be a very short lion too HAHAHAHA (ok, joke on myself)

Boss : What? Not bad ma, good to learn, not that easy too you know.

Me : It's ok, I'll pass.

Boss : Oh there's another one you can try.

Me : What?

Boss : CHINGAY!!!!

Me : YOU THINK I'M NOT SHORT ENOUGH IS IT? You want me to carry a heavy pole on my head which could possibly stunt my height more!

Boss : Ok ok, stick to lion dance then, I've never seen a dwarf lion before HAHAHAHA =))

-_-" FML

Penang Beach Carnival

2009-11-30T16:17:00.003+08:00

Let me start by telling you how it was BEFORE the competition.

Wednesday, in our usual paddling session, coach was satisfied with our performance. He was almost certain we're gonna bag the gold medal, FOR SURE (yes he sounded damn confident) He made us believed we were already winners even before we compete wtf. Our confidence level shot up high!

Friday, sea training at Golden Sands beach, where the competition was to take place. We went with full confidence. It was hot but thank god for the wind. Sea looked fierce, waves were rough, possibly from the amount of water sports, but we weren't worried..... yet. The first batch of the men went down, they looked like they had a hard time getting the boat to move. We were watching from the shore and thought 'it couldn't be that bad!'

When they came back up, one of them said 'I hope you don't have seasickness'

Then it was finally our turn. Despite dad's reminder to wear life jacket, I decided to go without it. Getting into the boat was... clumsy. Paddling in the rough sea was much harder than it looked. The constant unpredictable waves splashing on our boat made it harder, it's either the water hit the oars too soon or we hit nothing at all. Everyone was so out of sync it's frustrating, we're as clumsy as a baby learning to walk.

The boat's condition was another problem. Unlike our more modern boat which is lighter, this one was made of wood and heavy. Inside, there was no place for leg grip or support. When we paddle, our butts kept slipping off the seat FOL kau kau

In less than 10 minutes, it hit us. Most of us started to feel sick and giddy. Training was too short of a time but we must continue to go on. Paddling with seasickness and trying not to vomit was a hell lot of effort @_@

In conclusion, when we finally got back on shore, our confidence level shot down to 0.

Gold medal my ass. Coach lied to us.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

After the horrific training the day before the competition, we weren't sure if we can pull it off. It'll be really embarrassing to lose big time to the rest of the competing teams. Like it or not, it's too late to back out, hence, die die also must try.

It was such a lovely pleasant day for a beach carnival,

though I must say I'm really disappointed with the amount of things they had there. Apart from the water sports competition, there weren't much to do or see, unless of course you want to spend the day playing sand and building sandcastles with kids.

Forget bout that part, let's focus on the race itself.

We were one of the last few people to arrive, oh wait I think we WERE the last one. We figured there's no hurry since our race doesn't start until 4pm. When we arrived, everyone was already there, the team manager was already busy talking to the coach on race registration. Some of the guys just stood or laze around talking, some.. splattered sun block and wiped on each others' body hehe

A beach volleyball game was in progress but didn't pay much attention to it.

Since there was nothing much to do but to wait, we decided to fish out our camera and start camwhoring. Man it's good to be women, self vanity knows no bounds or limits.

You see people, don't look down on us, we not only know how to party hard but also paddle hard haha The girl in white is YT, one of our close crazy, talkative, caring buddies. She actually came with us and stayed throughout the whole event with us, that's what good friends are for!

A total of 5 ladies rowers in the team

When the men saw us camwhoring, they started to tease us. We made one of them pose like an Ah Kua (transvestite) which he gladly did. He's definitely the clown of the team

Give us an 'S' shape!

I made Luke pose like a Godzilla about to stomp on the sandcastle

Feeling very much kiasu, we checked out the other competing teams. Look at their team t shirts!

Why so sexy one? Looks at ours! How to show off our tone body like that? Not that we have any to show to begin with but if you're wearing something that reveal your body parts you'll surely work harder to make sure it's presentable, no? No wonder we are all still kinda flabby la, no motivation to show off our body wtf

Oh look who came all the way to show their support! My grandpa and parents! They were very proud of me for doing this lor, and they stayed all the way to the end until I'm done with my race

After what seemed like endless waiting time, the first race finally kicked off. They began with the juniors rowing team. Our juniors, from Chung Ling high school bagged first place effortlessly! Kudos!

Second race was Men Veteran.

Here's our bunch of 'uncles'
M.U.S.T.N.O.T.L.A.U.G.H.A.T.P.E.O.P.L.E
getting ready

Pushing the boat into the sea

Eh don't look down at uncles ok! They, too bagged the first place effortlessly. The picture below showed the boat close to the finishing line and there's no other boat that came close. Bangga bangga~ Huge round of applause for the
old
men!

While waiting for their turns, the other men were getting ready for showdown. Group warmup.

And it's Premier Open category, whatever that means.

I think they came in second, automatically qualifying themselves to the finals.

The winner is none other than these bunch of super fit, super toned guys from Perak Navy.

It was finally our turn! They guys were giving us so much pressure that I started to have butterflies in my stomach. My hands and feet were cold, and to be honest, I was nervous too. But can still smile and pose for the camera wtf

Coach giving us last minute instructions before we start. His last words were 'DO NOT PANIC!'

Calling for help to push the boat

So kua cheong right, so many people 'sending us off' hahaha

We paddled slowly to the other end where the starting point was. All the while, the men in the boat kept telling us not to panic -_- The more they advise the more nervous I got.

The most nerve wrecking moment had to be the final moment waiting for the race to start. Actually it was CHAOTIC, very much so. There was no referee to blow a whistle or anything. We were so blurred out we actually started late! FOLs

The other two teams at the sides started before we did, like WTF right?! I don't know who gave the GO permission, all I knew was my nervousness was all gone when our drummer in the front yelled at us to start paddling. And paddle hard we did.

We paddled with all our might. The butterflies in the stomach were replaced with tiredness and yet I can't stop. Try hard or die trying. I screamed out loud when I'm in pain and continued paddling. My strokes were probably all wrong but I just kept going. It's better than to stop and screw up other people's timing.

More vain pictures of me rowing, marked with star, third in front, left rower,
although you can't see much unless you clicked on the pictures and squint your eyes

Paddling towards the starting line

Alas, we came in 3rd :( Disappointed, real disappointed but our drummer said it was because we started later than the other two teams or else we would have had a chance in first or second... sigh...

Anyway, we still managed to collect RM200 for the team! First place was RM400, second was RM300. Ok la, not too bad right, first time ma.. only train for less than 3 months you know :P

After the race, the girls showing off their so called muscles haha.. eh the one on the right damn skinny must drink more protein powder to buff up.

Prize giving ceremony, FORWARD team very keng lor, these two from the team bagged first prize for kayaking competition

Wendy and another dude from other team bagged the second prize, you see the women in our team can be quite intimidating also ok? haha

Our team manager accepting the prize for Men Veteran

Me, the camwhore queen of the day took the spotlight for our 3rd prize

The medal

Another winning shot of the ladies, yay~!

In total, the team collected RM1200 from the race itself. 2 first prize of RM400, and 2 third prize of RM200, not too bad eh?

The sun was setting, we packed up and got ready to leave, BUT not before camwhoring with the dragonboat itself! Errrmm, please understand that this is our first time racing in a real dragonboat so we kinda got a little too excited.

Being the drummer is damn syiok ok!

The final camwhore pic of the day, our very worn out, tired and ugly faces in our ugly uniform. The shorts!!! OMG like uncle only -_-

We bid goodbye to the place. Needless to say, it had definitely been a fantastic day.

Team picture

Another race coming in December, must not slack, training has been increased to 4 times a week now FML

It's confirmed!

2009-11-26T16:09:00.002+08:00

The team will be participating in a competition in conjunction with the Penang Beach Carnival happening this Saturday, 28th November.

We have been training very hard, I even went for training yesterday despite still recovering from flu and cough and some dude accidentally hit me real hard on my back during the session *ouch* Coach was pretty satisfied with our performance, at least he stopped picking on me to lecture :p and since I was the shortest person there, he made a joke about me bringing a pillow to support my leg so I'll be higher cause supposedly the real boat is slightly higher and wider on the sides and we have to REALLY reach out to paddle, not to mention it's easier to bruise our thumb too FML Fuck la, being short now is also a crime is it? Well in this case, it is definitely a disadvantage :(

I'll show him, he'll see! Will be training at Batu Ferringhi beach tomorrow under the hot scorching sun with the real boat so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully we won't train too hard that our arms will be too painful to row on the real day itself.

If you have nothing to do for the weekend, come support us and see us
lose
win, hopefully not number 1 from the back *fingers crossed* The club will be sending out 4 teams to compete and our Mixed race is the last, which will only start around 4pm and we have to be there by 1.30pm wtf

Anyway, win or lose, this will be definitely a new experience gained. Life is too short to pause and wonder, just do it! even when you're short and ppl make fun of you -_-

After that we're gonna be partying the night away
and try to get someone drunk
YAY~!

Am excited! Wish me luck!

A little strawberry topping

2009-11-16T15:53:00.002+08:00

I wasn’t planning on writing this but I was chatting with a friend about the weekend and I was telling her how cool it was to be doing what I did on Saturday and then I thought, hey, since it was an effing cool experience (in my eyes anyway), why not blog about it?

If I haven’t bore you yet with my paddling stories, do read on.

