Monday, February 20, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Experience Living Abroad


Besides doing some short trips to various countries around the world, I have privileged to experience living in some countries for more than 6 months period. So in this post, I will share my experience living in other countries.

Rome, Italy 94 – 97

While I was not exactly living the whole period, I had a chance to live there perhaps 2 months each year from 94 – 97 as my father and family were there for work assignment. Why I was left behind? Well, I decided that my education was much more important at that stage and I think the decision was paid off in later stage of my life J. Anyway, the country is rich with history and you can still feel and breathe the history if you had a chance to live there. During this time, I had the chance to travel all over cities in the country such as Naples, Florence, Milan, Venice, Pisa and many more.  At Rome, we lived in beautiful place called Olgiata along Via Cassia. It was a beautiful place not far from city center. The experience living here still linger in my memory, I think the experience exposed me to different perspective in this world in terms of culture, history and the natural beauty of our world. This was one reason that pushes me to travel more around the world.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 Roma


Adelaide, Australia 2000 – 2003

This was the reward I got for staying behind previously J. I’ve been awarded Petronas Scholarship to further my study in University of Adelaide, Australia. I was here around 4 years and Adelaide is such a peaceful place to begin with. I’m determined that my kids should have the same experience as mine in the future to study in this beautiful place. Over here, I lived right in the middle of the city, Unit 8/41 Hurtle Square 5000 Adelaide – the address still stuck in my mind. My university is not far from my home, just 15 minutes walk and located around North Terrace Road. The cost of living is not too expensive as compared to other big cities in Australia. I used to work as Cleaner, Kitchen Hand, & Delivery Boy in order to support my living expenses. It was good experience anyway, it taught me to study harder not to do the same thing again J. In terms of study, it was really challenging initially but I got thru in the end, getting my IT & Telecommunication Engineering degree with 2nd Class Upper. I made a lot of friends here, local and foreign. The great thing about living here was, if you are fan of chocolate or ice cream, it’s damn cheap! I could get a big Cadbury ice cream or chocolates at Coles for around 5 bucks. And my favourite was Farmers Union Ice Coffee, it’s freaking delicious! Besides studying, we did a lot outdoor activities as well. On the weekend, we played football at North Adelaide field. Once a year, we would travel to Melbourne for Malaysian Football Tournament. Once, we did some driving from Adelaide to Sydney that has total distance 1800km for around 24 hours one way drive. Such a precious experiences and memory…

In front our Hostel - Adelaide International Village

My home for 3 years in Adelaide

My final year project team - from left Albert, Hong, Me & Renato Jr

North Adelaide field - Where we used to play football on the weekend

My Faculty




Los Angeles, USA 2004

Right after Uni, Petronas did call me back to work but the position offered was not I thought in my mind, Electrical Engineer in Kerteh! What the hell I studied IT for, so I politely rejected the offer. The time was tough coz Petronas has just outsourced its IT operation to IPerintis. And I was obviously not in the mood yet to work, a perfect timing since my father again has been posted to work in LA. This was the time internet business was booming, so it makes perfect sense for me to try my luck in LA. Off I go, spending another 1 year in Los Angeles. The place I lived was such a paradise called Palos Verdes, located at Peninsula right opposite the famous Malibu Coastal. Most of my time here was to relax of course and trying my luck to make it big with internet business. Various ideas sprung in my mind, first it was CleaningRequest.com – service provider and platform for cleaner and customer, some ebook, ebay business and internet wholesale business. Although I didn’t make it big, I learned a lot thru my ventures. In terms of living, LA has this laidback feeling all over the place. The weather is magnificent. Everything seems cheap to me. Levis for 29 Bucks, all branded clothes are affordable here. I can enjoy my Starbucks Blended Coffee for only 3 bucks. Driving around Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Santa Monica, Malibu can give you some good feelings. I even had chance to work as IT freelancer for MPOB at San Diego. And we had countless trips to Vegas for entertainment. I still couldn’t forget the view from our home at Palos Verdes, breathtaking scenery of Pacific Ocean…..

Palos Verdes, Magnificent View of Pacific Ocean

Our Home in Palos Verdes

 Universal Studio, LA



London, UK 2006

I was working for about a year and half in Malaysia when I decided to join my family again in UK for 6 months as my father was again reassigned from LA to London for his last job assignment before retirement. This was the least place I like to be honest. The city is crowded, seems lot of people all the time, traffic jam is the problem, very expensive and while I was really near to the Stadium, but I never got the chance to see it live or even from TV coz its damn expensive! So I watched from Internet Stream, I guess in Malaysia we have more luxury to watch EPL. We lived in area called Putney, just next to Chelsea neighborhood. The weather is a bit extreme; it can be really freezing and sometimes really hot. But there were lots of Malaysians there so you won’t miss home that much. I guess that’s the reason Malaysians love London a lot. Since I’m an Arsenal Supporter, I always went to the Stadium (not inside, outside J) during the match on the weekend just to get a feeling of being Arsenal Fans. For football experience, yes, UK is the place to be but to live there, I might think twice.

Stonehenge, London

Emirates under Construction

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