sabah#4: last days at kota kinabalu

-DAY 5-

This is my last post on Graduation Trip V (V as in roman number 5 wtf). Yes I have been keeping count of my frequent traveling this holidays. Four out of five of these trips required me to fly, which I am quite happy to do. I am bad when it comes to long distance ride on buses or trains, cars are still acceptable. 

Anyway, on our last day, we spend a long time in Sabah Museum and then shopped for a while in Filipino Market and another where Ai Li's mother works in. Finally, we ended our trip by the beach and having dinner at Tanjung Aru Beach. Oh, and one more place - Perdana Park, where we went after dinner to watch the fountain show. However, unfortunately, there were maintenance works so no show for us T.T 

There are exhibitions both inside the museum and outside. No photos allowed inside.

Outside, there were lots of train and railway tracks replica, which I think were great photography places

sabah#3: island-hopping day

-DAY 4-

On our 4th day, we had breakfast at one of the shops at Gaya Street before doing some shopping at the street itself. There were so many people at the market that day and you can find lots of weird stuff at Gaya Street like even pets, fishes, etc. Mostly great for those wanting to buy souvenirs, accessories, hats, food / snacks and also for stamp lovers, they sell not only stamps, but first day covers and also old coins. I bought some stamps that had pictures of movie posters circa 90s' and a vintage gramophone record. Lol, I know, when I saw it I just had to buy it. I love all things vintage. 

We walked from one end to the other end and back again.

After that, we went to Jesselton Point to buy tickets and get on the boat for island-hopping

We went to Manukan Island, Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park. There are other islands in the vicinity too.

mona lisa and seven songs

Yes, I have been home for a week now since my trip from Sabah. I am just soaking up the whole kpop scene right now. Taking a break from holiday posts to share some of my favourite kpop songs I am listening now...

#1: LED Apple "How Dare You"

Actually I have not heard of this band before, I think it is a rookie band group. Watched KBS Music Bank and saw them performing. I thought their concept is kind of awesome. A band like CN Blue and FT Island but instead of one vocalist, they have two! (who also raps, btw). Not to mentioned this song is pretty awesome too ;)



#2: MBLAQ "Mona Lisa"

I have never been a huge fan of MBLAQ before although I like them. It is hard to distinguish all the boybands out there. But I am super lovin' this song, actually. I keep re-playing it over and over again wtf. Lee Joon is as charismatic as ever, must be all his yeonggi (acting) wtf. But I am most surprised by how good-looking Thunder / Cheondung and Mir are...super like this!



#3: 2PM "Hands Up"

Of course, how can I forget my lovely 2PM boys that I am super HOTTEST fan! I like their concept actually, the whole spontaneous choreography. It is actually harder to do spontaneous choreography than organized one I feel. But the 6 boys managed to bring out some humour and party feel when they performed. Love them, and they are really a class of their own.



#4: 2PM Nichkhun "Don't Wanna Try" (cover from Frankie J)

This one is an old old video of Nichkhun when he performed this song in Osaka, Japan. I watched WGM Khuntoria last night and I somehow remembered this song. I really really love him performing this song. Back then, I used to play this again and again. It was back when 2PM just debuted, you can see Jaebeom was still around back then...



#5: 2NE1 "I Am The Best"

2NE1 is back! I like this song, but I wish it was less electronic wtf. That is because I know the girls have really great vocals and this song totally drowned their voices. But nevertheless, it is a catchy song and I like their music videos mostly because of their fashion and style. It is like watching 4 Lady Gagas!



#6: Miss A "Goodbye Baby"

Miss A comeback is slated for end of this week and their MV has just been released. Awesome, the 4 girls are so talented. Love their dancing and of course, their voices. I think Jia really stand out in this MV, I don't know why, maybe because she is so charismatic in front of the camera. Wish we can see more of Jia and Fei in variety shows. Suzy was in "Dream High" and Min appears in many variety shows. I think JYP doesn't let them on because they are Chinese.



#7: X-5 "The Show Is Over / Don't Put On An Act"

Another older song by rookie group, X-5. I don't usually pay attention to rookie groups coz their songs are usually yawn...but X-5 is an exception. It doesn't hurt that the members are so tall (4 of them are over 180cm tall / 6ft) and the song is really awesome...

I preferred the performance video, btw coz in their MV you can't really see all the members' faces.



MV:



I know, I am such a kpop addict wtf =P

sabah#2:cows, flowers, sunny and gong

-DAY 3-

We stayed one night at Ranau before moving on to Desa Cattle farm and Kundasang War Memorial in the morning. 

