Zendou`s Paradise

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 3

2011-12-13T09:40:00.001+08:00

Day 3. we have practically the whole day to ourselves. there was this highly rated dim sum shop around Mong Kok. since dim sum is the food of hong kong, i decided to give it a try. we queued up for the shop to open and took our number. then we went to have some light breakfast. unfortunately, both required queuing and flysheep's dad nearly blew up because he was hungry and needed food. bad planning on my side T__T lastly we dapau some yao char guai and bought some lo po bing before heading back to our hotel to eat.

With a half full stomach, everybody is in a lighter mood and we headed to the shop again. Seriously, what a disappointment. you should just forget about this place. not sure why everyone is making such a fuss about it. the dim sum shops around penang island win it hands down. hardly any competition at all!

The only food worth trying is the char siew pau. but the char siew is also so-so. the crust outside is what makes it special.

The rest of the food is either normal or hardly worth a try. the carrot cake sitting at the edge of the photo is the worst. everybody complains, what the heck...

After our double breakfast, we planned to do shopping around Mong Kok. However things are expensive. we gave up and headed to the airport instead.

The nice roof in the airport. we needed to check in at Terminal 2 but boarding gate is located at Terminal 1. what a fuss traveling back and forth. you really need extra time to travel between them. else you might run out of time to board the plane.

Food was cheap in Terminal 2 but we went to Terminal 1 to have dinner. everything is more expensive over there. but this shop at the very end of the food court sells delicious food at a very reasonable price.

We left Hong Kong with loads of cash in hand because we did not manage to do much shopping. Hong Kong is a beautiful and clean place. but 1 visit is enough for us. there really isn't much sight seeing to be done in the small island.

The flight back is noisy with kids (and their parents too!) playing on their iPad with the volume turned up, people talking loudly for hours when it was late night and we could have gotten a quick nap. oh well, all kinds of people you meet while traveling.

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 2b

2011-12-13T09:33:00.000+08:00

Yet another must-visit place, Victoria's Peak. the map guiding you from Central MRT to the Cable Car Station is pretty comprehensive. but the walk is tiring because it is a uphill climb. we queued up for the cable car. you always come across some rude tourist who basically shoved you away to get their favorite spot. sometimes I just wonder why can't people wait more patiently for their turn...

The ride was pretty short. the air quickly turned cool as we went up. we were greeted by bruce lee again! this time in his famous yellow suit. we happily took turns to take our individual photo with him. nobody wanted to pay to get into the wax museum though.

The sky terrace. you can pay extra money to go to the top.

Outside the sky terrace there is a nice spot for photo taking.

But I prefer taking photos from inside the building. Here's one beside Burger King. the sun was setting and this building totally caught all the lights and blinded us with its reflection.

We did pay extra money to get to the top of the sky terrace building. (tourist, duh...) the sight is pretty from the top!

I do not know how, but flysheep managed to capture this golden photo of the setting sun. suddenly we are in some nature mountain sea scenic place.

We patiently waited for the sun to set and bumped into some rude tourist again... it's pretty annoying! but the view is very rewarding. this is Hong Kong's glorious image.

Hong Kong in bokeh!

One last one before we leave this place and call it a day.

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 2a

2011-12-13T09:01:00.003+08:00

We started a new day again in Mong Kok. had breakfast in McD. saw a hello kitty doll wearing McD suit for sale. was very tempted to buy one (not a big fan of hello kitty but the costume was very cute) but moments later one girl came along and pasted 'sold out' sticker on it. duh...

Next stop, Wong Tai Sin temple. like, whoever would miss out this temple in a visit to Hong Kong? the temple is strategically located just outside the MRT exit. and the MRT station name is, Wong Tai Sin... you don't even need to ask for direction! upon reaching the entrance we were taken aback by the hoards of tourist arriving early in the morning. we went along and offer some prayers.

They have this very nicely decorated incense stick for sale.

We went ahead to donate some money to the temple. flysheep's dad said, hey use our currency note, then they'll know someone from our country donated them. all of us played along.

Visitors were tying red threads hoping to find the love of their life. while flysheep's siblings proceeded to do so *cough*, I held flysheep's hand and thanked the god-of-marriage I have already found mine.

Next off, we went to the central and took a bus to Aberdeen. we were hoping to see the Jumbo flaoting restaurant. instead, it was a jetty with a small boat that would bring you to the large boat that was no where insight.

There were many boats offering a ride that would bring you closer to the floating restaurant and around the jetty area, with a small fee of course.

It was very hot by noon and I was eager to leave the place. we waited a long time for the bus to arrive T__T When we reached central, I was pretty tired. flysheep took over and brought us the the mid level escalator. we went up and up.

I spotted the place I was planning to have lunch. lucky us there was no need to wait. we were ushered into the small shop and cuddled at one corner. hong kong's shop are mostly very cramped with customers sitting back to back.

This place is famous for its pork chop burger and milk tea. the burger was the best that i have tasted so far, even better than macau's.

We saw a table that ordered the french toast twice. must be tempting! after we finished our food we ordered one to test out. delicious!

Next we went to pick up some egg tarts. i read online most people waited 20mins to get their tarts but I was surprised there was not a queue in sight. hopped in and out in 5 mins.

We strolled towards Man Mo temple but upon reaching it, nobody wanted to go inside and have a look. instead, we took a seat in the garden opposite it and consumed our egg tart. OMG the awesomeness!!!! I will definitely miss these egg tarts!!! the crust is crunchy on the outside. once you take a bite, the whole thing threaten to fall apart because the egg inside is so soft. YUM!

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 1d

2011-12-12T18:28:00.001+08:00

We headed to Tsim Tsa Tsui for the Light Symphony. it was dusk and the buildings were slowly lighting up.

Illuminated skyscrapers. the best of Hong Kong!

Zoomed in version...

And another visit to Bruce Lee. it was surprising to see so few tourist standing around the statue.

Next was the boring wait for the light show to start. we took shots here and there while waiting

As the clock ticks closer to 8pm, tourist started to show up and grab up good positions along the pathway edge. we quickly joined it. and so the light show begins!

The show was very short but not too bad.

We were starving at the end of the show. Grabbed a quick dinner at SOGO departmental store. the food court underneath is highly recommended. cheap and nice food! it's limited to japanese food though.

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 1c

2011-12-12T18:06:00.004+08:00

Vege lunch at Po Lin Monastery. it was superb. we couldn't stop eating. yum yum yum. cannot understand people who complains about it.

Leaving the canteen with a satisfied tummy, i was surprised to see a temple outside of it. then it came across my mind the canteen is only part of the whole place. of course there has to be a great temple beside it! i was too obsessed with food. -__-

I suggested to take a stroll along the wisdom path. the guide stated 15mins. we decided to give it a try. well worth the effort I would say. The mountain that greeted us at the end of the trail.

Our destination, the giant post with carvings.Nice place, do not miss it when you are here.

The next place is Mui-O fishing village. we took a bus down the winding road. The were stalls selling all kinds of seafood.

Travelers said this place is pretty with the house on stilt with the traditional fishing village taste to it.

However the whole sight did not appeal to the majority of our group who grew up beside fishing village...

I saw starfish and was tempted to get one. flysheep stopped me and warned me the starfish may rot, not suitable for keeping. I gave up on the idea.

We completed the tour in 15mins and got back to the bus stop. the next bus comes in 45mins time. we were devastated. but the station master came to the rescue by scheduling another bus in 15mins time. we happily left the fishing village for the cable car back to kowloon.

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 1b

2011-12-12T17:23:00.001+08:00

Coming out of the cable car, there was a long line of shop selling interesting stuff before reaching the Great Buddha. and why wouldn't they? there are so many potential customers like us!

Hmm, it was bubble festival and bubbles were everywhere using this machine to mass product.

The big entrance.

Some guardians keeping look out for the area.

At the bottom of the hill glancing upwards to the Buddha makes my knee slightly weaker.

Halfway through the climbing, pausing for breath. despite panting and gasping, I pretended the short stop was to take breathtaking photos, nothing more than that.

Alas, the top! angels offering to the Giant Buddha

We went inside the Buddha for a short tour but no photos allowed.

The way down was a breeze but we all needed food to replenish our energy. next stop, lunch!

Hong Kong Trip 2011 - Day 1a

2011-12-12T16:51:00.001+08:00

Early morning, I decided to take a short MRT ride to get to the this place famous for its scrambled egg.

We all ordered the breakfast set. but it turned out the default set came with a pan fried egg instead of its famous scrambled egg. later we overheard customer telling the waiters to scramble the eggs. duh, it actually needed special instruction. the portion was huge. the bread was crisp. the milk tea was smooth. but the rest was not really much to shout about.

But the egg pudding is as good as what others said.

Trying to get on the MRT heading towards Hong Kong Island proved to be a difficult task. we decided to head the opposite direction and passed through Lai King. seats were abundant. we sat our way to Tung Chung. the rest of the passengers looked like tourist similar to us...

Outlet outside Tung Chung station.

The cable car starts operation at 10am. I thought we were early at 10.30am but there was already a long queue ahead of us. the line moved kinda fast and soon we were able to purchase tickets. got the crystal cabin for fun's sake. then there's another long queue for the cabin car ride...

Cabin car passing us by

Out legs were hanging in the air! seriously, it may seem interesting for the first 5 mins. later you'll feel your neck getting sore looking downwards. at last I spent more time looking outside.

The hiking trails below us. looks interesting.

The large Buddha coming into view. the cable car ride was quite long.

Hong Kong - Prelude

2011-12-12T16:29:00.001+08:00

It was a late flight. and I find myself above the clouds yet again. the sun is setting soon. I was bored, sitting alone beside the window wondering how to kill time for a 4 hour journey. filling up the foreigner entry pass took less than 5 mins, even for 2 person. taking out the camera and snapping a sun set view took less than 5 mins too. I sat there wondering if the trip would go wrong with 5 person tagging behind me. I may be a good organizer, but I'm an impatient tour guide.

Touched down in Hong Kong airport without much hiccups. nobody got detained at the immigration. no lost luggage. managed to squeeze in the bus heading to the town. we got down at the correct stop. found the hotel, no problem with the room reservation. room looks new and clean, albeit very tiny. dumped our luggage and went scouting for food.

Ahh... the yellowish mee of Hong Kong. I really had a lot of it in Macau. not that I miss it, I had rice instead.

The busy street of Mong Kok. well, we thought it was crowded, until we saw it during weekend...

Screws & Holes

2011-09-22T17:04:00.000+08:00

Feeling rather energetic on a fine sunday afternoon, me and flysheep decided to take out the long abandoned shoe cabinet from its packaging and started assembling it while waiting for our muffin to bake. it looked pretty simple in the beginning. just combine the 4 walls to make a box. with the screws in place, we joined them together. and came to realize the screws don't really fit into the precast hole!

Then we started the banging and knocking process. and chipped off a few edges along the way. we were growing fed up when one edge kept coming out as we try to push the other edge in. in the end. all the hard work paid off. the whole thing was nicely put together. next thing was the back of the cabinet. that was when we realize... we got the sides wrong... @#$%^*^(@!

Carefully taking out the walls and the screws that went into the wrong holes, we put them into their assigned places. lo and behold, that damned whole thing practically just slid in without any effort. we were speechless for a few seconds. and later couldn't stop laughing at our stupid effort before this. the rest of the stuff, the back wall, the doors and the hinges were a breeze.

Lesson learned, ya shall only screw the correct holes. don't force it. if it won't fit, it won't...

