The old days in Tang Soo Do

Tang Soo Do, is a kind of martial art which is quite similar with other martials such as Taek Kwan Do. This martial art originated from Korea and it is slightly different from Taek Kwan Do in terms of techniques.
I joined Tang Soo Do since 1997. Slowly, I obtained my black belt 1st dan in the year 2000. It is quite an interesting sport for me as i feel great with all the movements, techniques coached by my master. Of cause, I aim to be fast and smooth with all the techniques. Tried to kick the opponents with each and every attacks. Trainings gave us a lot of chances to get to know each others. When it come to the training for national tournaments. it's really really tiring but challenging. I would say that the national championship training can kills us within half an hour if we are not well prepare mentally or physically. Even skipping a meal before the training or a improper rest/sleep the night before the training will make you suffer for half a day. Still remember that I get nauseated and have to lie flat for 15 minutes after half an hour of training. Aiming to kicks the kicking pad for 30 times within 1 minute is not as simple as jumping 30 times for 1 minute. Every kicks require combination of speed and power.
Tournaments are the best time to ensure your own ability. I started to participate in tournaments since yellow belt and I was lucky enough to be able to go to national championship in year 2001. Of cause, the presence of a few companions who were always tried to improve and beat down each other make the training and tournaments more challenging. We can actually see a big difference between state championship and national championship. In national, some people can fight by just standing on a single leg. don't be suprise that he can actually chasing you and beat you down by just hoping with a leg. Every kicks and punchs can make you fall down and slipped through the floor..
Still remember that there was once in a tournament, my opponent using "Spinning back side kick" and hit on my chest. Immediately i flew and slipped through the floor. Such a painful kick which stays in my mind until now..
We were asked to chop the breaks during upgrading exam to black belt. 2 breaks at a time is not an easy job. We also have to use the speed of our punch to create a blow that can blow off the candle's light (The white big candle lo.. not the tanglung/birthday small candle).
As a black belt holder, we used to help master during upgrading exams. A candidates who are taking a black belt upgrading exam requires to fight with 2 black belt 1st dan holder at the same time. For the candidate, it sounds like being in there just to get bullied. Of cause, black belt holders will take care of the juniors provided they know the way to get rid of attacks.. But i do notice that female candidates like to attack the private part of male seniors.. haha!
Tang Soo Do remained as the sport that i love the most. However, I had not been training for 6 years due to some injuries. Those are the old days with joys. It remains as fresh memory. Even though when i see the juniors' sparring nowadays, I still hope that i can stand on the stage again and participate in the tournament. But now, i need to convert those spirits into my studies! Need to be prepared for my final MBBS exam! Fight and fight to pass the exam and graduated as a doctor...

Ethic??

Ethic is a set of moral principles and we do believe that ethic is an important components in the practice of medical professions. What ever we did must be good for patient without getting or wish to obtain advantages in return. There is no 100% rights or wrongs when we talk about ethic but we do hope that we can do good with the guide of ethic.

When i was in first year of medical school. I was given an topic regarding EUTHANASIA(painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable disease or in an irrecersible coma). Most of the country doesn't accept or pass the law for euthanasia as we think that we shouldn't have terminates someone's life. I also agrees with it as I think we as human should try to save lifes instead of terminating lifes. But, sometimes you will feel sad when you see someone suffering from a incurable disease and this is even more when the patient is someone you cares and loves. We do hope for the best for the patients and thanks to the law that doesn't pass the euthanaisa law as I believe a lot of doctors will ended up emotionally unstable if they were asked to terminate someone's life.

Sometimes, I feel sad when I see someone suffering and yet i can do nothing. Remember when I just started clinical year where we were exposed to patients instead of basic sciences, we were taught with a lot of physical examination teachniques. At that point of time, I become afraid of patient. Patients having abdominal pain but we still have to press on the painful abdomen. Isn't it seems to be a bit cruel? Then i started to avoid examining properly until when i realize that what I did is even more cruel if I missed the diagnosis.

A lot of my friends or relatives said: " Wah.. how come you guys are so darring and never scared of massive bloods, opening up peoples abdomen, seeing dead bodies..." Some people even said: "don't you have feelings?" I think most of us do have feelings and these profession does require us to fight together with patient who are standing in the border between life and death. And this even make us cannot be emotional and must always remain rational. That's why we are not encourage to treat our own relatives.

A Professor told me that sometimes we do wonders whether what we did is really good and beneficial for patient. For me, who are the ones that suppose to judge us regarding ethics at the end of the day? Who is the one that will determine whether we are doing the right things or not? But I do belive that we need to always remind ourselves that we hope that we are doing the best for the patients...

Memorable scenes..

Busy life in Kuala Lumpur. Finally can take a short break and come back to my hometown. On my way back to Teluk Intan, i saw quite a beautiful scene before the sun set. It was so beautiful. Since young, I like to be near with naturals. Like to enjoy the beautiful and natural scene. Here, I am going to share some of the pictures with you.. All these pictures leave a sweet memories for me during my growthing process and i felt so relax when i look at it.. When you are free, can always visit these places and get some good snap on it.

Over the left was a photo recently taken in Bukit Panorama, Sungai lembing in Pahang. It was situated 45 minutes drive away from Kuantan. But make sure that you arrive the village below the mountain around 5am. You need at least 45 minutes to 1 hour track before you are able to get up to the mountain and have this view. Nice??

This is another picture taken by Hsen in FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia). You can actually have a jungle trek and see some rain forest canopy within the jungle. There is a waterfall situated nearby and we did had a great picnic lunch and a birthday celebration with Ciang Sang over there. The waterfall wasn't take nice as compared with what i had in Bentong, Pahang.

Below is a picture taken in the look out point in Kuala Lumpur during DEC 2007 when we went out to celebrate a few birthday gals and guy birthday. The place was really nice and recommended by a lot of people. Of cause, it is a restaurant with a great view...

There are some few nice location as well.. but all those photos all gone together with my hard disk last year.. wasted.

My journey in Vietnam and Cambodia also have lots of nice view. Below this is the new 7 wonders of world - Angkor Wat. So so so incredible.. The scene is so beautiful especially during sunset. You must go back to Angkor Wat during sun set as the lighting will make the Angkor Wat looks gold in colour. By the way, my suggestion is to go Angkor when you are young. Cause you really need to walk a lot. We decided to take bicycle and we ended up having pain over the gluteal region because of prolonged cycling..

These is a super super nice photo taken by Mr. Ranjeev from our way to see sunrise in Hanoi City, Vietnam. The water was so clear and the scene is so beautiful. I really miss this a lot. Really miss the journey in Vietnam. Once i see these photos, i always can stop from thinking to go for vacation. What to do? No holidays in medicine. Have to work hard lo. Hope that can pass my exam and there go my another journey looking for nice views....