ICORM 2009

This is the 2nd International conference of Rural Medicine held in UMS today. Actually, i am not sure why i participate in this conference but i remember they ask a few weeks ago to 5th year student, whoever want to become representative you can submit your name, and all i think at that time is the free meal they would give during this conference so then, i go and submit my name. I thought that during this conference i can sleep or be lazy but then, it was kind of interesting until i kept my eye open and my ears listening to all the presentation through out the day.



During this conference, they are multiple symposium with different title of presentation and you can choose which symposium you want to enter. At first, i chose symposium 2 listening to all the challenges in rural healh in Sabah. In the afternoon, i choose symposium 1 talking about health globalisation or something but i don't like it and i can't stand it. So i went to free oral paper presentation.

I manage to only listen to 2 free oral paper presentation which is about melidiosis and another one regarding new technique of tubal exteriorization and ligation or something.

at 4 pm, i went to listen to the forum discussing the global rural health challenge.

I love this conference since i can hear different perspective of rural health from many countries such as nigeria, sri lanka, australia, etc.

The key person for this year conference is Prof Victor Inem from Nigeria. His key presentation is about rural health in nigeria. He was briliant, plus he sang a fun song during ICORM dinner later after the forum end.




This picture is taken by someone (not so good, shaking) maybe the camera is lousy. In this picture, there is speakers from ministry of health Malaysia, Dr.safura Jaafar (the one with pink tudung) and Dhinesh Bhaskaran, advocate and solicitor of high court of Malaya from KL, number three from the right.

From the left is Dr.Wendy Shoesmith (Psychiatrist, Medical School UMS), Tan Zi Han (Med Stud), Dr.Safura ( MOH), Shah Nadrin (Med Stud),Kim Heng Shee (Med Stud), Connie Liew ( Med stud), Ahmad Sheehan (med Stud), Dhinesh Bhaskaran (lawyer), AP Chin su liong in the front ( Deputy Dean Medical school UMS), Zuhaidi (med stud), And lastly me........


Tomorrow will be the second day of ICORM 2009. Hope there will be more interesting thing happening.

Animal and Me!

Even though i am not a vegetarian, but i don't hate animal. So to prove this, i went to Tuaran Crocodile farm last yesterday to show my appreciation to various kind of animals. This is a deer i guess. I don't know the exact name for it..haha. but it look delicious if we grilled it.

No. I won't eat them because they are cute and still alive in front of me. I came to this farm not to eat the animal to just look at them and learn things from them. So many thing we can learn from animal. By looking at them, we will feel lucky because we are human and we do not have to suffer like them in the cage. Should thing like this be stopped? I don't know. Some people might against the idea of caging an animal for exhibition. However, i am sure if you let this deer wander around, they might only live for a few second before somebody grilled them with pepper and salt, and few other spices.



The reason i went to this place is too see crocodile. This is by far the third time i went to this farm. I don't like crocodile, in fact i fear them. Still, i enjoyed spending my time in this farm. Plus, this is my last saturday before i start medical posting. I will be busy then. So, i rather spend my time with the crocodile here. haha.



Do you know that crocodile can jump? I have witness a jumping crocodile when i was in Sarawak earlier this year. It can jump around 2-3 meters high. By this fact, i feel insecure when i visit this farm. Are you aware that the fences for this farm is not that high? Maybe Tuaran crocodile cannot jump like the one in Sarawak. I hope so.



What do we called Ikan Keli in English? I am so sorry because my english is terrible. Is it catfish? i don't know. But this is Ikan keli. So huge and many. All are hungry. If you fell into this pond, you will immediately die because this fish is poisonous. But we can eat it. It taste nice. The poison only localized to its... ( somewhere in its body, like a stung).



It is really big you know. Can you see that? A size of my gf arms. If we grilled this fish, we can eat it for maybe at least 2-3 months. haha.



What is so special about Tuaran Crocodile farm is you can feed the animal. Not like other farm where you only can watch them from the other side of the fence. This interactive features make this farm more interesting and fun, especially for the kids.



This is one of the reason i went to this farm. I love these beaver. aren't they cute? So cute. Sometimes the word beaver sound nude to me.



Haha. they look fierce but still cute and adorable. They are waiting for my fish. Yes. We can feed them too here. You can buy a live fresh fish and feed them. I gave them 10 fish but still they are hungry and keep asking for more.

