I am finally BACK ! I am BACK blogging. Curse facebook and twitter for taking up my blogging time, LOL. Anyway i am back here to finish off my Cambodia entries with the second last entry which is basically the 2nd last day in Siem Reap. For some reason i think it was a bad idea shooting this particular shot in sepia cause it emphasizes how dirty the hands were.

If you didn’t already know, the egg looking thing in the plate my friend is the unborn ducky -_-!

It’s known as Balut in the Philippines.

We didn’t actually plan to do this but so happened a lady cycled passed us and asked in Cambodian if we would like try. Our guide, Siya then stopped her and said he would have one. Thus giving us the opportunity to see how she prepares. From cracking the egg, to digging out the duck and serving with certain leaves and ginger.

Sister number 1 was terrified seeing the duck on her plate. HAHAhaha.

Siya showed us how to eat it and then he explained why people in Cambodia resorted to eating fried insects, unborn ducks, etc. It all started off with a certain regime taking over the whole country and the people were left to starve for food. Thus most of them resorted to insects to fill up their hungry tummies. Of course time flew by but the habit or crave for insects never left, thus you see many roadside vendors selling fried insects and also unborn ducks.

This is why i love traveling, you always gain something from a trip especially when you are backpacking. Experiencing what the normal people have to go through would definitely open our eyes bigger and thanking for what we have.

Imagine me telling a Cambodian my side of the story of hunger. When i am hungry, i don’t go hunting for insects but i end up at Murni having Nasi Goreng Maryland Special and Watermelon Special, LOL.

Nom nom nom the duckling T.T

Lee May also tried …. with her eyes closed. Might as well don’t see what you are eating. Good thinking by our resident pharmacist

So as Lee May tried … Sister Number 1 and Sister Number 2 were …

…. freaking OUT ! HAHAHAHA

Imagine halfway through, Siya pointed out that certain part of the egg was like the pillow for the duck @.@!

I didn’t try.

So to recap, i never tried the insects in Phnom Penh and i never tried the duck in Siem Reap >.<!

This could very well be the main highlight for the whole year besides backpacking to Cambodia. Not only was i able to watch Man United live but was able to watch them in action twice !

This only happened because of the recent bombing in Jakarta at the hotel that the team would be staying during their stay there. Though Australia offered 1 million pounds for them to play down under but Sir Alex declined and ended up playing in Malaysia twice.

The crowd for the 2nd game wasn’t as much as the first game but nevertheless i still had fun watching with a bunch of crazy people.

I bought my tickets a few months back when i was back in Penang and it was Angeline who reminded me about the match, surprisingly, LOL. She said she would want to see Man Utd lose. And that’s coming from a hardcore Arsenal fan. Ask her to spell Henry’s full name and she will ask me to fly kites.

Anyway, she was only able to attend the match day itself and thus i was alone for the training day. I met a bunch of people whom i didn’t know but later on was forced to accept their phone numbers and email addresses so that i could send them the pictures T.T

The atmosphere for this first leg of Manchester United’s Asia Tour 2009 was definitely different when i attended Chelsea’s game last year at the Shah Alam Stadium.

Parking alone for the training session was a complete nightmare. Most roads entering Bukit Jalil was jammed up to the highway. I followed a bunch of cars which drove against the traffic and ended up near the Hockey Stadium which coincidentally is the best place to park for any function held at the Bukit Jalil Stadium. Why you must ask ? Because for the training day, the 1st and 2nd match day, i had no problem getting out of the carpark and reaching back in less then 25minutes. Just follow the signboards indicating CarPark F.

Training day alone managed to attract nearly 30 thousand people to watch both the national squad as well as Manchster United train. I was even more baffled when i saw most ‘ang-mohs’ running to the nearby jersey stalls and getting themselves our national jerseys equipped with a strap on their foreheads showing Malaysia, LOL.

Locals are in Red and the ang-mohs in Yellow.

The training lasted for slightly more than an hour. It was really a joy watching Rooney blasting the balls as how he would in EPL.

The day finally came, it was match day !

I realized forums all over the net predicted a landslide victory and this was based on the last scoreline which was Man United 6 – 0 Malaysia. Six nil might be a bit too harsh but i was expecting probably three to four goals.

