that song again!

A Thousand Lies

2011-06-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

It just hit me, how a person can live with a thousand lies and be blind to them or pretend not to see them, and then it takes but one fleeting moment of truth, unintentionally revealed, to open those closed eyes and kick her on the backside to make a long overdue decision.

OK, maybe it's not a thousand lies, but humor me here. I think there's a story there somewhere. yay me.

Hartamas : a gecko's point of view

2010-11-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

It would be wonderful to always have a pretty view without the inevitable pain in the neck afterwards!

Check out Sky Watch Friday for amazing skies all around the world.

Windows into Melaka

2010-08-09T21:26:00.000-07:00

I was back in Melaka again recently after an absence of more than 10 years. The only impression I have of it was it being a small town with red buildings.

This trip however, I was determined to get another perspective of the town. And since I had a few hours by myself, I decided to spend some time away from the 'red' town. I found a nearby interesting area which consisted of (about) 4 rows of old shophouses.

The windows were especially quaint and picturesque I thought.

I love that when I was snapping pictures of these windows, a gust of wind from inside suddenly blew the curtains outwards. Maybe there was a baby inside lulled drowsy by the whir of a table fan.

These windows perhaps belong to an elderly spinster who spends her days at her sewing machine and talking to her plants.

Play It Again, Sam

2010-08-08T18:16:00.000-07:00

Back again after taking a hiatus!

Kuala Lumpur : so colourful (in more ways than one) !!

2010-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

I was in the city recently (Kuala Lumpur to you; Kay-El to the locals). We arrived about 2, just in time for lunch, which was a quick noodle affair. The waitress got my drink order wrong (again). I love my Chinese Tea extra hot, but they always come either tepid or ice cold. I guess they think they heard me wrong when I say very hot (and it's blistering outside!) I don't make a fuss though and almost never send it back. Anyway. So I digress a bit.

Maybe it's me but I think (or should I have said imho? (1 second interval) naah!) KL has gotten very (very!) colouful. Yes, colourful in every sense of the word, but then this is a non-polictical blog (so I won't say more). It will stay that way for a bit longer too ;)

We were in KL to meet some friends, who wanted to check out an electric keyboard. The place is on Jalan Imbi but it was closed for lunch when we arrived. This is my Sky Watch image for this week :) Catch other images on here.

So we walked about two blocks away to a covered food stall area. By covered I mean roofed: no walls, as is a common feature of food stalls everywhere in the city. We KLites are quite hardy people - only need protection from the sun and rain: dust and other forms of pollutants in our food and drinks? No problem! Note to the traveler with a delicate stomach : bring sterilising tablets - loads of them! Seriously. No. I'm exaggerating (again, as usual).

3 pm is just fantastic to be in a place like this. It's not so crowded that one can get seats immediately and not so deserted that people watching is still quite possible. Like that guy watching me watching him (and taking a picture of him!) He turned away afterwards, so I couldn't take any more pictures of him!

The shop finally opened again at 3.30, by which time we'd gotten quite dusty and hot and sweaty; but no sweat! A few minutes in the shop with air-conditioning on extremely high, we're good to go! :)

I love these amps! I have never seen them in colours other than black. Now, they even come 'girl-friendly'! I shan't complain, but privately, I would have liked if they had baby blue ones or custards or or lime or. Hmm.

Rantau Abang - Rain Rain No Need to Go Away

2010-03-26T03:35:00.000-07:00

This is at Rantau Abang again, our favourite beach on the East Coast. :)

I was there last week, focussing on getting some vitamin D, after spending two weeks cooped up indoors, downing copious amounts of caffeine (not good I know), working on work.

This is definitely a different look for Rantau Abang from my previous visits. It's always been bright and sunny; blue skies, hot hot sun, beautiful puffy clouds; we had those too this trip, but this time, we also had dark rainy tropical thunderstorm days; two in fact.

It's not as bad as I probably make it sound. I actually loved that it stormed and raged. It was wonderful to look at the gathering clouds; and to watch the storm come in from the sea. After taking this picture, I raced against it, towards shelter, not for my sake, but for my camera's!!

Check out Skywatch Friday for sky images all over the world!

Latin Americans in Terengganu!

2010-03-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

Our second trip to the east coast this year! Second of many to be sure! No matter how many times one goes to the same place, there's always something new waiting to be discovered.

This time around, I saw a pretty looking beach from the main road and yelled to the driver (aka travelling buddy) to turn right, right now! We were going at maybe 80kph, so I got yelled at of course. I apologised immediately of course, but please make a u-turn right now because we just passed a lovely looking beach! The beach was lovely (except for the rubbish). I don't have a nice enough picture to put up on here though :(

We found something else on the beach; an Argentinian/Mexican couple that has been travelling around the world on their motorbike for the past 8 years! Talk about wow. Alejandro and Guadalupe have been in Asia for almost 4 months now and in this country almost a week when we met them, riding around and camping by the beach or in someone's backyard!

They have a website in Spanish and English. Around the World on a Motorbike

A sweet couple with a truly romantic story to tell. Alejandro had started out solo out of Argentina some 8 years ago, with Alaska in mind. But like that saying goes, man plans but god decides; in Mexico, he met and fell in love with Guadalupe and all plans to Alaska got waylaid! He invited her to join him in his travels. She said yes! and they decided to travel the world, starting from Greece. Not sure what happens to the Alaskan dream. Maybe after they complete their wanderlust? And then do one last trip? Who knows. Wish them all the best!

They're so brave too. To travel with not a lot of money; no sponsors, just raising enough money selling handmade jewelry to make it to the next destination! They hadn't any jewelry on them when we saw them, but they were looking for a quiet spot to make some to sell at a bike fair sometime in April in Kelantan.

Travelling is not without its dangers; especially on bike and its always good to display important medical information about oneself. Both of them are O+. Me too :)

Kuala Lumpur - Bye Bye Birdie

2010-03-11T05:51:00.000-08:00

No, it's not a musical. Nor a comedy. Just a baby bird, learning to fly. A bit apprehensive, a bit curious, a bit tired. A lot tired maybe.

The mummy bird (or maybe it was the daddy bird; I can't really tell) could be heard tweeting and chirping, coaxing this baby to fly.

He did fly, maybe 15 meters and landed here, the bottom of an electronic sliding gate, and stayed there for a bit.

I was about to leave then but with that birdie squatting there, I hung about a bit. Because I wanted to take pictures, and because I was worried I might scare it if the gate started sliding. I needn't have worried though; he stayed put even when the gate moved. I guess he was too tired to bother.

When we returned, the baby was gone. And apparently they never return. Not to say hi. Not even to have a look at the nest that held it safe and warm when it was just an egg. Ah well. C'est la vie I suppose. Bye bye birdie. :)

Hartamas : looking up

2010-03-05T04:09:00.000-08:00

We had such pretty skies last week; puffy clouds, stretchy clouds, cotton candy clouds.. so visually breathtaking, I couldn't help but develop neck cramps!

This was driving home in the morning, I had to stop and capture the sky. Good thing too; this week we've seen mostly overcast skies.

Click here for amazing skywatch images!

Red under the sun

2010-03-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

It's not just us that gets red under the sun :)

Not sure what this soft stem is called but it gets a beautiful shade of deeper red as it matures. That's what I noticed anyway. Maybe it's just my imagination. Don't we let our imaginations run wild sometimes?

And it's at the same place that I found Pink Under the Sun .

And a bit of wonderful news : I might go again soon! Yaay!

Rantau Abang : An orange on the beach

2010-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

I thought it was pretty exciting to find an orange among the broken shells on the beach. I'd never seen that before and this was long before Chinese New Year

The two week long Chinese New Year celebration (Feb 14 - Feb 28) is now officially over, but I only remembered this picture today. Should have remembered earlier. Darn.

There's a tradition among the Chinese single women (not sure if it's a Malaysian thing or an all over the world thing) to throw oranges into the sea (or any body of water) during Chinese Valentines (15th day of the Chinese New Year) in order that their future husband might pick up their orange.

Oh, but before they throw their orange into the water, they write their phone number onto the fruit. Oh, and the men will be right there, waiting to catch the orange of the woman they fancy. Make that orangeS and women. Using nets too to catch as many oranges as they can!

I think it's such a cute tradition. I think we Asians have so many cute traditions. :)

Anyway, so I'm wondering if this was such an orange. Only, it wasn't the right time then. And there was no ink on the orange either. Hmm, it could be someone who couldn't wait two more weeks! Perhaps.

I think next (Chinese) Valentine's I might throw an orange into a lake. :)

More skywatch images here .

Kuala Abang : a little hut and the blue blue sky

2010-02-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

Just sitting in a run down shed; I think a shelter and place to nap when it's too hot to look for clams on the beach, and looking up.

The shade of blue looked so pretty against the dark of the roof. And then a wisp of cloud floated in from one end.

I whipped my camera out (as fast as lightning) of course :) But the clouds were faster. They moved so quickly out of sight again! Before I could take more pictures. Dang! Well, I did, but they weren't as pretty as I wished.

Two guys joined us soon after; just come back from the beach from clam collecting, both hot and thoroughly burnt from the sun! One guy had a little bucket full of clams; for his tea later, or perhaps dinner, but it didn't look like it would be enough for dinner. Well certainly an extra small portion by my book! Maybe he doesn't eat much. Maybe it's just appetisers. Maybe.

Click here for more sky images!

Pink under the sun

2010-02-22T03:27:00.000-08:00

Whenever we are on the East Coast, we always make it a point to have lunch or dinner at this place. It's a wonderful little place, where the proprietress is a lovely friendly Chinese lady, and the waitress a sweet sweet friendly Malay girl who remembered me when I went for the second time! She couldn't remember my travelling buddy though. Haha.