Saturday, 430pm we had the usual physical training in Macallum St. before the paddling session. It was more like a warmup session where we had to jog 3 rounds, some pushups, jumping jacks and a bit of stretching before getting ready for the paddling session.

The weather got darker as we were finishing up the physical part and I thought ‘yay, great! it’s gonna rain, maybe they’ll cancel the paddle session!’ Yes I was secretly hoping that they’ll cancel the training, I was just feeling lazy that day. But I was dead wrong.

Everyone started walking back to the so called ‘headquarter’ (basically just a container storing all the paddle equipments). It had started to drizzle by then. I thought to myself ‘It’s raining, are we still doing this?’ but kept quiet since everyone seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it was raining.

Moments later, I found myself equipped with the usual glove I always use for paddling and a little bit more, a life jacket -_-“ I contemplated in the beginning whether to put it on or not but some guy told me ‘well if you want to stay save and you can’t swim well, I’ll advise you to do so’

I looked out from the container into the pouring rain, more dark clouds approaching, and the dangerous looking sea. Ok, point noted. Strapped on the jacket it is!

By the time we were all seated in the boat, we were half drenched from the rain. I was a little worried if the rain will make the vision poorer, as if getting sunblock into my eyes is not painful enough, I have to squint my eyes, worrying bout the sea water and the rain. Yes, at that moment, it felt like another FML day.

But whether I like it or not, the training will go on. And we paddled into the sea. It wasn’t as bad as I thought, in fact the rain felt like a blessing because it washed away the salt water we got onto our faces. I was beginning to enjoy paddling in the rain.

Being in the sea, drenched inside out under the pouring rain, thunders and lightnings so visible from where we were, the waves in the sea getting rougher by each passing minute and jellyfish sightings every now and then was actually kinda FUN FUN FUN!

picture for illustration purpose only

The most fun part was the part where the boat felt as if it was 'flying' when we paddled really hard and fast riding through the strong waves, I had to contain myself from shouting out loud in excitement
yes I'm crazy like that
oh think medium to hardcore water rafting perhaps?

The team too was very energetic, we had better more structured trainings lately with the competition nearing. The killer part was the 500m paddle nonstop, that's like ~300 strokes nonstop @_@ I was really really bad at that, I exhaust myself far too quickly, my stamina was bad, my arms gave up too soon :( as much as I really tried very hard not to stop too often and kept up with the speed. Sigh.. I think I need to drink the stamina powder the guys are drinking at the moment :p

The only part I regretted was putting on the life jacket, I didn't need it because it was hardly that dangerous and it restricted my movement. Nevertheless, it was one of the best paddling session I had, and I definitely want more of those!!!

Maybe my life is getting too mundane that I'm craving for some hardcore adrenaline rush excitement @_@ hence, the post was named as such.

Giving it all

2009-10-04T15:53:00.003+08:00

Tonight, there was no regret on a single bite of that sinful dinner I had. The fried oyster, fried chicken with lots of mayo and well.. porridge. We thought, after all the effort we've put into the paddling training today, it was worth a little celebration of indulgence.

I didn't realize how much I missed the paddling training until today. Since I was in Singapore last weekend, I was not able to make it for last week's physical training in gym and the paddling session. I heard they made everyone carry 85% of their body weight :S of which in this I was kinda glad I wasn't there to embarrass myself.

Yesterday's training was also intense but too short. I know, I think my girlfriend and I are secretly liking all the torturous trainings they put on us. They were tough but we were pushed to the limits and we liked it. A little sadomasochistic maybe :P

Oh and feeling guilty from the amount of calories from the alcohol last night, I ran 3kms in gym first before the paddling session. Maybe I am that sadomasochistic like that.

We had two boats to paddle today, one lighter one made of some fiber material where we usually paddle in, and another heavier one made of wood. So of course the senior-er guys paddled in the heavier one wherelse the juniors and the ladies paddled in the lighter one.

And we had a small competition, a little race, 200m fast paddle. You can imagine how demotivating it was for our team when the coach told us to race against the other team, I'm talking bout a team of buffed up, fit guys in one boat against a boat full of secondary school students and 3 ladies @_@

Oh well, not that we had much of a choice but to race against them. They were so cocky, so confident that they were going to win. Even set a punishment of 50 pushups for the losing team. Our team was quiet, taking whatever insults or teasing thrown to us. All we ever wanted was to get it over with.

When the coach blew the whistle, I paddled like I've never paddled before. Or actually ALL of us did. I've never thought that the kids can be so determined. They worked hard, and not wanting to let the team down, the women did their best too. Water was splashing everywhere; on my face, arms, legs but the splashing actually got me more motivated. They said if you don't get wet, you're not paddling for real.

Someone started counting loudly as a form of motivation. I did too, although it was tiring but it was a good boost.

"A few more strokes!"

"One more one more!"

"FASTER!!!"

"Almost there! GO GO!"

Before we knew it, the whistle was blown, indicating the end of the race. I looked to my left and found the other boat floating silently BEHIND us.

WE HAD WON!

The guys were silent, not a single word from any of them. In fact, I thought some of them looked rather ashamed haha! It was the best feeling in the entire paddling session :P Ok, maybe it was the fact that we're rowing the lighter boat and we're obviously lighter compared to all buffed up guys grouped in one boat. But still, we won!

We did another 200m and we won again. Then we went for 500m and we won by a tiny weeny bit and another last 500m before we call it a day, the last one, we had a tie. By then we were so exhausted we actually moaned when we had to do the last race. My arms gave up on me in less than 20 strokes but I dare not stop. Tired or not, painful or not, we had to keep paddling. In the actual race, no one will stop and wait for us, every single stroke counts. So by hook or by crook, I had to tolerate the pain and tiredness on my arms and paddled on.

The end result was definitely satisfying. Back in their faces! They were supposed to do 100 pushups back on shore but they bailed out. Of course it was all fun, let's hope the guys won't count their chickens before their eggs hatch next time.

Yes, I feel a big sense of motivation and achievement in me now. Not cocky but it was a good release. I paddled with all I had, all my might, managed to vent out all the anger, frustration I had inside me, basically just gave it all out. And that's what I hope to give the team everytime from now on...

I'm so not looking forward to the body aches and pain tomorrow...

Training with the fittest 2

2009-09-09T15:37:00.001+08:00

7am Woke up, dragged myself off the bed to shower and change

830am Met up with friends at the promised place

9am Tough paddling training started, lecture lecture and more lecture from the coach

11am Training ended, went for brunch dim sum with the girls, complained and bitched bout the training at the same time, feeling sleepy and in daze

1pm Drove to the city for eyebrow threading in extreme sleepiness

2pm Got home, showered, got online, chatted for a bit

4pm Done chatting, planned to nap, said screw to hiking!

4.05pm Friend msged asking if I'm going hiking, contemplated the decision since muscles a bit tired and sore

4.17pm Tried to nap for a bit but can't.. too much pressure to wake up on time and the itch to burn more calories was just overpowering

5pm Found myself feeding mosquitoes waiting for ppl in YouthPark

I wondered if I'm overdoing this. On a second thought, I should be happy I finally found people to go hiking with.

Just... not as crazy.

There were 4 of us (we thought the rest fly aeroplane but the truth was they started hiking way before us), 2 guys and 2 girls. Obviously, the leader went first, another guy followed, me third and my friend (who claimed she has never hiked before) last.

As soon as we started hiking, I knew it was a mistake. Hiking had never been such a torture. It wasn't the average enjoy-the-view-chit-chat-laugh-rest-take-your-own-sweet-time type of leisure hike. They weren't hiking, they were basically "running" up the frigging hill @_@ well almost.. this time around they claimed they were already slowing down because of us and by slowing down I mean still walking very very fast! I swear I have never seen anyone going up the hill so fast.

A journey that took maybe 45 mins ~ 1 hour for a normal person to go up was completed in less than half an hour. The longest time we stopped for a break was maybe 2 mins? That was because the leader met someone along the way and talked for a bit but he was in hurry to end the conversation to continue the hike.

We, the 2 poor souls at the back were working our asses off to keep up. It was tiring beyond words.... suddenly I miss those leisure hikes I used to take with the bf, although we still worked very hard, we didn't push ourselves to the dizzy spells limit. But these, these ungentlemen ppl just went on and on and on.. and it was only our first time hiking with them! If they're trying to scare us of, they definitely succeeded!

Spotting the end in sight was like knocking on heaven's door, a few steps away to eternal happiness... ok I'm exaggerating here but at that point, it really felt like that.

Half an hour rest at the top of the hill later, we came down. This time, no one rushed. At the foothill, some "smart" asshole decided that he didn't get enough exercise for the day and he suggested one round of jog! No it's not one round of jog around the field, we're talking bout running another 1.5km! FML!

Back in school days when we had those physical assessments, 1.5km will take us 20 minutes to complete (yes now you know how unfit I was). Their record is 9 minutes. We groaned inside, dreading the coming challenge. The leader assured us it was going to be a slow jog. We played along.

I'm not surprised when we lost sight of all of them in less than 100 metres into the jog -_- Seriously, what are these people made of?!

But yes, both of us were determined to complete the jog even though we're like the last 2 persons trailing behind. When we finally made it to the end destination, the guys were already changed into clean dry shirts, some left for the day. We were complimented for our determination and so called "not bad" fitness level for first timers. Inside we were slowly feeling the pain. Satisfied? Well yea maybe... at least we proved to them that we're not some sissy girls who give up easily. I was glad my friend was a good sport, we motivate each other.

With intense training like this every week, I'd better very fit and tone in no time!

