Waking Up To Malaysia 2.0

As my alarm beeping aloud at 7am sharp, I was still being caught up in a strange dream, struggling to escape to reality. Rubbing my eyes, I forced myself awake albeit the perfect room temperature and ambience that tempted me to just roll back in to my quilt. Suddenly something popped out of my head, I was supposed to check on something. Yes, the GE14 results! I went to bed around 145am because my eye lids were too heavy to stay opened any longer. Yes, shame on me. Hat off to those who managed to keep vigil in front of their TVs or laptops or smartphones for live streaming. Anyway, instead of my usual daily habits where I go to washroom to freshen up first thing in the morning, this time I just grabbed my phone, unlocked my screen, turned off my alarm and switched on the WIFI. While waiting for messages to flood in, I took in a deep breath and prayed that the result is what most of us have always wanted. It was a jaw-dropping moment as I scrolling through all the messages received from different parties and groups. I rubbed my eyes again, re-read all the messages again word-by-word, hoping what I’ve just seen remains true. As I gotten more awake and conscious, I could no longer contain the rush of joy in me, and I went, “YES, finally! Thank God, I love you!!”

9^th May 2018 was the date scheduled for GE14, or known as the 14^th General Election. This is, or rather, was my first time casting a vote in a general election. I was so nervous that I already started getting myself familiarised with the process, Do’s and Don’ts and things to watch out for from 10^th April, the day they officially announced the date for GE14. So yeah, my phone has been receiving messages, info-graphics, news, videos, links and so on, everything related to GE14 for the whole one-month. On the eve of GE14, I got to bed relatively earlier than usual. I prayed hard to God hoping that everything would go smoothly the next day. I thought I was well prepared, and won’t feel the slightest bit of nervousness on THE day, but I was wrong.

I got up 5.30 in the morning because I need one hour to get ready. Yeah, girls being girls lol.. At 6.30am, I just had two slices of bread with warm water, had a quick chat with family and left home at 7.05am. I needed to travel myself because I was the only one voting at a different station than my other family members. I decided to leave early to avoid any traffic jam, and also to get better parking space. This time, they got me an Islamic school that I decided to wrap myself up properly to avoid any unnecessary conflicts. Which means, I was wearing a basic-T covered with a long sleeves cardigan, a pair of long jeans with sport shoes. But apparently, I was thinking too much. At around 7.20am, I arrived at the school and saw people wearing short sleeves-T queuing at the counter setup under a canvas I quickly parked my car, put on light lipsticks (I look like a sick patient without lipstick on) and rushed to the line before it got too long. I thought I was considered early but there were already more than 20 people ahead of me. Kudos to all the ohm-spirits shown by the Rakyat!

First photo I took on 9th May.
Such a beautiful beam of light symbolising the beam of hope

After a mere 5 minutes of queuing, we were told by the officer to straight queue at our respective Saluran if we already knew ours. Saluran means classroom, and mine was Saluran 6 located on the second floor and there I was, the 8^th in the line. I was still feeling quite chill and had been scrolling through my social media non-stop only to find out that, none of my friends posted any updates on their whereabouts yet. I think I was the earliest one lol. As the clock ticking, all 6 queues were getting longer. I was quite fortunate because my Saluran was quite punctual, whereas Saluran 5 was about 10 minutes late due to some “technical glitches” (saw few of them quarrelling over some issues). When it was about to be my turn, I started feeling a bit nervous.

When the police officer waved at me to go in to the classroom, I handed my I/C over to the Kerani 1. She searched my name from a book of name list, located mine, and asked me to show her all my fingers. After she rubbed all my fingers and done the inspection, I was instructed to proceed to the Kerani 2. While she held my left index finger and dipping it in to the bottle with indelible ink, Kerani 1 was reading out loud my Bill No, Name and I/C No. Then, I quickly wrapped my index finger with tissue that I’ve prepared beforehand and proceeded to the Kerani 3. She stamped, tore and folded the ballots twice before passing them to me. I quickly inspected the ballots to make sure they are completely clean, just the way we were taught from the info graphics.