You can see Mt Kinabalu clearly from this farm

Buying freshly produced milk yum...

sabah #1: from kota kinabalu to kundasang

On July 6th, not too long ago, I went to Sabah, together with "7 dwarves", a group of Pharmacy friends that I always hang out with in UKM. We called ourselves that because there are 7 of us and yes, we are all quite the same height =P

Because I was the only one from KL, I had to fly on my own to KK. Although I traveled to places before, but believe it or not, this is the first time I am flying solo. To add to that, there were no cheaper flights so I had to reach KK one day before the rest of them flew in from Sarawak. Yes, 5 of them were visiting both Sabah and Sarawak but since myself and also Wei Wei had been to Kuching before, we decided to just join the others in KK. 

I was supposed to live in my coursemate Ai Li's house but since she was not in KK yet, I stayed for one night at Suzane's house. Yes, my former roommate is also from KK but now she is residing in KL since she is working here. Because of me, she took few days leave and go back to KK, but her flight arrived later than mine. Gomawo, Suzane =)

The next day, I had the chance to meet Suzane's family - her mom, her sis, her bro, and of course, her little niece. All of them were really friendly and nice, haha, just like her. After her family left for work, Suzane drove myself and her niece for lunch. 

-DAY 1-

Suzane's niece, Little Xin Yu who is just so adorable

Suzane's new phone - it's an imitation iPhone her sis got for her

The first place we went to is the Aquarium at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS)

eyes on ukm kkl (edited and updated 19/07/11)

Varsiti Kita

Lihat kampusku yang tenang

Damainya alam ciptaan Tuhan

Panduan ilmu dan keimanan

Amal dan jernih digabungkan

Lautan ilmu kita harumkan

Sumber ilmu berkembangan

Inilah varsiti kita

Ditengahkan hasrat rakyat kita

Dari mula untuk semua

Bagai tanda perjuangan kita

Bangun berbakti membela

Memupuk insan jiwa bertakwa

Memimpin manusia semua

Kenal akan adat unggulnya

Membina negara senantiasa

Maju berilmu dan bahagia

Inilah varsiti kita

Ditengahkan hasrat rakyat kita

Dari mula untuk semua

Bagai tanda perjuangan kita

Composer: Nazri Ahmad

****EDITED*****


Few of my juniors recently made a video about UKM KKL. Take a look if you want to know more. The video is in Mandarin, btw =)

******EDITED*******

When one hears about Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), one will probably think it is in Bangi. But the fact is, UKM has 3 campuses. The main one is in Bangi, and another one in good ol' KL and the 3rd one is in Cheras, near HUKM.

When I first found out that I got UKM, I thought my campus is in Bangi as well until they send the letter and booklet stating that my faculty is in the KL campus and that is the place that I will be studying for my 4-year degree programme. So here is some little info about my campus, as many often confuse my campus with the main campus in Bangi.

~THE CAMPUS~

To differentiate our campus, we usually call our campus as UKM KKL whilst the Bangi campus is known as the UKM campus. The UKM KKL is located at Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz Shah, in close proximity of the KL General Hospital (HKL). We have the Chow Kit monorail station right in front, which is great, as that means we have transport to go to Times Square, Sungei Wang,etc.

A new chapter in my book...

UKM KKL houses 3 faculties. The Faculty of Pharmacy which started in 2008 (mine)Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (FSKB) and the Faculty of Dentistry. However, UKM KKL also takes in Medicine first-years and second-years. After studying for 2 years in the KL campus, the medic students will then transfer to the Cheras campus, located near HUKM. The Faculty of Medicine is in the Cheras campus.

Our UKM KKL library

This is called the Bilik Karel for private time to study. I personally think it looks like a prison. Lol;)

The KL campus is definitely smaller than the Bangi campus as it does not have as many faculties and facilities as the Bangi campus. UKM KKL does not have any main hall, unlike the Dewan Gemilang in UKM Bangi. We do have a hall that we use for important events, but it is located in our hostel, which I will talk about shortly...

Initially, I studied at Department of Pharmacy under Faculty of Allied Heath Sciences (FSKB) but in my 2nd-year (2008), our department became a faculty of its own. So now we have Faculty of Pharmacy with our own dean, Prof Dr. Ibrahim Jantan.

The Faculty of Allied Health Sciences (Fakulti Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu) consists of 11 different courses, all dealing with health. They are:

1. Biomedical Science (Suz M's)
2. Nutrition (BB's)
3. Dietetics (Both Nutrition and Dietetics are under one department - JPD)
4. Audiology
5. Speech Therapy
6. Environmental Health Science
7. Occupational Therapy
8. Physiotherapy (Both OT and PT have to take some classes outside the faculty due to lack of space)
9. Diagnostic Imaging and Radiotherapy (PDR)
10. Optometry
11. Forensic Science
12. Emergency Medicine Science (this course was canceled after my 1st year)

The Dept of Biomedical Science is the largest department in UKM KKL and it also has the most students. This is followed by the Dept of Pharmacy, which has 90 first-year students for the 2007/2008 intake. Emergency Medicine Science (aka E-Med) was recently introduced in this latest intake, therefore not many people know much about this course.

