Stories From The Curious Mind-Chapter 7

(Official blog post for My Selangor Story Blogging Contest)


A Story To Be Continued|| That of Friends, Flames, Firsts and Frames

(First photo taken using Pentax Optio P80, perhaps the first panoramic shot of my life)

Life seems to be a balance of the opposites. With life comes death. With happiness comes sadness. However, the line between the opposites is, more often than not, blurry. The end of My Selangor Story has officially brought the start of my journey as a blogger. Most importantly, it signifies the beginning of the friendship which binds all 30 of My Selangor Storytellers together.

The very process of recording My Selangor Story has certainly broadened my horizons. Many experiences I have are of the first time of the 19 tender years of mine. It was my first time to travel without family or friends for so long (Now, it feels kind of short, though). It was my first time to meet so many bloggers at once. It was the first time I watch a live band performance. It was my first time holding a camera all day long. It was also the first time I tried out ATV. The list goes on and on.

A glimpse back into the My Selangor Story journey brings forth many feelings, thoughts and memories. Travel is about experiencing and observing. It is all about looking at things from a different angle. Through this tour, I did see different sides of things around me. Those of friendship, passion, experience and memories.

Throughout the journey, I have seen bonds among friends who just met each other. I have also seen how local people interact with each other. One thing I particularly remember was that how close the stall owners in Uptown Shah Alam are. What’s more, I have made more than 30 friends in less than one week and all of them are awesome people. The always cheerful Alid, the cute Spectre, the cool Thristhan, the forgetful Kemal, the thoughtful Dania and many more.

Making friends from Indonesia and Singapore was indeed a brand new experience. From Fadli, my roommate who shares same computer and cellphone model with me, has been a great companion. From him, I have learnt a lot more about Indonesia and internet industry (he is an IT guy). Not to forget Alid, my friend who also loves Hindi movies. I really had a wonderful time with him especially towards the last few days. I felt really sorry for not being able to see them off in person.

Not only did I befriend fellow bloggers, I have made acquaintance with the TV Selangor crews who always tag us along and sometimes joined in our fun. If not for their ride, I really don’t know how I would have to come back to Shah Alam.

Apart from making friends (check out their blogs at the bottom), I have also seen passion and dedication of Selangor people. There are so many of inspiring persons throughout the journey. The successor of the Uptown has his modern market dream. One Night Service has their dream as well. Listening to Jerome Murat’s philosophies in performing arts was enjoyable, too. Even among ourselves, many are amazing people like Kak Zara and Abang Bent. It is these people who make Selangor shines. Every single person I saw on the way has his or her stories to tell. If only I was given the time.

Frames are what keep memories alive. With camera, I have sealed the beauty of the places I have been to, the people I have talked to and so on. I shall never forget the tranquility of Chin Swee Temple, the gorgeousness of Kanching Waterfall, the warmth of Dorani Homestay and the fragile lights of fireflies. Selangor simply has so much to offer.

Here is my video-book summarizing my 6-day-5-night My Selangor Story tour with a melodious touch. It was truly a story of friends, flames, firsts and frames. By the way, by embedding this video, I have add another "first": my first ever personal video project.






My Selangor Story was really a story of friends, flames, firsts and frames. Oh yeah, there are two more “f”s. Food and freebies. The generosity of the sponsors was simply overwhelming. Thank you, My Selangor Story sponsors, partners and everyone who makes this event a reality! Pentax was probably the most important sponsor of all. If not for their Pentax Optio P80, My Selangor Story would have been a story with no pictures and videos. I especially like the panoramic feature, as seen from my pictures.

                                                                                                                                                                  

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Stories From The Curious Mind-Chapter 6

(Official blog post for My Selangor Story Blogging Contest)


Tropicana Medical Center || A New Star in Medical Tourism

After one whole of chilling and playing around, the fifth day of My Selangor Story had finally come. You could never guess where our first destination was. It was the Tropicana Medical Center at Kota Damansara. Yes, you didn’t hear me wrong. It is a hospital. Or should I say, it is not a hospital. You might be wondering what My Selangor Story had to do with a medical center. Medical tourism is now considered a subcategory of tourism. People do travel for both treatment and sightseeing. Malaysia is quickly catching up on this and TMC is one of the pioneers.

The medical center was fully equipped with all the cutting-edge medical equipment with acronyms as their names. Being not so much a fan of medicine, I could not still remember most of those names. I could not say about the quality of the medical treatment here for sure but I did know how artistic and comfortable the medical center was. It was that comfortable until a point that I could not differentiate whether this was a hospital or hotel. The wall was not white as those of most hospitals out there. They also had art pieces everywhere. Art appreciation does cure illness.

I was particularly amazed with the delivery wards which looked more like a hotel suite. Bringing babies to the world in this suite would really be awesome. I bet Alid and Feeq had that in mind, too.

We also explored the semen collecting room. It was really a fresh thing for me. When I learnt about IVF in biology classes, I had never thought of how semen is collected. It was then only I knew that this is done in a room like this, with TV and bed.

IVF had been a miracle for couples who yearn for babies but the fact that only about a half of the operation can be successful hit me. How sad it was to hear that there will be no children in one’s life, no one to continue one’s story. It seemed like everything still depends on Him in the end, no matter how hard one tries.

Not forgetting the new born baby who was sound asleep.

At the very last minute before we had to leave, I found that they had brushes made from baby hair here, what was thought to be the best blessing for our children to do well academically.

Even from my brief visit here, I could already see how dedicated the nurses at the Tropicana Medical Center are. They stopped us from visiting the wards to protect the privacy of their patients. This had showed their professionalism. Should they had said yes, I would really question that.

