The Black World Of Solitude.

Friday, 29 January 2010

This shall mark my 100th post, and I'm making sure it will be the longest. Ever.

So, my overseas education trip was last week, and since I never had the time to post about it, I shall, now.

So on the 17th of Jan, I went to Cameron Highlands. The journey itself took like 13 hours from Singapore to Cameron Highlands (it's in malaysia, lah.) So there was nothing much to do, except snap photographs of "breathtaking" scenery and sleep. Of course, I couldn't sleep while sitting. And there was a TV installed that allowed us to watch shows. But there was no CD.

-.-

So I just wasted part of my life there. But the wait's worthwhile. Cameron Highlands feels exactly like Hong Kong (the temperature, the weather, everything). Well, I didn't wear any jackets, because two days later it's back to the warm, humid weather of KL. Let me upload some photos of Cameron Highlands.

Along the second link.

The coffee shop I ate at for breakfast.

Scenery.

The mountain view. Damn the exposure level, will look better with sunlight.

Green View Garden. A place we visited on the way up to Cameron Highlands (it is actually on the mountain itself)

The village on Cameron Highlands (I think it's called Tanah Rata)

Scenery. As you can see, mist shrouds the mountains, indicating that I am quite high on the mountain.

Day 2

The hotel I stayed in.

Too little exposure. But I like the image.

I woke up and stepped outside. Excellent temperature. Around 17 deg C. So we went to MARDI (malaysian agriculture research and development institute? I can't remember) to learn more about agriculture and stuff. Hydroponics. All the biotechnology thing. Fertigation. Minerals. Whatever.

Flowers!

Unknown view

This guy looks vaguely familiar...

Fertigation on a small scale.

Then we went for jungle trekking! A failure. We were marching halfway upwards, with people in front shouting, and blowing the stupid whistle. This is said to agitate a hornet nest, and a hornet flew out of nowhere and stung my friend when he walked away (I saw it for myself; it chose him). The sting was terrible (as I could see from his arm; a large red wound) and he became very weak, with the arm that has the sting becoming very cold. And then we were lost, because the people in front knew nothing about the sting, and went off. Luckily we had a teacher with us. Another hornet flew out of nowhere, and flew around the group. To protect them I sprayed insect repellent all around. Next moment, the other class had three pupils stung by hornets. I was blamed for it (or at least, the students said so, and told the teachers), and somehow the story changed. The latest version of it that I heard was that I sprayed it into a hornet's nest.

-.-

So finally the other group realised we are missing, and walked back to where we were. We took an alternative route (full of grasses and trees and mud and soil and darkness and twigs) while I supported my friend (the one who got stung). Following that, he was sent off (along with the other three) to a hospital to get an injection to neutralize the poison of the sting. I was blamed, again by others, for his downfall.

-.-

Then we went off to a watercress plantation site. Damn. First, we collected watercress BY STEPPING INTO MUD WITH SHARP ROCKS AT THE BOTTOM. Obviously, people started flinching when they stepped onto the sharp rocks. So there was alot of splashing of muddy water around. After the collection of the watercress, I walked uphill to plant some cabbage plants and pluck out some weeds. Then we were sent back to the hotel from freshening-up (would you like mud all over you, and then you went to have dinner?). It was a steamboat dinner, the dinner that led to the downfall of several other students. It all happened the next day.

Day 3

My friend vomited on the bus. Food poisoning from the crab. Several other students were reported sick with sore throat and fever.

So day 3 was the descent from the mountain. But we went to a tea plantation first. Boh Tea Plantation. In other words, "No tea plantation". Saw how tea was processed. And then we descended from the mountains. Again, the photos are mostly scenery, it will be found below. As we descended my teacher's water bottle got crushed by pressure changes.

The ascend to the tea plantation.

Plantation site.

Tea processing unit. Excess tea leaves on the floor is collected to be used as teh tarik. So if you're a clean freak, don't drink it.

Another view.

Tea plantation site. (Terracing is used for growing crops on the hill, therefore you see faint lines on the hills)

At KL, it was freaking warm. And humid. We went to this cave called the Tempurong Cave, in somewhere unknown. Quite dark, didn't manage to take much photographs. Of course, those that were sick didn't enter the cave.

Tempurong cave entrance. No pictures of the inside, though I tried. Set ISO level to max and full exposure, but it didn't work, and I got a rainbow-coloured picture...

