jelly's

Tuesday, 5 August 2014

725- Officially leaving the city behind!

Alright! First day heading to the borders! Let's do this!

We then carry on our journey,

turning right and left, left and right,

up and down, down and up... *Where's my sour plum/ Wu Hua Guo?!*

We chattered all the way in our van,

With silly pics and selfies which is a must ;)

but when the hill road was starting to get a little drowsy...

*Everybody to slumberland* hahaha

Stopped by a lovely human plantation forest for lunch,

Ah, how lovely is the view! And to get some refreshing air...

After all, all these mountain journey still needed some time for us to get used to it..

Eventually, we had seaweed for lunch again, but this time with glutinous rice!

So-called SUSHI! Toppled with some fresh longans...

There was me, honestly thinking... (You might be thinking as well)

"Am I really going to survive the rest of the journey 4 days for goodness sake by being a vegetarian?"

And then there was my other contradicting thought,

"Take up this as a challenge for yourself Jelly Wong!"

It's like devil and angels fighting in my head!

Obviously the picture is for illustration purpose only, I'm not the dog lol

Starting to embrace the time spent with my mates,

taking lovely pictures here and there around the forest!

P/S Killing boredom by making fun of myself.

We then continue our journey to the border,

on the way we stopped by a few stops, which was great as the journey is both bumpy and tiring, especially for our driver! So kudos to the driver! *Applause*

However, there's just one itsy bitsy problem we need to take note of...

WE HAD TO REACH OUR DESTINATION BY SUNSET PEOPLE!

So hold ye bladders and drink less water! *lol*

But eventually we manage to reach Thai border around late noon and still got to stop by a few stops for breaks ;)

And you think this is the end? NOT!

Each and everyone of us had to unload all our stuff from vans,

personal luggage, food supplies, camping stuffs, clothes supplies, gifts and etc.

Pass it on one by one and load it all on the boat...

For city animals like us, honestly the boat looks really vulnerable and it was merely made out of few pieces of wood... so no complains! At least there's a boat!

We tried our best to load luggage and all on the boat, and slowly take the boat with a maximum of 6 of us.

One by one, patiently, cooperatively we unload all the goods from the boat and successfully reached our destination- Wai Ler Mu village at the borders of Myanmar.

Just as I was about to jump out from the boat with few supplies, few soldiers with guns were standing and patrolling around the entrance of the village...

Ah, the welcoming committee? very lovely.

*Honest thoughts take 2* -> I was not only terrified but petrified!

"I felt as if I were a refugee, holding on the remaining food supplies I have, running away for my life while guarded by stern-looking, armed with guns soldiers next to me... "

Well obviously I was thinking too much!

But it was an experience I will never forget.

That feeling of fear... And that was the feeling, even more and worse as the villagers, the Karen people has gone through...

But most importantly, the soldiers were merely guarding the village from threats. And they know we came with no harm.

After all, they have been through numerous wars,

as peace has finally arrived for the village,

I would too, protect my home by all means.

With Mr Chong's help, we made it to the village safe and sound.

With his compassion and love to the Karen people,

we were fortunate to have the chance to help them and see their plight with our own eyes...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Alright! Settle down everybody!

After unloading all the goods from the boat we decided to set up our camping site in an old school house.

Long, old, rusty and dark, the house is.

We walked everywhere with torchlight.

*Pics are shot the next morning*

And to think how lucky we are,

to have lights on as long as we want (If you're willing to contribute to elect bills that is),

to have lights as many as we want back home...

Plus,

there was only a few lightbulbs in the house, and were merely powered by short electricity supply.

Hence,

when it comes close to midnight, we ran out of power and

had to rely the ONE AND ONLY valuable torchlight!

But in every darkness scenario,

a shed of light can always warm up people's hearts.

The children welcomed us with their warm and shyness smiles,

singing with their hearts and brought warmness and light into the house, to our camping site, to our hearts.

We too sang a few songs for them,

<对面的女孩看过来>,

Not surprisingly, the boys in our group can remember all the lyrics much much better than girls!

Ah! and how could I left out our delicious and nutritious dinner cooked by Chong Da Ge! (A.K.A. Big brother Mr. Chong)

Looks like we're getting used to all the lovely vegetarians meals after all :)

Here comes the challenging part.

Shower. Face Wash. Toilet. HOW?

All our basic needs suddenly became a bit of bleak for us.

Without lights,

with small crampy space in old and rusty toilets,

a good, long, refreshing shower suddenly became a luxury far away from us.

Due to time and limited toilet spaces, (20 people, not including the kids, 3 usable toilets, 4 buckets),

we merely flushed ourselves with water, no time for hair shampoo, face wash, body shower.

Quick tip #1: Always carry a mosquito repellent with you, spray immediately after shower! You never know how many of these little bast**** are waiting for you outside ...

Quick tip #2: Girls, always have a partner with you to the toilets. It's completely dark outside!

boy am I glad to have Ke Sin as my tent-roommie/ toilet partner/ shower partner/ sampat partner!:D

When you're out there, it's always better to look out for one another :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Tent zips closed up,

here we are,

getting ready for our first night camping...

