ode to the soapbox

we are going for pulau perhentian trip in may, so i must start planning. planning for trip is always half the fun hahaha.. i'll start with what to do on Day-00/01.


DAY-00

Singapore-Johor Baru
Express Timuran
Depart 1800
Arrive 1857
SGD9.00

Johor Baru-Wakaf Bharu
Express Timuran
Depart 1857
Arrive 0814 (next day)
RM47-52 (sleeper class 2 ADNS)
* check if sleeper class 1 ADNFB RM98-106 applicable


DAY-01

Wakaf Bharu-Kota Bharu
* wakaf bharu is 5km away from Kota Bharu city center
* take public bus

Kota Bharu
* go-round city

• Go to the day and night markets.
• Walk around the downtown area.
• Go to the beach, either PCB Beach or Irama Beach.
• Local Food
  Ayam Percik (Yati Ayam Percik (847, Jalan Long Yunus)[5] has got to be the best around;
  Nasi Ulam (locally called Nasi Kerabu) traditionally dipped into budu (fish sauce), sambal Murtabak (Murtabak Raja is the famous one on Jalan Bayam)
  Keropok Lekor Losong (the local version is Keropok Gote)
  Lepok Durian or Gelembung Buaya, they are in 3 colors: red, yellow, and green, at Kubang Pasu wet market in the mornings - for durian lovers with strong stomachs only. Buy from the lady at the corner, not in the middle of wet market.
• Other attractions
  Masjid Muhammadi ( State Mosque )
  Padang Merdeka
  War Museum
  Islamic Museum/Istana Jahar /Istana batu/royal museum
  Kota Sultan Ismail
  Bazar Buluh Kubu
  ***Pasar Besar Siti Khadijah
  ***Pasar Malam Kota Bharu

* sleep

• ridel hotel ~5 minutes walk to pasar city khadijah RM97/room <-- looks good.
• others??

... next --> DAY-02

..adie

i woke up this morning with a painful dry throat and a running nose i had difficulty to keep still. i even have cough now.

now what did the company doctor gave me few days ago? flour pills and red sugar syrup? for all i know, i AM NOT getting better.

so i didn't bother to drive 12 km to my company and wait half a day to see the same doctor and get the same medicine and be expected to work after that. my cubicle mate already closed his nose whenever he came near me, which i don't blame him because he has a daughter who gets all the illnesses available all the time.

i went to this neighbourhood family clinic instead. the doctor is always this young chinese guy who always look as if he just won the lottery. well, considering the money he could get after every patients visit, he probably is.

i got some medicines, and to my surprise, they even include in vitamin C capsules. errr.. i do take vitamin C at home so do i really need this? but i couldn't make myself to stop them to include that in. oh well, at least my company will reimburse half of the cost.

so i am on MC today. YESSS!!! a whole day to rest and recuperate to get well just in time for the weekend. whole day of bedtime rest and i must remind myself, NOT to write blogs.



...adie

ok it's official. the one that jumped from the building is actually our fellow colleague.

oh man.

at noon while we were having lunch at company cafeteria on 4th floor facing the block where the person jumped, we even distastefully joked that maybe the person was from our company.

then after lunch rumours started spreading that the person in fact, WAS from our company, and a name was mentioned.

i was like.. oh god.

oh god oh god oh god.

i just saw him yesterday at cafeteria with a blank expression on his face. but again, he always had that expression ever since he was involved with a car accident almost 2 years ago. he turned into this quiet guy after that incident that left him in one month hospitalization due to broken thigh.

nobody knows why he committed the suicide. it's sad, to know someone so close yet not able to prevent such drastic insident. we could have done more to help him cope, you know, whatever things that got him troubled.

but then, this is life. some missed chance would never come back. what we could do, is to learn from our mistakes, and cherish life all we can.

may he rest in peace.