Early morning on Melinsung Beach

2010-02-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hope you like my Skywatch post! Check out more images on here.

I just love visiting my sister. She lives right next to the beach and it's great to wake up early and hear the surf outside.

I slide open the door and the sound is instantly magnified!

This was last December. Can't wait to get back there again!

Kuala Abang - a fishing village

2010-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

We were back again on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia last week of January. It was much much hotter than it ever had been since we first started going mid last year. And of course I forgot my sunblock. And of course we spent too much time under the sun. And of course I was badly burnt. Ugh. Don't ask. Thank you.

But the clear skies and sunny sun meant everything looked technicolor brilliant and amazing! Each time we go to the east coast, we explore places we hadn't been before; take that little road there, follow the sign that promises some exotic obscure village or something. This time was no different. And we found a little fishing village called Kuala Abang, not far from Rantau Abang.

It's such a quaint little place; so much activity going on; bustling even! It was hot and fishermen were coming in with their catch, and there was a little station (more like a little hut) where they got their catch weighed in. And there were others who were playing cards. Some napping on makeshift counters. Some shooting the breeze, talking coffeeshop talk. Ohhhh, it was nice! I wish I could have taken pictures of all of that but everyone kept staring at us wherever we went; quite unsettling! Sigh. I need a camera with those huge lenses so I can go far far away, and take pictures unobtrusively! I had to settle for empty sampans (little 2-men fishing boats) :) But it's okay, I still like this picture :)

To Nani with Love

2010-02-17T18:31:00.000-08:00

My late grandmother, Ottilia Bokuta, a wonderful woman, who single-handedly raised 6 children after her husband passed away in 1945. Amazing.

It was her birthday on the 15th. She would have been 102.

My darling cousin scanned this picture and put it up on facebook! So lovely of her, otherwise, this picture would remain in memory only. Now I have a digital copy! Technology is so cool!

Kijal - a sunny afternoon by the sea

2010-02-17T02:59:00.000-08:00

This beach in Kijal is one the prettiest beaches on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia. I've been here four times already, maybe, in the space of a few months.

I always see something different each time I go. This time it's a mom and her three kids frolicking in the (extremely hot) sun.

One time we went, we went by motorbike. We parked the bike and went off to take photographs. When we returned an hour or so later, one of our helmets, that we'd left dangling on the bike, had been taken. All that was left was the strap. That was a nasty surprise.

Another time we went, there were mats and mats of fish being laid out under the sun to be dried. Dried salted fish! Yummm! Didn't smell too good at the time though.

Yep, something different each time. Can't wait to come back here again!!!

I love Vandalism

2010-02-16T17:54:00.000-08:00

I drive by this abandoned building something like twice a week, and have done so for at least a year now but only saw this sign about four weeks ago.

The first time I saw it, I didn't have my camera. Aaarghhh!

The second time I drove by it, the battery was dead. Double aaarghhh!!

The third time I drove by it, traffic was going too fast! What a scream.

Finally, a day came that everything was in place. Camera, check. Batteries, check. Traffic situation, conducive.

Still, I didn't manage to take a good picture. :(

But I so want to mention this sign, and this building!

This building has been left vacant for some time now. It's by Jalan Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, just before the left turn going into Jalan Maarof. It had been looking a bit discrepit of late, and maybe even bordering on scary.

But then again, that's relative right? Scary to some, inviting to 'others'. Guess someone saw that too and thought an appropriate sign was in order! I love it!!

The first time I saw it, I thought, oh wow, is this where my tax money goes to??? A 'no ghosts' sign???

Then I saw that it's a painted cut-out and glued onto a sign. My next guess is that someone pilfered the sign from somewhere else.

Haha, this vandalism I thought so cute! But I shouldn't say that. Really.

Aphid in Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur

2010-02-16T09:08:00.000-08:00

Caught in Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur!! A giant aphid on a heliconia! A gigantonomous aphid for sure!! Never seen any that size before, but then again, why am I surprised. I saw some huge huge Atlas Moths not too long ago in the same park!!! Not sure what the park keepers are doing right... or wrong... maybe seriously wrong...!!

Nevertheless, it was beautiful to behold, so white, and so fine, all the pointy things, feelers I guess, moving in slow motion, as if underwater. Alien-like even.

Patrick Starfish

2010-02-12T21:27:00.000-08:00

(one of) My favourite cartoons reincarnated as a flower. This beauty can be found (in abundance) in Cameron Highlands (at the Boh Tea Plantations)

Fact trivia : Starfishes are one of those animals without a true brain.

Bungus Beach at the end of a wonderful day.

2010-02-12T21:03:00.000-08:00

The best thing about little places is the big surprises they have in store for you.

I had no idea about Bungus Beach, except that it was quiet. And I'd seen pictures and read stuff on the internet. No tv, no fancy stuff. Which was what I was looking for. Quiet beach; hopefully no other holiday makers: just mingle with the locals.

And that was exactly what I found on this little bay facing the Andaman Sea.

Each evening, the fishermen in the area work together to bring in the catch. That evening, there were some five other fishermen pulling the net in. So synchronised, so rhythmic. Such a lucky break for me. Yaayy!

Tortoise

2010-02-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

Such a curious tortoise! He stuck his head out, staring, staring, him at me, me at him, in total silence, until I had to fill the growing uncomfortable silence with mindless chatter. And he continued staring.

You can say hi to him too at the National Science Center in Kuala Lumpur.

Nature on Love

2010-02-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

I love the innocuous way that nature sometimes employs to surprise me. Cheeky, cheeky!

Found this leaf on the sands of a pretty little cove in the Teluk Bidara area. A stranger among pebbles, broken shells, and polished pieces of glass. A lovely little imperfectly almost perfect leaf. Not caring that it might be out of place. Making a statement in its own right.

Perfection? Not. Perfect!

Respite

2010-02-09T02:12:00.000-08:00

We were on our way to Tabawan Island: passed this solitary hut in the sea.

Not too sure what it is, but I think it's a place where fishermen stop to rest. Maybe they prefer not to float about while they catnap!

I think that's a reasonable explanation! :) Maybe someone out there has a better idea? :)

Evening sun over Tabawan!

2010-02-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

Darvel Bay has got to be one of the loveliest place I've been to. We stayed in this cute little wooden house on stilts in the water just 50m offshore of the island of Tabawan.

Imagine waking up to the sound of water lapping against the stilts of the house and ending the day with a sunset like this to the sound of crickets. Or some other insect. Maybe cicadas. I think we heard crickets.

Check out my video 'Sound of Silence' early morning on Tabawan island. No human sound. Just the water and the insects. Pure bliss! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVMY_ptKwd4

Yayasan Sabah Building

2010-02-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

That building brings back so much memories. It was the tallest building in the state (don't know about country or the South East Asian region, I'd like to think so, but it probably wasn't) when it was completed. I just found out that that was in 1977.

And I just also found out that it's now called Tun Mustapha Tower!!! How awful. But that's just my personal opinion on the matter. I guess they (whatever authorities are entitled to do so) wouldn't have changed the name had there been a lot of protests.

This view is from the Likas Hospital, some 10km from Kota Kinabalu. I was in and out of the hospital visiting my mum, who was undergoing an operation at the time. Aug 2009. She's okay now. Recovering nicely and in the best of spirits. :) Love you mum :)

Those are Sabahan (left) and Malaysian flags.

Peace and Quiet!

2010-02-06T03:42:00.000-08:00

I love the beach. When there is no one else around. Well okay, not completely empty. Maybe just another soul per square 40000 meters. Yes.

And be the first one to make footprints on the sand. Yes!

I've been to this coastline at least five times now. And love it even more everytime. :)

This particular beach is Cherating. Quite famous. Not sure why. Because there are other more beautiful (imo) beaches along this coast! Okay, it's easy to fall in love with this beach. But wait till you see the other beaches. And I mean wowowowow. :)

Epitome of Serenity

2010-02-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

Last November, we went 'wat-hopping', saw more wats than I ever had in a day and probably in a long time too.

This image of Budhha can be found in Wat Photivihan in Kelantan. Okay, I will say it, a Malaysian state steeped in historical and cultural heritage dating back to, possibly even earlier, the Srivijayan Empire in 3BC.

But really, we were surprised by the gems we found in Kelantan. Looking forward to another trip in March. Hopefully.

The Blue Lotus

2010-02-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Wandering around someone's garden while waiting for a friend, I found this gorgeous flower! Lucky break for me!

The little bee was struggling to get nectar? I don't know but I made sure to get my camera quickly and capture the moment!

I love the title to this post too - The Blue Lotus - one of the titles from the Tintin series - my favourite comic book hero! Woot!

1 2 3...

2010-02-05T02:54:00.000-08:00

Finally managed to load a counter!

Haha.

Displacing a tribe? Not that hard to do.

2010-02-04T18:11:00.000-08:00

I was on Carey Island recently for work. Work. Hah. That's a lame excuse really.

I've been wanting to go to the island since time immemorial. An exaggeration, of course. Haha. Really.

Anyway. I had to 'research' Malaysian artforms, and Mah Meri sculptures were identified as one of them.

Lucky me. Woot! Someone said when you love what you do, it's not work. Clever fellow. :)

Check out the mask huh? This is what the Mah Meris call Moyang Kalo. Each mask tells a story. And how. :) :(

It's a masterpiece by this guy. Check him out. Master carver (30 years experience no less) Pion Anak Bumbong.