I then headed towards the covered table to draw my Crosses. I felt a bit nervous lol I inspected the ballots again and again and really took my time to make sure everything is perfect, before dropping off my ballots into the respective transparent box located in the middle of the classroom. Done, I’m done. When I left the classroom and heading out, I noticed that the queues for other Saluran which were located on ground floor had already reaching the school gate, around 200m long. It was only around 820am and I’m glad that I’ve made the right decision to come here super early in the morning.

luckily I took this way before the ink got darker LOL

As I was driving home, I noticed that the road sides have been filled with cars. Some of the stations have got queue with more than a kilometre long.  When I arrived back home, the first thing I did was to take pictures with and of my finger LOL My dad asked me how was the polling going on and I said it was quite smooth and peaceful and quiet. It was like, everyone already knew something big was going to happen, we were all just patiently and faithfully fulfilling our duty as a Rakyat. Suddenly, my stomach rumbled, and I quickly walked towards the kitchen and helped myself with my breakfast. As I was having my Kuey Teow Soup, my phone started vibrating like nobody’s business, messages kept flooding in, they were all mainly photos of fingers in WhatsApp lol I think this GE is the one that I felt most involved in, felt related to and felt like, I could finally exercise my rights as a citizen of Malaysia.

My initial plan was to continue doing my work from home after casting my vote but it seemed that I have underestimated the power of social media. Every now and then, there were updates on the latest polling status, people are urging each other to remember to bring umbrellas and water to stay hydrated, and reminders on what to look out for. One of the senders shared about his experience when he received ballots with stamp stains and the Kerani refused to change for a new one until he shouted out loud and gotten the attention from the PACAs. (PACA stands for Polling Agent/Counting Agent. They are the people who monitor and facilitate the voting process to ensure no hanky panky going on) He urged all of us to help reminding everyone we know to not compromise and it’s our right to ask for a new ballot and that every vote counts. People were using social media to spread words, on some of the “tricks” used to invalidate votes and help raise the awareness and alertness.

One of my friends, CT arrived at the station at 830am and had to queue from outside of the school compound under the hot scorching sun. Yes, the weather gets hotter from 830am on wards, and am glad that they did bring umbrellas with them. They waited 4 hours in the line and only done casting their votes around 1230pm. As for my dad, he was curious about the turnout for this GE and thus decided to “tour” around different schools in the areas nearby. His conclusion was, too many people in the morning session already, better to go after lunch. So, I was tasked to accompany my grandma because (i) she is unable to walk without support and refuses a walking stick hence needs someone for a support; (ii) no other better choice as my other family members were assigned to different Saluran and also, I’ve casted my vote. So yeah, we arrived at the station around 230pm and true enough, the queue was a lot shorter than before, according to my dad.

When I led my grandma in to her Saluran, the officers on duty were all very friendly and patient. They understand that elderly members are a bit slow in their movements, some can’t see properly or hear properly and hence they don’t mind to repeat instructions or guidance and give kind assistance when need be. Really appreciate a lot for all the kind efforts J It warms my heart seeing elderly like 90 over y/o casting votes even though they could have easily chosen to stay at home to rest but no, they decided to make their voice heard. Felt so badly when I saw the news saying, around 2 mil of youths didn’t register as voters, their actions and behaviour is truly unfathomable. Anyway, when we were done, we went to the canteen to wait for my brother mainly because my grandma needed a place to sit and rest, and the canteen has plenty of empty seats and FAN! Me on the other hand, was trying very hard to recall whether I’ve accidentally forgotten any Cikgu from my primary school. Hmmm..

It was already around 4pm when we got back home. I kept receiving updates and felt itchy hand to share those updates to my Insta Stories too. I think I was quite active there as compared to many of my friends not sure why I was so excited and ganjiong lol My whole morning and afternoon just gone like that when my body decided to call it a day and zonked out on the sofa in the living room. The moment I opened my eyes, it was already almost 7pm, time where they started updating the vote counts.

First time so suagu LOL
1) Taken around half an hour after they dipped my finger.
2) Taken after 4 hours.
3) Taken after 7 hours.
4) Taken after 8 hours.

It was a very intense moment. I remember during the previous GE, all we’ve got was the official TV channels like TV1, TV2 those but now, there were numerous links for people to catch up on live updates! I’m so grateful for technology and people who invented internet and social media seriously! We spent the whole night refreshing pages, following FB live and updates on WhatsApp. Information travels so fast nowadays. For example, when the KTM (Ketua Tempat Mengundi) refused to sign the Borang 14, the news got spread out so fast that the Rakyat nearby rushed to the station to prevent the KTM from running away, and some legal advisers were sent to the station to assist with the matter. The Rakyat also did their very best to prevent “fake votes” from being mixed with the genuine ones. There were quite a lot that happened that night, my phone was vibrating non-stop as the messages coming in.