旅程。车站

2011-07-27T16:37:00.001+08:00

如果我能预知你就是我的终点站，我绝对不会在旅途中下车。
可是我看不见未来。而从车子里看出去的花花世界实在是太诱人了。

当车子停靠在第一间华丽的车站时，我毫不犹豫的跳下去了。
但我忘了，华丽的车站是需要昂贵的车票的。
车站的负责人告诉我，请耐心等候，机会会来的。
于是我在那儿傻傻的等待。
直到另一辆车子载来拥有昂贵车票的乘客。
车站的门为她而开了。
我只能跳上车寻找下一个车站。

这一次我告诉自己眼光要放远一些。
然后我看见了一个朴素而不招摇的车站。
我万般期待的冲上前。
这一次，门为我而开了。
我以为这次我对了。
可是后来我才发觉，这车站的门随时为任何人而开。
月台，变得拥挤了。
我无法再持续下去，所以我离开了。

看见第三个车站时，我犹豫了。
可是有人在彼岸热情的呼唤我。
我重拾勇气，下车了。
然后我也伤痕累累了。
原来这是一个黑站。
把乘客引进来后窃财，再把乘客给赶出去。

再次上车时，我告诉自己别再下站了。
外面的世界我看够了，也累了。
于是我抵达终点站。
其实我很惊讶，一直以为这是一个毫无终点的旅程。
然后你就站在那里等我，说你等了好久了。
我提不起勇气向前，你只是耐心的继续等待。
后来我慢慢的走向你了，而你紧紧的拥着我，终于一偿所愿。
我只能轻轻的对你说，对不起，我来晚了。

Pancake

2011-07-17T19:27:00.001+08:00

I have always wanted to make my own pancake but cant seem to find a decent recipe. this was the best pancake i have ever tried! with a self rising mechanism using beaten egg white, it was fluffy and moist. throw in a big chunk of butter and flowing golden syrup, YUM!

Pork Burger

2011-07-17T19:22:00.002+08:00

Pork burger. this dish was revisited a few times and i am still fine tuning the recipe to suit my taste. flysheep has a special craving for this food and has since pestered me a few times to prepare it during weekends. this was the best i have done so far.

Carbonara Spaghetti

2011-07-17T19:12:00.005+08:00

We fell in love with carbonara spaghetti after having one in an italian restaurant. so much so we decided to try it out ourselves. it was said that the authentic carbonara only uses cheese and egg. however we went with a more common one which adds in cream. cream + cheese + egg + crushed black pepper + bacon = perfect carbonara! flysheep nearly licked the plate clean! i only wished i had fettuccine instead of spaghetti. cant seem to find them in my grocery store

Mango Milk Shake

2011-07-17T19:06:00.003+08:00

One day, we return to penang with a whole load of mango. unable to finish it, we pureed it. n decided to have mango milk shake! only 2 ingredients needed, milk and vanilla ice cream. n a blender of course. we ended up with thick foamy mango milk shake for a few days.

Fried Soba Mee

2011-07-17T18:12:00.004+08:00

This dish came naturally without referring to any recipe. well, it's just a plain fried soba mee. with the usual soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chinese cooking wine (shao xing jiu) and sugar. the bell pepper provides a good hint of flavoring. some mushroom to enhance it. with some meat to go with it, tadaa... u have it, a perfect fried soba mee

幸福的定义

2011-06-16T22:16:00.004+08:00

有些人幸福的定义，是爱人能够为他做些什么。
有些人幸福的定义，是能够为爱人做些什么。
有些人幸福的定义，是能够三餐温饱。
有些人幸福的定义，是能够每餐大鱼大肉。

而这幸福的定义，也会随着岁月转变。

半辈子的三餐温饱明明是满足的。
忽然有一天却觉得没有大鱼大肉，人生太悲哀了。
明明曾觉得为爱人劳心劳力是多么幸福的事。
渐渐的却觉得爱人付出得太少，自己被不公平的对待了。

其实，我们都曾经是幸福的。
但我们都变了，心境不再一样了。
于是我们便不断的问，幸福到底在哪里。
于是我们努力去追寻现在所谓的幸福，直到这幸福对自己而言，已不是一种幸福了。

疲惫

2011-06-15T13:07:00.001+08:00

疲惫，是种慢性病毒。
无力感先慢慢的侵入全身四肢。
大脑也渐渐的不愿思考。
当面临的问题越来越多，心情就越来越沉重。
每晚睡前把困境一遍遍重演，让情绪更加低落的入眠。
每早醒来是多么的不愿面对这世界。
心情无时无刻的感到疲惫。
疲惫。
很想告诉自己，今天就到此为止吧。
真想祷告明天别再来。
地球的转动，时间的流逝，可不可以把我给遗忘了。
我只想原地踏步。
累了，倦了。
想停止了。

P/S: 人生就是这样，努力了一切，不顾了所有，为了一个目标过活了一生，以致到了最后我们已经不知道我们当时存在的初衷了

Siem Reap - Day 4

2011-05-27T09:48:00.006+08:00

4th day of visit, we were brought to somewhere slightly further away. even though it was still early, there were lots of tourist crowding this site. i can't recall the name, but it's a special site due to the intricate carvings that managed to survive till now. this temple was not built by a king, it was done by a rich guy. it's a beautiful place. highly recommended.

Later we were dropped off at a hiking trail. we need to hike in. i always hate that part. huffing and puffing for more than half an hour, we were rewarded by the unusual carvings at the riverbed. this is the water source to the temples down below, including angkor wat. the carvings were said to make the water flowing through it to turn to holy water.

We had lunch at the foothill. as expected, the price was skyhigh. but the nearest town is more than 1 hour away and we were hungry and tired. somehow our tuk-tuk driver managed to get us discount, which was a pleasant surprise. later part of the trip was rather uninteresting.

The usual view as we travel from sites to sites.

A pretty rundown temple

The last stop

We flew out of Siem Reap on the 5th day. slightly darker from all the sunshine and shoes were covered with red dust. it's a very nice trip if you enjoy visiting historical sites. we do, and so we had fun.

Siem Reap - Day 3

2011-05-27T09:06:00.003+08:00

The 3rd day of visit pales in comparison to all the grand stuff we've seen the day before. off we go again down the dusty road.

Statue guarding the temples

Hmm.. symbol of fertility? can be seen in every temple

Depiction of hermits

One interesting building that does not have stairs to the upper floor

The only temple with water inside (if you notice, we used a different lens for this photo)

One last temple before we completed the loop, ended around 1pm

We had lunch outside the wet market. the food was cheap and good. ar, coconut ice blended on the right. we absolutely love them! we ordered this drink whenever possible during every meal.

After taking a short nap, we wandered around the town

We also went to the handicraft market selling all sorts of souvenirs. totally recommended to get your stuff here. better price compared to else where.

Siem Reap - Day 2b

2011-05-26T15:42:00.001+08:00

Later we went to several smaller sites that I can't really recall. but here's some beautiful carvings displayed.

This is another beautiful site with big trees crashing down the temple.

Of special mention is this buddha face peeking out beneath the tree roots

There was a looong queue of tourist waiting to have their picture taken at this area

While they were taking their places and arranging themselves, i barged in, snapped 2 photos and scurried away. kinda impolite, i know...

Last stop for the day was Angkor Wat. it was around 2.30pm and the sun was scorching hot. the heat... it was drying up all the liquids in our bodies. we entered through the west gate (early morning we were loitering around the east gate)

The many stairs they made us climb, using both our hands and legs to attempt the impossible height of each step

We were on top of the Angkor Wat

We left through the east gate and decided to capture another photo in bright day light

Escaping the heat, we decided to have a local beer in our hostel. we retired early that day, took a nap as usual before heading out for dinner

Siem Reap - Day 2a

2011-05-26T15:08:00.000+08:00

We had a hearty breakfast at the hostel. rest of the folks were just getting out of bed as we warmed our tummy with hot coffee

With a full tummy, we were ready for the next adventure. passing by a dusty road, we were slightly taken aback by the throngs of tourist pouring into the site.

Our first stop was Bayon. we wandered around, climbing up and down among tourists speaking all sorts of languages. it was a beautiful place. we spent some time admiring the many carvings on the wall.

Then we walked to the nearby sites (cant remember their names).

Siem Reap - Day 2 Morning

2011-05-25T15:25:00.003+08:00

We woke up like, 4.45am the next morning to catch sunrise at Angkor Wat. it was a serene n chilly morning as we made our way into the site. after taking photos n paying money for a 3 day pass, we were left at the entrance to Angkor Wat. it was still dark and our tuk-tuk driver offered us his torch light. cool. ok then, what next? it's our 1st time there and had not an inkling of idea how this place is supposed to look like. there were a few souls moving around and we decided to just follow their steps. straying from the main entrance, we ended up in front of a pond. a few tourist have started to set up their tripod. pretending to be professionals, we chose a nice spot and set up our tripod too.

There were a few locals going around selling coffee. a few tourist chose to smoke amidst the cold air instead. we just stood there, warmly tugged in our jacket. more and more tourist joined our spot. some of them tried to sneak up in front of us and were bluntly told by one of the early comers to fallback. ya wan to be in front, ya come early next time. thumbs up for the remark.

The weather was very nice that morning. As the 1st streak of sunlight leaked from the horizon, the sky was slowly painted in pink. flysheep used long shutters to capture the subtle light. a few tourist suddenly came up to flysheep and asked how come all they capture with their expensive dslr is a total dark. duh. do we really look that professional?

After a few more shots and the sky was completely lit up, we collected our gears and retreat. as we turned around, we were startled to see at least a hundred of tourist crowding behind us!

After snapping a few more shots around the entrance, the sun was already up at an amazing speed. time to head back for breakfast!

Siem Reap - Day 1

2011-05-24T15:26:00.000+08:00

Coming back from Macau, we rushed to a nearby clinic to treat my allergy problem. by then i could barely eat properly. the doctor took a look at me and shockingly asked flysheep, what did u do to her lips? hmm. ok, very funny. but the medicine he prescribed was spot on. within 2 days all the swelling were gone. only some redness lingered behind. no problem with that. we repacked our stuff and hopped on the next flight to Siem Reap, 2 days after we've came home.

It was an early flight. we reached Siem Reap like, 8 in the morning?

The tuk-tuk from our guest house was already waiting. it was an interesting experience, riding a tuk-tuk.

Had a simple breakfast in our guest house and headed to Beng Melea, a site which is 60km away from the town but took us nearly 2 hours to reach. yes, it was that slow. but who cares. we were in a new country, new place. with a mouth mask and a pair of sunglasses, we relaxed and absorbed in the view. but i have to admit our butt were quite numb from the ride.

There were only a few tourist in that area. it was pretty run down and barely accessible in some places. but other tourist have been saying it's the run down part that makes it charming.

Carvings commonly seen around Angkor War sites

Trees overgrowing the buildings

It was a small site. we completed the loop within 20 mins and headed back, in time to catch a late lunch. feeling very tired, we actually took a nap until evening before headed out to hunt for dinner. it was quite a walk from our guest house. we retired early that night to catch sun rise the next morning.

Macau - Day 3

2011-04-07T10:12:00.001+08:00

We checked out of the hotel and strolled along parts of senado square that we have never been to. but we ended up at the old places since the area is really small.

We had a light breakfast at this small stall. the siew mai is superb!

Here came the most interesting part. hot & spicy curry in the cold windy morning. timing was so right and the taste was so good that my parents and i agreed that was the best part of the whole journey. it was so good we went back for a second bowl.

Another church we sneaked in. cant remember the name.

We saw signs leading to this Nazha temple and went along. it was a steep but gradual climb. by the time we reached there, there were signs leading to the ruins of st paul's. we went along, not wanting to turn back. it was more climb after another and guess where we ended up. the top of the hill my mum refused to go on the 1st day!

My mum feel quite cheated. but she happily took some shots to show that she has been to that height.

Last lunch in Macau, i ordered pork chop bun again. this time it was much better but nothing special.

Big wantans!