Firstly, it was mind blowing just to be speaking to him. Prior to the chat, I'd only read about him on the internet. He's a pretty famous guy in his own right. Wining miscellaneous awards. UNESCO among others. Giving interviews like some A-list hollywood star. That's pretty cool in my book. :)

Still, our chat was tinged with sadness. On my part. He was totally cool about it all though. His is a tribe that is on the edge of extinction. Or rather, assimilating into the generic general nameless faceless community at large. No identity. No name. No history. No heritage. Maybe I'm exaggerating. In this case I like to think that, but I'm afraid that I may not be.

His story told me of a rich heritage that will disappear in the name of development. Of palm oil estate development, to be specific. Give them 10 years? Maybe 20. Even while I was looking for them, and asked an orang asli girl, she didn't know what I was talking about. Maybe it was my strange (to her) accent. Haha. Sigh.

Coconut!

2010-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

I love coconut!

Except in the milk form. It allegedly does things in your arterial system and makes you susceptible to all sorts of nasty medical conditions. Yekk.

So I was so shocked when a friend told me his niece drinks coconut milk as a beverage. What! Like omigod. Why?

Falling in love with...

2010-02-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

... Frangis!!

Found and fell in love with the white frangipanis in Rantau Abang.

There's a place in Rantau Abang that we always stay at. The guy who keeps the place is such a workaholic, he leaves the place spotless! Sterile almost! But one evening he wasn't quick enough, so I went snap happy!!

Oh, did I mention? I have a new camera and it takes pictures like a dream! Am so loving it. Pardon my McDonalds.

Dreaming in Teluk Bidara

2010-02-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

Was in Teluk Bidara over the weekend. Super weather! Super skies! Super water! Super scenery! Super travel companion! A super weekend altogether!

Bidara means angelic beautiful woman. Pretty apt for this beach, in my opinion. :)

Feb 4 2010

J D Salinger

2010-02-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

I mourn quite a bit. It's a persona I adopt to suit the 'moody writer' image. It suits me. Most of the time.

That's my netbook. And that's a cup of Masala tea to help me mourn (or calm down or just daydream in general).

So Mr Salinger left us last week. It was a bit of a sad moment. Not that I knew him personally. But I had read Catcher in the Rye, and was quite affected by it. So that allows me some kind of license to make a tribute of some sort doesn't it? Kinda. A bit. I guess.

My favourite bit in the book is the visit to his old English teacher and the events during the visit that, to me, lead to Holden's disenchantment with adults in general, and an eye opener for me to the unelegantness of being old.

I just spent the morning looking for the book. And couldn't find it. Hummm. Guess I left it back at my old house. Must get it this weekend. And read the book again. For old time's sake. :)

Au revoir Mr Salinger.

Negeri Sembilan ~ a spooky palace?

2010-01-11T03:38:00.000-08:00

I was reading about designs on keris hilts the other night and discovered a thing or two about crickets.

Apparently in Negri Sembilan, a cricket is the soul of a house. Which is kind of spooky. Because as it happened, sometime mid last year, we visited the old Malay palace in Seri Menanti in Negri Sembilan.

And guess what landed on my hand as I took pictures outside the palace. Talk about spooky. Haha.

Well, I'm not too sure what it is. I think it's a grasshopper, but then again, I never devoted myself to the science of entomology.

I decided to look at pictures of crickets and grasshoppers, maybe my untrained eye can spot the difference.

Cricket

Grasshopper

Nah, I can't tell really.

Maybe it's the way the hind legs are folded in a grasshopper as opposed to them being open wide in crickets?

And this is the critter that jumped onto my hand as I took pictures. Surprised me the handsome bug, but I recovered sufficiently to take a picture :)

Now, I'm thinking, damn, that might've the palace's soul. If only I'd known. I might have made a wish or something. Can we do that? More importantly, could it grant wishes? I wish! Haha, that would've made my day.

Rantau Abang ~ dancing on the beach!

2010-01-01T04:21:00.000-08:00

A beach. Just the sea and the sand.

A late evening sun. Just right to cast long shadows.

A light breeze. Just enough to tease the hair without being annoying.

A gentle surf. Just enough to create a hypnotic rhythm.

Who could not be persuaded that everything had been pre-arranged in perfect harmony and detail especially for two souls to converge on that beach on that evening to delight in each other?

the weight thing

2009-12-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

I have been looking at people pictures. And people watching. At the malls, sitting in restaurants, gazing out. On the roads, driving, stopping at red lights, looking (surreptiously) at pedestrians. Then looking at before and after pictures at sites like fitnessmagazine.com. And wishfully thinking I wanna look like her. Or her. Or her. Or her. Even her.

How did I get here? Girlfriends of course. Haha. And a book too.

'How to Meet a Man After Forty.. by Shane Watson'. Which I'd gotten ages ago, but never managed to sit down and read. I mean really sit down and read. I had quoted bits and pieces off of it to my sounding board :) He was teasing me about the quality of the stuff I read, so I started quoting lines from it just to prove him wrong. I like the book and I'm just over midway through it. OK I diverge.

The first chapter is called Am I Good for My Age? And it is hilarious! But it also made me think. Or rather cringe. One of the things I fear most is wearing stuff that is age-inappropriate. Under this chapter, Ms Watson has a section called Looking GYFA : Know Your Style and she categorizes all the different styles so neatly into;

Too Body Conscious
Too Youth
I think I can still do Scruffy Rock Chick
I'm doing Old-school Glamour
I'm a Chic Lady
Floaty and Feminine
Kitten Girl

In Too Body Conscious, she sums it up perfectly in this line - 'tight is cute on girls, and sexy on vamps with personal trainers, but can look desperate on a regular woman wearing ordinary underwear.'

I wont go into the other sections, they're just as plain speaking as this. And spot on. And funny. OK I diverge again.

About three weeks ago (maybe 4 or even 5), I met up with some girlfriends and we had started talking about appearance. I thought that all of us looked good in our own way. However, at the end of that exchange, everyone in the little group unanimously agreed that I was a tad too skinny and needed to put on some serious weight! No boobs, no butts were their verdict. Hey, I'm not so vain that I got worried about that, but what scared me was one of them saying, if I didnt put on anymore weight, I would age before my age! Nooooo! Everyone immediately went into expert mode on how best to put on weight.

See, I do eat. A lot. I am hungry all the time. But the calories start burning off as soon as I so much as taste the food. And eating all the time does get to be boring very quickly. Anyway, so one of them suggested I continue eating the way I do, but also to start drinking weight gain formula shakes in between meals. Which I did religiously for about 2 weeks.

And I did notice some weight gain. And I could fit into (and bought) a super cute strapless bra! Something I never thought I could manage!! Woot!
But I was also going to the bathroom a lot. And my stomach was bloated and queasy the whole time. Is that normal? Even if it is, it can't be good. So I stopped taking the milk shakes. I feel better but the downside of it was I lost all the weight I had gained!! :(

I spoke to another girlfriend two nights ago. She said, I look good the way I am. Never mind what other girlfriends say. They probably are just envious of me and want me to be fat like all of them. I guess so. The thing is I do think I am too thin and I think it would be nice to have a little cleavage and a little more butt. Haha. Yea, I know. Didn't I just say I wasn't vain? Damn. The grass is always greener on the other side.

I will have to make up my mind though. There is just enough weight gain formula left to make two more shakes. I think I will have those shakes before the day is over. Damn.

Langkawi ~ The sky on the sea!

2009-12-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

Reflection of the sky on the Langkawi side of the Andaman

Wat Pracacinaram, Kelantan - Bots and Cats

2009-12-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

This isn't your regular wat picture I suppose, but I just had to put up a picture of these felines. They were almost all over the place at Wat Pracacinaram.

This is my first ever wat. Ever. Yaay!

I had no preconceived idea about what a wat should look like and I was blown away by what seems to be a wonderful balance of quaintness and over-the-topness, not at just this wat but at all the wats we saw that day.

Well, except for the last one we saw (Wat Chonprachumthat). That I'll save for another write-up. :)

There was on-going construction at the time of our visit (that was November 2009). I guess they would have finished by now. The construction, however, in no way dampened our visit.

I also first learned the word 'bot'. One of the men said we could enter the 'bot' as it was unlocked. I had no idea what he meant. I thought he mispronounced 'boat'! Haha, stupid me. And travel buddy said, no he said wat. I kept my peace. I thought I could differentiate the sound of 'b' and 'v'. Still, one never can tell.

Anyway, afterwards, back at our room in Kota Bharu, I googled 'bot' and found out it to be the prayer house, or I just googled it again, it defines a 'bot' as the finest building in a Thai Buddhist monastery. Talk about wow.

This picture does NOT do it justice tho :(

Anyway, we didn't enter this fine looking building since we weren't sure that we could. Lesson of the day; in case of ignorance.. ASK.

It also happened to be something like all souls day or something. There were Buddhist devotees placing offers and burning paper money. We tried not to be too intrusive and kept out of the way. Good thing they were quite nice about us (me rather) taking their pictures :)

Wat Photivihan, Kelantan - the tale of the purple mangosteen

2009-12-08T03:24:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the home of the largets reclining Buddha in Southeast Asia!

The second wat we saw in Kelantan was Wat Photivihan. Totally different from Wat Pracacinaram, and again different from the next two wats we were fated to see later the same day. I like this wat for the different trees growing in the compound. This one I'm standing under is a mangosteen tree. There is even a cocoa tree nearby.