When Pakatan Harapan (PH) was seen most likely to win the GE14 (at least 112/222), Tun M was live, urging everyone to stay calm, don’t get into a fight with the authorities, don’t act emotionally, stay alert and so on. The Rakyat, after GE13, have learnt to be wiser, more thoughtful and patient this time. I think we have all grown up to a certain extend. With the power of technology, messages transmit across the nation in the split seconds. Speeches from Tun M were being live-broadcasted across devices. The Rakyat no longer depends on the traditional cable channels when most of them are “not clean” and “deliberately causing a delay”. All of us were so anxious waiting for the results because we no longer can afford another 5 years for the next GE. By hook or by crook, GE14 must be clean and fair and our fellow volunteers have all worked sweat and blood to ensure that. This time must be it. #IniKalilah #1758

It was already 130am, and the votes were still being counted. As I dozing off into slumber land, I prayed hard to God that everything will turn out fine, no riot, no blood and no massacre. Thankfully, my prayers, together with millions of others’, have been answered. 10^th May, I woke up to a brand new Malaysia, Malaysia 2.0.

Freshened up, I refreshed different pages and different links again and let the reality sink in, because it was so unbelievable, it was so surreal. After six decades, we are to welcome a new government. At 11 in the morning, Jib-gor held a press conference admitting defeat, at 12 noon, Tun M held a press conference urging the Rakyat to stay calm and witness the historical moment. At 5 in the afternoon, Tun M sought an audience with the King at the palace. At 930pm (though there were rumours that the swearing-in to be held the next day) the whole Malaysia, if not the whole world, were waiting patiently in front of their TVs or laptops, preparing recording devices to capture the historical moments that meant so much to us all. Not sure if it’s a cultural thing when it comes to punctuality, the official ceremony started at around 10pm, where Tun M read out loud his Sumpahan and signed the papers and there, we have a new PM now, for real. Felt so kesian for him, he must be damn busy and exhausted from these two days that, his hands were trembling while they praying. I wonder if he had time for some light meals these past few days...

There were too many things happened too fast in this past two days, I wish to shorten it but also wish to pen down as detailed as I could. After all, it was my first time voting, first time witnessing a shift in leadership, first time being a part of the history. This is the first time I truly understand what it means by “every vote counts”. I’m so touched to see so many people helping their friends to fly their votes back when it’s obviously one of the “strategies” from BN to delay the delivery of ballots to those in overseas. One of my friends also flew all the way from Taiwan, carrying with him ballots from 5 other friends, and flew back right away at night. Few other friends of mine offered to subsidise transportation fees up to RM200 per person for those who need to travel for at least 200km back to hometown to vote. I also have friends who volunteered to be PACAs to ensure clean and fair election by catching phantom-voters and all. There were so many heart-warming moments in this GE14, even though we might be tiny and powerless but when we all come together, we can make a difference. Malaysians are forming a stronger bond setting aside races, religions and skin colours, working hand-in-hand towards a brighter future. I felt a bit guilty that I didn't volunteer for anything. Perhaps the next time, I shall seriously consider PACAs hmmm...

Due to the limitation of my ability to express better, below some of the heart-felt feelings the Rakyat shared on social media that I find beautifully written, related to and agree with:

“Tonight, we have taken a step towards freeing our various institutions, a step towards restoring separation of powers, restoring the rules of law. It’s not about reducing taxes, or bringing back the 1MDB money. Yes, those are important. But more important than those is that, our country can finally begin its healing process. This is the beginning of something wonderful. This is the beginning of Negaraku.”

“I’m so proud of the Malaysian people who have rallied together even when the odds were stacked up against them, to make this change they have yearned for, a reality. I saw people who were so elderly that they couldn’t stand or walk but made it a point to still cast their voice. And people still, when they found out that postal votes wouldn’t make it back in time, gathered as many overseas votes as possible and actually flew home to Malaysia with the votes to make sure everything made it and were counted for. Malaysia, your voice has been heard! You have shown us that when you unite together as one, you show us that amazing things can happen. This day will be cast on the pages of the books that our children will be reading in school.  And know that you are actually living it now and seeing it with your own eyes is incredible.”

“I’m a failed cynic. In spite of my own caution, I’ve allowed myself to feel slightly hopeful. I hate being so vulnerable to being heartbroken. All these stories of overseas Malaysians returning home got to me. Malaysians awaiting postal votes then entrusting them to strangers to carry their hopes back made me feel as if they were entrusting me with their hope. Malaysians everywhere urging each other to go out and participate in a game for our lives, a game so rigged and unfair, the odds so stacked against us, it’s crazy whey we even bother, why we don’t just give up as some have, and I do understand why they gave up, I really do, it’s tiring, it’s stupid, but for some reason many of us still bother, maybe we’re stupid or desperate or we think we just need to keep jumping through these burning hoops, each one smaller and higher and hotter, because it feels like it’s the only thing we are allowed to do. So we jump. Maybe it’ll burn us. Maybe our hearts will break again. But that’s the price of love. So we hope. And we jump. And we burn for the love of this county.”