We went to the venetian and walked around, spending time before our flight.

It was an eventful flight. they had problem with one of the tyres. we had to alight from the plane. later it turns out we couldn't fly at all. luckily they provided us free dinner and free hotel. after having late dinner at the airport, we were herded to a nearby hotel. by that time my allergy was so serious i have no mood to take any photos or whatsoever. we crashed into the bed and woke up early for our breakfast. it was a buffet breakfast and my dad really enjoyed it. we managed to squeeze in the next flight home. wasted one day of annual leave but thankful to be safe and sound.

Macau - Day 2b

2011-04-07T09:50:00.001+08:00

We took MTR to Ladies Street. or was it something else? can't remember, but the crowd was really huge.

After walking around and had something light, we decided there was nothing to do over there and headed back. At the MTR however, we decided to stop at Lan Kwai Fong. turns out to be another boring place for us.

Shot of the empty MTR cabin (which was quite unusual)

We had dinner at the ferry terminal.

The moment we stepped into Macau, the weather was reported to be 8C! the wind was particularly strong at the terminal and i nearly turned into an ice-pop while waiting for our hotel shuttle bus. my dad gave me his jacket n was laughing and talking with my mum, war so cold hor, so cold. all the while i was sneezing non stop and could barely talk T__T i'm a sucker for cold weather

Macau - Day 2a

2011-04-07T09:40:00.000+08:00

Later we took their MTR to cross over to the other side. there were tourists attractions listed clearly in the MRT stations. we chose Star Walk as our first choice. it was quite a walk from the nearby station but it was clearly labeled along the way.

The statue that greeted us as we reached the destination.

Where we came from, the ferry terminal from Macau.

Some statues along the walk.

Ar... Bruce Lee.

The moment we reached the Star Walk, my dad said, hey i remember there is a statue of Bruce Lee! I'm like, huh? never heard of that! skeptically, we look around for the statue. lo and behold. there was this statue of Bruce Lee standing at the other end of the walk. woot, how come my dad is more well informed than me about Hong Kong??? My dad happily posed and took a photo of his idol.

Macau - Day 2

2011-04-07T09:26:00.001+08:00

We woke up the next morning to a cold weather. i was stunned at the cold wind blowing in my face but my dad was very happy about it. oh well. we had breakfast at McD nearby. they had pork sausage mcmuffin! after drinking a cup of hot coffee, we were ready for the next adventure

My dad complained mcacau is boring. so we took ferry to hong kong. we were quite blur at the ferry terminal as to which ferry to board. after roaming around for half an hour, we were like what the heck and decided to just jump on one and go. it was one and a half hour ride.

Coming out of the terminal, we excitedly told ourselves, ar, hong kong!

Trams still operating around hong kong. one of them nearly ran me down as i carelessly stepped onto their track.

My dad was hungry again as usual and we looked for a place to eat. when my parents saw rice was served, they happily stepped in this shop. the food was good and the portion was extremely big. maybe it's the cold weather. we finished most of it anyway.

After a pleasing lunch, we walked around the area and used the McD bathroom. saw this interesting red bean pie and gave it a try. delicious!

Macau - Day 1b

2011-04-07T09:08:00.000+08:00

After checking into our hotel, we took a nap and came our looking for dinner later. cant remember what we had for dinner. wantan mee again i think?

The lighting around senado square is very attractive. there were many tourist and the place was pretty packed.

Since we were feeling energetic, we took a walk to grand lisboa casino. maybe 10 mins walk or so. the building lights up beautifully at night. we took a few snaps outside before going back to our hotel and calling it a day.

Macau - Day 1a

2011-04-07T09:01:00.002+08:00

Enough strolling around and snapping photos, we took a cab to our hotel. as it turns out, the room wasn't ready yet. we went to senado square instead. just a short walk from the hotel. good location!

My dad was hungry by then. after looking around, we settled for a small stalled tucked in a small alleyway. we all had wantan mee. with different toppings. shwon below is grilled pork.not bad

After that we decided to try pork chop bun which is famous around this area. we saw a queue forming at this shop and decided to give it a try. the end result - big no-no. we took a few bite and decided to discard it. the only nice thing was the crispy bread.

Next we tried their local delicacies, portugese egg tart. verdict - malaysia has far better quality than this.

As the path littered with food stalls and souvenir shops ends, Ruin's of St Paul's came into sight.

As we walked nearer and my mum saw the flight of stairs, she paused and asked if she could wait at the bottom. we laughed and told her, hey this stairs is literally nothing compared to batu caves ok. my dad dragged her up nonetheless.

After some heaving and puffing, my mum was rewarded with this upclose view. guess what she commented. har? only a piece of wall??? -___-
yar mum, it's a piece of wall but it's the landmark of macau. it's like eiffel tower of paris. so pretend you are excited with all this, smile and say cheese.

To the right, there is a park and pathway leading to the top of the hill. my mum took a look at the height and decided to sit on a bench nearby. she happily told me n flysheep to go ahead without her. so both of us did the short climb up. there's this beautiful building which is a musuem at the bottom

The view from the top is superb!

Yup, do not climb, least u topple over.

A cannon pointing at Grand Lisboa hotel.

View of the St Paul's from the park.

Picking up my parents along the way, we went into an old shop to have a cup of coffee.

The pastry displayed in front of the shop looked delicious and we had a bite. not too bad.

Macau - Day 1

2011-04-07T08:39:00.000+08:00

This was a very short trip. the main purpose was to bring my parents who have never step onto an airplane before to do a quick trip overseas. macau seems to be a small city which can be done in 3 days 2 night. so off we go.

It was an early flight. we reached macau about 9am. it was cold then (but it grew even colder later on...). my parents were excited about the cold weather. well, at least my dad was thrilled. after clearing custom, we took the free shuttle to the venetian. the building and casino is grand compared to what we have in genting. but having been to las vegas, it didn't really impress me a lot, haha.

Prologue

2011-02-25T15:13:00.000+08:00

Right before Chinese New Year, me n flysheep managed to squeeze in 2 quick overseas trip

First, Macau

2 days later, Siem Reap

Woot... it was exciting and tiring at the same time, despite me developing a serious allergy along the way. thankfully, all's well ends well. will write more details on the trip when i have the time.

思念满天飞

2011-01-13T13:08:00.001+08:00

明明多跨个二十步就能见到他。
明明拿起电话筒按一按就能听到他的声音。
又或者在邮箱里的交谈区敲敲门就能得到他的回应。

但是，偶尔还是会情不自禁的想他。
然后默默猜测，此时的他在做些什么？
在认真工作吗？还是在偷偷阅读漫画？
是否在和其他人闲聊打屁？

毫无缘由的想他。
好想就这样飞奔到他身旁，给他一个熊熊大抱，在他光秃秃的前额印下一个吻，再告诉他 ---
噢宝贝，偶最爱你了！

New Year 2011

2011-01-03T21:30:00.002+08:00

2011

I welcomed this new year with my new hubby. sitting in our new home. watching our new 40inch tv. playing the newly acquired ps3.

What I've done in 2010:
1. Bought an apartment (and spent a lot of effort & money renovating it)
2. Visited Taiwan (nice place to eat n shop)
3. Finished my Master program coursework (no, don't ask me about the project. i forgot)
4. Got married (i wasn't in a hurry but apparently someone is)

What I plan to do in 2011:
1. Visit more places
2. Try to finish up my Master program project (tough one...)
3. Get a higher raise or get a new job

Looking back, 2010 was a hectic year that passed with a blink of the eyes. too many things happening at the same time. we struggled a lot juggling time between study and the new house. and it was a total chaos when we were packing stuff in our old place, moving part of the stuff into the new house while the rest goes to our friend's place (having to stay at his place for 6 weeks because our new house wasn't ready yet), instructing contractors what to do with our house and the ridiculous stuff was our 6 day trip to taiwan falls in the same time frame. both of us lost weight after everything has settled down. and by that time, the house was only 1/3 ready.

As I take 1 step closer to age 30 & ended my single hood, I would like to say that life has brought me to where I have never been before and I am grateful everything turned out well. May 2011 be even better.

Char Siew

2011-01-03T21:01:00.000+08:00

It's supposed to be char siew. the taste was great. but it was no where near the char siew i had outside.

Flysheep was the main chef for this special dish, he spent 40mins sitting in front of our small toaster to bake it. the result outer layer was perfect golden brown, and the overnight marinate resulted in flavorful meat. nice dish!

Curry Chicken

2011-01-03T20:53:00.002+08:00

My last attempt in curry was like 2 years ago. but it wasn't good enough that i wasn't inclined to redo it. this time around, we attempted something different than what a noob would usually do - just add curry powder. instead, we blend lots of ingredients and fry it with large amount of oil, adding in curry powder & curry leaves. with the paste ready, we can now fry it with chicken & potato, then add water and bring it to boil. before done, mix in coconut milk.

The taste was extremely good but the texture still need improvement. how good was the taste? flysheep n me finished the curry sauce before everything else! haha

Ko Lo Mee

2011-01-03T20:41:00.001+08:00

We did ko lo mee the way flysheep like it. DARK. instead of wantan, we had shredded chicken meat and fish cake. the noodle was rinsed in boiling water, then under cold running water, after that back to boiling water to maintain its chewiness.

As for the sauce, the main ingredient would be light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. If i remember it correctly, here goes the recipe:

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

5 tbsp secret sauce

1/2 tsp pepper

fried red onion oil

The result was fabulous but the process was slightly troublesome. would definitely revisit this dish provided flysheep did not grew fed up shredding the chicken meat. ^_^

Legally Mine

2010-12-14T14:11:00.001+08:00

Madam: Are you ready?
Little sheep: Yes
Little truth: Yes.

Madam: Here goes. Mr xxx, !@&#(&$)@&_*$_@&$_&@&$@. Do you?
Little sheep: (HUH? What did she just say? Anyway...) I do.

Madam: And for Miss xxx, !&@#(Y#(^$(%&@)&)!_#*#&*&$. Do you?
Little truth: (UGH. No idea what she said. But who cares...) I do.

Madam: Hereby I declare you husband and wife. The bridegroom may help the bride wear the ring
*Little sheep pondered awhile at the box, wondering which ring belongs to the bride. Little truth nudge nudge poke poke, that one. Little sheep happily swept up the smaller ring and put it on.*

Madam: Now's the bridegrooms turn
*Little truth turned to put on the remaining ring*

Madam: The bridegroom may now kiss the bride
*Little sheep without any hesitation pulled little truth towards him and gave her a long smooch*

While everyone in the room were happily clapping their hands, Little sheep was thinking excitedly to himself: There, you're mine now. legally. MUAHAHAHAHA

SOLD

2010-12-07T21:21:00.000+08:00

Caves + Light

2010-11-28T17:51:00.002+08:00

I've been to quite a few caves. still when i enter one, i am very much in awed at their formation. though some of them are artificially lighted up, the ones with natural light coming from above has the best effect of all. totally amazing. so much so that i have the urge to jump in and bath in the light. like, maybe something magical would suddenly happen?

E&O

2010-11-28T17:09:00.000+08:00

When you run out of idea of what to blog about and the forsaken blog has been sitting there gathering more and more dust, a decent meal is always a good chance to pounce upon and pretend that you have been leading a oh-so-busy life, unable to squeeze in some time to blog (in fact, life is just too boring).

So there, a free buffet lunch in E&O hotel.

Food was good. oyster. duck. salmon. unknown fishes. n all the rest that my stomach were not able to take in. (but the mint flavored swiss roll was yucky)

During these few years of travelling (after returning from US), I was more than happy to leave all the photo snapping task to flysheep while I excitedly wander around n strike a pose all of a sudden, demanding flysheep to take a photo of me. (oh yes, i have far more individual shots compared to flysheep ^_^) So long has I abandoned the camera that I was left fumbling with the buttons for 5 mins, trying to locate the self timer while all my colleagues were posing patiently to take a group photo.