Faculty of Pharmacy in my year, we had 88 students with an almost equal ratio races since 41 of us were Chinese, 3 Indians and others are Malays / Bumiputeras. I think we are the only course that has an equal ratio as most of the other courses have more Malays.

The largest lecture hall in UKM KKL, known as Dewan Kuliah 1 (DK1)

Unlike the Bangi campus, UKM KKL is located right in the heart of the city. Traffic jam has become a thing of the norm here. Within walking distance are the Chow Kit market, the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) and the Titiwangsa LRT station.

Random pics taken outside my campus (Bottom is Chow Kit market)

~THE HOSTEL~



Every hostel in public unis are called Kolej Kediaman. Unlike the Bangi main campus which has several kolej (e.g. Kolej Aminuddin Baki, Kolej Keris Mas, Kolej Tun Pendeta Za'ba, etc.), UKM KKL only has one kolej, known as Kolej Tunku Syed Nasir (KTSN), which is not within the campus area but in another area. There is a regular shuttle bus service that brings students from the campus to the hostel, and vice versa.
 

The view outside my room - Nothing much to see tho'

KTSN is located at Jalan Temerloh, which is a 20mins walk from our campus. Right in front of our hostel area is Taman Tasik Titiwangsa so we can see the bright lights of the Eye On Malaysia every night. Nearby KTSN is the National Library, National Blood Bank, National Archive (Arkib Negara) and Istana Budaya.

My twin-sharing room - There are also triple-sharing rooms, quad-sharing rooms as well as the apartment block which accommodates 10 students in one apartment

KTSN has about 10 blocks, each block being accomodated for the students. Girls' dormitories blocks are more than the boys' here, in the ratio of about 2:1. Starting in the latest intake, they have decided to put the students with the same course in the same block. However, you do see exceptions sometimes (J Block houses mainly Pharm students, although not all).

We have a large hall in KTSN, known as Dewan Serbaguna (aka DSG), which is used for important and main events as well as a secondary hall for exams. The other exam hall is located at the campus, known as TIBE (or Tingkat 1 Blok E).

KTSN is 4-storeys high and usually, first-years are placed at the 4th floor (*Groans*). Just like the main campus, students here have to compete for the limited number of rooms, which depends on the merit points that you accumulate at the end of semester.

The night view from my block - Can't really see anything but the moon

Seniors who get to stayed at the hostel can choose between single or twin-sharing rooms on lower grounds. However, if you do not want to live in hostel, like me, after 1st year, I moved out to Setapak area which houses plenty of condominiums. There are pros and cons to staying outside the hostel area.

Pros

1. There are more food choices (esp Chinese food) as Setapak has many restaurants. In KTSN, you can only eat at the cafe and there are no more nearby restaurants.
2. If you want to go out anywhere, there are bus stops right in front of the condos and buses are regular here. A few bus stops away can dropped you at Chow Kit Monorail Station, Titiwangsa LRT station or Wangsa Maju LRT station or just take a bus straight to downtown KL.
3. Friends. One of the reasons I decided to stay outside is because most of my Chinese friends stayed at Setapak too. It makes it easier to have meetings or to go to each other's houses if there is anything you need or want to know. Group discussions, reports, etc.
4. Groceries. Setapak also has many grocery shops, photostating shops, bookshops, bakeries, etc. Unlike KTSN that has none at all. For those living in the hostel, the only time you can shop for sundries is near the faculty, at Chow Kit area.

Cons

1. Expenses. Rent for one condo are around RM1000 - 1500 per month. Depending on how many people living with you, you will spend up to RM200 per month on rent and bills alone.
2. Privacy. Unlike the hostel, there is no guarantee that you will have your own room. For example, I have to shared a smaller room (compared to my hostel room) with 3 people instead of 2 like I used to. Not only that, I have to moved my study desk outside in the living room with 4 people sharing. If you are not used to having so many people around while studying, I strongly warned against staying outside.
3. Transport to faculty. Unlike KTSN, there is no shuttle bus service at Setapak. You will have to take regular public buses to and fro. Usually, it only takes about 15mins as it is about 3 or 4 bus stops away. However, if you have morning classes, you will be likely to get caught in the rush hour morning traffic jam that can easily take you 30 - 45mins to reach fac.

