Valentine's Day 2007

So V-Day was over a week ago.

What did i do this V-Day? I didn't spend it alone, firstly. And then again, wish i may, i didn't have a handsome guy ask me out for that candlelight dinner. Nor did i have any flowers Or presents to signify this (i shall say it since i am single) over-rated day.

Instead, I, had 20 dates.

I dated 20 guys. Guys i don't know. Yup, i went speed dating. now now, let me first explain WHY i went speed dating.

No, I wasn't desperate u moron. I was fulfilling my responsibility as a good citizen and ultimately as a medical student. I was helping research along for the betterment of the population and of psychology sciences. I went on a Speed Dating Psychology Test. Pretty exciting, eh?

I've never done speed dating b4 and now with the whole 'psychology' test thingy involved, we were each given a sheet of paper and on it, we not only had to write whether we wanted to meet this guy again but we had to rate how attractive we thought he was and how masculine. On the guys part, they had to rate how attractive they thought the girls were and rate whether they think the girl was interested in them or not. The guys also had this wee microphone attached to a recorder and after every round, they had to read off a sheet of paper while recording their voice: "My name is bla-bla, I was talking to bla-bla and the thing i remember most about her was bla-bla", with the girl still sitting at the table. At the end of the whole thing, the girls had to do a computer programme test where u rated and compared pictures of faces and voices.

Pretty intimidating i tell you.

So, the whistle went and we had 3 minutes each to talk. There were 20 guys altogether and the girls had to move around. 1/2 way thru, it got pretty tiring.. Like someone put it, it was the same conversation with different people.

However, I've gotta say I ticked a few guys whom i thought were pretty interesting. One was a musician who sings and plays in a band but works as an architect(i Think), another a guy from Seville, Spain, the next a really muscular guy who was hilarious (and rather good looking too), and then was someone I really cannot remember and the last, another humorous guy who works as a web techie from his home.

The way speed dating works is if someone ticks u off and u tick him off, then d organiser will email both parties each other email addresses.

Still.

I am more interested in the psychology results.

I mean, who wouldn't be? All in the name of serving the nation.

Santa Baby

Masquerade : Half Way Ball 2007

I'm half way to graduation. 2 1/2 years to end of my course! Another 2 1/2 years to being Dr. Hung. (if all goes well) Morbid. Scary. I'll be no more a student. No more free stuff or discounts of movies, theatres, train tickets...

Dinner was 49 pounds, a 3 course meal, dessert being the best. After that, a ceilidh and DJ. I look forward to my next major ball which is on my graduation. That will read

'The Edinburgh Medics Graduation Ball 2009'

I think a student's life is the best life one can lead.

Iona and I

Matthew and I

Matt, Anneli, Nargiza and the lovely dessert

Kiru (i love the dress) and I

Murder

Apparently some guy came into A&E with a heart attack. He was critically ill. His history says that he developed horrible chest pain after a heated argument with his relative.

The doctors managed to stabilise him. He was found to have 90% narrowed coronary arteries. Did the argument precipitate the heart attack? Or was he going to have a heart attack anyway at that moment, argument or not?

Whatever it is, the police was involved.
His relative was charged for attempted murder.

*Sweat*

Cardiothoracic Surgery. Suturing. What Else?

So, I was in an angiogram surgery today. Should I become a doctor in future, and have medical students standing in to observe my surgery, I swear I shall explain every step to them. Quiet surgeons who do not say anything while I stand there staring at the screen, trying to decipher which artery is blocked are Most Certainly Not Helping My Career At All. Anyway, considering I did not know what was going on as they stuffed in wire after wire up the poor man's radial artery(at the wrist) while trying to find the blocked artery at the heart(which they obviously know where it is but I don't) left me a lot of time to day dream. Which lead me to think of the first cardio surgery I saw.