That.. if I can ever survive the training at all...

Gloves to protect my hands from blisters.

Just, be ready for a lot of complaints from me in the coming days...

The day when I first row a boat seriously

2009-09-07T16:16:00.002+08:00

I feel like a partial cripple today. I woke with pain all over my body, stretching from the side of my neck, to my shoulders, arms, palms, to my upper back, waist, down to my butt, thighs and a little pain on my feet. As crazy as this might sound, I actually enjoy the pain. The satisfaction of working out so much in the past 2 days was just... rewarding.

Let me tell you about my day yesterday. Along with 3 of my girlfriends, we decided it should be quite an experience to go rowing. It wasn't an average leisure rowing type of activity like kayaking or canoeing, we're talking about high impact, intensive rowing where we have to give a 110% of what we have.

Now I wouldn't say no to any form of workout, I'm definitely determined to learn and give it my best. I figured it will be something to blog about and share with the readers who are occasionally stalking my life too haha. As it was only my first time there, I didn't want to look like a complete bimbo camwhorer with her camera who was only interested in taking pictures for the blog. I wanted to be serious, even more to look the part.

Being there on time is essential, at least for me. The training site is at Lebuh Maccallum, a construction side near the sea. I do not have any pictures so I'm just going to *steal* a few from the Penang Forward blog itself.

This is the container where the team store their paddles, life jackets, and other misc items for the members to keep when they go out rowing.

There were about 30 something of us at the training but we had only one boat, that day so we had to share.

This is the glorious boat the team is very proud of, I heard one boat costs about SGD14,000 and it can fit up to 20 people at one time if I'm not mistaken.

Much to our surprise, we were asked to go first. And I thought we will be at least briefed on how to hold the paddle, or work on our strokes. But no, we were thrown into practice just like that. I'm about to brave the sea, those who cannot swim have the choice to wear a life jacket but the stubborn me decided that nothing will happen and I'm pretty confident that we're in good hands.

If I fall, I fall into this greyish looking sea, not exactly a nice sight but oh well...

One by one, we climbed into the boat and positioned ourselves. Since I'm a leftie, I chose to row on my left side. Then we slowly row backwards into the sea.

Our "coach" is a man in his late 40s, standing in the middle of the boat, correcting our sitting positions and how we should handle our paddles. When he blew the whistle, we started rowing.

One, two, SPLASH! My friend who was sitting in front of me splashed me with the dirty water. I didn't expect to stay dry throughout the training so I told her its ok and we continued rowing. It wasn't easy, I was tired in less than 20 counts. Stopped and rowed again, when I'm tired I stopped for 2 counts and started again.

The coach stood in front of us, the newbies and kept correcting our mistakes.

"You're sitting wrongly! This is not an office sitting position"

"You should only sit half of the plank"

"Arms straight, body lean forward, waist supporting your upper body"

"Lean out! Lean out! Lean out towards the sea, you won't fall!" but I was afraid of falling! I regretted not wearing the life jacket! I tried to make a joke or two but he wasn't impressed so I kept my silence and followed his orders.

"Keep your posture straight, don't hunch!"

"Sink your paddle in, almost vertical, raise it to your waist,lift it up and back to position with your arms stretched"

We practiced our strokes, one stroke per one blow of his whistle. This wasn't bad except when you have to return to the initial position to stretching your arms out and wait for the next whistle blow. I totally lost it when they started paddling fast. For one, my arms got tired real fast and once I stop, I totally lost the sync. Two, because the noobies were siting together, our paddles often came in contact and hit each other -_- Three, because we can't master the stroke well yet, we splashed sea water onto each other so much it got into our eyes we had to stop paddling to wipe the water (and sweat in my case) from our eyes.

We were glad to finally made it back to the shore. The guys went down next. It was almost a humiliation to the first team. They were so synchronized, and almost everyone looked so fit it put us to shame. We sat on a big floating concrete resting, talking and watching a dog belonging to one of the men goofed around.

This is probably the most loyal, well trained dog I've came across.

We went down for a second round after that, this time we didn't row as much. Again, the coach was busy watching our every step. After 2 hours of rowing, we decided to call it day.

At least, we thought so....

until the leader shouted

"Ok, people! Hiking later at 5pm in YouthPark!"

FML

Training with the fittest - first experience

2009-09-05T15:32:00.001+08:00

Last Thursday afternoon, I received an email from a girlfriend asking if I'm up for a seemingly difficult challenge, for me at least.

The email said

"Hey, they’re putting up a mixed-team race for pesta dragon boat race.
Do you think you’re up for it? need to train (from the emails I see they got physical training, gym training and also rowing training). They have secured sponsors for the jersey, gym and etc but need commitment from us."

I was dumbfounded, in fact I almost laughed upon reading the email and to think that my friend actually thinks that I'm fit enough for a what? Dragon boat race?

What attracted me to their trainings in the first place is the fact that they train HARD, consistent and push you to the limits, that I like. I figured it's a win-win situation for extra exercises outdoors. But to actually make the team? You gotta be kidding me.

After voicing out my concerns, my friend assured me that there's definitely no pressure on the girls. Basically this was her response, the magic sentence

"I think they need bodies with boobs to make the mixed team."

Haha bodies with boobs, yes boobs I have, but commitment? Errmm we shall see about that.

The team trains in Botanical Garden on every Saturday evening at 5.30pm and goes paddling every Sunday morning at 8.30. Obviously, I am not too excited about the Sunday workout, which means I'll have to sacrifice my Saturday night outings and sleep early wtf but, hey, never try never know.

So today was my first physical training session with them. My girlfriends were as usual, fashionably late and I was left to wait alone at the entrance. The team was there, it's impossible to miss a bunch of toned, muscular guys and some women but I made no contact with them since well, they don't know that I'm the newbie. Then someone walked up to me, someone familiar.. someone I see every week in my gym. He's the steps aerobics instructor in the gym. We talked for a bit and found out that he will be leading the training.

The training started a little past 5.30, right after my girlfriends arrived and I was briefly introduced to some people. From their previous trainings, they said it wasn't that hard, mostly jogging and a some physical exercises after that.

However, today the leader decided that he wanted a different approach. We were to jog from Botanical Garden to the stage in YouthPark. It wasn't that long of a route but the fact that I can still feel my teppanyaki beef from lunch still digesting and I was feeling heavy mattered alot. Not to mention we had to breathe in polluted exhaust smoke from passing vehicles along the way too.

The fitters ones disappeared fast, leaving us, the unfit ones huffing and puffing our ways behind. We gathered at the stage, forming a big circle where Luke, the leader directed us with some warmup exercises. Then we moved on to the field for more physical trainings.

The challenge was to run one round of the entire field but we had to stop at a few "stations" along the way to complete a set of exercises before sprinting (yes, sprint, not jog) from one station to the next.

The men went first. The ladies and some guy juniors stayed behind and observed. Then it was our turn to go. We sprinted to the first station, stopped, got down onto the ground for 30 pushups. Then we ran to the next station, hands on the ground, our legs moving in and out, that's another 30 counts. The next station was a little more of a blessing, at least we got to lie down on the ground. 30 crunches with legs up in the air. I'd rather do this that the others. In the next station, we had to do 50 jumping jacks! Already panting and halfway dead, we tried our best to pull through the challenge. Then we sprinted halfway across the field to the last station where we had to do 10 counts of burpees. And I think I smell dog poo nearby where I did my burpees :S FML

Now it may not sound much, but man it was tiring! Probably the most tiring non stop cardio workout I've had in a while. Everyone does it so fast and efficient that you feel that if you don't keep up, you're the worst of the pack. So by hook or by crook, you forced yourself to do it. No one gives a damn about you groaning in pain, no one waits for you, you just have to get to the end of the line.

We gathered back at the stage area, formed another big circle. Did a little bit of hand exercises for the biceps and triceps, another 30 pushups, 30 crunches, 30 leg presses and we stretched to cool down before calling it a day. We were in a mess, with dirt on our back, pants and little sticks sticking on our hair. We breathed in air like it was precious. The entire ordeal was only about 45 minutes. And we were already half dead.

As we slowly made our way back to Botanical Garden, the woman team leader, sped by in her car and called out to us "See you girls tomorrow ok?"

We looked at each other and laughed, yea, why not? They needed bodies with boobies to make the mixed team right? Sure, we'll do a good deed, but to take us into the team or not, or whether they decide to row the boat carrying dead weights, it's definitely up to them.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go rest these arms of mine for tomorrow's challenge.

More places in Macau 2009

2009-08-15T21:37:00.001+08:00

The next day morning breakfast. A huge and big banana, provided you all the energy you need to row the boat :-) After the breakfast, we went to “test water” again at the Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre, Macau.

After the training, we have our lunch at Hotel then only start our journey to explore Macau World Heritage.
First, we should go to St Lawrence’s Church but these people just gave up on the slope up to St Lawrence’s Church.

However, Teong Ming feel want to continue but just follow the majority toRua Do Lilau

Approaching Largo Do Lilau or Lilau Square

Here is the place, the Largo do Lilau but no body go to drink the spring water

The ground water of Lilau used to be the main source of natural spring water in Macau. The Portuguese popular phrase: “One who drinks from Lilau never forgets Macau” expresses the locals’ nostalgic attachment to Lilau Square. This area corresponds to one of the first Portuguese residential quarters in Macau.
Since no one drink, guess they don’t remember much!