“The energy, positivity, and unity we’ve seen unfold over the last few weeks, days, hours amongst Malaysians have been incredibly electrifying and I couldn’t be more proud of my country. GE14 reminded us that power truly belongs to the Rakyat, and every voice counts – I hope we never ever forget that. It also reminded us that it’s ever too late to achieve incredible feats. If Mahathir can be re-elected as PM at 92 y/o, I mean…heck, we can do anything we put our hearts and minds to!”

** Ah how I wish my English can be as well-versed as theirs!!!

We regained democracy without the shed of blood, and that I think is worth remembering and to be proud of. Let's hope that with the new leadership, Malaysia no longer need to be famous for all the wrong reasons! Cheers to a better, brighter and cleaner Malaysia.

Jiayou, my dear Malaysia. I'll always love you 💗

Vipassana 内观

首先，想要抱个歉因为我会用我的母语来分享我这次的经历。虽然我也很想写英文版的，可是一想到我会有很多形容词不会， 我就很懊恼。我已经太久没讲话而差一点被憋坏了，所以不想再增加另一件让我苦恼的事 LOL

本来，一想到要写部落格，心情就会很激动！因为我都十天没讲话了嘛，当然要借此机会大势释放一下啊！可是，一直都抽不到时间写，所以一天一天的过去了，心情也就没那么激动了 LOL

Hiking: Broga Hill #1

Finally I've got to "climb" Broga Hill! I've always wanted to go but didn't manage to find "kaki" until few months back. Had a mini catch-up with one of my friends from Japanese class back then. We were talking about life and work and hobbies and TADA~~~ She likes hiking! She promised will bring me go and she did!! Aww.. Love her to the max :D

I had like, 3-4 hours of sleep only that night, planned to wake up at 2.30am but I ended up rolling on the bed until 3am! Rushed myself to get ready and then managed to reach her place at 4am. She had already been waiting for me! OMG, feel so paiseh still, for letting her to wait for half an hour more~~~

We then arrived at Broga Hill at 4.55am. Before we started our "expedition in the dark" at 5am, we decided to "label" ourselves first, because there is always a myth that, we shouldn't call names in the jungle (just in case "they" heard us and know who we are). So yeah, I called her Doraemon and she called me panda (because both our Whatsapp profile pic so happened to have these!! XD) We took two rests along the way and omg, I was sweating like nobody's business, literally "raining cats and dogs" all the way from my head to my back! Doraemon on the other hand, was steady sial! She really is my sifu in hiking!

It was a rather hazy day. We arrived the second-top at 5.40am! Really felt tempted to continue climbing all the way to the peak BUT my legs had already raised white flag! My face all red, my heart was beating real fast and I breathed as if I had asthma! It really seems like I need a lot of stamina training!!

6am.

6.15am, we could still see the moon.

7am, the sky started to turn bright. Can you see how hazy it was :/

What a crowd!

7.10am, wefie taken upon first light of the day :D

Followed by a literally hill landscape

7.20am, filling our famished stomachs with home-made sandwich by me,
and home-made coffee by Doraemon :D

We saw the sky turning into a little egg-yolk-like and thought we might never see the sun rise, giving the fact that, the weather was ok but the haze kinda spoilt it a little...

7.30am already, and we thought, there it was, the sun hanging-up high...

A lot of people started taking selfies and wefies already and I guess we were all planning to go back after taking all the photos. So yeah, we went and took few too~

My sifu is really good in posing!

Was trying to imitate one of her poses XD

I was a bit reluctant to just leave like that to be honest. I was like, hey, it was my first time climbing up a hill at such a wee hour wey.. Why must the haze covering up the sun? Not that the sun is shy to greet us kan? At least should show face and motivate me to climb again next time right?

Who knows, miracle happened the next second. Sun did greet us! *The power of LOA!!! XD* It left us all in awe, and we quickly took out our gadgets! Some taking photos, some recording! It was a mere 3 minutes or less, for the Sun to wake-up from behind those layers of hills back there! Well, I guess sometimes, the Sun feels like lazing around, just like how we human feel like rolling on the bed (even just for a few minutes) the moment our alarm clocks ring! That kinda explains the late sunrise.. Haha.. Aww I can super relate to that! XD

8.20am :D

My sifu took this photo.. Super got feel !!