Before anyone thinks I am an expert fruit tree person, let me set the facts straight. I DO NOT know my trees, except for rambutans, durians, mango and banana trees. I dont think I can name anymore. Maybe they'll come to me after I'm done writing this piece. It's always like that isn't it. :)

So I'm standing under this tree for shade, trying to make a meaningful picture out of the combination of concrete seats and over-manicured tree. As soon as I clicked on the click button, something dropped onto the ground next to me. I was creeped out of course. I looked down. A dark round thing rolled to my feet. I got really creeped out. I looked up the tree. Nothing out of the ordinary. I looked down again at the dark round thing. Then I saw that it was a mangosteen. Hmm. I should have taken a picture of the fruit. But as I said, I was creeped out. Who remembers anything when they're creeped out except to get away as far as possible as quickly as possible from the creepy place?

Anyway, creeped out as I was, I picked the fruit up. Looked up at the tree. It seemed to smile at me. I smiled back and said thank you. And walked quickly away.

I looked for my travel buddy. He was busy taking pictures. I decided not to bug him and took some more pictures on my own.

Afterwards, when we got into the car, I showed him the mangosteen. I said if I ate it, it would be the freshest ever mangosteen I'd ever eaten in my entire life. Would you like to have some? He shook his head. I said, but what if it were cursed or something? You eat some too, so that at least if we died or something, we'd die together or at least have dysentry together.

So he ate a wedge. And I ate the rest.

To this day, we have not experienced any adverse effects from it.

Phew.

A white antrium in Cameron Highlands

2009-12-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

This fly spent some time on this white antrium, allowing me to experiment and re-experiment (taking pictures). What a lucky break (for me).

What a year!

2009-12-04T07:14:00.000-08:00

Iced lemon tea. Egg rolls and peanut dip. Noodle soup. Lovely conversation. Movie.

How time flies. (when you're having fun)

How time flies. (when you don't want it to end just yet)

So sad.

Butterfly Park Kuala Lumpur - cool winged ones!

2009-12-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur is a favourite haunt. I try to go often, but haven't been as much this year. I just realised it's already December... and I've only been... twice!!!

These pictures are from October. The time I went, there were a whole bunch of Atlas Moths. Amazing winged creatures! They were HUGE! I hadn't seen them on previous trips so that was a nice surprise. I should go again. Maybe the park has more surprises in store. :)

Cameron Highlands - tea, tea, and tea

2009-11-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

"We drove to Cameron Highlands Friday 13th November 2009. And visited the Boh Tea Plantation the next morning."

Not that it's in any way outstanding piece of information.

Just that this morning (28th November 2009), I was just going through old messages on my phone and saw a message where I was exchanging texts about driving to Cameron Highlands one of these days. The most remarkable thing about it (to me) was that the texts were exactly almost 3 months to the date the date we actually went! So cool! :)

I am fascinated by order. He accuses me of being OCD about it. Among other things, but I'll save that for another day.

I love the idea of finding connection between events or actions. Especially when something seemingly so random and isolated can be explained in one way in relation with sometthing else or another or a pattern drawn from it. He says I have the capability of seeing things that aren't there. Fitting pieces that in reality do not fit at all, but just because I want them to. He may be right. But if I can fit the pieces, hey, then I will :)

Anyway, I thought it so cool to be talking about something in future not really knowing when that time would come and then when it happens, it happens in a nice round number kind of thing :) oh hey, maybe it's the number thing that fascinates me :) I'm a numbers junkie :)

This is actually the drive out of the tea plantation. I still feel like breaking out into the song from 'The Sound of Music' and do the twirling thing ala Sister Maria :) when I think of the hills and hills of tea bushes.

This is the tea factory at the end of the road. I was quite surprised to see it. Kinda old and spooky like, Norman Bate's motel came to mind almost immediately.

I guess I was expecting more Sound of Music and tea on delicate china, with hot scones and melting butter. They did have them. Not SoM. The scones and butter but no delicate china! The tea place (and shopping place) was crowded, so we ditched that place very quickly and made our way around the factory. He loves to look for 'pictures'. I just tag along and let my mind wander :) There he is looking for a 'picture'.

I swear I saw a shadow lurking just beyond that broken window pane!! Did I say I let my mind wander??

No delicate china here :) but I think that single rose rocks. Sigh. I need to work on my picture taking skills. All that stuff about composition, lighting, exposure, etc etc etc. I kinda like the reflections on the glass ;)

I guess the term here would be 'burnt sky'? I never think about those things. Too complicated. I rather like the little boy who came into the picture just as I went click :)

This is the front facade of the tea factory. It reminds me of the lego factory in Carlsbad.

I wonder how the locals get their mail. The one there looked like it had been closed for ages. I guess they didnt need snail mail anymore. It's all email now baby! Too bad though.

Princess Frangipani

2009-11-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Frangi baby

2009-11-26T17:43:00.000-08:00

Frangipanis in Putrajaya.

A Lotus and a Dragonfly

2009-11-26T03:15:00.000-08:00

I frequent the Butterfly Park in Kuala Lumpur just because... :)

Cameron Highlands - Tanah Rata and Brinchang

2009-11-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

What review about a place is complete without talking about the food experience?

Not that this is a review of Cameron Highlands. Just happened to have some food pictures. :)

But first a little background information :)

CH is made up of two towns - news to me too. I thought CH was just CH. Oh no no no. It's Brinchang and Tanah Rata. Brinchang is newer and (imho of course) kinda garish. Tanah Rata is a little quainter and where we stayed. We even came back four nights later! :)

And we stayed at the same place. Kang's Travellers Lodge. RM50 (USD17.40) for the night. Or EUR9.90. I've been thinking in Euro lately. Wonder why? :) We had internet wi-fi access too. How dare Lonely Planets say it's a scruffy place. Hhhh! Snort. We had our laptops with us, and the kind lady manager gave us the password so we could use the internet for free. :) There was hot water. No breakfast though. But it's ok la. We who can survive on cookies and water don't need all that much. Haha. Oh yeah, breakfast was RM5 or something like that.

Anyway, so there is a market place between Brinchang and Tanah Rata, which I shall christen the-market-in-between, where all sorts of stuff, mostly exotic plants and ordinary garden variety vegetables can be bought.

These are supposed to be ginseng roots, if the girl-in-charge is to be believed. I thought ginseng roots look eerily like human figurines. These just look like maggots to me.

This was breakfast our first morning in CH. Coconut pancake topped with a tad too ripe bananas. The chocolate sprinkle was a surprise. It was a bit too sweet for breakfast. Nice but we both agreed we wouldn't have it again. The second time we had breakfast in CH, we had scrambled egg and toast. At Kang's. The RM5 variety.

I am so envious of the children who went to this school! They're so lucky to have such a beautiful building for a school. It probably feels like going to the museum everyday! With friends!

Nothing beats having breakfast al fresco. And in CH, where the temperature is a cool 11 degrees (maybe?), it tops my best things to do on a Saturday morning list. That's my tea with sugar on the side, in the orange bowl :) The cook was kind enough to accomodate my request to have the sugar separately :)

Something I'd like to try for sure. Not this trip though. We had already had dinner and went walking around the area. This restaurant is on the other block behind the main blocks along the main street.

Penampang ~ Yaya siblinghood

2009-11-21T07:14:00.000-08:00

Brother and sister outside a little shop in a little place called Kg Sarapung just outside of Penampang.

My security thing was sucking on my thumb :)

Kuala Lumpur ~ Cotton puffs in the sky

2009-11-20T22:58:00.000-08:00

A fine untypical sky just outside Kuala Lumpur. Sigh.

Kuala Lumpur ~ Curious is as curious does

2009-11-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

A boy who wanted to know more. A Japanese restaurant in Mid Valley Megamall, KL.

Tambunan sisters ~ sweet as can be!

2009-11-20T22:19:00.000-08:00

Sisters in a market in Tambunan, waiting for their mom to pack up to go home. I can't remember their names now :(

Petagas Beach at sunset

2009-11-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

A july sunset in 2009, not too far from my mom's place

Skywatching - Sunset on Petagas Beach

2009-11-20T04:11:00.000-08:00

Petagas Beach, Sabah

Cameron Highlands - the local flora!

2009-11-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

This is a close-up of tea leaves before harvest.

I had, for the longest time wanted to go to Cameron Highlands. Think 15 years. Haha.

Each time I wanted to go, there was always something or other that got in the way!

So, last weekend (Friday 13th to be sure!) I arrived in CH! At long last!

I was surprised for one, at how bustling it was. I suppose I had always imagined CH to be quieter... in an English country-side kind of way. What I found instead was something busier and bigger. Not in a bad kind of way though.

I'm glad I came when I came. Before it gets too big, too commercial, too not-so-quaint anymore.

There is even a Starbucks on main street! And I got two bags of used coffee-beans to use as fertiliser! Haha. They were giving away bags and bags of them. For free. What a great idea.

We drove to the Boh Tea Plantation early Saturday morning;

1. for a spot of tea. Nah, not really. We'd had breakfast in town and were still quite full.

2. because that's what one does when one is in CH... it's one of those you haven't been to the place if you havent done such and such kind of thing.

3. to take pictures! yes! oodles and oodles of them! Tea plantations are so scenic! Unfortunately, none of my scenery pictures came out nice enough to show on here. Point and click you know. And the weather wasn't too kind for that kind of camera. I am so jealous of my travelling partner. He and his camera make no less than stunning pictures!

Here are some flowers that caught my eye.

A flower that looks like it would be equally at home on a wet sandy beach or at the bottom of the sea in a place called Bikini Bottom! And I christen this flower Patrick :)

A georgeous lone pink rose! So pretty that all the day's light decided to focus their attention on it.

A fly decided to pose for a bit because the white of this Anthrium showed his glossy black off perfectly. Well, my point and click can only do so much...

This georgeous thing flirted shamelessly. Take my picture! Take my picture! She said. What else could I do? But submit to her demands.