Think this is backyard of Casa d Mandarim. We’re walking at the back street of this Mandarin’s house. A very narrow back street

The location is No. 10 Antonio da Silva Lane and temporarily closed by the time we visit.

Built in 1881, this was the traditional Chinese residential compound home of prominent Chinese literary figure Zheng Guanying. It is a traditional Chinese compound consisting of serveral courtyard houses, displaying a mix of Chinese and Western detailing, such as the use of grey bricks against arched ornamentations and Chinese timber lattice windows against mother-of-pearl window panel of Indian origin.

We’re heading to Templo de-A-Ma

Check out the direction, we’re on the right track :-)

This is it, the A-Ma Temple. This is where it all begin. A-Ma Temple already existed before the city of Macau came into being. It consists of the Gate Pavilion, the Memorial Arch, the Prayer Hall, the Hall of Benevolence, the Hall of Guanyin, and Zhengjiao Chanlin (a Buddhist pavilion). The variety of pavilions dedicated to the worship of different deities in a single complex make A-Ma Temple an exemplary representation of Chinese culture inspired by Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and multiple folk beliefs.

We go to pray pray then they found something very interesting. a bowl of water, some coin inside and there is 2 handles at each side of the bowl. I think it some kind of belief that if you be able to make the water dance by rubbing the handles, it will bring luck. So, ah chew ko try on it.

Batman also want to try but no luck. the water quiet only. nothing happen.

Then Melvin come and try with full focus. start slow and steady….!

eh…the vibration make the water slowly moving….!

and the water start dancing high in the air…..awesome! it is so cool…!

Hun then continue. the water even dance aggressively in the air with sound of the rubbing. I heard people analysis is if you keep the vibration going, the water continue dancing. So, Ah Chew Ko and Batman just warm up the bowl and they didn’t stay long enough to make the vibration continue.

From top of A-Ma Temple, you can see the Maritime Museum.

We didn’t go inside as it require some fees…! After that we took cab to MGM Hotel/Casino

Technorati Tags: Macau,A-Ma Temple,Lilau Square,Mandarin's House

I Back you Up!

2009-08-07T21:40:00.001+08:00

Bro…push…bro! come on bro…..push!! (hey…they’re not delivering baby :-p)

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Go Forward Go

2009-08-06T21:36:00.001+08:00

Beauty is in the eyes of beholder

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Kawaii-Ne

2009-08-05T21:34:00.001+08:00

What a lovely smile….CUTE!

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Spectator

2009-08-04T21:32:00.001+08:00

Let join our team or be one of them…!

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Richard Gear

2009-07-30T21:30:00.001+08:00

Celebrity of the Team – Richard Gere (Pasar Malam Version)

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Friendly

2009-07-29T21:28:00.001+08:00

The girl rower in the Team

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Joker

2009-07-28T21:26:00.001+08:00

Killing Smile in Batman Series – The Joker

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Zzz..zZz…zzz…ZZZ

2009-07-24T20:54:00.001+08:00

People said yawning can be spread, don’t believe? stay at the picture for 5 second, you’ll do the same…!

Technorati Tags: photo of the day

Cool

2009-07-23T20:51:00.001+08:00

That is Khoo…!

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Are you Ready?

2009-07-22T20:46:00.001+08:00

Are you ready? Attention~~~ GOOOOO!!!

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Kick Ass team

2009-07-21T20:41:00.002+08:00

Once upon a time….! A group of people, come together in one boat and ready to “kick ass”…!

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Paddle For Hope Dragon Boat Endurance Challenge

2009-07-13T14:05:00.002+08:00

Dragon boat racing as a sport normally only takes place over a distance of 200m to 1000m. However, a unique event will take place where Penang Forward Sport Club and others Dragon Boat Team in Penang like Anak Malaysia, PIPC, Chung Ling DB Team, Cancerlink and so on will attempt to row a 20-crew boat for 80km in 12hrs (approximately the same distance as around Penang island).
Our aim is to raise fund for local charities and also to list in the Malaysia Book of Record for the ‘longest distance paddling relay in a dragon boat’.
When: 18th July 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 6am-6pm
Where: Seafront, Queensbay Mall, Penang
The event endorsed by our Penang State Tourism, PIDBF together co-organized by Intel Malaysia will mark this symbolic gesture into the history of Penang dragon boating.
Fund raised will donated to:
1) Community AIDS Service Penang (CASP) – CASP is non profit organization involved in public education, counselling, training of volunteers, outreach work with marginalized communities and providing emotional/psychological support to People Living with HIV/AIDS as well as many other HIV/AIDS-related activities.
Address: 46, Jalan Thomas, 11600 Penang
Website: www.casp.com.my

2) House of Hope – Managed by ORA Malaysia Berhad and is dedicated to serving underprivileged families in Penang irrespective of race, gender, politics, or religion focusing towards families living in Rifle Range area.
Address: 49-U Lorong Sempadan 2, 11400 Ayer Itam, Penang
Website: www.houseofhope.com.my

3) Relau Rumah Charis Bhd Home for the Senior Citizens – Rumah Charis was officially commissioned on Oct 31, 1998. It is a non-profit organization founded as a home to server the old and the aged.
Address: Lot 29, Mukim 10, Relau 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang
Website: www.rumahcharis.org.my

4) The Mental Health Association of Penang – The Penang Mental Health Association (MHA) is a registered local NGO in the Registrar of Societies with the Number 2097, registration date 20.08.1979. MHA has been actively involved in mental health awareness and support activities since then.
Address: CO-35-GF, Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang, Jalan Utama, Penang.

How you can Support?
PFSC is seeking for generous donations to make this event be successful. Your care and concern will certainly give these organization the ability to continue to do their much needed charitable work.
Should you have any enquiries regarding Paddle for Hope 2009, Please contact:
Joanne
2940, Jalan Perai Inderawasih, 13600 Prai, Penang.
Tel: +604-3805228 Fax: +604-3805229
Mon-Fri: 9am – 5pm
Email: paddleforhope@gmail.com
That not all for the event, On that day itself, beside the Dragon Boat 12 hours Relay Challenge, you can get on the dragon boat to experience rowing for yourself and at the same time contribute to this charity row. With Donation of RM50, you can join Paddle for Hope team for a fun row. Besides that, there are Aerobics, Dance performance, Live bands, Indoor rowing, Magic show, painting competition and more will be held at Queensbay Mall. An event that you can’t afford to miss….:-)

Come and join the fun and be ready to get wet if you would like to try out dragon boating for yourself.

Technorati Tags: Charity,Endurance Challenge,Malaysia Book of Record

The Grand Canal Shoppes and Streetmosphere at Macau 2009

2009-07-05T21:39:00.002+08:00

At night we went to The Grand Canal Shoppes

Asia’s most unique and Opulent shopping Experience. Surrounded by the world’s finest brand, stroll along winding cobblestone walkways, or relax with an authentic gondola ride. Here have over 330 boutique stores, offering the best in fashion, jewellery, accessories, gifts, services and sporting goods. Delighted in one of many world class restaurants, bars and cafes or dine casually in 1000 seat international food court.
As you shop around, you will also be enthralled by the serenading sounds of Streetmosphere performers and singing gondoliers who transform the Grand Canal Shoppes with the romantic sounds of old world Venice.

The Artiste Del Arte, or Streetmosphere program, is comprised of classically trained vocalists, musicians, visual Artists and living statues, dressed in authentic and elaborate Venetian costumes. They will bring you back in time to Renaissance Venice. These truly entertaining performances make the Grand Canal Shoppes even more unique.

Gondola Rides. No trip to Venice – or the Venitian Macao Resort Hotel would be complete without a graceful and romantic glide down one of the three canals in an authentic Venetian gondola, accompanied by a singing gondolier.

That it for Days 2 in Macau.

Technorati Tags: The Grand Canal Shoppes,Streetmosphere,Gondola Rides,Venetian,Macau

Visited to Grand Lisboa Macau 2009

2009-07-03T21:29:00.003+08:00

Macau Casino tycoon Stanley Ho, has an estimated worth of $7 billion US asset. Also father of Hong Kong actress Josie Ho own all these antique. Right in front of lobby of Grand Lisboa, there is his Status

Behind of Stanley Ho’s status is the bronze horse head of the summer palace. Which is worth almost seven million HKD was the world record for any Chinese Qing Dynasty Sculpture. In September 2007, Dr Stanley Ho Hung Sun purchased through Sotheby’s the Bronze Horse head of Yuanmingyean and going to donate it to China.
The gold thingy at the back is the Lotus-Shaped Urn.

Next is Star of Stanley Ho. It estimated worth 1 billion HKD…..wtf!

Certified by GIA and has the color Grade of D which is the most clearest Diamond ever.

Another expensive stone. These 3 items place right in front of the entrance of Grand Lisboa.

An unique sculpture on Elephant tooth. when you look closely, it is the great wall of China

Others antique:

The imperial clock was made in the Qing Dynasty in the nineteenth century. It is a paste-set, striking, musical automation. It is made in gilt-metal.

Feel free to ask if you interest to know any of the above antique, sculpture and statue :-)

Monkey god’s birthday sculpture on elephant teeth.

look at the details work of the sculpture. Monkey god and all his anak-anak and cucu-cici…!

opposite of monkey god is friends come to celebrate his birthday. This is so cool.

