Alice in Wonderland

This mid of April has marked my 3 month stay in cambridge. In these 3 months of campus life in a western country, despite the "weather shock", i find myself losing in the dreamlike world, confusing between the fairy tales and the real world in cambridge. Everyday when walking betweeen castle-like colleges, i find myself time-travelling back to my childhood, in the classic fairy tales of Brothers Grimm which always start with "Once upon a time". Am i really in cambridge now, is it real or it is just a dream of Alice in Wonderland? I am confused.

When I first saw one of the Downing librarian, an old English woman with wrinkled face, high and sharp nose; her hair is very long, half grey, a bit curly and messy; That day she was wearing a dark blue, one piece long dress, walking between the book shelves. To me, she was just like the witch from the fairy tales! Haha! This is what I find cambridge so interesting, they have so many things different from the US, and many of them are our childhood imagination and dreamworld from the story book. But now, we could find them in real life.

i have walked through these 3 months in cambridge with ups and downs, tears and laughters, coldness and extreme coldness. Nevertheless, i have never walked alone; Many (x1000) thanks to my family and friends in Malaysia and new friends in Cambridge. After all the winds and rains, tomorrow will be a brand new day (quoted from koklim).

Yes! Yeah! Gambateh Yo Yo Yo!

Fairy tale scene#1: Castle-like King's College. We are not allowed to step on the grass but there are 5 ducks enjoying their evening walk on the grass, Can you spot them?

Fairy tale scene#2: Colorful flowers in the castle (King's College). Glad to find a few of this flower are still in blossom at King's Collge while most of them die off at the end of spring.

Fairy tale scene#3: Corpus Christi College in sunset.

Fairy tale scene#4: A witch seached from the web, who looks like the Downing librarian. Or vice versa, the Downing librarian has the features of this witch. haha. I wish i can sketch the witch-like Downing librarian. Anyway, no offense to the Downing librarian, it is just an imagination.

Fairy tale scene#5: The gigatic beanstalk grew from the beans and reached the clouds in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Fairy tale scene#6: It seems no connections between punting and fairy tales. Yes, you are right! But the colorful flowers and pink tulips form the colorful world of fairy tales! :D

Recap: Interesting facts about cambridge 31 colleges:
http://http//www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/colleges/
http://http//www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/colleges/

Escape to New Hall Library

Cambridge University has many libraries: the main University Library, department libraries and most of cambridge 31 colleges have their own libraries. University Library is the best place to play hide-and -seek, very large area with lots of "tunnels" and tonnes of books. My college, Downing library is famous for its laws references and the building medieval achitecture always attract the attentions of tourists. In the Downing library, you can find laws students in their formal attire but just without tie, concentrating on their books placed on the book holder. They always sit around the big tables, which piled up with books and their laptops. This Easter holiday, i was struggling in the Engineering Dept library together with other students for our coming tripos exams. There was no heating in the eng. dept. during the holiday. Therefore, i wore full "coldness resistance PPE" (Personal Protection Equipment) inside the library to study!

This week, I escape to the New Hall Library to join my new friend, JiaJia to study. New Hall is JiaJia's college and it is one of the 3 women colleges in cambridge. Don't be surprised, you can find girls' schools in Penang either. Haha! The design of the New Hall library is really impressive. It is 3 floor height but the center is empty-through. It is delightful to sit on the staircase, overview the entire library and surrounded by the book shelves standing at four sides of the walls while savoring the sunlight penetrating from every corner of top floor windows. I particularly like those black-and-white photos on its walls, they reveals the pride and glory of women members of New Hall.

I like the New Hall library design very much.

Black-and-white photo#1 on the wall. New Hall girls were walking in the street in their gown. Where were they heading to? To attend a Formal Hall?

Black-and-white photo#2 on the wall. A Formal Hall with elegant New Hall members.
(About Formal Hall, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_Hall)

Black-and-white photo#3 on the wall. The New Hall girl was cycling. And today, most of the cambridge students are still cycling :D

Interesting facts about cambridge 31 colleges:
http://http//www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/colleges/
http://http//www.admin.cam.ac.uk/univ/gsprospectus/colleges/

Honeymoon in Shanghai

My dad has been working in Shanghai since last Sept and my mum flies to join my dad for this April. I presume that this is their N-th time honeymoon after five of us have grown up. My mum likes to travel and has stepped on the lands of many countries in Asean before the arrivals of her five naughty monkeys to this world. Now, this is the time for her to get ready to see the world again! Yes, mum Boleh!

My mum and dad in Shanghai, and they travelled away from the city to enjoy the natural beauty of spring in Shanghai during weekend.

My mum complained to me in the phone that she looked ugly in these photos. What do you think?

Brides in June

The brides in this June are my younger sister, Chwee Hxing, and my coursemate, Chwee Chin; My sis's big day is on June 9 and Chwee Chin's wed is one week earlier. From their sharing of photos and words, i can sense their happiness and share their joy from the UK.

Chwee Chin and Chee Seng are the only couple in my course, Chemical Engineering in UPM (ChemEng). In her website, she expresses her feelings and tells their story in just a few lines for the history of 8.5 years, simple yet very touching. Besides the hardship of maintaining their long distance relationship, our coursemates also witnessed their struggles to overcome all the barriers to begin this relation. It was not easy but they had made it through. Welcome to their wedding website for their story and share their joy:

http://www.mywedding.com/cheesengchweechin/

my coursemates, Chwee Chin & Chee Seng

My sister and Ming Hai have quite a similar profile: ~8 years of marathon run and 3 years of Sabah-KL distance. I always believe that the longest distance between 2 persons is neither between KL and Singapore, nor China and Paris, KL and Sabah, Malaysia and the UK; It is when the person is just besides you, but you couldn't reach his heart.

My sister, Chwee Hxing and Ming Hai