This is how Patrick looks like profile view.

I couldn't decide which picture of this red flower I like best, so I decided to put both up.

These both wanted to be posted. :)

Phew! This is the fifth time I'm editing this post. Can't seem to get the positions of the last four pictures right :(

Whatever comes out, I'm not going to fuss anymore :)

Wat Maisuwankiri

2009-11-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

I was in Kelantan again last weekend. For only the second time in almost 15 years.

The last time I was there, it was only for a night. And I wasn't really impressed.

It was December and the entire state (or so it seemed at the time) was under water! Of course I had to go during the Monsoon right?

Anyway, so it was with mixed feelings going again last weekend. It being the start of the Monsoon and all. Haha. What's that phrase? A glutton for misery?

Well, it was either South of Thailand or Kelantan. Both places that we havent really been there done that to. I was kind of jittery going to South of Thailand as the car wasn't in my name. What if the border police stopped us? What if they weren't satisfied with my papers? What if my car didn't pass their pollution test? or something this? or something that? urrkk.

Anyway, so we flipped a coin and Kelantan it was. Well, I did will the coin to flip for Thailand. It went for Kelantan instead. First it was heads Kelantan, tails Thailand. Then it was best two out of three. And I wanted to do best three out five. But my travel partner put his foot down. The coin has spoken! OK la.

I was pleasantly surprised and glad we went to Kelantan. :) It is still underdeveloped relative to the rest of the country, but the weather was beautiful and we got to visit the wats! (And we will be driving or riding to South of Thailand sometime soon, maybe before Xmas or early next year! woot!!)

In so little words... the wats are amazing! Here are some pictures from Wat Maisuwankiri.

The monk was texting. I think he subscribes to one of those A Meditation a Day kind of thing.

This old house reminds me of my grandmother's place. Ah, her place was not as grand looking as this, but it evoked the same kind of feeling of home, of coming home. Miss her a lot. She passed away in 1983. RIP nani.

The balcony has a Romeo and Juliet-ish feel. A la Asian. I imagine me sitting at the window, dreaming and smiling at the moon and I hear a soft singing from below. I look down and there he is. A smile. That smile. His hands on his heart. Fall for you. Just for me. Especially for me. Only for me. :) Corny? Who cares. :)

intellectual property

2009-11-10T04:42:00.000-08:00

Seriously. @_@

OK so I did not write "all copyrights reserved" on this blog. Doesnt it go without saying though? Unless I give explicit permission to use freely?

I just found out that a travel company has used one of my blog entries to promote traffic to their site.
And there was no way to contact them.
And I mind that a lot.

Seriously.

There's nothing right about that.
They could've asked permission and I would've said yes but do link back to me.
An acknowledgement is always cool, right?

Honestly. Some people. Or should I say some @#$%^& idiots.... Did I spell that right??

A fine morning at Starbucks ~ of monkeys and coffees

2009-10-31T02:16:00.000-07:00

The other day, my sparring partner and I had coffee.

We usually ordered both lattes but that day, he decided to get an espresso.

The coffees looked so cute next to each other, that I just had to do something!

He'd just only ranted about the absurdity of the establishment's labelling system and so knowing how it would get him worked up again, I posed this question to him.

If my coffee is a tall... what do you think yours is?

He mulled over it only a second and went, If THAT is a tall then THIS is king-kong.

Sigh. He cracks me up (all the time). :)

Kunak ~ see food seafood!

2009-10-30T02:19:00.000-07:00

I took this video while holidaying off Tabawan Island off Darvel Bay on the east coast of Sabah, Christmas 2008. And posted it to my youtube.

Guess what.

Someone expressed disgust at learning that these sea creatures were destined for the dinner table. I guess that is their prerogative. It would be better though, I think, if one stopped being an outsider looking in and tried and stepped into another's shoe and looked at things from that person's world. :)

I was waiting for my boat ride to come take me to an island. I had been observing this family of five maybe, three young kids in tow, in the water, poking about, wading and just looked like they were collecting shells out of the water. When they came out of the water, I was quite curious to see what it was they had collected, it turned out to be sea snails, a common (delicious) food in Sabah. :) I asked if I could take a video and they were kind enough to let me :)

Speaking Sabahan Malay :
lady : inda mau guyang suda tu (it doesn't want to move anymore)
me : tadi dia mau guyang (it moved just a sec ago)
inaudible chatter, giggling and more giggling
me : sya tangkap gambar dia mau guyang-guyang k? (let me film them moving about k?)
observing in silence

me : wah, pandai dia mau guyang kan, tapi ini inda mau kan? (wow, that one is moving, but this one wont huh?)

lady : nda (no)
man : nda pandai dia (nope it wont)

inaudible chatter, chills, more giggling

me : cuba kau pigang anu tu, kalau kau pigang dia punya anu tu, kasi kaluar ka dia punya anu tu? (that's me being imprecise..haha.. try touching that thing, if you touch it, will it stick its thingamijig out? my friends hate when i use the word 'anu'... it's a word that refers to anything.. in this case i meant its foot/ muscle/ tail/ whatever)
a bit of poking
lady : kacau-kacau sikit (poke them, move them)
more poking

me : kalau kau (inaudible.. even i cant understand what i said!! haha) dia jalan ka tu ah? (if i did (this?) will it move?)

me : tida mau suda, kalau kacau dia diam (it wont respond anymore, it is shutting down)
lady : diam suda dia (it wont move anymore)
me : ba ok la (ok then)
me : na ni na ni (oh look at this)
man : kalau kau di pulau isuk, tangahari kau puas-puas (inaudible) gambar ni (if you went to the island in the afternoon, you'd have a grand time taking pictures)
me : tida mau suda dia, ok la, thank you ah (it wont move anymore, ok then, thank you)

lady : welcome

inaudible chatter

And this is how it looks like ready to eat. Best grilled and eaten plain. And no mayonnaise! Yukk.

road trip : Taman Negara~ Lake Kenyir leg

2009-10-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a chance and take a road that was marked 'under-construction' on the road map that we were using ~ the second east coast highway.

This road cuts across the peninsular from Kuala Berang straight towards Lake Kenyir - one no longer need go north all the way to Kota Bahru and then head back south towards Kuala Terengganu. Pretty cool huh.

It turned out to be a wonderful surprise and we saw some amazing views!

To get there, take the road from Gua Musang heading towards Kota Bahru and take the right turn where there's a sign that says Taman Negara via Kuala Berang. The road is okay for most parts but there are some stretches that have not been laid. Luckily, it doesnt last more than 2 km in total. After some time, we came to a three-way junction. Earlier, down the road, there is a guard house, from whom we had gotten some directions. He advised us about this junction.. good thing we stopped to get directions. Don't want to end up taking the wrong turn and end up in Kota Bahru after all!! Hah. Anyway, take the extreme right fork and that will take you to Lake Kenyir, and the road from that point on is close to perfect! Hope it stays that way a long time.. :) hope it's not just wishful thinking :)

Check out the pictures...

The western part of Lake Kenyir... the environment is pristine...

The new second East Coast Highway ... it is like this most of the way ... traffic-free!! :)

I had rolled the windows down and was at once enchanted with the tropical sounds. I said stop, stop here. Let's listen to the sounds of the forest for a bit. And as we did, we heard them. Sounds of huge birds. We weren't sure what type of birds. I thought they might be hornbills... but I thought they couldn't be... hornbills only exist on Borneo!! Hah, good thing I dont know my ecosystems very well! It turned out that they were hornbill sounds!! Woot! We saw movement among the trees and then saw them!!! It was such a special unexpected treat to hear the cry of these birds and then to actually see one fly from one tree to another!

The car park at Lake Kenyir... I just love the trees :) the way they seem to crowd overhead and form a canopy against the sky... like they are trying to share a secret with me:)

One of the many rivers we saw along the way, this picture doesnt quite do it justice...

a beautiful waterfall in Sumatra - people

2009-10-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Our trek up Lubuk Hitam, and generally our stay in Bungus Beach was all the more memorable through people, locals and fellow travellers, that we met there. :)

Hady and Taufik whom we met on our way up to Lubuk Hitam waterfalls - a three tiered waterfall just a few kilometers from Bungus Beach. The bay in the background opens to the Indian Ocean. A fantastic view on the way to the waterfalls.

Yanti, an ultra-cheerful, ultra friendly local girl, who offered us a ride back to our losmen. I had lost my sandals on the trek up the waterfalls, and was walking on the road in socks! This picture was taken by David, a French sailor/traveller, waiting for his boat from Thailand to pick him up en route to Madagascar!

David took this picture of us. C'est cool! The structure behind us is a restaurant that Raoul is building. He has big dreams for his little losmen!

One of the many many bathing pools along the river leading up to the waterfall..

.... teeming with nibbling fish!

a beautiful waterfall in Sumatra - Lubuk Hitam

2009-10-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

Literally means Black Hole. Scary name eh. Maybe the locals just have a black sense of humor :) or it could reflect a darker past, in which case I prefer not to know...

We were in this part of Sumatra over the labour day weekend (30 April - 3 May 2009). It's a lovely place that I would like to come back to... after I'm done visiting a lot other places (on my places to visit before I die list) in South East Asia.

