Flying on a jet plane....

Sorry I haven't updated the blog for a while.

These last few weeks have been hectic to say the least i.e. work, xmas parties and meeting up with my peeps.

I've been away in Colchester this week for work. Based on what my client told me Colchester is one of the oldest towns in UK and was built up by the Romans all those years ago.

Unfortunately due to job deadlines I didn't really have much time to tour around the town.

On our first night in Colchester my colleague and I went out for Christmas dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was one of those random nights.

First of all, my colleague and I got lost walking to the restaurant. I am really bad at directions except if I can remember landmark buildings. So if you ask me to read an orientation map...sorrylah there is a high probability I will get u lost! hehehe...

Eventually (after a lot of walking around going in circles).. we reached the restaurant and sat down for a Xmas dinner. Suddenly this waiter comes up to me and asked where I came from. I said I was Malaysian and it turned out the waiter was Malaysian too but he had not been back for 35 years!!!!! A rare coincidence to meet another fellow Malaysian in a small town like Colchester.

Throughout the night he would come up to our table for a little chat and we discovered a lot about this interesting guy. His dad was in the Air Force and later brought the whole family to settle down in UK 35 years ago. He attended school in the UK and left school to train as a waiter in one of the top hotels : Dorchester Hotel. He then continued to work in cruise liner ships and moved to Florida to work in the restaurants in Disneyland. He now owns a house in Florida and planned to settle there but had to come back to UK in order to send his son to college here due to some family problems. I asked him whether he would ever settle down in Malaysia again.

He said at this moment in time..the answer is no because he felt that he was Westernized and couldn't adjust back into the culture and life in Malaysia. I felt sad for him because he no longer feels Malaysia is his home anymore.

For me...my heart will always be in Malaysia and I consider it my home. It's strange because if I look back at my life ...12 years of my life has been in UK yet I still feel closer to life in Malaysia. Maybe it's because of the way I have been brought up. Despite all the negative things we often complain about Malaysia i.e. mentality of some people in Malaysia, the non existent work-life balance I feel more at ease settling into the culture and life in Malaysia than in UK. At this moment in time..I still see myself settling back home in maybe three or four year's time.

Who knows...only time will tell.

Anyways, this time tomorrow I will be flying off on a jet plane back home to KL to see my beloved ones for three weeks....So those of you in KL, insya-Allah we will meet up sooon!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brighton Trip

I've been planning to visit my good friend Anisa in Brighton for a long time. Finally, after a hectic few weeks I've managed to arrange my visit to go down to see her.

By the time I arrived in Brighton, it was already pitch black. This is one thing I hate about winter ...the days are shorter!! Also, it was damn cold!!!! I regretted not bringing a thicker coat.


We went back to Anisa's hall campus at Sussex Uni. It is soo different and more scenic than LSE. I've never experienced campus life because LSE was in the middle of Central London. Living in London, I have done my fair share of walking but in Brighton we walked practically everywhere. You can really become fit because there are a lot of hills and steep slopes everywhere.

After leaving our bags at her halls. we went out to see the nightlife in Brighton. We walked down to Brighton Pier and had dinner at Harry Ramsden's...the fish & chips was damn sedap because the fish was soo fresh!

Then we went to Brighton Marina and took pictures at the Royal Pavilion. The Royal Pavilion was my fav building in Brighton because the architecture is different from any other building I've seen in UK so far. The dome and the way it was built had an Eastern feel to it.
We came back about 11pm and I was pretty knackered by then and went straight to bed since I didn't get much sleep the night before.

The next day Anisa wanted to bring me to a place called Seven Sisters Country Park which was a 50 min bus ride from Brighton on the way to Eastbourne. We woke up early to catch the bus but it was a worthwhile trip. As soon as we stepped out of the bus I felt like I was no longer in the city. The air was so fresh and there was green scenery everywhere.



We followed the path trail set out by the National Trust. A word of warning to any of you who decide to go hiking or walking in any of these country parks..make sure you bring a warm coat, a pair of good boots and be prepared to get muddy!

The path trail led us to Seven Sisters Beach...it isn't one of those beaches you can sunbathe in but the scenery leading to the beach was breathtaking.

We were lucky the weather was kind to us..I can't imagine walking up the path if it had been raining.



After we reached the end of the trail we lepak and had some snacks on the pebble beach. To be honest , pebble beaches aren't the best place to walk on cuz there are stones everywhere but it was actually not too bad to sit on.

After the trail walk we headed back into Brighton city centre. I slept on the bus most of the way back but once we reached the city centre I was ready to do some shopping. Shopping in Brighton was great, there were loads to choose from and there was a soo much variety. I think it was because the city is tailored towards tourists.

After that it was time for me to head back to Slough. It was a lovely weekend to catch up with Anisa. Brighton is a lovely place and next summer I will be going again to check out Brighton Beach.

Alright, I have to do more packing as I'm going to Leeds tomorrow for work. Another hectic week ahead......................

Make Poverty History-Is it really possible?

Many of you may remember the slogan " Make Poverty History " wear everyone was encouraged to wear the white bands, Live 8 concert and attending the march in Edinburgh during the same week as when the G8 summit was held in Gleneagles in Scotland. There are some of you who may wear the white band as a fashion accessory but I hope that most people wore it because of what the white band stands for.

So...Make Poverty History..is it really possible?? I went to a talk by the Director of Oxfam in UK (Barbara Stocking) earlier this week who is one of many people that believe it is possible.

Make Poverty History has been a long campaign but 2005 is a special year as many charities, NGOs and various organisations came together to make the world leaders listen and actually start taking action in eradicating poverty.

Ok, we know that we will never be able to eradicate poverty altogether but there are many children dying of hunger because of extreme poverty and we all need to do something about it before it's too late.

What is Make Poverty History campaigning for?

It's fighting for three main things: More aid, Fair Trade and eradicate debt of third world countries.

Currently, we need GBP 50billion a year of aid money. It may seem a lot but if we put it in perspective GBP1 trilion is being spent on arms a year. I'm not against the armed forces (my dad is in the navy) equipping themselves with arms and security equipment in order to protect the interests of the people of the country. But if we can spend a significant amount of money on arms..surely we can spare some cash for aid too.

So how successful has the campaign been?

Debt relief: world leaders have accepted that multilateral debt should be written off but no action has yet been finalised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Aid Money: by 2010 it was decided that GBP48 billion aid will be given. It isn't the best outcome as 2010 is five years away...how many more innocent people will die by that time???

Trade justice: this is the most difficult part of the deal. We shouldn't get confused with free trade and trade justice. Trade justice stands for:

• ending export subsidies
• opening trade borders
• enforcing laws to stop big multinational companies profiting at the expense of local people and the environment

Even before the G8 summit took place, world leaders had decided to get rid of export subsidies and this was reaffirmed again in 2005. Unfortunately, no set timetable was set. This isn't an easy thing to solve because eradicating export subsidies would mean farmers and similar people working in agricultural industries may suffer. e.g. agriculture industry in Scotland, cotton farm industry in America.

The WTO 2005 summit will start on 13 December in Hong Kong and we hope that these issues will be discussed and we can make progress and move forward.

What difference can we make?

Well, eradicating extreme poverty won't be something that can be solved overnight. I do agree that Making Poverty History is possible. It will not be easy but it we put enough pressure and keep the public engaged and interested in the campaign we may have a chance in making a difference.