28th January , my family left Ipoh for Singapore at 5am as we did not want to be caught in the jam -( which we did not ) . The night before , my cousins and I all played with firecrackers .We used up all the firecrackers and caused thick smoke outside the house . I burnt myself that night twice . One was because of the joystick , which I did not control properly and it burnt through my pants , leaving a hole in it and into my skin . Luckily , it was not a deep burn . At around 1030pm , we walked back to the other house , took our bathes , and kept our eyes on the computer screen non-stop until the next morning at 4.30am . I did this as I knew that , if I were to sleep , I will not be able to wake up the next morning . Thankfully , I had great cousins that would accompany me to play until the next morning . At around 4.35am , I had my bathe and my breakfast before leaving for home at 5am . At that moment , I felt a little sad to leave Malaysia , but I knew that , I will come back to Ipoh again some other time . The problem is , when will I return ?

Back in Singapore , as I am writing this post now , and as I reminisce about the times me and cousins spent together , all that fun , and enjoyment . And I know , I will not have this feeling again , until the next visit to Malaysia .

9:39 PM

On the first day of Chinese New Year , when my family was in Malaysia , we stayed up late the day before to countdown . The next morning , we woke up early knowing that it is the time where you can collect red packets from your relatives . We were actually motivated to wake up early , and do as many visiting as possible . As usual , we just collected the " ANGPAU " and said a few words , some wishes . We did this for the next two days .

Normally after collecting the red packets and after enough visiting for the day and when we return home , we would settle down and then spent the night playing poker cards . After that , me and my other two cousins would spent the rest of the night , and usually until the next morning at about 3am , playing computer - since there were 3 computers , which is just enough for the three of us .

I always loved going to my mother's side for Chinese New Year , though most of the red packets collected contained money in ringgit . But , most of all , it was always fun . I knew it from the start , it was all expected .

3:19 PM

On the 23rd January , after our school's Chinese New Year celebrations , my maths project group together with Hannan's group combined and discussed about our last minute ideas . To be frank , we have not even started on our project yet ! After the celebrations , we headed to the stairs outside the school library and snapped some photos of the crest together with one of the group members in each group . After that , we measured the distance between the crest and stairs . As we went on to the auditorium , we met Mr Pang , one of our maths teachers . We asked for suggestions and help , but to no avail . He only allowed us to enter the auditorium , which is already , a big help . At 1pm , Hannan got to leave , and slowly , everyone left . In my mind , I was like thinking , " what am I going to do ? " I thought , we would fail .

If we were to fail our maths project , then , it would be our own fault . We did not plan it out well , like when and where to do and who to do what .

3:02 PM

On the 24th of January , early in the morning at about 5am , my family left for Ipoh , Malaysia . We expected a traffic jam that would delay us at about 45minutes to around an hour , because of the Chinese New Year .

As we arrived at Tuas checkpoint , we caught in a traffic jam . We did not really bother , since we already expected it to happen sooner or later . However , on reaching so close to the checkpoint , we were denied our entrance . The lane my father's car was on , was closed at the end . There were policemen there asking us to turn around and start queing again . We were disappointed .

The second round of queing , we took the other entrance , ( you can either turn left or right to the checkpoint , AND , the signs above signaled for cars to enter . ) However , once again , there was a dead end , and , policemen were there , asking we people to turn and queue again . At that moment , my father started criticizing the way these policemen manage the traffic . At least they could put another sign saying this road is blocked , OR they could at least block the entrance earlier , so to prevent more cars from entering .

Finally , we went from Tuas checkpoint , to Woodlands checkpoint . As usual , there was a traffic jam there at Woodlands too but at least we were not denied our entry . Finally , we were not in Singapore .

1:48 PM

9:14 PM