I babble, I ramble, and I rattle

I’m home for tonight.

Much to my surprise, Boka is home and so is Mae (wasn’t aware of the school holiday). Unfortunately, Pih is away for some debating tournament which my parents forgot to attend (they’re still jetlagged). I only expected to see Kona and Yi who just returned from Canada with my parents. They met up in London for a 2-week tour around Europe and just returned on Wednesday. Read my mum’s blog for the almost daily ‘report’ during their tour.

My parents excitedly informed me that  they kept the chocolate that their friend (who met them somewhere in Europe) gave them for me. It turned out to be Lindt’s dark chocolate (85% cocoa).

Obviously, they didn’t intentionally keep the chocolate for me. It’s 85% dark chocolate!

They simply couldn’t finish the bar and Ba’ah said it tastes like tar. The only reason it has been consumed was because they were desperate for food.

Thanks Ba’ah & Mama for ‘keeping it for me’. It’s my favourite chocolate (I sometimes buy it myself when I have some extra money).

Oh, I had my first ambulance ride a few days ago. It was fun! Going at 150km/ hour on a road with a speed limit of 90km/ hour and people giving way for you… Turning at corners with the speed of 100km/ hour (at one point, I was sure that the ambulance was going to flip over and I was actually wishing for it to happen so that I didn’t have to go to work )… Took us less than half an hour to reach Serdang. Our return trip took one hour. No wonder my friend vomited after a similar ride.

Even though our schedule was packed with lectures and talks, we had one entire afternoon allocated for touring the island. Initially we wanted to go island hopping but were advised against it due to unpredictable weather in the afternoon.

In the end we decided to go to Underwater World Langkawi and the cable car at Gunung Mat Chinchang; both of which I’ve been to in 2004.

But first, we stopped at a local gamat (sea cucumber) shop.

We were taken to the back of the shop to see how gamat oil is processed. We were told that even though the oil is very hot, it would not burn our fingers.

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Curious, many of us tried dipping our fingers inside the kawah (big wok) including yours truly. It was definitely very hot but apart from making my fingers slippery with oil, nothing else happened.

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We then proceeded to the shop proper where a huge selection of gamat products were for sale; ranging from facial and hair care products to serious medications. Some edible while others only for external use.

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Done shopping, we made our way to Underwater World Langkawi.

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We missed the 3D show at the Underwater World by a mere 5 minutes and we couldn’t wait for the next show because the buses were waiting for us outside.

Our tour continued with the cable car trip to the top of Gunung Matchinchang.

I seriously don’t remember having this card as my ticket during my last trip there.

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The view lasted for only a short while before the clouds came in.

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We went straight to the top station, thinking we could go to the suspension bridge afterwards since it was still shrouded in clouds. When I went there in 2004, the bridge was still under construction.

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The clouds soon cleared… Unfortunately we arrived at the ‘gate’ a mere 5 minutes past the time for its last admission.

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Disappointed, we  made our way back down  to the base station… And again, the clouds moved in to hide the view from us.

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We also had another free day when many of us went to a waterfall somewhere after lunch that day. Unfortunately I fell asleep (after days of sleep deprivation) during lunch hour and only woke up much later.

That evening, another group of friends went to Cenang Beach and insisted that I went with them (since I already missed that waterfall trip) but again luck wasn’t on my side. I had to do my assignment which I had not even started.

For more pictures, please visit my GALLERY.

I know this entry is outdated… But who cares!!!

As mentioned before, I had to attend a 2-week induction course in Langkawi some time last month. This post has been sitting nicely in my draft folder since I returned from Pasir Salak roughly about a month ago.

Anyway, this is the view from my room (overlooking CHOGM park) at Eaglebay Hotel, Kuah, Langkawi.

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I find it amusing that me (Nuraini) and my friend, Noraini ended up doing our laundry at a launderette owned by Nooraini.

From left: Nuraini, Nooraini, Noraini

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I missed the trip to the waterfall (can’t remember which one) because I fell asleep after lunch in my room and couldn’t join my friends who went to Pantai Chenang that same evening because I had to finish my assignment (served me right for not doing it earlier) but I had a good walk around town while doing some birdwatching.