***

It was a sunny day. Well, it really was. I could see it out of the window.
It was a CABG surgery. A coronary artery bypass graft surgery. That is when your heart arteries are all blocked with gunk(stop eating all those char kuey teow and nasi lemak) and you need another artery(taken from somewhere else in your body) to replace it. The surgeon sawed through the middle of the chest. Spent about an hour messing about with some artery that he wanted to use. Sam and I stood and watched him slowly and painstakingly cut away all the fat around the spare artery. So boring. Still, being the very very Keen medical student, we feigned interest. Oh look! That's a bit of fat being zapped off!(they use heated tools to burn away fat. something like when we were in sec school, the pateri pen we used in KHB)
Still Sam and I stood and watched. Finally, the surgeon proceeded to the chest again. The anaesthesist, a lovely oldish man, bless him, gave us 2 stools to stand on to look over the patients head.

I didn't expect this. The surgeon cut through the first layer of whatever that is covering the heart.

We see something pulsating below.

He cuts through the pericardium - the final layer.

And audible gasp from Sam and I.

The pulsating heart. Sitting in a breathing, living person. A live heart. In all its glory.

It was a high. Like Meredith said to Dr Sheperd in Grey's Anatomy. "That was the ultimate high sir."

"Never seen a heart before?" asks surgeon. "No. Not a pulsating one, sir"

***

Oh, they've finished unblocking the blocked artery of the present patient. The surgeon starts suturing up. Which lead me to think of my first suturing lesson.

***

I mean, how difficult can sewing be?? Honestly.
Honestly?? It is. I be to my last dollar 75% of the room could not follow the hands of the lecturer as he took us slowly step by step to tie a knot with the suture material.

First, the finger here, then the 3rd finger under here and the thread over and.. and...
Everyone was lost. The lecturer just stops doing it step by step after awhile. After all, statistics show that 3/4 of us will be GPs and not surgeons so statistically, it doesn't really matter whether we can actually suture or not.

Suturing aka sewing is hard work. I think all surgeons are potential seamstresses.

***

Now everyone is packing up, the patient moved back to the CCU. The surgeon tells me there is nothing more to do and sends me home.

***

Which leads me back to my first cardio surgery. After replumbing all the blocked arteries,(yes surgeons are potential plumbers too) the surgeon inserts wires to pull the rib cage together. Sheer, brutal force. Later on, 2 holes are cut into the skin just below the rib cage. 2 tubes are inserted into the body to where the chest cavity is. For drainage as to prevent build up of fluid after the surgery. TWO HOLES INTO THE BODY. Cut by a scissors and tubes shoved in.

And I think, if these are the kind of things we have to learn, what about other courses? What do people who study engineering do? Literature? Economics? Nah.

I can put a plaster onto a broken wrist. I've learnt how to. But JUST the wrist. Who knows? Given a scissors, I can make holes too.

Back in Edinburgh

DAMN IT

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve

Christmas was spent in Hong Kong. Met up with all my CXIWE friends again. Went to eat 'dai pai dong' aka hawker food. In HK. Hahahhaa, like i don't get enough of it in Malaysia already! But hawker food in HK is a bit different. More 'restaurant' style, the only thing is it is Not in a building. Shopping, food etc in HK was brilliant as usual. The crowd in TST on christmas eve was massive though. There were plenty of small groups of carolers everywhere and the lighting decoration was fantastic. Christmas was spent shopping again, (yes, Asian countries Do Not close down during Christmas. Everything comes alive as its the best time to make money, unalike Western countries where the whole place goes dead. Eww) and Christmas dinner in my grandparents place. HK is definitely my type of place. Full of life and activity. The city never sleeps.

***
New Years Eve.
More of a subdued event mixed with alcohol.

Fireworks in KLCC. Camera whoring. Drinking games in Traders Hotel room. Touring Traders Hotel's different floors and rooms alcohol influenced. Sleep.

Welcome 2007

Nails

Think I can be a nail model? Yeap, I think I can

ECG and Chest X Ray Intepretation

We shall have an incredibly fun time intepreting ECGs and chest X rays.

what is an ECG did u say??well, its an Extremely Complex Graph or electrocardiogram. take your pick. OoOooo .. I'm so excited!!!!

