Here’s just a quick update.

I’M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN HERE IN UCL.

It was fun all the way for UCL here ever since I arrived from Czech Rep. And you know what, my crazy travel plans ain’t really that crazy actually. I met several exchange students from the US who did the exact same thing. Fly in to London 2 weeks early, store their luggage in a self-storage company and take a budget airline into Europe for an early Europe trip.

Pretty interesting to know that there are others doing the same thing as me, travelling early.

Anyway, it’s too much fun over here that up till now I have yet to take a single photo here in the UK. Just soaking in all the experience without the need for a camera.

There are so many interesting people here. It’s really exciting meeting people from all over the world. UCL is really quite diverse. I’m currently chilling mostly with a group of Germans and an Austrian. All of them speak German and this only increases my reason in wanting to take German language classes in university. German would be so useful for next Euro trip to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, part-Belgium.

Anyway, here’s a quick link-up. If you are looking to purchase gold, purchase bullion, or purchase gold coins just simple click on the link for more information.

With that I shall end here  and will update again at length when the excitement tapers down and I have more time to blog.

Dobry Den! Ahoy!
(Greetings in Czech - the first being formal while the second being informal)

Just some update of my travel so far. It’s been a great journey so far. On weekends my uncle will bring me around Czech Republic while on weekdays I travel alone, taking buses to towns and cities and going for a day trip.

The weather at this point in time is perfect! It’s not too hot nor is it too cold.

Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past week.

Thursday, 9 Sept - Arrival at Brno
Friday, 10 Sept - Mini tour around Brno town with uncle
Saturday, 11 Sept -  Fresh wine (Burcak) festival at Znojmo (j is pronounced as y so it’s snoy-mo)
Sunday, 12 Sept - Cave tour - Moravian Karst
Monday, 13 Sept -  Self tour around Brno
Tueday, 14 Sept - Bratislava, Slovakia
Wednesday, 15 Sept - Vienna, Austria
Thursday, 16 Sept - Olomouc, Czech Rep

Commuting between places is really simple. I simply buy inter-city bus tickets from the Student Agency bus company and I’m travelling already!

Public transportation is simply amazing. Singapore is years behind if I were to compare. And there are a lot of trust involved in the system. There is no one to check the ticket upon entering buses and trams here (and trains in Vienna too). Most people simply buy their ticket and use the system. And the buses and trams are accurate to the minute. This is so unlike Singapore’s buses, not to mention Malaysia’s.

The difficult part here is probably only the language barrier. Most people do not speak English here. Maybe it’s different for Prague. There are quite some English speakers in Bratislava and Vienna so I guess it’s just a non-capital city problem. Well, but I suppose the Czech language ain’t that hard to learn. Just have to memorise words after words. It’s like Malay I would say. After you build up a vocab you more or less can communicate with the people here. I’m slowly recognising words so I can know what I’m ordering at the restaurants.

Besides, Czech Rep doesn’t use the Euro currency yet but uses the Koruna. So things are still pretty much affordable here. I would say it’s like paying high-end food price for low-end food. A plain hamburger would cost me 30 Crown which is about RM6 so I guess I can still stomach it. High-end food like steak would be about 20% higher than prices in Malaysian restaurants. So can still enjoy life here. However things are much more expensive if it’s in Euro like in Vienna. A kebab there costs me 3 Euro which is about RM15. Gulp! It’s just the friggin Ringgit which is wayyyy undervalued by the government to keep the economy competitive. Check out The Economist Big Mac index to have an idea of what I’m saying.

But wth bout all these currencies. I need to eat. So SPEND! hahaha

Anyway, I am loving the ISIC (Internation Student Identity Card) that I applied for in Malaysia. I paid RM20 for it at MSL Travel (just google them) and I would say I’ve gotten savings wayyy in excess of the RM20 I paid for it. For example, I get 15% off for bus fares on Student Agency buses. I also get almost half price for entry into museums, galleries, palaces etc. The ISIC card is just plain recognisable everywhere in Europe. Get it in Malaysia before you leave for UK. You gonna pay in Pounds (and it’s probably 5 times more expensive!) to get the card if you don’t get it in Malaysia.