Then, its' photography time again! I wanted to capture the sexy Sun with few birds flying around. It really needs intense level of patience wey.. And my patience level was only a sheer half an hour :/

Felt really relaxed and peaceful looking at this view~

Love how the camera is able to focus on the bird flying at such a distance! :D

We left at around 8.50am and reached the bottom after another 40minutes. Wow, coming down is even harder than climbing up. Because you really need to control your body balance, else you might slide all the way down. Doraemon was super thoughtful that she brought one extra hiking stick and borrowed me. She is super good in applying the hiking stick to stabilize the body and I really learnt a lot from her. Not just physically, but spiritually as well.

She said, one of the reasons she likes hiking is that, once you started, you can't stop. There is no way for you to turn back half way, the only choice you have, is to continue. And you know that, as long as you never give up, you will reach your destination eventually. When I was too exhausted and needed to rest, she would say, "yeah, you should, rest is to fuel you up for a further journey" (direct translate of: 休息，是为了走更长的路). When I didn't know which rock to step on, she would say "it's ok, we are the ones who pave the road" (direct translate of: 路，是人走出来的). I didn't know hiking could learn something so deep too! Really salute my sifu gao gao!!

We then headed for breakfast at ABC Pan Mee which is located just right opposite of the police station. Didn't mange to capture the photo of the shop nor the surroundings because we were too famished! Managed to capture my Dry Mushroom Pan Mee though lol.. It was very nice indeed. Just that the shop has quite a number of stray dogs wandering around. I'm not sure if they are clean or not, but at least they didn't simply bark at people and they are quite behaved. 

Nice :D

That's it, my first hiking experience! I can see now that, I might fall in love with it. Though it took me 4 days to rejuvenate my pathetic pair of legs, it's definitely worth it. Worth the sweat, worth the pain. Not just because we were rewarded with a surprised sunrise, but because, hiking is somewhat a kind of training of the heart. Not just literally, but metaphorically too.

Oh well, I don't know what I'm babbling around LOL..

Ending my post with one of my favourite shots of the day which I shared on my IG!! 

Thanks for everything, my Doraemon ❤

Awww.. Both of us look so chubby, just like Doraemon and panda XD
The background was so surreal !!

Filing for Personal Income Tax

Fuh, I've never been away from my blog for so long before! Have so much things pending to share on my blog but I'm just too busy with my life. However, there is this thing about filing personal income tax that I would like to write a little, not just to remind myself on the process (ya, I'm the first timer here, still a newbie), but also to share it with some of you out there who are same as me, first time filing tax as an employee.

** Disclaimer: This is only my personal experience in declaring, submitting and filing my personal income tax as an employee. If there are some missing steps which you encounter, please do not hesitate to drop me a comment, or you may straight feedback / fax (+603-8922 1676) directly to LHDN for official responses.

Actually it's not as difficult as I thought. Once read through 15 simple steps below, you would have a rough idea and you are ready to hands-on it yourself:

1. First of all, our employer will send us EA form, which details all our incomes including salary, bonuses, allowance etc. This is the form you need to keep properly for filing purpose.
2. Head on to e-Daftar website which looks like this: 

   

   Since I'm filing as an employee, I'll focus on employee steps ya..
   Who knows maybe in the future I would have the chance to share filing as a company? XD

   
   
   
3. Click on the hyperlink in point #1 on the website and it would bring you to e-Dafter input page which looks like this:

   

   Just fill in this form until all the way down and submit.

   
   
   
4. Once submitted, you will then land on the acknowledgement page which will show you your e-Daftar reference number. You are required to wait for a few days to check your e-Daftar status here:

   

   Just type your reference number and your status will be shown.

   
   
   
5. Since you have to wait for a few day, might as well get your first-time-login PIN. (Though I heard people said you could request e-PIN which would be sent to your email address, I fail to find a way). Anyway, on the website itself is stated as well, you need to go to the physical branch:

   

   It's advisable to reach the branch super duper early. I had to wait like one hour plus to get my PIN!

   
   
   
6. Click here to find out your nearest branch. Once you got your PIN from the physical LHDN branch, you may head on to the first-time-login page here

   

   The PIN is a 4 x 4 digits combination.

   
   
   
7. Once you got in, just fill up your personal information and your personal login password, and you will then be directed to the login page:    

   

   So, next time onwards, you may straight login from this page.

   
   
   
8. Your home page would look like this:

   

   Click e-Borang (boxed in red).