Tai Chi Statue. it is one kind of material. the content of the statue is empty. this both Statue facing each others like playing tai chi together.
Besides all this antique, sculpture and statues, there are others interesting point of Grand Lisboa like the Dome, Egg of Fortune, Tokyo Night Show, Crazy Paris Show and some nice food from Noodles & Congee Corner. The chef was special hired to prepare the ramen which the ramen was never cut off.
After the tour, we went inside the casino. there is another great show on stage in the middle of Casino. A real show perform by dancers all around the world and it free! some members just stand there enjoy the hot and sexy dance perform by some Brazilian babes.

Let find out what we do at night on Macau trip 2009 Day 2 – Part 4 :-)

Technorati Tags: Casino,Grand Lisboa,Antique,Sculpture,Statue,Show

The Ruins of St. Paul at Macau 2009

2009-07-01T18:09:00.002+08:00

Continue from last post, we already arrived Ruins of St Paul. What a beautiful landmark in Macau. Some brief history of The Ruins of St. Paul. It refer to the facade of what was originally the church of Mater Dei built in 1602-1640, destroyed by fire in 1835, and the ruins of St. Paul’s College, which stood adjacent to the Church. As a whole, the old Church of Mater Dei, St Paul’s College and Mount Fortress were all Jesuit constructions and formed what can be perceived as the “Acropolis” of Macau. Close by, the archaeological remains of the old College of St. Paul stand witness to what was the first western-style university in the Far East, with an elaborate academic programme. Nowadays, the facade of the Ruins of St. Paul’s functions symbolically as an altar to the city.
I just wondering it is very hot in Macau in those old days. It had set on fire twice in 1595 and 1601. In 1835 the whole Church and College was complete destroyed by fire and left just the Pieces that currently you look at:

Behind of Ruin of St. Paul, there is a Museum of Sacred Art

Beside The Ruins of St Paul, there is a mount fortress.Built in conjunction with the Jesuits from 1617 to 1626, this was the city’s principal military defence structure. The fortress was equipped with cannons, military barracks, wells and an arsenal that held sufficient ammunition and supplies to endure a siege lasting up to two years. The fortress covers an area of 10,000 square metres, in the shape of a trapezoid. The four corners of the fortress protrude to form bulwarks.

Walk up to the top of the Mount Fortress, there is another museum called Macau Museum. We didn’t go inside but enjoy the air conditioning at the lobby only. There is another tourist spot at the right of the Ruins of St. Paul which we didn’t go as well called Na Tcha Temple.

another shot for the Ruins of St Paul before leaving this famous place.

Getting tired after walk around the city with a bag or two of almond cookie on hand.

Passby Senado Square again. Senado Square has been Macau’s urban centre for centuries, and is still the most popular venue for public events and celebrations today. The square is surrounded by pastel-coloured neo-classical building, creating a consistent and harmonious Mediterranean atmosphere

Next, we go to the most unique building in Macau, the Grand Lisboa.

The designed of the building is a lotus. You can notice Macau flag also a Lotus.

Opposite of New Grand Lisboa is old grand lisboa.

There is a unique design structure opposite the New Grand Lisboa but not sure what is that.
We take a tour provided by grand Lisboa to explain how the building was design and all the billion dollar antique stuff collected by the Gamble King – Stanley Ho.
Let stay tune for all the special antique in Part 3 :-)

FYI, they’re sitting on the million dollar Status.

Technorati Tags: Macau,Casino,Ruins of St Paul,Senado Square,Grand Lisboa,Almond Cookie

Explore Macau with the crews 2009

2009-06-29T14:25:00.002+08:00

As we arrived Macau 1 day early due to AirAsia no flight from Penang to Macau. We have to pay on our own the accommodation as well as the breakfast. (extra bed for 3 person in a room and the breakfast only cover 2 person. So, have to purchase another pax at MOP40)

How was it? healthy isn’t it? After Breakfast, we went to have a training session at Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre to test the water..! the weather is cold as well as the water.

Old type of dragon boat with the background of old building in Macau.

This Nam Van Lake Nautical Centre is a strategic location to host dragon boat event as it surrounded by many casino like Grand Lisboa, Wynn

and Macau Tower. The 7th Club Crew World Championship (CCWC) on 2010 going to host here. We have the privilege to row here really good~!

What a lovely place, let take a group photo here

After a few round of “test water” we go back to hotel take a refreshment and lunch at Hotel before transfer by Hotel Shuttle bus to Macau Hong Kong Port. The best thing in Macau is the transportation. you can travel around places for free as most of the Hotel do provide free shuttle bus transfer between their Hotel and Macau Hong Kong Port. while on the Pousada Marina shuttle bus to the dock:

This should be the Macau Cultural Centre if not mistaken.

Nearby is the Sand Hotel. In front of Sand Hotel, there is famous place called Fisherman Wharf

Which ride to take? We check on the map, to go to Senado Square, the nearer hotel is Grand Emperor Hotel. So, we took a free ride from the hotel. During the ride, take some photos of Macau:

Arriving at Grand Emperor Hotel. Look at the “Kuai LXX” eh face, the guard also feel the threat

Actually, he just want to take a photo

Walk around the old & new building in Macau, we heading to Senado Square

While crossing to Senado Square. A cute little pup on scooter.

the place that cannot miss when travel to Macau – Senado Square

“Majlis Perbandaran Macau” opposite Senado Square
When you first time travel to new places, you tense to find everything also interesting and special. This is so called excited and fresh. When you look at uncle with special tool making some pastry, you may think this must be special here, i sure don’t want to miss it.

After all, it just a sweet crispy tempung biscuit….(“.)
Walk up a bit, there is St Dominic Church Macau

Did not go inside. According to Teong Ming, inside is very beautiful.

This is how it look, picture from Teong Ming’s Camera.

Before I travel to Macau, I collected information from my colleagues who just back from Macau. They give me their itinerary, map and recommend me some food that much try when go to Senado Square. Lemon Cello Gelato is one of it.

this place sell Ice cream. I go inside and get a scoop of yam favour ice cream just found that it cost MOP20….it kind of expensive…..!

Another food that not to miss, the famous Almond Cookie. I did not buy the “Dai San Ba” brand of Almond Cookie because Daniel mention to me that Koi Kei one taste better. Of course “Dai San Ba” one more cheaper.

and Portuguese Tart at MOP6. Indeed, it is very delicious

Walk along these shop selling all the famous pastry of Macau, you’ll end up at the Ruins of St. Paul

Wuu huu~~~!!
To be continue…..

Technorati Tags: Ruins of St Paul,Senado Square,Almond Cookie,Portuguese Tart,Ice Cream,Casino

Flying from Penang to Macau 2009

2009-06-27T13:11:00.002+08:00

We represent Penang to participate in Macau International Dragon Boat Competition 2009. Taking AirAsia direct fly from Penang to Macau. This is the most complete crew ever to take part in over sea race:

From Left to Right (Standing): Choo Hooi, Kau, Hean, Chee Boon, Kok Teik, Yew Ming, Sang, Conor, Quah, Cheong, Boon Chin, Beh, Luke
From Left to Right (Squad): Joseph, Michael, Apple, Eng Wei, Hun, Hock Lye, Gavin, Melvin, Chew, Teong Ming.
It is so excited to have all this brothers travel together to fight in the dragon boat competition.
In took 3 hours+ flight to Macau. A bit hungry tim! took out my crackers:

It expand like wanna blow up. nothing special, just the air pressure different from ground make the cracker look chabby. :-)

Finally arrived Macau International Airport waiting for the guy who assigned to guide us during our stay in Macau. (actually, we expecting some girl tour guide….hehehe)

Transfer to Pousada Marina Hotel. We going to stay here for 4 Days. It located at Taipa, Macau. After checked in, We go to Vila Da Taipa to have our dinner. This places have a lots of choices for food

We decided to dine in this Restaurant called Cafe E.S.Kimo. Actually not all of us, some go to have seafood steamboat eat all you can at MOP 90

I ordered myself a pork bun which famous in Macau.

either we all hungry already or this pork bun really delicious~~! the meat is so tender combine with the soft bun, great!

Besides that pork bun, I get another set of meal. it also pork. this one also fabulous. Don’t you think so?

look again! (my saliva is generating while look at the picture itself) the drink is watermelon milk tea. After dinner, we walk around this places:

No People around, this place seem haunted and spooky! Taipa is place quite silent. not much people at night (may be hide inside the casino) compare to Macau. (check out google map if you donno where is Taipa and where is Macau) Some guys went back to Hotel after hanging around. Me and Chee Boon attracted to the night view of this building. So, we decided to walk there

Look so near, right? it is camera zoom at 7.8x. it is quite far away. it like have to walk 30 minute to this place from Vila Da Taipa. Anyway, it worth the walk!

It is so beautiful. the weather is windy and you’re like in Portugal with the music on the street

Each Lamp post have speaker to play those classical music around Venetian Hotel.

Opposite of Venetian Hotel is Crown Hotel, Hyatt Hotel and wuuhuu~~~ hard rock hotel. I have a mission to get some goodies in Hard Rock Cafe for some real hard rock fans. But too bad, the soft launch of hard rock cafe only have room to stay. No hard rock t-shirt to sell until the grand opening on 1st of June. By the time, we already back to Penang….syik!

Inside Venetian Hotel….wtf! it is so classic and yet so elegant. straight to the end of the walkway is the casino. Sorry, no camera inside casino.
The casino is very big here. uncounted tables got Poker, Caribbean Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, Big Small apa macam type eh gamble pun ada. However, the slot machines is not much compare to Genting Casino. The drink is free, you can play the card, you can play the machine as long as you bring enough money to play.
Just hang around the casino then walk back to Hotel and call it off for day 1 in Macau trip….!

