Packed my dinner, grabbed my bag with my hiking boots and headed out for a lonesome hike in 2010. In fact, it was my first time going there and what a way to do this during the first.

Upon reaching the first peak in the evening, I lay my bag down and took a breath of fresh air. Not many people were there on a Friday evening, which brings out the peace of mind. It definitely reminded me of my Yellowstone time and it felt so good to hike again.

Still remember the vivid images of a flock of birds swirling around the first peak. I also helped 3 friends to take a group photo together. Upon sun down, many have in fact asked me to be careful after knowing that I have decided to spend a night alone. An uncle warned me about tigers as well, which probably wasn’t a good advice as it kept me thinking about it the whole night.

As the day darkens, the beautiful lights of the cities nearby lit up and the whole sky was so orange that I couldn’t see stars. In fact, it was really cloudy that night as it was the rainy season. Took some long exposure and light painting shots. Good way to kill time up there.

Decided to tuck into my sleeping bag once I got tired. Few hours into my sleep, sounds of thunder came about. Being that high up alone back then didn’t seem like a good idea, nor was getting up and finding my way down after midnight. Hence, being stationery on the ground was probably the best idea then. It then started with drizzle and then becoming light rain. Opened up my umbrella to cover my face, but my pants and shirt were soaking wet – making it even less comfortable. But on the bright side, I believed the rain helped to deter the ants away from me.

The hours of not moving under the rain and thunder was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. I admit, I cried in fear, as it was tough going through that alone. Reminds me how Kate was stranded in the ocean after Titanic sunk. When the rain stopped, the next problem were mosquitoes. That wasn’t fun at all and my lightcap was running out of solar battery, making me sleepless that night.

At 5 something in the morning, I could hear voices, fearing that it was some animal from the further peak. Fortunately after a bit, moving white lights can be seen to my left. As I keeping myself tucked in the sleeping bag, a group of students from TAR arrived at the peak, giving me some relief. The adventure ended there and then, when I was no longer alone in the dark. It got boring after that, but was definitely relief that I made out alive.

All these are still so vivid in my mind, probably because it felt like a life and death moment on top of Broga Hill.

Will I do it again? Perhaps, depending on……….. But I glad I did it and I believe I wasn’t the only crazy one to do a lonesome overnight hike. Any stories from the readers out there? I would love to hear yours.

So tomorrow I will be moving, to a new place. So much uncertainty, so much of getting used to. But that’s life, one has to be versatile. Travelling to US, Europe and Aussie has taught me that. It’s a good thing that I picked up moving from young, especially when I tend to go around alone.

Yes I’m reluctant, but sometimes we just have to get out of our comfort zone. Heck, we only live once.

P.S I’m surprise people actually read my blog post and I have 22 shares in my previous post. Thanks guys, if only I know who you are.

My biggest regret in 23 years of my life is not to know my grandfather better when he was alive. He passed away in his 90s – such a strong man with no eye sight problem and can do math. That was how awesome he was.

Listening to stories about him during the Chinese New Year break made me wondered even more why I didn’t learn a lot of lessons from him when he was still alive. For a man to  come over to China and started his own business with 10 children in total was something really hard back in the 1900s. His vast experience would have proved invaluable to all of us grandchildren, yet I took it for granted when I was young. Probably that’s why the entrepreneurial spirit runs in the Teoh family because of him.

Knowing that he has helped so many now-successful businessmen 60 years ago, it inspires me even more that his principal of helping people is always his key in life. My dad and uncle said that he had a great life, a balance one where he had success in business and off business as well. I think that is key, especially to live till the age of 90s.

A wise man whom I didn’t get to know well enough…..

Now that I’m back in Malaysia, it’s about time I write about the journey of mine in New York. From the time when accommodation searching was tough to waking up early at 1am to catch my car to the airport, it was indeed a part of my life which will always not fade away in my memory.

In a city with just over 8 million high energy go-getters, the pace of everything happening is not similar at all from where I was born and raised. It was definitely tough to adjust but the intensity somehow motivates me to wake up early in the day to join the ambitious crowd. From the day I arrive, it was already in need of that energy to look for housing, especially with a tight budget, it makes it even harder. Luck is really much needed here as well!

The experience of working in a traditional global marketing, advertising company is indeed an interesting experience. Great workers in the building, and great visionaries as well. The culture of the workplace is definitely different, with conference calls being a daily norm making listening skills to be essential. As usual, I always love to observe how different level of the management levels try to work together as well as motivating each other. Through this lens, it definitely open up my eyes more to see departmental wide, managerial and organisational motivation differ from each other. Indeed, sometimes young blood (us, Gen Y) are definitely needed to be involved to leapfrog against the competitors for long growth sake.

Learning the cultures of the US, Europe and other countries from Asia was also a big enlightenment. I really appreciate how transparent and open my friends are in explaining their lifestyle as well as the working environment of their countries. That helped me in understanding how societies behave differently according to the history, weather, development state, location and size of the country. All of these can be related to the way how the process of dealing businesses in those countries can be different. Certainly, learning about each other really helped us bond even more and the friendship created along the way are just priceless.

Friends, from so many parts of the world, with so many different backgrounds. Thinking back on the wonderful journey created through trips to Boston, DC, Philly, Snowboarding, Hiking at Bear Mountain really makes me want to shed my tear on how much those beautiful moments pass by so fast. The parties and farewell dinners are the sweet and sad pieces of the complete puzzle. The jokes created on some of the people around will, I believe, be remembered, with BIG and Birdar being 2 of them. Missing you guys so much!!