Well, the weekend is coming soon. Uncle is bringing me out again. Not sure where this time but I suppose it’s to Prague. All I can say is the tour so far is great! Vienna is simply amazing. I need to go back there again. And apparently my uncle said Budapest is even better. I’m going back London on Monday. Another few more days of touring around before uni starts.

Oh and for pictures? Haha. It’s on my Facebook!

I’m safe in my uncle’s place now. Lucky for my crazy sleeping habits in Malaysia where I sleep at 3am and wake up at 11am, I’m not really jet-lagged here. Slept mostly in the aeroplane and bus journeys. But there were all hour long naps, so it was great that I finally got a 9 hours sleep the previous night.

Anyway, here’s a descriptive journey of my trip so far. I’m too lazy to put photos here. If you want to see some photos get to my Facebook photo album =P

Well let’s start from the beginning. My KL-London flight was supposed to depart at 11.40pm. But we were delayed by slightly over an hour. Reason: the flight was full and the cabin crew had difficulties trying to sort passengers with infants. There was a row very near me with 3 infants and that is not allowed under rules because of the shortage of oxygen masks in case of emergency. So the cabin crew had to run around the airplane, contacting ground staff trying to sort out this problem. Alas if I’m not wrong, they simply upgraded a single mom and her baby to business class cause all other seats are taken. It was a really tense environment. Nobody wants to be delayed cause there are lots of complications - missing the airspace time slot allocation, congestion at Heathrow etc.

We did miss the flying time slot over Afghanistan. We had to fly later and at a lower altitude. The Captain also reported some problem with Bangkok but I’m not sure what exactly. Well I believe the pilot must have flown the plane at a faster pace because we were scheduled to land at London 15 minutes late only. Alas congestion at Heathrow forced us to holding and we had to circle around East London for about 10 minutes before landing. Lucky me. I will be pretty screwed with my schedule if the plane is delayed more.

It took about 12 hours for the flight instead of  13 hours. Filled my time sleeping and fiddling with the in-flight enterntainment. Watched some comedies and played some video games there. But I spent most of my time sleeping, conserving energy for my crazy transit the following morning.

Checked out of airplane, went through immigration. Luckily things went smoothly with not much questions asked. Got myself an Oyster card and headed to the Tube on the Picaddily Line for an hour long ride to Caledonian Road station. Had to drag my big luggage and hand-carry for a good 15 minutes or so to my self-storage location. ABC Self-Storage is the company I went with. About £30 for 2 weeks of storage. Plus I get to use my own padlock!

My shoulders are really aching cause of all the lugging. It’s not over yet. I had to travel to King’s Cross St Pancras and transfer to Liverpool Street station to get a bus or a train to Stansted. Finally got myself into a Terravision bus to Stansted. It’s supposed to be £9 but they don’t provide change for £10! I’m not sure if it’s company policy or simply the bus attendant way of collecting tips for himself but I couldn’t be bothered. I just wanted to get to Stansted airport on time and catch my flight to Brno.

By then I was too tired to look at London, I slept throught the bulk of the hour long journey. Reached Stansted and checked in for my Ryanair flight. Security check over at Stansted is really tight. I finally had some time to relax and have my lunch. I also had some time to check out some shops there. Looked at football merchandise there and am just waiting for my time to get hold of that Arsenal jersey. The shop also sell football and offered to inflate the ball! lol. Anyway I also went to the perfume shop and thought it was quite cheap. I did some conversions and figured that perfumes are way cheaper there as compared to KL or Singapore. Well, shall see how. Might do some shopping and get myself a ck perfume there on my way home.