Kewpie

2010-10-18T19:09:00.008+08:00

Once in a while, we got fed up of eating noodle n rice. thus we have burger instead. this time around, besides the normal tomato slice + coral lettuce + ramly burger, we added in caramelized onion, cheddar cheese (slightly melted) & kewpie mayonnaise.

The result?

Awesome!

Slip

2010-10-15T09:15:00.000+08:00

Slipped and fell in the bathroom this morning.

Ouch.

The Green Kiwi

2010-10-03T16:14:00.007+08:00

In my younger days, there was a period of time when i got pretty obsessed with kiwi. the sourness just turns me on. as i grow older however, the sourness turns me away.

A few days back, i decided to get a box of kiwi to relish the old moments. turns out fine. not as sour as what i had always thought.

Moral of the story is, erm, appetite changes as we grow? haha.

1am

2010-09-03T12:48:00.002+08:00

Staying up until 1am in the morning to complete my assignment... well, it's been years since i have last done that. and i am hopeful it will be the last. it was painful. i am too old for late nights. staying up at night chatting away is one thing. cracking the brain to complete assignment is another thing. it made me feel so frustrated and moody i could have stood up n flipped over the whole table. to the hell with assignment. it's like i am paying money for the lecturer to gruel n torture me. WTF.

Taiwan Trip - Day 6

2010-06-29T12:20:00.004+08:00

Last day in taiwan, we went to visit LongShanShi and saw this bakery shop right outside the mrt station. the cake looks enticing but since it was breakfast, i felt it was more appropriate to have bread instead.

The best coffee in taiwan so far.

After finishing our breakfast right across the temple, we entered LongShanShi to find many local devotees offering their prayers. it was pretty crowded.

After snapping some photos, we left and decided to give XiMenDing a short visit. to me, this is only a shopping district selling branded stuff which is not part of my to-do list in taiwan anyway,

The balance in our prepaid card did not allow us to take the last mrt ride and so we had to resort to buying 1 way ticket. it was actually a token.

There was this funny statue that we came across a few times since it was right outside of the main bus/train station mrt entrance. have no idea what it meant. looks creepy to me too.

Remember the lunchbox that we did not manage to eat on the train? i managed to grab them before taking bus to the airport. after checking in, we sat in a corner and ate the railway lunchbox. yummy!

Random shot at the airport

Our plane arrived earlier than scheduled (which is pretty rare with airasia...). couldn't resist a few snaps of the wing as we sat by the window. first time i took airasia x too. 5 hours flight was painful...

All in all, taiwan trip was fun! all the walking and eating was simply satisfying. thank you to my partner for carrying the bag all the time. lovely companion, lovely place, love it!

Taiwan Trip - Day 5b

2010-06-29T11:59:00.003+08:00

We arrived at DanShui late afternoon and we haven't had our lunch yet. as usual, we filled up our stomach with snacks instead of a proper meal.

1st stall, grilled cuttlefish! it was nicely done.

Wild boar sausage. this is good!

Danshui local delicacies. TieDan (iron egg). not bad

Sweet potatoes! and very sweet indeed.

Fried oyster. delicious.

Feeling full, we took ferry to YuRenMaTou (Fisherman Wharf). the main attraction is to walk across the bridge and double back.

Aar.... the first ray of sunshine since we arrived in taiwan

We took ferry back to Danshui and before leaving, i can't resist but to give this jumbo ice-cream a try. it only cost 10yuan. (~RM1)

At night, we went to another side of Shilin market that we haven't explore before. sunday night and it is still packed with people. it was a shoulder to shoulder bump everywhere. coincidentally, we bumped into this famous mee sua stall and doggy-bagged it. it was very nice. no overpowering intestine smell

We also tried this famous ShiQuanPaiKu. the shop was so busy that they hardly had time to entertain us. but it turned out any bak kut teh soup back home can win this hands down.

We ended our supper with this sausage from 'small intestine wrapped in big intestine' stall. the wild boar sausage in DanShui is waaay better.

And then we realized, we still have a lot of cash!

Taiwan Trip - Day 5a

2010-06-29T10:18:00.005+08:00

We were undecided whether or not to visit YangMingShan on the 5th day. since it was early june and no flowers will be blooming, there wasn't much attraction to see. but we went ahead anyway, since there was time to spare.

Early morning we bought milk & coffee and some bread from 7-11 before queuing up for bus. it was a cold sunday morning. elderly folks complete with hiking gear were lining up before us. we felt kinda out of place since i was holding a cup of coffee and wearing short pants. when the bus arrived, we chose to stand and let the elders have the chairs.

Upon arrival, i was cheated into climbing 0.6km of stairs. T_T such arduous task even before i have my breakfast! when we finally reached the visitor center huffing and puffing, i sat down n consumed food to gain some energy. fog was already starting to pick up. i suspect it was due to the cloud covering the mountain?

While waiting for bus, we felt adventurous and jumped into a bus not mentioned by the park ranger. when we came down from the bus, i was taken aback by the surrounding. where the heck are we???

Visibility was low and we couldn't find the tourist spot we were supposed to visit. after walking up and down in despair, we crossed the road and decided to take the same bus back to the visitor center. it was cold and the fog made us damp. i was thinking that this environment must be perfect for a horror movie called 'the fog' or 'the mist'?

As the wind blow relentlessly, suddenly i discern some sort of road sign far ahead and went to check it out. well, we were about 0.6km away from our destination. and so we happily moved on despite the eerie surrounding. a few buses zoomed pass us along the way. lesson learned: do not simply jump into buses not recommended by others. it may bring you to the destination, but not close enough.

There was nothing to see at the tourist spot. everything was too thickly covered with fog. we were supposed to see sulfur smoke emerging from the earth. well... fog and smoke has merged into one.

After spending less than 10 mins there, we now took the correct bus to the park entrance. after another round of waiting, we took the next bus to our 2nd destination. BeiTou.

We found a hotspring hotel right across the bus stop and went with it without surveying around. it was bloody cold and we want something to warm us up! but the hotspring at ~40C was too much too handle. every time i dip my feet in, i feel like i'm cooking pig throttle. in the end, we added some cold tap water before it was comfortable enough to settle in.

We did not try out the sauna room

After having a simple tea break consist of coffee, cake and fruits, we went to search for Hell Valley. it was a pretty sight albeit smelling like rotten eggs. this is the source for all the hotspring channeled to different hotels. but THIS is scorching hot and could cook a whole pig easily.

Next up, DanShui

Taiwan Trip - Day 4c

2010-06-25T17:28:00.002+08:00

We even crossed the hanging bridge above the river. we were so high up in the midair, it was kinda scary. but it was exhilarating at the same time.

Last station, a park high up in the mountain

Since we had some spare time in hand, we left the park and headed to buy some souvenirs in hualien. hualien being famous for MuaZhi, we went to a few shops to test eat. quite yummy. but the one that took us over was the freshly made and not vacuum packed.

Taking the train back again

And... the lunch box was out-of-stock! we were planning to have that for dinner. hmmph. what a let down. i finish up my MuaZhi instead. and a pack of chicken wing flavored potato chips.

Our late dinner was fried rice, chicken chop and winter melon juice, located right below our hostel in Shilin.

Taiwan Trip - Day 4b

2010-06-25T17:15:00.003+08:00

We had lunch inside the park. it was pricey, of course. right smack in the middle of nowhere, surviving only on tourist.

Wild boar!

Wild boar turned into meat on the plate

The green vege is actually fern that we normally see growing in the wild. tasted bland.

View from the bottom of the restaurant. see the cloud surrounding us!

This place is magnificent! the river bending around the corner and the mountain towering behind it, just picture perfect.

Next we were dropped of at JiuQuDong (9 bend hole). we had to wear construction site helmet because rock fall is very common in this area. they even cordon off area which are exposed to the mountain slope. now and then, rock will come tumbling down the mountain. i wonder why is the rock so loosely attached to the mountain? but this a seriously beautiful trail.

See the river bed!

Toilet, anyone?

At the end of the trail, we were brought to another place.

Taiwan Trip - Day 4a

2010-06-25T16:15:00.003+08:00

We woke up to a sumptuous breakfast. Before we had any chance to walk around the hostel, the taxi showed up.

1st stop, ChiXingTan (seven star sea). i like the sea. and the beautiful rocks.

Next the lady taxi driver brought us to TzuChi headquarter. i didn't know it was in hualien.

Then we drove to TaiLuGe (taroko national park). there were many tourist when we arrive at the 1st spot but they dispersed kinda fast.

Oh, i particularly liked the scene below the red bridge

Next we went to a temple. there was a trail going to another temple higher up in the mountain. the moment i look up and had to squint my eye to spot the temple, i gave up. let's just visit the 1st one.

View from the temple

It was raining kinda heavy by then and we had to brave the rain because our umbrella was left in the taxi.

Taiwan Trip - Day 3b

2010-06-25T14:58:00.004+08:00

Next stop was Taipei 101. we came out of the mrt station and started walking towards it. as we walked and walked and walked... how far is that 101???

We grew tired of walking and sat down for a hot tea instead.

Cheers, 101

Then we decided to head back. haha. we went to the nearest stop, SunYatSen memorial. 101 was still in view, kinda blurry due to the rain.

We were surprised to find tourist standing around the statue. why won't they take some photos and leave? but as we were leaving, we heard some commotion and realized it was a small ceremony of guard shift replacement. interesting.

We went back to the main station and decided to have dinner in the underground mall. we walked and walked and walked. all we see is clothes. where's food? after looking at the map, we were shocked to find that food section was like 15mins walk away from the railway station. we barely made it in our wobbling legs. at the first sight of food, we went in and sat down. the cream cheese was surprisingly good. the shop attendant was very polite.

We board a train to Hualien. the journey took us 3 hours. compared to the railway system we have back home, taiwan train schedule is something to be saluted upon. right on time. even 3mins late is clearly announced. back home when they say 30mins late, it meant 45mins. or sometime more than that. we saw people selling lunchbox but we were too full for that. we made a note to have one on our way back.

Reaching hualien, our hotel lady came to pick us up. the room is clean and cosy. i like this place. it was already 11.30pm by then and we headed out to buy instant mee recommended by the hotel lady.

The instant mee has real meat inside!

We also bought apple milk to go with it.

Taiwan Trip - Day 3a

2010-06-25T14:46:00.003+08:00

When we woke up this morning, we started to feel the pain from yesterday's walk.

We took bus to GuGong (national palace musuem). more tourist than you can ever imagine flocked the place as well. since we weren't allowed to snap any photos inside, i only managed to take some photos outside the building. was it worthwhile? definite yes, if you are interested in history. i especially adored the carved meat.

We went back to shilin to check out from our hotel. had lunch nearby. turkey rice and pork rice. we saw a coffee shop nearby and had a cup. tasted so-so.

After leaving our luggage at the main station, we went to ChiangKaiShek Memorial. at the mrt exit, we saw this beautiful building.

The moment i saw the stairs my knees went weak. but it wasn't a tough climb. i did not stop for breath along the way.

They have elevator to bring you into the building. by the time we walked to the exit, we were already at the ground floor. we happily bought a bottle of green tea at the vending machine and then realized we left our umbrella at the top. -_- i did not fetch the umbrella. someone ran up the stairs while i enjoy the green tea.^_^

More photos as we walk back to the mrt station.

Taiwan Trip - Day 2c

2010-06-25T13:50:00.004+08:00

Since we were in Keelung, we went to MiaoKow night market. it was quite early and not all the stalls are open yet.

We were still full from Jiufen lunch yet we couldn't help ourselves but to stuff more food. KeliPing. taste like crepe. it IS crepe, i think.