On the way to the Blue gate, i met Gusman and his dad lining up at the Violet gate. It has been yearsssss since i have seen him. His father definitely didn’t change a bit, lol.

The match was to start at 5.30pm and people were already flocking into the stadium as early as 3pm. Angeline and i followed suit. So in that spare time, i took loads of unnecessary pictures of people with the same replica jerseys and of course camwhoring. With dolphin around, it’s compulsory to do so or i shall face the wrath of the evil dolphin later on.

I was damn proud wearing my jersey as it’s one and only replica jersey i have. The rest are all ermmmm ahem ahem ones, grade AAA to be exact. I was lucky enough to get this jersey with my name on the back together with the number 10 and it was all thanks to Angeline

Having a jersey with a name on it could be a bad idea, especially with my name on it. People kept calling me for no reason and at times a few of them asked which character is that.

It seems anyone who comes with a different jersey especially Liverpool, Arsenal or worst still Man City jersey becomes the focus and will be jeered and made fun off. Like this fella above, he had to bear the constant shouting he gets from our section. But of course everyone knows it’s nothing serious. LOL.

On the 2nd match day too one fella bearing the Chelsea jersey sat a few rows in front of me and he got the same treatment. This time around, Jon, Daniel, Andrew, even Andrew’s sister never gave face, hahahaha. Everyone jeered.

Out of the blue, the section on our left started jeering even louder because someone was in an Arsenal jersey, LMAO. Our section also kaypo and started jeering that fella.

I couldn’t actually see and after zooming in with my camera only did i realized how everyone was staring at this Arsenal fan. LOL. Eventually he left for the higher tier.

This kept on happening off and on at different parts of the stadium. Once you hear jeering, you would definitely see one odd fella being in the center of attention.

The 1st match day was definitely better than the 2nd one simply because no one knows what to expect. Imagine 100 thousand people where mostly were in red and probably a few patches of yellow scattered all over representing Malaysia. No one knew how would Malaysia fair.

In fact, moments before Amri, number 17, scored that audacious goal, he was constantly being booed for his selfish play. In fact every other Malaysian player were being booed too and there was a reason. They just wouldn’t freaking pass. The ball would be brought all the way towards the goal just for them to blast it towards the moon.

Amri became a local hero when he scored the 2nd goal and that’s when most Man United fans were wondering if Malaysia would be able to do the unithinkable.

That’s when Owen, Fabio, Brown and Tosic were brought in to win the game. Owen was under the spotlight especially after signing for United for free.

Five minutes towards the end of normal time, Owen did score after the ball bounces off Giggs who tumbled with the keeper and the whole stadium went berserk ! It was Owen’s first goal for United and it was eventually the winning goal for the game.

As United marched out of the field, one fan somehow managed to get on to the pitch and he ran towards the team. One of the guards or so called bouncers, managed to catch hold of him. Malaysian security then stepped in and held him tightly. That’s one crazy fan. LOL

It was after this game, they did announce that Man United would extend their stay in Malaysia and play a rematch on Monday. On Sunday after catching Ice Age 3 3D (my rating: 6/10) with Angeline, i bumped into Andrew and we both got our tickets from Rock Corner in One Utama.

Home made banners were everywhere. Some were easy to understand, some needed time to decipher and some i just don’t get it -_-!

Some were really creative, LMAO.

This kid was proudly waving a huge Man United flag during the match.

The second match was actually Andrew’s first. He couldn’t make it for Saturday’s game last minute. That’s why it’s clearly shown on his face how excited he is, hahaha. As for the rest, Jon, Daniel, Joshua and me, it was our 2nd match watching. Semangat gila.

That afternoon, i got a call from Cedric and he said he was also coming since he was staying 10mins from the stadium.

Andrew kept blowing the horn throughout the match, hahahaa.

Man United had a different line up compared to Saturday’s game. Most of the substitutes were given the start. As for the Malaysian team, there weren’t much changes.

This time around, the focus was on Amri. Scoring twice against United definitely made Malaysians believe that finally a player who posses a certain skill to finish in front of the goal. Fans kept cheering his name, some even had jerseys with his name on it. Fans wanted the ball to be passed to Amri so that he can do the exact same thing on Saturday.