To slumberland we go,

with natural orchestra from our bug friends in the woods and not to forget...

Our snoring orchestra from worn-out mates! haha!

To be continued...

Officially starting our voluntary work the next day!

Remember to come back here peeps :)

Thanks for reading!

725 Volunteering Team:
Ke Xin, Xiao Jie, Adelene, Alice, Yee Ling, David, Kenny, Yen Siang, Ray, Zu Han, Ling Jing, Hui Juan, Ming Hui, Xiu Lei, Dao Yi, Sing Yee, Xiao Feng, Hui Fang

Monday, 4 August 2014

SAY HI! Volunteering Abroad- Borders of Thai and Myanmar

Before the voluntary trip abroad, I was bombarded with questions such as... ...

'What? You're heading to the borders of Thai and Myanmar for volunteering? You're not serious, aren't ya?"

"How are you travelling there?"

"How do you know it will be safe?"

Even better, questions like,

"You're just back to Malaysia for summer holidays and you're leaving the country again?!"

Ah I am indeed blessed to having loving people around me :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Firstly, before I share my exciting yet valuable experiences with you,

here's a short intro for the questions above...

Love Without A Border, is the group I joined for this volunteering trip.

Love Without A Border Facebook Link

Our founder, Mr Chong whom is a compassionate and caring man organised volunteering trips every month to different hill tribe villages in need of help.

Mr. Chong's Facebook Link 钟大哥

He has successfully built up networks with the Karen people, living on the borders of Thailand and Myanmar. Hence, volunteers from all the countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, China, Taiwan, etc joined him and follow his led to the quest of volunteering @ the Borders of Thai and Myanmar.

One of the biggest rewards after joining this trip?

I learnt loads of life wisdoms and stories from him! :P

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Who are the Karen people you might ask?

The Karen people are an ethnic group living in South-East Asia. The Karen people are culturally and linguistically diverse. While most Karen people are Skaw Karen, there are other Karen cultural and language groups such as Pwo Karen and Bwe Karen.

There are about seven million Karen people living in Burma (Myanmar), about half a million Thai-Karen whose ancestral villages are in Thailand, and smaller groups of Karen living in India and other South-East Asian countries. There are about 140,000 Karen refugees living in camps in Thailand, and about 50,000 Karen refugees have been resettled in America, Canada, Australia, and some European countries.

Most Karen people are subsistence farmers, living in small mountain villages, and growing rice and vegetables and raising animals.

- Karen People of Burma (Adapted from: http://www.karen.org.au/karen_people.htm)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

And our journey begins...

Before we embark our long journey from Chiangmai to the borders of Myanmar,

each of us brought supplies with us all the way from Singapore, big bags of second hand clothes, stationeries, donations for food and water tower etc..

All of my mates were great, compassion people with big hearts!

They too have their own professions, their own life challenges to dealt with,

however, each of them, with their spirit of giving back to the community has truly inspired me to become a work profession like them in the near future!

("I wanna be like you when I grow up!" haha lol how young are you anyway?!)

These great people are:

(Forgive me if I spelled your name wrongly ><)

Ke Xin, Xiao Jie, Adelene, Alice, Yee Ling, David, Kenny, Yen Siang, Ray, Zu Han, Ling Jing, Hui Juan, Ming Hui, Xiu Lei, Dao Yi, Sing Yee, Xiao Feng, Hui Fang.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

First day arrival at Chiangmai, Thailand. Beautiful town, easy going, friendly people!

Sawadee-chao!

As soon as we settled down in our guesthouse,

each of us has our own plans to carry out...

For me, a big thank you for my donors, we have raised RM 1000 to buy food supplies for the tribe village! (Applause!)

Mr Chong brought us to Makro to get the food supplies, hmm.. which was very familiar to us Johoreans! Somehow disappeared from our town... xD

Packs of packs of rice noodles we loaded into the trolley...

"Hold up! Push another trolley here!"

"I found more rice noodles here in this section!"

(Asking the staff) "We still need more rice noodles, where can we find more?"

"How many rice noodles we have now?"

"Okay, I'm counting! 2,4,6,8,10...20...30...."

Never have I bought so much rice noodles in my LIFE!

SUCCESS!

However, we couldn't have done it if we didn't receive the generosity from donors,

a huge thanks to...

Mr. Jimmy Soong

Mr. Kee

Ms. Valen

Ms. Regine

Ms. Amelia

Ms. Jojo

Mr. Alvin

Ms. Koh

Mr. Scott

Mr. Tommy

Ms. Eveline Eng

Ms. Amanda

Mr. YM Tan

Mr. Wei Han

Mr. Tong

Mr. Liew

Mr. Don Goh

Mr. Choo YS

Ms. Rou Tze

Ms. Meg Ong

Thank you! :)

Now that we have all our things ready,

luggage, food supplies, camping materials,

we're ready for our next day early 8 am drive to Thai border...

To be continued...

P/S

If you're interested in joining the volunteering activities with Love Without A Border, feel free to contact our group link as posted above or drop me a message below! :)

I have fellow friends online who have been starting to ask me how to join and all, which is a great start!