Got into my flight at Ryanair and off I went to doze off again. It was nearly a 2 hours plane ride but half the time the Ryanair staff are peddling things to sell. They were noisy like those pasar malam junkies selling stuff. Got a good hour rest on the flight.

Reached Brno and immigration was really simple. No forms to fill up. Just a simple stamp on my passport and I’m cleared to enter Czech Republic. Met my uncle at the airport and headed home for a quick shower. Luckily I had all the rest here and there on my journey cause immediately after my shower and a short Skype session with mom, I went out my uncle’s sister company Summer Party.

Drank beer and ate meat (turkey and pork ) and bread the whole night. Luckily we went back early cause by then I was already a little tired. 9pm Czech local time is about 3am Malaysia time and it’s right in my sleeping time zone already.

StaroBrno is the local beer. It’s really smooth. Had a sip of their local Cola too. I have no idea how to describe that. Anyway, this is the crazy journey so far. It was more than 24 hours of travelling since I left home to KLIA on Wednesday night. This is the start of the trip. I shall update more soon again. Cheers!

As I’m typing this, I have slightly more than 24 hours to go before this crazy travel plan starts:

Wednesday, 9 Sept 2009, 11.40pm
KL - London (Heathrow)
Malaysia Airlines
Expected arrival time in London 5.50am
Total travel time: 13 hours 10 minutes

Once in London Heathrow airport, I’ve got to checkout and make my way to Caledonian Road tube to get myself into ABC Self Storage to store my big 30kg luggage at a self-storage company for 2 weeks.

Immediately after that, it’s a mad rush to London Stansted airport for the following flight.

Thursday, 10 Sept 2009, 1.35pm
London (Stansted) - Brno, Czech Republic
RyanAir
Expected arrival time in Brno 4.35pm
Total travel time: 2 hours

Thankfully my uncle will pick me up at the airport in Brno. It’s a mad day of travelling with all the rushing and minimal margin of error. Luckily I will have the Friday to rest before backpacking with my uncle on Saturday and Sunday.

I will have the next 5 weekdays to travel alone around Brno and its surrounding area before the weekend comes by again for my uncle to bring me backpacking again.

Places I intend to cover: Brno, Vienna (Austria), Brastilavia (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary). Places I might also go: Prague, Krakow (Poland). Apparently I just found out I got a friend who’s already in Krakow! Might be worth it to go there this time around. But shall see how again when I reach. It’s a free and easy plan. Just go and wander around! Which reminds me, I haven’t actually done much research on things to see or do in the places that I plan to go!!!!!

Anyway, I’ll be flying back to London on the 21st of September. Will reach London at 6.15pm. Luckily Yi Rhu offered me her place to put in a night there cause I doubt I will be able to check-in to my uni residence at night. I will check-in to Campbell House East the following morning and go back to collect my luggage at the storage location before International Orientation the following day. Hectic travel plan! You BET!!!!

On the 25th of August, a bunch of my friends and I went out to bring a group of children from an orphanage - Agathians Shelter for an outing to MidValley Megamall to cheer up their spirits during the school holidays. We have some funds from a fundraising project done earlier in the year. So we thought a good way to spend the funds would be to bring a group of orphans out, treat them for lunch at McDonald’s and movies and then get them new books and stationaries at the local bookstore.

It started out at about 12 where I went over to Seira’s place and picked her up before heading to the orphanage home near Seksyen 8, PJ. We met up with the kids, caretakers and volunteers there and then headed to MidValley in my car and in another van. A total of 22 kids followed us with a few more volunteer adults.

We reached MidValley and went straight for lunch at McDonald’s. We were duly joined by Cassie, a friend from my Leo Club days and later on Clement and another friend of his. We organised the kids into tables at McD. A waiter at McD helped us take orders from the kids at McD and they are clearly delighted at being able to choose their meals then. Luckily it was the fasting season and we could get seats for nearly 30 of us. I used to work at MidValley and I know that McD is packed to the brim during normal lunch hours.