Squirrels. Outside the tempurong cave on a tree, obviously.

Well, you still can see green leaves if you bend your LCD screen at an angle towards you, therefore it isn't black and white photo. I deliberately set the exposure level soo low, it looks black and white.

Again, with exposure level low, to focus on the sunlight. Unlike the previous pictures above, this one was taken in the late afternoon. Looks like evening.

A sepia version of the scenery I took above, but the pictures are shifted I think.

And then we drove off to the next hotel in KL (you can't expect us to go back to Cameron again right?). Right outside the hotel, another friend vomited. Those that were sick were sent to the hospital. The poor friend of mine who had food poisoning who couldn't eat or drink at all had to go for drip...

Day 4
We went to Petrosains or whatever you called it. Learnt about petrol and its other hydrocarbon compounds. Interesting indeed. Somewhat like the science centre, except that it was located in a shopping centre which is between the Petronas Twin Towers (WTF?)

The twin towers of Malaysia.

One of the towers.

One of the exhibits in Petrosains. Amazing, isn't it? The toy car is actually made up of light only. The actual toy car is at the bottom of the glass. Due to some unknown optical physics, it looks like the toy car is real. That's why the hand can pass through the toy car.

And then we went to an orphanage. But first we had to clean up an old folk's home nearby. Obviously there was a communication breakdown, since I could not speak any dialect (but I can understand some). After cleaning up the entire old folks' home, we went to set up some games for the orphans at the orphanage. I was the station master, and the game I was in charge of was screwed up since we ran out of tape and the orphans, losing interest, ran away.

-.-

The old folks home I clean up.

We fixed and cleaned the dusty fan. The tallest in the photograph fixed this fan, while I fixed the other fan not shown in the picture.

Well, after the orphanage activity, we went back to the hotel.

Day five

We set off for Malacca. Learnt crap about Malacca. If you really want to know, we learnt about it history, but it's no point finding out anyway.

The Red Square.

One of the wells. I set the exposure level extremely high, and this is taken without flash.

Malacca from a height. In the distance, you can see the ferris wheel and an unknown tall structure, which I think is the antenna that provides the entire state with communications.

One of the unused churches built by someone unknown.

Coins in an unknown well. 6x zoom (3x optical, 3x digital) to take a photo of the coins.

Then we proceeded to Asahan for some obstacle course. Didn't do anything at all, since it rained heavily. So it was replaced with shopping.

-.- (Remember that I hate shopping)

So then we went for dinner, and then back to another hotel in Malacca.

Forgot what this is.

TORTURA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can anybody explain what that means?

The black mass is a dead fly I killed after I clapped onto it. First time I killed a fly was when it hid behind a curtain in the same bus and I smashed it.

I'm still in Malaysia, and I belong to the ACS (I) OEP (CAMERON) group. Spot the difference. This was in the third hotel I was in.

A view of Malacca from the hotel. Should have set the ISO level higher on my camera...

Day six

Morning view.

We learnt about Kampong life in Malacca, rubber proccessing, top-spinning. Then we set off for Singapore after lunch. My first time eating coconut pudding.

Silat? I don't know what this is called.

Rubber processing. Latex plus formic acid.

The top isn't spinning. Seriously. The top spinner expert spun the top in a way that it will remain still once it stops.

Rice field.

Turn your head. The picture is taken as a portrait. The white stuff is latex.

On the way, the compressor of the air-conditioned bus broke down, making the interior of the bus warmer and more humid than the already warm Malacca.

-.-

We had to wait for a replacement bus while the other classes went off. After an hour or so, we entered the replacement bus and set off for the remaining journey back to Singapore.

The journey home.

End

Do you notice that the paragraphs for each of the days decreases? No doubt, you will know the reason.

And now for everything that took place the last week.

Monday

Nothing. Monday was a holiday set for us because some students scored very well for the IB examinations.

Tuesday

Went back to school. Nothing interesting happened today, though the teachers hinted that I was about to be stripped out of my chairman status (hurray!)

Wednesday

I was officially demoted to secretary (damn, I didn't want to be part of the class committee)

Thursday

Nothing.

Friday

NCC. I was inducted into the Guard of Honour, where you stand in the field straight doing nothing while the Guest of honour walks by.

-.-

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人之命，若无意，何生乎？20:50