Technorati Tags: Macau,Casino,Food,Travel

Ready for Paddle for Hope

2009-05-26T23:44:00.001+08:00

One of the training at Pulau Jerejak last year. It suppose to train for the Pesta Race that going to held at Queensbay Mall sea front but last minute change the race venue back to Teluk Bahand Dam. Anyway, it also a good experience for us to practise at Pulau Jerejak sea because we going to Paddle for Hope on this coming 18th July 2009. It going to happen at seafront of Queensbay Mall, Penang where 20-crews boat will paddle for 80km in 12 hrs to raise fund for charity. Check out more details at Penang Forward Official Website.

A hot sunny day.

real hot, huh!

this is what happen on global warming

Mr. Butt attacking the seafront of Macallum Street….!

Macallum Flat

the crew members…!

Carbon and Fiber Paddle

Egate and Tesco from Dragon Boat View

Penang Bridge View

Pass thru the bridge

the View Condominium

Approaching Gold Coast & Putra Marine Condominium

the plane on the sky, can you see us?

Bungalows at Queensbay Area

Yacht at Queensbay Waterfront

The Queensbay Mall, the longest shopping Mall in Penang.

Ok…enough camwhoring, time to start training. Do you want me to tell you how the training goes? Look at below image, it explain all

We dine at Weld Quey Restaurant as usual after the training. This plate is…..???!

this plate is la la.

this plate is…..hm….ah….?!!!??!

This bowl should be curry fish head. Where is the fish head go?

This bowl is the soup….!

Papadum

What is this? no clue at all….!

that is what happen after the sea training, do you feel me?

Technorati Tags: Paddle for Hope,Lunch,Queensbay Mall,Penang Bridge,Sea Training,Tesco,EGate

We're featured in Star Metro - Paddle Power

2009-05-21T23:09:00.001+08:00

1st of May is Labour Day in Malaysia, which is public holiday. We went to clubbing at MOIS on Labour Day eve, supper at Line Clear Mamak Stall. After supper went to Paradise beach view star and planning to watch sun rise but didn’t do so. it very crazy already, shouldn’t spend the labour day like that. Go home and sleep from 7am till 2pm. Wake up see a few miss call and many sms:
“Nice Pose! ;) Saw your photo on the front cover of the Star Metro”
“Wa, u appear in today newspaper! ;-)”
“I think, you are getting famous in the Star newspaper today. Check out the front page of the Metro section in todays Star!”
Quickly go to grab a copy of Star Newspaper to check out how the picture look like:

It like suddenly famous. Go office, colleagues talk about. Go gym, gym instructor also mentioning……buey keow……wtf…!

Yeah~~ We’ll show the power of paddle on this 23rd and 24th May 2009 PIDBF Race. Come and support us at Teluk Bahang Dam. Look for Penang Forward Sport Club team. you can bring the newspaper to get autograph from the rowers…..wahahahaha!

Technorati Tags: Paddle Power,Star Newspaper,Metro North,SMS

Carmen Birthday at Kim Gary

2009-05-16T22:43:00.001+08:00

Last few week after sea training at Teluk Bahang Dam, we went to Kim Gary Queensbay Mall to celebrate Carmen’s Birthday. Kim Gary members can get 50% discount on total bill when dine in during Birthday week, limited to 6 person only. that mean the 7 order is not entitled for the 50% discount.

the original toast

after operated by apple

is a mess….!!

I ordered a Korean Hot and Spicy noodle set with Kim Chee. It actually a maggie mee…..wtf! It cost RM14.90! My colleagues said i can cooked for you at RM5.00
there are more photos and birthdays clip on Apple camera phone, feel free to view from Apple…..hehe!

Technorati Tags: Kim Gary,Birthday,Korean Set,Toast

Penang Duck Rice at Lam Chan Na

2009-05-12T22:29:00.002+08:00

It been quite some time didn’t blog d…..! you know, busy in training……actual fact is lazy to blog….haha.

We went to have lunch at Lam Chan Na after one of the training at Macallum street. The Duck Meat is very famous here.

the Char Siou also one of the can’t resist dish especially the part where burn until black black one…..that very good.

The Drink here also very tasty.

Clean and Clear, then ordered another quarter duck meat. The real recipe is the sauce. the sauce make the duck meat taste great

Look at the people waiting to place orders. Our second order of quarter duck meat also took a while to serve

Inside kopitiam, the table is full. Penang really place with a lots of food that must try.
After the lunch, go home apply the pig philosophy. Live life to the fullest…..wahahaha!

Technorati Tags: Duck Rice

6KM run Youth Park, Penang

2009-03-10T23:11:00.002+08:00

Last Weekend Physical Training at Youth Park. Not much people attend. I think is because of the weather. The day is not a sunny day and it not a raining day as well. Many others places raining in the afternoon, members assumed Youth park also raining. So didn't come to training. I arrived early about 4.45pm and go to have some stone walk before actual physical training.

Look at the image, it should be hot day. Anyway, this photo took on previous physical training.

this stone promote blood circulation, you can't be fast. One step at the time to feel the pain at each part. I took approximately 20 minute to finish a round back and forth.

While walking, enjoy the park view surrounded by green.

the red leave plant

a giant tree with parasite plant on it. Take a deep breath to absorb all the earth energy. hm~~~~!
I saw Conor cycling pass by and Ah Jin waiting at First Car Park at the Youth Park Gate. Only 3 of us, we thought to go hiking to number 5. Later, Ah Quah, Chee Boon arrived and follow by Ah Khoo. Ah Khoo come right after Intel Sea Training, very good spirit huh! Chee Boon not joining us training as his leg "huat hong" (injured) At the End, 5 of us go for 7K jogging again.....*syiok ka liao* This is second time long distance running.
It start from Youth Park Main gate run to Jesselton Height 1 round and run out to Jalan Utama then straight away run to Botanical Gardens. that not all, It continue to run inside the Botanical Garden 1 round (small round) run back to Youth Park main gate using Persiaran Kuari. Here is the route:

Can you calculate the distance using the map scalar? I finish the route at 35.15 minute. Ah Quah at 31:XX minute, ah Khoo at 33:XX minute. It actually pressure by them to run 35:15 minute. First time, I run that distance took almost 40 minute to finish. This time, since small group of us, We run in the group. They let me take the lead but from their foot step at the back, I was pressure and pushing by them to increase my speed. Of course, I still keep on my breathing pace to finish the whole route without stopping.
Today, I simulate the time 35:15 minute on treadmill and I reach 6KM at 35:15minute at the speed 10.5. Feel proud I can finish the distance or run for 35 minute without stopping. it not only require physical but mentally also have to be strong.
Let post some of the photos took during last feel physical training:

the landscaping in Youth Park. very nice, isn't it?

The fountain. can't compare with fountain in Rome but this is very beauty fountain.

the tree...!

you can rest on the bend. very relax, isn't it?

eh....who that girl....haha!

waiting at First Car park

come and join us for training even you're not members of PFSC. it more fun to train in the group as well as improve in your physical by try to chase someone in front of you and avoid people at behind take over you. This train your mental as well

Proof of RM1 and 60 push up.

verify again. it not PFSC Jersey. This rule applicable to PFSC members only.

What make her so focus?

Her muscular Husband performing push up. mew: "he is my man!!!"

Not only wrong jersey get punishment, late comer as well.

stretching and cool down at the stage in youth park

froggy show!

After stretching and cool down, it still early. We go to Botanical Garden have a slow walk.

Botanical Garden Gate, wide open welcome you!

the tree branch at Botanical Garden

some others plant

tree branch camwhore. Look like some kind of horror movie, the plant hand is moving to catch you.

Chit Chating

while waiting for ah quah driver to pick him up

Technorati Tags: Physical Training,Long Distance Running,Park,Garden,Stone Path

Chinese New Year Dinner at PCTH 2009

2009-02-25T23:07:00.002+08:00

The other day, during Chinese New Year where people still in Holiday mood, not much training are going on. We was invited by Penang Chinese Town Hall (PCTH) to their Chinese New Year Celebration Dinner on 6th February. Choo Hooi reserved 2 tables for PFSC.
I off work late, directly go to PCTH from office. I met Kok Wan at entrance, he said didn't see anyone yet. I told him, there already inside. We was warm welcome by the lion dance.
Without further ado, first dish served:

lou san only as no salmon in it. (save cost save cost)

after. Lou dei fung shan shui hei.

cold plate normally is the first dish for most of the dinner. But people lou san during Chinese New Year. To be specific, it on 7th day of Chinese New year if not mistaken.

then only opening by hitting gong.....tong~~~!!!!tong~~~~! tong!!!!~~~

artificial shark fin soup. don't expect it real shark fin and also no good to eat real shark fin.

served by team manager, our honour!

then kentucky fried chicken with some keropok!

pork + vege!

sweet sour and spicy fish. in short sar bee hu (3 taste fish)

still hungry? then carbo (mee) will be the last dishes for the night. better eat if you still hungry.

Beer + Lychee = dessert?
Kena a few round of bottom up of beer, I try to fill my glass with the lychee, jelly to avoid they pour the beer. but end up, I have a beer dessert.....wtf!!
Normally, (PFSC culture) we'll continue second round after dinner but don't know why that night we didn't continue second round. May be too tired after working or may be no kaki and we save it for tomorrow (another date). My ex-colleague are asking to clubbing at MOIS next day because she got friend come back from UK, they want to find out how is the club and people in Penang. So, we keep it for tomorrow but some are going to karaoke.