Well, to kick things off... this is a normal PQRS complex you should see. How easy is that?
Ok, assuming you have already got all of those in your head. the P-Q-R-S complex. oh with a T wave at the end... you should now be able to intepret the ECG below...
Well.... spot on! A sinus bradycardia.
I hear someone asking whats sinus... oh, sinus is when u have a P wave followed by the QRS complex and they are regular.
Bradycardia? Oh, that means a slow heart rate. Cause the distance between one R wave(highest peak) and the next =no of boxes. Heart rate = 300/no of boxes ie 300/6= 50. A normal heart rate is 60-100. anything below is bradycardia, anything above is tachycardia.

Oh shocker... you managed to spot an ST segment elevation!! He is having a myocardial infarction!!
Riight, i hear u say myo- infarc- what?? basically a heart attack. Medics have to sound high class. we call it a MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION.(basically so the normal population don't know it when doctors discuss it in front of them. Take neoplasia or metastases for example. It basically means cancer. Well, if we talk bout neoplasms and what not, the patients Wouldn't know they have cancer eventhough we are discussing it RIGHT IN FRONT OF 'EM. Doctors are compassionate people )
Hmm, is there a Q wave? It might be physiological or pathological. What on earth do they mean!?!??! Even both words are difficult to pronounce. Heck it.

Ok, I don't know what I'm talking about. Or what i heard in lecture today. Neither makes sense. I don't know how to read an ECG. and by the end of this year, i'm expected to be pretty damn good in it.

Never mind, considering that we are all geniuses at ECGs now, we'll move on to chest x-rays. Woohoo!
Have u seen anything like this? That is an absolutely normal chest x ray. YOUR chest should look just like it.
And this is..... a *copy n paste*

Pneumothorax - what the? i'm not very sure myself. Go to http://cancerweb.ncl.ac.uk/omd/index.html to find out yourself.

why pneumo-thingy?? because
.X-Ray signs:

1. Pleural line

2. No parenchym behind the line

3. Displacement of mediastinum


Huh? A few extra white lines and shapes here and there? Looks almost the same to the one above!

Argh, let's not even go there. I don't know anything of this.

I guess the only way is to bluff my way through med school.

Knee Arthroscopy

At the Outpatient Dept

Dr: Hm, i am sure u have an ACL tear. And probably a meniscus tear too. I'll arrange an emergency MRI for you tmr and if u call into my office later that evening, i'll tell u if u've gotta go for a surgery on tuesday.

Me: Ar.. Ok..

At the MRI Dept

Nurse: Right, just straighten ur leg and dont move. we'll give u music to listen to as the machine is really noisy. this is going to take 20 mins

1/2 way thru..

Me: This hurts this hurts...when is it going to end?!?!?! As Christina Aguilera and Sugababes roar in my ear - i'm battling with my pain receptors to keep my leg straight as it hurts horribly when its in that position.

At 4 pm the same day
On the phone

Dr : Yeah, u've got an ACL tear with a bucket handle meniscus tear. We are operating on tues. come into day surgery centre at 7.30 am

Tuesday, Surgery day, 7.30 am

Nurse : Kar Hung please. Well, as my english name is behind my chinese name, they naturally take the first part of my chinese name. sigh. talks me thru the anaesthetic regime. something about general anaesthetic and a femoral nerve block.

SHO : Kar Hung please.
Looks thru my notes

SHO : Huh, u've got an MRI?? Usually takes 4 months to be arranged! Huh, u just saw the consultant last week and u'r having ur surgery today?? that's fast!

Turns d page in my notes and comes to the typed up case notes which says..

This 21 year old 3rd year medical student doing the Locomotor Rotation presented with a....

SHO : Right..

Figures. I love being a medical student.

On the anaesthetic table

Anaesthetist : Alright, we are gonna but a cannula here. ties a glove around my arm. Make a fist for me please., and repeat. Right, its gonna be an ant prick. sticks a needle into my vein on my wrist. This is something that will make u go to sleep..
Anaesthetist 2 sticks pads over my body and i can see my heart beat on the ECG monitor... perfectly fine heart i reckon..

***

Nurse : Is ur leg painful?
Me : Yeah. I can't open my eyes..
Nurse : On the scale of 1-10?
Me : 5. And i Still dont know who i'm speaking to..

Nurse injects some morphine in. Repeats the above conversation another 3-4 times and continues injecting morphine.
I begin to shiver and nurse 2 puts a blanket over me with hot air blown in. The best ever feeling even though i was still heavily sedated...
I'm wheeled out to the day surgery ward.