Next, we saw a lot of locals in this stall selling GuoTie (er... in english is called pot sticker?) we bought 10 for 50yuan and doggy bagged it.

There were a few stalls selling this rice cone thing. Curiosity got over us and we decided to give it a try.

It was yummy! but we were seriously overloaded with food.

It was the first time we took train in taiwan. from Keelung to Sungshan station. after coming out from the train, we decided to chow down the GuoTie and a cup of chocolate flavored bubble tea bought in keelung.

The chocolate bubble tea was sinfully delicious! too bad i did not see any of this bubble tea chain store as i travel in the next few days. the store's name is called 'come buy'?

The GuoTie is mouth watering! despite feeling full, we still managed to finish half of it. the other half we kept if for breakfast.

Coming out of the railway station, we headed for WuFenPu, there were rows and rows of shop selling clothes. although i have no intention to do shopping at all, i couldn't resist but to buy 1 blouse and 3 sleeveless shirt for myself. it was cheap.

Next, we headed to RaoHe night market.

And then, there was this long queue again! i joined in without much hesitation. they were selling HuJiaoPing (black pepper biscuit)

There wasn't much to see but this bitter gourd juice caught our attention. i mean, how can someone drink something as bitter as that? we bought a cup anyway.

Surprisingly, it wasn't as bitter as what i thought

This kind of shop features machine that you can control the arm and catch some dolls. did not try .

Alas, when we finally reached our hotel, we finished the HuJiaoPing. not bad.

Taiwan Trip - Day 2b

2010-06-25T12:36:00.002+08:00

We took bus to Keelung for a bus exchange. next destination is JinGuaShih, an old gold mining site. first we were shown the japanese houses, built when the japanese owned this place. i find this underground tunnel to escape enemy interesting.

Some facts about gold mining

Nice scenery

Crystallized mining floor

Not to be missed, the 220kg gold!

We paid 100yuan p.p. to get into this gold mining site.

Next, we went to Jiufen for a late lunch around 2.30pm.

Fishball and meatball and cuttlefish ball? don't really know what is it but tasted good

Red bean soup with yam ball + sweet potato ball

Ar, view from Jiufen. night view should look better but it was too early to wait for sunset.

Famous street due to a film shot here

After walking around and eating some snacks, we went to wait for bus. there was a shop right beside it selling TaiYangBing (sun biscuit). it was delicious. we bought some for souvenir.

Taiwan Trip - Day 2a

2010-06-25T09:22:00.002+08:00

We woke up at 5.30am and retired around 9.30pm on the 2nd day. it was a long journey.

Early morning, we took mrt to the main bus station and went to the wrong terminal. from 1 terminal to another, it took us >10 mins, requiring us to ask 2 ppl along the way to get the correct direction. finally, we board the bus with empty stomach. the journey took ~1 hour. the moment we got off, we dived in the nearest shop and bought some bread. the walk into yehliu park entrance was ~20mins. we saw a few fishing boats along the way.

Upon reaching the entrance, we saw hoards of tourist coming down from several tour bus. we quickly bought the ticket and attempted to over take them. it was drizzling by then. the moment we reach the seaside, the strong wind caused the rain to drench us quite a bit. but it was a beautiful sight. blue sea water with strange formation of rocks dotting the seashore.

The famous queen head. they even have a place for tourist to queue up to take picture with this stone. you can see some rain drops on the head, haha.

A hole right in the middle of the rock

Candlestick formation

While walking out of the park to catch a bus, we saw coffee and i couldn't resist to grab one for my breakfast

Taiwan Trip - Day 1

2010-06-24T17:11:00.007+08:00

We arrived at taiwan in the midst of a rainy day and was hopeful the weather will get better. but it rained throughout the 5 days we were there and the sun only popped out during the last evening. oh well, i am kinda used to it. it NEVER fails to rain whenever i go for vacation.

We reached the airport that i have been to during my transit to US few years ago. board a bus to the main bus/railway station. there were a few 7-11 in the station alone where i exchanged 1000yuan (~RM100) for coins to make some phone calls. then we decided to get something to drink. milk. surprisingly tasty.

We also bought a prepaid card usable on train and bus and mrt. funny thing is the card cannot be bought at the ticket counter. you have to get it from 7-11. but to return the card you have to go to the mrt ticket counter.

There were some lockers that we took note and have use for it few days later. the use is per day basis. small locker cost around 50yuan and larger one (enough to fit a 24 inch luggage) cost 100yuan.

We then took the mrt to JianTan station, which is much nearer to Shilin night market compared to Shilin station.

Our hotel

After unloading our stuff, we went to hunt for food. first thing that drew our attention was the queue in front of this chicken chop stall. i joined in the queue immediately.

The portion is HUGE! it tasted nice, but the chicken chop that i get back in penang has the same quality. yummy nonetheless.

Next we saw another queue and i popped in as usual. name of the snack is 'small biscuit wrapped in big biscuit'.

The fried stuff is wrapped in a popiah skin n smashed.

It tasted sweet and crunchy. delicious.

Not sure if this is the famous stall. but too much haggling was going on and we simply went with the one with the most customer. fried oyster and fried cuttlefish. when they say fried, i was surprised to see a bowl of soup with cuttlefish swimming inside. the oyster was sweet. hmm. i prefer the penang type. cuttlefish was so-so.

Ar... this is a famous one. small intestine wrapped in big intestine. i wonder why they like to make the name so long.

It is actually sausage wrapped in glutinous rice. nice.

Lastly, we bought a bubble tea. not to be missed in taiwan eh. tasted fine and the bubble was abundant!

Not shown in the photo, but we bought a 100yuan umbrella in shilin night market because by the time we were ready to go back, the rain was kinda heavy. that umbrella lasted for 5 days before it gave up on us.

LSLT - 3

2010-04-07T22:55:00.000+08:00

Little sheep: when i was buying groceries, the aunties praised me, saying nowadays kids very clever, know how to do simple cooking. KIDS!

Little truth: yaya.

Little sheep: when i was buying breakfast for u, the tauke-so asked me, studying college ar. i paise paise told her i already graduated. huhuhu.

Little truth: hmm hmm.

Little sheep: the group of potential house buyer asked me am i still studying. i told them i am already working. the aunty say, i look so young!

Little truth: ok. u look young. got it. can u go upgrade the streamyx plan to uni pack with that baby face of yours?

Little sheep: ... cannot cheat. need uni stamp...

LSLT - 2

2010-04-07T17:57:00.000+08:00

Little truth is tucked away in a cozy corner in a lazy afternoon, enjoying her novel. little sheep got bored rolling around the green field and came to talk to her. little truth took note of his presence and continued on with her novel anyway. little sheep started to babble away. yada yada yada... little truth nodded her head a few times and made some grunt of acknowledgment. suddenly the constant noise stop. little truth looked up and saw little sheep showing signs of annoyance. apparently little truth did not take in any of his words. little truth smiled sheepishly at little sheep but he started to tread away. little truth felt guilty and pulled him back. then she adjusted a cozy corner next to her had him lying down. pulled out a manga and handed it over to him. within a few minutes, little sheep was deeply engrossed with the storyline. little truth snuggled against him and picked up her novel once again.

what a peaceful afternoon.

LSLT - 1

2010-02-15T23:51:00.001+08:00

It wasn't love at first sight. little-truth saw little-sheep n told herself, hey, cute guy. little-sheep saw little-truth n thought, wow, cute girl. full stop. it took time to grow interest. it took an even longer time to grow love.

step by step, little-sheep and little-truth got nearer to each other. bit by bit, chemistry reaction started to take place. enough playing hide-n-seek and u-love-me-u-love-me-not, little-sheep pounced on little-truth and guarded her as one of his possession. come closer, and little-sheep turns into big-wolf, due to some weird wolf-sheep liaison in little-sheep's family tree.

but it wasn't a smooth ride. little-truth is sometimes known as big-stubborn and can create headache for little-sheep. little-truth would tie little-sheep to a tree and stride heavily away, leaving little-sheep munching at the green grass, wondering what the hell just happened. moments later, little-truth turns up with her chin held high, i'll forgive u this time and let you get away with it. be grateful u minion. little-sheep is then freed and follows little-truth home happily, totally clueless of the whole situation. oh well, grass was tasty at that spot. who cares.

after a few rounds of tying up and releasing, little-truth grew tired of it and thought of another better plan. little-truth ran away. then little-sheep started to panic. he anxiously looked up and down, high and low for his lost little one. when he finally found little-truth sulking alone by the riverside, she made him make a promise. little-sheep sheep: ok, i will never do it again. little-truth: do what? little-sheep: er, do what? little-truth grumbles but gave in anyway: promise u wont turn ur back to me when u r enjoying ur grass. little-sheep: (in his thought: HUH?!) okok, i wont turn my backside towards u when i'm eating. after one round of run-and-hide, little-sheep made sure little-truth is always within his line of sight. until he accidentally found a sweet spot of grass, that is.

hissing n scratching n biting took place every now and then for a few years. it was difficult to come into terms for 2 totally different entities. little-truth: cloud. little-sheep: nah, it's wool. little-truth: no! see, my hands penetrate it. little-sheep: of course, wool is porous! little-truth started to get annoyed. little-sheep: see, it's wool, it's wool, it's wool. little-truth stuffed the wool/cloud thing into little-sheep's mouth and walked away.

Borneo Trip - Kota Kinabalu (Day 8 & 9)

2010-01-24T17:12:00.001+08:00

We woke up early again today to rush for Mount Kinabalu. wouldn't be a complete trip to KK if you don't at least give it a visit. the journey took about 2 hours, half of them spent climbing the hill. the mountain view was clear and magnificent as we were heading towards it. however we were too busy overtaking super slow lorry that we did not stop for any photo. once there, we paid for tickets and were told to turn left. with no idea what was waiting for us ahead, we blindly followed the narrow trail uphill. the air was already cool by then and we wind down the window for some natural air. the trail came to a stop suddenly and we found ourselves at the start point of mountain hike. so we happily snapped some photos of the small hut and the mountain tip. Mount Kinabalu: been there, done that. gee...

We went back down the trail and discovered the mountain is totally obscured by cloud that there is nothing much to see anymore. since it was still early, we decided to proceed to the poring not for the hot spring, but rather for the rafflesia flower. it was in season then. took us another 45 mins and we realized the location of the flower is only known by the locals. if u wanna see the flower, pay up. somehow we managed to get a good deal. the flower is really large but the stench is... horrible. according to the local, rafflesia seed takes 9 months to bloom. however it will wither within 3 weeks time. such short life time!

After buying some souvenirs, we were ready to go back to KK. our driver got excited with all the downhill turnings and bending and started a thrilling ride in the small kancil, while i concentrated on munching away the snacks. we ended up reaching KK 45mins earlier. lunch was somewhere near our hostel and the rice dumpling is good! despite having both the food featured in newspaper, the pan mee is in fact so-so.

Now we have all the time in the world to travel around KK town. we went to landmark like atkinson tower, university of sabah, observatory hill, tanjung aru and KK waterfront. did some last minute souvenir shopping and had a spicy dinner.

Our flight to penang was an early flight and we had to give pasar tamu a miss even though it was right in front of our hostel. the airport was extremely busy as it was university of sabah convocation week. despite the delay in flight (which is pretty normal with airasia), we had a pleasant trip home.

I thoroughly enjoyed this 9 day trip to east malaysia! even more fascinating than the bali trip. forest, mountain, cave, sea, end of the world, rare species, old ancestors and of course yummy food. a BIG thank you to our driver who drove us safely across all kinds of condition albeit heart-skipping at times. muak muak muak~

Borneo Trip - Kota Kinabalu (Day 7)

2010-01-23T15:03:00.002+08:00

The schedule is packed today. we woke up early, had breakfast and went to the Jesselton point. we'd have enough cave and forest these days, now let's head out to the sea! instead of island hopping, we opted for one island, that is pulau manukan.

