March 8

Greetings from Hong Kong.

As the title of the post suggests, our fifth day belongs to Disneyland Hong Kong, as we spent a total of ten hours trying out every possible rights and watching every possible shows to get every cent worth of the ticket we paid. It was an amazing memory for us, fitting of a Disney fairy tale as there was a mixture of comedy, drama, romance and adventures – all in a day. 

Overall I would give 3 out of 5 for the Hong Kong Disneyland. The two deductions coming from the horrible and expensive food, and the lack of rides. But for those of you who grew up watching classic Disney cartoons, going to Disneyland is like transporting yourself back into your childhood times.  

After Disneyland, we made our way to Mongkok, the Hong Kong version of Petaling Street to shop. Our skills in the art of bargaining were put to test. Unlike in Malaysia where you always make sure that the traders know that you are local if you do not want to get ripped off because they will offer the lowest price to locals, we were advised to make sure that the traders in Mong Kok know we are not local as they don’ t treat locals well. So I have to pretend that I don’t know Cantonese. Unfortunately, we all failed miserably, and we are an embarassment to the Malaysian pasar malam lovers. 

On a side note, the Hong Kong MTR is extremely effiecient, that to compare it to the Malaysian light rail system is like comparing the airplanes and the bicycles. 

We are heading back to Malaysia tomorrow, and there will not be time for us to rest as we need to catch up on our revisions.

March 6 and 7

My apologies for the late updates. We have been very busy with mooting.

Before I begin, allow me to first congratulate Universitas Indonesia for their victory in the 7th ICRC IHL Moot Competition, defeating Gujerat National University, India. 

For team ATC, we did not make it past the General Rounds, but it was not that bad at all as my partner, Rebecca finished as one of the top 5 mooters. Generally, we have improved much compared to the national rounds, but much more improvement will be required if we are to make a real impact in mooting competitions. 

After the final round in the High Court of Hong Kong S.A.R, all the mooters, coaches and judges adjourned to a restaurant in Wan Chai for dinner. After days of being in “competition mode”, where everyone did not get to socialize as much as they would like, the dinner turned out to be a great avenue for us to get to know each other.

Few things to note:

I swear that the Thais are the friendliest people in the world.

The boys from Phillipines are the most polite people I have ever met.

It is ironic that the first friends we made when we are here were the Singaporeans. We debunked the myth that Malaysians and Singaporeans cannot stand each other.

This competition has become more than just an eye opening experience for me. I think I am pretty much sure now about the area of law I intend to major in i.e Public International Law. 

Next up:

Disneyland

We had a seminar on International Humanitarian Law yesterday afternoon. The rest of the days were spent preparing for our response to the prosecution’s submissions, and it is not particularly easy, especially for me. I am somehow suffering from a mooter’s block. Ideas and arguments are not flowing out as smooth as it was. It’s a psychological thing perhaps. 

We met the other mooters yesterday. We could identify the ones from Singapore instantly, and vice versa due to our accent. To my surprise, they are a number of graduate students who are participating. I look forward to learning the different mooting styles, and their thoughts on the intracacies of IHL. This is afterall more than a “competition” per se, but a platform for all of us to learn more on IHL.

Well I’ll have to go now for my breakfast.

Ciao

Buildings, bridges and roads. A street with my Chinese surname. A hotel with a peculiar name with adjoining shopping mall that reminds me of Sungai Wang. A plate of rice which reminds me of the stall opposite college (Marcus). I feel like I’m in a Hong Kong drama with the familiar-looking busses and taxis. All in a day

Very Super Random Updates

We  landed  safely in Hong Kong International Airport at around 1 pm and checked into Panda Hotel in Tsuen Wan. We didn’t get to see much of Hong Kong today, other than the harbour as we passed through that place on the way to our hotel

There was no time for us to rest as we immediately jumped into our moot discussions upon checking into the hotel. Moot training just ended

There is so many Chinese in Hong Kong that I feel so foreign

At one point, I was mooting while taking my shower, and Rebecca was mooting while ironing her blouse

I am having a mooter’s block

We all miss the boys (Navin, Jagan and Daniel) – yes, you names crop up once in a while in our conversations

Photos will be up in the next few days, I promise.

Rebecca and I took a wrong turn and almost ended up in the wrong room on our way back from Irene’s room moments ago. Yes, we are dead tired

We have seven hours of seminar on International Humanitarian Law tomorrow

Need to get some rest

Nitez.

SIXTEEN TEAMS

THIRTY TWO BUDDING LAWYERS

TWO WARRING NATIONS

ONE DUMB NATIONALIST

TWO FINALIST

ONE WINNER

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7TH INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR RED CROSS INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW MOOT COMPETITION, HONG KONG

THE JOURNEY BEGINS TOMORROW

STAY TUNED!

The ATC Moot Warriors

(In the pix: Navin, Daniel, Chiew Ee, Rebecca, Jagan, Ms. Irene, Mr Kitson)

 I remembered telling this to my team mates a week before the competition.

“I have a feeling that this could be my year. Everything that I do ended up well this year. We might just beat the odds”

Little did I know that what I said that day will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is like in the movies, where the underdogs will beat all odds and came out tops.

So, this is the story of a bunch of green mooters who thought it will be a good experience to join the ICRC-IHL Moot (with much reluctance initially). The main mission was to do our best and avoid from falling flat on our faces (more so for  me and Rebecca than the boys). We were told to “have fun” and not to expect everything as it will be a learning process for us. So, we did have fun, and along the way, we kicked some ass, crack a lot of jokes, and did extraordinary and embarassing stuffs.

Well, there is A LOT more to tell on the ATC Moot Warriors, but whatever I am feeling is beyond words.  The whole ICRC Moot journey has not been that long, but it seems like I have been with this moot family for years. They have given me so much guidance and strength when this journey feels so rocky and hard. I shall look back during harder times in the future that I am blessed to have so many good people around me.

A special dedication to my moot partner, Rebecca: Thank you for sticking up with my Jekyll and Hyde temperment. I knew I can depend on you to kick General Marshall’s ass, and you did an amazing job, just like a pro.

Next stop; Hong Kong!

Less than 24 hours from now, I shall be making my mooting debut in the International Humanitarian Law Moot Competition in University Malaya.

And this is how I look now

Flu, stuffy nose, mixed nicely with a slight fever and grumpy mood

 Pray for a miracle for me…