***

Nurse : Sorry, I need to take your blood pressure.

Me : OK. Tries to read of the blood pressure machine but i can't register anything. the words swim left and right...i see a 99 or something to that effect. Huh?? Er, nurse, is my blood pressure ok? hey, my voice sounds FUNNY..

Nurse repeats the procedure every 1/2 an hour.

Tuesday, Surgery Day, 4 pm

Dr : Hi Rachel, we've repaired ur ACL, and managed to sew back ur meniscus as it was in a particularly well blood supplied area. U shouldn't weight bear for at least 3 weeks on that leg as u might rerupture d stitches.

Me : Ah.. ok? Can i go for classes tho?

Dr : Yeah, u've gota come in here for physio classes.

Me : Eh? Er, i mean can i go for Uni classes.

Dr: Oh yeah, sure u can go for anything.

Me : Oh OK.. Thanks Doc.My voice STill sounds funny..

Tuesday, Surgery Day, 6pm

Physiotherapist : Right, we've arranged a physio appointment for u next week. on Weds. Usually, patients come in before the surgery and we have a proper talk thru and all the appointments are made beforehand. but u came in real quick so i just did it for u..

See, told u its great being a medical student.

At 7 pm, two of my flatmates turn up as the nurse was explaining when to take my pills and also how to change my dressings should i need to. I nod in and out of consciousness as she speaks and remained like that the whole time til i finally tumbled into bed at 8 pm..

I am sitting here the next day at 11 am..

Love the anaesthetics.

Back to the Good Old Crutches

Yes..

my problematic knee has finally decided enough is enough and i am now back to using my good old crutches as it is.

The story starts on how i slipped unglamorously on the wet floor in my kitchen.. and my knee twisted medially causing my ligaments to be stretched. i suppose i have a bit of loose meniscus in my knee too.. that is why i had intense pain and my knee is now currently locked in one position. i can't extend it properly nor can i flex it fully.

So.. off to A&E of our famous Royal Infirmary fo Edinburgh and i was referred to the fracture clinic the next day. there, the orthopaedic doctor told me to come back in 1 week! said that i've gotta wait for the swelling to go down a bit before it can really be assessed.

well, well, well.

irony is... i am doing my locomotor rotation now.. and i go to d fracture clinic twice a week to observe my tutor and his patients. i suppose i took things a tad too far and now i've gone for role play..

the only problem is, i am Not the doctor

My 21st Part Two

After my big birthday dinner in Malaysia,

I returned to Edinburgh.

And had 4 days of celebration.

Well, not quite, but something to that effect..

Thursday night - clubbing til I got drunk

Friday night - out at 3 sisters for drinks again ( 1 bottle of smirnoff ice was all I had - I'm not an alcoholic)

Saturday afternoon - Dim Sum with everyone! Fantastic food...

Sunday night - On my request, I was surprised with a home made chocolate cheesecake!

Yum yum...

Now, with all that empty calories and fatty food, I need to go on a diet.

The Argueably Crappiest Day of My Life

Today is my birthday.

Well, NO. today is NOT the crappiest day of my life. Went for dim sum this morning with my friends and it was really good cos it was free for me. =) I have a friend over from Ireland and have been walking with him around Edinburgh the whole afternoon. Now, I am back in my flat, trying to study for my anatomy spot exam on Monday.

Wait.

yeah.

The crappiest day of my life was..
Yesterday.
29th September 2006

It all started a few weeks ago, when I was forced to go down to London by AMSA. So I booked my flight ticket for this all-important-meeting in London which was due to start at 9 pm on Friday and return on Sunday. I was to leave Edinburgh at 6.05pm, reach London Luton at 7.20 pm or roughly around those timings. Then I had to catch a 1 hour bus to the city centre and tube my way to Marble Arch and find the restaurant the meeting was supposed to be at. Well, technically, I'll reach there by 9 pm should all things go smoothly.

I had lectures from 2-4 pm. Skipped out at 3 pm, got home, and left my flat at 4 pm to catch the bus to the airport. It's 25 mins by bus. 1/2 way on, I looked out of the window and saw a guy holding something red. Hmm... what's that? oh, a passport... HOLY..