It was my first time putting on snorkeling gear and going more than waist-deep in the open sea. at first there was nothing much to see. the water was not crystal clear, didn't see any corals nearby, there were no fish around. we bought some bread to seduce the fishes over. was super excited to see the school of fish swimming towards us. then i kinda chicken out on the thought that some fish might take me as food, even though they were no bigger than the fish served on the restaurant table. hid behind someone's back and poked my head out to see the fishes finishing off the bread. even though we had our sun block on, once out of water, we can feel our skin starting to burn. the sun was scorching hot!

Enough of sea water and fish, we decided to head back after the 3 hours excursion. bathed and had lunch before proceeding to our next destination, tip of borneo, which is at the very top of the sabah. we drove for 3 hours, crossing mountain and valley and bumpy road. it felt like horse riding in our small little kancil. the last part of the unpaved road proved to be an endurance test for our poor car. rattling at 20km per hour, we were really afraid the car might just give up and leave us stranded 100km away from KK. somehow we managed it and thankfully the view was worth the rough ride.

The glittering sea waves under the late afternoon sun with the constant strong blowing wind makes you wanna scream your lung off at the edge of the world. it makes you feel like you are alone in a corner of the world enjoying the vast view of south china sea. and you go, wow, this IS mother nature.

I'm not exaggerating. well, maybe a little bit but not too much. it was really a nice view and we could have enjoy it a little bit longer. but we were not comfortable driving back in the dark under such poor road condition. it was already 4.30pm by then and night comes early in sabah. nevertheless, we traveled half the journey in the dark but lucky us did not miss any junctions. we arrived in KK safe and sound but hungry.

If your eyes are sharp enough, might be able to discern Mountain Kinabalu's peak slightly above the clouds.

Borneo Trip - Miri (Day 6)

2010-01-22T23:54:00.002+08:00

I woke up with an aching body. but we have another cave adventure waiting for us T_T i knew it's going to be a long day ahead.

We drove 2 hours at a desolated area towards gua niah. paid for tickets, crossed the river and the tough walk begins. it was slippery. and someone actually did fell. thus we paced carefully across the plank walk that sometimes disappear onto the forest floor below. it was very humid in the forest. we were sweating profusely. luckily we had our mosquito repellent on and no such nuisance hovering for our sweet blood.

We walked for a well 1 hour and reached the 1st cave. i am not sure what that small hut stands for, but it was a proof of you have been there. there was an archeology site beside it but it was off limit and nobody was seen working inside. abandoned site? at first we wondered at the poles hanging from the top of the cave. mind you, the cave was at least 5 or 6 storey high and the poles were hanging in the middle of the air. then we went, holy cow! there were actually people climbing the poles picking bird's nest! anything that falls from that height would just go *SPLAT* ceremoniously.

There was a struggle between moving forward and going back. the next cave is tough. but we have no idea how tough. and well i thought, journey seems pretty smooth thus far. let's charge ahead! when we had to fork out our torchlight in the pitch dark (newly bought before we boarded the plane) and need to carefully place our legs to step on 2 planks (the distance between planks were similar to the plank width) and went down n down n down towards the cave, i knew it wasn't really a good idea anymore.

(P/S: That's me at the bottom of the cave)

It was another 45 mins of climbing up some stairs, going down several staircases, having torchlight as our main source of light, even more slippery trails that we finally came to the end of the cave. wait, we haven't reach the other cave! i practically dragged myself ahead and finally came to the painted cave. those drawings were left behind by our old old old ancestors. i felt that we had been transported in time into the stone age. except for the fence built up real high to facade off intruders like us. hmmm. what an eyesore. i saw a crude bench and happily rested on it, munching away at my tiger biscuit. i was so tired i could only concentrate on eat n drink. munch munch munch. when i finally gathered enough energy, we took a last look at the fading artwork and headed back.

Looking back, i marveled at how i managed to get out of the cave in such poor condition. it felt like heaven when we saw the headquarter. my leg muscle ached at every step i take. honestly, i have to admit that niah cave is really worth a visit. it is a very beautiful and grand cave. but the maintenance is really bad. there was no lighting at all, not to mention the poor plank walk. considering we paid the same amount of conservation fees at mulu, niah management really should do something about it.

We were starved and at the first sight of restaurant, we happily stop for lunch. 2 chicken rice stalls were fighting for business and we ended up ordering from both. food were consumed in a flash. then we practically flew our way back to miri. but the locals were driving at a greater speed. we bathed at the homestay, drove to the airport and rested until our flight for kota kinabalu. we returned our border pass to sarawak and took a new one from sabah.

Borneo Trip - Mulu/Miri (Day 5)

2010-01-18T10:00:00.083+08:00

We woke up early the next day and were scheduled for a boat ride. as it rained yesterday, water level was running high and the current is swift. it was a thrilling ride albeit nearly getting slapped in the face by the tree branches.

First was the wind cave. we only feel a strong gust of wind at narrow opening. it looks pretty similar to deer cave.

Then we walked to clear water cave. the pathway was built along the hill slope. upon reaching the picnic stop, we took a rest before facing the flight of slippery stairs.

We arrived at the cave entrance huffing and puffing away and immediately realized there were more climbings to be done inside the cave. this cave was even darker than the rest. there wasn't much formation to be seen but the underground river is fascinating! you can hear the river gushing and gurgling away and the echo totally fills up the cave.

We left mulu park after lunch and waited at the mulu airport. it was a sleepy airport. it was closed when we arrived. the ticket counter attendant was having lunch and asked us to wait. the immigration officer was taking nap inside a room and later put on his uniform when he saw passengers arriving. children were chasing each other in the airport. an ordinary cup of coffee cost rm5.

After another packet of milo drink, we arrived miri. took a long awaited bath and went for a short miri city tour. we went up a hill to the first miri oil ridge.

At night we met up with a friend and had dinner at soho. we slept soundly that night. our muscle were screaming for a rest and rest we took indeed.

Borneo Trip - Mulu (Day 4)

2010-01-17T09:50:00.001+08:00

Mulu is said to be a beautiful national park. we spent 2D1N there, flying with Maswing for the first time. it was really fascinating to see the propeller beside the window (as long as it doesn't stop spinning in the mid air). take off, drink a packet of milo, landing, the whole journey took less than half an hour.

When we reach mulu airport, i can't help but take a photo beside the plane (not shown here). then we climbed on a van that felt like breaking apart when it drove across the bumpy road. we signed up at the headquarters for 2 cave adventure. normally people go there for the pinnacles climb but i'm not fit to do so (face it, i'm not fit for any mountain climbing -_-). the room was very spacious and comfy, it's the most expensive room after all, heh. we had lunch at the cafe. food was good with big portion but cost more than rm10. considering the fact that we were in the middle of nowhere, it's not really that expensive. my cell phone do not even have network coverage!

First cave adventure, deer cave and lang cave, with extra excursion to the canopy walk. The canopy walk was pretty interesting. except my knees went weak as the ground gets further and further away from the feet. especially when you are hanging high above the river.

The plank walk is very well maintained and you feel safe walking along the forest. no tiger or whatsoever. only some rare insects. from the outside, it is a normal limestone mountain that you can find everywhere in ipoh.

Inside, they have some very nice cave formation and very well lit.

The second cave has a very big chamber and the stench of bat guano is strong. touch nothing inside as most probably every corner is not spared from the droppings. we were scheduled to watch streams of bats flying out of the cave to hunt for food in the evening. but it rained! we had to walk in the rain and yet miss the chance to see the spectacular event.

We reached our room tired and hungry and sweaty. bathed and had dinner. you do not need air-conditioning in the forest. the air is cold enough. the light gives off a very romantic ambiance at night. as light draws insects, insects draw bats! the bats were flying outside our room all night long. but we slept soundly nonetheless.

Borneo Trip - Kuching (Day 3)

2010-01-16T19:40:00.001+08:00

We decided to pay our ancestors a visit and drove to the wildlife center. they said if you are lucky then you might have the chance to see the orang utans. i guess we were in luck. a few of them actually showed up for the free food. we were brought to a platform to see the 'king' of the family from afar. that guy was really massive in size. wise idea to keep a distance.

Next stop we decided to visit pepper plantation. after driving for half an hour, turns out the plantation was closed! what a let down. turned back and headed for a shop that we stumbled upon accidentally yesterday. we had to wait for quite some time for our lunch to arrive. it was the best ko-lo-mee i had in kuching so far. definitely worth the wait and the hassle!

Despite the glaring sun, we did what others said as must-do in kuching. take the water taxi across the river. it was 40cent per way (if i remember correctly) and a good experience. we just place the notes/coins on the floor as we leave the boat. please provide exact change or just treat the extra cents as tips for the leisure ride.

After the ride we were pretty hot and tired and decided to try out some famous kuching laksa. it's not spicy but the broth has very strong flavor. different from what we have here but a good food not to be missed.

Before leaving kuching, we die-die want to take a photo in front of the kuching town cat statue. under the glaring sun where we can barely open our eyes to pose.

After that it's time to leave kuching for miri. kuching is a sleepy town without much entertainment. however it's a town that you would feel like sitting back, relax, grab some delicious ko-lo-mee and recharge.

Upon reaching miri, we were rushed to the guest house for an overnight stay and were introduced a famous old stall. the signature dish was sold out and the dinner that we had was so-so. i like the chrysanthemum bottle except the drink was too sweet for my liking. slept early that night. need to catch another flight tomorrow morning.

Borneo Trip - Kuching (Day 1 & 2)

2010-01-15T15:31:00.011+08:00

Before travelling anywhere further, we decided to give the other half of M'sia a visit. We flew like nobody's business. Penang-Kuching-Miri-Mulu-Miri-KotaKinabalu-Penang. Squeezed every bit out of the journey because we do not have the luxury to give it another visit. There are so many places out there calling out to me! (yaya, and my poor wallet)

I started making arrangements 3/4 year earlier and kinda forgot about it until the flying date draws near. have no idea why i chose to fly on mid-autumn festival. while others were enjoying mooncakes and drinking tea, i was flying across south china sea towards kuching.

Touched down at night and took our visiting pass. we cannot stay for longer than 6 months, else we become illegal immigrant in our own country. took our rental car and braved kuching city in the small kancil. i have to say we were pretty impressed with their road condition. smooth and straight tar roads, not a single pot-holes in sight. their BIG roundabout is also a sight to behold. and their extremely long names :D

Anyway, reached our guest house uneventfully, dumped our bags and went out scouting for dinner. food is not cheap (not as exorbitant as in bali, of course), but portion is huge. mum sms me and asked if moon in kuching is rounder than penang. well, no comment. the kuching guest house that we stayed in is totally awesome. unbeatable deal at such a price. would highly recommend it to anyone planning to travel to kuching.

Next day, we drove a long way to Kuching Cultural Village which i think can be missed unless you have too much time in hand. after paying rm60 and receiving a mini passport, we were warmly greeted by mosquitoes. -_- lots of wooden houses that you go around visiting. some of the staircases were quite unique though, remind me of the one we saw in hanoi. we ended the visit with a cultural show which turns out OK.

Then we rushed back for lunch and nearly starved ourself since most of the places were closed. why wouldn't kuching folks have late lunch at 2pm? we ended up in a nice chinese restaurant. Took a random photo of the town council building as we drove by.

Weather was scorching hot and we decided to go back to the guest house and get some cold air. and a cup of coffee. after getting enough rest and cooling down, we went out in the evening to snap more photos. first stop was the historical tua pek kong temple. right smack in the middle of the city. then it started to rain. @#$%^&* took shelter in a row of souvenir shops and bought some souvenirs. didn't look like the rain would stop anytime soon. so we went back and wait for dinner.