Technorati Tags: Chinese New Year,Dinner,Eat and Drink,Lou San

2009 Plan & Focus

2009-01-14T23:03:00.002+08:00

Management has come out a plan for the team and area to focus in 2009. Like everyone else setting a resolution for a new year, our team also have a few objective to achieve and many race to compete in. Management do not hope or wish that our team can do it because hope is not a strategy. Management will make it happen and action speak louder than talk.
What excited is the 60 repetition push up and RM1 fined for those who late to scheduled training time. If you did not wear Penang Forward Jersey, it will be another 60 push up + RM1 fined. Think properly before you try to late or wearing others team jersey that you exchange. RM1 is not a big deal but 60 counts push up is not easy. (unless you try to cheat) Of course there are some strong members can do it without problem but remember, you still have training to go on.....! You can think positively, you gain more for the punishment....then try to come late (".)
With this rules applied and agreed by members, we've solved the time management issue as well as some discipline improvement in the team. Discipline is the keyword to become more successful than others like Simple truths said:
"Your ability to discipline yourself to set clear goals, and then to work toward them everyday, will do more to guarantee your success than any other single factor.
You've heard it said that, "you can't hit a target you can't see."
"If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."
Wayne Gretsky said, "You miss every shot you don't take."
It seems that only 3% of adults have written goals and plans, and they earn more than the other 97% put together.
Why is this? The simplest answer is that, if you have a clear goal and a plan to achieve it, your focus is fixed on a set course of action. Instead of becoming sidetracked by distractions and diversions, your time is focused on a straight line from start to finish. This is why people with goals accomplish so much more than people without them.
The tragedy is that everyone thinks they already have goals. But what they really have are hopes and wishes.
A wish has been defined as a "goal with no energy behind it." Hope is not a strategy.
Goals that are not written down and developed into plans are like bullets without powder in the cartridge. People with unwritten goals go through life shooting blanks. Because they think they already have goals, they never engage in the hard, disciplined effort of goal setting, the master skill of success.
USA Today reported on a study a couple of years ago. First, researchers selected people who made New Year's resolutions. Then they divided these people into two categories: those who made New Year's resolutions and wrote them down, and those who made New Year's resolutions, but neglected to write them down.
Twelve months later, they followed up on the respondents in this study. What they found was astonishing! Of the people who made New Year's resolutions but neglected to write them down, only 4% actually followed through on their resolutions.
However, among the group that took a few minutes to record their New Year's resolutions, 44% followed through on them. This difference of more than 1100% proves the simple act of crystallizing resolutions or goals on paper increases likelihood of success.
In my experience of working with several million people over the past twenty-five years, the disciplined act of setting goals, making plans for their accomplishments, and then working on them daily, increases the likelihood of achieving your goals by ten times, or 1000%.
This does not mean that goal setting guarantees success, only that it increases the probabilities of success by ten times. These are very good odds to have working in your favor.
So, it just a simple act to write down your resolution and make your goal clear, same like what management do here. All the target has been set and many action has been taken, you just need to join in and focused on the goals, we just need to row in straight line from start to finish in a few minute. simple as that!

Dog also come to the team meeting.

(post like a motor rock band album jer~~)

(sit like bangla worker jer...)

Pay attention and listening to.....

angmo coach

Team manager

and captain

Boon Chin give some feedback and comment

Ah hun help his dog PCC

It funny....! hahaha!

Technorati Tags: Team Meeting,Goal,Discipline,Punishment,Plan and Focus,Resolution,Strategy,Time Management

CASP Children's Red Ribbon Party

2009-01-14T00:22:00.002+08:00

Community AIDS Service Penang held the Children's Red Ribbon Party on 7 December 2008 at Bukit Dumbar. The toy collected and games received were distributed to these children on that day. Special thanks to Bananananaspeaks and Evelyn unplugged for their kind donation of the books, toys and games. God bless you for your good work.
We hope to give more to these children by having an Endurance Charity Row (12 hours rowing) events on June 2009 at Queensbay Mall Sea front. You can share the information around. We target to archive RM100k donation from Public.

there your toys go. :-)

Technorati Tags: Community AIDS Service,Donation,Charity,Gift

23rd Club Anniversary Cum FAME 2009

2009-01-13T00:53:00.002+08:00

Yeah p^.^q .....it FLAMING on our 23rd Anniversary celebration dinner. It start HOT with belly dance. 3 Sexy belly dancers together with 3 cute little belly dancers make the opening a ka-boom....! Too bad, I was busy with registration and membership collection, unable take photos for the show....! however, I enjoy the show very much. Lisa's daughter, a cute fatty dancer and little shakira re-born belly dancer take the performance to another level.
It follow by a speech from Choo Hooi, Pascal and others VIP, YB and so on....what we do is eat, hungry d....wtf!

However, I only manage to eat first 2 dishes (Leng Plate and Hu Chi (Sharkfin)) because the program continue with some introduction about Paddles for Hope Charity Events. Which we'll row for 12 hours around Queensbay area, hope to collect donation from public for a few organisation like CASP (Community AIDS Service Penang - www.casp.com.my), House of Hope (Support Single Mother) and some old folk home. (I'll get as much details as possible on these non-profit organisation if it align with your objective to help them)
Our goal is to archive RM100k on this charity events. On that night itself, we managed to collect about RM2600 on the spot. I and Conor take the pile and walk from one table to another table, "uncles and aunty ar, brothers and sister ar, these children born with AIDS infected and their parents abandon them. they have no choice at all, but you have choice to help them by donate some money to keep this CASP continue operation...kam siah, kam siah, thank you, thank you, god bless you....bla bla bla..! in less than 30 minute, I and Conor collected RM999.90 while others group like Penny and Hock Lye, Ah Hun & Michael, Luke and Apple also collected quite a lot of money. Compare to the goal of RM100K, it a good start! We have RM97K to go, will you help? Do let me know in message box or comment, any amount that you afford, we appreciate a lot.
From there, I missed chicken and vege....wtf! While I continue with Fish and Prawn. There are some games going on, Lisa drag Ah Hun, Ah Jin, Teong Ming, Michael, Steve and Hock Lye up to stage and dance. Whatever she dance, they have to follow. The crowd will be the judges, if you like the candidate, clap your hand or make some noise to support the candidate. First round eliminate 2 (Steve and Hock Lye), Second round eliminate another 2 (Michael and Teong Ming) and left Ah Jin and Hun to perform. Hun try to get people attention to play some tai chi / kung fu on stage to make the environment fun and hilarious. At the end, they both shared the victory for 1 bottles of liquors.
I did not take much photos during dinner as I hungry for food. Anyhow, we have official photographer to take photo for that night. You can check at PFSC Official Web site's photo gallery after some time. The dinner go on with some drinking beer competition. It separated into 3 categories, first categories is for non-drinker like Kok Teik, Hock Lye those cannot drink at all. The prize is one bottle of liquors won by others team rowers. second categories is for female only and last categories is for drinker. They'll drink a jug of beer with stroll....mean suck! wtf! First prize is Cordon Blue that worth about RM400++, follow by second prize and third prize is Volka. Ricky's brother won the first prize by finish the jug in a few second.....! you know...like those without the throat...damn fast!
It about the end of dinner but a real party is going to start soon. We was discussing which club to go. some suggest FAME some suggest MOIS. Young people think that MOIS is more happening but to bring some many people into MOIS it another problem. So, we end up at FAME. As usual, another round of drinking spree in FAME bring the atmosphere to peak....wtf!
Let the photo say it all...!

Inside FAME...initially still not much people. As Penangite know, it not the hottest club.

These people drink bo kau (not enough) and cause them feel so sien and tired....kns!

camwhore with brothers

Camwhore in groups.

Some Idiots shot.

and a lot of middles finger shot....wtf! These people really international standard who use international language

many leng lui shot

Model Shoot

couple more shot

Podium Dancer, kaki shuffle, hot sexy dancer, dance with some real woman (check out michael), even ah khoo also on the dance floor....! woo hoo~~~!

Sawadeekap to some Thai's Friend.
kns....I'm a dam busy cameraman! I only took 1 photo during dinner but in FAME, i took more than 300 pictures in just a few hours (some was instruct not to upload due to sensitive information) . I went to Bangkok for 5 days 4 nights also took not more than 500 pics....wtf!!
check out my photo album at Picasa for more others photo.

Supper after clubbing, having a nasi kandar like this....really kns...!

Technorati Tags: Annual Dinner,Clubbing at Fame,Chivas,Nasi Kandar,Dancers

Hike to Penang Hill 46

2009-01-12T00:00:00.002+08:00

Yesterday physical training was simple. In fact it is fun to go hiking with a big group of sport enthusiasts. We set to meet up 3.30pm at Botanical Garden. Compare to usual physical training time, it is a lot early. why? because we have our 23rd Annual Dinner that night. So, start early, end early and go to have dinner then party. No matter what, we still go to training! where are the rest of PFSC members when we go to Hiking?
I know one. He go to hair dressing his hair just for the Annual dinner....wahahaha! a very big night for him....!
This hiking was not compete with each others but to find out what is weakness among our rowers. We need an average rowers in Power, Aerobic Capacity, Flexibility, Strength. Some rowers are good in strength but not endurance. So, that rowers need to improve in aerobic capacity. We can't have everyone who good in every area but we'll make everyone average or above average on those area. We have a series of systematic and organized program ready by our physical coach, do come for the training to find out what is the program.