Spot on. I forgot my passport. In a flash, I was out of the bus, running down the street looking for a cab. My watch read 4.30 pm. I reached home at 4.45 pm grabbed my passport and hopped up the same cab to the airport. My watch read 5.10 pm when I finally got there. Check in desk closes at 5.25 pm. My taxi trip cost 22 pounds.

Thank God. There was still a short que at my check in desk. I've still got time. Righto. Checked in and I had to be at the departure gate at 5.35 pm. Raced upstairs - and faced another que - the security check point. No que could've been longer. No matter, I've still got 15 mins til 5.35 pm. Fidgeting... fidgeting...

Made it through pretty fast and the tv read that my flight was delayed. To 7 pm.
Right. No probs! I can study.

And right again, I forgot to bring my Anatomy Book. I can borrow one when I get to London I suppose. So I walked around, talked to myself and the flight got delayed again. Great! At this rate, I'm going to reach the restaurant at 11 pm.
What the... this is so pointless. I'll be missing this incredible meeting that my whole trip was focused on. All the telephone conversations about the one-of-a-kind meeting with the whole association, the deep and illuminating conversation we are suppose to have about the conference in HK...
I'll be missing a huge chunk of it. What rubbish. Then why am I going to London for anymore? I've got a exam on Monday. And I forgot to bring my book to study. Should I still go?
It's a 62 pounds ticket.

So I thought and thought. For about 1 hour. I watched the gates being open. I watched the crowd line up to board the plane. I see them boarding...
and I turn and walk out the exit.

Don't talk to me.

This is totally crap. I've spent about 100 pounds on a trip I didn't make

My first week back in Edinburgh....

Wow. 3rd year Medical Student.

Has a nice ring to it.

Only, I have lectures from 9-5 this whole week. That's C-R-A-Z-Y. What happened to the 1 lecture per day in 2nd year???

Lots of new faces. New people. Heard that about 10 transfered from Cambridge, 5 from Oxford, about 15 from St Andrews and 10 from IMU, Malaysia. Students who did a Bsc the year before. Our class has grown.

Today we had a patient come in and he was interviewed by our lecturer. Q & A session followed. Poor ol' fella.... a great heart attack candidate. Born with low birth weight, typical Scottish diet, smokes like a chimney, both dad and bro died of heart attacks, mom waiting for a triple bypass surgery.... Things like this are real, mind you. Well, yeah, the only snag was that our so-called 'patient' was actually a professional actor. He was totally convincing and took us all in. Well, technically, that's our lecturer's fault since he arranged it. But, yup, medical students gets professional actors to act as their patients in exams. And they cry when we break bad news to them, they get angry if you say something wrong. This all happens during the exam itself. Look what medical students have to go through.

Hm.

Went traditional Scottish ceilidh dancing last Sunday. Twisted my knee and its been hurting since. Went for a free Taekwondo class today and my knee is like, yeah... gone.

Someone needs to develop knee transplants.

Worse thing to happen this week was that I am literally being forced to go down to London. By bloody AMSA. And I have an exam d day after I get back. And I'm going down on my birthday. How sucky is that?

My 21st...

showed me that I had many friends. Friends who bothered to come, friends who gave up other stuff to be there; that includes taking a whole day off work to get ready*wink wink*. But, I discovered that the best kind of friends were those that gave an immediate YES! on d spot, when i invited them and didn't change their minds afterwards. That gave me a warm feeling deep down, a feeling that gave me a sense of belonging in all their busy lives.

made me realise that some people actually care. Yes, I had a friend come all the way from Malacca. I had a friend who went to Australia and couldn't make it but expressed her deepest regret and still remembered to text me on that day to wish me a fun filled night.

showed in true perception that friendship is valuable and warm, but friendship is also very frail.

gave me my first experience of clubbing in KL. Not that I've not done it before. Just that this time it was legal.. and we opened bottles. I've never tried that before in KL. We went to Loft and I had plenty to drink. This ultimately proves that drinking and dancing is better than just dancing alone. And, drinking from a bottle beats drinking from a cup anyday. Too bad they don't hand out bottles so freely in Edinburgh. Maybe I should start a trend.