But of course all that never did happen. The moon was back on target. The Malaysian keeper took one step forward by kicking the ball towards the substitute bench. The hardcore Malaysian fan in front of me shouted, “Kejap lagi mereka masuk lah, bukan sekarang.”

ROFLMAO !!!!

The final scoreline was 2 nil to Manchester United with Macheda and Owen being on target.

It was really a joy watching them play for both the days and i couldn’t have asked for more. The next time i would be watching them has to be at Old Trafford for sure !

I simply heart Penang food; Char Koay Teow, Laksa, Ais Kacang, Balik Pulau Durians …

It has been a while since i have updated my blog but trust me, i have tonnes to write and i am just waiting to get back to KL to do so. In Penang, i am always busy doing chores or busy sleeping >.<!

With Apple launching the new iPhone 3GS, Macbook Aluminium joins the MacBook Pro family and also Snow Leopard, my car too had an update. A safety update to be precise. After a few days without my car, i finally got the call from Perodua saying it’s finally ready !

This time around, i changed quite a number of things since it has just surpassed 180k km and the damage was slightly less than a thousand. On top of that, Perodua finally fitted my car with rear seatbelts

My car wasn’t fitted with rear seatbelts nor does it have points to fix them. So Perodua took slightly longer to get it done but it was definitely worth the wait since KL would take ages to get it done.

A sticker is placed in case police were to flag me down to check if it has been certified by Perodua

Upon getting my car, my parents told that within the 2 weeks i brought my car back, 3 people have offered to buy my car. All of them offered around the same amount which was about 28k and that’s more than half the amount we paid for my 7 year old car. Parents are contemplating to sell off and probably get something else, like maybe a Saga. Hmmmm

On the side note, my mum asked if my phone could be tracked down via gps and after experimenting with a few programs, this is what i got …

It shows the whereabouts of me today but i didn’t leave it on all the time as my battery was low. If not the speed of my car will even be registered and all this was viewable by one click on my iMac at home >.<! LOL

I know a few of you have been bugging with me for photos from Tenji …

… hehehe i will be posting them soon. Before this weekend hopefully

P/S: 2010 is gonna be one hectic year ! Plans just keep pouring in. Have to save save save.

F1 was crazy last night. It was soooo short ! but the excitement  was over the roof when the cars stopped in the middle of the road ! LOL

… and as for EPL, Machedaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ! What a curler ! The battle of the last minute goals, ROFL

Btw, i have just wrote in my entry for Malaysian Dream Girl and this time the girls were in Royal Selangor for their first outdoor photoshoot

For those who have no idea what a zorb is, it basically the same as a hamster running in it’s plastic ball. The difference is, for us the ball is cushioned by air in the middle. The it’s to refrain hard impacts as we roll down the hill. To make things more exciting the participants are strapped on to the wall of the zorb. Thus as it roll down, so do you >.<!

If you are wondering why don’t the description match the picture above. That’s because it’s a water zorb. Water zorb is identical to a hamster ball.

Don’t be deceived with the photos because water zorbing is a waste of time and money. I will you why later.

So it was a bright Sunday morning and 26 people gathered in an excitement somewhere in Titiwangsa.

I couldn’t find the place at first and i called Bernard for the exact location. He said once you see 2 plastic balls on the left of the road means you are at the right place >.<! And he was right, i just continued driving around the lake till i saw these zorb balls.

Just as i described earlier there’s air in between the 2 layers in the zorb. Since it can accomodate 2 people at once, Bernard and i were paired up.

A few days before this event, Esther emailed me some coupon which i am suppose to bring so that the price of the zorb would be only RM 15. After finalizing the payment and all, we all waited to take turns.

Esther immediately said she was the first to go.

The ball was then rolled a slight slope and was held till Esther and her friend got strapped in. The slope isn’t that steep compared to the ones i have seen in New Zealand but nevertheless for 15 ringgit what do you expect? The distance it would roll is about 70 meters.

The instructor will help you out with the harness if you have hard time strapping into it. The girls were all observing for some reason but i am not sure why Bernard looks excited. HAhahahahahaha.

Once Esther was ready, they rolled down the ball and all i could hear were screams from Esther and her friend … who is a guy. ROFL.