   
   
   
9. Once you got in, you are required to select your Year of Assessment (YA). For example, if you are submitting your tax this year (by 30th April 2016), then you are filing tax for 2015:

   

   Choose your YA as shown in the red box for e-BE (if you have no business income).
   If not mistaken, e-B form is for partner in Partnership business;
   while e-BT for professionals who have own firms/clinics, eg lawyers, accountants, doctors etc..
   It's better to check with LHDN for more details.

   
   
   
10. Once you have chosen your YA, you are cool to go:

    

    Section A: Individual Particular

11. Move on to Section B, which is all about what you received as an individual:

    

    The yellow boxes are automatically populated upon entering of figures in the white boxes.

    
    
    

    

    How do you get the statutory income from employment?

    
    
    Statutory income from employment is actually the total as boxed in red below:

    

    
    

    
    
    

    

    Monthly Tax Deduction (MTD) is also known as
    Potongan Cukai Bulanan (PCB) in Malay term.

    
    
    MTD / PCB is stated in your EA form as well:
    

    

    
    

    
    
    

    

    If you forget / missed to file for previous year(s),
    here's where you need to declare it back.

    
    
    
12. Moving on the Section C, the section with all the tax relieves. Please claim those you are really qualified for, as you might get penalty or something if they found elements of fraud in your declaration. For example, declare the amount of money you REALLY spent on books instead of straight input the maximum value of RM1,000.

    

    You may also click here to see the whole list of tax relief.

    
    
    
13. Once you declared all the relief that you deserved, you would then proceed to the next section, which is the Summary page:

    

    The red box is the final tax payable. If it's a negative, which means your MTD / PCB has already

    more than what you are supposed to pay, you would get a refund from LHDN. Thus,

    make sure your bank account number is correct when registering for income tax account

    during first-time-login (link in step #6).

    
    
    
    
14. Finally, it's the declaration page:

    

    Click "Sign and Submit", and you will be requested to enter "IC Num" and "Password" again to complete the process.

    
    
    
15. Then, it's up to you if you want to keep a copy of your tax acknowledgement slip and tax e-BE form:

    

    
    

That's all. Hope the steps described above are clear and details enough. Otherwise, you are always welcome to leave a comment and I'll update my blog again. 

There are few good habits that each one of us are encouraged to practice:

1. Always keep your receipts and paste them nicely on a piece of A4 paper. Collect and scan them into soft copy before archiving the physical copies into some random-corner of your room. It's important to keep soft copy as we are advised to keep the record for at least seven years. Carbon-printed receipts would have long faded.
2. Do not file tax last minute. It would only make you frustrated as you are rushing and might make mistakes during those calculations. As for me, even a first timer was able to complete everything in around one hour.
3. Help to remind family and friends around you to file for tax even though they might not be taxable. It's always better to have a clean record with LHDN instead of letting them suspect that you are intentionally running from being taxed and draw unnecessary attention to you.

If some of you prefer the Chinese version, you may click here to find out more.

Last but not least, here's the link of official materials published by LHDN, which I think the info-graphics are quite straight-forward and would be helpful to anyone of us.

Finally, hope my post helps ease your experience in filing personal income tax for the first time. 

Have fun XD

Krabi 4D3N: The Tour Agent

This is basically a short post to share with y'all the agent that served us. Mr Peter, a Thailandaise Chinese, who speaks fluent English, Mandarine, and a little Hokkien, is a very friendly and helpful person. We passed by his store when we were on our way hunting for food on the first night in Krabi.

He was the one who explained the difference of half-day tour and whole-day tour to us. Actually, we had mentally marked down few agents that we had enquired before him for price comparison sake, but when we stumbled upon his service, he made us see what does SERVICE  really mean. He gave us his contact number and assured that he would be there to help us out should we encountered any problem, and he did. 

Though we felt more at ease trusting him than other agents (I'm not saying that they are not trustworthy, I'm just saying that the way he explained to us was clearer and more promising), we were still hesitating, comparing better offers from other agents. I think he could see that and thus, gave us some discounts for the 4 Islands-Hopping Tour.

The next day, we made up our mind and decided to straight look for him to book the Jungle Trekking Tour, and I'm glad we did. Not only he arranged the tour for us, he helped us with our transportation issue as well. We were bothered by the fact that we wanted to go for half-day Jungle Trekking Tour but the hotel check-out time was 12pm, then worried about how to get to Krabi town, checking-in at Krabi River Hotel, the night market and all that. But, he was kind enough to help us with all that! We are so very grateful :)

I think he rents a spot and set up a booth under the shop named "Lanna Beach"?