***will add in anything else to the list once I remembered any****

~CONTACTS DETAILS~

Fakulti Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu,
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
Kampus Kuala Lumpur,
Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz Shah,
50300 Kuala Lumpur.
E-mail: dkfskb@medic.ukm.my
For more, see here.

Here are some extra pics that I took when I went to HUKM few weeks back. I do not know much about UKM Cheras branch campus. All I know is it houses Faculty of Medicine (3rd year, 4th year and 5th year) as well as the Nursing students. They also have one kolej kediaman only, called Kolej Tun Dr Ismail.

If you are a Pharmacy student like me, starting from 3rd year 2nd semester, you will have to go to HUKM at least once a week for 7 or 8 weeks for clinical subjects. There is a morning shuttle bus leaving from faculty to HUKM but I usually drive there as it is not so jam and takes about 30 mins drive.

My guess is the Fac of Medic is somewhere inside those gates? ;p

taiwan escape part IV: on our own for 2 days

This is my last post on my Taiwan trip. I had to condense my 8 days journey into 4 posts. Not to mentioned having to choose around 20 photos for each post. It was a challenge, really, since I took close to 1000 photos whilst I was in Taiwan.

On our last 2 days in Taiwan, it was free and easy. For our own convenience, we decided to purchase the MRT one day pass, that allows you to ride buses and trains for one whole day by just simply using this pass. Taipei is a good place to travel on your own as the waiting time for trains are brief and even at bus stops, they will notify you how long you will have to wait before the bus arrives. Really, public transportation in Taipei is heaps better than in KL.

For this day, we each chose a place we wanted to go to in Taipei. At Ximending MRT station, we picked up a guide which introduces places of interest in Taipei and even teaches you how to reach there by MRT. That guide practically became our bible in Taipei.

The first place we went to is the place I chose - #Taipei Story House. I absolutely love looking at buildings and the wonderful European feel of this mansion prompt me to pay a visit here. However to visit the house, we have to pay admission fees. Since we did not have much time, we did not go inside. To reach here, we took MRT to Yuanshan station, which coincidentally is also the venue for the International Flora Expo, that was held in Taipei in April. 

After that, we took an extremely long MRT ride to the last station - Danshui to visit Clara's choice, #Fisherman's Wharf, a small fishing town overlooking the sea. It was extremely windy that day, as evident by my horrendous hair in every photo of me :(

We had lunch at McD's opposite Danshui station because we wanted to try their pork burger but they didn't serve any that day. Sad. After lunch, it was shopping time as we visited #Wufenpu, the wholesale market. I could not find anything inexpensive to buy. On day 6, I was extremely broke already. After that, it was off to Sogo to buy Clara's and her sister's sports shoes. Finally, we ended up having dinner nearby Shihlin Night Market as I wanted to get some souvenirs for my mom and aunt. I managed to get a pair of earrings for mom and bag for aunt. For myself, of course, I bought another dress =)

-day 6-

taiwan escape part III: back to taipei again...

Finally after making a journey around Taiwan island, we returned back to Taipei again, our starting point. Taipei is definitely my most favourite place in Taiwan. There are many places to go here, as well as more places to shop! And it doesn't hurt that their MRT is so convenient. 

Day 5 was the last day our tour guide was going to be showing us around in Taipei, bringing us to famous attractions in Taipei. The first place we went to was #Yehliu Geopark, which contains various unique rock formations overlooking the sea. However, unfortunately, that day it was raining heavily and added to that, a very windy day. The weather was so bad, we were forced to buy raincoats as umbrellas were insufficient to protect us.

For lunch, we had it in #Jiufen. This place is a must-go in Taipei. It reminded me of those small narrow streets in China. There were many shops and restaurants here, mainly having Taiwan traditional and famous delicacies. Stinky tofu was my favourite =) Some were really weird, like snails.

After lunch, we went to #Taipei 101, which is the tallest building in Taiwan. This place is kinda like KLCC as it also has a small shopping mall housing some really famous designer brands that I can never afford :(

Although we went to another night market, #Shihlin Night Market, we did not have dinner there. Instead, we did some really good shopping! It was here I found my favourite boutique that had so many lovely clothes. However, due to tight budget, I could only buy this cute pastel pink blazer =)

Dinner was at #Ximending, which was also the place where we stayed at. The shopping here is not as good as Shihlin but apparently it is the most trendiest hang-out place for youngsters. The place is totally flooded with people and very stylish youngsters as well. Really, the Taiwanese dress to the nines. Kpop culture is huge here too as you can hear Kpop songs frequently in Taipei. I also spotted an amazing artist who painted using just spray graffiti paint. Awesome~!

-day 5-