Greet by Monkey when arrived at Botanical Garden

Ready to get set...!

go...!? not yet....! We'll timed for the hike (As I told you, it systematic)

Luke and Kok Teik will go up to 46 first to timed for individual members. While waiting for them to hike up, we was jog around in Botanical Garden

Are you ready?

Look at the Path and the slope...!wtf...

Teong Ming: "Wassap~~~!!"

Chew Ko winning sign...!

unbelievable that Hean come to Hike until Quah said it going to rain in red....

Time keeper!

At 46, We do some push up

and chin up to test our strength and power.

After some briefing from Conor, We go down the hill.

After we reach the bottom, we have a cool down jog back to starting point and do some stretching before dismiss.

You know what? it party time....!!! let check back for the FAME clubbing after the Annual Dinner.

Sushi King Promotion

2009-01-10T01:10:00.002+08:00

Sushi at Sushi King is not cheap. As you know:
A Kanikama (2 pcs of sushi with artificial crab stick) at blue plate cost RM2

A Tuna mayo (2 pcs of sushi with mayonnaise tuna) at Beige Plate cost RM3

A Sake (2 pcs of sushi with raw salmon on top of the rice) at Pink Plate cost RM4

A Vannamei (2pcs of sushi with prawn) at Red Plate cost RM5

A Unagi (2pcs of sushi with unagi ) at Purple Plate cost RM6

With RM2, I can have a lot of crab stick lok-lok.
With RM3, I can buy a can of tuna
With RM4, I can eat a plate of nasi kandar with fried chicken
With RM5, I can eat a prawn porridge with 2 big prawn
With RM6, I can buy a pack of unagi in Jusco store.
Even with their Sushi King RM2 Bonanza promotion it also not worth to eat, why? First, must have the sushi membership card. Second, have to queue up and wait very long. Third, have to wait for the sushi at Kaiten Belt. They don't take order except the sushi not fall under the promotion. They make the pink/red/purple plate at certain period only, that mean if you come in after the pink/red/purple over, you have to take the blue/Beige. fourth, you have to be fast else it will be gone once it touch the kaiten belt, it won't flow to your table at all. Fifth, it make your dining so tension that everyone is fighting for the sushi and people are waiting outside.....wtf!
So, chance drop by when the promotion "my111 sushi king" news spread around from friends. With the SMS charge RM3.50 for requesting the coupon, you can have Sushi King buy 1 free 1 that valid for a week from the date you request.
What are you waiting for? taruh, I mean makan kuat-kuat on sushi king la....! Gather a few friends that can eat and pergi bersama-sama makan sushi....!

Gavin and Melvin so happy when can eat Sushi King with Buy 1 Free 1 Promotion

We split into 2 tables for the sushi king dining. Which another table consume not much as have 2 ladies there

Can't recall how much we ate that day even the sushi king employee need two person to verify the number of plate

May be you can count this way, it taller than me......wtf...!
After that day, we still visit a few time to sushi king, like "jiak poh siu" (revenge). We not let go although the coupon expired, we use another phone number to request for new coupon to buy 1 free 1 promotion until tuin kin (cut off/hate eating sushi)...wtf!
After sometime, we feel that we want to kick some ass, (I mean go to eat sushi) we request for another new voucher for the buy 1 free 1 promotion. But with some new term and condition where one visit can redeem up to 5 x buy 1 free 1 plate only. I not sure it is cause by us that sushi king set the new rules. However, we can always go to others Japanese restaurant like Sakae Sushi. The salmon plate only cost RM1.90 compare to Sushi King RM4.00....wtf!

*sushi photo are download from sushi king website. sushi king logo are trademark of sushi king

In Sports, SIZE matters

2009-01-09T00:39:00.001+08:00

Article from NST:
Long, short or tall - scientists claim that matching your shape to a sport could turn you into a medal winner. It is said that choosing your parents is the most important step towards reaching the top in sport, with genes determining physique and how your body functions.
Experts say body build is a crucial factor in determining aptitude for sport. Professor Andy Jones, the chair of applied physiology at the University of Exeter's school of sport and health sciences, goes as far as to say that "success at elite level is largely down to nature" rather than nurture.
"In Olympic finals, the importance of body type is quite obvious," he says. "The build of a marathon runner, for instance, is very different from that of a hammer thrower or hockey player."
Professor Richard Davison, the chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences and an exercise physiologist at Napier University in Edinburgh, agrees. "If you are short, you are never going to be a top-class basketball player. If you are too tall, you will not make a world-class gymnast."
Quite how exact the emerging science of kinanthropometry (The measurement of body shape, size and limb proportion) can be was demonstrated by Dr. Niels Secher, an exercise scientist at the University of Copenhagen.
He attempted to predict the speed of competitive rowers based only on their body size and the weights of their boats. He was accurate to within one per cent.
SIZE matters in rowing - elite male rowers are tall, muscular and weigh as much as 114kg but have low levels of body fat - and Dr Secher says that "bigger muscles allow them to use more oxygen, which means more power".

Limb length is also as important factor in some sports. Dr. Clare Hencken, of Portsmouth University, has found that good footballers have long thigh muscles, and Kenyan athletes, who hold many middle and long-distance running world records, have high calf muscles, a genetic trait that is thought to enhance running technique.
Sprinters tend to be tall and muscular but with slim lower legs and fairly narrow hips, which gives them a biomechanical advantage and they have a genetically higher proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres than, say, marathon runners.
So important a factor is body type that it is being used to identify potential champions for the London 2012 Olympics and beyond.
Last year, UK Sport and the EIS launched a talent identification scheme, called Sporting Giants, in which they urged potential athletes to come forward, providing they fulfilled the criteria of being tall (190cm for men, and 180cm for women), young (between 16 and 25) and with some sort of sporty background. About 4,800 people responded. Sporting Giants is a big attempt to identify future Olympic champions.
It is a modern and more ethical take on the searches infamously carried out in former Soviet bloc countries and China to identify genetic ability for sport at an early age.
Chelsea Warr, UK Sport's talent identification lead officer says that physical characteristics are just part of the package. Talent scouts are also looking for "games intelligence, the innate ability some people have to be in the right place at the right time", and "coachability", both vital for future champions. Even then, success isn't guaranteed.
"It takes six to eight years of hard graft for a promising athlete to get to the point where they can think about winning medals," she says.
Garland says "talent recycling", in which promising athletes are redirected to sports more suitable to their body type, has been successful many times. He cites the example of Anna Bebington, an all-round sportswoman who began rowing at Cambridge University in 2001 when she was 18 to keep fit, but because of her physique was picked out as having potential. She started intensive training two years later and was competing for Great Britain in the world championship by 2005.
Of course, there are always going to be exceptions.
"In some sports, skill can overcome physical limitations to a certain extent," Professor Davison says. "With game and team sports, this is especially true. Look at the footballers Peter Crouch and Michael Owen; both play the same position, but they are incredibly different in stature."
In most cases, stature and build should merely be used as a guide. Parents should not push their child into a sport simply because it seems to suit their body type. "A child will not be successful at any sport if he or she doesn't enjoy it," he says. "You may find they become good at a sport they enjoy despite their size, or enjoy a sport they are good at because of their size.
The Driver: Lewis Hamilton
Sport: Formula One
Height: 1.74m
Weight: 68KG
Build: Few Formula One drivers are taller 1.75m. Generally, the thinner and lighter they are, the better. Not only does it improve the fit in the tiny cockpit, but the downforce experienced as a Formula One car grips the track means that the driver can be subjected to forces of five times the pull of gravity, where his 70KG body suddenly weighs 350KG. Muscle strength, especially in the neck, is also critical, so body fat percentage is low.

The Swimmer: Michael Phelps

Sport: Swimming

Height: 1.94cm

Weight: 88KG

Build: Phelps is tall and height is an advantage for a sprint swimmer. Long bodies give swimmers and automatic edge when it comes to turning and reaching for the finish. Phelps has size 14 feets, which act like paddles in the water, and an arm span of two metres, which means that his stroke rate is highly efficient.

The Runner: Paula Radcliffe

Sport: Distance Running

Height: 1.73m

Weight: 54KG

Build: Although Radcliffe is taller than many world-class female marathon runners, she has the classic ectomorph physique of a distance runner, slim with a slight build, having proportionately long legs and narrow hips. Being any taller could have been a disadvantage. Distance running requires efficiency of movement in lifting the body off the ground and propellin it forward with each stride, and that becomes more difficult the taller and heavier someone is.

The Rower: James Cracknell

Sport: Rowing

Height: 1.93m Weight: 100KG

Build: Rowers are classic mesomorph shapes with broad shoulders and long, muscular limbs, with low body fat. Although rowers' musculature can make them heavy, the water buoys their boat and it doesn't hinder them moving through the water. Like distance runners, rowers have a high aerobic capacity and are capable of taking in up to 300 litres of air a minute

What Shape are you?

There are three classic body types. Although most people are a mixture of two, you should be able to categorise yourself according to the descriptions below:

Mesomorph: Larger bones and well-defined muscles, with even proportions. Tend to excel at power-based sports such as sprinting, rugby and weightlifting

Endomorph: Curvier with relatively short limbs, small hands and feet and high waists. A higher percentage of body fat and less muscle. Best at endurance-based sports, such as cross-channel swimming.

Ectomorph: Small build with low body fat and narrow hips, waists, ankles and wrists. Tend to excel at distance running.