Another Month Gone By...
A quick summary of the last month: Extra classes, Trekking Club, Langkawi, and Thaipusam.
There are no formal lectures on Fridays, but the first Friday of semester, I held an extra mandatory tutorial where I combined my Algebra classes (bout 4/5 of the students showed), so that we could build a giant tetrahedron fractal out of newspaper. It was fun. I think the students thought it was fun too.
(Pics are courtesy of TMC, who dropped by with his camera -good thing too cause my pics didn't turn out)
The next weekend we went on a trek with the club, but unfortunately half hour into the climb up the mountain, I canned it because it started raining. By the time I made the decision to cancel the trek, it had stopped raining, but the rocks we were walking up were extremely slippery. Here is part of the group looking all sad because we are turning back.
And a pic of the KL skyline from the highest point we reached.
The next weekend I hopped on a plane to Langkawi with my roommate Mike. This was a trip planned by some of the our other teacher friends. I was not initially planning on going, but an Air Asia sale with tickets for RM10 made it tough to say no.
The first thing we did when we landed was get motorbikes. I actually decided to forgo the usual 115cc-er and I went with the biggest motorcycle they had: a 179 that Chris, upon his arrival, labelled 'the hog'. It was possibly a little small to deserve said title, but there wasn't a whole lot around to challenge it.
It was not in very good shape, but it was a load of fun. It had been many years since Mike had been on a bike, so he was loving it. We cruised around that first evening until about 2 in the morning. On that ride, my bike broke down shortly after midnight, in the middle of freakn' nowhere, and we had to flag down a couple of dudes to help me get it started again. The next day, I changed bikes, we picked up Tim and Beth at the airport, and Chris met up with us later. Mike and I basically spent the entire weekend on the bikes (the others joining us for a large part of our time there), stopping briefly for food, drinks, swims in the ocean, swims in waterfalls, and simply to enjoy the views.
We also enjoyed and really got into a few poser shots. Thanks to Tim for this one.
The following Thursday (Feb 1) was Thaipusam, a Hindu Festival. I woke up at 3:30 am to join the estimated million-plus Hindu's ascend the stairs to the temple in the Batu Caves. During this festival, devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and lances, and perform other, what-we-would-call, masochistic acts. They are allegedly in a trance and thus do not feel the pain. I am not quite sure yet, what the idea is behind the festival. Various people have explained parts, but I still don't fully understand it. Though I didn't get any good pics, I will post a few in my albums to give an idea of the goings-on.
I have one more week of classes, then we have a week off for CNY (Chinese New Year). I've booked a flight to Thailand's Phuket. I haven't planned my trip at all. No idea yet what I'm going to do, but I do not plan on staying in Phuket. I'm only flying there because I lucked out on a super-cheap flight. This is one trip that I think I may have to do by the seat of my pants (unless I get things together, quick). All I know for sure is that I need to be in Hat Yai by Sat 24th Feb to catch my 15 hour train ride back home (flights at the end of the CNY are ridiculously pricy, hence the rail). My only concern with this trip is that because it is the holiday, things may be jammed (I'm not going to make any reservations anywhere) and prices will be high. We'll see.
There are no formal lectures on Fridays, but the first Friday of semester, I held an extra mandatory tutorial where I combined my Algebra classes (bout 4/5 of the students showed), so that we could build a giant tetrahedron fractal out of newspaper. It was fun. I think the students thought it was fun too.
(Pics are courtesy of TMC, who dropped by with his camera -good thing too cause my pics didn't turn out)
The next weekend we went on a trek with the club, but unfortunately half hour into the climb up the mountain, I canned it because it started raining. By the time I made the decision to cancel the trek, it had stopped raining, but the rocks we were walking up were extremely slippery. Here is part of the group looking all sad because we are turning back.
And a pic of the KL skyline from the highest point we reached.
The next weekend I hopped on a plane to Langkawi with my roommate Mike. This was a trip planned by some of the our other teacher friends. I was not initially planning on going, but an Air Asia sale with tickets for RM10 made it tough to say no.
The first thing we did when we landed was get motorbikes. I actually decided to forgo the usual 115cc-er and I went with the biggest motorcycle they had: a 179 that Chris, upon his arrival, labelled 'the hog'. It was possibly a little small to deserve said title, but there wasn't a whole lot around to challenge it.
It was not in very good shape, but it was a load of fun. It had been many years since Mike had been on a bike, so he was loving it. We cruised around that first evening until about 2 in the morning. On that ride, my bike broke down shortly after midnight, in the middle of freakn' nowhere, and we had to flag down a couple of dudes to help me get it started again. The next day, I changed bikes, we picked up Tim and Beth at the airport, and Chris met up with us later. Mike and I basically spent the entire weekend on the bikes (the others joining us for a large part of our time there), stopping briefly for food, drinks, swims in the ocean, swims in waterfalls, and simply to enjoy the views.
We also enjoyed and really got into a few poser shots. Thanks to Tim for this one.
The following Thursday (Feb 1) was Thaipusam, a Hindu Festival. I woke up at 3:30 am to join the estimated million-plus Hindu's ascend the stairs to the temple in the Batu Caves. During this festival, devotees pierce their bodies with hooks and lances, and perform other, what-we-would-call, masochistic acts. They are allegedly in a trance and thus do not feel the pain. I am not quite sure yet, what the idea is behind the festival. Various people have explained parts, but I still don't fully understand it. Though I didn't get any good pics, I will post a few in my albums to give an idea of the goings-on.
I have one more week of classes, then we have a week off for CNY (Chinese New Year). I've booked a flight to Thailand's Phuket. I haven't planned my trip at all. No idea yet what I'm going to do, but I do not plan on staying in Phuket. I'm only flying there because I lucked out on a super-cheap flight. This is one trip that I think I may have to do by the seat of my pants (unless I get things together, quick). All I know for sure is that I need to be in Hat Yai by Sat 24th Feb to catch my 15 hour train ride back home (flights at the end of the CNY are ridiculously pricy, hence the rail). My only concern with this trip is that because it is the holiday, things may be jammed (I'm not going to make any reservations anywhere) and prices will be high. We'll see.
posted by Leon at 6:03 PM
1 Comments:
phuket? waw.. u mite bump into husna there.. lol..
it seems like u really make a full use of your holiday.. good for you..
mine? i spend my days at the sunway monash condominium HOSTEL and finish all the assignments..
perhaps i only could enjoy my holiday when i'm in Canada.. hmmmmm..
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