Tiring but fruitful day

Today woke up 6 o'clock in the morning, just because of joining this Asia Pacific Wireless Broadband Forum (APWBF) in Nikko Hotel near KLCC. Overall it was quite useful for me as the communication engineering major, although I didn't grab all the content being presented there due to the language barrier (most of the presenters are Japanese) and technicality, but I appreciate what I have gotten there and people flew all the way from Japan to share something with you.

What I must highlight here is that the speech given by Dato' Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, the Minister of Water, Communications and Energy. I was really impressed by his humorous but straight to the point speech that has outlined the problems faced in telecommunications industry in Malaysia. He even joked about the 3G is girl, game and gambling in Japan...haha..I really admired his bravery of speaking of the true situation and well analysis of telecom industry in Malaysia...

Dr. Lim giving his inspirational speech

The forum ended in 5pm then took the peak hour LRT from KL area back to home....then I thought of some questions when next time I start working whether I should travel by car or LRT...I always think of travel by LRT can save a lot of times and money, but after squeezing like sardin fish today in LRT then I have to think twice before making any wise decision in future.....

OK.Back to home around 7pm not more than half an hour after taking bath, I straight went to Cineleisure for Young Engineers Nite organized by YES. As usual, meeting new friends and socializing with the people, chit-chating and talking crab even you don't even know the person very well. I admit that last time I was very bad in socializing, but after so many this kind of sessions in IEM activities, I think I am automatically got used to this kind of situation or shall I call environment has trained me to bull-shit socialize a lot....

We had a game session at the end, unfortunately our team lost it....so as a punishment we got to wear a movie costume prepared by the restaurant...wow, I thought those who won should get the chance to wear....haha

So I changed myself into....

Philippines Trip - Day 8 (Last Day)

1^st December 2007 (Saturday)

Today was our last day in Philippines, but we really didn’t have much opportunity to travel around Manila indeed. So today we tried to ride on the modern MRT system of Manila, experience the special jeepney in Manila and visit to Fort Santiago and Jose Rizal Park, a national hero of Philippines.

Jeepney in ManilaFord SantiagoInside a churchNot forgetting the best doughnut in the world can be found in Philippines, that's why sure couldn't miss it

In the evening, it’s time for us to leave this bustling city. Even right before we went in the immigration checkpoint, we had our last dinner with our Filipino friends in the airport to say good bye to them. Although hospitality and friendliness of them made us really reluctant to leave, but looking at our watch it was already half an hour before the boarding time, at last a hug and a kiss said it all.

In conclusion, the trip broadened my perception of engineering education and the role of engineers can play in this globalized world. The trip exposes me to experiences beyond the confines of the classroom and makes me more understand the phenomenon of ASEAN engineering and challenges that ASEAN would face tomorrow in the pursuit of excellence in this engineering world.

Philippines Trip - Day 7

30^th November 2007 (Friday)

Besides the conference, we didn't forget to do some sightseeing either. However, we only had half day to tour around Cebu since our flight to Manila was in the afternoon. So early in the morning we had a chance to tour around Cebu city to see the prominence history site of Cebu. Besides, we also grabbed the last chance to buy some souvenirs from Cebu before going back to Manila. We even encountered a group of people demonstrated on the street, but I think this is quite common in Philippines already where they even could use their “People Power” to collapse a President’s power back in 1986.

I'm not Christian, just posing in front of a famous crossing in CebuDemonstration in Cebu's street

Last meal in Cebu
Farewell with our Filipino friends in Cebu Airport

After all the rushing for souvenirs and we finally able to catch our flight back to Manila for one day stopover. The sky was already dark when we arrived in Manila, so we just stroll around Pasey city which was in walking distance from our hotel.

Philippines Trip - Day 6

29^th November 2007 (Thursday)

Today’s program was not that formal which we were brought to a technical tour at our own choice ranging from visit to shipbuilding facility, San Miguel Brewery tour or South Countryside discovery. All the young delegates joined the same program, which was visit to shipbuilding facility. To my surprise, I met my MMU President there, Prof. Ghauth. Then I remember MMU got an award in closing dinner tonight, Prof Ghauth came all the way from Malaysia to receive this award.

The journey to the shipbuilding facility took about 2 hours. Most of the distance was up and down on a mountain, that’s where we could see the pretty scenic view of countryside. Seen from a distance, the Tsuneishi shipyard is an impressive sight. Even more impressive is that the shipyard – a joint venture between Tsuneishi of Japan and Aboitiz of Cebu — is located in Balamban, Cebu, a tiny coastal agricultural town on the western undeveloped side of the island. The yard is actually an assembly line of ships, capable of building 14 Handymax vessels a year. Each vessel is almost 200 meters long and 32 meters wide and weighs 56,000 tons without its cargo – larger than a modern aircraft carrier. We were brought to every stage of the shipbuilding process and there was one engineer explained to us in details what was going on there.

Group Photo in the Shipyard

Posing in front of big ship

Time really flew. After the closing dinner tonight, that was the officially end for this conference. Most of the young delegates dressed their national costume to this culture dinner, it reflected the diverse culture we had in ASEAN region. Most importantly was that MMU received the ASEAN Outstanding Engineering Achievement award at this dinner, when the moment Prof Ghauth received the award on the stage and the achievement of MMU was announced to all the delegates, I was so proud being a MMU student. The final agenda of the dinner was every country needed to do a country performance. It was great to watch all the ten countries cultural performance in one avenue and Malaysia delegation sang “Malaysia Truly Asia” song to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of independence. After all, some of the delegates were bidding farewell to us they might not be with us from tomorrow onwards.

Fashion Show featuring different cultural attire

very precious photo with Prof. Ghauth and Prof. Chuah, where two of them have retired from MMU...miss them much....

Could you see who is singing on the stage? haha...it's meIt's the end...hope our friendship will last forever