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I seriously couldn’t figure out how the owner managed to park his cars in the tight space.

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Bridge at Kuah town.

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On my way back from walking around town, I stopped by at the Jeti Pelancongan (right opposite the police station. If from Kuah town, before you reach CHOGM park, on the way to Kuah Jetty) where many were seen to enjoy the sunset view with their beloved ones (I was obviously alone).

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Kuah Jetty, as viewed from the Jeti Pelancongan.

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Yes, I’m too lazy to write.

Thanks for noticing.

For more pictures, please visit my GALLERY.

Hanie told me yesterday morning that Shila was admitted to the hospital the night before. As soon as I could find a free time, I called Shila. Turned out she just gave birth not long before I called.

Since I was post call today, I decided to take the opportunity to visit her.

It’s good to see her and Izuan again and I couldn’t stop laughing at Izuan because he looked like an older brother looking after his youngest baby brother (even he himself said the same thing).

They have chosen a name for the baby but the decision is not yet final and therefore I am not allowed (by myself, really) to announce it here; just in case they decide to change it.

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For bigger pics, please visit my GALLERY.

I’ve been quiet for about 2 weeks now and even though I have 1001 things to blog about, I’m simply not in the mood to do it since I have about 50 unread mails and hundreds of unread posts on my Google Reader… no thanks to unavailability of internet access at my (hospital) hostel.

So… I think I’ll just make a list of things that I’ve been wanting to blog about for the past 2 weeks…

1. My first day in the labour room.

2. The first baby that I delivered.

3. How I have a high failure rate with Indians (they failed normal delivery… had to resort to vacuum assisted deliveries) especially those giving birth for the first time. Hey, don’t blame me! Even my Indian colleague (who speaks Tamil very well) failed to help me in guiding them to deliver the babies normally.

4. Most of the cases that I had to conduct happen to be primigravidas (1st pregnancy). Even the staff nurses find it amusing how I always end up with such cases.

5. One patient didn’t want anyone else to deliver her baby. She wanted ME. She insisted on having only ME to attend to her delivery. It was flattering but it went unappreciated at that point of time because I needed an advice from a senior.

6. One patient announced  that I was the nicest doctor in the O&G department. (ahem…)

7. I forgot to bring a (menstruation) pad to work and when I found out I was having my period (1st day), I took one maternity pad from the labour room. The following day (the night before, I sort of  ‘collapsed’ once I reached my room; didn’t even brush my teeth ), I realised that even though I’ve bought a big pack of pads before, I left it in Shah Alam and since it was my second day of period, I rushed to the hospital to get another maternity pad to last me until the shop opened.

8. My daily work itself. It’s an exhilarating experience… especially when I get to be ‘assistant surgeon’ even during my tagging days. I was also yelled at in front of the patients for trivial things. It’s life. O&G is a stressful field… I’m not blaming them for being in a foul mood. They’re usually very nice during other times.

Oh, I’m sure you’ve heard about the first confirmed H1N1 case in Malaysia; currently being quarantined in my hospital. Not to worry. I’m being isolated in the labour room/ OT/ wards… No time to mix and mingle with other people… No time to get infected with H1N1 (as long as undiagnosed H1N1 patients don’t come to meet me).

But I’m terribly worried about my parents and brother who are currently doing a 2-week Europe tour until 27/5/09. Hopefully they’re going to be ok.

That’s all for now. I don’t know when I’ll get the chance to blog again since I’m staying at the hostel and there’s no internet connection there. I’m supposed to be able to access the internet using the computers in the hospital but there was some problem with my computer account and the IT department is still working on it… Not to mention I won’t have time to do anything else apart from attending to patients while I’m at the hospital; not even to eat because my pity to patients who have to wait for a long time to be discharged is usually much stronger than my hunger (the time I’m free enough to do discharges is about the only ‘free’ time I get at work).

I really miss my camera.