At night, we took umbrellas and went to look for dinner. food was so-so. we took some photos at the china town cat statue and strolled along kuching waterfront. the night scence was not so bad but was pretty desolated. retired early that night.

Christmas Moon

2010-01-01T21:26:00.002+08:00

Well, where i was this Christmas

Or should i say somewhere around this area and a few other places. was planning to do shopping but ended up with tired legs more than anything else

At night while resting in the hotel, i exclaimed to yang
Me: look! the moon is bright n round.
Yang: huh? where?
Me: there (pointing at the half see-through curtain)
Yang: u sure or not, where can see the sky from here
I tried to proof myself right and pulled the curtain away. a big round lamp from the opposite building stared back at me -_- I pulled back the curtain n slumped at the sofa, pretending nothing ever happened

Sunrise

2010-01-01T11:07:00.002+08:00

Waking up at 4am is not an easy task. rushing to the boarding gate is another type of experience altogether (spent too much time drinking coffee). but when the sky starts to lit up as you fly, the feeling is totally awesome. at first i was enjoying the sea of cloud with bare sunlight. then the first ray of sunshine came shining through. i was experiencing sunrise high above the sky. as the sun starts to peep over the cloud horizon, the plane has started to descend and we came home to a rainy penang. (duh? the sun was shining brightly up there)

2010

2009-12-31T22:41:00.000+08:00

It's a new year again.
2010 resolution:

1. finish my coursework with at least a B
2. getting better with my job
3. travel at least once a year
4. buy a pc or a new lens
5. eating healthier and exercise more (will try harder...)

What I've done in 2009:

1. finish half my coursework with good result
2. procrastinating hard in my job (not a good sign)
3. travel twice to Bali and Sabah&Sarawak

What I've not done:

1. exercise (yaya, i'm a lazy bum)
2. brush up my photography skill (i've left that to someone else to accomplish)

Goodbye 2009~
Hopefully 2010 will be an even better year ahead

宠她

2009-12-23T09:09:00.005+08:00

宠她，宁愿多淋点雨也要她全身干爽。
宠她，在冷天煮一壶烧水让她冲热澡。
宠她，在周末打包早餐回来，让她多睡会儿。
宠她，在她没有心情做家务时一手包办。
宠她，在她想糜烂时任她沉迷在小说堆里。
宠她，在她想赖床时哄她拉她抱她离开猪窝。
宠她，帮她解决吃不下的食物，自己好吃的让给她。
宠她，怕她被鱼骨哽到，先把鱼肉挑好才让她吃。

宠她，就是把她养成白白肥肥的懒猪。。。

Potato+Salmon+Mango

2009-11-07T20:23:00.004+08:00

Zy and I took an interest in potato and decided to bake some for experiment.

Fresh potato

Going under fire

Final product

The main course was actually salmon fish and some healthy vegetable

Dinner was wrapped up with home made mango smoothie (home grown mango!). Yummy!

爱？

2009-10-15T08:44:00.003+08:00

面对爱情谁不曾彷徨过，不曾迷惑过？
爱与被爱，该爱与不该爱，对与错，谁又能说的清？

爱的他不爱你。
爱的他身边有个他。
被爱的他爱不了。
被爱的他纠缠不清。

爱了才发觉不该爱。
不爱的才发觉该爱。
相爱的偏要怀疑争执。
对的爱偏被命运作弄。

无奈的是爱，完全不由你来控制。
你的心，从来都不自由。
所以就挣扎吧，痛苦并快乐着。
也许爱的真谛就是在受伤后再学着去珍惜。

Bali - Ubud + Spa

2009-09-19T20:16:00.003+08:00

We had a long night sleep and woke up to a nice breakfast again.

Then we walked to the spa center. ubud has a lot of artwork and painting on sale.

The spa was more like applying oil all over our body???

We need to catch our plane at 2pm and rushed back to our hostel after the spa. then we discovered we haven't bought any souvenirs! we passed by a handicraft market on the way back and decided to grab some souvenirs.

After that we quickly packed our bags and have lunch at our hostel's restaurant. the food was actually very good and cheap. shouldn't have spent so much time at the tourist restaurants, haha.

View from the restaurant

Our driver practically sped his way to the airport as we were running late. in time to check in and boarded the plane without hiccups. bye bye bali~

Bali - Ubud, Ulun Danu, Mengwi, Tanah Lot

2009-09-18T19:32:00.003+08:00

The 3rd day started off with sweet black rice soup with rich coconut milk taste. as usual, i had a few cups of coffee.

We didn't have a lot of place to cover today and spent the morning walking around our hostel. it was a nice stroll. ubud is not so developed compared to kuta and still maintain its small village feel.

Lots of home stay cramped in one single lane

Our driver then came to pick us up to the monkey forest which is 5 mins drive away. what we saw there were monkeys, monkeys and more monkeys. -_- should have known it.

The monkey laying down has this serene look in his face that we can't help but take a photo of it

We wanted to have lunch nearby before setting off. since the shop is not yet opened, we wandered around the ubud palace. royals are still staying there so many places were off-limit.

The shop had barely started when locals started queuing up for takeaways and tourists sat at the tables waiting to be served. the wait was well worth it for it's the best food i've ever tasted in bali. babi guling! incredibly tender and juicy meat. it's the only thing i miss about bali, hahaha.

Ok, enough about food. first destination for the day, ulun danu. the road uphill is windy. it was a scenic ride with fogs hanging around.

Suddenly it started to rain. T_T what a let down. we visited the temple with an umbrella. this is a really beautiful temple surrounded by mountain and lake.

Then we continued to Mengwi. the rain was literally pouring down when we arrived at the site. armed with 2 big umbrellas we braved the weather and got ourselves soaked. my socks were dripping water despite the short walk around the temple.

We then headed to our last stop, tanah lot. famed for its sunset, we'd purposely arranged to visit it in the late afternoon. but rain = no sunset. with the last bit of luck, the rain actually subsided as we arrived. it was low tide and we managed to walk near the temple.

The famous tanah lot temple

Big waves crashing the shore. We spent a long time waiting to take photos with the waves crashing behind us. ^_^

Since there is no need to wait for sunset, we headed back to our hostel. before that, we stopped by a local restaurant to have this chicken dish that our driver adores, ayam betutu. absolutely recommended. spicy enough to make your tears flow but so tasty that makes you carry on eating.

A whole chicken for 2 person

We bid our driver farewell and retired for the last night in bali.

Bali - Mt Batur, Besakih, Klungklung

2009-09-17T18:47:00.002+08:00

We started to move uphill to the see the highest mountain in bali, mt batur. we stopped by the roadside to snap some photos. the wind was cold and we enjoyed the view despite the relentless haggling by souvenir sellers. when we got back into the car, our driver told us the view was blocked by clouds until some moment ago. lucky us.

The lake beside it

There was no local food stall nearby and we had to settle for a tourist restaurant. cost an arm and a leg again. the restaurant have big glass windows that overlook the mountain as you eat. well, you pay for the view. the only nice food was the pork satay.

Next, besakih the mother temple. it's the biggest temple in bali which is half the size of penang's kek lok si :P nice one actually except we have to pay extra for a local guide. besakih has this bad reputation of local 'gangsters' forcing you to pay them to bring you around the temple. we are no fierce looking tourist with nasty tattoos to challenge them so we paid a small sum of money to get out of it.

Very few tourist around. our driver mentioned due to their bad reputation some tourist actually chose to skip this place

View from the top

Unique looking temple

The staircase to the main area of the temple where tourist are not allowed to enter

This statue was made for some kind of festival. if u notice the white stripes hanging on the statue, it's actually pig fat. O_o

Our final destination is klungklung, an old city of bali.

A resting place for the royals to escape the heat

Small statue surrounding the pool

Ar... nice door again

We headed back to ubud in the evening. dinner was again a touristy restaurant that wasn't any cheaper. never learn our lessons, do we? :D we tried the famous bebek bengil, crispy fried duck. crispy indeed but otherwise tasteless. my first try of freshly squeezed strawberry juice here. yummy! in bali, fresh fruit and fruit juice can be found everywhere. very genuine. no sunkist+orange juice or cordial drinks. oh, and also the local beer, bintang. taste good!

Bali - Goa Gajah, Gunung Kawi, Tampak Siring

2009-09-16T18:13:00.002+08:00

We woke up to a cold morning and had a first look around our hostel. yesterday was too dark to clearly see the surrounding. a very basic place with delicious breakfast. the coffee was superb.

Our driver then came to pick us up for a long day trip. first stop was goa gajah which featured a small pond and a small cave. nothing big scale in bali. wat do u expect on a small island?

Then we proceed to gunung kawi with carvings on the hill slope. we passed by a paddy field and was very fascinated to see rice stalks so up close and personal. m'sian who have never stepped on a paddy field! O_o

Tadaa, the carvings

After that we fought our way up the hill, heaving and puffing away. i saw some nice coconut shell carving and was tempted to buy one. we decided to buy it later in the trip. turned out this was the place with most coconut shell souvenirs and did not manage to get one.

Next stop, tampak siring. this is where balinese come to have their wish granted by washing their bodies in the holy water.

This is not the main pool, just some random fish pond at the entrance

There, the main pool with crystal clear water from the mountain.

Another pool where the water constantly flowed from the ground. the black soil is constantly bubbling.

The offerings to the gods. i was fooled by the abundance of stuff until i saw one lady arranging her offerings. there was a big hat in the middle. the fruits and food were than stacked around it

Someone got fascinated by balinese door and started to create a photo collection of it

On the way to our next destination, our driver suggested to stop by a local coffee store. so we went in and was introduced to luwak coffee. the coffee seeds contained in the luwak's dropping that were collected, cleaned and processed.

Luwak (a type of fox that fancies coffee seeds)

We were offered a cup of luwak coffee at usd3. understand that luwak coffee is one of the most expensive coffee in the world, but no thanks. the thought of how the coffee came about is not appealing to me at all.

Bali - Uluwatu

2009-09-15T17:50:00.004+08:00

We went to Bali like, 5 months ago? couldn't bring myself to blog about it until now. bali wasn't on our travel list but the cheap air ticket tempted us to give it a try. it wasn't a fantastic trip. kinda like traveling to terengganu i perceive? haha.

OK, Day 0. we flew down from penang to kl and stayed for the 1st time in LCCT tune hotel. (i scraped my knee here)

Day 1. board the plane and off to bali we go! flying has since become a tiring thing for me. three hours of cramped seat is starting to get on my nerve. however peering down at a new land beneath is indeed a rewarding sight.

It took us half an hour to clear the custom and we were greeted by our driver for the trip. had a late lunch at a local stall and proceeded to uluwatu which is at the southern part of the island.

The main attraction wasn't the temple, it was the view from the cliff. a nice place with plenty of wind. infamous for the monkeys who were trained to snatch stuff from tourist. someone had to remove his glasses and had me guide him. ^_^

Slightly slanted view with nice waves

The temple (small spot on the top right corner)

The aggressive male

Snatched a pen and munched away happily

Read reviews that mentioned if you wanna watch one traditional dance in bali, go for kecak dance. our driver recommended the dance at uluwatu, so we paid for the ticket and sat beside the stage. and it began to rain. heavily -_- both of us crouched under an umbrella to enjoy the show.

I like the fire part

When the show ended it was already dark. we headed to the so-called romantic seaside dinner place, jimbaran beach. we knew it was expensive but it still managed to burn a hole in our travel budget.

The beach did look romantic. however we sat indoor due to the rain

I have to admit the squid was good

A band came up to our table and started singing away. we had to pay tips...