All in all, I'd totally recommend Mr Peter to those who wish to get one-stop quality service. Mr Peter is not like any other agents who might seem to put profit as priority. He puts himself into your shoes and provides few viable options for you to choose from. His booth located nearby Mc'D, around two minutes walking distance to the opposite shop lots.

Hope you'd have a wonderful trip too :)

The Dengue Attack

That's right! I've never thought that I could be diagnosed with dengue, gosh! When I heard that, my first reaction was nothing but shock, my mind couldn't think, not even the idea of life or death, it was just blank. When I gained back my conscious, I was like, what should I do? Am I going to survive this? I'm not going to die right? Of all people, why me? And the questions went on and on, the fear, panic, anxiety come kicking in......

Of course right, it's dengue, not any other disease whereby, you would get prescribed medicine, antibody, or vaccine or anything at all. Dengue on the other hand, has nothing! The doctor just said, please take Panadol if you have fever. That's all. There was nothing else I could do. Can you imagine how scared I was......

Day 1: I was feeling very cold in McD, it was somewhat weird to me, but I didn't really care too much. Until, I was still feeling very cold though staying in the car,  parked under hot noon sun, for one hour without any aircond. When I reached home, I noticed my temperature had gone up, I knew I must have fallen sick.

Day 2: My whole body aching, especially backbones, and all the other bones, in that matter. I doubt it was due to improper sleeping posture. The fever came and go, and I felt hot and cold every now and then, simultaneously. Headache, weak, no appetite to eat, not even drink. Had no energy to walk, lazy to shower, literally lying on the bed whole day. At night, went to a doctor and tadda! T.T

Day 3: I was still at home, as the doctor suggested that it was not necessary to get admitted just yet seeing that my platelet counts were still at normal level. My eyes could no longer focus, made it difficult for me to poke my acne. I didn't know what to do, except to take some Panadols when the fever came, and 1000mg Vitamin C (hope to boost antibody). Then, my friend suggested papaya leaves, and trust me, the taste was awfully bitter!

Day 4: I had no choice but to continue the consumption of papaya leaves. I was sceptical at first, but then I went googled and read up. Instead of plainly taking the papaya leaves, I mixed it with papaya juice, and it did the same trick. I had no fever the whole day. However, I started having rashes. 

Day 5: Though it is not scientifically proven with the papaya leaves, I decided to continue, at least my platelets no longer dropped drastically. I was told by doctor that if I started having rashes all over, it's a good sign that I was starting to recover. I hope he was right, I hope I really was.

Day 6: Woke up with insufficient sleep because I was too busy scratching my body the whole night. The rashes spread, the itchiness was so intense that I couldn't stop scratching, like literally! Anyway, I gained back my strength and went hangout with friends. Forgot to take in papaya leave juice though. And I felt guilty. It was my first day stop going to hospital for blood monitoring too.

Day 7: Woke up by a phone call from the MoH, informing that they were coming for checking and fogging (which they have not). I had kinda reckless breakfast, aka the Roti Canai, hopefully it doesn't stimulate anything bad from the virus. The rashes are still itchy, but no longer so badly. Was feeling dizzy though (probably due to low bp). Spent whole day watching Taylor Swift related videos, eg: interviews, concerts, awards presentation etc. I adore her! Wish to be at her 1989 world tour concert!! ❤❤

Day 8: Exactly one week had passed. I've lost 3kg, but I'm glad I survived! Thank God... #LittleSurvivor 

Day 3; Day 6; Aftermath of using a rather big-size needle just because
the doctor couldn't get blood from my right arm.. zzzz....
(Actually it looks more severe than the photos, just that my camera not good enough)

"Papaya Leaves: My Life Saver"

I'm not saying that people with dengue SHOULD try papaya leaves. I'm just saying, when you are at the edge of dying, you would try anything, at all, no matter how ridiculous the method might be, to give it a shot. It's like you have only a last few breath before kissing the world good bye, and you hope you could grab anything to fight, you even hope you could grab the attention from God, hope that He sees how serious you are, about staying alive, and hope that He grants you mercy and spares you your life. Fine, I don't know what I'm rambling here.

Anyway, this is the papaya leaves I've been consuming:

Put the entire thing into the blender and blend it.

If you are a person who has no problem with bitterness, you may just drink it straight. I heard there are even people who chew it straight along with some bread and Milo, like for breakfast. As for me, I can't. Thus, I had to add a lot of sugar~~~ 

For me, I added 2 spoons of sugar into the cup of warm water and dissolved it.

1. The papaya leaves juice (which blended with 2 spoons of sugar).
2. The dissolved sugar.
3. The papaya juice (which blended with 2 spoons of sugar too).