Well talking about luck, actually I did not pay for the McD lunch. After organising the kids at the tables in McD, a group of women in their 40s who were siting behind me started talking to me. There were curious why there were so many kids out in McD being organised together thus started asking me some questions. I explained our outing and she offered to pay for the meal at McD. What a nice gesture.

Also at McD, Seira was nice to help us get some vegetarian pizzas for the vegetarians. At the same time, Cassie who finished her meal early went to check the movie listings and helped coordinate the movie ticket purchases.

We finished eating at 2 plus and proceeded to the movie theatre for the cartoon movie UP which starts at 2.30. Talk about perfect timing and coordination! LOL. But it has all to do with good luck and help from experienced friends!

After movies, we brought the kids to MPH to buy them new stationaries and books. At this moment we were joined by Adila, which I then found out was a Seira’s classmate in secondary school! The kids were happy choosing their brand new stuff. They were practically running around the bookshop choosing their new freebies. Once everyone has gotten their new goodies, we proceeded to the cashier and paid. I had to vet through the stuff they want to buy while Seira kept touch with a handphone calculator to ensure that we do not go overbudget.

The kids were clearly happy with their outing that day, getting new books and stationaries. Hopefully this will inspire them to work hard in their studies and achieve success. After MPH, we proceeded back to the orphanage and hang out with the kids for a little longer. By then it was already 7 plus and we decided to call it a day.

It was a rather interesting outing. I am glad the kids had a great day out during their school holidays choosing new stuff for their studies. I know so many of them being so grateful for having new stationaries for their UPSR exams, things which we all have taken for granted. Well I hope I would be able to do this again. What this outing actually taught me was it is really actually quite simple to organise an outing with an orphanage. And it is ridiculously affordable to bring 22 kids out for a lunch at McD and a movie outing. All it takes is the initiative and the cooperation of a few friends. I shall do this more often in the future!

And talking about it, I guess I should have gotten involved in a more long term project with an orphanage like giving them some sort of tuition of sort earlier in the year.

Anyway, there were some additional funds from the outing the other day. I have donated the additional funds to Yvonne Foong. You can go google her and read all about her plight and battle against a rare form of cancer. I thought hers is a deserving cause and I am proud of her battle against this disease that had affected her for so long. I am also proud of her use of the online media to fundraise money and I think you should all support her too.

Finally, here’s some photos that I took from the outing with the kids the other day. Have fun!

The last few days for some weird reason, my mom has actually been pestering me to buy a car since that I’m going to stay in UK for 3 years of studies. Reason: I can bring the car home without paying any taxes! Apparently I can get an Approved Permit (AP) to bring a car back to Malaysia without any taxes after staying abroad for 1 or 2 years. The good thing about UK is that the cars are right-hand drive which is the same for Malaysia. My uncle and aunt who were here a few days back also supported the idea. They are staying in Czech Republic now and they said they can’t bring their Hyundai back because it is a left-hand drive. It would not suit Malaysia’s roads as it would bring lots of trouble especially when paying tolls. Recalibrating it would be costly. They are sad that they can’t bring back their car. They are back to stay in Penang already. Only my uncle is going back to Czech Republic for another month to clear things up and I’m going to visit him for my early Euro trip before university.

I don’t mind getting a car in UK. After all, a weekend car for me? That would be great! But parking’s gonna be really expensive. I told my mom where shall I park the car?!?! And petrol’s really expensive there. Perhaps hybrid cars would be good but close to RM7 per liter of petrol is just insane man. I don’t think I can even afford driving in London. Gulps! And not to mention the congestion charges in London.

So what car shall it be? A prius? It seems pretty nice. Or no car at all? I think it’s gonna be a no car for me. Besides I don’t see the point of getting a car in London. It’s just dumb. If I had been in the US, I would have definitely bought myself an old car for ease of travel. But London with its extensive train coverage? Nah….no need for a car. Perhaps might just rent one for a Euro trip later with some friends! Guess I would just sit back and enjoy looking at car pictures before I finally get my own car 3 years from now.