I'm putting this up because of the recent earthquake in Padang. :(

During our short stay there, we made friends with a few locals and a fellow traveller. When I heard about the earthquake, I sent text to Raoul, the guy who ran the losmen (Losmen Tintin) where we stayed. No reply. The next day I sent a message on his facebook. Still no reply. I was sorry that I might have lost a friend. Then 3 days later he sent me a message on facebook saying he and his family were ok!! Relief! :)

The trip :
I didn't want to do the tourist routine - going to Bukit Tinggi - as on the flight to Padang, I heard the others talking about going there. But even before I knew just exactly how many planned to go to Bukit Tinggi, I'd already decided I wanted to do something different. Something the locals would probably do - go to the waterfalls on a Saturday morning :)

I had checked online, and I checked again with Raoul. He confirmed that there was a waterfall nearby, but that we'd have to do it on our own. No matter. :) more fun that way :)

He did get a friend to give us a ride to the waterfall tho. And what a ride! Three on a motorbike, helmetless, zipping on a narrow meandering road through a picturesque village. Definitely no regrets there! :) I think it cost us Rupiah3000, but one can negotiate down :)

The early part of the trail was easy enough to get through.

Parts of the trail ran alongside the river. There were quite a number of locals bathing in the river. In their underwear or nothing at all. I was too polite to take pictures :)

It rained earlier in the morning, at dawn, so as we got closer to the waterfall, the climbing became a bit harder not because of anything else but the wet boulders. Some of them were huge and mossy and so slippery! Good thing we met some local boys who were on their way up - for their morning bath! - and they offered to help us :) pretty good huh? :)

The place where we stopped gave us a lovely view of the waterfall. The boys stripped down to their underwear. I think if we hadn't been around they'd probably have gone au naturel :)

The sound of the waterfall was lovely. I can still hear it in my head if I concentrate just so :)

a beautiful beach on Sumatra - Bungus and losmen tin tin

2009-10-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

Bungus Beach on the west coast of Sumatra is a lovely place to spend a quiet quiet weekend. We were there labour day weekend (May 2009).

We stayed at Losmen Tin tin, a lesser known losmen about 500m down the road from the more popular Losmen Carlos. It turned out to be a good choice for us :)

The owner is a very friendly local, whose real name is Azrul, but he says it's easier to call him Raoul.

How about breakfast by the beach?

He made banana pancakes for breakfast for us :) So much much nicer than toast and coffee! I thought the pancake was really nice, but then again when you're on holiday, breakfast with a view of the sea, everything looks better, tastes better, sounds better... :)

In the evening, he got us to sing along with him on guitar, David on harmonica, Jalidah on (home-made) maracas and me with my point and click camera! He has quite a repertoire of music songs! Does requests too :) from the likes of Siti Nurhaliza to Pearl Jam!! Impressive!

Earlier in the evening, I had taken a walk down the beach and how! I wish there were beaches like this back home...

I had booked a room in advance via email to Raoul. I was surprised at how fast he replied my queries! When we got there, he showed us two rooms. One was bigger but we picked the one facing the bay (no brainer there right?)

Precious Raoul bought that yellow towel just before we arrived! It still had the supermarket price tag on it!

I had my eye on that blue sampan (kayak) and next day, Raoul said we could go for a quick paddle if we liked. We plead with David and reluctant he was at first, he finally relented!! Poor him. Jalidah and I were quite useless with the paddles and the poor thing had to struggle so hard paddling against the strong current so that we didn't get carried out to the open sea! It was bloody hot too!! What with the 3 0'clock sun beating down on our backs!!

I thought even the dead leaves look pretty on this charming beach fronting the Indian Ocean! Sigh. I would definitely go back again :)

road trip : Kelantan ~ Lake Temenggor leg

2009-10-16T22:43:00.000-07:00

We had already had a lovely surprise taking the supposedly under contruction highway that cut east from Gua Musang across to Lake Kenyir and on to Kuala Terengganu had we wanted to go that way to return to Kuala Lumpur.

But having had this nice experience with the new highway, we felt it would be a perfect way to complete the road trip by taking the road that ran over Lake Temenggor. It was a drive well worth taken :) The road was in good condition and there was not much development all along the area, which meant we had a great view throughout the drive.

We kind of went a bit faster than usual, not stopping to take photographs because we did not want to miss the sunset view at this lake. We managed to get there in time for the sunset sky. And it was so worth going that fast!! The lake is much prettier than I imagined.

And so although we had earlier thought we would head on to Gerik to spend the night, we decided that it would be nicer to stay by the lake if we could.

This bridge takes us across Lake Temenggor to Banding Island in the middle of the lake. There is a nice resort called the Belum Rainforest Resort on this island. You can't possibly miss it... just follow the sign boards!

Anyway, the resort is very nice, a fancy schmancy place in the middle of all that wilderness and it has a nice manicured garden, almost like an anomaly :)

But regardless the unnatural beauty of the garden in the middle of the wilderness of Belum, the place still, for me, had a magical quality.. just as any place located next to a body of water would for me :) There's something about water that mesmerizes :)

Anyway we didn't quite fancy the room that was available and it was a bit pricey. The guy at the reception said there was no other accomodation available nearby.

That was probably the only disappointing thing about the trip so far. So we thought we'd explore a little, go look at the jetty, eat something, and drink tea and then head on to Gerik to settle for the night. We said we could always drive back here in the morning to explore the place.

There was a little cafeteria at the jetty. Just by pure chance, I asked the lady if she could tell us of any place to stay in the area.

And to my surprise she said yes!! She pointed to a collection of wooden huts on the opposite bank of the bank across from the jetty!!

It just goes to show that you should never hesitate to ask. You never know what nice little surprises you might discover! :)

Anyway, however after more inquiry from one of the boatmen at the jetty, he advised us not to sleep at that place. Very dirty was his comment. Instead he said we could check to see if we could get permission to sleep at one of the empty apartments in the fisheries department on the mainland. How exciting! I seriously think this trip is charmed! :) Everything just seems to fall into place :)

To make a long story short, we ended up spending a very comfortable night in a two-bedroom apartment! :) We did some more exploring next morning. Didn't see anything too exciting, though we almost came across a wild boar.. or so we thought. We tried to wait the creature out for a bit, but I guess it was scareder of us than we of it!

We went to check out the place that we were originally supposed to go to, and were glad we didn't stay there! It is neglected beyond description.

Sadly, it could have been an amazing place to stay, if only the landlady had maintained the place. After all it was partly floating on the water. And that was magical already.

In the end, we only had tea, and even that was a bit awful. My travelling buddy poured his tea into the lake! I hope he did not kill any fish that morning!

A limestone formation we saw en route to Gua Musang. Pretty!

road trip: kl-gua musang-lake kenyir-lake temenggor-kl : up to gua musang

2009-10-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

So this is Gua Musang - there are two parts of this town - the old town and the new town; the old town being way more interesting than the blandness that is the new town.

Three things made me excited about coming here; its numerous limestone outcrops, its train station and its description as a frontier town.

We got to the old town early evening. It is so quaint! We used Rough Guides (http://www.roughguides.com/) and it has descriptions that quite fit our needs :) Saw the train station first!! That was a treat!!

When we first arrived in Gua Musang, we wanted to see the fabled old train station - part of the fabled Jungle Railway that runs through the jungles of the peninsular from Singapore to Thailand. We might be taking that train ride in future. Hear it's got 'atmosphere'. I have not travelled third class nor with livestock, so it will be an interesting ride. We shall see :)

A little story-telling :
Looking for a suitable place to stay turned out to be an adventure by itself!

I got locked inside a room that I was looking at, and as I banged on the door to be let out; (I was on the third floor and everyone was on the first floor) already I imagined this was part of the (dodgy-looking) hotel's secret involvement in the human trafficking trade and I was on my way to be transported to some god-forsaken shanty town in the south of Thailand!! Yikes.

Should I be thankful for having been bestowed such fly-away imagination? (Yes. Thank you. Muah!)

Anyway, drama aside, after securing a safe-looking place to stay (the receptionist at the second hotel was a 10 year old boy - safe by my book..haha) we decided to eat before it got too dark to look around town.

We had earlier read about and wanted to eat at a place called 'Kedai Makan Mana Lagi'!! Such a cool name for a restaurant. (where else to eat restaurant or what other restaurant is there? whichever you prefer).

Until we actually ate there :( ...the portions were tiny :( ...
Hey just because we're thin people doesnt mean we don't eat eh.
Fortunately food is not our main criteria when travelling :) we can live on cookies :) still cool :)

Some stopovers before we reached Gua Musang;

I'm not sure what this place is called but already we saw limestone outcrops! So many and so beautiful!
Word to the wise : This is not a limestone outcrop.
I just like the reflection of the hill in the pond :) The limestone outcrop is just on the left of this picture. I should have put up a picture (which I have by the way) of it here but trust me. It is an amazing view. Go see for yourself. :)

There is only one thing that surprised me about Gua Musang. A place like that? With limestone outcrops all over the place? I would have thought rock climbing would be a local passion.

This place should be a place that produces world-class rock climbers. Then when I tell people (and friends) that I was just back from Gua Musang, they won't go... 'Gua Musang??? What's there???!'

Imagine that.... Gua Musang... the home of world-class rock climbers.... that would be nice :)

Why am I not surprised???
I had just read sometime not too long ago, that Malaysians consume an average of 25 teaspoons of sugar daily!! This was my tea and I had specifically asked for less sugar.

More sugar... but this is the natural kind... so should be OK. Right??

The first limestone outcrop that we came across en route to Gua Musang. What an incredible structure. Unfortunately I forget its name. We saw a sign on the road and made what turned out to be a rewarding stop :) I love these road trips and the little surprises that we are lucky enough to stumble upon :)

Cherating again. What makes a place special?

2009-10-16T17:48:00.000-07:00

The five senses are a powerful thing.