Being exposed to the tech scene in New York is a really eye opening one. Learning how tech startups curate and develop their ideas into business makes me realised that if you have a goal/dream and you are willing to work hard to achieve it, your mind will be creative with your actions following through. Pivoting is the main takeaway from this experience. Stubbornness will never do you any good. If listening would create millions for me, I would not want to be hard headed and stubborn at all. Remember that!

Lastly, the whole process of being aboard and being independent has transformed me, in what way, I can’t tell you exactly. I have to agree with my friend, Sze Wei, that we feel we changed, but do not know in what exact manner. Perhaps for me, is maybe the realisation on the importance of family and humility. Someone important to me once told me that we should always cherish someone if not we will regret once we lose it. I’m thankful for realising it that early in life, and I really want to fix things and making them better. To me this is worth more than going into space! Also, seeing how people live their lifes in America really makes me feel that I’m lucky to a certain extent, and am determined to take precautionary steps for me not to fall into the same hole. More importantly, I do not want my friends to go through the same pain and I want to help whoever I can. Thinking ahead in life is definitely an important one. We just have to put our mind to it 🙂

Independence, friendship, culture education, values, humility, maturity, thinking ahead, motivation importance and personal growth are some of the takeaways for the past 6 months and the process of learning all these were indeed priceless. I’m so thankful!

Oh New York, New York. It will always be part of me.

*No one was hurt during this blog post. Just a minor missing New York syndrome…..

We had a great time to try out the Nexus 4G’s Google Wallet feature at McDonalds. Thanks to Stewart Pearson, we were able to have this hands on experience with it.

Yesterday, I did something for the first time. Something that I guess not many would have done. Though sound stupid, but I guess never try, never know. All I pray is that hopefully the young are inspired and stay positive.

I sent out 6 old Pokemon postcards to the kids at WorldWide Orphans Foundation, with the goal of inspiring them to become someone great one day. I have always reluctant to throw away the Pokemon post cards since I got it years ago. I always wondered why I can’t let it go. I know it sounds funny, Pokemon so outdated already!

But I guess now I can let it go, and with a strong purpose. Though I don’t have cash to donate it, I hope the words are more powerful than what cash can buy. As what Napoleon Hill said “More gold has been mined from the thoughts of men than has been taken from the earth”.

I twitted earlier about me finally realising the true meaning of this quote.

It does not matter if you move fast or slow. Just dont’ stop.

It was a great one and realising it in the subway got me another Eureka moment. For close to a year now, I have been going through a crossroads of deciding on reality and dream. As we all know doing what we are passionate about doesn’t feed the bill at the start, but getting a job will. So it’s always that dilemma right there.

Robert Kiyosaki and T.Harv Eker did mention that we can get work in the day and do our own thing part time at night, which I have to agree. But then again, what if you just feel miserable in the day thinking about your passion in the night? Have you had that uncontrollable feeling?

That’s where I finally learnt that, the reason for having that dilemma was actually looking for security. A security to feed ourselves, but on an easy terms. What if you decide right there and then that no matter what you do, your passion is going to foot the bill, leaving no options but to push yourselves to really push that fire and passion in you. It’s like a person pointing a gun to your head, and that is when adrenaline will rush through your head that you ended up doing things you wouldn’t believe you would do.

I mean if you think about it, many music artist are in that same boat. They just practice and practice and practice and be passionate about it,  with living in the street, friends’ couch, van or whatever just to achieve their dream. Of course if you are just hoping to have good luck and don’t do anything to push yourselves, then I wouldn’t recommend you to go down this road.

So I encourage you to follow your passion and heart and live your wildest dreams. Plan ahead on focusing and growing your passion as if your life depends on it, which it actually does to a certain extent.

Till then, dream big…..

It has been an interesting week indeed. Another colleague finished his contract and went back to Singapore. UltiAsia was launched. Workload caught up. Good trip to Botanical garden today. Three quarters into my 7th book of the year. Busy, busy indeed.

Busy is neither good nor bad, depending on how the busy is carried out. Key is whether it is a RGA – Revenue Generating Activity.

Now, RGA can take in the form of many types – making money, adding knowledge (for long-term growth) and networking. So it’s really essential for us to always decide what are the RGA in our daily life. Playing computer games is not necessary a RGA, again depending on how you perceive it. If you have dreams to make it big on the international arena, then go for it, but make sure you really go for it.

Playing Magic the Gathering professionally is a RGA. Winners of a pro tour can rack up almost $25,000. Now that’s something. 🙂

So what’s your RGA folks? List them down everyday and focus on the end road.

Indeed, hello world! Once again once so many years, I now return to the world of blogging again after so many years of pondering if I ever should.

Well there is no right or wrong decisions in life isn’t it? Things always just catch you by surprise and whatever happens we just have to deal with them.

I’m pretty impress with the current WordPress version and the new Twenty Eleven default theme. It’s cleaner, sleeker and more user friendly on the backend. It’s more of the “Modern Google” feel now. If you haven’t notice, just visit Google and Gmail.

It will be interesting to see what this blog will evolved into, but I do have some themes in mind to make this blog work. Only time will tell how the response would be like. Till then, I would hope to see you all checking back again here.