How do you think a dam (empangan) looks like? A place with lotsa water and a wall nearby? That's what I thought too. Till I went on a family holiday last monday to wednessday to this place called the Tasik Temenggor Discovery Island. It's basically a resort somewhere in the dam surrounded by nature, eg trees, endangered animals and tonnes of insects.
It is indeed a beautiful place, for those who appreciate nature and a simple place devoid of air cond, television ....basically your cut off from the world outside to just enjoy God's wonderful creation. Really, once you reach the jetty in Grik, Perak; you still need to take a half and hour ferry ride to the resort. That is how deep inside the dam the place is. And all through the journey you see nothing but vast waters, and luscious green jungle islands. There's so many of this small islands if one were to venture out alone, you'll probably get lost, cos they all look alike.

In the boat house, with my dad watching my sister throw darts and in the background, the other couple that went there the same time we went. So basically we ate with them and hanged out with them when we weren't doing any activity la.
P/s: see the red dart flying?...yeay! I finally managed to capture that with my dslr after many tries. =P

And since we were a small group...9 guest only (7 fr my family and 2 the other couple), we got plenty of attention from the owner, Mr Steve Leong. Really good food, his-own-recipe sauce for BBQed potato, which he says he'll only give us on our 3^rd time to the place; and the first ever group of guest to use his new dining area! He even ate with us on our last night.

View from the dining area around 7 something at night. I made them stand there for 3.2 seconds. Hehe, but worth it don't you think? At first my dad was like "what?? No point lar, won't be clear wan"...but he agreed with me at the end Haha. A bit blur la, but I'm not pro ma, plus we didn't use a tripod, cos.......i didn't think of it?
If you're expecting a nice little room with nice beds and a nice toilet like those 4 or 5 star hotels, think again. Remember the key word.....N.A.T.U.R.E

Us in our chalets, which fits only 3 ppl. The outdoor toilet, with mountain water and no heater. Freeeeeeezing!!!
We went jungle trekking there, the guide saw the herd of elephants and made us all faster trek down to safety again...sigh..we were pretty near the top di!! My younger bro and sis heard the elephants too. On another trail we saw the rafflesia buds. The guide said "come back again la in 2 weeks time, it should open then"! Too bad no photos of those. My dad was holding the camera.
Kayaking was the best thing there, so my brothers say. Made my arms so tired, I think I did enough exercise for the week during the trip.

The owner personally carved out the fishes and all in the wall. The walls and all were made mostly of wood, trees and stones. The whole place really has the owner’s touch, you’ll know he’s a nature lover just by looking at the place.

the boat house from the dining area/ house.
All in all, a different kind of holiday!! I enjoyed it all except for the insects. Me and my brother's chalets were infested with carnivorous ants on the 2nd day. They ate their dead fellow insects.....yerrrrr.

have you met people who, all they seem to do is complain? They come back to their sit and complain to you, who sits behind them, and to the other close friend that sits beside them, an again, to those of the same kind,in the next class . To them, if it doesn't go their way, its not the right way then. If its not to their convenience, something should be done about it. But not them. Their only job is to complain and gather symphathy and hope that things would change. If they deserve it, i wouldn't be blogging here. But the fact is, they do not.
As for these people i came across, they complained they weren't treated fairly as compared to the rest of us. They thought they deserved better, they thought they were under-graded. If you prepared a report by just copying from wikipedia,(without any editing at all) , copied a nicer picture to make the cover, then handed it in a few days late; you tell me they marked you wrong?

Good luck to them, but the world does not revolve around them, in case they haven't yet noticed.

With tonnes of them beside me, i can't help but feel smart. But then again, it makes me feel degraded too. I came to a place of higher learning expecting more, expecting to be challenged mentally, not to lose out in my quest for knowledge, but the only challenge i find is the courage to stand against the culture i see. The challenge to not procrastinate does not count, I'd get that anywhere.

Imagine this: The lecturer tells the assignment brief and explains well enough with examples too, not once, not twice....but every week, 4 weeks already. The mates come in every week, show him some sketches, he assumes they understand. Then when he does not approve after 4 weeks, he realizes they do not understand. Again he explains. Does that help? No. So what is it they do not understand?

mates:"Sir, what is motif?"

lecturer: "*slaps his forehead* I told you before!!..patterns. I want you to find and incorporate traditional patterns into your design!"

mates: "So we draw the motifs in our design?"

lecturer: "*sighs*
" Up to you lar whether you want to just put it there or however you can think of"

Thank goodness I am not the lecturer. I'd slap their head. Not mine.

Have you ever thought about God and all He's unexplainable actions and how 'cruel' some seem to be? Like taking away a parent from what could have been a pretty sweet family. Or letting a child, a very intelligent, great guy, one we girls wouldn't wanna miss; letting him go at the prime of his teens. Or even taking back a mum's life even after tonnes of prayers and fasting, leaving her young children to question, to search, to be extra vulnerable....what if they stop trusting then? What if, with a father to love, she would not need to depend on a guy to love her? Maybe then she would wait and trust Him to bring the right man, instead of playing god herself? God really has a different way of doing things and i guess a bigger plan for them. oh well, if we could understand all His plans, we would be God then, aint it?

I still wonder too whether this course is really God's plan for me; or was it my decision made purely out of rebellion? It has been fun indeed, a very different kind of learning, challenging but not that i really enjoy challenge, a kinda weird environment, yet very pressuring when I have no ideas at that crucial moment. And it can last for days. I am 2 weeks away from the half of the semester, time is not on my side. The pressure is building fast, especially when my classmates already have their designs approved and I am still cracking and knocking my brain to think, holding my eyelids up so I don't fall asleep, one pretty ok idea is birthed and then nothing again.
But then it isn't hard to keep dreaming of other things, and each time tonnes of ideas for anything else spills over like a waterfall, but no Mulan. (my theme this sem is fairytales and i chose Mulan)
Whoever thought design was one easy feat should swallow their words right now. I wish God's voice would just boom from above, or write on the wall or anything that is so obvious I'd be stupid not too realise!!

Enough of the emo-ness.

If you've been expecting a Raub post, my dress, camp post and birthday post, wait ever more patiently=D. Whatever that needs pictures is looonnng, and blogger hangs each time i try to arrange those pics. How annoying!

Till then....patience is a virtue;)