Knowing that there’s 26 people and it would take eons before Bernard and i would have a chance. We decided to go for the water zorb first. Nicolette and Alice joined us.

It’s not that near from the dry zorb so we drove over to the other side of the lake.

Bernard was the first one to go since there weren’t anyone there. Water zorbing is also RM 15. And as you can see, first you would need to get into that plastic and they would pump in air till it’s full. They would then further pump in using a smaller pump.

It’s seriously not easy !

There’s no grip …. inside and outside. So all you do is fall …. and fall in the most awkward manner >.<!

Bernard was even luckier because when he was trying to find the inner hamster in him, a TV crew recorded the whole thing, LOL.

We escaped from the rest because we want to spare the shame but Bernard went two steps back by showing himself to the country, hahaha.

Alice was really funny, LOL. Cause she did try to run as much as possible and from far, she does look like a hamster

You see, we knew by going for the water zorb first, the rest won’t be seeing us like this. But when Nicolette spotted them walking from afar, she immediately said it was her turn after Alice @_@!!

So i was left to be the last one.

Nicolette didn’t last long cause she just doesn’t seem to go anywhere and it’s seriously tiring though you try to move it around. So she sat and enjoyed the scenery. But then again, she wasn’t wearing her specs. Hmmm now i wondered what was she even looking, lol.

By the time she was done, probably half of the whole group was already there and everyone was waiting for me to get in.

You know how people would say, “Save the best for last” ? Well this was one of those moments, wuuuwuuuuuuu

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Have you seen a buffalo falling ? There you go ….. >.<!

What a way to start my water zorbing experience. At one point while falling i thought the zorb was gonna burst or something.

Once you are in the ball you basically can’t hear much unless someone screams at you. And when i fell i could hear clearly everyone laughing at me @_@! So that’s how hard everyone laughed.

I tried everything to move it like a hamster ball but the harder i tried, the more weird i fell. If only the outer layer of the ball had some groove so it will move against the water rather than spinning on the same spot.

But it was really fun !

Esther’s one was the shortest i think, LOL. At one point she even tried to escape even when she was in the middle of the lake >.<! LOL

After capturing Esther’s fall, Alice, Nic, Bernard and i went back for the normal zorb.

The problem with 2 big buffalos entering the zorb is, when one gets in, the second one would have a hard time cause the hole is even smaller @_@!

… and i got freaking stuck, blardy hell and Bernard who was already inside had to pull me in.

We were too heavy that they had to push us down, ROFLMAO. Actually they do push for everyone since the slope isn’t that steep.

I know i screamed a lot, Bernard too and the momentum was madness. Imagine 2 of us causing the ball to roll down even faster than the rest. swt swt swt.

This is a small taste of what’s there in Gemas, Negeri Sembilan as i was told that the zorb there is longer …. 250m down >.<!

1 minute of spinning.

According to the fella who organizers this, for the first 20 seconds you would be screaming happily but after that till the end, you would be dying to get out, lol.

All in all the experience was great !!! Would definitely recommend it to anyone for sure.

Zorbing anyone ?

Now that my blog is finally UP Arghhhh for some reason this entry disappeared no thanks to the propogation delay -_-! Anyway i shall continue where i left on Phnom Penh. We were still on the Killing Fields and i didn’t feel all that confortable reading signs after signs indicating what had happened here during the Khmer Rouge. The cold breeze just made matters more eery than usual. This particular tree had a loudspeaker on it for a purpose …

… which is to drown the voices of the victims as they were executed in mass.

We later went into the building that stored all the remainings of the victims. Here’s William snapping with Angeline observing the skulls. I didn’t take any though I had to ration my memory card so that it could last me the whole trip which didn’t happened as i had to borrow 2Gb from Aaron.

Having barely 2 hours or so before our bus departs for Siem Reap, we rushed back.

Since we had time to spare, we roamed in Phnom Penh to find for lunch. We agreed to go to the Central market since it would be a good place to seek for food. But the thing is, the market in Phnom Penh isn’t exactly how we would see back here in Malaysia. The market was basically a market only, selling meat, vegetables, everyday utensils, previous stones, etc. There was no sign of hawker food, ROFL.