For me, I didn't take much, just pour one to two tea spoon of the leaves juice into the papaya juice, then pour the sugar solution into the papaya juice until it's full.

I took this twice a day.

If you want a more speedy recovery, perhaps you may add more of the leave juice into the papaya juice, or may be drink that more times in a day? I'm not sure but since I'm not a bitter fan, I took it twice a day and could see the results in next blood test.

Not many people knew of me being attacked by this bloody dengue. I only told those who I had no choice but stood them up on some shopping agenda. And a few very very close people who I have been chatting with, one of whom was Mr L. He sent me  jokes everyday to help release my tension, how very thoughtful :)

May be I will write another post about what this bloody dengue has inspired me to think of my life. Or may be I won't. I'll just keep it to myself and do as I like. I just hope that this post might be able to help some of the people out there who are clueless as to how to deal with dengue. Hope that people are aware of the alternatives and help minimize the casualties. 

I'll end my post with one of my Instagram captions:

"Even in the toughest of time, stay cool, stay strong. Everything is on God's will, just have faith, and do your best."

MY Zalora Experience

First of all, this is not my first time having done some online shopping via Zalora. I bought few dresses before. The reason why I would wanna shop via Zalora again is, of course the quality, and secondly, convenience. It left me a good impression as I had always thought that online shopping was not reliable, and worried about the trouble of return/refund should I received defective products. Hence, since I had good experience in the past, I logged in and searched for some attractive piece of accessories as birthday present. Yup, me and my jimui are having birthdays in the same month, only few days apart. Seeing that I've been bogged down with work of late, really hoped to get something for her in the simplest way possible instead of visiting brick-and-mortar stores in shopping malls.

I placed an order on Sunday, and received a delivery call on Tuesday, efficient right? However, due to my absence at the office, they said would drop by the next day, and they really did. It's speedy! See below the un-boxing of the parcel XD

1. The Parcel.

2. A Thank You envelop was the first thing I saw when I opened the box up.

3. When I sneaked in, there was this air-bag protecting the bubble-bag in it, which was protecting my bracelet (due diligence).

4. Then, I moved on to the envelop, which enclosed the return slip and PosLaju slip (just in case you got the defective product, there are instructions there. Thus, don't get panic.) Then, there are the discount vouchers!! ❤❤
5. My bracelets!! :D

However, when I had a close look, the emerald green bracelet had this dented black spot! :/ 😢

Since it was quite late at night after I reached home from work on Wednesday and noticed this, I called to the customer care line the next day noon, and was told to email them a photo of the defective product for further actions. They promised that I would get a response within 24 hours and they did (only after few hours, along with a satisfactory apology token). I was impressed by the speed they replied me as I've read a lot of bad customer service reviews of Zalora which take days or even weeks to get back to customers. Hence, I replied the email and opt for an exchange for the bracelet. The next day, which was Friday, I received a SMS notification that the exchange has been processed. When I got back home, I tried the live chat for further confirmation.

The response from the live chat was prompt (refer the time-log).
The way they handle customers' complaint is really efficient, I would say..

At the end of the chat, please feel free to rate the service received.
You may type your comment too for their future improvement, I hope?

You may always click the "envelop" icon and the system will auto-generate the
chat history (with the time-log) to your email address. Just in case you'd wanna feel safe
and have some proofs of the content of the chat which has been communicated.

And guess what? They really live up to expectation! The replacement arrived on Tuesday. Another thing I like about Zalora, its not only because of the efficient service. They are compassionate as well. They didn't demand me to deliver back the defective goods for inspection or recording purposes or whatever-shit-not. Receiving defective goods is already (i) very disappointing; (ii) might feel being cheated; (iii) causing inconvenience; especially when the product(s) ordered is/are meant for special occasion, eg: my case. It was intended as a birthday gift for my jimui. That's the reason why I was rather pushy when things went wrong. I didn't want any plan to get affected. :/

Our JIMUI Bracelets :)

All in all, I'm very satisfied with the service provided. I'd strongly recommend ZALORA to anyone who would like to purchase quality products without any hassle and have a piece of mind if, *touch wood*, for example, you got defective goods. As for my experience for this particular piece of accessories, I hope that in the future, they'd provide wider range of sizes, because, it was quite loose for my jimui lar.. :/

So yeah, the above were some sharing on my shopping experience via Zalora. I know there had been numerous of negative reviews about Zalora (around 3 years ago), but it has now made some significant improvements. I'm sure Zalora has learnt from past experience and is doing their best to serve us better. Just give them one more chance, would you?

Have a great day ahead, my fellow readers. Happy shopping :)