After the pricey dinner we went back to our hostel which is 1 1/2 hour drive away. was pretty tired and slept soundly amid the cold air in ubud.

Cutie

2009-09-14T16:22:00.004+08:00

As i was walking towards you, you turned around and caught my eyes. the only thought that struck me was: wow, cute guy. it never cease to amaze me that after 6 long years together, every now and then i still get awestruck by your cuteness.

i wonder ten years down the road will i still get the same feeling? maybe a slightly modified version: wow, cute bald head!

2nd Final

2009-09-12T12:32:00.005+08:00

In 2 hours time i will be sitting for the last paper for my 2nd semester studies. i haven't finish revising all the syllabus. i memorize what i could and pray the questions will be exactly what i've studied and leave out those i didn't. wow, if only life is this good.

-_-

life isn't. so we'll see how it goes...

Update:

Well, made some mistake here n there, some discovered and some yet to be discovered. can only hope for the best. on the bright side, i bought a new swimsuit for my upcoming trip! for now, let's put the studies behind and enjoy 1 month of holiday ^_^

Bunny Restaurant

2009-09-11T08:19:00.003+08:00

I like this bunny suit. tailor made for my sis ;p am pretty reluctant to change any new outfit. er, truth be told, i'm hooked on restaurant city game. again. -_-

幸福

2009-09-09T18:31:00.006+08:00

我要的幸福，就是能和你一直走下去。

一路上尽管风风雨雨，只要你在身边就好。
如果不小心互相伤害，就要更细心的呵护对方。
激情和新鲜感过去了，更要坚定的培养正在茁长的感情。
意外的走散了就必须努力去寻找对方。
遇到风浪时应更加紧紧地握住彼此的手。

两个人能相遇不易，能相处更难，能在一起就必须懂得珍惜。
当你发觉身边的人头发都白了，自己的脸上也爬满了皱纹，然后能一起淡笑回首曾走过的路程。
那，就是幸福。

再见吾友

2009-09-03T06:59:00.004+08:00

你只是静静的躺在那里。
没有了平日的嬉皮笑脸，没有了平日的起哄吵闹。
我们不是应该结伴到你新屋去热闹吗？
我们不是应该期待着你的喜讯吗？
我们不是还有很长的路要走吗？
如今你静静的躺在那里，什么都没有了。
只余下无尽的悲痛给最爱你的人。
我们都在默默回忆和你一起度过的时光。
我们都把你的影子寄放在心里的某个角落。
我们都觉得能认识你真好。
现在的你在那里？过得还好吗？
朋友，希望你一路上走好。
若有来世，愿与你再相聚。

Jumping Sheeps

2009-09-01T10:33:00.003+08:00

Yes, my definition of paradise is a clear blue sky with soft green grass complete with several cute jumping sheep. in reality, i only have one BIG sheep who is pretty reluctant to jump.

用温柔来原谅过错

2009-08-24T12:18:00.004+08:00

当你只能用他的温柔来原谅他的过错时，这是一种宽容还是懦弱？

他甩了你一巴掌，事后却后悔万分的抱着你哭泣道歉。你觉得他不过气上心头，失控了。瞧，不就在你眼前卑微的乞求你？于是，你原谅了。当他再次出手时，你傻了，多么熟悉的场面。那日在你耳边承诺着不会再如此待你，今日在你面前再次扬起手的又是谁？火辣辣的脸颊提醒着你，不可再原谅，然后转身离开。似乎清醒过来了，他赶紧抱着你，嚷嚷声告诉你对不起！他不是故意的。你努力的挣脱他的怀抱，他越发紧紧地抱着你，说你离开了他也活不下去了。于是你想起他只不过是个长不大的小男孩，多么的依赖你，多么的需要你，也因此，原谅了。这次，当那毫不心软的巴掌再次落下时，你笑了。充满讥讽的笑了。曾经发誓要保护你的人，一而再的伤害你，算是什么？看你的心能被践踏到什么地步？于是你飞快的离开，不让他有挽留的机会。你以为两人的感情结束了，直到他憔悴万分，十足邋遢的出现在你面前，几乎跪在你面前，求你回到他身边。看着他，你心软了。一个男人肯为了你连尊严也不要，你到底还坚持些什么？当暴力事件不断的上演着，你的心开始麻木了。他事后的无尽悔恨与集力讨好一次一次的让你回头。他抱着你痛哭，一遍一遍的亲吻着被他殴打过的地方。你对自己说，无论如何此刻的他是爱着你的，而你也无法停止爱他。那就接受他吧。于是你只能无奈的利用他事后的温柔来说服自己，原谅他的过错。

宽容或是懦弱，你已无力去探索。

Supper

2009-08-09T16:17:00.002+08:00

A cold can of shandy and a delicious char siew pau for supper. perfect meal before sleep ^_^

N I Fell

2009-07-24T23:12:00.009+08:00

It was a brave attempt. it was a huge jump i've never done in some years. but i relent the idea of turning back. so i asked him to go ahead. then it was my turn. took a deep breath n leapt. felt the wind whizzed by. n he caught my hand. with knees slightly bent, i reached the ground with the momentum of lurching forward. made an attempt to stay still. alas, the thug at my hands gave me away. the entire jump left me kneeling in the soils. my knees were numb for some flick seconds. then i tried to stand up with his help. pain started to fill in. i fought to hold back my tears. we can't stop here. so we went on. despite the tough fabric, there were a few scratches underneath deep enough to see red but not flowing blood. but that was not the worst. it was the swelling as big as 3 green peas that made me grimace. n several other swellings. must have been the bigger pebbles. it was a wrong decision of pulling me forward at the crucial moment. but there's nothing to blame. it was only the wrong reflex. with no medication at hand, we could only apply towel rinsed with hot water. slowly, the swelling started to go away. the pain did not disminish but it was bearable. i had to go to bed with the pain. what a night. what a fall.

Sandwich for Lunch

2009-07-12T13:54:00.003+08:00

Today we decided to have sandwich for lunch. tuna with button mushroom, tomato and some vege to make it slightly healthier. n not forgetting the richly spread butter on bread. yummy.

26-year-old Baby

2009-07-05T19:58:00.004+08:00

I've waited for more than 3 months for my sweetheart to grow old. lo and behold, he managed to look older than me on the very same day he became 26. and promptly denied me the right of showing his photo. alright then, i'll post the dinner we had instead. happy birthday sweetheart!

依然好好的

2009-06-04T12:44:00.004+08:00

突然获知一项好消息，我迫不及待的打了通电话给你。在听见你的声音后豁然清醒过来，赶忙把电话给盖了。我瞧着电话许久，然后把你的资料删掉。

洗澡时发现沐浴露完了，我隔着扇门要你拿罐新的来。却只听见自己的声音在浴室里回荡。回过神时，眼睛涩涩的，掉了几滴泪。一定是头上的洗发精不小心流到眼里去。

放工后顺路去买晚餐，坐在餐桌前才发现买了两人份。嗯，一定是太饿了。我狠狠把它给吃完，饱得喘不过去。事后告诉自己要吸取教训，不要太贪心。

睡觉前习惯性的看篇卡通，幽默的内容让我捧肚大笑。我唤你一起来分享，久久得不到回应。我决定领养一只小狗。现时流行嘛。小狗的名字与你的小名同音不同字。纯属巧合。

今天朋友问我日子过得怎么样。我笑笑的说，和从前没什么两样。朋友担心的追问，没你在身边如何。我顿了顿，笑笑说，依然好好的。

Lost

2009-05-03T14:02:00.001+08:00

Was cracking my head for the last post for 14-days-in-a-row marathon. n here comes one news that is not a filler post. i lost my wallet. feeling really really bad. this is my second time. apart from losing <100 bucks, i need to cancel 4 cards. the most troublesome part is i have to replace my identity card n driving license. n i still need to pray someone does not use my identity card to get some kind of loan.

flysheep have been nagging forever to keep my wallet in sight. but i always manage to misplace it n still miraculously recover it. not this time. n i wonder how many other times? :(

Restaurant City

2009-05-02T08:49:00.001+08:00

No, i dun have a facebook account. but flysheep managed to get me hooked up on the restaurant city game in facebook. this game feels so much like the sim's except that it is much simpler and not much manual intervention can be done on user side. i dun care about ranking. i only wan money for me to decorate the whole place!

Convo

2009-05-01T08:32:00.003+08:00

Few weeks ago, i attended flysheep's younger brother's convocation in UUM. this is the 2nd time i've been to the uni. well, the weather was hot when we went around taking photos and it suddenly rained in the evening when ppl are coming out from the hall after the graduation ceremony.

A nice fountain

The library

Which reminds me of this photo taken during my sister's convo last year.

You there, stop taking my photo!

Keroro

2009-04-30T08:07:00.001+08:00

When i touched down in penang airport, was very eager to see flysheep again after 3 months in US. pushing 1 29" & 1 26" luggage + 1 bagpack & 1 sling bag, i quickly passed through the nothing-to-declare lane n saw flysheep waiting for me ^_^ no hugs n kisses, but when i got in the car, there was a bouquet of flower n a gift waiting for me. so sweet~

here's the gift from him, a keroro model. i enjoy building models but not really keen in keeping them, haha.

Dandelion

2009-04-29T13:19:00.000+08:00

When we saw dandelion which was bigger than our thumb in LavaBed National Park, we spent 15mins blowing dandelions beside the road. passerby mused at our antics. but we have never seen such big dandelions back at home. it was such a pretty flower, fluffy n delicate.

Fluffy flower

Chapel Wedding

2009-04-28T12:21:00.000+08:00

This photo was taken like, 2 years ago? during my friend's sister wedding. it was the first time i attended a christian wedding. the whole atmosphere was very warming n touching n made me feel like getting married.

nah, just kidding.

My old P8 occasionally delivers good photos

New Mouse

2009-04-27T18:24:00.000+08:00

After dragging for months, i finally got myself a new mouse to replace the old one. flysheep tempted me to get a wireless mouse several times but i prefer to stick to a non-fancy one. maybe next time. i'm still trying to get used to it but my fingers still reach for the touch pad unconsciously.

Blue light emitted from a newly bought cooler pad

Pizza & Wine

2009-04-26T12:42:00.001+08:00

This was a photo taken in Napa Valley, US that i did not show previously. We did not open the wine at the winery but instead had a pizza that was freshly baked in the garden.

I was kinda surprised with the choice of pizzas available in US. normally it comes in only 2 flavors, cheese or pepperoni. u can't get varieties unless u r in a pizza chain outlet. but no matter where u go, the cheese is superb! i guess cheese over here is expensive and merchants tend to cut the ration (and the quality?) hmmph, reminds me of cheesesticks which i can't find here.

It was fun eating pizza and relaxing in the beautiful garden

Lay's

2009-04-25T20:41:00.000+08:00

Back in US, i ate little for my dinner. it was either some leftovers or simple spagetti/mee prepared within 10 mins. i was always 3 quarter full. then, it's time to fill up the rest with Lay's! i fell in love with it even though i seldom eat potato chips back at home. i would do some photo editing, surf online for good deals or chat with yang while holding a packet of Lays n muching away. sometimes i will keep some space for haagen daaz but i'm not crazy abt it. tried out a few flavors n the one i love most is sour cream n cheese. bbq flavor is slightly too salty. original flavor can make u eat non-stop. yummy!

My first packet of Lay's here

Strawberry

2009-04-24T16:10:00.001+08:00

When i was in US, i ate a lot of strawberries. it was in season then, n price was cheap. a packet of strawberry, all juicy n sweet was around $2. shown in the photo is about 1/3 of the whole packet.

In the background was me chatting with flysheep through gmail

Ko Lo Mee

2009-04-23T15:51:00.000+08:00

A nice ko lo mee in BM pasar