but...

my 21st also

showed me that some friendships are cheap. As in literally. As in 30-40 ringgit cheap. dirt cheap. I suppose I'm considered lucky that I realised it with a few mere bucks. It didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

told me that there are actually those who don't care. It is true that it is the thought that counts, but what's the point of the 'thought' when you don't even THINK in the first place?

singled out those that thinks its a chore to come. Those that think they are coming just because I asked them to. Just to give me 'face'. Their lives are alot more important. Well, of course they are! But Come On! If you really can't make it, cos of some bullcrap reason of being busy, tiredness, broken heart, eaten by the dog and what not, I'll accept it if you told me in advance! For heaven sake, don't come if you don't want to. Don't start telling me your sob story and making it like its a terribly big deal to come. It was a big deal to me before but once you start to think that way, it is not anymore.

showed that I can't please everyone. Its hard to be a host.

At the end of the day, I realised and truly value those whom I know really treasure me as their friend. I had a superb night, and I know who were those who really enjoyed themselves and my company and those who actually did not. Like I said, I can't please everyone. I'd like to grow up and tell my grandchildren in future what my grandad tells me - "I graduated from the Community Social University. I know everything about people to people relationships." And my grandad is a great man. Really.

Mummy's 50th

5 0. My lovely mother has reached the ripe age of 50 years. Half a century. According to my very hong kong father, it is a MUST to celebrate your 50th. I mean, these kind of things don't just go by without being recognised. It's a time to celebrate!
So mummy dearest pulled her birthday all the way to August just so that my bro and I can be around to celebrate it with her. We went a back to her hometown, Sitiawan in Perak for the dinner as most of her family were there. My sister came all the way from penang, my 3 cousins studying and working in KL also made the 3 hour travel back to Sitiawan! In other words, I was looking forward to a massive family reunion.

The day before the dinner was spent stuffing ourselves full with all the local specialities. Mmmm... red wine noodles, oysters with egg(ou jian), peanut bun, loh meen(special Sitiawan style. NOT the type in KL), gong pian...
It was an eating fest. Dinner came... and it was a 12 course dinner. Despite the food we already had, dinner was another makan affair, with home cooked red wine noodles by my grandma as an extra dish. A MUST too for Sitiawan celebrations. Hmmm... with all these beliefs and what not, I wonder why the chinese aren't the majority of obese people.

Well, basically, it was a huge, fantastic family reunion. We should definitely do it more often! Still, I guess I've got to wait for another milestone birthday...but first, I've got to brainwash them the hong kong way....

Asian Medical Students Conference, Hong Kong 2006

Day 1 - Arrived and were shown to our rooms. At the registration counter, my name was listed under 'key to room lost'. What the.... Met all the UK delegates for the first time ever.

Went to have a dinner and met my group members. Chose the name 'ketchup' for our group. I know, we were obviously on a food high. Found out that my room mate is Jammy from Korea! Explained my key dilemma to her and ta-da! she produced an extra key for me... Hrm..now, that's how my key got lost..

Day 2 - Went for the opening ceremony and had lectures where we enjoyed a few hours of sleep
Your average medical student.

Day 3 - Ah, Paper and Booth Presentation Competition! Proudly, I stuck UK's 3 posters up on d wall. What fantastic work! Look at the fusion of colours! I looked around and -------------> O K. everyone's booth had some sort of decoration, pamphlets, pin tags, key chains etc etc to hand out. Laptops were everywhere.... and i turn and look at my 3 posters. suddenly they don't look fantastic anymore. Kinda bare against the white backboard that was provided. Hey, why didn't any1 tell me i was allowed to bring the whole jim gang from UK to decorate my poster booth??? heck,I don't even have the word UK written on d board. In the end, we managed - with a scrap piece of paper and marker pens.

Paper presentation was kinda great. and sweet. til they told us what they were looking for was some kind of anti smoking campaign

carried out in our respective countries. And UK reported on the smoking trends in the UK. O K. Way, way way off topic.

But i think we're unique and do stand a chance to win right?!
Yeah right.

