Windows into Melaka

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.

Rantau Abang - Rain Rain No Need to Go Away

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!

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 :)

Red under the sun

 

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

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

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

 

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.

Bungus Beach at the end of a wonderful day.

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!

 

Respite

 

 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!

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

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.

Epitome of Serenity

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.

Displacing a tribe? Not that hard to do.

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.

Falling in love with...

 

... 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

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

Negeri Sembilan ~ a spooky palace?

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!

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?

Langkawi ~ The sky on the sea!

Reflection of the sky on the Langkawi side of the Andaman

Wat Pracacinaram, Kelantan - Bots and Cats

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

 

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.