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Frames @ Sunway Pyramid
After trying out the advanced equipment at Tropicana Medical Center, we then went to the Frames @ Sunway Pyramid for our lunch. 

As what its name suggests, the Frames, painted in pure white and silver, is like a frame containing memories of all those who have dined here. Its wall was also full of photos in classy frames. I had always wanted to visit here and now Sunway had given a chance to fit myself into this little frame.

Even the menu was of thoughtful design. It was made into a roll of paper tied with a purple ribbon. It gave me a tinge of suspense, forcing me to guess what is on the menu. The food served was of all origins. I ordered a Kalio Bilado, a type of Minangkabau chicken rice.

The texture and taste of the chicken was simply irresistible. The size of serving, too, was more than satisfying. I would definitely recommend you to try this next time you come here. Not to forget the desert, too. Dressing in black and white, it gave me a mouthful of bliss and happiness especially at the moment when the ice-cream melted together with the chocolate cake. Unforgettable indeed. 

By the way, while writing this, I really wondered whether I should now position myself as a food blogger. Food all the way from Shah Alam to Sunway. No wonder Malaysia is a Paradise of Gourmets.

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Sunway Lagoon Theme Park || Highlight of the Day


After answering our appetite’s call, we then looked for more thrills at the four theme parks of Sunway Lagoon. We were going to conquer them, one by one. Water Park, Amusement Park, Wildlife Park,Extreme Park and Scream Park! Here we come!

Riding the running stream on the huge “life-buoy like" Grand Canyon River Rapid was particularly fun. At certain points, it gave you a “musical kick” like that in the Inception. At certain points, too, it would surprise with a sudden burst of water. Hooray, let’s get wet!

The next point was even more thrilling. The three to four continuous bumps of the Colorado Splash Coaster nearly stopped my heart. The final landing literally hurt, too.

The first roller-coaster ride in my life also happened here in Sunway Lagoon. The feeling was truly beyond description. At some moments, I felt as if I was falling down. I screamed. I shouted. My face went pale, too. It really gave me a shot of adrenaline up to the head. This was yet another reason for me to remember Sunway Lagoon.

Then, we went to the Scream Park (a fancy name for ghost house) It was super fun to fool around with all those ghosts. The most funny part was that the ghosts inside were super polite. After scaring you, they said “This way, please.” It was kind of weird to hear that, though. There was one part of the Scream Park which I remembered the most. It was in the visual illusion tunnel. I really felt like the tunnel was spinning and could not move forward at all. Thanks to the 3D glasses. By the way, it was the cute Spectre who got me out. Nice guy, do read his blog.

After Scream Park, we then made our way through the scenic yet slightly shaky Pedestrian Suspension Bridge. It was really a nice place to enjoy the bird eye view of the entire Sunway Lagoon.

Then, we went down to where the All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) was. By the way, I would like to give a big thank you hug to Kak Zara who lent me her wristband so that I could play with the awesome looking ATVs. (I accidentally lost my wristband, sob)

At first, I almost lost control of it when I tried to turn on the way up the hill but I managed to figure out how to do in the end. It required a careful control of the throttle and the steering. It was really a wonderful experience for me who had never rode a motorcycle before. Going up and down the hill with the four wheels was indeed cool although the ride was brief and not-so-challenging. Can I have one more round, please?

When we came down from our ATVs, it was already near the time for us to move. Before that, of course I went and got myself wet in the huge pool with my fellow Indonesian friends. The huge pool was safe even for a mildly hydrophobic me. With the background of multi level waterfall at the back, this part of the Water looked very scenic albeit its slight mechanical feel.

Soon, dusk came and we had to leave to the Haven Points to have our farewell dinner. To add the final note for My Selangor Story trip.

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Haven Restaurant || The Farewell Dinner in the Most Scenic Place

On the way from Sunway to Bukit Langat, we purposely made a detour to pass by Jalan Tun Abdul Razak to have a look at the city center. This was the part of Kuala Lumpur where I had never been. The skyline here was comparable to those of other cities like Singapore. Awesome detour!

There was some glitches which delayed our dinner at Havens. It was not all our driver’s fault because it was easy to get confused with so many lookout points available here. The delay was not all bad, too. At least, I had gotten more rest on the bus and more time to chit chat.

Again, we were given VVIP treatment in Haven Restaurant. They actually made lobster as our appetizer! It was marvelous! Gorgeous! Heavenly! And I ran out of my adjectives. The food was literally finger licking good, too. I was particularly touched when they gave let us to bring the umbrella back home after it had shielded us from the drizzle when we went up to the viewpoint tower.

Since appetizers and desert were of buffet style, it brought yet another chance for us to test our food presentation skill.

I ordered salmon. The taste was good. However, my small stomach could not seem to fully savor a portion this huge. If only I had someone to bring along to share, yeah?



The grilled chicken chop was nice, too.

But I would say the rib was the best of all. Words do not suffice here. Not even picture could. Let’s witness Thristhan in awe of the ultra huge portion of the ribs. For the ribs, three man, Thristhan, Dylan and Sy Yuan actually fought with each other. Everyone on the table was pretty entertained with their rib eating race. Size did not seem to matter much here. Dylan, despite his relatively small build, had given a real good fight.

The atmosphere at Haven Restaurant almost led me to believe that I was still in Genting. With the fragrance from shisha and the melodious voice of One Night Service, all the 30 My Selangor Storytellers really enjoyed their dinner here.

                

I then moved my eyeballs from the food to the scenery. I still couldn’t believe that it was in such order. (It seems as if I was a food blogger.) From here, the whole Kuala Lumpur skyline was within the reach of my eyes. At some moments, mist came on and off. The city seemed to be really shy in front of us.

 

The story Haven ended just yet. Stay tuned for the final page of My Selangor Story. 

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