Day 4 - had hospital visits where we interviewed ex smokers. One of them had lung cancer. Due to the fact that most of us did not understand cantonese, the interview was kinda one sided. And this was when I found my new idol. He knew hell a lot about medicine. Tho his english was limited, he could give us a clear picture on what was going on. His immediate diagnosis and conclusions were mama-mia! He was just fab. Ah, K-guys are just great. Shan't go any further...

Day 5 - (am) Went for the cultural bazaar. I was assigned to learn 'butterfly writing' and 'lion dance'. It was rather fun - learning how to write my name in colours and adding pictures in. Lion dance was crazy as well; i can officially beat the drums to the lion dance. and i've mastered the cymbals too.

(pm)Did social services. A stage was set up in some complex in TST and we were given leaflets to hand out to d crowd. Prowling the TST's Avenue of Stars, we had to literally beg people to take the leaflets. It's common understanding that HongKongers DON'T take leaflets. Still, it's our er... responsibility i guess. Part of community service and all that. After a first round of using cantonese to persuade the people, we decided to switch to english. Hey! They actually bother to listen when we speak english! And to the extent of taking the leaflets! It wasn't enough, we still had loads. Oh well. The easiest preys were children. They clamour to get one. The next was probably young teenagers and well, walking with my rather hot korean mate did work towards some guys. In the end, we just stood at the escalator entrance into TST's MTR. and forced leaflets into each person that entered or left the MTR station.

Day 6 - Last day! Closing ceremony was once again boring but i had to go up and give a 1 minute speech on how i found d conference. =) Mumbled a few words thru d mic and waved to d crowd as they gave me a standing ovation. muahahhaa...

That night was themed 'cultural night'. UK had been practising every night since the first night(well, a night off here and there) and we were all geared for our oh-so-british performance. Generally, we are d last to perform again(they go by alphabetical order). Other countries had high powered music and fantastic dances. Taiwan even belted out 'Kiss Goodbye' by Leehom in a really really enthu way. Japan's dance was the one i enjoyed most as the dancers actually looked that they were having loads and loads fun!(and then maybe i had only eyes for er.. certain people. or person) Had a role play in Thailand's performance- i was invited to be their host! - shucks,tho i bit the guy and slapped him a little too hard - had to apologise profusely afterwards -

Now...
It was UK's time of glory..... and we discovered that the Phantom of the opera music did not work. All our hard practise!!! All our hours of slogging!!! DAMNIT. So we performed without it. Not that good, but at least we managed to pull of the rest of the show and also the song 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' was performed very well, to my standards, save for the bit where we all went off tune and totally messed up. The crowd enthusiastically yelled 'Encore!!!' afterwards (tho of course, we had told them b4hand to do it no matter how bad we were) and we performed that last song again.(together with its off key part)

Day 7 - So totally overslept my check out time as the night b4 was filled with drinking (beer and a shot of vodka mixed) with the koreans and playing all their drinking games and drinking songs. Kinda mental but i loved it.

Oh well, all in all it was an experience to remember, met loads of ppl, had lots of friends... and i have to say, i'm Impressed. Very Impressed by HKU's lecture hall and Medical Library. Much, way , a 100 times better than Edinburgh's.

What have I got to say...
i'm Proud to be a medical student. ( at least that library IS a medical library)

DisneyWorld, Florida

March 2006 : Been there. Done that

Templer's Park Waterfall No.3

Ok, so...Neo insists that there is this fantastic waterfall awaiting us somewhere deep into Templer's Park. It is d 3rd waterfall says he. Hmm.....

This time, I was told to be well prepared. 'wear tracks/long trousers!' was Boon's dire warning. 'Leeches...'
Ok dokes. I'm scared! My dad even more than I as he is worried about cases of robbery in Templer's and its lengendary 'dirty' surroundings. Nvm, back to d problem at hand. I left all my tracks/sweat pants back in UK! Who would have thought that I will go jungle trekking when i came back? I figured that I'm actually too old for this stuff! My bones creak n groan, my lungs burn for air and my heart cannot take this stress.

Yeah Right. I'm just plain lazy to carry them back when I return in September.