We were in Cherating again last month. Not that I'm crazy about Cherating. So why Cherating again? Memories maybe? From something you saw? felt? heard? smelt? tasted? :) And then it stays with you. Hopefully forever :)

The day before, I had looked up at the evening sky. It was changing colours and I wanted to capture the colours in my mind and archive them there. I laid on the sand, and looked and looked and looked. And I thought of M&M's and lipsticks and rainbows. We ended up with wet clothes and hair! I didn't really care :) Sigh. The joy of abandonment...

The morning was bright as a day usually is when I'm out by the beach (maybe it's all in my head :) ) and we laid for a bit, got bored of lying down, and decided to walk down the beach. And found a river mouth! Seems like the beaches here have a tendency to do that! No miles and miles of sand, but always meeting a river mouth somewhere 200-300m further up or down!

Interesting stuff we saw along the beach.

A piece of wood that didn't want to be ordinary...

A flower that probably birthed a future gigantonomous tree destined to delight visually...

A jellyfish that decided to take a short break on our beaches en route to a more exotic beach beyond alpha centauri!!

We stayed at this cute little place, an arrangement of wooden houses. Ranting Inn. It must have been there for awhile. The bougainvilleas are huge trees! Well maybe I exagerate a little. Haha. But the ones growing here are no petite bushes.

There's a pond a little way back inside the compound, and it looks georgeous but probably not a good idea to stay in the houses in the immediate vicinity!! Mosquitoes you know...

something about cherating

2009-10-16T16:45:00.001-07:00

OK, so I lied. It's not Cherating.

It's an even lovelier beach some 20 mins away from Cherating.

It feels almost sacriligeous to say its name for fear of invasion by the masses.

(Because then it will lose its charm! The thing that made us visit this beach 3 times in as many months!)

I cried the first time I discovered this beach. Its quiet beauty was nothing I had expected. I thought ho hum, regular beach ahead... then we made the turn into the beach and lo and behold... what a view!

Imagine this :

A little meandering road through a cute little uncrowded kampung.

Houses, some dilapidated, some colourful, scattered about in no recognisable order (which is charming in itself :) ).

Already you get glimpses of a beach that promises to look a little different from what you're used to...

A turn around a biggish open sided building, most likely a bustling fish market in the early mornings, and you see a sight that takes your breath away. You want to hold on to that moment a little longer. Because it's so so pretty!!

A walk further down this beach.. ok ok.. it's Kijal... is a river mouth. Not too sure which river; I've never looked it up. OK I will now.. I think it's Sungai Penunjok.

Depending on the time of day, whether it's high or low tide, the view is different. The first time we were there, it was high tide and high noon! Hot! But deliciously so :) there were boys swimming in the river in the shade among the boulders. I had pictures of those, but will put them up another time.

The second time we were there, it was low tide. And the treasures the beach offered up on show was something else entirely different but equally precious :)

We walked among water buffaloes :), mud skippers, little crabs with huge orange clippers, and dozens and dozens of hermit crabs :)

Dont know who was more scared.. the water buffaloes of us... or us of them!!! haha

This is Cherating :) where we stayed. Unfortunately (or fortunately :) ) there was no sleeping place in Kijal :)

I have this collection of cemented shells sitting on my bathroom sink now. I look at them every morning and think what a lovely visit that was. And the thought of going there again makes me smile :)

bah... time to get started again eh?

2009-10-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

wow... can't believe so much time has passed since i last posted anything on here!!

have done some travelling around the country, so that will be up in a bit.

have been writing a lot more too, since Awan Dania, have written a few more episodes... a drama Kecuali Cinta Mu, now it's in reruns. Had a pleasant surprise last week. A complete stranger wrote me and had only nice things to say about the drama!! :) yay!

busy working on (editing) episodes of a new soap. Hope that takes off :) Senja Permai.. due to air Dec 14 2009!

wandering around batu caves the other day

2008-11-12T23:26:00.001-08:00

I don't know... maybe it's me... but I kinda think this statue looks more thuggish than stately...

at the carwash

2008-11-12T23:00:00.000-08:00

religious? superstitious? or just being unconventional?

the row of figurines on the guy's desk at the carwash yesterday caught my attention.....

... as well as a chinese teapot and coke sitting next to each other in what i thought was a cute east meets west fusion...

and yes, the tea was still warm!

I would know... I touched the pot and (in a typically Asian habit) lifted the cup/lid to get a whiff of the aromatic tea ... he he he

check you out!

2008-11-12T22:58:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWV-7_aOV14

hey i'm (almost) famous! check the credits at 1.14 ...

another series! Awan Dania!

2008-10-28T02:56:00.000-07:00

Another series just aired! :)

It aired 20 Oct 2008 and smile smile! I enjoyed watching the show as much as I enjoyed writing some of the episodes!!

The show is Awan Dania (airs Monday nights on astro 104 at 9pm) revolving around a headstrong girl attending Air Asia Academy to be a flight attendant. She's played by this cutie pie of a girl :) so fits the Dania :)

Mine episodes are 3, 6 and 10!! Looking forward to season 2 and maybe 3!

an interview with a girl

2008-10-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

a girl
a slice of pizza
a kodak easyshare M853

... but no video!! grrr... been trying to upload a video (under the 100M limit) without much success!!! so I'm giving up!! better luck next time!

soup's on! :)

2008-10-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

sara focused her cute karmic energy to get me to bring her to lunch yesterday. turned out she wasnt that hungry.. all she managed was mushroom soup and a side of fries.. but we did film a cute sara video to share! :)

green trip!

2008-09-05T05:43:00.000-07:00

Made a trip out to Sg Buloh this afternoon!! It's always nice to visit the nurseries there, so much green, reds, yellows, purples, pinks, oranges! I must bring Sara one day! And Iman and Noah (if I can convince them it's better than internet or the movies! haha)

Anthriums!!!!

miscellaneous green stuff!

fir variety!!

Ixoras!!! but they're a slightly different sub-species, longer leaves, longer flower stems too!

cacti!!

more cacti!!!!

my not-so-nuclear curry!

2008-08-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Andy's curry pictures so inspired me to make my own!! But my version is not as fiery!!! And the recipe is designed around a little girl's palate!!

Scriptwriter-at-Large!!

2008-08-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Yaay!!

Today was the press conference for this medical drama I'd been writing scripts for for the past two months or so. The show? Ampang Medikal.

It was weird and interesting to finally see the characters, whom I'd only been imagining in my head and writing words and actions for, in the flesh. One character turned out to be exactly as I'd imagined!! wow. A few... not too far from my expectations, but some were really not what I'd imagined at all!!

The pilot episode goes on air 21 Aug 2008, 8.30-9.30pm on NTV7. We'll see how it fares!! Hope the viewing public loves it!!

andy's nuclear curry!!

2008-08-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

yummm!!

coconut milk, curry powder, more curry powder, chilli powder, and pepper!!

of platinums and aminals!!

2008-07-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

Sara and I have been reading Matilda by Roald Dahl for the past two weeks doing one to two pages nightly but last night we read four pages!!!

We're now at the part where Matilda punishes her father by replacing his hair tonic with her mother's platinum blonde hair dye. Sara can't get over how a little girl can do that to her father! She was kind of in shock as we read that chapter. She kept asking... Is Matilda a good girl or a naughty girl??! I felt bad... I have warped my child!!

And she had difficulty pronouncing platinum ... she kept saying plantimun!! but she has no problems pronouncing animal or anemone..

This morning, as we left for school and work, she declared that the plantimun chapter is the best one yet!! hahaha

Stress Buster!!

2008-07-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

God bless girlfriends!!!

The wonderful thing about girlfriends is that they always ALWAYS know when you are sad, stressed, happy and upbeat, mad, raving mad or just need some bubble wrap to burst! A gf sent me this link! So opportune!!

Yesterday wasn't one of my best days. It was one of those heart vs brain thing again. Even Sara's jokes only managed to bring forth a weak smile. In the end she gave up and let me cry for a bit and then bring me to the pool she said!! Going to the pool is always good and but not always convenient and if there are no bubble wraps nearby, here's a good place to burst some virtual ones!!

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf

confusing words for learners of the Malay language

2008-07-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sara is still developing her Bahasa Melayu vocabulary... and this morning I let her read some of my Malay work. I asked her to translate a word and she gave the meaning of another but very similiar word. Made me realise how difficult language learning can be. I take BM so for granted, I forget she is still learning it.

This morning it was mengangguk. She thought it meant annoy.

The sentence was Fiza mengangguk. And Sara thought it meant Fiza annoys!

mengangguk - nod
mengganggu - annoy

I guess it's very easy to make that mistake. Another pair that gave Sara (and Noah! when he was expanding his vocab) some confusion is bulat and bulan!

bulat - round
bulan - moon

That reminds me... When Noah was seven, he came back from school with a question. He said, Mummy, What is sugar in Malay? I said, Gula. He pondered and asked, What is Heaven in Malay? I had to smile, because I knew he had Islamic Studies that day and they were probably talking about heaven and all. And his friends proably pronounced syurga (which is Heaven in Malay) with a silent 'r' as a lot of Malays do! Poor Noah!! He had quite a time learning the lingua franca!!

sugar - gula
heaven - syurga
candy - gula-gula

I'm learning French... so far so good... except for the pronunciations! A friend gave me this tip... he said dont say the last letter!! haha!! ok... yay!

Sara the Magazinator

2008-07-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, Jul 23 2008, 7.23pm

She entered the car this evening announcing that she was one.

She defines a magazinator as a person who NEEDS (note the emphasis) and LOVES magazines.

Other words she coined to describe herself :

questionator - a person who keeps asking questions

.... hmm, I know there are more but at the moment can't remember any!!!!

Sara the Comedienne

2008-07-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Sara told a few jokes this morning. I was in stitches especially as she told it wearing such an unexpectant expression.