...adie

SOMEONE JUST JUMPED FROM THE BUILDING IN FRONT OF MY COMPANY.

man, there was a small blue tent there at the base of the block covering the body. the police already barricaded the area, and some kay-poh people are watching from the road side, and (including me) from the windows of our company.

it felt so surreal, to know some one just died nearby.

i bet it is due to the current recession. that person must have lost a lot of money or something..

cherish our lives guys!



...adie

by the way.. by the way...

recent hot news! have you read about chris brown and rihanna? wow apparently he hit her. ok they didn't mention who was the girl that called 991 and reported the assault but today'ss news mentioned it was, as we had suspected, RIHANNA!

can you imagine that? i mean no matter how bitchy a woman is, and this is rihanna, a girl gone bad that we are talking about, but under no circumstances should a well grown man hit a woman with his own bare hand. let alone leaving bruises and some website said (eekk!!) broken jaw.

well, unless she has superpower, a catwoman or something...

especially when that act is gonna get broadcasted ALL OVER THE WORLD. man, that guy is soooo busted.

i wonder what was the reason. they argued inside the car. maybe she just told him to shut up and drive. maybe he was in disturbia. maybe she was unfaithful... i don't know..

so i guess, this is the classic case of a good love gone bad. i bet rihanna won't allow him to stand under her umbrella-ella-ella anymore, and next time she sings take a bow, we know who she sings it for. that chris brown really should check in the rehab.

and.. and.. i'm so happy that those people and malaysia gonna miss her concert hahahaha!!! i saw her last year in the singapore concert okay..

dream on guyzzzz!!! ~evil grin~



...adie

i saw the company doctor today, right after the conference call. i was having sore throat since saturday, and by this morning i started to have a bit of flu so i better treat fix this fast. can u imagine? i swallowed half of the vitamin pills available in the drug store and still got this flu?

we have this small clinic right beside the HR department, so that everytime after we register to see the doctor, we could flirt with those HR ladies.. i mean.. aunties. they are very chatty. one of them like to call me 'adekk' which surely a bit rude? i mean, am i that close her age?

anyway..the point of this clinic also i always questioned. if we can go to the clinic in the office, that means we are strong enough to go to work, right? what's the purpose then? maybe they anticipate people get injured or something during work so it's handy having a clinic inside the office.

so i went to see the doctor. apparently they have this new doctor, dr ivan something. i read it on the door. i wonder it the doctor was the same auntie doctor last time. she was pretty ok though. ok here largely means, easy to get mc doctor. even better? the one that gives without asking. they really should teach that at medical school, under customer service section.

this ivan doctor is a tall young chinese doctor. i couldn't register his look properly because from the moment i sit on that chair, and less than a minute later when i stood up, i felt like i was in a fast forward motion. he asked what's wrong with me? since when i have those symptoms? do i feel this and that? and what medicine he's gonna give me all in one breath.

at the moment i stepped outside the door, i only realized about the mc thing. i didn't have my chance at all to play sympathetic.

damn this doctor is good!



..adie

i had conference call early morning. after japan hang up their phone, and i was all alone with my boss, my boss asked me..

if, touch wood, the company were to implement 4-days a week scheme, which day would i prefer to be off?

dang. there we have it. i knew it would come to this finally. i mean, our japanese branch and our italian branch already implemented a shorter week work-time as a pay cut measure to get through this economic downturn. what are the chances that singapore won't get hit too?

i asked my boss, if this is for real? but of course he said that nothing has been confirmed yet, that he was asking just in case.

yeah right. if he was asking just in case, he would be asking about all sorts of other stuff, wouldn't he? like what if the government refused to reduce the transportation fare, or what if i won that 1 billion toto. see? but he didn't.

recession sucks. i tell you, never have i been in this period so gloomy, that everyone that i met, sighed during work. a big, loud sigh that sounded like, god i wish i were somewhere else.

but you know what? there's no place left to go during this downturn. i heard 2 of my ex bosses are now still unemployed since the expansion plant was shut down. and there are many people in the interview fighting for that few empty spots.

so if i think about it, still having a job is still a bless. the point is, there's always people that fare worse than you. at least i can still go to work and bitch about the conference call or the bosses at night.




...adie