We left the market and walked to a few nearby mainroads.

We then came across this shop and i heard someone said, let’s have lunch here.

LOL. The thing about Phnom Penh is, if there’s a Bak Kut Teh shop here then the whole row would have BKT all over. Same goes for mechanics, sundry shop and also hawker food which we were yet to find any >.<!

We headed back to our rooms and decided to board the bus, in the hopes of finding something to bite on the way there.

There was this bread stand, i mean a few bread stand in front of the bus we were boarding and so we grabbed whatever we wanted. Igot myself a french loaf and asked the lady if it was empty or had anything in it. To my avail, we had some major communication barrier, lol.

Every where you go in Phnom Penh, you can easily find bread stands or even bakeries which have loads and loads of french loaves. I guess the French definitely did leave something behind when were in control of Cambodia.

After settling down in the bus, i finally had a bite and i tell you, it was one of the best french loaves i have ever had. Maybe because i was too hungry but for that price and to have pork floss in it, it was definitely worth it.

That ended up as my lunch.

The bus journey took about 7-8 hours if my memories serves me well. It was a 2+2 seating arrangement and it was one heck of a experience travelling with the locals. Even the movie played in the bus was a freaking eye opener. Hahaha. I quickly dozed off once i had my lunch but i was awaken to the sounds of the blaring monospeaker tv where it was showing a fighting scene from a local movie. I didn’t know basketball moves and gymnastics could be the basis of a fighting scene in any movie Taking a glance around, i could see how the locals were hooked to the tv set.

We did stop at their rest stop and it was just a normal shed with one stall and a sundry shop. We would try just about anything since we were in Cambodia and so we bought ice creams …

… just to find out it was packed in Malaysia.

Hahaha

We arrived Siem Reap when the sun was setting. As we got down from the bus, Emily yelled at me …

“Eh somebody the other side is holding a sign with your name on it.”

It was the driver who was assigned to be with us for the next 4 days in Siem Reap. I was actually prepared with other contacts in case the person whom i have been emailing back and forth for months didn’t turn. You know la, anything thru the net isn’t always guaranteed.

For USD 4.25 a night, we stayed comfortably at Jasmine Lodge. We were all divided the same way in Phnom Penh, where the girls and the guys had their own room. I stayed at the top floor and we even had our own lazy chair. Jasmine lodge is way wayyyy better than our accommodation in Phnom Penh and their hospitality was even better. Breakfast was included as well as free wifi. Now that’s definitely a bargain for any backpackers.

By the time we washed up and got ready it was already 8 something and we walked towards the town in search for food. Siem Reap is very different compared to Phnom Penh. It feels safe to walking at night.

After walking for more than 15mins, we finally decided where to eat.

The food was quite good and if i am not mistaken i ended up paying USD 4 plus, for the rice with pork and coconut shake. Some of us ordered mee soup which had lots of ajinomoto, lol.

Since we were already near the town center, we continued exploring the night life in Siem Reap

The girls totally zoned out when we came across a shoe shop ala Vincci/Voir/Nose. Eventhough it was cheaper with the current sales, the girls decided to leave empty handed

Of course that didn’t last for long …. LOL. I will tell you why later.

The central market was still operating so we had a look and slowly everyone started buying things like shirts, scarfs, elephant bags. Hahaha. I got my Cambodia shirt for USD 1.25.

Ai Ling and Emily made friends with this lady who had a unique way of saying, “Oh my gawdddddd.” ROFLMAO

Emily ended up saying that for the rest of the trip, she would just OMG anyone out of the blue, hahaha

Before leaving the town, we went to one of the sundry shops to get a few things. At the same time, we also did a price comparison with a few things, like liquor, chocolate, etc.

A few of us did become hungry when we reached back, so we walked to a nearby roadside stall and had supper.

Emily and I ordered this special fruit thingy. We just didn’t know that special means sprinkling milo all over the fruits >.<!

HAhahaha it tasted funny.

That’s the first night in Siem Reap. To be continued soon …

P/S: My blog is having some sort of problem, so please bear with me as i update a few things before posting the coming entries. In the mean time, do drop by Malaysian Dream Girl’s site to catch the latest episode of season 2