I’m excited to go London! And am more excited to go conquer the whole Europe and if possible north Africa too!

It’s that time of the year again when the Muslims start fasting for 1 month. I’m not sure whether my Muslim friends look forward to the fasting season or actually look forward to the celebrations after the 1 month. For me, it’s just simply great that the Ramadan month is here. It simply means more delicious food for me to choose from. There’s bazaar during the fasting month and not to mention the big celebrations for Aidil Fitri. Too bad this year I won’t be here to get myself invited to my Malay friends home for open house for a big treat during Raya. Instead I will be away in London starting university. But I could always crash the Raya celebrations probably in Malaysia House in London and eat all the good food there!

There are bazaars everywhere during this fasting period and I am so excited of going to one (after missing the past 2 years due to me being in Singapore) that I actually went to one the very first day of Ramadan. Went there with mom and sis and bought back quite some food for dinner. We could not finish everything by dinner and have to keep them refrigerated for the next day’s lunch. Here’s some photos from the bazaar near our home. It’s not a big one. I am a little disappointed because it used to be so much bigger 3 years ago with stalls on the left and right of the street and with more people.

I’m quite a bummer I would say. I’m supposed to be so damn free during this holiday yet I’m not actively blogging. Correction: I AM VERY FREE DURING THIS HOLIDAYS I’M GETTING BORED.

Well since the time of my last update for the Manchester United game I’ve been doing quite some stuff like rain harvesting, OOPS!….travelling to Singapore, going for events, doing some shopping for UK, planning for the UK early holiday trip etc. I’m too darn lazy to put up photos of all the stuff that had happened.

Anyway I got almost everything I needed to go UK already. I’m just simply packing my bags to just fly early to UK and then find my uncle in Brno, Czech Republic. I’m bored sitting at home. I rather go early to UK and find my uncle in Czech Republic than sit at home passing time. It’s been 9 months already. Really long holidays is NOT exactly very good. I met up with so many friends already but many I still haven’t met up and most are busy with their studies wherever they are.

I wanted to go backpacking during this holidays but the scholarship season meant that I couldn’t leave Malaysia for an extended period of time. I was thinking of doing 2-3 months straight of backpacking. Well I will do it to Europe now that I’m going London to study.

I’m excited of starting studies in UCL. I’m looking forward to living in London. I’m pretty sure I will love the architecture of the city. And best of all, I will cherish watching football over there! I am a big fan of Arsenal and I look forward to going to the Emirates Stadium to watch Arsenal play their smooth-flowing attacking football in their new stadium.

I’m pretty sure much of what I will learn in the first year will be similar to what I learnt in A-Level Economics. Well probably some recap again. The 9 months holidays totally made me forget almost everything I learnt so far. It’s not good coming from a super stressed environment for 2 years to a super slack environment for the next 9 months. Well truth is I’ve travelled to Medan this holidays. The planned trip to Bangkok never materialised. Melbourne idea came by too late. Lots of trips down to Singapore but ironically not much trip around Malaysia.

Time passes by rather quickly. It’s not like watching rain fill up rain barrels during the rainy season. It’s so much quicker than that.

Anyway, for next week, Tuesday, 25 August at 11am, I’m going to Agathians Shelter in Seksyen 8, PJ to do some good to the orphans there. I’m bringing the kids out to MPH in Mid Valley to get them new books. Then later on will buy them all lunch at McDonald’s. And after that head back to the orphanage to play some games wit the kids. I had some funds from the Berkeley website thingy if you guys remembered and plan to spend the funds off meaningfully by bringing a big smile to the kids next week. There will be 22 boys for this outing. They are mainly in primary school. I have several friends coming along with me to play along with the kids. Drop me a message here or on my facebook or on my handphone if you are interested in coming along.

P/S: Bring along rain water barrels for this outing! JOKING-lah!