Why do the French like to eat snails? Because they don't like fast food.

Why are sausages rude? Because they spit when you cook them.

What does a lion use to comb its mane? A catacomb.

What is Beethoven's favourite fruit? Ba Na Na Na .... Ba Na Na Na (to the tune of Symphony No.5 - she didnt say it that way, but I knew straightaway, and told her how to say it the next time she told it... she said she's going to tell it at school today)

The Dark Knight

2008-07-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

I saw the movie last night. And I saw the box office statistics this morning. I guess darkness, manic characters and depressive sell. I didnt like the movie that much, save for one scene on the ferry, close to midnight. It was too much mutilation and violence and car chases for my taste. I can stand crazy, being almost border-line crazy myself (sometimes ) - (hah, maybe some who know me well would beg to differ), but the over-the-edge crazy that they made the Joker out to be just got on my nerves. When he put the price on the accountant's head... I went... huh? Enough already!! (Heath Ledger's performance? I was impressed!)

My girls and I, Wisma Maxis

2008-07-08T16:21:00.000-07:00

Having always been in the park/playground, watching my children play in the water, it was good to have a chance to look at the park from 37 floors up. Finally! We were up there in Wisma Maxis for Iman's interview two weeks ago.
I wanted to go out on the verandah but the doors were locked so these were the only outside pictures I could take.
My two girls! 13 years apart!
Trying to grow my hair as long as Sara's... naah... I prefer wash and go hair.
And the (almost) mandatory food picture...

out and about in Sentul

2008-06-25T04:36:00.000-07:00

One Fine Day (this morning) in Sentul!

I've never ventured into Sentul! And it's only a 5 min drive from home! Less without traffic. I went this morning to collect a package at the Sentul Post Office. We saw some interesting sights.

Public phones in Sentul. I haven't seen anything like them anywhere else in KL. Maybe I don't get out much, I don't know.
Inside the post office, pleasantly uncrowded, unlike the one in TTDI!
Now you can personalize stamps for special ocassions - newborn baby, birthday, graduation, wedding, mother's day and anniversaries! Pretty cool I thought.
Sara wanted a bun from this tuck shop down the block from the post office. The shopkeeper kindly allowed me to take his picture! But his wife didn't want to be in it.
You can't see it on here, but there were two disposable diapers drying on that jemuran. Recycling disposable diapers. Yay, Malaysians boleh!
Yes, it smells as unpleasant as it looks or as intriguing as it looks... as you like. The guy was spraying that thingamijig silver. He wanted to pose but I said no, I wanted to capture him in action :)

Someone had put their clothes out to dry while we were away at the post office. Parking here was wherever you see a big enough spot for your car. No parking meters to feed coins.

Sara read this sign and asked me what building it was. I said what do you think. She said, Is it a lady police's office? Directly translated Ibu is mother, Pejabat is office and Polis is police. I can only imagine what she thought of those words!! I told her it's like saying it's the mother office, only the word in English is headquarters.

I got this book this afternoon. I have to finish it before the weekend is over. No problem. It looks like an interesting read.
Salad before dinner - rambutan slivers (yay!!!), lettuce, green apple slices, walnut and lots of sunflower seeds, and my own olive oil, calamansi juice, salt and pepper dressing.. yummy

lost in hulu langat

2008-06-24T07:17:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, we went out to Hulu Langat to look for a waterfall that we'd been to earlier on Mother's Day (which happened to coincide with my birthday this year).

We weren't sure about the name and weren't even sure how to get to Hulu Langat! We relied on road signs. Surprisingly there were none!

Finally, we got directions from a mother and son everything banana snack business on an empty carpark lot off the highway (...in the excitement of getting lost, I forgot to take pictures).

We asked a few more people after them. The son didn't seem like he knew his way very well. It felt like too long a way (from what we could recall from the last trip). But everyone gave the same directions, so we stuck with the directions.

Drove uphill, downhill, passed some spooky looking cemeteries, topekong (should have taken pictures! but I guess when you're spooked you just forget!), a lonely road (and it was getting dark)...

Anyway... to make a long story short, we didn't find the waterfall, but we did find this very pretty (man-made, I think) lake!

As it was getting quite late, we only stopped a few minutes for pictures. We plan to go back the first weekend in July!!! We passed an orang Asli settlement, and I saw that they had a little by the road shop which I want to have a better look at.

Oh when we come back here, we'll be looking for Sg Gabai waterfalls.

I had my sweat pants and shoes in the car.

rambutans in ttdi

2008-06-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Took a 3 hour lunch today (to run work related errands... of course..) Sara and I saw these georgeous red rambutans sold on the walkway, outside a supermarket. Of course we wanted some immediately. But as we couldnt possibly eat so much rambutans between the two of us, we decided to get only handful of loose ones. That's the guy pouring our rambutans into the pink plastic bag (sorry no environmentally friendly bag here :( ).

Mmmmm... guess who'll be having sweet rambutan pieces in her salads for the next few days! More fruits down the block. I wanted to buy some of those bananas, pineapples, and mangoes! Luckily there was a sensible person between the two of us!

I just had to snap these beautiful roses at Sara's babysitter's now hadn't I??

eating out in Sri Hartamas

2008-06-24T05:53:00.000-07:00

Went for dinner at Sould Out w Trevor and Jensen last Saturday. It was very nice, apart from being a bit too loud; we sat under one of the speakers! We mentioned this to our usher, thinking we could get another table. The nice man misunderstood, he went to the DJ and got him to lower the volume of the guilty speaker instead! It was a slight improvement nonetheless.
That's the soup of the day - I forget it was either mushroom something or chicken something!
Satay appetizer! Delicious. I only had two sticks though - so much food!
Mine was Chicken Vindaloo - didn't realise it was hot! I thought the red was tomato!
Jensen's Lamb Shank - we shared our food as mine was too hot to eat all by myself. Trevor ate most of my chicken! So kasian oh you darlingest! Sorry!
I had most of Trevor's Sweet Sour Fish!
That's Jensen in the reflection taking our picture!

sally happy wishes!

2008-06-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

Birthday wishes from Sally Happy, Trevor and Jensen!

my pink baby

2008-06-21T19:10:00.000-07:00

Sara's middle name is Pink.

This was a few months ago at The Curve. She's showing off her new pink Polly Pocket book, standing in a frightfully pink sales booth. Pink carpet.

And pink dragonflies floating above.

A more recent picture - last month at home. She was in the mood for pictures - of me taking her pictures as well as her taking pictures of her stuff.
Only 2 out of her some 20 or so (at last count) barbie collection. She has more at her dad's place.
Sara was in charge of this and the barbie picture. She arranged the dolls, book, jewelry box, colour pencil and angle for the picture! She was so cute being busy creative director!

my favouritest trevor pictures

2008-06-16T15:24:00.000-07:00

June 2nd 2008 at Ryan's early birthday party and Heather's full moon. Also Trevor's er.. 18th birthday. (and late dad's 75th)

Trevor's pictures came out so well. (well imho anyway - I took the pictures after all) This is him in the various stages of opening my present to him (Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet.. yay!)

careful with the wrapping... we want to recycle it

almost there and wrapping still intact... can use for my birthday present next year

ahh.. so glad you love it cousin dearest!! muaah

orchids orchids orchids

2008-06-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Sneaked (hmm.. or is it snuck?? anyway...) away for a longer lunch than usual some 2 3 weeks ago to look at orchids 20 minutes away from work at the edge of KL!!

I should qualify that I dont normally do this (sneaking away stuff) but it was a welcome change to staring at two white (plaster) walls and a glass one 8 hours of the day.. (oh, and I forget... the computer screen)

For those not in the know(poor you), the park is on this little hill opposite the bird park (at the edge of KL). That's the path leading up to the top of the hill... not quite as strenuous as going up Mt Kinabalu!! Hardly broke a sweat, and bonus! It was a pleasant afternoon... not too hot, a breeze that came and went and a little drizzle that daren't turn into a terrific thunderstorm while I was out there.
I can't remember if my mom had an orchid like this, but it reminded me of her anyway.

I think she had some like these.

I know she had these!!! I remember asking her for some from her garden to bring to class so I could be teacher's pet (thats me learning how to suck up at a young age, oh yes, gaining teacher points was big at the time)

I dont think mom had these.
I know she had these or something that looked very very similiar to these!

Pitcher plants!! Only we called them Monkey Cup... I only started calling them pitcher plants after I learnt to read. We used to live next to this rambling secondary tropical forest and there were many many pitcher plants growing there. I remember looking into the cavities to watch ants trapped inside trying frantically to escape those unforgiving walls (not too dissimiliar from an action-packed scene from a b-movie minus the sound effects)

More orchids on the way back to the car.

Can you see the red dragonfly just right of center? I have to learn about composition and focus and lighting and ...

Hmm.. I should do this more often!

ugh! no more let's go for a drive...

2008-06-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

I hadn't expected gas price in Malaysia to increase.. I don't know.. I would've thought that being a net exporter of oil, higher oil prices meant more money! Hmm.. must be some other thing that I'm missing... should have paid more attention in economics classes!! Or maybe political science!

A friend sent me this link .. might this shed some light? http://humblevoice.blogspot.com/2008/06/56-billion-ringgit-question.html

what people are eating around the globe

2008-06-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

I sent an email to a few friends and one of them, Luis, put the images up on his website... which, I thought, was a cool thing to do!

This is the link to his page. A point to note though.. Hope your Spanish is up to scratch.

http://www.luisbeltran.com/archivos/2008/06/dime-cuanto-gastas-en-comida-y-te-dire-de-donde-eres/

after a time

2008-05-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

bah... let's get started eh?