So I searched and found a white pair of trousers that I'm sure I can wreck without it being missed from the cupboard. Long trousers, Shirt, extra change of clothes, 2 bottles of water and a towel into my one and only backpack that i thankfully brought back with me. If not, I believe I'll have to succumb to using plastic bags.

Another 2 hour ride to Templer's Park and we're off! Spreading liberal amount of insect repellant was a must! I don't want no pesky mosquitoes biting me!
Anyway.
We passed d first waterfall which led directly into this humoungous swimming pool that was for the public. It was under renovation but the so called 'waterfall' was really from a pipe. !!?!?!?! a PIPE! wat the.......

Upstream. Neo and Adrian kinda guessed their way and we hiked pass high-til-it-makes-u-dizzy cliffs and deep, dark gorges that really posted some kind of mortal peril. Wat rubbish! LOL
What actually happened was we walked on a well trodden path towards our destination and passed d 2nd waterfall which was 'unswimable' cos it went through really large rocks and had shallow water at its base.
The trees provided shelter from the sweltering heat and there were funny zig zag bridges built at certain points of the river. I loved it!

We hit Templer's Park Waterfall No.3 an hour from our start point. Rubbish littered the place,(naturally, its Malaysia!) but not beyond the waterline. The 3 guys popped off down the trail and turned their backs for Liwan and I to change to shorts.
A toe dip into the water confirmed that it was icy cold! And it GLITTERS. Really. Kind of like the time when we did Chemistry testing on er.. wats that... but it produces glittery golden stuff in d test tube? That's exactly how the water was. We had a splashing fun time and later had a ghost story telling time from Neo who had a rather 'horrorful' time there with the DJ scouts. Scouts have d best ghost stories ever!
And the best thing is, it was actually scary. We were d only people around and d forest seemed to beckon to us. Stories of orang bunian, langsuyurs and how some girl guide died ages ago and came back to haunt ppl made d jungle seem all d bigger. Sprinkled with personal stories from everyone magnified the atmosphere. All my bulu roma seriuosly naik, even in d cold water.

Lunch time atop a huge flat rock in d middle of the river and we saw this one guy taking a bath below us. NOT naked. =P
another splashtastic time and we prepare to go back down. This time, the 3 guys just turned their backs and 'took photos of the scenery' - giving us a chance to 'change'. And we did just that for them too. Maybe saw more than we bargained for.. ER..well, its a free for all world. grinz

We finished the day with having dessert - red bean ice! at Prince Cafe in SS2 where Neo sums it up - a lovely 'watery' time at Templer's!

This time, long live my crazy, adventurous friends.

Pagan Lalang

What's ur first impression of that name? No.... ain't weeds watsoever. It's a beach, off the coast of Selangor, a distance from Morib - a beach with fine sand, splashing waves, ten upon thousands of crabs leaving their footprints behind. And we journeyed there, 2 hours + in the car, passing kampungs, durian plantations, pig farms, dragon fruit farms.

We went to see the sunset. And to bbq. Alex and Evelyn brought their curry-powder-marinated chicken, lamb, sausages, marshmellows, honey, butter, drinks and to top it off a bottle of red wine. Boon Hock brought bricks, wire mesh, fire starters and basically all d equipment needed to bbq. Neo brought his football, while Paul supplied transport. I brought myself and my appetite. That's a huge contribution to the party of 5. I made d 6th!

So bbq we did and stuffed our faces full. After that, we had a game of football, yes, girls included AND we played is wat is possibly the best game ever, that Neo himself admits that it is THE one game he cannot play. We played ice and fire. Yes, that's right, the game we used to play as kids, where 'IT' chased after ppl and touch them, hence they are 'iced'. a free player will then have to come and 'fire' them; that is to melt them. IT wins once everyone is 'iced'.

A lot of scuffling in the sand, tonnes of laughter and yelling.
Tired and sweaty, we toasted with the wine to er... good health? and walked down the beach before changing the toilet of a nearby restaurant.

What can i say?? It was great and mental!

i still have those darned sand mosquitoe bites around both my ankles to remind me of it. What a waste of insect repellant which obviously didn't work. Still, the trip was worth them all. Long live ice and fire!