And that is why, I am sharing my adventures here, with you,

to inspire more people like you and me to spread the love!*

Tuesday, 15 July 2014

TEMPLE RUN! Part 2

Okay so since the last post I promised to continue our TEMPLE RUN adventure here in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.

So the last three stops were temples close downtown.

As for the later 3 stops we drove towards the outskirts of Johor Bahru...

4th Stop:

Guan Yin Temple, Taman Perling

Ah there goes my model of the day- Jelly's mummy ^^

Guan Yin Temple was, I had to say one of the cleanest and well-organised temple I've ever been!

Had a short chat with the uncles in the temple there...

Don't mind having a short chat with the elders, besides,

you can always hear them sharing some interesting life stories, why not!

Pro tip No.1:

Elders/ uncles/ aunties are always happy to see young people praying at temples or visiting heritage places (hehehe)

Didn't had the chance to took more pictures as we were quite rushing to two other temples before sunset!

But Guan Yin Temple is really worth visiting,

the pillars of the temple are beautifully carved, with clean and friendly environment for praying.

Click me to check out Guan Yin Temple Location

5th Stop:

Skudai Tien Hiew Gong

Year of established: 1892

Address: Lot 1919, Jalan Bujuk, Kg. Baru, 81300 Skudai, Johor.

Ah how could we left out this temple?

Memorable childhood spent in Taman Skudai, with grandpa's house just located within walking distance to Tian Hou Gong :)

From what I know,

my past Grandma visited this temple very frequently,

and the family used to drop by the temple whenever there are big events going on...

See the huge parking lot?

The temple committee would set up stage and events using this space.

What kind of events you may ask?

Ask any Malaysian and they will know,

Getai Show, during the Hungry Ghost Festival (7th Lunar Month)...

Getai (歌台) or literally Song Stage is a stage performance with singing and live band held during the 7th month of the Chinese Calendar or Ghost Festival in Malaysia.

Source:awaywegoo.blogspot.com

Source: xDragain's Flickr

The front row seats are reserved for the "Hungry Ghosts" and nobody is allowed to seat!

But back to Tian Hou Gong,

look what I've found!

Lovely little garden just beside the temple :)

Walking through the "Hallway of goodluck?"

No I'm really happy to see many fishes, not sashimi.

Sashimi is not the first thing that came up on my mind.

(Right...)

6th and last stop: Fa Zhu Gong Temple, Machap

Not many sources are regarding Fa Zhu Gong temple online,

but what I heard from family,

this temple has been around for centuries old and was said by elders to be one of the most highly respected temples in Malaysia.

Quick fact:

There is some consultation services given to people everyday who wish to come and pray,

and by consultation it refers to psychic, who has mysterious powers, has the ability to receive messages from Gods and therefore, able to consult human like us! (It all made sense now is it? :D)

And yes,

I had the honour to receive some consultation...

(I promise to mend my bad habits!) --> See, it works!

Perhaps,

you're reading this and goes like:" Whaaaat?!"

So many religions on earth.

But when it comes to life,

when it comes to praying to Gods,

what could we ask for more?

Love is all you need.

♥

Friday, 4 July 2014

TEMPLE RUN! Part 1

*Welcoming theme music rolls*

Hiya peeps! I'm back blogging!

P/s Yeah like after a year... /==/

Life has been pretty busy, as friends know I work part time and study full time so there goes the reason for the thick dust on my blog here... xP

But glad I am back! And even better, back to good ol' hometown Malaysia to spend my summer holidays :)

Sure a lot of friends studying abroad would first and foremost choose to fly back home during the long summer break.

~~(Where else can you find free housing + free meals + free transportation?!)~~

But we would still miss ya Ireland :) Wait till September!

Since I'm back in hot hot Malaysia,

why not a TEMPLE RUN with my hot mama!

GOAL: 6 temple visits in one day!

So let me introduce you guys a good few chinese temples in Johor Bahru, Malaysia...

First stop: Taman Melodies 大伯公庙

Just a little background info about this temple,

to what I know the committees of the temple were raising funds to build a temple,

as currently the temple is only using as a shoplot front.

Thankfully, the neighbourhood in Taman Melodies were all very cooperative and people came in and donated generously to the temple.

It is indeed happy to see the construction work going on now!

Who's up for some joss sticks? xD

I randomly googled the temple online and surprisingly yes,

they do have FACEBOOK.

大伯公庙's facebook

Just in case anyone of you wanted to "temple check-in" on Facebook... = ='

Mama preparing fruits for prayers

点塔香 ("Dian Ta Xiang" Forgive me for my direct translation to English -.-)

For peace and happiness to the family :)

2nd Stop: Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple

Source: Tripadvisor

Located at downtown Johor Bahru of Jalan Trus, the temple is flanked by modern skyscrapers. This temple is one of the oldest structures in Johor Bahru. The temple is a place of worship and a symbol of unity among Five Chinese Dialect Groups which are "Teochew", "Hoklo (Hokkien)", "Cantonese", "Hakka" and "Hainan".

Find out more on Wikipedia