I don't want to give more fish because i felt very terrible throwing a live fish to them. The fish keep swimming away very fast to save his life but in the end, it was caught by one of the beaver and get chewed alive! I don't know whether i am doing good or not by feeding the poor little beaver or should i have mercy for the fish?



This is rare to see. A crocodile lifted up by a man (performer). His intention is to show the audience the most expensive part of crocodile skin, its belly. It cost around 5k-9k depending on the age of the crocodile and the species. Wow. There is money in its belly.




Humm..oral inspection. Mouth examination. This one is a huge crocodile and it is very aggresive. But i guess does not matter how aggresive you are, you still can put some good show for the audience. The crocodile named Bujang Tuaran. Most big crocodile are given surname 'bujang'. this is influence from Bujang Senang which is the most famous crocodile here in Malaysia.




Another pond full of big fish.



This is the last animal i want to show here. It is called bearcat. I am not sure whether it really named bearcat or it is call bearcat because it look like a bear + cat. It look aggresive. And the claw is sharp like bear.



To our suprise this animal is so gentle and it only eat fruits and vegetables. Haha. It look scary and flesh eating but it does not. It is so cute. The way he ate, look just like a cat. but its claw really look like a bear.


So, that is it. I am showing my appreciation to animal. Hmm...this is my end of my holiday. After this, every entry in my blog would be talking around medicine and medicine some more i guess. haha. I love holiday. Who does not?

I want to have holiday like the old time... or at least like other courses in the university. The non-medicine one. I really envy them when they have 1 months holiday and 3 months holiday every year and semester. Me? I never taste end of year holiday since i enter medical school. I guess life as a medical student is not the same like other college student. hate it yet i am so lucky to be in it. maybe i will find my life later..

Food Entry 4 (Kota Kinabalu)

Okay, this time i will introduce Grill Lokan ( a type of shell or clam or whatever). This cuisine can be found in Jalan Sulaman at road side on the way to Tuaran. This place that we cannot even call a restaurant or stall as it does not look like one offering only 3 menu. This grilled lokan, Coconut puding and burned coconut.

Regarding the grilled lokan, it was so fresh i guess. They just grilled it on charcoal and they add some chili and lime juice on top of it. It cost RM10 for at least 40 pieces of grilled lokan depending on the size. If you choose the big one, it will only consist of maybe 30 pieces.


So we done eating those lokan. It was served with soya sauce, vinegar and chili as a dip.



This is coconut puding. It is very famous until everyone who went along this road need to take a stop and grab a this refreshing cold pudding. Cost RM2 per cup.


This is something different I have tasted today. It was burned coconut. If you look at the coconut before they open it as in this picture, it look just like a blank charcoal coconut which does not seem to be edible. But when they open it like this, i guess it is edible. The taste is somewhat different from fresh coconut. A little bit more strong. I don't know why they burn it. I prefer the fresh one.


If you are in Kota Kinabalu Sabah, you should maybe at least try this few cuisine i have introduce here. But if you are scared to hawker food for the risk of acquiring food borne diseases, i guess i would not recommend you this. However, if you want to taste something different, it worth giving a try.

Finishing Holiday week

First of all.. within this one week holiday, there is nothing much that i do in my university since i am broke and i guess you can't go anywhere fun without money. But that does not mean that you cannot have fun without money. I have fun doing something simple such as running around UMS. It was tiring and fun.

As lot of people aware, UMS is the most beautiful university in Malaysia and i am proud and so lucky to be here. Where else you can get a very beautoful scenary without going outside your university? Everyday wake up with a lot of oxygen from the green environment, and there is so many place to go running around when you have free time.

I guess my holiday this time was not so boring as i expect it to be when i'm broke. Going around my university and doing nothing is enough fun for me. haha.

Don't know why i am writing this entry.

Food Entry Relapse

This is mango cheese cake we bought from multibake to celebrate my girlfriend's 23th birthday. And believe what, this cake was awesome. So nice. I could not believe there is something this delicious. The top of it is like mango puding with some white brown fruit (which i don't know what it is but it taste sweet and sour like plum). Below the layer of mango puding is cheese cream and the floor of it consist of sponge cheese cake. So delicious... nyum nyum. I recommend this to all of you. Get it at Multibake kota kinabalu ( i bought in Oneborneo branch) for oly Rm3.80 per piece.